Sunday 18 December 2011

Crack den

The round-up will resume tomorrow, but for now I thought I'd show you what I've been up to this weekend.

My somewhat worrying addiction to peanut butter cups, and my belief in their crack-like propensities, has already been well documented - so I decided to start a little production line and manufacture some of the home-made version.

They're intended as Christmas presents for a couple of people, but I have to admit it's been a challenge to my will-power to avoid demolishing them myself...





Yum!

Saturday 17 December 2011

Round-up: June

June saw me trying to settle into life in LA, move into my new apartment, and start to try and make it a little more homely.

Apartment {June}

Apartment {November}

It also saw me start to meet people here, and come to terms with what a huge thing I'd done in moving away from everyone I care about back in Engerland.

But such brooding is easily fixed with a little DIY...

Before.

During.

After.

Friday 16 December 2011

Round-up: May

At 2.30am on May 16, 2011, you could have found me sitting on my suitcase while my friend desperately attempted to zip it up.

At 6.30am, I was up, about and desperately jettisoning even more of my belongings (my poor housemates inherited a few unwanted items of flotsam and jetsam that day).

And by midday, I was onboard a plane heading for the west coast of America and everything it had to offer.

See this blurry piece of goodness? My first EVAH In-n-Out. A historic moment.

But that's not all that May consisted of. Don't be silly.

It kicked off with another BEAUTIFUL wedding, deep in the East Anglian countryside, complete with gorgeous bride, some of the prettiest flowers I've seen in a while and an extremely raucous dance-floor.


There was a lovely going away bash with an array of work colleagues past and present, friends from school, university and London town, and plenty of wine.

There was a second trip to Amsterdam - and this one involved a little messing about on the river. And by messing about, I really mean breaking down in the middle of a canal (in the most adorable little orange boat, the Good Ship Orangina) and having to work out an exit strategy.

And finally, on my last weekend in England, there was another celebration - and another hen weekend, this time for my friend N. Let's just say that Center Parcs brought out my competitive edge... and saying goodbye to my gaggle of schoolfriends left me somewhat emotional.

Round-up: April


This is my friend S. This picture captures her hen weekend beautifully, I feel...*

In April I:

 - Went on a hen do in Derbyshire on an absolutely beautiful spring weekend

 - Travelled to Scotland to be a bridesmaid at an epically cool wedding (see that ruin on a hill? That's the CEREMONY VENUE, guys), making a stop-off to see an old friend in Glasgow en-route

 - Covered the Royal Wedding for work

-  Started this blog

 - Panicked about moving to America. A lot.



* The top pick is poached from my friend B, so all credit for the superb capturing of that moment should go to her.

Thursday 15 December 2011

Round-up: March

I went here in March:


That is the Caribbean. Nevis, to be precise. I highly recommend it, folks.

Round-up: February

Some foolish person actually let me have some responsibility in the planning of their hen weekend.

ROOKIE MISTAKE.


It is a foolish idea to let a craft-obsessed, but totally unskilled friend in need of distraction anywhere near your hen weekend. This happens:



In fact, after a felt, glue and coffee-stirrer production line spread across my living room, 20 of these happened. Which proved even more entertaining when the sommelier at the wine tasting session we'd arranged had a full-on, real, handle-bar moustache of his very own.

In other news, I turned 27. Ick. In Amsterdam. Yay!

Wednesday 14 December 2011

Round-up: January

I'm cheating a bit here. Because as it turns out, I didn't take a single photo in January.

I think this artistic effort sums it up pretty nicely though:


See how it's a bit dark, and a bit monochrome, and a bit blurry around the edges?

Yep. That was how my year began. It started drunkenly. It would not surprise me in any way to hear that it ended drunkenly too. There was work. There was a bit of gym-going, possibly. There were most definitely some completely amazing friends trying to help me glue myself back together again.

January is a long month... but - it leads to FEBRUARY. And February is awesome.

Round-up: intro

So. You may or may not have noticed that 2011 is drawing to a close.

I can't, in all honesty, say it started particularly well, but nevertheless, I've been offered some amazing new challenges, visited some extremely cool new places, moved to the other side of the world, and had some awesome experiences with my friends and family.

