More shopping

I think it's save to say that I am making the most while (still) living in London. Much to catch up on - but too tired right now. I went to bed after midnight, woke up at 4am and was wide awake. My back has also been playing up again which doesn't help with finding a comfortable position to sleep in. But I will update here again shortly :-)

The bed

Tracey Emin's bed is back at the Tate. And my photographic skills as good as ever...
I have to admit that I could never quite understand why the bed would be special or even art. But seeing it, I liked it a lot more than I expected. I somehow expected it to be more filthy though (that might give you an idea of the state of my bedroom! ;-)). I can't really explain why I like it or what I like about it. But I just do.

I was very surprised how few people where there - at one point we had the whole room to ourselves!

If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend checking it out.

By the way, it looks a little different from the picture that is on the Tate website. So, Tracey has arranged the stuff slightly differently. Tracey says herself that her art is very personal and this is of course a very obvious example. I love that this piece of art has a special meaning to the artist.

Out and about

Dinner at Bread Street Kitchen - Gordon Ramsay's restaurant at One New Change

After searching for a restaurant for quite a while, we eventually settled for Chinese in Chinatown

Tate, Channel 4 and St James Park

Rare beef pho - yummy!

Time off

Meant going shopping. Things change so quickly in London! The Benetton at Angel is gone, and an Argos is there instead. And the HMV has been replaced by a Tiger store. And at Westfield Stratford a Lindex opened. And I suddenly had this feeling that even if I return to London at some point, it will all be different :-(

Anyhow, shopping did cheer me up. A very spring-y apricot coloured top and necklace from Lindex (the necklace already fell apart a little...); flats and socks from New Look. I expect that putting on unicorn socks will automatically brighten my day!

I also went fabric shopping in Shepherds Bush. There's sooooo much choice! And I love all the cotton prints. Even though it's not the kind of material I usually wear... Like always, I am hesitant to cut into any of the fabrics though. I can't believe that I only did one garment this year! I really need to increase productivity! I have so many patterns (and just ordered more...) and fabric here that I should really do something with it. My excuse has been that work and my social life have just been too busy and the free time that I've had, I used for being either just lazy or updating my blog!
Watch this space! Hopefully there'll be some sewing updates soon! (I actually have one dress pattern already cut, just need to start cutting the fabric, which I've chosen already, too)

Bruised

The bruises disappeared after a few days, of course

I've been meaning to try acupuncture for a while. When my back was troubling me some weeks ago, I came across a Wowcher voucher for an acupuncture/cupping/massage session. For just £19, I thought I'd give it a go. Not a good idea, as it turns out. The guy who was doing the 'consultation' was trying to sell me an upgrade cause apparently the package that I had booked would be pointless. Aha. Great marketing stunt to sell it. But I wasn't interested in paying another £25.

I was then treated by three different people. Not that I would expect an immediate improvement, but I was primarily put off by the staff. And was left with nice bruises from the cupping. Ah well....

Circolombia

Another great Time Out deal: tickets to see Circolombia at the Camden Roundhouse. A breathtaking show with amazing acrobatics and great, pumping music. The human body is capable of quite astonishing things. Watching this always make me ashamed that I don't look after myself better.

Dinner beforehand was a little disappointing. The menu at the Cuban looked very promising and thanks to the tastecard it was a bargain. But my chilli beef was rather chewy and the tortilla shell wasn't crispy at all. Then again, the dinner company was lovely :-)

Lazing in the Olympic Park

Enjoying the glorious sunshine on my day off; my first time in the Olympic Park: its vast and quiet and beautiful

Chance favours the prepared mind - Louis Pasteur

I like it.

I was talking to C about how I often feel that I've simply been very lucky in my life so far - in terms of being in the right place at the right time. Which is when he mentioned the quote. And he was generally saying all the things I needed to hear or at least that made me feel better. Maybe because I got a sense that he could relate to what I am feeling at the moment based on his own move a few years ago. 

It was nice spending time together and while I've known him for some years (I actually don't remember where and when we first met), we haven't had much chance to talk over the years. I have no idea why I was convinced he'd told me about his kid(s) before - when he claims not to have any.
Quite possibly it just means that I need to LISTEN when people speak to me...

My Aussie twang

It still delights me when people think I'm Australian - or at least learned English in Australia. And for some reason I got a lot of those comments in the last couple of weeks (maybe simply cause I met a lot of new people).

