Adventures in London: Issue 223

To say that I am over the moon to have Mom here in London is a complete understatement. I had tried to stay up for the election results and went to sleep when Romney was leading the electoral votes, but when I woke I was extremely pleased to hear the news that Obama had won :-) 

With that great news it was off to the airport to pick Mom up. We both returned to listen to Obama's speech which truly made me cry. That man has a way with words and what a speech that was. Looking forward to the years to come and the change that the US will hopefully see. 

I was a bit nervous having Mom see my new place, but I am pleased to say that she approved of the new flat. We did not start out on the right foot as the boiler broke again and I had to sort out how to get the heat back on. I am happy to announce that I was able to sort the issue myself. Was not going to pay for an emergency plumber to come in so thanks to Google and online support I was able to restore the flat with hot water and heating :-)

I am not fully settled in, but having her here makes the place feel properly like home. It only been a few days, but it feel just right having her on the second sofa watching TV, eating cheese and pickled onions with me.

On Thursday we had a bit of a treat at work.  We had an all day learning day and in the evening we were treated to a mini Little Mix concert. I am such a kid, but I really was excited to see them. I have no idea why....they are not that good, but I enjoy seeing them perform. To be honest I think its more of the memories that I have of watching X-Factor than the group itself. I enjoyed watching that year. Future seasons will not be the same...but change is good. You can never step into the same river twice, but that doesn't mean you cannot have  fond memories both times. I don't know if I am ready to step back into the river just yet...but we shall see if and when that day comes. Right now I am focusing on settling into my new flat and mending my heart.

To switch topics to something more upbeat... HAPPY DIWALI everyone. Wishing you all a very happy and prosperous year ahead!

Happy that Mom is here to celebrate with me :-)

Miss you all and love you more

xxx

T

Adventures in London: Issue 222

I would like to kick off this post by wishing my dear little man a VERY HAPPY 5th Birthday!  I cannot believe that he is 5 years old now! When did that happen?! It's hard knowing that he is so far away and I definitely don't speak to him as often as I should, but I am still glad that when we do we still have our special time together. There is a bond between us that I hope will never fade!! I wish I was able to be there in person to celebrate his birthday. Always said that I would never miss his birthday, but unfortunately circumstances this year did not allow for me to go home. Between moving flats, work and personal stuff I was in no shape to go home for a long weekend. Will need to make it up to the little man. Good thing I am going home in December for Christmas and am very much looking forward to spending some quality time with the young man! Below are some special moments that I have had with my little man :-)

 Hospital | Age 1day

NYC | Age 10 mos

Paris | Age 1 yr 8 mos

London | Age 1 yr 8 mos

NYC | Age 2 years

Austin | Age 2 yrs 6 mos

NYC | Age 2 yrs 6 mos

NYC | 3 yrs

Disneyworld | 4 yrs

On Tuesday, John and I went to a local pub in my hood. I read about this place when I moved to the hood...its got a lovely beer menu and food menu as well. On Tuesday night it was Quiz night. John and I did not partake in the games, but I did relish in the heat (in fact practically spent the entire night  hugging the radiator - - star above I want my heat back and soon please). John and I spent the night catch up. It was a bit work related, only natural to have him take the opportunity to spill his qualms about work, but once that was out we were able to enjoy some fine ales (introduced John to the concept of a flight and to honker's ale), good conversation and delicious Thai food. I don't quite know what kind of vibe this bar is going for. On Wednesdays its Wine night, Tuesday pub quiz, Sunday its bloody mary bar and roast. Very interesting base indeed. John and I are going to try to make Tuesdays a tradition -- you know how I like my traditions. I rather enjoyed my evening with John, such a genuine top guy so hope this is indeed the first of many :-)

Before getting on with Friday, I have to share some exciting news! After nearly 2 weeks I am pleased to say that I finally have heat!!! A new boiler was installed on Thursday and it was a sincere joy to take a hot shower on Friday morning :-)

