Really?

I've been practicing a lot of deep breathing at work this week. It's been stressful. And some things seem to be getting worse before they (hopefully) get better. I've been moaning a lot (nothing new there). But I am also pleased to say that I've learned so much in the last year about how to cope better with the anger and frustrations and worries. I'd like to think that I'm much better at letting go.

Having said that, when I finally used my lovely birthday massage voucher at the Chelsea Day Spa, the therapist confirmed what I had suspected anyway: lots of tension in my shoulders and upper back. She recommends weekly massages. Hahaha - I'd love that! But for now monthly will have to do.

Surprisingly funny

The inaugural Associations Excellence Awards ceremony was taking place over lunch at the QEII in Westminster. And Michael Portillo was hosting. Being the ignorant person that I am - paired with my complete lack of interest in politics, I didn't (and still don't) know very much about Portillo. Knowing that he used to be a politician, I had low expectations. But he actually was really funny!

Not so sure about the awards as such. There seems to be so many around already! But nice to meet new people and catch up with others. And what a gorgeous afternoon it was in London!

The man with green hair

Went to see Molly Wobbly at the Leicester Square Theatre. And it was brilliant! Brilliantly funny and weird and wonderful. The show is on at the Lounge, which is the rather tiny space at the theatre.
Still on until 14 March. Go see it! :-)

Pre-theatre lamb koftas at Muriel's Kitchen

Blue is the colour

Lucky me

Comic Relief 2015

Watching and crying. There are so many wonderful people out there.

tense

I am so looking forward to the massage I have booked for Friday - I could feel my neck and upper back tensing up more and more throughout the day. And as much as I tell myself to relax, I am feeling rather stressed at the moment. Too much to do...

Why I hate soup

I ALWAYS burn my tongue.

And I of course don't hate soup. But in addition to the above, I also don't count it as a proper meal as I generally am hungry again after an hour or so...

Here we go again

On my way to work on Friday, I stepped out of the lift in my building to be confronted with yet another leak. The water was pretty much streaming from the ceiling. And as it came from where the ceiling lamp is fitted, that bit of the corridor was also without light. Fortunately, they don't seem to suspect it coming from my floor, so hopefully this won't affect my water supply or anything else. I honestly can't understand though why this keeps happening.

*Happy New Year*

It's the year of the goat. It's my year! And to celebrate we went to Yauatcha for Dim Sum. A bit above my usual eating-out budget but well worth it. Delicious food and the non-alcoholic (my attempt to be good...) cocktail was yummy, too. I only picked the wrong dessert: the mandarin macadamia cake was super dense dark chocolate and way too sweet for my liking. The bits with mandarins were nice, but I couldn't finish it all.

I wonder whether in Chinese the word for sheep and goat is the same...

In honour of the Chinese New year: red and gold nails

The Nether

I try not to read reviews before going to see a play or movie. When The Nether started to unfold at the Duke of York theatre, I was petrified. Had I not even read the play's summary when booking the tickets? But I had, and it's not giving away much:

"Following a sold-out run at the Royal Court Theatre, Jennifer Haley’s critically-acclaimed, multi-award-winning play transfers to London’s Duke of York’s Theatre for a limited 12-week run.

The Nether offers complete freedom – a new virtual wonderland providing total sensory immersion. Just log in, choose an identity and indulge your every desire.

An intricate crime drama and a haunting thriller set in the year 2050, The Nether follows an investigation into the complicated, disturbing morality of identity in the digital world, and explores the consequences of making dreams a reality."

The play deals with pedophilia. It's thought-provoking. Video games in which people kill each other are pretty common and there are of course on-going debates of whether these video games are contributing to increasing violence in the real world. How does it make us feel to imagine a virtual world where adults have sex with children and murder those children. When the children aren't children (in the real world) but adults who choose to take on the role of a child. 

I have to admit that I feel uncomfortable even writing about it.

A week of extensive networking

Dinner at the Hilton Olympia. Starting off with the receptionist not being able to find my reservation. As luck has it, my room (when they eventually did sort me out), was literally the furthest away from the lift. And as I was running late, I had 5 minutes to get changed and rush down for dinner.

I was then ignored by the lady at the registration desk who was too busy having a go at the catering guy who was pointing out that we were meant to sit down for dinner while she was concerned that many guests hadn't shown up yet. After a while, I got a bit bored, and just took my name badge. But the cloakroom attendant (who was right next to registration b*tch) informed me very politely that said b*tch would have to tick me off her list. So, I waited a bit more and then let her know that I'd taken my badge. Which she acknowledged with a dirty look. Seriously? If you don't want me here, don't bloody invite me! Or alternatively don't work in hospitality if you get stressed out so easily.

