V&A visit

It has been a while since I have looked forward to a weekend this much. Of course, I look forward to every weekend but this has been one of those weeks. After a busy Monday and Tuesday (already addressed in the last post) Wednesday wasn’t all that great either when I discovered a disgusting amount of mould on my wall and even some of my books. We’ve had mould issues for a while which our landlords promised to fix but it’s taking a while.

Anyway, on Thursday night I had a catch up with my friend Katherine. I hadn’t seen Katherine in forever so we spent the evening chatting over some lovely food at Wahaca (we had a selection platter of tapas) and then walked by Southbank. It was a lovely evening!

I had a lazy, early night in on Friday and after way too much sleep, woke up fresh-faced on Saturday and went into crazy-cleaning-lady mode. I decided to completely rearrange my room, move my bed and shelves to different sides of the room (away from the mouldy wall), deep clean the entire room, including the disgusting wall. This ‘lovely’ task took my entire morning and quite a bit of the afternoon. I spent the rest of the day watching plenty of telly and trying to keep warm (the latter part was unsuccessful).

In the evening, my friend Rosie came over for dinner. We were supposed to go out for some dancing but since she was on antibiotics and Steph was unwell, we stayed and chatted over some homemade veggie chilli (pretty yummy, even if I do say so myself), lemon tart (shop bought) and wine (not for Rosie, of course). It was the nicest evening!

Today, after an awful night’s sleep, I spent the morning in bed with too much coffee, some leftover lemon tart and Hart of Dixie (it’s my addiction!) Being sick of all the lazy, I eventually got myself up and ready and headed to the V&A. I had never been there before and figured it was high time I gave the place a visit.

I’m not a fan of sculptures and didn’t look enough into the exhibitions enough to buy a ticket for one so I was a little doubtful on how well the trip would go but actually it was really interesting! I did end up ignoring all the sculptures but the some of the architectural pieces were incredible, as were the East Asian rugs and furniture- the work was so intricate, I was amazed someone did that 100s of years ago in a pre-computer age!

After a bit more mooching, I got the train up to High Street Kensington to pop into some shops, including WholeFoods. I haven’t been there for a while and bought the odd “healthy” snack, including my new food obsession; pitta chips (I ate so much, I now feel a little sick). The evening was spent watching more Hart of Dixie and sorting some admin stuff out on my computer which has made me so sleepy and my eyes slightly square!

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Muah

Roo xx

Failed Sunday brunch

After an early night on Saturday, I hoped to wake up fresh-faced on Sunday morning, ready for Sunday brunch with Chloe. That didn't quite work out. Although I managed to get an early night, numerous texts and calls from drunken friends meant that I miserably failed at having a good night's sleep. I woke up shattered and clearly was not the only one, as Chloe slept through her alarm and we changed our brunch date to lunch.

We spent the afternoon in Hyde Park, walking around, taking in the fresh, crisp air and having a much over-due catch up. We eventually ventured towards Bond Street, skipping most shops, aside from the one or two that weren't overcrowded and grabbed lunch at the Slug & Lettuce, just off Regent Street. I had limited the Slug & Lettuce to post-work drinks with colleagues but actually, their food is really good! Me and Chloe both had lasagna (which came with garlic bread) which was delicious. It would have been the perfect place if it weren't for the overly loud guy, two tables away who was talking loud, people were unable to zone out his conversation. 

Autumn chill was in the air and the
leaves were on the ground

For dessert, we grabbed a Starbucks on the go. It was my first Christmas drink (I went with the gingerbread latte) in a red cup which is the first sign that Christmas is on its way! After yet more walking, we ended up by Southbank and sat by the Eye until we were so cold, we had no choice but to head home. It was the perfect Sunday afternoon!

As for the last two days, they have been mental, with me running errands like a loony (I think I may have planned to do too much). Luckily, aside from a trip to the gym, I have nothing planned for tomorrow and am determined to have a relaxing evening. 

Hope everyone has a great week! 

Muah,

Roo xx

Lazy/productive: same difference?

We're halfway through the weekend and I chose to spend the first half of it being lazy. Kind of. Being lazy, meant I wasn't rushing around like a loony, trying to do 101 things like I seem to have been doing, nevertheless it turned out quite productive.