On Friday we had an impromptu Friday club. Wasn't meant to be a big one, but it turned into one :-) Love afternoons when we just embrace the moment and enjoy one another's company. It was actually rather a nice afternoon as it truly gave me the opportunity to get to know some of the people on my team. Sad, but true. When were at at out desks it hard to actually spend time with one another. You know those immediately around you, but I am not proud to say that I barely know the table that sit next to me. We are all the same team and I don't know much about them (personally that is). All of that was fixed this afternoon!! Nothing like an afternoon of corruption to make friends :-)


I did manage to keep some of my senses with me and made sure that I left in time to meet up with the rest of the group going to see out dear Tom in Calendar Girls. I was rather excited to see the play. It was going to be the second play of Tom's and this time Nikki was making an appearance (making Mama a bit nervous that something would go wrong). Both Tom and Nikki did a BRILLIANT job in the play!! So very proud of the two of them. The entire cast did a great job. Enjoying and knowing the movie your first comparison is naturally with the movie, but quickly the cast took over and your forgot about the movie cast and the allowed the actors to envelop the cast of the play. Truly brilliant show and job well done by all.

That Saturday I met up with Katherine and Kerstin for lunch. It was a classic and enjoyable lunch. I expect nothing less when I am with these two ladies. It was a truly lovely afternoon!!!

Its been a lovely week!! I am glad that I can write that! Feels good. I know I am not always going to have good weeks, so when I have one I am happy and I am just going to enjoy it

Hope you all are well

xxx

T

Adventures in London: Issue 221

I am going on 10 days of not having a working boiler :-( To celebrate my half birthday I got the lovely present of a working boiler (turned out only for the night) and a great dinner with POWERS! It was so good to see her and show her the new flat. We decided to go out and explore the new area trying a cute little restaurant called 'Small & Beautiful'. It was great to catch up with Powers, hadn't seen her since her big news that little Baby O was on its way!! She looked so wonderful and I am so very excited for her. She and Michael are going to make such amazing parents. I have not meant two people more excited to become parents than Michael and Rebecca. Cannot wait to meet the little Baby O. Cannot believe this is the second baby in the group. How did this happen... I am still a baby and people are having them. One day it will be me (or so I can continue to wish)

Unfortunately the working boiler situation did not last long and it quickly went back to 'ERROR FLASHING' mode. Even more unfortunate was that the weather over the weekend dropped and the flat was freezing. In efforts to warm up, I took myself to go see an 'Indian' version of Much Ado About Nothing. I couldn't find anyone to go with and I really wanted to see the show so I went. I am rather happy I did. It was a rather cool show. They kept to the Shakespearean words, but threw in a few 'Bollywood-isms'. I did learn one thing...London theatres are not the place to go to warm up. They are bloody cold. It may not have helped to warm the toes, but it did warm the spirits. Following the show and the purchase of a electric heater I met up with Natalie for dinner at Akari. I have been wanting to go to this place for years, from the outside it looks like an ordinary pub, but from the inside it is the most amazing Japanese and Sushi restaurant. The combinations that they have are out of this world and definitely worth a try!! I highly recommend this place and will find any excuse to go back :-)

On Sunday, there was the 'Diwali on the Square' celebration in Trafalgar Square. I have been wanting to go to this event ever since I moved here. I had heard great things about the event, but I have never been in town as I have either been in NY celebrating Sir Kadin's birthday or in India. This year I was around!! Sadly, given the freezing weather outside the last thing I could imagine doing was to stand in the freezing cold only to return to a freezing cold apartment. I was in literal tears on Sunday with the cold. I probably looked like a nutter walking around the flat with a ski cap and bundled up...had to sleep like that too!! Really hope I get my boiler working soon. Don't know how much of this I can take. It is sad that I am getting accustomed to the tea-kettle shower. Have a whole system worked out in the morning. Takes a good 9 kettles to have a nice 'bath'. 