Dinner turned out to be a lovely affair though, with nice food and catching up with a lady who I had met in Harrogate and chatting in German to one of the Austrian hosts. Given that it was pancake day, I was a bit disappointed though that they didn't serve any :-(
But I suppose the Austrians might not have known about the pancake tradition.

With all my travelling, I've turned into a hotel snob: the Hilton Olympia is quite a basic hotel. All right, but nothing exciting
Austrian ham and asparagus; delicious lamb and tarte tatin

Have you heard of Zotter chocolates? It has unusual flavours. I haven't yet tried any of these - which were in the goody bag - but they all sound great to me: Almond-roses; 40% Santo Domingo; cashew nougat with meadow flowers; 70% Peru criollo; Creme Edelweiss

Later in the week, I had two coffee 'dates' with a couple of our suppliers. That's what I love about my job - meeting people and keeping in touch with them. Maybe, I should really be a socialite??! ;-)

Oh, the irony

I went to a conference the other day. And it basically - once again - confirmed that conferences really are about meeting people, networking and not the content. I attended a few talks and found that the presentations weren't targeted very well at the audience in question. Rather than finding out new trends and information, I simply felt patronized. 'The professionals' teaching us amateurs how to do our jobs. Slightly weird concept, and a massive fail in my books.

As Event Managers we might be a tough crowd to please, but surely as the organizer you will at least attempt to get the basics right: like AV that works, publish the correct session times, and provide a little heating in the lecture room so people don't have to sit there freezing despite still wearing their winter coats...

I do at times wonder what I'd think about my own events if I attended as a delegate. And whether our own delegates are simply much more forgiving or have lower expectations than I do. And then I remind myself that I am simply pretty good at my job! (the coaching is working a treat :-))

I would LOVE to hire these pink trees for an event!

there, there

I like to think that I've gotten much better at dealing with my daily frustrations. And while I still get annoyed on a regular basis, I let go of negative emotions much quicker. Yesterday though, I felt rather stressed. Plus my lower back has been a bit sore for the last two weeks and even though I've only just had a cold, I felt another one coming on. So, I went to bed, feeling a bit grumpy. And woke up, still grumpy. Partly as I had a meeting scheduled for 9:30 and given the joys of London transport, I always aim to get to the office at least half an hour before a morning meeting.

Anyhow, turns out that the meeting was lovely. Catching up with one of our suppliers over a nice coffee and 'networking'. And I only had one other meeting in the diary for the rest of the day. I think running from meeting to meeting to conference call has had a rather negative impact on my productivity and therefore job satisfaction lately.

And last but not least: just one more day until the weekend!

King Arthur and lots of food

Valentine's weekend in Winchester. Why? Why not! Going away for a weekend always makes it feel like a mini-holiday, I find. A proper break.

the cathedral

The Great Hall with King Arthur's round table

And food - not all eaten by me though;
the scallops, chestnut & chorizo soup, steak sandwich Cullen Skink,
beetroot risotto with goats cheese: all delicious!!

Harrogate

I can't keep up with my life anymore. On my blog that is.
So, just some photos from my fam trip weekend to Harrogate:

Fountains Abbey

Murder Mystery Dinner at The Majestic

Betty's tearoom

Hotel Collection goody bags content
verdict: Welsh cakes are yummy!

There's light at the end of the tunnel

news

And in other news:

It's been a good day

This morning at our weekly staff get together, I was racking my brains on what I had actually done (let alone achieved) this week. How is that possible? When I stayed late on most days???

But it all came together beautifully: we interviewed for a temp role and found a really good candidate (I think); I finally found a volunteer for a role which had been a bit of a headache for the last few months and I was then presented with my belated birthday presents from my colleagues:

One of my colleagues had ordered some merchandise a while ago and we went through the catalogue. And I got a bit obsessed with the pink unicorn. So, now I have a purple unicorn that also keeps me warm at night. And then I got a set to do embroidery including these cool templates.

And last but certainly not least, I met A and J for dinner at Shillibeer's Bar & Grill followed by comedy at the Pleasance theatre. Comedy wasn't my kind of thing though. Sean McLoughlin just came across as angry, sad and depressed. One always wonders how much of the stories are made up and how much is real. If it's real, I honestly feel sorry for him. There were some funny bits, but overall, he didn't really make me laugh. Plus the guy with the super loud laugh behind us what really winding me up...

Exceptional

This is pretty much unheard off: I had a day off last Friday but got an invite to a breakfast showcase on the Cutty Sark. Now, even when  I have to work, I never voluntarily go to breakfast meetings. I hate getting up early and I don't usually have breakfast.

