... in which I have a SHINY NEW TOY!

31st August. Back to work. Unimpressed that I am working in August. Even the people who are horrified about the amount of time I have off work (and refer to it as my part-time job) are shocked that we're back in August. But it was a training day today so I enjoyed it.

ANYWAY...




This is Big; my courtesy car whilst Baby is off getting fixed.

I am a big chickenshit when it comes to most driving-related things. Since I've passed my test I've (properly) driven two cars - my Polo and my Mini, and I've had the Mini for about two and a half years now!

So when I found this brute waiting for me I was naturally terrified. And once I got in the driving seat I realised I was right to be terrified. As someone who thinks her Mini is a "chunky car" (lol), I was overwhelmed with how big this is in comparison.

And it's fast. It likes going fast. And it likes to stall.

You can't hear the engine either, so there's a bit of paranoia going on. Have I stalled?! Oh no, the car just likes to whisper.

But!

The windscreen is massive which I love. Baby's windscreen is so small that when I'm waiting at traffic lights I can't always see them, which naturally can cause problems :) so I like seeing things.

It has 4 doors. I never have more than one person in my car anyway, but 4 doors is nice.

BIG BOOT!!! I had a shock yesterday when I went into Jo's car boot and was like "omg! I forgot that not all car boots are the size of shoeboxes!" You can live in Big's boot.

And there was something else... possibly about the fact that it is fast. And I feel high up when I'm driving instead of close to the floor. So the terror is more like adrenaline, and I like it.

... in which I add a P.S.

Oh yeah... I also spent Wednesday on the tube. Not the entire day obviously, but it felt like it at the time.

John and I went to Westfield in the morning (which was a blast) and then travelled home in the afternoon when the rain was putting in an unwelcome appearance. Ergo, we got a big wet. A lot wet. It was horrible.

And then in the rain (*shakes first*) I travelled back into London in the evening to see Gemma and Laura. And despite my rocky start to the night thanks to a bloody useless incompetent laaaaaaaaazy arse cab driver, it was really really nice to catch up with the girls.

I miss being at uni. Life was so easy then - despite what we thought at the time :)

... in which I try to refrain from saying "time flies"

Oh dear, I feel a very disjointed blog coming on. So I'm warning you now, there is a good chance that chronology takes a massive hit in this entry. Never mind.

I really miss having cats strolling around the house. It's unfair. I'm the only one of my friends to not have

a) a cat or
b) a sister

And speaking of friends, I've been seeing quite a lot of them this week. I did an awesome clothes-swap-partay with Jo and Annetta during which I acquired Bowie shirt no. 8 which I love (surprise surprise). We've also drunk a lot of tea together, watched random Sex and the City episodes and gossiped to our hearts content. Good times.

So considering the dent in Baby's bumper is entirely not my fault, I've had to waste and awful lot of my time on the phone to people sorting it out. But I think it's all done now and she goes in for repairs next Tuesday. And I get a courtesy car which is terrifying :)

I think it's quite sad that in August we already have A/W clothes in the shops. Having said that though, I am adoring the new clothes! As much as I love love love the sunshine, there is something quite nice about being wrapped up in a big snuggly jumper. And counting down the days to Christmas!

(Oh shut up, Inner Child)

:D

Oh gosh, and then it'll be my birthday.

... in which I feel a shift

Whew, it's been an eventful few days.

Friday was spent packing up our things, cleaning up and having the last few cat-cuddles before John's parents came back from holidays. When they got home we hung out for a while and ordered Chinese food. It would have been a really nice evening were it not for the fact that I was inwardly fuming.

John and I took a lightning speed trip to Waitrose before his family got home to get them bread and milk and during the 60 seconds (no exaggeration) that I was inside the store, somebody put a massive dent in the back of my car.

Luckily she was very honest and gave her details... but srsly? I left poor Baby for no more than a minute. Not cool.

Saturday was spent re-acquainting ourself with the flat :) it sounds weird but we missed it a lot so we chilled out all day and got the place looking normal again, rather than the messy barely-lived-in state it was in.

Today I am cooking beef casserole. 'Citin' because I've never cooked it before and so far it smells amazing! And I'm getting involved with Sister Act whilst I wait for it to cook. Good times :)

Also... my iPhone is amazing. I think it will literally change my life.

... in which I appreciate the shiny

Sup?

I've been a bit lazy with the old blog this week, but there hasn't been an awful lot of exciting news to share with y'all, so I don't feel too guilty :)

Had a lovely relaxed day on Monday for John's birthday which involved lots of nice treats and seeing some of his family.

I hung out with Jo on Tuesday and had a proper catch up (as opposed to drunken ramblings) about her holiday and loads of other stuff. Including the size of the world we live in. It's small, that's what it is. We live in a bloody small world.