Missing a day and a half of work this week meant that Friday flew by. Before I knew it (and before I managed to cross everything off my to-do list) it was 5:30 pm and the start of the weekend. After work, I took Edita to the gym, as promised. After a very long gym session (probably because of all the chatting), we went out for a bite to each. Most of the places around Fleet Street were already closed so we picked the only place that was open: Poncho 8 - a burrito place on New Street. The burritos were delicious and the staff were incredibly friendly so all in all, it was a great dinner! After way too much food, me and Edita walked up to Southbank where the little Christmas market was officially in full swing! It was hard to ignore the festive atmosphere. That, coupled with a Baileys Latte (I know!) and a girly catch up, I had the perfect Friday evening!

No thanks to my body clock, I failed to have a lie in this morning and felt a bit groggy and under the weather. Using that as an excuse, I had a lazy morning on the sofa, searching for Christmas presents. Eventually I got myself ready and out of the house to head up to Westfields. It was nice to spend the day on my own (whilst also being surrounded by endless amounts of people, of course) and just mooch around from shop to shop. I managed to get quite a few Christmas presents which feels great! I know we are still quite a while away from the big day, but I want to get all the shopping out of the way, leaving me with all the fun of wrapping and card-writing closer to the time. In the midst of all of walking, I found some beautiful home decorations at Next which reminded me that I haven't bought anything for my room in forever! It took every fibre of self-control not to buy everything!

Addicted to this picture frame (or 9)

I returned home absolutely shattered. Although I feel like I haven't done that much, the day really took it out of me and in spite of my best intentions to go out for a friend's birthday, I decided that a night in is probably the best thing for my immune system at the moment. I spent the evening watching rubbish telly with Steph over some Dominos pizza and although it feels really weird and unnatural to be lazy on a Saturday, doing so little, I think it's exactly what I needed.

Night

Roo xx

Spa day

Not many girls would say no to a spa day. So when it came to buying my mum’s birthday present (back in August!) I bought her a voucher for the spa and afternoon tea at Montcalm Hotel for her and myself. Well yesterday was the day that we (finally) made use of that voucher!

Having booked the Wednesday off, I had been looking forward to it all week but had the worst start to the day, waking up sneezing, with a sore throat and a headache. The morning was really rushed and quite stressful too: I headed up to Wimbledon to pick up my mum’s Christmas present which I had ordered online and tried to fix my phone at the store but before anything could be fixed, I had to rush off. major fail!

From there on, however the day got much better. I met my mum at Charring Cross, so we mooched around Leicester Square before walking by Southbank where we grabbed a Baileys Latte at Benugo at BFI (this might be a new addiction), up to St James Park and eventually ended up at Marble Arch.

Having never been to Montcalm before, I didn’t have the highest expectations but both me and mum had the nicest afternoon! We first had afternoon tea, which included way too much food and just enough tea (I am only a tea person when it’s too late in the day to drink coffee) , all of which was delicious! We then headed down to the spa which wasn’t particularly big – it had a Jacuzzi, a steam room, a sauna and a smallish-pool – but since we had the whole place to ourselves it was perfect!

After the spa, we were thoroughly relaxed (and a little sleepy) and had a walk down Bond Street, doing some window shopping, along with some actual shopping – I managed to cross another Christmas present off the list (only a million left). It was a bit chilly outside but I had my first glimpse of the Selfridges Christmas windows which were awesome and saw some fake snow outside Boots!

I returned home absolutely shattered! Today, I woke up, unable to open my eye which had become infected. I have been using eye drops all day but it has continued to sting and is incredibly swollen and red, so I was sent home and now I am feeling a little sorry for myself – not the most attractive thing to do, but sometimes it’s much needed.

This makes even me feel better

Hope everyone has a better Thursday than I’ve been having!

Muah

Roo xx

P.S. I hope everyone likes the new-look of the blog!

Time for tennis

So I survived the week! Phew! After an incredibly challenging week, I came home on Friday, plomped myself on the sofa and spent the evening chattering away with Steph. We both felt very old, having a lazy Friday night in but it was much needed!

