Another week, another BBQ

Once again, I have been absolutely rubbish at keeping my blog up-to-date. Apologies! Life has been a bit mental over the last couple of weeks. So I will start from the beginning with last weekend’s (and a fabulous one at that!) shenanigans…

On Friday, my friend Richard turned another year older (for his sake, I will keep the all-important number under wraps) so to celebrate, we had a barbecue party for him at the flat. In summary, there was a lot of food, even more alcohol, fab company and lots of laughter. We had the best night which some of us finished in Wimbledon town centre in Po Na Na (a decent club with outrageously overpriced drinks). Everyone crashed at the flat and Saturday morning was spent cleaning up and recovering.

In the afternoon, I met with Edita and Donatas, along with a friend of theirs. It was Donatas’ birthday earlier in the week so we celebrated by grabbing some drinks and snacks in a pub in Shepherd’s Market and later took a very long walk along embankment. It turned out to be a very relaxing afternoon which ended at home with movies and leftover BBQ food at the flat.

Sunday was spent bonding with my awesome housemates – Natz and Mark. In the morning we went to a golf driving range in Merton. Mark wanted to practice a bit and myself and Natz decided to crash his trip. It was my first attempt at golfing (outside of crazy golf, of course) and whilst I was shockingly awful, I had a great time. We managed to grab some cold drinks and enjoy the sun before returning home and having another BBQ for lunch. In the evening we walked around Wimbledon Common which was also a first for me and so relaxing – the perfect end to an amazing weekend!

This week has been filled with training sessions in Old Street, work on Fleet Street and a Silk’s Party at St Pancras Renaissance Hotel (if you can, you have to visit! It’s an absolutely stunning hotel and even if you can’t stay at a 5* hotel, you can always grab an after work drink!). I took Friday afternoon off and spent it with my mum. We went to Covent Garden for some Pimms at Punch & Judy, had sushi at Itsu and then finished the evening in a Starbucks by Charing Cross.

Yesterday, I made the most of the gorgeous weather by heading down to Brighton. Richard was my tour guide for the day and we spent the day enjoying the sun, having some fish and chips and generally touring the city. Towards the evening, we headed back to London to yet another BBQ! We had a very chilled evening with some amazing Portuguese-inspired food (thanks to our friend Antonio!)

Today, after a huge brunch at Whetherspoons with the guys, I enjoyed the sunshine at Wimbledon Park and spent the rest of the day sorting myself out, mainly by cleaning my room (much overdue!) 

And now, it’s movie-time with the housemates and an early night for me.

Hope everyone has an amazing week!

Muah,

Roo xx

Tennis, tennis everywhere…

It’s Monday yet again and the weekend has come and gone which was made all the better by this beautiful weather we’ve been having (happy sigh).

Having finished work on Friday, I went for some after-work drinks at the Old Bank of England pub on Fleet Street. The building is amazing (looks like a snazzy hotel rather than a pub) and we spent most of the time enjoying the weather on the roof garden over a couple of G & T’s. I then rushed home to grab a bite to eat before heading out to Wimbledon with Natz and Alex (who crashed at the flat). As per usual we headed to the Slug and once that closed stopped by at O’Neills which was a bit random but we danced about and had a fab time before heading off to Watershed. I had the best night!

After a bit of a lie in on Saturday, I headed out to Victoria and watched the women’s Wimbledon final in Cardinal Square. Having bought some picnic food from M&S, I enjoyed the lush weather and the atmosphere which was great with everyone really getting into the match (although the result was not the one I hoped for). With the match finished, I headed down to Hyde Park to meet Edita. We haven’t had a proper catch up in far too long! We spent the day, walking around the park and eventually ended up in London Bridge, in search of a pub with outside seating. We settled on Nicholson’s right on the river and enjoyed some Pimm’s with some chips and nachos (delicious!) The alcohol and sun combination meant that I got home absolutely shattered.