Well on that warming note, I am off. Hope you are well and warm :)

Miss you and love you more

xx

T 

Adventures in London: Issue 220

Tuesday kicked off the first day of Navaratri, a nine day celebration to worship the Divine Mother Durga, the power behind the work of creation, preservation, and destruction of the world. Ths festival we celebrate the nine forms of Devi (goddess)/ Shakti (energy or power). For the next 10 days...celebrate in garba, laughter and non-veg food. "It's only after we've lost everything that we are free to do anything" - TD! 

There is not a lot to share about this week. Got locked out of the flat (great way to kick things off) Other than that majority of my time and energy has gone into setting up the flat. Moving flats is a ball ache, need to make sure you have changed your address for all your accounts and well as set up accounts for Sky, phone, electric, council tax, gas, etc. The happy part was getting the flat to look more and more like a home. 

I made a lot of progress on that front, but this move has highlighted that I have MUCH to buy. Moving flat is certainly an expensive quest. There are so many things that I got rid of that need to be re-purchased now...JOY. That weekend, a friend in need called. Probably not what they wanted to do, but we ended up spending  Saturday in IKEA shopping for the new flat. It was a ridiculously odd afternoon. It was comfortable yet all kinds of awkward at the same time. Don't know how to quite explain it. Bought a LOT of stuff for the flat ranging from a rug, to a spoon set, to a coffee table, to a bed-side table. Got a bunch of candles and decorative items for the flat too. It does feel odd that I am decorating my new flat with someone that I used to live with.... odd

I am really enjoying the new flat. I am sad yet excited about the place. The landlord is really nice and has been extremely helpful with various questions. Unfortunately not even 6 days into living at the flat and I had my first 'appliance default'...seems like the boiler has gone down. The engineers tried to come out, but were unable to fix the boiler...so 6 days into the flat and no heating nor hot water. Let's hope this gets resolved soon as taking showers as been an interesting ordeal of boiler water and pouring it into the tub. NOT FUN! At least it is not cold outside :-) At least I have X-Factor to keep me company 

Miss you all

xx

T

Adventures in London: Issue 219

Moving when you are feeling 100% is hard enough, moving flats when you have a cold is pure torture. My new flat wasn't ready yet (was negotiating the last final details and the landlord was doing some rennovations) so I went to stay at a friend's for the week. In hindsight, it was a really nice to have that week with KV. It was a chilled, no pressure, no check-in kinda week and just what I needed to get my head on straight. The only bit of excitement that we had was me coming back to the flat to be greeted by a homeless guy sleeping in her doorway. I didn't want to wake (or go near the guy), so we called the police. It was an interesting couple of hours waiting for them to arrive...in summary we had a guy with a bag, foxes, random pavement chit chat, mistaken prostitutes, honker's ale. You cannot make this stuff up.

Saturday was moving day. The day almost went without a hitch. I had the day planned out by the minute and could not afford any deviations. Plan was to pick up the keys, drop off the bags and then head to the old flat to finish packing before the Man with a Van came to move me. Even scheduled time to swing by the storage unit. I was slightly nervous when there was a hiccup on the first leg. The flat was not ready yet!!! The Gas Inspector had not come yet, so the keys could not be released. I couldn't afford things to go wrong, so arranged for the keys to be delivered at the old flat. Thankfully, packing the rest of the old flat did not take the full allotted time so finished just in the nick of time when the Van Man came. It was all surreal. I still couldn't believe that I was leaving N4, I was leaving such great memories behind. When did this all happen? Where was I when this all happened. I got a bit emotional leaving the place. It was going to be my last time ever in that flat. There was no going back now. 

After what seemed like a lifetime, the move was over. The boxes were unloaded (I was sure to make sure everything was packed and unpacked from the car, wasn't going to loose anything in the move). And like that I was alone in the new place surrounded by a sea of boxes. 