My attempt to have a lie in on Saturday failed (thanks to my messed up body clock!) Without much stress, I had a productive morning, running errands and sorting myself out a bit. Later on in the afternoon, me and Steph headed out to Wandsworth for some shopping. It was a very successful trip for both of us. I bought a pair of boots which I was in desperate search for and some tops and Steph bought boots and a coat (both very important purchases for the upcoming season).

Steph's gorgeous new coat!

My snazzy new shoes

On returning to the flat, Steph made a Spanish omelette (I made the all-important salad) which was the nicest, relaxed lunch I’ve had in a while, so thanks Steph! Soon after lunch, Richard arrived, only to leave again to go to the o2 for the ATP World Tour Finals. It was incredible! The atmosphere was awesome (very American, upbeat, cheesy and over-the-top) and we saw some great tennis. We saw the Bryan brothers (who I adore and who won - yay!) and the Djokovic v Gasquet match which was really exciting with lots of great tennis (even if the winner was not the one I hoped for). It was an awesome evening and amazing to see the last tennis of the year. It was also my first time at the o2 Arena which was incredible! It’s huge!!!!!!!!!!!

After the match, not wanting to go home, we headed up to Wimbledon, where Steph joined us for some drinks. We didn’t reach Wimbledon till quite, and so were limited to where we could go before everything closed (and not wanting to walk too far since it was raining) so settled on O’Neills. The entertainment was hilarious! There were a bunch of middle aged people, dancing about, having the time of their life and it was just great to relax, watch them and chat too, every once in a while.

Having returned home quite late, we all had a bit of a lie in this morning and the day started off quite late (by my standards, anyway). I spent my morning back in Wimbledon, buying a couple of Christmas presents - I am trying to get all the shopping out of the way as soon as possible - before rushing home, dumping my bags and heading up to Embankment to meet my friend Rosie.

We went up to the café in BFI and had some coffee and cake (I had a latte with Baileys: amazing!) and spent the evening chatting and walking by the river. I’ve mentioned a couple of times how much I love the walk by Southbank but rather than walking towards Tower Bridge (my usual route) , this time we walked towards Vauxhall which was equally as lovely, with London all lit up. We also noticed that the Christmas market is being set up by Southbank which made us both very excited!

For the first time in a couple of weeks, I returned home at a reasonable hour which was lovely. I managed to have a relaxing evening, I am not exhausted (for a change) and although am not looking forward to the working week, I am feeling more capable of surviving it than last Sunday.

Hope everyone has a fab week!

Muah

Roo xx

Bang!

A very busy week is coming to an end (almost) and as stressful as its been, it has been incredibly productive. Both at work and outside of it. 

Ever day this week I have been running around like a loony at work, with a 1000 tasks to do and only a working day and me to sort it all out. My week started off with a bang (figuratively speaking) on Monday; I was working flat out all day. So when my friend Rosie suggested meeting for after-work drinks, I was more than happy to say yes! We met at the National Theatre and had a couple of glasses of wine at the bar. It's not a place that I ever considered going to for a drink (I limit it to theatre-going) but having met up just before the 7:30pm showing started, the place was so quiet and chilled within minutes; it was the perfect place to chat away. 

Turns out, wine was probably not the best of ideas, since I ended up having the worst night's sleep and was a bit of a zombie the following long. After yet another hectic day and a gym session, I came home to a lovely dinner which Natz cooked for everyone. It was great to just sit at a table (whilst eating some delicious food) and catch up with everyone since I've felt that I haven't seen everyone in one place in a while. After dinner, we all headed out to Wimbledon Park to finish the night off with a bang (literally) for Bonfire Night. 

I've known that Wimbledon Park was having fireworks for a while and figured that we would show up, pay for entry, watch some fireworks and make the (short) walk home. Not so. Apparently the Wimbledon Park fireworks are a huge deal! The queues were so long that we decided to wait across the road and watch from there. Long story short: the fireworks started a lot later than promised (Dan gave up 20mins in an went back to the flat) and after a lot of standing around we managed to get into the park once the firework display started. And it was quite a display. In fact the whole place was unrecognisable - there were huge bonfires, fun fair rides and candy floss everywhere and lots of loud music as the fireworks went off (not quite the mellow park that people go for runs in or walk their dogs). I was too tired (and cold) to go on any of the rides, so after the impressive display, headed back home and got myself into bed. 

