Adventures in London: Issue 182

It's been an exciting (and extremely busy) week. The week kicked off with a training session on Monday. I ran for another 30 minutes, but this time was able to go 0.05km further. Looking forward to breaking the 5K mark in 30 minutes (and one day running it at a faster pace, won't ever get back to the 5K in 21 minutes...but those days are long ways back).

On Wednesday I went to a beer tasting event sponsored by Double Verify at Craft. The event was wicked and the bar is definitely one that I cannot wait to go back to. Solid beer selection. We tasted 6 beers; Clerkenwell Pale, Dark Star (lovely beer with a fine balance of sweet and bitter), Durham White Stout (nice and smokey), Clerkenwell Larger, Boon Kriek (always a pleasure) and Southern Tier Creme Brulee (AMAZING BEER). Really nice event and glad that I made the time to go to it. Note to self: must find more tasting events in London :)

On Thursday for the first time in ages, I did a double gym session in one week. I did not push it and only went for 20 minutes. I am thinking of running a 6 mile race in March. Today's 3.26km is a step in that direction. Need to shave off some KGs before then too...so glad to be back and training. The plus is now I have a goal to work towards.

Friday finally came and with it a celebration of a friend's birthday in Angel. It was a nice low-key birthday celebration of pre-drinks, dinner at an Austrian restaurant, and later more drinks at a pub. It was a crazy and fun evening of laughter, smiles and more laughter. That said, for those who don't already know this about me...DON'T EAT OFF MY PLATE! ESPECIALLY WITH YOUR FINGERS!!! Almost broke his hand with that one.

Happy Year of the Dragon everyone!!! A week late, but we couldn't miss our tradition. 4 years running now, we gathered for our CNY dim sum lunch at Dragon Castle! How I love our dim sum lunch!! Don't know what it is about dim sum, but I absolutely adore it. Love me some char sui bao.

It was great seeing everyone. It was not the same without Silas and Brenda though. We all definitely missed having them there (cannot wait until May when we get to see them). I am pleased that no matter how busy we all get and no matter what else is going on in our lives we still find time for the things that matter -- friendship! Friendship is the glue that keeps our lives together....or some lame quote like that.

Miss you all dearly

xx

T

Adventures in London: Issue 181

This week has been lovely! It started with a Monday gym session which I am determined to make a regular occurrence. I know the marathon is out of question for 2012, but that doesn't not mean that running all together has to be. I am starting from scratch again, but 1 mile at a time and I will get back there. Just going to take some patience, focus and dedication.

Right now, I am not focusing on any race, distance or speed. I am just focusing on being able to run for 30 minutes. I cannot remember the last time 30 minutes seemed like a marathon...actually I can remember. It was when I was 14 on my first day of cross-country. Couldn't make it through the first day of practice without walking....2 weeks later I was with the lead pack. Just need to keep at it.

During today's session: I managed to run the full 30 minutes without stopping. Did not break the 5K marker, but did manage 4.7 km....I am going to take it. That is 4.7km more than I ran since April-11....so it can only get better. The goal of running 20.12km by the end of the year is still on!!

On Tuesday, it was the day to celebrate with my work wife - Vic!!! I did not know it at the time, but it was there was definitely reason to celebrate. At the company meeting it was announced that Vic got promoted to Partner! I am so very pleased for her. She has wanted this for such a long time and I am very pleased that Mindshare recognised her efforts and gave her the promotion she so very much deserved. We had intended to celebrated the occasion at The Paramount in Centre Point (but after being turned away because we looked too casual for their dress code), we turned to Freud's for cocktails and later champagne & patters at The Plough. Congrats Vic!!! Hope this doesn't change our breakfast routine!!

On Thursday, we all bittersweetly celebrated JAR's leaving do from Mindshare. She is still staying within the WPP family and her new job is pretty kick arse, but she is going to be missed. She is by far the kindest, warm hearted individual at Mindshare. She was one of the first friends I made at Mindshare (outside the American and ATG family) and I am lucky to call her friend.

JAR -- I wish you all the best of luck with your new adventure. I hope your new gig is everything that you wish for because you definitely deserve it! Thank you my dear for everything during my move to London and all you smiles, laughter and support since!!

Finally the weekend arrived!!! It was a massive shopping weekend spending more on accessories on our new bikes than the bikes were worth as well as a new TV and speaker system for the bed room. These by no means were must haves....but some how I turned a simple let's just get a bike rack and an iron into a shopping bonanza!! It's a talent of mine, I can turn just about any shop for must haves into a shopping bonanza of things we never thought we wanted. Why on earth do we need to have the ability to connect the iPad to the bedroom TV? Who knows, but now can!?!? Can connect the laptop to the computer too! Can barely have Safari open streaming video, but now can connect my "your start up disk is almost full" laptop to the TV! Wicked times!!!