Well, I made an exception and despite it being bitterly cold, I'm glad I went. In terms of a museum space, I was a bit disappointed and think they could make much better use of the space available. The breakfast on offer was very impressive though and I got talking to a very nice girl. So, I suppose it sometimes is worthwhile to get up early.

fishy

Another Tastecard deal (50% off the food bill) at Boyds Brasserie near Trafalger Square. And very proud of myself: I ordered fish! And not the fish 'n chips option. And no fries on the side either. :-)

Love is strange

And more Time Out card goodness: free tickets to a preview of Love is strange at the Millbank Tower. I somehow feel the film should be called: Love is beautiful instead.

J.C.

Together with a couple of colleagues, I took half a day's leave to see James McAvoy in the Ruling Class. And OMG - it was so worth it! The play was one of the best I've seen. James was absolutely amazing. And even though our seats was in the last row at the back, that didn't really matter, as the theatre is quite small. I was just searching for a youtube clip, when I found several short videos of fans getting photos and autographs at the stage door. I feel I missed out!!!!

The play is on until April, so if you can, I strongly recommend getting tickets!

30 June 2015

Happy and relieved. Now that it's official, it still feels right.
Something to work towards and/or count down to! :-)

Das Wiedersehen

It's been more than a year that I last saw him. And for the most part of that time, we didn't even speak. Nevertheless, when we met up recently, it all seemed like yesterday. Well, in some ways anyway. And not in others.

It does make me a bit sad at times, that quite a few of my friends are far away and in my ideal world, they would of course be living much, much closer. On the other hand, I am just grateful for having met these wonderful people, for having shared sometimes a lot and sometimes just a little time with them. And to simply know that these people care for me and I care for them. A support network that makes life so much nicer. And it's lovely when we do meet up. Even if that is so rare.

Korean delights at On the bap
(which IS open on a Sunday, even when google says it isn't)

I wish

...every weekend was a long one. Why does Monday always come round so quickly?
Lots of fun stuff to write about but not right now. Time to do my homework before my next session with my life coach (every time I say 'my life coach', I cringe on the inside - it sounds so pretentious... but R has been so helpful already in the three (complimentary!) sessions I've had so far! So, really, I think everyone should have a life coach!).

Interesting

And I thought I was direct... It's very rare that I am taken aback by other people's boldness. Still unsure how to feel about that.

homely

I got a slightly unusual goody bag yesterday. I have to admit, I generally hope for edible stuff but today I got a bunch of nail files (which I don't use) and a pair of slippers. I decided to give them a go and wore them all day in the office. They are very comfy but it did feel somehow weird to wear something that you closely associate with home at work. I also have a feeling that my boss won't be too impressed with this new dress code...

5 out of 6

Progress! :-)

oops

I can't find my driving licence. And I have the feeling that I either binned it by mistake or simply lost it. Either way, it's a pain in the ass, even though I don't drive in the UK anyway. But I generally use it to prove my age (admittedly on the rare occasions that I get IDed) as well as to prove my identity when picking up parcel from reception. Let alone, that it will be a massive hassle to get a new one for which I will need proof from Germany to then apply for a licence in the UK... But I only have myself to blame of course.

no buts

When people compliment me, I tend to add a 'but' in my head: that's very nice of them to say but they are probably just being nice and don't actually mean it. Or maybe they have an agenda for saying it etc. But as my life coach put it: how about I consider at least that they mean what they are saying? I suppose, that is an option.

Last week, we've been working on a pitch for new business and as supporting documents, we had to submit three references. All three are absolutely glowing letters of support. I am trying hard to condition myself to not come up with my usual 'buts' and to simply appreciate being appreciated.

human touch

So cute:
when I was out shopping the other day, I noticed a little boy - maybe three years old - and he was standing in front of a little girl - same age, possibly a little younger. His mum called him, but before he turned to walk towards her, he gently stroked the little girl's head without saying anything. Adorable.

The other day, one of my colleagues asked whether sewing my own clothes saves me money.
Well, no. Not really.

I'd like to think that I've done less shopping over the last year, and I definitely go shopping less frequently, I'd say. But after months of abstinence, I usually make up for it in a day. Retail therapy does work for me!

Fortunately, the sales are still on. I got three dresses and two tops (same top, different colour...) for less than £35 at Bershka and five dresses for £55 over ebay from factory-outlet-clothing. The latter is based in China, but ships from the UK, which meant that my order arrived within a couple of days. Admittedly, the quality isn't fantastic - some of the inside seams remind me of my own sewing to be honest... But I think they look nice anyway (or maybe I just look cheap anyway...). They'd look better if I lost a few kgs, too, so let's hope that acts as a further motivation to actually do something about that.

And for that purpose, I also bought a swimsuit, as recent experience taught me that my bikini isn't made for swimming. There are a couple of pools near work which I am planning on trying (I wonder whether P has brainwashed me with all his talk about swim training).

ebay; I can't even get into the blue dress (top right)...
but too much hassle to send it back

I thought my new phone camera was better than my old one,
but somehow the photos all came out pretty crap

Bershka sale