I spent my Sunday just how I like it – being lazy! I spent the morning running errands and realised what a mistake that was, with huge crowds at the station, heading up to watch the men’s final. I ventured up to Wimbledon (town centre) to watch the match on the big screen but there were far too many people and after being kicked and hit within a couple of minutes of getting there, I decided to head back to the flat and watch the match in the comfort of my own living room. I don’t intend to talk about tennis too much but it was an awesome match and the result far better than that of the women’s match.

I hope everyone had a successful Monday. Mine has been incredibly productive and I managed to enjoy the sun during my lunch break in the Inner Temple gardens (the perfect escape from the very busy Fleet Street).

Enjoy your week, everybody!

Muah,

Roo xx

Day at the Zoo

I hope everyone is having a fabulous week – I celebrated reaching the middle of the working week by booking the day off and spending it at the zoo with my housemate Natz. It was an awesome day!

I had a bit of a lie-in this morning, following which we journeyed to Broxbourne to Paradise Wildlife Park. Going mid-week was perfect since aside from school kids, there weren’t that many people around so no pushing or shoving was necessary. We spent the day walking around, taking pictures of everything from lions to monkeys and reindeer. We even managed to play some crazy golf and take a trip around the mini forest in a train.

We both had the best time and finished the day with a trip to The Crabtree – a pub in Fulham. It has been recommended for its beer garden and it did not disappoint! Their beer garden was huge, with lots of seating, plenty of greenery and the coolest “wishing tree”. We had a couple of G&T’s and watched the final games of the Andy Murray which they were showing on an outside tv.

Wishing tree!

Now, we are both home in our PJs, absolutely shattered, watching Chasing Liberty before heading to bed and finishing the rest of the working week (at work). Thanks Natz for an amazing day!!!!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Muah,

Roo 

Wimbledon weekend

Another successful weekend has come and gone. And to top it all off, with Friday off, it was extra-long!

I booked Friday off so that I could take my brother to Wimbledon for the day. Living in Southfields, even if I wanted to (I don’t), I couldn’t ignore the fact that Wimbledon was in full swing. All week long, the area has been crazy busy with people queuing and walking to and from the grounds. This made for a less than easy walk to the flat from the station, with me trying to push past the endless amounts of people. It turns out I picked one of the worst days to go since it was raining most of the day. We had a very early start to the day (5am!!!), queued for about 5hours and once we got into the grounds, it started raining. We managed to see some play (Haas v Wang and Brown v Mannarino) so it turned out to be a successful (and incredibly expensive) day. We returned home (within 10 minutes) absolutely exhausted!

You can't mention Wimbledon without
strawberries (and cream)

After a very long sleep, me and my little brother headed out to play a game of tennis at the park. The weather was stunning (I even managed to get a decent tan) and we didn’t even have to pay for a court, since they had a special events day, with activities and coaches, encouraging people to play tennis. We left the courts hot and exhausted, had lunch and then I dropped Rudy off at the station. I returned home to BBQ preparations (making the most of the gorgeous warm weather). Having bought half of Sainsbury’s supplies, we spent the evening chilling out in the garden with a couple of friends, enjoying amazing food and a few too many drinks. We even headed out for a night of dancing in Wimbledon town centre, all equating to a fab night!

Feeling a little worse-for-wear this morning we lounged around in the living room before heading out at Rubino. We all had Panini’s in the sun (managing to grab the last outside seats) which were lovely but the service was a bit slow. The rest of my day has been incredibly productive: I bought food for the week, did laundry, tidied the garden (a little), cleaned my room and the whole flat and enjoyed the rest of the day in the garden, taking in the sun.

Summer!!!!

Safe to say, I had an amazing weekend which has been topped off by Bex deciding to come for a visit at the end of July which I am already incredibly excited about!!!!!