On Sunday, after an ordeal of getting the bikes on the bike rack it was off to Epping Forrest for a biking adventure. It was not the warmest of days, but after the debacle of Saturday and especially after the struggle of getting the bikes on the rack, there was nothing that could stop us from going on our ride.

Epping Forrest is absolutely beautiful! the hills there were a struggle, and cycling past the horses was interesting, but biking around was chuffing awesome! There were some stop and go moments, but for our first bike ride, we managed 1hr30min (+/- a few). I wish the path that we found at the end was the path that we were on the entire time, but now we know. Here's to next time (when we go with better bikes....hahaha).

Well hope you all had a lovely week and start to 2012!!! Remember to #MakeItCount!

Miss you all very dearly and truly!

xxx

T

Adventures in London: Issue 180

It been a full week of work this week. Still not completely over my cold, but couldn't bear staying away from work any longer. There is something fundamentally wrong with that statement, but it is true. Work is a good place to come to lately even with the climate of our industry. It is going to be an interesting year (and I mean that in both the English and American sense), so the important thing is to enjoy each day whilst we can. This the year of #makingitcount...so let's do it!

In spirits to make every day as productive as it can be in both a work and personal way, one of my resolutions is to be more on top of my non-work to-do list (I tend to be rather slack on this, but not this year!) On Monday, as many already know, I went to the post office to take my photo for my driver license (yes, going to learn how to drive on the wrong side of the road...even worse with a manual car). Left without getting my photo taken, but did send out a few post cards to those who sent me their mailing details making an effort at keeping in touch (the old fashion way).

The highlight of my week was definitely the weekend, but before I get to that. On Thursday a bunch of us went for a few pints at the local pub to catch up on our Christmas holidays and how 2012 was going thus far. January is a stinky month...doesn't help that people are on about how depressing the month is. You cannot harp on about such stuff. Just get on with it. A depressing notion is the fact that I have switched to half pints instead of full pints for weekday drinking. I just cannot do it any more. I wish I could, but anything more than 2 pints and I am rubbish the next morning. The other sad realisation (though I always knew it) is that although "Eating in Cheating"...I need to cheat when drinking. On the joys of getting older :)

My new kick lately has been ales and this week I have added two more to my list. Deuchars and Hobgoblin! If you come across either of these two ales, they are a must try.

And now for the weekend!

I have never wished that I was in Houston more than I have this weekend. For the first time in US history, then men's and women's olympic marathon trials were hosted in the same city. I have been looking forward to this day for some time and was looking forward to a weekend of live streaming. Sadly NBC decided not to stream the race online and I had to "watch" the race via twitter and Runner's World live chats.

I was "torn" as to who to cheer for. I say torn, cause not matter the outcome, I would have been pumped for both the women's team. That said, I was rather nervous and shocked by the results of the race. No Deena Kastor?!?! But that is what I had planned in my little head - - Deena vs Paula on the streets of London! Now that plan has changed to Paula vs Kara, Shalene and Desiree. The question to be answered will be if Shalene or Kara compete at the Track N Field Trials....

This weekend was a weekend of sporting (feels good to being active again). On Saturday, we took our bikes into the shop to have them looked at (as the break weren't quite working and the wheel wasn't turning - - minor things). I felt like such a girl when the guy said the reason why was because I had the fork on my bike the wrong way around. DOH! After that shameful visit, we biked back through the woodland park which was absolutely beautiful. There was a small layer of frost on the ground which was utterly beautiful in the sunshine.

Saturday evening, we went to our friends's place for a "Come Dine with Me" style dinner party without the scoring, snooping around or cheeky voice overs. It was an absolute lush evening. Sam and Lou had hosted a GREAT night. I wish I was aware of the portions of the what was in store for us as I felt very ill-prepared. I had read the 5 course menu, but did not think for a second about the size of each course. I should have paced myself and I am sad that I did not as the vension pie was absolutely delicious!! It pained me that I was unable to finish the entire pie, but there was no way I could fit another bit into my mouth. I was tempted to ask for a take-a-way container as eating that on Sunday would have been lovely! Must get the recipe as I am officially adding that dish to the 2012 cooking challenge!

Keeping up the social weekend, on Sunday we went for roast with KV, but not before enduring a 4K walk through the Parkland Walk going from Finsbury Park to Highgate. With some of us thinking of moving back to the States (or over to Thailand), this year is going to be about spending cherish time with those around me. More than that, it is going to be about enjoying London and continually trying to do something different.

Sunday was just that for us. KV, Hubbs and I went for a long scenic walk through the woods up to The Flask in Highgate for roast and a pint (adding Jack Frost - a winter ale - to the list of must tries). The walk there was nice and peaceful, but after a full roast, a couple of pints and a cake pop, the walk back was painful - - literally! We had all eaten way too much, but it was a great way to spend the afternoon and catch up! Looking forward to what we do next. I am sure it will be exciting!