Goes without saying that the rest of the weekend went into unpacking and setting up the flat. Similar to 40 Park, and 13 Houghton I was rather quick to unpack and set the flat up. I cannot stand having boxes everywhere. Everything needs to be put in its place. I am sure like every other flat I have lived in, there will be that one box that next gets unpacked as there is no place for it. Let's see what that box will be in this flat :-)

On that great moving story, I am off. Miss you all

xx

T

Adventures in London: Issue 218

Things have been insane lately, to the point that I have no idea what is reality and what is a dream (or nightmare as it seems to be the case of late).  The flat that I had put an offer in for fell through (very annoyingly as I really like that place, but they were trying to take the mick with the fees and then renege on the advertisement of offering the flat furnished). Time was running out for me to find a flat, so to say this was less than ideal was an understatement.

That with all the other stresses going on lately, I 'snapped' on Wednesday. I cannot explain why, but a bunch of us went for a drink and never came back. We have done long lunches before, but this was different. We all had just snapped and the more pints we had the more we forgot about all the pressure, stresses and drama going on. It was not a right thing to do, but it was right for right then. I regret it as my behaviors and actions that night had massive repercussions. I lost something that night that I held near and dear to my heart!! What is done is done, I cannot take it back...all I can do is draw a line under it and ensure it never happens again.

This week wasn't all bad news, on Friday not only did I find a new flat (and put in an offer), but we got great news on our Global Pitch. Mindshare retained the Unilever business in Wester Europe, US and parts of Asia!! It was a great win and great news to kick off the weekend. Granted the global data piece (aka the team I am on) was still TBD, but you've gotta celebrate the wins you get. With this piece of news, over 1000+ Mindshare employees worldwide started the weekend knowing that their jobs were safe. Massive when you look at it like that :) To celebrate the Mindshare bar had a special celebration event!! It was a great evening to celebrate all the sacrifices, stressing, late nights, and lack of scope :-)

That weekend marked my last weekend in N4 :(
It has been a pleasure calling you home for the last 18 months. To all the people and friends I have met, I hope our paths cross again and this is not our finale. Will miss N4 dearly and truly! Thank you xx

That weekend whilst packing I had the sincere delight of catching up 'face-to-face' with my dear friend Pat. It was the first time I got to see him since he moved to Thailand. It was great to see him and catch up. May have been odd at first to be over Skype, but once we got it working, it was like old times. I could have spent the entire evening chatting with him. It was so great to see his face, to laugh and more importantly to feel positive when all so many things lately were not!

On that semi-happy note, I am going to go. Hope you all are well. Miss you all dearly!

xx

T

Adventures in London: Issue 217

This week was an interesting one. The reminence of the 'reporting hell' lingered into the beginning of the week.  It has been an exhausting couple of days that has taken a toll on just about every aspect of my life. It is never worth it, but sometimes you have no choice and just need to get on with it. It is very frustrating when work completely takes over though. There was a time when I didn't 'mind', but those days are long gone. That all said,  I don't remember the last time its been like this, so that is at least the silver lining in all of this :-)



To celebrate the reports being finished and things going back to 'normal', we went out to dinner at a new restaurant. For the last 4 years or so that I have lived here and gone to Camden Market, I always walked by this place and wondered what it was. Finally I got the pleasant surprise that we were going there for dinner. Gilgamesh, a pan-Asian restaurant, in Camden Market is definitely worth a visit. Kicking the meal off with Caipirinha of Fire (Cachaça, fresh Raspberries, Lime and Chilli) I knew that this was going to be a menu to be remembered. We had the tasting menu sampling some of their signature dishes which was to die for. Way too much food coupled with being exhausted meant that mid-way through the entree I was ready to take a nap in my coconut sticky rice. Long story short, if you are in the area, I highly recommend this place. Great atmosphere, cocktails and menu. Something you will never forget :-)

That weekend, we took a trip to Westfield Stratford. I am supposed to be saving money, so what better way than a nice trip to the mall to buy things that I don't necessarily need, but really really want (and ultimately convince myself that I need 2 pairs of boots and a raincoat). Had a bit of a heart attack with the amount of money that I spent, but I am very pleased with my new purchases and cannot wait to wear them out and about. Given the amount of rain and winter season coming I have a feeling I am going to be living in them.

