This Week The Mice Have Mostly Been...

Good news! We've made it through our first whole working week of 2015! So let's start by wishing you a very, very...

Despite the fact that it's a sparkly, fresh brand new year, there does seem to have be an awful lot of doom and gloom from everyone everywhere this week. Forlorn-looking Christmas trees sit by dustbins under gloomy grey skies set to a deafening soundtrack of moaning. Moaning about being broke, moaning about dry January already becoming a struggle, moaning about being back in the office, moaning about New Year health kicks, moaning about credit card bills and yes, even moaning about all the moaning. 

Luckily, us Mice have decided that 2015 is the year for positive thinking and seeing the amazing in everything. So, rather than whinging about the less than brilliant bits of January, we thought we'd bring you a dazzling canter through all the glittery highlights of the seven days just gone. This week the Mice have mostly been...

Painting our talons happy with a few coats of bright red Rouge Louboutin nail colour. If you have to spend eight hours a day watching your nails skitter across a keyboard, they may as well make you feel amazing every time that you catch sight of them... And if having your nails painted exactly the same shade of red as the soles of your Louboutins doesn't make you happy then the jaw-droppingly awesome bottle that the nail varnish comes in certainly should. 

Inspired by the 8-inch heeled Christian Louboutin Ballerina Ultimas, the cap of the bottle is a spike/ perfectly weighted brush modelled on a calligraphy pen. 

Joy in a bottle doesn't come cheap at a whopping £36 but we've not only been blown away by the aesthetics of Rouge Louboutin, our usually chip-tastic nails have so far managed a whole week of red glossiness without a chipped edge in sight.

Getting Organised and scribbling all our exciting New Year plans in our box-fresh diaries and brand spanking new calendars. 

We bagged our Smythson 2015 diaries back in November (I opted for this particularly delish berry baby). We were also lucky enough to snaffle a Jasmine Dowling Calendar before they all sold out. But, if you missed out and are on the look out for something to help you remember all the most important 2015 dates, fear notwe've rounded up the best of the rest of the 2015 calendars (and some of them are even already reduced)...

Heidi Nicole Design 2015 A5 Calendar
£16

Les Fleurs Floral Calendar
£21.95 reduced to £15.36

Rob Ryan Lasercut Desk Calendar
£5

Mini Dachshund 2015 Calendar
£12.95 reduced to £9.07

Garance Dore 2015 Beaute Desk Calendar
US$16

Colour Moon 2015 Printable Calendar

£6.79

Snuggling up on the sofa armed with a big mug of tea and a whole stack of great books. Father Christmas must also be a sneaky bookworm because he managed to deliver pretty much every book we've had on our geeky lust list this year. 

We're gradually working our way through them all so watch this space for our verdict once we've devoured each and every one.

And that's that for another week, let's kick it off with a little New Year, new you sage advice...

Happy, happy weekend!

x

The Mice

2015 = Fresh, Fit and Fabulous...

Ok, so I know everyone's aim right now is to get to the gym and kick off the year as a new improved versions of themselves, however we really do mean it!! US London Mice HAVE to mean business with just eight weeks until a Dubai trip to shift those indulgent Christmas pounds! With our break booked, we have the inspiration in place - now we just need to keep motivation up, calories down and gym training constant...no mean feat eh!?!

With the mornings and evenings still freezing cold and pitch black, the only way through is to make it every bit as enjoyable as we can and here's how we propose to do it...!

1. Dress to impress...

Admittedly unless you look like this...

...it's always going to be pretty difficult to look good with a day's make-up melting down your face and sweat patches growing by the second, however if we're going to kill ourselves by treadmill, we will look good doing it!! 

The go to place to kit yourself out? Net-a-Sporter. They have the very best Sport section which pretty much covers anything you desire from gym wear to Yoga, Sailing to Tennis...you name it they have it covered!! 

However for now I think we'll stick to gym wear only, see below for our current lust list...

Bodyism Printed Sports Bra, £50...

 

Adidas Originals and Mary Katrantzou Sweatshirt, £145...

 

 

Nike Vintage Cotton Joggers, £35...

 

 

Printed Reflective Nike Jersey Leggings, £90...

 

 

Bodyism Daisy Contour Sport Bra, £55...

 

 

Adidas Originals and Mary Katrantzou Track Jacket, £160...

 

Nike Zoom Fit Agility Mesh Sneakers, £100...

