Weekend #12

In contrast to the last few weekends I have had, chilling out and seeing London, this one was manic! I nipped down to Southampton on Friday night to help J pack up the last of his things as he was moving house. This was accompanied by a fat takeaway and watching The Orphan as it was on telly and we both love a good horror flick.

Saturday it was all systems go. We got up nice and early to fit in a bacon sarnie and a cup of tea, before piling everything in to my trusty little Clio. This beast of a car has moved house with me about 5 times, J once already, and done all manner of trips up and down the country for long uni holidays. Squeaking at the suspension and two trips later, he was in. We were on a bit of a tight schedule as had to be back in London for early evening so everything was quickly unpacked. We took a trip to the cavern of delights that is The Range - an amazing destination for all things 'home' and super cheap. Some storage solutions and a whole load of coat hangers thrown in, we made our way back to make use of them.

After this was complete, we shut the door on his new little home and trekked our way back to London. J was off out with friends but I was in with my housemates as sadly one of them was leaving us to head back to Oz. Cue X factor, chilling, and lots of wine.

Sunday, again we were all up bright and early to wave off our little pal :( she will be missed! For the afternoon we had an indoors/outdoors BBQ. AKA Tescos had run out of disposables so we cooked the meat on the George Foreman and ate it outside in the sunshine. A lazy afternoon and a few films later, J made his way back to Southampton for another week. My housemates and I spent the evening opening gifts that our little traveller had left behind and watching more films (can't get enough!). Early nights all round after an exhausting few days. Mine couldn't have come any sooner as I am feeling very under the weather, looks like I am coming down with a nasty cold, fingers crossed a good nights sleep will do the trick.

With all this wooshing around, the soundtrack to the weekend had to be a chilled one. I absolutely love this song. I have heard rumours that because of its name, that it will be on the soundtrack of the 50 shades film, when it comes out. Although, this is rather early to be releasing a song for a film not even made yes? I could definitely see it being a good film soundtrack but who knows! Anyway, it is by the very hot right now artist, Delilah, from her album "From the Roots Up" and is a great tune for winding down and reflecting after being so busy - just what I needed. Enjoy!

E x

Weekend #6

Just a quickie one from me this Sunday evening, it is also a rather late one! I spent the weekend in Southampton so had to drive back this evening, anticipating that the roads would be chocca due to Olympic traffic so thought it would best to leave it as late as possible to leave. Luckily, the roads were fine and no hanging about.

We didn't get up to too much this weekend as J was on call again so we just sat in the garden, soaking up the rays. On saturday, we wandered in to town to mosey around the shops and we grabbed some lunch at Bella Italia on the way home - they had a delicious and bargainous lunch menu for a starter and a massive pizza for £7.95 - can't really go wrong. Back home for some more sun-soaking and some films.

Sunday was much of the same, although we threw in a delicious BBQ for good measure (which mainly looked a lot like this one!) It was too hot to do much else so we just happily sunned ourselves and I managed to finish the Hunger Games trilogy which was well worth a read. A friend has recommended I now read Divergent, by Veronica Roth so I may give this a go - love a good action book for the daily commute.

I am now tucked up in bed, slathered in a tan preserving after sun, hoping to maintain at least some hint of a summer glow for a few days! This evening, I have been listening to a bit of Dolly Parton. Now don't snigger, as some of her more laid back stuff is really chilled, plus, I quite like that whole bluegrass, haybale thing. This is the title song to a really laid back authentic, country feeling album and great for a late night drive on a Sunday.

 

Goodnight all!

E x

Weekend #4

This weekend was a good one as we FINALLY spent it in London after J managed to get the weekend off call. I have a trip to France next week so won't be seeing each other for a while so it was nice to get out and see the sights. We had a lovely day planned on Saturday where we were going to go to Richmond and hire out a boat on the river as the weather was supposed to be lovely. Long story short, it wasn't. We didn't realise the boats aren't in the park bit of Richmond, they are in fact on the Thames so we were wandering around for ages and the the heavens opened! Lucky we both had a sneaky coat in our bags.

After our afternoon of sunshine and fun was rained off, J (shockingly) suggested that we head to Westfield. Now this is a man, like most others, that has a loathing of shopping and all related locations so I thought I would grab the most of the opportunity as I had never been before, even after living in London for nearly a year now! We weren'r really on the hunt for anything but it was somewhere indoors that we could mosey around for a bit, and a sight to see if you haven't been before - it's HUGE! We followed this up with a big scrummy burger and skinny fries from Gourmet Burger Kitchen (also somewhere I had not been before) and headed home for a much needed sleep.

