Haylo gets married & Chelsea get hammered

Wednesday 26th  October - Decided it was time to go to the gym and couldn't use my cold as an excuse anymore. Couldn't remember how to use the machines though so I felt a little silly and just generallly hated it really haha.

Thursday 27th - Had lunch with my boss as the others had lunch with an ex-colleague. It was good to sit and chat which we haven't done since my first week. In the evening I went and got my snow gear and boots.

Friday 28th - Last day for one of the girls in the office. Also Rob's birthday so we ordered pizza in. Had a great night, met up with Tim & Carina to celebrate Haylo & Tom's wedding back home. Went to some place called Koko in Camden and there was a big Halloween night on. When we came out the 27 bus was out the front! I didnt even know it went past there so that was lucky. I left my heels on the bus though :( sad days. Although they did give me bruises so it's probably for the best.

Saturday 29th - Had a nice long Skype chat with Jenny, then went to the football to see Chelsea v Arsenal. Crazy game, lost 5-3! It was mental! Came home and slept and watched x factor and getting some rest and relaxation in before heading to Stonehenge, Bath & Windsor tomorrow.

Celebrating Haylo & Tom's wedding at Koko with Tim & Carina

A post today about today

My blog has become more of a listing really. It's ok, just as long as I have somewhere to remeber all the stuff I'm getting up to on this side of the world. I met Cat for dinner at The Swan in Hammersmith which was lovely. Got home and had some chats and laughs with some of my housemates.

The Swan, Hammersmith

A few more dreams realised

So here is the stuff I've gotten up to. Still catching up on all this blogging business. Not giving it up, just want to make sure I keep account of what I get up to.

Sat 15th October: 3 Kings Pub - Man Utd vs Liverpool 1-1. Chelsea vs. Everton at Stamford Bridge with Matt 3-1. Met up with Ally and Tim after for Cocktail Week but ended with Lasagne at 11pm after an unsuccessful Cocktail Week mission.

Sun 16th: Slept in and missed Stonehenge Tour. Went and watched Aus vs Kiwis in Rugby semi back at 3 Kings, lossed. Went to National Gallery.

Monday 17th: RCH Quiz & Curry Night - came 3rd.

Tuesday 18th: Got home and went to bed at 6:30pm, could feel a cold coming on. Booked trip to Norway :)

Wednesday 19th: Gym induction. My long-term goal is to complete the program they have written for me. Didn't train though, definitely got the cold.

Thursday 20th: Went to Graham Norton and missed out on tickets as they over-allocate in case of no shows. We went to Pizza Express instead.

Friday 21st: Went home after a half day, feeling really average. Just stayed in bed from about 2:30pm until the next morning.

Saturday 22nd: Still not 100% but went down to MacDonald Botley Park near Southampton for girly spa weekend with Ally.

Sunday 23rd: Caught a cab into town and shopped and then watched Man City thrash Man U 6-1! Disappointed by Chelsea's loss to QPR though.

Monday 24th: Blocked sinuses, still not great so skipped gym until Wednesday and just went home to rest after work.

Chelsea 3 - 1 Everton

The most expensive blog

Ok, I wrote have of this on the 15th and half on 19th so it's all over the place!
So it's now Saturday the 15th October and I have yet again let my blogging get away from me. Not to worry. I'm sitting in bed at 10am preparing to fulfill a lifetime dream... see Chelsea play in the EPL.

Maybe I'll go back to last Friday. 4 of us housemates went out for Pedro's birthday. We had a couple of drinks at a pub in Chiswick and then headed into town, around the Piccadilly area. We met a few of his Italian friends and had a good night. It was good going out with my housemates coz at the end of the night we all went back to the same place. He was flying to Italy for the weekend on Saturday morning so we stayed up with him until he had to go. We got pizza at about 2 in the morning, it was awesome. I didnt envy him leaving as we all headed to bed.