2. Spinning is out, Spiralizing is IN!

HK mouse posted about this craze last year and it's been top of my shopping list ever since. However, what with all the Christmas bustle, acquiring the kit somehow totally slipped my mind, until we ripped open our very own Spiralizer on Christmas Day!

With our tummies constantly rumbling after getting far too used to snacks every 15 minutes over the festive period, all we're craving at London Towers is comforting roast potatoes, cheese and pasta! So here's hoping our new spiralizer will quickly trick us into thinking courgettes are big steaming bowls of spaghetti!!! 

They look convincing enough to me...

I'm planning to get experimental this week so watch this space for some inspiralization my friends, however if you need help before then The Londoner has a beauty for you right here... 

*WARNING* if you're watching the calories DO NOT look!!

3. Be a Sunday sinner!

In the hope of transforming my body into a temple of health, I'm not going to kid myself into thinking I can cut everything enjoyable out! Therefore I've decided to follow all the rules Monday to Saturday (as much as humanly possible) and have Sunday as my cheat day! 

I'm not planning anything crazy but if I've been craving chocolate all week this is when I will allow it, but no binging! 

Other than that I will be busy sipping hot water and lemon, green juices, bathing in epsom salts, body brushing, munching on kale and drowning myself with all the water I'm drinking! WOW the fun I have ahead...!!

Ham & Sherry Hong Kong

Straddling the East and West as we do in Hong Kong, you get pretty pro when it comes to celebrating a new year. At the start of the month we all tipsily toasted the start of the new Gregorian calendar year and now as we slither towards the end of the Year of the Snake and canter into the Year of the Horse, we’re  merrily looking forward to welcoming the start of the Chinese New Year. 

Of course, the end of January will also be our cue to raise a glass to Tet in Vietnam and Seollal in Korea. And then before we know it, it’ll be April and we’ll be busy ringing in Sonkran in Thailand, Thingyan in Myanmar and Chaul Chnam Thmey in Cambodia…

Frankly it’s impossible to keep up. Which is why we’ve cunningly devised a calendar of our very own… A calendar based around what we’ll be filling our glasses with when we toast each of the many anniversaries filling up our diary… The Great Booze Calendar.

Last year was the Year of the Gin (Origin and G&T opening within a couple of months of each other can only be down to Hong Kong’s collective thirst for the juniper juice). And this year is… drumroll please… The Year of the Sherry.

Yes, you heard right, sherry’s shrugging off its granny shawl for 2014, and will be filling up the glasses of all the most beautiful people around town. Of course Michelin-starred Jason Atherton, and Entrepeneur extroaordinaire, Yenn Wong, are ahead of the rest of us on this one, and have just unveiled the perfect spot to get your sherry fix, the very aptly named Ham& Sherry…

Set a few doors down from its elder brother, 22 Ships, Ham & Sherry looks perfectly at home on uber-cool Ship Street decked out as it is in a patchwork of blue and white tiles and mirrored walls wrapped around a large stainless steel open kitchen.

The menu is pretty Sherry heavy, with over fifty types to work your way through, complemented by a short but sweet selection of tapas to soak up all that fortified wine. If you feel slightly overwhelmed leafing through the weighty tome of Sherries, fear not there’s a super helpful section which neatly guides you through the list. We figure finding your perfect Sherry is sort of like finding your prince, if at first you kiss a frog, try and try again, we guarantee Mr Charming is just around the corner (ours is the super slinky La Cigarrera Manzanilla FYI…).

While there’s just a handful of tapas dishes to nibble while you sup your sherry, food definitely isn’t playing second fiddle here. Just think of the Ham & Sherry menu as a carefully curated selection of Spain’s Greatest Hits. All the big boys are represented, think: Paella Arancini (chorizo-spiked balls of risottoey heaven), jamon and goats cheese croquettes, salt and pepper baby squid and bright green, salty, fried padron peppers. Oh, and did we mention the ham?! Sherry’s soulmate, the salty, buttery Jamon provides the perfect partner to your tipple. We can’t get enough of the 48 month-aged Jamon Iberico de Bellota, and the Chorizo and Lomo and pretty great too.

Sherry got you revved up and ready to party like it’s 1999? Maybe mention to your friendly waiter that you’d like to shake things up with a little something in the Back Bar... We’ve been sworn to secrecy so we’ll leave it at that, but rest assured you’ll leave a few hours later feeling like all your New Years have come at once…

Ham & Sherry

1-7 Ship Street

Wanchai

Hong Kong

The Mice Resolve To...

