Ice Ice Baby!

As most Londoners know - or rather, most British inhabitants - the big freeze has enveloped the city and the country. You would think that having been born and raised (until the age of eight, at least) in Lithuania, I would be able to deal with a bit of cold weather. That, however is absolutely not the case. I love the sun and hot weather which I guess makes London the wrong city for me. Nevertheless, I refused to allow the weather to defeat me and decided to face the city head on (albeit with most of my face hidden in a snood).

I met up with Jess in Greenwich park. The park has always been one of my favourite places in the city. Having studied for my A-levels not too far from Greenwich, I was used to making weekly trips to the park and no matter what mood I was in, it could always make me feel happy and content. However, with the Olympic preparations, I steered clear of the place as the park has been completely ruined with all the preparations. So it was lovely to see the place, post-Olympics. We walked around Cutty Sark and grabbed a bite to eat at  Tai Won Mein. Usually, whenever we want to grab some Chinese food, we head to Noodle Time but decided to try someplace new. It didn't quite pay off. The staff were very rude, my spring rolls were very oily with too much pastry and not enough veg and whilst our noodles were nice enough, they were slightly too greasy. After lunch, we decided to walk our huge lunch off and headed to the park. The part of the park which was turned into the arena for all the equestrian and dressage for the Olympics is still a mess, with lots of up-turned soil but the rest of the park was lovely and quiet. The trees were their usual barren self, but it definitely had a calming effect on me and made me very glad I came. After our walk, we headed to a cute little sweet shop which sold old-school sweets (mostly American) and after failing to find some Fizz Wizz (which is my childhood sweet), we decided to try some Willy Wonka taffy which left us with blue tongues and lips. Gotta love regression to childhood!

After our sugar rush, we headed to Canary Wharf where we met up with Donatas and Edita to have a look at the London Ice Sculpting Festival. The weather was ridiculously cold, in spite of which the sculptures were melting ever-so-slightly and since it was evening, it was harder to appreciate the intricate detail of sculptures but they were still so amazing and with the all the lighting and lit up trees, the place looked absolutely lovely!

After our little tour, Edita and Donatas headed home and me and Jess, unable to feel our fingers or toes (or parts of our faces), we headed inside to grab a coffee - Starbucks, of course! I have to say, it was a bit of a mission to find a Starbucks with seating inside Canada Square - a problem which I have never experienced before but in our search, I did come across Sweet Couture Cupcake Boutique and couldn't resist a little cupcake! And honestly, they were amazing! A cupcake, followed by a skinny vanilla latte: the ideal dinner, if you ask me!

All in all, I have had the most wonderful day. And now there is nothing left to do but put on some comfy and warm PJs, pour myself a glass of wine and watch a film or two. A very successful Saturday if you ask me!

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

Muah,


Roo xx

A good Christmas

I know it took some time, but I finally manged to steal some of Edita's photos from Christmas, so here is a little sum up of my family's Christmas...

Muah,


Roo xx

Post-holiday calm

Following my days of relaxation and then one whole day of work, I decided against staying in for the weekend and ventured out into central London. I have to say, that in the run-up to Christmas, I was seriously questioning my love of London - with all the crowds and the rush, along with the endless queues, my relationship with the city was under serious strain. But, I am very glad to say that once again, I am in love with it, now that the holidays have come to an end. As soon as I entered Trafalgar Square, I remembered why I loved this city so much. It had the perfect amount of tourists, there was not a single drop of rain and the weather was just warm enough, to make it the ideal temperature to walk around. Of course, this calm does not apply to the shopping areas: sales and London have never been a very good combination, but I was happy all the same. I even bought a pair of shoes! And no: I do not have a shoe addiction, but rather a shoe appreciation.

