Happy Christmas

London in the snow

Walking out from my last photo shoot and interview of 2010 this year, the beauty of London struck me suddenly with the subtlety of Santa's sleigh at full speed. It had been snowing for an hour and there was slight sprinkling of snow that had covered everything. The Christmas lights seem to be twinkling twice as much through the falling snow and London almost took on a Charles Dickens-esque feeling - beautiful. So beautiful in fact, that I walked home that night - even though it was three miles in bitter conditions. I loved every step. For the first time this year it really felt like Christmas.
In these freezing conditions, the filming of the Light Blue commercial on the coast of Capri in the warm Mediterranean sea seemed a lifetime away. When these commercials start showing like they have again recently, the main topic of conversation (apart from the obvious and now seemingly famous white trunks), is about my fitness and diet to get into shape for filming.
Because I often get asked the same question, I have thought of maybe expanding my iPhone apps and developing a fitness/workout/diet app, passing on everything that I have learnt over the last 10 years of training - with some very advanced trainers and nutritionists, as well as through my own trial and error. There will definitely be some serious thought into this.
Even though I mostly train myself, when I want to push myself and my body for shoots such as the Light Blue, there's only one person I go to for advice and training. Her name is Nathalie Bomgren and she works at a private training studio called Bodyism in London http://www.bodyism.com. For me, she and the other trainers are some of the top and most advanced performance coaches/fat loss specialists in the world. Now I wish I could say they have miracle techniques that require little effort, but this is never the case. Nathalie is a great friend, but in the gym she won’t budge an inch and pushes me physically like I have never been pushed before. They really do provide incredible results for their clients. I think after Christmas and a little over indulgence, I may be making a few emergency visits.
Well, what an astonishing year. I'm not going to lie, I am pretty exhausted and looking forward to the Christmas and New Year break. I feel very lucky to have become part of the VOGUE.COM team and would like to thank Dolly for inviting me to start writing. I certainly find it a great challenge, but it has become part of my weekly ritual that I love, wherever I am or whatever has been happening.
But I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who reads my blog and especially to those who have taken the time to comment throughout. I promise you that I read everyone's thoughts and comments and wish in many ways that I could reply or answer your questions (hmm is this another idea Dolly?). So to everyone, a very Merry Christmas and best wishes for 2011.