It has been a lovely weekend!!! I hope you all are enjoying January and not letting it get to you! Remember resolutions are meant to give you something to look forward to. They are not mean to add more pressure to you or be so far out of reach that you have broken them already ;-) #MakeItCount!

Miss you all

xx

T

Adventures in London: Issue 179

It has been a slow start to the year. Mom left Tuesday morning. It was great having Mom in London for the last 18 days and rather sad to see her leave. What made the day even worse was then having to go to work. Oye veh was that day difficult. It was good to be back in the office; being with the team, seeing work colleagues and using my new coffee mug (the only con about my new office is mug is that it is not big enough...definitely require more coffee in the mornings) :-)

The first day back at work though seemed to last FOREVER!!! I thought I could pass the time writing a deck that was meant to be sent before the close of the year. Wrote, re-wrote the deck numerous times and when it came to sending I thought "Surely it's almost time to leave!" Sadly it was only 1400....and the day went downhill from there. Working on the WW team and especially in my new role I learn every day why it is that Americans get on people's nerves globally.... we are annoying people :-)

I quite liked the cooking challenge of 2011...53 dishes was rather ambitious and being honest I got a bit repetitive. This year I am going to eased the pressure on the cooking front and only aiming for 20 new dishes. To kick things off, I made Chicken and Prawn Jambalaya. Like all things in the kitchen, I added my own little twist to the dish adding in red peppers, onions, red wine and cream cheese...sounds rather odd, but it was absolutely exquisite. Normally I do not keep the left overs, but that night I definitely did and was rather keen to eat them the next day. 19 more to go...let's see what they will bring :-)

The rest of the week was rather uneventful work wise as I was out Thursday and Friday due to this darn flu/cold that is going around. I don't feel sick sick, but my body is just run down and aches from head to toe. The one massive symptom that I suffer from is the fact that I sleep all day. Thursday was up and down in terms of feeling well. Overall that day I was just sick to my stomach and could not think straight. Thursday was painful in so many ways. Friday I was still in no shape to crawl to work, so I took to the sofa. I was I am normally a pro at sleeping, but my performance on Friday wowed even me. How can someone sleep that much?!?!

Thankfully on Saturday I was able to tear myself off the sofa to celebrate Power's 30th birthday. Michael had arranged for an amazing surprise evening of celebration including an American dinner (gotta love me some Lone Star), bowling (I have no bowling skills outside the Wii) and karaoke (hahah they had the glee version of Alone). I would not have thought there was would a place in London where you could do all 3 under the same roof, but I was correct. Apparently you can! It was a brilliant night celebrating Power's 30th birthday and seeing all the Yanks in the new year. It was our first gathering and what a better way to celebrate. We have a special group here and every time we get together I am in awe of the family that we have become whilst living here.

On a side and random note..I must say beaming ray of sunshine Saturday night was definitely Little Wib who is absolutely glowing and looks amazing as a soon to be Mommy :-)

On another note... I would like to wish a very happy birthday to my big brother!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BHAI!!!!

Hope you had a blessed day with the family and got all that you deserve on your special day. xx

To everyone else, hope you are well and miss you dearly

xx

T

Adventures in London: 2012 New Year's Resolutions

I normally close the year with a solid run (or just any run really), but not this year. Instead I spend the day with my two best friend -- you know who you are :-)

2011 has certainly been a prime year and one that I will never forget. It has seen its highs and it has seen its lows, but I never forgot what "I Stand" for. I never let go of the power to change, to live for the perfect day...and more above all I believed there is a better place. Correction on that last one...I believed that where I am is the better place.

2011 was not the year that I had planned, but little tumbles and falls can change the course you are on. The thing to keep in mind is that you need to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and carry on! I enjoyed 2011 and all it had to offer; the London experience, the travels, the laughs, the reading and of course the cooking! I may not have achieved all my new year's resolutions, but I had a lovely year! Could have wished for some event to go better than they did, but you cannot control everything. Something people act the way you expect them to...no matter how disappointing that is.

I have not sorted out my 2012 theme song yet...I cannot find a song that encapsulates my wishes for the year ahead. 2012 has been a year that I have been looking forward to since 2007 when I first started my move to London conversations. I can hardly believe that the year has arrived.

2012 is the year to #MakeItCount...this is how I want to achieve that:

1. Cook 20 new dishes in the next 50 weeks
2. Read 5 new books
3. Train to 20.12K distance
4. Visit 5 new countries
5. Work no more than 12 hours a day

Let's see how it goes!!! Either way, I am determined to make this year a great one!!