And Wednesday (which I do believe was yesterday) John and I went to T'London Aquarium to mingle with the fishes (and frogs!!). It was full of children but brilliant nonetheless. We saw sharks, and seahorses, and piranhas, and eels and waxwork models of Ant and Dec which were rather freaky :-/

This morning we got up early (before the cats) and abandoned our house-sitting duties briefly whilst we visited home to check on Luke and wait for my parcel. And it arrived quickly, luckily for my not-so-patient self. I pride myself on having good manners, but I did almost snatch it from the poor delivery man's hands.

It was my new iPhone. Well, not my new iPhone, because I've never had one before, but it was a shiny new iPhone for me and oh, I love it. I have named him Didier :)

... in which I experience another hangover

Happy Sunday you buggers :)

Well here we go. In 1 hour and 45 minutes it is John's birthday, which I am very excited about. Maybe even more excited than he is, although he assures me this isn't true.

And so last night a group of us went out to celebrate the birthday that is occurring tomorrow. It was an amazing night, I had an obscene amount of fun with a smashing bunch of people. Unfortunately the drinks just kept on coming so John and I are both... well, not feeling brilliant. So we've had a lovely lazy day :)

Lovely!

... in which I finish what I started

Ollie said "ham" yesterday :) John and I are very proud.

At the suggestion of John's friends, I may try teaching the cats to say "veal" next.

... in which I am productive

I flew a plane today. It was awesome ♥

So... two cats live in John's parents house; Ollie and Chelsea who are brother and sister. They are both gorgeous fuzzy little things with lovely personalities, but the general consensus is that Ollie is not quite as clever as his sister.

Today I tried to teach them both to say "ham".

Katie: say "ham"!
Chelsea: ham (in a meowing sort of way)

Katie: say "ham"
Ollie: *blank look*
Katie: "ham"
Ollie: *purr purr*


Haha, they are both so adorable that it's hard not to squee out loud when they're around.

... in which I feel like a kid in a candy shop

I HAVE AN IPOON ON IT'S WAY TO ME!

Very exciting.

And I'm having a flying lesson tomorrow. Boo yeah :)

... in which I hope I'm at least a little coherant

INCEPTION FTW!

Ooh la la, I was absolutely blown away.

And it was doubly nice because it followed a delicious meal with John.

The beginning of my evening contained a little bit of fail however. I began at Ann's house where the three of us - Nas included - baked some brownies and then got into a couple of lengthy discussions (at least one was about brownies) which made me late leaving to get back to Ruislip.

When I finally got around to leaving, the deadly combination of rush hour and chubby rain meant that I pulled out of her road into gridlock. Excellent.

But that shouldn't have been a problem, after all I'm a very patient person *snort* and I've stomached many a traffic jam before. Except that Baby (my car) was pretty much running on empty and my nifty petrol button was telling me I had 7 miles of petrol left in the tank.

That number fell to 6 before I'd moved even ten yards. At one point (not much further on) it fell to 4 and I'd barely moved in the last 10 minutes, so I began to get frantic and I resorted to something I'd not done since the days of driving my Polo.

I patted the dashboard and offered words of encouragement. And I'm not saying that my car has ears or anything, but I did get to the nearest petrol station in time :)

Happy ending.

... in which I feel like time is flying

Bonje!

So... three weeks into my holiday and three weeks to go. Is nice.

Saturday evening was a nice little blur of good company, Harry Potter films and Chinese food. Sunday was mostly lazy with a trip out in the evening to Uxbridge to celebrate Alex turning 25.

And whilst I don't see 25 as "old", it made 23-year-old me feel slightly old. It seems like only yesterday that Cat and I were 21 and ripping into Alex because she was turning 23 and was on her way to old age. Oh gee, look at us now :)

Oh yeah, and Chelsea... wth guys? Losing 3-1 is not cool when John and I had to spend time with Man Utd supporters the very same evening!

The house-sitting adventure is going well, it's nice to have somewhere different to potter around in, and having cats running through the house all day makes a nice change to having zero cats!

As if on cue, Chelsea-cat came and invaded my lap space and stare at my screen for a few seconds to make sure she is getting a mention in le blog.

I'm loving the weather today. I took a stroll in the sunshine up to Ruislip High Street to buy bread and nibbly things (croissants ftw!!) and a little treat in the form of a Costa latte which was enjoyed in the garden with a magazine and feline company.

I think this week will fly by because it's my first week of having John off work, I have a flying lesson on Thursday and it's John's birthday shindig at the weekend. Bring it on :)

... in which my location changes

Good morning and a happy Saturday to all.

And happy birthday to Alexine ♥

Yesterday was a good one, I took a trip into Harrow with Ann and Nas where a generally nice day was had. We did some walking, saw some lovely things, took some pictures and overall had a bit of a giggle.

The evening found me curled up on the sofa watching my new copy of Me Without You (awesome if you've never seen it) and waiting for John to arrive home from work; his last day of work for three weeks :)

And when he did arrive we set off an a house/cat-sitting adventure. Needless to say I'm looking forward to spending two weeks with two lovely cats in a lovely house. But we can't bring Luke along to the house (pesky cats are pesky) so we'll be splitting time between here and our flat.

And I'm off. Cats to feed, hair to be washed, tea to be drunk.... busy busy busy!

... in which I indulge

I don't feel well and am missing a hen party because of it, so to cheer myself up I'm gonna rave about some of the things I've been loving recently.

1. Epic wall clock from www.heals.co.uk



I saw it when I was shopping recently and the size of it blew me away. It's so big an imposing that you can almost hear it booming the time at you. I absolutely love it, but alas! I also love the teeny weeny clock we already have :)








2. No. 7 High Shine Lip Gloss (Smile flavour)



I can't usually rave about beauty products but I do think that No. 7 is a fantastic brand. And their lipgloss is yummy and stays on for ages.



3. Ollie and Nic

A gorgeous little shop <3 It was hard to exercise self control in there... even now I'm not sure how I managed.



4. Glee

Say what you want, I don't care.


5. Terry Pratchett

I just finished reading The Light Fantastic which is the second book in the Discworld series, and I'm about to move onto the third. It's great stuff, he's a very, very clever man.

... in which I set out my tasks

Wuhu!

Feeling (slightly) better today - although it's hard to tell for sure whilst still lounging in jammies.

After yesterday I need to be doubly productive today. I need to go and do stuff. Boring stuff. Banking.

And exciting stuff - buying a birthday present for John. I know what it is, and I know where to find it, so it should be an easy task.

In doing these things I also need to remember to not let shiny things and/or gorgeous shoes distract me from my tasks. And to not wander into a coffee shop.

Alreeet. Let's get going...

... in which I have the sad

Yeah, a little bit of the sad.

I spent far too much time this morning (4.30am-9.00am) feeling horrifically sick instead of doing what I should have been doing. Snoozing.

I did manage to catch up on the snooze from 9am-12pm but it meant that I then missed out on playing badminton with Cat which I'd been really looking forward to, and on getting my phone upgraded which is so overdue now it's ridiculous.

So instead of having the planned fun, I went out food shopping which is fun in it's own silly way. And now I'm home, reading one of my old Enid Blyton books for a bit of nostalgia. "Oh, I say! This lemonade is smashing!" etc etc etc. I think it's good for the soul. Nostalgia, that is.

Lemonade is great too.

And now my plans for the rest of the day involve the following;

- watching random eps of Sex and the City
- making a 3 bean salad
- dribbling over pictures of the new iPhone
- having several cups of tea

TTFN

.. in which I share my learnings

As someone with a Greek-Cypriot dad, I have been under the impression for years that I have olive skin. Turns out, I don't!

I'm pale.

Which I don't mind really. It's just kind of a surprise to learn that after all those years.

I went into work this morning to use the gym and play badminton. There was only two of us today (instead of the usual 4/5) so we played singles which is so much harder. But I feel good for the workout.

And my other friend wants to play tomorrow. I know by Wednesday I'll be aching like billy-o but it's too much fun to turn down.

TTFN, I need to go and start organising some form of dinner :)

...in which I confess

... to lusting after this Louis Vuitton bag;

http://www.louisvuitton.com/uk/flash/index.jsp?direct1=home_entry_gb

It's very pretty and very expensive. The kind of bag I would use to death. Unfortunately when most of your hard earned squids go towards food, petrol, rent and saving for a house (with a gaaaaarden) then LV bags have to take a back seat :)

... in which I marvel

I should feel really rough but surprisingly I don't.

John and I visited my parentals for dinner last night; I went with a stomach ache and the decision to not eat too much dinner for that very reason. Well, my mum is a fantastic cook so that plan went to pot and I wolfed down a very delicious dinner.

When we got home, John got on with some gaming, and I started to watch the 100 Greatest Scary TV/Movie Moments. Being an epic wimp, I did wonder whether this was the best thing to watch before bedtime, but I soldiered on through it, and at 2.30am we went to bed.

At 5.30am I was still awake and livid at whatever it was stopping me falling asleep, although I wasn't entirely sure what it was.

Anyway, here I am, up at 11am and not feeling too bad. It might be something to do with the lovely roast dinner I have to look forward to later :) oh yeah.