The rest of the weekend was less than desirable. Don't know where it all went wrong, but it certainly went as I say, 'Tits up in a hand basket' :-( Not really the weekend I wanted or needed, but something happen for a reason. Don't know what that reason is, but we will see.

Hope you all are well. Miss you dearly

xx

T

Adventures in London: Issue 216

This week has been my version of hell. It has seen me work all hours of the evening and sadly all weekend. Don't know how I managed to, but I have worked 85hours this week. How does one physically do that?! Nothing like pure fear of not delivering to motivate you to get the project finished. Every quarter we have our country & category reporting to deliver. I have automated some of the delivery and this round I thought I would add some more. Unfortunately the process was not properly tested and the whole process took longer than anticipated. 

On Monday, I was still optimistic that we were going to meet our deadlines. I came home not super late and still with enough energy to go for a run. It was too late to go to the park, but I needed to blow off some steam to clear my head so I did hill repeats. I ran up my street, over a block, down the hill and then over to my road to run up it. To those standing outside the shops on Green Lanes, they probably thought I was absolutely insane, but hills were good to clear my head. I managed 3 circuits which was just enough to clear my head before getting back to work. 

The week pretty much continued like that, except that I lost the time and energy to go for a run. Instead I worked stupid hours, came home for a 'dinner' and then was back at it. Over the weekend I completely took over and had the big challenge of doing 2 weeks of ETL + QA and 1 week of reporting in 2 days....CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!

To take on the challenge I transformed the kitchen into an office, moving the spare TV and using it as a second monitor. I haven't felt that trapped and scared work wise in awhile and it was not a pleasant feeling to have again. There were points when I was ready to give up and crack, but I pushed through it. 

The only positive of the weekend (aside from getting the reports done. Managed to get 6 of the 8 done before the close of the weekend), was that I got to spend some time with Kadin. I added a third screen to the office so while the programme ran and the reports were updated it was nice to have some company. We spent a good deal discussing what he wanted to be for Halloween. Wanted to be something scary and being an alien, zombie or a monster was child's play. He wanted to go super scary cause he is not a kid anymore. Was set right when I recommended that he go as Captain America - - that is a baby's outfit Tini Foi...I am a big kid now and I want to be scary! Let's see what he comes up with. I am sure he will look adorable. Love you little man!

Not much else to share. Next week is going to be busy, but am hoping that we are through the worse part of the reporting. Time to start investing behind the technology on how we do things!! I cannot keep doing these weekends nor do I think any of my relationships are going to endure much more of this!

Hope you all are well and having a less work manic week.

xx
T

Adventures in London: Issue 215

How long does it take to move on? On Tuesday most American will say that remembering doesn't mean we haven't moved on...it means we will never forget. I can still remember it like it was yesterday, my thoughts and prayers to all the families

My thoughts and wishes are also with my Molly beans on her birthday. One con of living on this side of the pond is that we no longer have our midnight drink to ring in her birthday. I still remember the year that I had to go back to work, but raced over to ensure that I was there for the midnight drink and toast to kick off her birthday. I wonder. I remember all these minor 'rituals' that we had...but how much is actually remember and how much have people just moved on. People always move on, it is just a matter of time and circumstances. In some ways we all have, but I hope not in all aspects. Somethings are worth holding onto :-)

Was it not worth holding onto is another frustrating week at work. What is worth holding onto is cute baby Gideon!! Our neighbors from upstairs came down for a visit and we took the opportunity to baby-nap Gideon for a bit. What a little handsome man he is. I cannot believe how much he has grown over the last year. He is crawling now and much more mobile than he was a few months ago which essentially meant that you cannot let your eye off of him for a second :-)