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Muah

Roo xx

A (rather long) round up

Apologies for being so rubbish with the blogging recently. Life has been a little mental and in spite of the best intentions to post something, very clearly I have failed. So here is a little insight into the last couple of weeks in the life of Roo…

Last weekend started out with a Friday night out with Chloe. We headed to Club 49 in Soho which was a little disappointing. We had a few cocktails (quite delicious, but not the best I ever had) and danced for a bit until they started playing R n’ B from the early ‘00s which reminded me of being 12 again and at school. The music, coupled with the overheated dance floor made us leave pretty soon and we headed to the fail-safe (yes, I know; it’s shameful!) Roxy's. We ended up having a successful night until I left the club and ended up getting drenched through 3 layers of clothing and had to sit on a night bus in wet clothes until I reached my warm bed.

I had a relatively lazy and relaxing start to my Saturday; sleeping, having a leisurely breakfast and watching some good old Big Bang Theory. In the afternoon, I headed up to Tottenham Court Road for a catch up with Jess (which turned out to be a mission and half since I got drenched again – this time with an umbrella – and my tube station was closed so the journey was horrid). We went to Tap Coffee for some coffee (what else?!) but the place was far too small for a proper catch up and we left to find a Starbucks where we could happily overstay our welcome.

As for Sunday, it being Father’s Day, I headed down to my parents' for a visit. I had a great day with some amazing food which included my mum’s special cake (yum!) and I returned home absolutely shattered (mostly down to the very long journey which involved tubes, trains and replacement buses).

After a very busy couple of days at work, on Thursday I decided to go for “a drink” with my housemate Natz and a couple of our friends. We headed to the Alexandra Roof Terrace for some post-work drinks. The place was really nice and with the weather being quite lovely, it was really nice to hang out in the fresh air and chatter away (the food looked pretty great too, so I will want to try some of that eventually). Unfortunately, I lost all common sense after a few gin and tonics and agreed to go to the Slug afterwards. Long story short; it all ended with a lot of dancing, my getting home at 1am and a very sore head on Friday.

Friday was rather mellow. I spent the night at home relaxing and fish-sitting Natz’s goldfish, Max which I found to be a huge responsibility (especially when I broke his fishbowl – he is alive and well).

My Saturday was spent shopping at Westfield in Shepard's Bush (a bit of a loony idea considering the sales were on) and spending far too much money but in turn getting some very nice dresses. To break up all the queuing and clothes-purchasing, I had lunch at Benugo which was so good! I mentioned the Cannon Street Benugo in an earlier post and have only just managed to try the place. I had an Indian Chicken Summer Salad and some lemon drizzle cake for dessert (because you can’t be too healthy!) and it turned out to be a delicious lunch which got my energy levels back up and allowed me to continue to shop. In the evening, Chloe came over for a couple of drinks and we later headed to Thirst Bar in Soho. Having read the reviews, we thought it would be a bar/club but were really disappointed as it was in fact just a bar with music on in the background. We left pretty soon and once again ended up in our old-favourite (I dare not write the actual name of the place). We had the best night out – I love going out with Chloe!!!!

Benugo

As it turns out, I had a pretty successful Sunday too. My friend Richard came over to play some tennis. I am shamefully bad at the game so he offered to teach me a bit. We managed to play for quite a while without getting caught in the rain. I forgot how much I enjoyed playing tennis! We chatted for a bit and grabbed a bite at Fonda Mexico right by the flat (being far too hungry to venture out anywhere) and I was quite impressed. The place is really quite small and has the cheesiest Mexican-style music but the food was pretty good (I had enchiladas with a lot of cheese). All in all, I had a very successful (and tiring) weekend.

Now, I am going to try and catch some sleep and survive the 3 remaining work days (I have Friday off: yay!!!!)

Sorry about the essay-long post! Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Muah,

Roo xx

A walk (or two) in the park

Another successful weekend has come and gone and it came to an end with the perfect Sunday.

Saturday morning was a little mental, with me running around (and getting a little lost), running errands - it was a little more stressful than I cared for but I managed to sort out what I needed, leaving me to enjoy Saturday afternoon with my cousin Aurelija and her two little boys.