For the rest of the weekend I was feeling a little mopey and homesick. I tried to get myself out of it but I wasn't trying hard enough. I walked up to Hammersmith and was going to go in and see a museum or something but I had picked up a package from Royal Mail and bought a few things up at the shops that I now had too many things to carry so I walked home. Although I did stop off at a little tea room for French toast and to read my book. Ally & Matt came over for pizza and we watched X Factor with Tina. On Sunday we went to Spitalfields markets which was ok. I think I preferred Portobello. I was pretty tired and had a lazy Sunday evening in.

On Monday night Ally and I went to our bums, tums and thighs class and it was brutal! I'm still feeling it in my abs. Later at home I was watching tv with Tina and Pedro and Embarrassing Bodies was on and this girl was on there describing her symptoms in her private area and then the guy was examining her and then they showed it. Pedro and I went berserk! Tina thought we were funny but I couldnt believe they'd show something like that on TV!

Oh right, so I figured out the cure for mopiness. Spend lots of money :/ I booked flights to visit Tine in Germany, booked a Stonehenge/Bath/Windsor tour and… bought tickets for me and Matt to see Chelsea vs Everton (as mentioned above). I was trying to book Chelsea vs Liverpool but that was always going to be impossible, but then all of a sudden the Everton tickets were showing seats.

Later that evening I also booked a girly spa weekend for me and Ally.

On the Tuesday “Call me Bubbles” tried again, this time near Liverpool street. We werent great but the quiz master assumed we gave up and stopped reading our score! Wednesday I was supposed to go fir gym induction but Nikki invited me to go out for London Cocktail week so I had a tough time (not) changing my plans. It was great but really badly organised. Between the 2 of us (both in marketing) and her friend (in event management) we thought of all these things they should have done… apps, a map, addresses, recipes… etc.

Thursday night was the Winter Wonderland at the Montague hotel which was cool. It going to be held in December. On Friday night I stayed in and relaxed after a busy week and before a busy weekend.

Pedro's Birthday

Keep your clothes on!

I had a normal day at work and then went to my first gym class... bums, tums & thighs. It was great but soooo hard. I was confronted with the normal gym change room behavious though, the older ones just walk around naked! One gets completely naked before taking off her shoes...why? I dont want to see it. I could tell I was going to feel it later. I even walked home! It's a 25 minutes walk! Go me!

New Forest photography

What a fantastic day! I woke up nice and early and skyped the Cellich/Myles clan who were having the annual Grand Final party. It was nice chatting and seeing a few familiar faces. I had booked for a forest photography workshop. I got picked up at 7:20am and there were only 2 of us on the tour (the other was an English guy called Tim) with 2 teachers (Ian & Brian). I learnt loads, the weather was perfect, the scenery was amazing. When I was back in Brockenhurst I was walking down the street and saw a pony standing in front of a cottage door so I stopped to take a photo. As I was standing there I felt someone walking towards me so I went to step aside for them. I looked up and there was a giant pony standing in my face HAHAHA!! It was really funny! I caught the train back to London in the afternoon. Such a good weekend!

Doing the stuff you always say you'd like to...

It’s October! I am definitely making the most of this weather and caught the train down to New Forest National Park. I’m staying a night at the Cloud Hotel in Brockenhurst. It’s a cool town where ponies (yet owned) are free to wander around! I had a walk down the high street and then caught the train to Lymington which is a cute seaside town. They have markets on Saturday so I walked around and enjoyed the small England town atmosphere. Back at the hotel I defined relaxation by reading my book in the garden and then transferring the same activity to the bathtub in my room. It was heaven. One of those things you dream about doing like it's impossible. I just had dinner in the hotel which was a 3 course meal and really nice. I think I am the youngest guest by about 30 years though.

Pimms

It’s been a warm week, a heatwave in fact – high 20’s! Everyone of course was making the most of it and Ally, Matt and I were no exception. I met them down at the Blue Anchor right near Hammersmith Bridge were we had Pimms and a debrief on the week.

Any excuse to shop

Back to Westfield… more shoes. HAHA nah, I actually need training shoes for exercise ans they’re much cheaper here. I’m really happy with the ones I got because the sole is really flexible and they’re really light which will be good for dance style exercising. My sneakers back home are much too heavy for zumba and classes like that.

I went to the gym! What?!

After work I went and joined the gym! GO ME! Then I went down to the river with 3 of my housemates, Tina, Pedro (Francesco) and Graham. I can’t believe I’d not been down to the river before. We had dinner at the Old Ship. It was great! We had a good night and lots of laughs.

The Old Ship

Wicked!

I was lucky enough to score a couple of tickets to see Wicked through RCH. I invited Tracey to join me. She came into the city with Daniel and Caitlyn and Chris met us after work. I had a 15% off  offer ay The Rainforest Café through RCH so I suggested there as the kids would love it too. Dinner was good although when it was time to settle the bill they wouldn’t give me the 15% off which was slightly embarrassing. The show was incredible! I have possibly not heard an audience applaud so loud before.

 

Live at the Apollo

The start of a busy week. Carina had scored 4 tickets to see Live at the Apollo. The best part is  it’s in Hammersmith. It absolutely poured in the afternoon and the line for the theatre was outrageous. We were around several corners. We met up with her flatmate Paul and Haylo’s other friend Tim. It was great to be hanging out with Haylo’s friends. The theatre was like a sauna! The acts for the night were Sean Lock, Ed Byrne, Lee Nelson, Jason (?), Jimeoin and ??. The last guy was American so a different type of humour. He was awful! He came out and made some jokes about having been a weed addict and it seemed like her was still on it. It was really awkward and people were leaving and it was really cringe worthy. I walked down the Great West road to get home and like a proper numpy I walked straight past my own house hahaha. After a shower to cool down I skyped Jackie & Jenny which was awesome!

Pondering sight at The Bridge

Kylie & Alex’s wedding day, such a shame to miss it! My tourist day for the week. I had a nice and easy morning and then headed to Stamford Bridge to do the Chelsea Stadium tour which was really cool. After that I had some lunch at GBK. I was observing a blind couple having lunch as I ate. I was so intrigued and so many questions came to mind. What would happen to their relationship if they could see? Would they be attracted to each other? Do they even want to see? Then I was thinking of the less deep things like if she knew a stick was holding her burger together and would she feel it if it poked her in the eye. It really made me thankful for my sight. I wasn’t done being a tourist so I headed up to Regents Park to play with my camera. I reckon my camera was almost quivering in my bag with excitement. It was a stunning place! I walked in and thought this is where I’d have wedding photos. Queen Mary’s Rose Garden was not only beautiful, the smell was incredible! I wish I could post a smellography album on Facebook to share with everyone. The evening was quiet, I just got ready for the week ahead and relaxed.

The Press Room at Stamford Bridge

Shoes shoes shoes

A bit of a running errands kinda day. I popped into the post office so send a few things. Then it was off to the hairdressers. I had heard a few bad hairdresser stories about hairdressers in London so I was slightly apprehensive. I tried out Headmasters in Hammersmith and I was actually really happy with my experience so that was a relief. Granted, I had the colour codes with me so there was no colour consultation necessary. I wonder if I might try something a little different next time. Then I went to Westfield London where I bought 3 pairs of shoes… ummm… yeah… well, the 1^st pair were boots which I needed to buy because the ones I was wearing broke and I was walking around with the zipper undone. Plus my feet were wet inside because they weren’t wet weather friendly. The other pair were flats to replace the £6 Primark ones that got ruined at Portobello. The 3^rd pair was for luck I guess J I had a quiet evening in watching X Factor.

Bacon butties

It seemed like the team were slightly hungover so we all got bacon sandwiches. I was fortunate enough to feel better than the day before. After work I made my way home, stopped in Hammersmith to do some shopping and have dinner on the way. It was a pretty early night.

Ten-pin team night

Work as normal. We had a team night in the evening. First we had dinner at The Chesterfield Mayfair. I could get used to 5 star service and product. Then we went to a bowling alley. Our team won and I got the highest score which meant I could go to work at 10am the next day. I wasn’t feel that well actually. I had a sore throat and a headache and the music was so loud.