Later that afternoon after going for a run and doing some food shopping it was time to get prepping for a BBQ with a few mates. It was the first official BBQ with the new beast so I had to make it good. While I prepared my tandoori paneer kebabs, chicken wings, and my Thanksgiving Burger (turkey burger mixed with cranberry, brie, sage, garlic, black pepper with egg and bread crumbs used to hold the burgers together) I spent the afternoon with I took the opportunity to Skype with the family. Talk about little men in my life growing up...look at Parker. I cannot believe he is over 6 months now. Where is time flying? He is such a cute baby and smiley baby!! While I cooked Kadin jumped in to tell me if the color of the food I was cooking looked okay. I love that little man!! He will always be my Sir Kadin :-)

The BBQ was nothing massive, KV, the Millars and the neighbors. We wanted to keep it tame (in hopes that I would not go over boards) :-)

The BBQ kicked off rather well. I was pretty organized this time and the side panels truly helped with cooking. Unfortunately the sunset which made it harder to cook, but we still managed. What did not help was the gas going out :-( That was a disappointment. I tried to get the temperature back up, but she just wasn't having it. I think she got shy with all the pressure and caved. Still love you BBQ...you let me down, but as the BBQ overall was not ruin you are off the hook ;-)

 Inspired by Silas and Cheryl I made my first batch of BBQ wings from scratch. I did not know how they were going to turn out and I was rather nervous, but I think they turned out okay. There were no leftovers and I did get the KV seal of approval so that definitely brought a smile to my face :-)

The burgers I think were a bit too heavy. Should have made smaller portions of them. It was unfortunate that I had to finish cooking them in the oven grill, but they still turned out okay. All and all, it was a lovely evening with friends. A bit stressful at first, but once I had the chance to stop cooking and sit down it was great fun to catch up. It was a sincere pleasure having the Millars over and I hope everyone had a good time.

On Sunday, once the food coma was officially over I went for a run dragging Hubbs with me on the bike. We went down to Clissold Park and I ran around in various loops around the park as Hubbs followed. I intended to go just for 10K and increased to 6.5. I was amazed to have accomplished 7.3miles. I don't know if its my running bug or the Nike+ sport band or the Nike Dashboard, but I am pushing myself more and more. I am working on my 2-3 mile slump and happy today that I was able to pass 10K. I am really enjoying tracking and analyzing my runs. Trying to make sure I keep the pace and finish with a push. If they only had this band for biking that would be great!!!

On that high note, I am going to go. I hope you all are well

xx

T

Adventures in London: Issue 214

Everyone seems to be leaving. First it was Rooney, then Silas & Brenda. Recently it was Pat and below the radar flew LL!! What is happening to our group.?! We are going to have to start recruiting as our American family is shrinking fast. LL decided to have her leaving dinner at Spices in Chapel Market, a BYOB indian restaurant. The place reminded me of AKH in Hells Kitchen. The food was top notch. The guy truly knows his flavors and everything is order to taste and made for you. What a great find LL!!

It was great spending some quality time with LL before she left. We have all been rather busy lately so we haven't had the chance to spend much time together. It was nice to have a few special and cherish hours with her. She is going to be truly missed...especially her laugh. That is one in a million. LL going to miss you and your office hugs. Wishing you all the best in Chi-Town. The new dig sounds wicked!!

This week has been hard. Finding things really difficult lately...work relationship, client relationship, and personal relationships. I feel like I am going to crack soon. One on hand I feel calm and composed. On the other hand I feel like I am about to explode. I am hard company to be around these days....people just don't know which side of me they are going to get. It is not a way to live. I feel like I am fighting all aspects of life right now and that is not the way to live right now. Something has to change. The question is, what need to change; work, living, personal? Where do you start?

