Christmas has past......here comes New Year

So a few drinks down the Tav last Thursday night (tradition) and then working from home on Friday. A well needed break. Saturday morning I got up early and spoke to Mum & Dad and then it was off to friends for Chrissy day.

A lovely day spent dancing, eating, drinking and more eating. I managed to roll home about 7ish and once I sat down it was extremely hard to move again.

The rest of my time I have actually been unpacking boxes and watching tv. I'm nearly there with only 2 more to go!! Whoo hooo. Hopefully I will be ready to take pics & video's by the weekend.

Had a bit of disaster, my blender broke after 8 years! NOOOOOO!!!! Luckily for me Mila gave me a Lakeland voucher and today I went and bought a new one! Mila also gave me new baking tins.

 

I got a wonderful voucher from House of Fraser from my boss Peter so today I also got my FAVOURITE perfume ever! I love it! And I managed to put the rest towards a new hair dryer which came in a gift pack with free shampoo & conditioner! Bargain central.

The Thoms (Fiona, Andrew, Lucy, Henry) got me some amazing new tunes! All country which is so hard to get in this country. Am loving Lady Antebellum and Rascal Flats. I am sooo lucky, Thanks so much to all the Thoms!

I was also so lucky to get a lovely photo frame & notebook of Sabine! Thanks so much. And my secret Santa got me another cd of R&B classics!

Christmas Cooking - IN THE NEW KITCHEN!!!

So we have finally moved and are in the new place! Whoooo hooo. Thank goodness. Our friend Anne sorted us out with a massive truck to move all our stuff. This was fantastic as we got everything inside in one go. We also had 3 guys helping us move. We managed to do it one trip. Most of the boxes are unpacked and sorted, except my room. I can dive to my bed which is all that counts at the moment!

Last night I did a bit of baking in the new oven (awesome) and managed to make some chocolate mince pies! I made the traditional size then had some pastry leftover so made some massive mini tart pies! I'm not a fan but the people who have eaten them said they were tasty!

Get ready for more video's & pics of the house next week!

Germs, Germs, Germs

So after a fantastic time at the Chrissy party I now am sick. I think someone breathed their germs on me or it was the massive "Treasure Chest" drink 20 people were drinking out of that did it. So as you can imagine I have been taking it easy the last couple of days. Lets hope the seal cough does not turn up!

Today is Lisa's birthday so she got a special butterfly/flower cake. She really enjoyed it.

I'm also reading at the moment The Noah's Ark Quest by Boyd Morrison and it's a page turner. I have 3 chapters left to go and can't wait to finish it.

Work Christmas Party

Last night we had our work Chrissy party at Kanalola. It was really good, a great time dancing, drinking and chatting. Out of 70 photos I managed get into 65 of them! ha ha ha ha Very tired today though, will be doing nothing but a bit of packing. We are moving next Saturday!

Chrissy dinner

We had dinner last night at Beach Blanket Babylon, whilst the service wasn't the best, the food was fantastic and the company was great.

Guvnor's Ball 2010

That time of the year again, the Guvnor's Ball at the Hilton Park Lane! A wonderful night, seeing some old friends and dancing the night away.

Peter's Leaving Party at West Ham Football Ground

So after 24 years of working at BLL Peter decided to leave and what better way to send him off but is to go to his favourite teams ground for a drink. It was supposed to be a surprise but we think someone let the cat out of the bag.

A fantastic speech and a wonderful slideshow, then it was on the dance floor to boogie the night away. We had a room overlooking the grounds it was fantastic although we had to be out by 8am the next day due to an early home game.

Snow

My backyard.

3 degrees...............

nothing more to say, too cold! Snow is on it's way to London!

First week back at work...

So the first week back to work after doing nothing was a bit of a shock. Getting up before 12pm was a mini shock to the system but I managed to get through the whole week!

Yesterday (Saturday) some of the girls from work & I went on a jogging tour of London parks. What a struggle!!! But we made it through, huffing & puffing. Felt better after but it was super hard at the time.

Have done nothing today except starting series 6 of 24, it's AMAZING!!!

Copenhagen....visiting my favourite Dane

What a lovely week spent with Inger in Copenhagen, Denmark!

So relaxed in fact that the below photos are the ONLY photos I took! Yep only 4 photos taken!

Tuesday: 4.30am start, off to Gatwick for the flight. Then I wandered around Copenhagen, watched The Social Network (fantastic) then met up with Inger after work. Soooo great to see her.

Wednesday: slept in till lunchtime then watch 8 episodes of 24 series 5. Inger cooked me a traditional Danish dinner. It was delicious! I totally stuffed myself it was fantastic.

Thursday: slept in till lunchtime then watched the final 4 episodes of 24, amazing ending! So many twists, can't wait to start series 6. Then we went to Tivoli which only opened for the Christmas period and checked out the lights, rides and touristy stuff for sale. After wandering around we went to the movies and saw "Eat, pray, love". It was great I would love to do the same thing, take a year off and just travel.