After walking around a few of the shops, I met up with Edita for a little catch-up. We headed to a little cafe in the Quadrant Arcade, just off Regent Street which has really cute cups and decent coffee but not the best food. They had a menu of sandwiches and a soup of the day - I wanted a baguette but was told they only had paninis (why advertise baguettes and sandwiches then?!) so had to settle on that which was ok, as far as sandwiches go. Edita had soup which was rather nice but not quite hot enough. After our little lunch, we just walked around. A lot. We toured St James' Park, headed down to Big Ben, up to Trafalgar Square, and as if I were a piece of metal being drawn to a magnet, we ended up in Covent Garden. I have to say though - without realising it, I haven't as yet seen Covent Garden in its Christmas glory in the night, so it was lovely to see it all lit up, just before it was all dissembled again.

We finished off the evening with some Starbucks and then headed up to Green Park, before heading home.

Nothing beats Starbucks. And we had definitely
earned the caramel calories after all that walking

As for today; it has been a miserable fail. I had intended to head out to Somerset House and have a look at the Valentino Couture collection that they have displayed there and maybe head out to Greenwich Park for a walk - basically have a 'me day'.Well, that didn't happen. I got dressed and got myself to the train station only to find out that due to "engineering works" there were no trains leaving my station today!  Of course, I could have relied on replacement bus services, but that would have dragged my journey time out and turned an intended day of relaxation to a day full of stress. So, I guess I will stick to tv watching, reading and will try and steer clear of internet shopping.

Muah,


Roo xx

Exciting start to 2013

I have some very exciting news for the new year: I have finally completed my application for the Legal Practice Course (LPC) in an attempt to pursue my career as a solicitor!

Having worked on the 27th and 28th of December, I had the last couple of days off work which I ,mainly spent being lazy and unproductive. The days largely consisted of a lot of reading, even more of Sex and the City watching, a gym session, making my very own calendar and finally today I have completed my LPC application for BPP law school. My plan has always been to take the year out and begin part-time LPC studies in the summer of 2013 but I have continually put off starting my application. Well today I have started and finished the application and tomorrow I will post it off (yes, that is right - post it: how very old school).

My part-typed, part-hand written application 

The first three months of my calendar. Not
sure how useful it'll be: can't see all of the dates

If all goes well, this will be me, come September

Fingers crossed, if they like me and I can arrange the necessary loan, I will begin the daunting studies in September. Wish me luck!


Muah,

Roo xx

Celebrating the start of 2013

To celebrate a brand new year, Chloe, Alex and myself headed to down to Tiger Tiger in Piccadilly for a night of dancing.

None of us had been there before, but having left our New Year's Eve plans very last minute, we weren't left with a lot of choices so we decided to give it a try. Overall, I had a lovely time and it was great to start the new year with two friends who I haven't seen as much of in 2012, as I would have liked. The club had boasted of 6 dance floors which was a bit of a lie - for one, two floors had the same music and one of the areas was a restaurant - no dancing there. Also, Tiger Tiger seemed to be completely anti-air con. Seriously! I know all clubs get horribly hot - but that place reached a whole new extreme; there weren't that many people there for it to so horrendously hot! Also, every single seating area was booked for private parties which was supremely annoying! Aside from all of that though - there was quite a mix of music - groovy, old classics (along with the multi-coloured dance floor), typical dance music (not our cup of tea) and some pop/r&b - a lot of dancing and a good night.

'Groovy'

Sadly, the journey back was absolutely horrendous with roads closed, buses suspended and just plain bad public transport. Of course, the trek back home made me appreciate my lovely, dry, warm bed even more.

All in all, a good start to the new year!


Muah,


Roo xx

Happy New Year!

I would like to wish everybody a very happy new year! 2012 has had plenty of ups and downs - my highlights include graduation, my trip to Barcelona and of course the London Olympics (all public transport was punctual!) In spite of all the ups, however - I hope that 2013 is even better with endless highlights and fun memories.

Barcelona!

Graduation cupcakes - just in case I forget the year of it!

Happy New Year!


Muah,


Roo xx

Very lazy weekend

After the craziness of Christmas, I decided to have a very lazy weekend this week and avoid London completely. Post-Christmas sales and London make for a very bad combination. Instead, I stuck with lots of reading, coffee, food and online shopping. A perfect weekend and the ideal preparation for the upcoming New Year's celebrations.

My weekend reading 

Muah,


Roo xx