The whole point of starting this blog, which I have to admit I don't really consider often enough, was to make me pause and appreciate all the cool stuff that life throws my way. So in honour of that, I thought I'd do a little month-by-month round-up of 2011.

I warn you now, January's a bit of a downer. But bear with me, it gets better, I promise!

Monday 12 December 2011

Rainy Monday

I ran 6 miles in pouring rain today. Do I get some kind of prize, please?* I was properly soggy and cold when I got back, and everything. It's just how I remember cross-country running at school, but oddly not hellish.

In other news, I just got back from seeing Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. I was a little afeared that the plot would be too incomprehensible for my slightly rubbish attention span, but all was well. (I think. Unless I missed some key aspect of the plot and didn't notice. Not an impossibility.) Gary Oldman is AWESOME. I start my one-woman Oscar lobbying campaign for him here and now. All those Academy members who read my blog, vote Oldman, if you please. Thanks.

So. Um. Yeah. That was my Monday. That and some work. Anyone else have a more interesting day?

*That is not including the endless stream of junk food I've rewarded myself with already. Oops.

Sunday 11 December 2011

Rockin' around the Christmas tree

New York City + December = AMAZEBALLZ.

I flew out early on Friday morning, and back on Saturday evening. There was some work thrown in. All of which meant limited time for exploring.

But I still managed to see Bryant Park's ice-rink and Christmas tree, the Rockefeller Plaza ice-rink and Christmas tree, the Central Park ice-rink (can you spot a theme here?), and some pretty awesome Christmas lights and decorations.



I somehow dragged myself out of bed at 6.30am (3.30 LA time - insanity) to wander around the park and admire the wide array of dogs being walked. Then, before I had to head back to the airport, I squeezed in (deep breath here): Greenwich Village, and a Magnolia Bakery cupcake; a jaunt around the Meatpacking District; the high-line up to Chelsea; the Christmas market at Columbus Square, complete with gluhwein and bratwurst, and a final walk back through the park to my hotel.




The weather was cold enough for me to sport my new yellow scarf (and to sincerely wish I'd brought some gloves to America with me), the work I had to do went well - all in all, it wasn't a bad 36 hours...

I am now feeling so festive, and so ready to head back to England, home of mulled wine, mince pies, Christmas cake and Winter Pimms - just over a week to go!

Thursday 8 December 2011

Newbie.

Welcome to the world, Martha Rose!

I can't wait to make your acquaintance, give your parents a huge hug, and of course pass on a certain candy-striped piece of babygro goodness...

Wednesday 7 December 2011

Beside the seaside

I have rediscovered the joys of the seaside.


To be more specific, I have rediscovered the joys of the pier. Candyfloss, arcade games, ferris wheels and skeeball. What more could you want?



I also rediscovered my peculiar sensitivity to food colourings. To anyone who spotted a manic-looking redhead scampering through Santa Monica last week giggling hysterically and clutching a bag of candyfloss, followed by a slightly embarrassed-looking brunette - my apologies.

The only problem is that now I also have a fierce craving for proper English fish and chips - I think a trip to the English seaside might be in order over Christmas...

Monday 5 December 2011

Hello there.

Oh, hi. Long time no see.

Sorry about that -  I've been a busy lady, you know. Time for a catch-up? Oh, ok, if you insist.

First of all, there was Thankgiving. It involved a bit of hiking here:

Joshua Tree in all its glory.

There was a considerable amount of this:


Soggy Weekend magazine. I may have dropped one corner of it in the hot-tub...

There was seriously too much of this:

Pecan pie: before and after.

And of course, there was a little lounging (and marshmallow toasting) next to this:

Fireplace and toasty feet.
All in all, it was quite satisfactory. By which I mean BLOODY AMAZING. I want to live in Palm Springs, drink yummy cocktails and eat Thanksgiving dinner every day, if you please.

Friday 2 December 2011

Time flies...

When you're busy celebrating Thanksgiving, birthdays, poor excuses to spend waaay too much money on clothes and nail varnish, and the company of awesome people.


As you can see, it's been gruelling...

Back soon!