We all made it through another year and pretty much all in one piece....! Now that the discarded Champagne bottles have been recycled, the stockings have been hidden away until next year and the drinking from 10am has subsided, it can only mean one thing...Hello 2014!

Once Christmas has passed it's always a big come down. We may all have a few beautiful newbies in our wardrobe, but the fact still remains that we have to go back to work with everyone a lot less jolly! Goodbye early finishes for boozy lunches and lazy breakfasts to all moan about the hangover, it's back to serious business and so far that's been paired with lots of miserable rainy mornings in London!

But, let's scrap the glum outlook, the new year upon us! The Mice have decided to be positive and make only good things happen in 2014! Holidays are being booked, serious Sales shopping is being done and our brand spanking new diaries are filling up with fun dates and adventures!

You may remember our New Years resolutions post last year, however, if not let's take a trip down memory lane and see how we did...

HK Mouse...

1. Wardrobe Rehab - check! 

2. Get Bikini Fit - check!

Middle Mouse...

1. Never be late again - she started off well but… let's face it, a leopard never changes its spots!

2. Bag a hot husband - no rock on that finger yet unfortunately! 

Mini Mouse...

1. Start a house hunt to find the perfect grown up abode - I can't even pretend on this one...I haven't even signed up to any estate agents!!

2. Own a pair of Christian Louboutins and a piece of Acne...fail again, instead I went on 5 holidays!

Evidently some were way more ambitious than others and I for one didn't score too highly in the achievement stakes! So without further ado here's to a brand new shiny set of 2014 Resolutions, this year I am going to think with care!!!

HK Mouse...

My first resolution is to be kinder to myself. In the words of the queen of the wrap dress and out and out fashion fabulous gal, Diane von Furstenberg...

I'm a huge fan of the ever-awesome Grace Atwood's blog, Stripes & Sequins, and a post that she penned at the end of last year struck a particular chord with me. I'm forever looking in the mirror and being mean about my thighs, or my hair or the ginormous bags under my eyes... This year, as tough as it might be, I'm going to try my absolute damnedest to be nicer to myself and to just try to be a bit more grateful for all the great things I have. Whether I've had the chance to wear my amazing new shoes or just had fun cocktails with one of my favourite girls, thankful's 2014's buzzword. 

Resolution number two is to write, write and write some more. I've been meaning for years to start on an exciting new writing project and I just feel it in my bones that this year is my year...

Middle Mouse...

For me this year is all about saying...

My 2014 moto is to say YES to more (within reason!) Spontaneity isn't something that comes naturally to me. I like a plan and it's not often I waver outside of the lines so this year I intend to go wiggly wobbly.

My second promise to 2014 is to...

With this in mind I want to get back into: 

• Photography - taking my Canon DSLR with me everywhere and snapping everything and anything that catches my eye
• Sleeping - making sure I take full advantage of my weekend lie ins. Does this make me more awesome I hear you ask - yes, yes it does because without sleep I'm a total whinge bag!
• Dancing - I used to dance pretty much morning, noon & night when I was younger, so I intend to get my dancing shoes back on whether that be a weekly trip to Pineapple Dance Studios or dancing the night away boozy-style with my fabulous friends 

Mini Mouse...

OK realistic resolution number one... repaint the whole of London towers! Embarrassingly the flood damage a year and a half ago is still very much there and after living here for six years it's time to make some decor updates. Please note I'm not wishing for a brand new house this year but instead to spruce up what we currently have, if I can't tick this one off I don't deserve to live in a flat! 

Resolution number two... with three holidays pre-June already booked and another in the pipeline it really is time to get myself to the gym. I am officially stealing HK mouse's resolution to get myself bikini fit. I've already made gym trip number one for 2014, and as a result can now barely walk, however no pain no gain! So by March 2014 (holiday number 1) I want to be fit and more toned and by December 2014 my aim is to be a SUPER MINI mouse!! 

Job done... now here's to making them all come true along with lots of fun, cocktails and exciting adventures in between...

Hello 2014!

…And we're BACK!

...And it's a brand new year!

…And we have a sneaking suspicion that 2014 is going to be a pretty great one.

Well, we're big believers in 'if you say something enough it'll come true' soooo, we've decided that 2014 is going to be the year of positive thinking and amazing things. Which means that on the very first Monday of this sparkly fresh year we're thinking happy thoughts and are here to spread some New Year cheer! 

Wishing you all a wonderful Monday and a year filled with love, luck and laughter!

x

The Mice

Images via: www.pinterest.com