Over the weekend the weather was beautiful. It was the weather that we should have had all summer!! I took advantage of the weather and the opportunity to escape everything that was going on in my life with a run. It is the only time I have for just me. Right now I wish I could hit pause and enjoy some more 'me time.' Sometimes you just need a moment to yourself to regroup, to compose yourself...right now that time doesn't seem to exist unless I run. Thus I run :-)

I leave you with the thought (and frustration) of the week... Data are like dots. Putting them on the same piece of paper is the easy part, but unless you know how to connect them you will never draw the picture. Stories come from the picture we draw...not by being in the same place ;-)

Hope you all are well and enjoying the fine weather that we have been having 

xx

T

Adventures in London: Issue 213

Love long weekends. Don't know what it is about having Monday off which throughly makes the week. Feel truly relaxed with a three day weekend. We were still in the cottage so before leaving for the day I managed to fit in a quick run. Didn't go very far as the hills killed me and the elements changed making it really hard to run against the wind and the piercing rain daggers. It was nice though to get out and be a bit active. I love being active on holiday, don't know what it is. I know you should take a break from everything, but things are so busy during the regular weeks, that when holiday comes it brings the opportunity to catch up on hobbies, personal to-dos and exercise. I followed up on Tuesday with another run through the woodland walk and around the park. Managed to do 4.5 miles. I am supposed to run a half marathon in October, so we will see if I can get my mileage up to 13.1 in time :-)

On Thursday, it was time to celebrate a friend's birthday with drinks at Vertigo 42 (a lush champagne bar with a spectacular view of London) followed by Rhodes 24. It was an interesting evening and not really one that I was expecting to have. I thought I had planned a good night and during my birthday toast I slipped and said something that turned the night upside down. I want people to be happy. I want people to be able to look into the mirror and be happy (truly happy) with the person that they see. I don't want them to live their lives by other people's opinions, validation, affirmations. They should have that within themselves. I don't think it was a wrong message, but perhaps not the time or place :-)

On Friday I caught up with some friends at work for lunch. I don't know where 2012 has gone. We have been planning a lunch for what seems like ages so I am happy that we finally got the chance to do a sushi lunch to catch up on each other's lives. It is always a pleasure spending time with these two girls. Never met two girls with such a great outlook on life and level head on their shoulder. It was great to see them, catch up and reminisce on the old days. It is hard to believe that by saying that we have been there since 2008 means that we are ancient on the floor. Who knew :-) Cannot wait to see them again. 

That evening it was time for a surprise birthday party for Hubbs!!! After Tye being ill, crazy things at work, water damage in the cellar - - a birthday celebration was just what Hubbs needed. I was super stressed that the evening was not going to go as planned. Thought I was going to spill the beans so many times, but thanks to some clever 'white lies' and great friends the evening went without a glitch and we all had such a great time!! I may have had a bit too much fun as the guest of honor ended up having to babysit me for the evening. I haven't been that carefree drunk in ages...and I don't think I have even slept on the floor. Not me at all, but very well worth it. 

Saturday was spent glued to the sofa. Thankfully the hangover McDonald's car made pick-up and deliveries. I should have stuck to beer, don't know why I thought switching to bourbon was a good idea. Any hoot, its done now and I have no regrets. I had a great time and I hope the birthday guest of honor did as well. Thank you everyone for helping me pull the evening off. I couldn't have done it without you xx

On Sunday, we spent the day in the spa. It was a great way to cap off the birthday weekend. My friends should have more birthdays -- hahaha. We had a full day of pampering in store. Heat treatment, massage, facial. Truly spent the day relaxing! Read a bit, went for a swim, and tried out the Hammam which was crazy at first, but then I got used to it once I learnt how to breathe in there.  I wish I was a lady of luxury and could spend more of my days as spa days :-)

Hope everyone is well. Miss you terribly. 

xx

T

PS: Can someone tell me when ear defenders became the IT thing? They are super cute on the babies, but are they good for the child?