I don't know about everyone else but I haven't been handling the clock-change very well and have not been impressed with finishing work when it's dark outside. It makes for a very tired Roo! The only saving grace is the way the city looks at night. Leaving work when it's dark just reminds me how beautiful London is at night time! It's the main reason why unlike most (normal) people, I try to do something after work during the dark, winter nights: to see the city in all its glory. 

And on another good note, I am only one sleep (and a full day of work) away from the weekend! 

Night!

Muah,

Roo xx

Lets play a game

Another incredible weekend has come and gone and as shattered as I am, it has been absolutely worth it!

Following Friday’s shenanigans, I had a pretty lazy Saturday afternoon at home with the girls which consisted of food and telly. Eventually we got ourselves up and ready, intending to go to the Sherlock Holmes museum, but seeing the endless queue to get in (and it being nearly closing time) we decided to postpone that trip and headed up to Southbank, spending the day at the arcade by the Sealife centre. It turned out to be a hilarious evening! We mooched around from game to game, spending our pennies and pounds, laughing endlessly and even playing a game of bowling. It was the best evening!

After some more lounging about once we got back home, me, Natz and her friend Tom (who came down for the evening, returning from his worldwide travels) headed out to the Slug at Wimbledon.  We were all absolutely shattered (Tom having the only legitimate reason; jetlag) so we danced around for a bit and had a good time but called it a night quite early, managing to get one of the last trains home.

As for today, with (yet again) too little sleep, I headed up to East London to pick up my Godson, Erik for a day of babysitting. I took him up to London and spent another day at the arcade with my cousin Donatas and his fiancé, Edita. It was a chilled day but both myself and Erik got back absolutely shattered nonetheless.  

And now with my eyes burning and my head throbbing a little (presumably from the lack of sleep), I am going to have a shamefully early night and prepare myself for what looks to be a busy week.

Hope everyone has an amazing week!

Muah

Roo xx

A very happy Friday

Fridays generally become pretty awesome as of 5:30 pm. This week, Friday started off awesome as soon as I woke up: I booked the day off just because.

Anyway, the first day of my long weekend was very successfully! It started off with a much needed lie-in, followed by a deep clean of the flat (yes, I am a grown up; cleaning on my day off!) After some lounging around, me and Natz (who also had the day off) headed up to Shoreditch for the day. Unfortunately, the weather was awful: it was drizzly and quite cold; not the best combination for mooching around.

We didn't stay out long; we walked around a bit and found some much needed shelter at the Brick Lane Market (which, as cool as it was, wasn’t quite my type of place). We ended up at Old Spitalfields Market which I have never been to, but absolutely loved (and not just because it protected us from the wind and rain)! There were so many stalls with so many gorgeous dresses! I even bought myself a cosy jumper. Having toured the market a couple of times, we had lunch at Strada (unable to find a non-chain place which we both liked) which was a little disappointing. Although the service was great, the food really wasn't anything to boast about. To quell that disappointment, I had a Lola's cupcake for dessert. Yum!

Vintage glasses, anyone?

Upon returning home, I decided to dye my hair "deep violet" (i.e. purple). I've been meaning to dye my hair a purple-esque colour for a while now and finally bit the bullet and did it with not unsuccessful results. I think I quite like it but the colour seems to be too purple at the roots and too dark at the bottom so it’ll be interesting to see what it will look like after a couple of washes!

After the hair-dying operation, me, Natz, Steph and our (other) friend Richard got ourselves Halloween-ready and headed out to The Fulham Slug (that counts as something different, right?!) The night started off quite slow: we were the only ones dressed up and it was quite quiet but by the time we managed to have a drink or two and dance about, the place was packed (but managed to stay far more civilised than in Wimbledon) and we had an absolute blast with lots and lots of dancing.

Having had very little sleep, I started my Saturday with a very short run (but I figured that’s better than nothing) and now I am lounging about, with Chinese food and some telly. I will eventually do something productive. I hope.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Muah,

Roo xx