Friday: slept in till early arvo, then got up and dressed ready for a night out. Inger got in and I couldn't be bothered going out so we went to Blockbuster instead picked up some dvd's and then got some sushi and headed home for a lovely night in. Sex and the City 2 & Invictus were on the agenda. Both excellent movies.

Saturday: woke up relatively early 10am and we headed to the National Museum for brunch - AMAZING! Was so stuffed I basically couldn't walk for about an hour. After brunch we headed into town walking around browsing around the stores. Then after a cuppa in Kafe Kys, we headed to the train station so I could get to the airport.

It was a fantastic trip and it was great to relax but spend time with Inger!

 BACK TO WORK TOMORROW!

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday dad! xoxoxoxo

Look out Denmark

Tuesday flight 8am off to Copenhagen..................can't wait

Holidays in Cambridge

Relaxing in Cambridge - 9 days of doing nothing but reading, eating & watching telly.

Sat & Sun - lying around doing nothing, reading & eating
Mon - sleeping till lunchtime then dinner with Claire & Annabel at DeLuca's
Tue - sleeping till lunchtime then Sabine came round for dinner
Wed - massage on my arm (still sore) then back to have a nap!
Thu - Nothing - sleep - eat - read
Fri - Nothing - sleep - eat - read
Sat - Mila returned from New York and I headed out to the girls to play with Freddy. Lunch after clearing up the wood out back, then off to Carrie & Ruth's for dinner.
Sun - packed up, handed back keys and back to London.

I did manage to get a haircut:

Whats new?

So we finally played our playoff match against the The Tornadoes. Unfortunately we lost 3-10 to them so it looks like they will be going up a division. Not too bad as I like the division we are in and now if gives us a better opportunity to gel as a team.

 

We have started our indoor softball league with work. Our team The AV have entered and it's heaps of fun. We aren't very good but it's heaps of fun.

Got free tickets to go and see Psycho at the Empire in Leicester Square. First time I've ever seen it and to get the opportunity to see it on the big screen was amazing. It was a charity event so there were alot of composers there to have a talk after the movie. I didn't end up staying for the talk but went to Westfields in Shepherds Bush for a bit of shopping relief. I managed to find a dress half price which was a bonus!

Thursday was the first AV Dodgeball tournament. And it turned out unreal! My team The Smokin Tigers had a great time, even though we finished 3rd out of 4 teams. Lots of balls got thrown but no major injuries were sustained. We have another tournament coming up in November. Hopefully we will do better then.

Friday night Louisa and I went to see the musical WICKED at the Apollo Theatre in Victoria. It was FANTASTIC! I loved it and want to see about getting the soundtrack. All the actors were great. A few drinks with Steve afterwards then it was last tube home.

Yesterday I stayed in bed all day, it was fantastic. But finally had to get up and meet Natasha at the Novello Theatre for a showing of ONASSIS starring Robert Lindsay. It was really good and we had free tickets! We were in the grand circle but it didn't make too much of a drama. It was really good.

Today I went shopping with Pip at Lakeside, also had a facial & massage. Did have a nosy around the shops and having no money found soooo many things that I wanted.

Bit of bad news, our landlord reckons he wants to move back in so we have to move out! D-Day is 22nd Dec. Bummer, any got a place they want to rent out??

3rd Oct - 7th Oct

Monday night was Mark's birthday so he & Pip came round for dinner. I made them chicken & mushroom stir fry followed by a homemade lemon meringue pie. This was requested by the birthday boy and was prepared on the Sunday. It turned out lovely but I forgot to take a picture. The tangy lemon filling was delicious. After dinner we watched the Inbetweeners......so hilarious! This show is Englands version of Summer Heights High.

Tuesday was Hayley's birthday and we went to Nando's for lunch. We got her a holiday money voucher and an emergency travel kit fetauring panadol, diahhorea tablets, toothpaste, body wash, fake eyelashes & dry shampoo. She loved it and I made her a chocolate cake with a pair of lips on it. Unfortunately the top lip fell off the cake and got a bit mushed, but we ate it anyway.

On Wednesday I had the Community Day I organised at the Stepping Stones Farm in Stepney Green. A bunch of us turned up and painted, shovelled, laid bark and played with the animals. It was raining in the morning but the sun came shining through mid morning. It was a lovely day and everyone enjoyed themselves.

Last night (Thursday) was my Come Dine With me! I managed to get home and start cooking. The menu was:

Entrée

Italian Gazpacho soup accompanied by golden croustades filled with mozzarella & various vegetables.

 

Main

Glazed Oriental duck with pak choi and a side of parisienne potatoes

 

Vegetarian

Aubergine five-nut roast with Italian tomato sauce (This didn't happen in the end, Charlene got pesto tortellini with Italian tomato sauce.

Dessert

Chocolate moose with raspberry meringues

And I got some beautiful flowers from Pip and Mark so I've combined them together and this is the result: