Thinking inside the box

I like to think of myself as an open-minded person.
But recently, I've been questioning myself. And I wonder whether more often than not, I am actually quite set in my ways and views. Just because those might not always be conventional doesn't make me any less opinionated.

I am trying to be less judgmental and actually try to see or at least consider seeing things from a different point of view.

F*ck the tartan...

After a few more frustrations with the sewing machine:

what a waste of thread... and the source of much swearing!

I've finally finished the wrap skirt. But either it doesn't photograph well or it actually looks crap and I just don't want to admit it... I'm still struggling with ironing the bloody tartan fabric, too. Argh.... Fingers crossed the next sewing project will be more successful! Pattern is cut. The fabric is relatively slippery though. We'll see how that goes.

Verdi's Otello

Tragic, great performance at the Coliseum, on until 17 October.

Chico Bandito

Feeling very lazy - so just a food photo today. Lovely Mexican in Shoreditch, and 50% off the food with the tastecard! Happy hour from 5-7pm, Monday to Friday - cocktails for £3.50 (you do have to eat to qualify though but food is cheap even without a tastecard).

Potato skins with LOADS of sour cream, chicken tacos, chorizo quesadillas
and no, I didn't eat that by myself. AND I've been to the gym, too.
And I managed 12 minutes on the treadmill - in case you are interested ;-)

Street Art

Our offices are just a 15 minute walk from Shoreditch -  I cannot believe that I hadn't seen most of the Street Art around there! If you ever are in London, you should check it out. Either by yourself, or book one of the Street Art Walking tours. Shoreditch is also a great place for coffee and shopping. I should really spend more time there.

This piece was commissioned; nevertheless, what a stunning piece of art!
And all done with spray paint! Check out all the details - just incredible!

Macaroni and cheese

Sometimes the little things can make all the difference. Lunch at the Narrow Boat is always nice and we should make time for it more often. And I sincerely hope that sharing the not so pleasant bits of life with someone, lifts the burden at least to a certain extent.

It's been a good week overall. I had another coaching session and D let me overrun by more than half an hour, which I really appreciated. It feels like I'm growing up a little more - in the best possible sense. It's not always easy but certainly worthwhile.

Manon - at the premiere!

£5 for a ticket to see Manon (as a ballet not opera) at the Royal Opera House. View was restricted, but at least I had a seat - no idea how others manage to stand through a 2h45 minutes performance...

As noted on my first visit to the Royal Opera - the building itself is absolutely stunning! And I again enjoyed the show. Having said that, I was struggling a bit with taking in both the music AND the dancing. Both were amazing and beautiful, but at times, I just wanted to close my eyes and enjoy the music. I also have to say that the story wasn't that easy to follow. I had a read a brief synopsis to at least get the gist of it.

All in all, a great way to start the weekend!

Blue Hawaiian

Even though it's just temporary, but for now B has moved to my neighborhood - which is very exciting news! Tonight we had dinner at the Thai restaurant.

It's such a different experience to go out just a five minute walk from home as opposed to a 45 minute public transport journey away. Lovely company, great Pad Thai, friendly and quick service who then let us stay and chat even though we didn't order any more drinks and a Blue Hawaiian to celebrate the weekend that is so close.
And tomorrow is pay day. And after a few weeks of craziness and a knotted stomach, the project has gotten so much better in the last couple of weeks that I am feeling hugely relieved.
Life is good :-)

Bulldozer, oyster and lemonade

In an attempt to introduce (even?) more fun into the workplace, for the last month I've been playing a word game with three of my colleagues: every week we set ourselves the challenge to include random words into our work correspondence. There's an online random word generator, which provided us with eight different words each week. The only rule was that we mustn't write an email just for the purpose of including one of the words - it had to be a genuine work email. And the three losers will have to provide the prize for the winner.

We are now in the last week - and I am already so far ahead that the victory is mine! The three others are now just trying to avoid coming last. There of course isn't much of an incentive for me to play this week. Having said that, I'm clearly quite competitive - and a little disappointed in the lack of competitiveness in my colleagues... (and no, I am not as bad as Monica from friends...)

We'll have to find another game for next week.
Suggestions are welcome. :-)

(And yes, I managed to use bulldozer, oyster and lemonade! Not all in the same email, of course)

11 minutes

I don't run. When I do use the treadmill, I walk. Quite some years ago, I made a very feeble attempt of taking up running: after all it's free, you don't need anything but running shoes and off you go. It probably wasn't the greatest idea to start my 'training' in winter, when I was freezing my ears and other bits off. And after just a few weeks (maybe just days?), I gave up again. I tried the usual thing of walking and running. But could never run for longer than five minutes. Honestly, I'm not exaggerating. I get out of breath, my sides start to hurt, my shins hurt plus I am incredibly bored.

Despite my best efforts - and as documented by my food photos - I simply cannot bring myself to diet or even to just cut out REALLY unhealthy food like chips, fried food or chocolates. I've therefore taken up the gym again (yes, the one that is literally three minutes from my flat, and that I pay for as part of my rent anyway - so no, I didn't sign up to some super expensive gym). AND I managed to run eleven minutes!!! And other than being bored, I didn't feel completely out of breath and dead by the end of it. Remember: you've got to celebrate the small victories.

Let's see how long my motivation will last this time.
I'm hoping until December!

Am I doing it all wrong?

Sometimes minor issues are just that, a dilemma to be dealt with, then forgotten. 

But those you're facing now are prompting you to think carefully about certain 

unrewarding arrangements. If there's no hope of improving on things, 

it may be time to let them become part of the past.

Between the sun's recent move to accent the structure of your life and the New Moon, 

it's time for a rethink. You've sensed changes were coming, but thought they weren't worth the bother. Now, you realize the longer you wait, the more you could miss. 

And no, I do not lead my life according to my horoscope. Nevertheless, I do wonder whether there is some valuable advice in there. Sometimes you just need to do, rather than over-think... 

And one thing's for sure: change is overdue. What exactly I am still waiting for, I don't know. 

Well, maybe I do. 

I think it's courage.

David, what were you thinking?

The other day, I caught half the trailer of 'What we did on our holiday'. Well, I primarily noticed that David Tennant (with his Scottish accent, not the English Dr Who accent) was in it. I was quite excited, when I got an email from Showfilmfirst AND they still had tickets available at the Greenwich Odeon, which is even in my neighborhood (for London standards anyway).

What a disappointment the film was: Unrealistic, predictable rubbish and badly acted. David is of course still pretty to look at - one of the redeeming features. The other being the stunning Scottish landscape shoots and it is admittedly funny at times. The themes of the movie are good and interesting and all but the translation into the movie is not great.

But I am glad I didn't actually pay for tickets. I do wonder what the actors - also starring Rosamund Pike, Billy Connolly and Celia Imrie - were thinking when they read the script. Which is written by the guys who do Outnumbered. And you can certainly see the parallels. Not surprisingly, I am also not a big fan of Outnumbered...

friends and no friends

Recently, I was discussing friendships, and just a few days later I came across this entry on Joanna's Liebesbotschaft blog (there's a button to get a google translated version in English). I think Joanna makes a very good point and one that isn't often made in a world where popularity is so important.

I've typed and deleted a number of variations of this post and can't seem to really express what I want to say. Maybe cause I can't add much to Joanna's post. So, I gave up trying.

Sewing without pattern

I've seen these cross-over skirts everywhere. In the first episode of Dr Who series 8, Klara wears one of them in a red and black tartan and it reminded me that I wanted to make one myself. I found a tutorial online (which in the meantime seems to have disappeared) and it looked very doable.

I cut a rectangular, lined it (bloody stretch lining was very slippery...), hemmed it, added two darts at the back and one at each side, used snap fasteners and added lace at the hem and side. It somehow doesn't look quite right though. It's sewn so it sits on the hip rather than the waist, but I think it's a bit too big and too long. And no matter how much I iron the fabric, it just never looks ironed. Slightly frustrating...

I will have a think on how to fix it. Having said that, I think it might look ok with black tights and boots.

Update: I decided to shorten it by about 5cm, which made a massive difference (honestly, it looks much better than in the photo now!). But unfortunately due to all the ripping of the dart-seams, the fabric is a stretched out now. I think I might have to take off the lace on the side and sew it back into place. So annoying: I had really hoped I'd be able to finish this in a weekend...

C'est courageux d'aller dans l'inconnu

I have five books on the go at the moment. Two are non-fiction, one of them I keep going back to, the second one I might have to restart again. And I can't really get into the three novels that I started during the last few months, so I decided to try another one as I realized that I have at least three novels that I bought a while ago and had completely forgotten about.

And I started with Gayle Forman's 'Just one day'. I read her 'If I stay' a little while ago (the movie was released last month), and while I liked it, it didn't blow me away. But I really liked Just one day. Both are 'young adult' books - so not sure what that says about my mental development... Once I had started, I couldn't put it down and spent most of the weekend in bed reading. And crying. Of course, for me to like a book there has to be some crying! Sad as well as happy crying.

The book starts with a spontaneous 24 hours trip to Paris. And I was wondering how much it would be a copy of 'Before sunrise'. But surprisingly, the Paris episode is only about a third of the book. The rest is in a way what happens in between 'Before sunrise' and 'Before sunset'.

So many of the themes resonated with me: about friendships, life choices, being and pretending to be. Have started with the next book already: 'Just one year'.

Every flippin' time...

As my flat is very small, I try to do my laundry when I'm not in, as the noise of the washing machine is annoying. So, on a weekend, I tend to prepare the load so I only have to switch it on when I leave the flat.

And yes - you can guess it - nearly every time, I forget...

I want cake

But I've been good. A little anyway: no pastries or dessert for me during the meeting. I am not fooling myself though: a veggie burger is still not healthy. Especially not when it comes with fries and onion rings... But it was yummy and so was the Vietnamese dinner.

And it was nice to spend some time with my colleague away from the office :-)

pre-conference feeding

Man in suit and those legs

After a very slow start, registrations for last week's event had fortunately picked up over the last six weeks or so. Admittedly to a large extent by the organizer mobilizing his colleagues to attend... But then again, I am not so bothered about why people sign up.

Despite some minor hick ups along the way, the event went well, feedback (so far) has been positive and in many ways we were quite lucky: the weather was brilliant which meant everyone enjoyed a nice walk to the venue of the reception. And it only started pissing down with rain the next morning. The venue had a power black out - just after the last presentation had finished (and the light came back on again quickly). All speakers showed up on time - also a bonus. More importantly: it's all done now.

Autumnal but very warm in Cambridge; but what is with the lack of 3G coverage???

Student halls. Not complaining though: I slept surprisingly well in the single bed

And finally: I do like men in suits. Our meetings are generally more smart casual than business dress, so the dashing man in a suit stood out even more. And if I have legs like her when I am 50, I shall be very happy (it's unlikely though, as I don't even have them now...).

It's been a while

We've been busy or on leave (well, he's been on leave...) but we finally managed to go for lunch last week. And discovered quite a nice pub just a short walk from the office with a lunch menu for just £4.90! Plus everything at half price on Mondays. I've had better chips, but the steak was good. And for £4.90 a bargain!

The Old Ivy House - nice decor, too, including an antique sewing machine 

September Birchbox

Agave: healing oil treatment - would be great if it smoothed my now short hair which is proving difficult to keep down...
Benefit: It's potent! eye cream: great timing - my last Birchbox eye cream is coming to an end
Korres: citrus showergel - always good for travelling
Skin & Co: truffle therapy serum - why not
Modelco: power lash mascara - also good timing: I've been meaning to buy a new mascara
Urban fruit: magnificent mango - dried fruit. Not keen on mango...
Birchbox: happy days photo clip - will probably find a place on my desk at work. Who knows - it might even cheer me up!

one of those days

Could everyone (annoying) please leave me the f*ck alone?
Not only today but also the foreseeable future.
That would be lovely.

Always worth a visit

Even if you can't be asked to look at the exhibitions - the building alone that houses the V&A is always worth a visit.

"Better it is to get wisdom than gold" - no comment...

mini stage designs for Ring Round the Moon and the Swan Lake - loving the miniature spiral staircases!

Dim Sum - the posh way

Well, if you go out in South Kensington - that's what you've got to expect! The food at Bo Lang was admittedly very nicely presented and delicious! And while service was friendly - they also forgot to bring two of the dishes we had ordered...

More distress

As part of the Oxford Street Fashion Showcase GAP hosted a talk by Lisa Comfort from Sew Over It - the sewing cafe in Clapham, where I did my first sewing class! And I was lucky enough to win two tickets (one of the many competitions I take part in - it does pay off occasionally...).

The 'talk' turned out to be just a 10 minute talk about how Lisa got to opening the cafe and started the work she is now doing. That was rather disappointing... But the (unexpected) goody bag made up for it: a mini grater, sandpaper and a £10 GAP giftcard. Plus a mini workshop on how to distress your jeans. I'll definitely be buying some studs for my denim jacket and my pink chucks - so easy to embellish stuff!

*send*

And now it's gone and done. Whatever will happen, I know it will be fine.

At least that's what I keep telling myself ;-)

Dieting - my way

In my defense: we shared the delicious chocolate cronut (thanks, T, I would have eaten one all by myself otherwise...) AND I had one of the Leggera pizzas at Pizza Express! (and was of course hungry by the time I got home...) As you can see my diet is going according to plan...

Distress on the Autobahn

£10.75 for Time Out tickets for Neil LaBute's Autobahn at the King's Head theatre pub on Upper Street in Islington. I love London for its huge Westend theatres and productions and equally it's neighbourhood small theatres!

We had great seats in the front row (well, the theatre is pretty small, so you probably had a good view from anywhere!). The play consists of seven one act plays, all taking place in the front seats of a car. I liked the idea and I liked some of the stories (much) better than others. The four actors who played the 14 different characters did a great job, I thought. Slipping into different roles with ease.

Overall though, it was a rather depressing reminder of how f*cked up relationships and communication are in our world. Is it easier to not let people get close to you in order to protect yourself from this sort of pain and stress and problems? I wonder...

I can't help it

I do not need any more clothes. I still have a pile of fabrics and patterns, so continue to add self-made clothes to my overflowing wardrobe. And still I continue to shop...

This time, my excuse is that I urgently needed to replace my black winter coat, which I've had for nearly 10 years and where the lining is ripped all over the place. And while I was at it, I also got this dress and top... all at bargain prices, of course!

all Bershka, and they all look so much better when worn, of course! ;-)

Party night

It's the season to party: at the moment I'm getting several networking and showcase events invites every day. Last night's showcase was a bit different than the usual nibbles and drinks and took place at the Cirque le Soir in Soho. It didn't get off to a great start: doors were meant to open at 19:00 - by 19:15 there was a long queue already and somehow nobody had a guest list so everyone was kept waiting.

But it was worth the wait: it's a nightclub with a stage, different rooms, including a white room filled with white balloons and white bean bags. Burgers and tacos, a chocolate fountain and of course drinks, loud music and sexy performances on stage and randomly a face painter! I loved the latter - as I had never had my face painted before! And may I say that she liked her own creation so much that she asked whether she could take a picture :-)

I LOVED the maid with the massive head. Scary man was watching you pee in the toilets...

not the most comfortable costumes, I imagine

Walking it off

This week, the weather has been rather nice so I've been walking half way home. Well, maybe not half way, more like a third. But then I do live quite far out!

It's a nice way to discover bits of London that I don't generally see as I'm usually travelling underground and it's also a good way to walk off frustrations. And as an added bonus I'm at least getting a tiny bit of exercise (cause I've of course didn't keep up the gym sessions...).

From todays walk: Lloyd's of London and the Leadenhall Building; 10 Trinity Square

Internet treasures

Before I buy any more patterns, I will search the internet first!
So little time, and so many more things to sew:

Skirt
Skirt 2
Skirt 3
Skirt 4
Infinity scarf  (have I posted this before? I can't remember...)

Let the stars guide you

"You make decisions only after gathering facts and thinking things over. 

Yet even your logical nature could be influenced by the current Full Moon, to the extent that you allow your feelings to overrule your head. 

While unsettling, letting go in this way is wonderful for you."

I like the sound of that! (And I only ever choose to believe in my horoscope when I like the sound of it...)

Simplicity

John Lewis is currently having a 50% of sale on Simplicity sewing patterns - on until early October. I spent a good half hour going through the catalogue and took forever to decide which ones to buy. At home I then also noticed that the website where I previously bought patterns from, also sells them at the same price...

Anyway, here's what I took home. My first jacket pattern! Which I primarily bought for the top pattern as I have some fabric still from Hong Kong which I want to make into a top but didn't have a suitable pattern for. Until now.

Apologies for another terrible photo... At least you can see the pattern numbers! :-)

Hanging out in Mayfair

I do feel like a b*tch when criticizing the free food at a networking event. A hypocritical b*tch, too, as it really annoys me when our delegates criticize the free food they are getting at our events.... Nevertheless (yes, it's not stopping me...), when you are hosting an event for event managers at a 5* hotel in Mayfair, London, attendees will come with certain expectations. And I've certainly had better canapes in the past. The churros for dessert were delicious though!

And another nice evening, catching up with C, even if I didn't win any of the prizes (for a change).  Six nights in Cape Town would have been pretty cool! Obviously, just having been there, I'm not going to be greedy either.

Pride

I hadn't heard about this film (nor the story it is based on) but I'm always up for free cinema tickets, so when the email from Showfilmfirst came in, I was delighted that tickets for a special Sunday preview at my local cinema in Stratford were still available.

As always, I won't try to summarize the film - but I highly recommend it! It's based on true events during the miners' strike in the UK in 1984 and the support they received from the lesbian and gay community. It's shocking and sad and amazing and really touched me.

Very, very painful - but it's done!

I'm not sure where it all went wrong, but it went wrong quite a bit. I removed the zipper completely, and sewed in another one (this time a pink one!). But somehow the left and right side didn't match up anymore. As the dress consists of bodice and skirt that is of course a problem. It also makes the seam look wonky. I couldn't work out what I had done wrong and I also wasn't prepared to undo any more stitches than I already had to. So, screw it.... I will just wear it with a belt and nobody will be able to see! Or rather, I just don't care if people do see.

I also really, really, really want an overlocker! The fabric is fraying badly and I wonder how long until it will fall apart in the wash. Last but not least, I also managed to prick myself on numerous occasions with the bloody pins... And it also still doesn't fit quite right on the top but for now I simply cannot be asked to do anything about that. 

not sure where I got the massive bruise on my leg from
possibly from walking into my bedframe...
and yes, another crappy photo taken on my bed

Meet the author

Firsts

1) Dinner at Missouri Angels: great steak, lovely service - but an empty restaurant...
2) An evening with a 'work friend': great when you also get on outside the work context
3) Qantas First Class PJ: I honestly don't see the appeal... (I do see the appeal of flying first class, but I don't need the PJs)

Certainly not a first: enjoying a mild late summer night at Tower Bridge - always special!

complete with slippers and socks...

Celebrating the little wins

Seriously: where is the time going? Another week gone by in a flash. Not sure when this started, but I seem to be spending at least half my time in meetings or on calls these days. Craziness all around continues and it's making me celebrate the little wins. It only took 20 minutes of my most persuasive talking to and over and at somebody to eventually get what I wanted.

But it's the weekend now!

Leaving London

This week, I went up to Manchester for a meeting. It was a grey day - bad weather never does much for any city... I also have to confess that I clearly have become a bit of  a London snob: everything outside of the capital just seems a little provincial.

In any case, it was nice to spend a bit of time away from my desk. Apart from sitting on the train for two hours each way, I  spent most of the day schmoozing. And felt absolutely exhausted by the end of it. Who would have thought that switching on the charm is so energy-consuming?!

Overall, a very good day - connecting with existing business contacts, making new contacts and chatting about football, friendships and life along the way.

cocktails at Cape Town prices!!!

Virgin toilet humour - actually funny!

schnipp schnapp

I wanted a change and I wanted it shorter. I did not ask for it THAT short...
I actually had it similarly short during my first year at uni and had sworn never to go there again as I felt it made me look like a boy...

So far, other people have said they think the short hair suits me. I'm not yet convinced. But it is growing (clever, right?! ;-)) on me. In any case, nothing I can do about it other than wait for it to grow back. It certainly takes less time to wash and blow dry it!
Always a silver-lining ;-)

Hot Love

With so many restaurants on offer, I very rarely go back to the same place - it usually seems like a better idea to explore somewhere new. Not least as I have a long list of places saved in my favourites that I really want to try.

But last week, faced with the choice of three places in Camden Passage near Angel which I had all been to (each just once), it happened that I had dinner at Kipferl again. Service was very friendly again. And patient. Too much chatting meant that it took us a while to make a decision.... After the Gulasch last time, I went for the Kalbsgeschnetzeltes with fried potatoes - which was also very good. And Hot Love to share for dessert. I'm afraid I have no photos. But it was good! ;-)

*hyper*

It's probably safe to say that for the next month at least, work won't get any less busy. When I rushed out of the office to run to my massage appointment on time (ok, I didn't run, but I did walk REALLY fast!), I was feeling super hyper. The stressed-hyper type.

For the first half hour, I was chatting to Renato about life in London, Brazil and Germany. And I could feel how I was steadily calming down and relaxing, and happiness levels were rising, too. The next half hour (conveniently now lying on my front), I just listened to the music and enjoyed the rest of the massage. And left floating on cloud nine :-)

I can only recommend the place. From 17:00-19:00, all treatments are offered at half price - need any more excused? And thanks to my MSH Wellbeing loyalty card - my next massage will be free!