Today we went to Oxford Street, again on J's suggestion - I don't know what is getting in to him?! We just went for a mooch around and to see if there was anything in the sales that we fancied. Although there wasn't much, it was still nice to have free time walking around Central as usually I'm only there at work or rushing around like a crazy thing at lunchtime. We had a very naughty lunch - a 'Wox Box' which is basically a box stuffed with Chinese/Asian style food so naturally lots of caramel chicken and special fried noodles went my way! We figured we could justify it as we were walking it off ;)

We spent the afternoon ambling around the National Portrait Gallery (another new spot on my map, I am sounding rather useless here) and then walked through Trafalgar Square and along Whitehall (past Dave's house!), past Big Ben and in to St. James Park which was nice. Again being touristy is not something I do often so it was really nice to take in some sights, especially as the weather was on our side this time.

After a tense game of Football (Can't say I was paying too much attention as I had my head buried in my comp!) and a long weekend of walking and sightseeing, I am exhausted! I think that this song is one that is extremely apt. for this weekend in particular. I love the soothing voice of Joe Purdy and his songs bring back some very good memories so this is the Sunday sound I am loving this evening.

E x

Weekend #3

So today has been a perfect mix of relaxing and being productive. I was down in Southampton this morning until this afternoon and then waved goodbye to J as he went off rowing and I stayed in bed with a cup of tea, reading some of my favourite blogs. I planned to make my way back to London but the weather was lovely and sunny so I sat in the garden and painted my nails and generally relaxed. I also managed to catch up on writing lots of blog posts which was nice as I don't often get time for this. It's usually a last thing at night jobby.

Getting back to London before nighttime means that I have managed to get on top of the mountain otherwise known as my washing pile. It's a good job I have lots of clothes/underwear or I would run out all the time!

An exciting thing that happened this week is that we moved offices at work on Friday. This was a very long and very tiring day - if you were in or around Covent Garden you would have seen us shifting everything down the road! I very glamourously piled my tower, screens, keyboard and mouse on to my desk chair as a makeshift trolley and wheeled it down the road to the new office space. Sadly there is no lift so four trips up and down four flights of stairs later I was set up and it was time for a cup of tea. Although not before I made another trip back for the coffee machine, I then proceeded to spill the contents on the dregs tray all down myself - smooth.

The new space is really nice so going to work tomorrow will be a bit different. Even though it is still in Covent Garden, it is at a different end so I'm sure there will be lots to explore. Sadly for my bank balance (not for me!) I now have to walked past Zara AND Mango on my way to the tube and will find this hard to resist.

I like to end of my weekend with some Sunday style music, chilling myself out before heading back in to central for another hectic week at work. At the moment I am really enjoying listening to Julia Stone. I have always been a fan of her music, with her brother Angus (making up Angus and Julia Stone) but her solo stuff has really caught my attention. I know their music often divides opinion but for me, it is just what I want to listen to when driving/relaxing/unwinding. It is good weekend stuff! One of the comments reads "she sings like butterflies and honey" and I think this sums her voice up just perfectly.

Goodnight, E x

Weekend #2

Well I have to say, four days off is sometimes more exhausting than four days at work! J and I have packed as much as we possibly can in to those four days and now I am back at home, I can safely say that I am absolutely cream-crackered and totally ready for bed.

We had a lovely couple of days in London over the weekend, spending Saturday in East London, wandering around the markets, down Brick Lane and walking through Shoreditch and then on in to the City. It was nice to see this end of town as I do not usually get the time to explore as weekends are pretty hectic. We grabbed some picnic stuff and had lunch by the river and then walked along the Southbank in the sunshine. My favourite thing about this area is the fantastic Borough Market - so much to see and taste it's a whole different world down there. I would have loved to buy everything but I made do with sampling as much of everything as possible ;) .

After catching a small glimpse of the Flotilla on the Sunday, we headed down to Southampton as J was on call and so has to be 1hr away. It was a shame to miss London and all of its festivities but we ordered a cheeky Dominoes and then watched Queenie and co. in all their glory on telly. It was a good laugh to see the poor singers looking like drowned rats but being undeterred by the weather! Monday was a bit of a fail, starting off with locking ourselves out of the house and having to call back housemate from 30 miles away to come and help us back in! Thankfully it was saved by a nice wander around then shops and then rustling up a scrummy roast dinner followed by the rest of the Jubilee celebrations, toasting dear old Liz with a few glasses of wine.

Had a quiet day today, watching films and unwinding before heading out for some dinner and then on to a friends housewarming/birthday party - great to see some old friends and catch up. Then back on the M3 again for me in time for work tomorrow!

Goodnight all,

E x