We met at Green Park and after buying a loaf of bread to feed to the ducks, we headed to St James's Park for a walk. The boys were running around, chasing pigeons and squirrels and feeding the (rather aggressive) ducks whilst me and Aurelija managed to have somewhat of a catch up. We had lunch at Inn the Park which I last visited about 10 years ago with my parents (changed quite a bit since). I had lamb stew which was actually rather nice (if a little overpriced). After some more walking around and the kids playing around in the little playground, I headed home and had a lazy evening at home, watching films.

Today, I had a lovely lie-in, following which I headed to Notting Hill for a catch up with Chloe. We walked down Portobello Road, mooching past the shops and down to Gourmet Burger Kitchen for a light lunch and then to Paul Rhodes cafe for a very long catch up over coffee and cake. Although the weather wasn't great today (far too much wind and not enough sun) we walked around Kensington Gardens, all the way up and around Hyde Park, wandering aimlessly and enjoying the fresh air and (relative) quietness. I had the best day, with a wonderful friend and am now feeling more than a little tired and not at all ready to start the new week.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week.

Muah,

Roo xx

Relaxing weekend? Complete fail

For the last couple of weeks, I have been intending to have lazy, relaxing weekends. As my posts probably suggest, that hasn't happened. So for the weekend just gone, I made absolutely no plans, assuming that would mean I'd have to be lazy. Long story short: I failed. Majorly. And now for the long story... 

Friday started off perfectly with a catch up over lunch with my friend Kelly. I know her from my old work and after our numerous failed attempts to try and plan a catch up, we finally penciled in a pub lunch. The weather was gorgeous and the food was pretty good too - we met on Chancery Lane, it being half way between both of our offices - and it turned out to be a perfect Friday lunch. The evening was more than a little manic, with me rushing off to the gym, only to rush back home, dump my bags and leave again with Natz to head into the city. We met some of Natz's friends at a pub, The Counting House (trivia: it used to be a bank). After a couple of drinks, we had a delicious Indian dinner at Bangalore. I had never been there before but the food was delicious and the interior was quite cool and non-traditional, with geometric wallpaper. After the very filling dinner, some of the guys headed home while the rest of us headed to Agenda - a city club. The music wasn't really the type of music I like to dance to but since it was free entry and it was so close to the restaurant, it turned out to be quite a nice, fun start to the weekend. 

My delicious Biryani looked a lot like this

On Saturday, I managed to have a relatively relaxing morning and afternoon, whilst at the same time being quite productive. Having tidied my room, I spent most of the day in the living room, with the French Open on in the background and my laptop in front of me - I did quite a lot of research into law firms to try and figure out which ones I really want to work for - a very tedious task made better with some tennis watching. In the evening, me and Natz planned to go to a beer garden for a couple of relaxing drinks but by the time we sorted ourselves out, the sun had gone in and we thought better of it. I planned to stay in but after numerous attempts, Natz convinced me to head up to Wimbledon for a "couple of drinks". That didn't quite go to plan. We met some friends at the Old Fizzle - a restaurant/bar. I had a great evening as there was endless live music, so we just danced around and had a couple of drinks, meeting quite a few new people too (mostly Natz's friends). Me and Natz then left to go to the Slug (and interesting place and not so different from what it was like during the Rugby 7s) and on it's closing we went to Watershed - yet another club. All in all, it was a long night with lots of dancing. 

Safe to say, Sunday was spent recovering. This involved pizza and Disney films - the perfect Sunday! I felt a bit bad since the weather was gorgeous and we were spending the day indoors (with the exception of my trip to the supermarket) but I managed to have a somewhat relaxing Sunday. Kind of. 

I would like to say that I am hoping to have a lazy weekend this upcoming weekend but the last couple of fails make me only half-hopeful. 

Hope everyone has a great week and enjoys this beautiful weather that we've been having!

Muah,

Roo xx