And I am sure my Australian friends think those people are mad and/or have never heard a real Aussie speak! ;-)

Granite City

It might be gray - but I thought it was beautiful:

Castle and countryside

Aberdeen

With two meetings up in Edinburgh, I decided it wasn't worth flying back to London in between and instead I went up to Aberdeen. And while most people were giving me questioning looks: I'm really glad I went! I was very lucky with the weather, which was absolutely beautiful. S was a fabulous tour guide and it was so nice to catch up. I can't even remember when I last saw her!

Plus: nothing ever beats being close to the sea!

Outstanding mezze at Rendezvous @ Nargile (T, you would have LOVED it! :-))

The Burgh

Edinburgh is one of my favourite cities. And in the beautiful spring weather, with blue skies and sunshine, it seemed even more gorgeous.

The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh

Hilton Grosvenor and Roxburghe (bottom right): an amazing king size bed!

Say it with art

Having attended a number of 'gala' dinners I have become a bit of a venue snob (in addition to already being a hotel snob). While the Caledonian Waldorf Astoria in Edinburgh is of course a nice venue, I have to admit that it didn't blow me away either. Maybe it wasn't helped by the fact that I was really tired and just wanted to get to bed... And the dinner didn't finish until 23:00.

haggis starter, salmon main and apple crumble

After dinner, it was time for short thank you speeches. And lo and behold - I was the first person to be thanked! Which was very nice. The thank you card is a rather weird choice though:

Michael Sowa: Schoene Allee mit Frau

Men and one woman pissing against trees???

Anyway, it also came with a theatre voucher which is greatly appreciated. Following from the President's thank you, NR then also did a little speech, thanking me for keeping him sane throughout the last year. Too bad, that it came at the expense of me going bonkers...

It doesn't happen often: but I actually feel proud. It's been a difficult and very challenging project, that's for sure. But I also learned a lot. And for once I agree with everyone: I did an awesome job! :-)

London, baby!

I'm back! Always so nice to see the lights of London town when flying into City Airport. And yes, it makes me emotional - nowadays even more than otherwise.

It's been a busy and eventful 1.5 weeks. And with all the loveliness and fabulous feedback, I think my head has grown a tiny bit bigger...

I usually look forward to sleeping in my own bed again but the last hotel had such a comfy king sized bed, that I'll probably miss that a little bit tonight.

Three days off work await me. And then of course the weekend. Good times!

post = pre

After having worked on an event with 1,600 delegates, the next meeting with just 75 attendees is in a slightly different class. Having said that, it's always the events that I expect to go smoothly that cause the most issues. It's probably the acute lack of sleep that means that I am not (yet) worried anyway...

Happy

Three days down, two more to go. The advantage of being busy is of course that time goes by quickly. And while it's been rather stressful today, I've also had some nice interactions.

I met Matt probably three or four years ago at an event in Spain. I'm not sure I ever saw him again, but we occasionally were in touch over email re work. So, it's been nice catching up. He seems very happy in his new(ish) job and I was telling him about my plans. At one point he said he was really happy for me. People - including him - have congratulated me, but I somehow didn't expect the happy thing from somebody I don't know very well. I can't really explain it but it really touched me.

Besides, the venue team have been lovely to deal with.

Busy, busy, busy

Two days (nearly) down, three more to go. Feeling tired, bored at times, relieved that (touch wood) so far things have gone all right.
Why does time go past so quickly though?

Step by step

Finally told my landlord that I will move out. I'm still using terms like 'likely to move out'...
And really only did so cause I have a leak underneath my kitchen sink which I need him to fix so I had to contact him.

food

scallops, chorizo and cauliflower puree; duck leg and potato dauphinoise
in nice company but at a very empty The Brasserie

Too tired for anymore typing, so food porn will have to do.

buzzing

Things are busy at work - and I am actually loving it (and still complain... but that's all part of it, right?). It certainly comes with a satisfying sense of achievement.

Easter weekend stuff

I keep saying that I like planning, but I wonder whether it's one of the beliefs about myself I need to let go of...

Left the planning for a weekend away over Easter to the last minute... After two days primarily on my sofa (and including some work I hadn't managed finishing off during the short week), off we went to the Hilton Cobham. Thanks to a Wahanda deal we got a 25 minute back massage (seriously, that's not enough time for any kind of massage!), dinner, breakfast and access to their spa. Which on the Sunday was full of shouty kids...

All nice enough and certainly a bargain. But I'm not particularly impressed with the Hilton standard. We also treated ourselves to afternoon tea - and even I can make better sandwiches. Service at breakfast was pretty rather sub standard. And a burger for £16??? The shower was probably one of the worst ever. But there you go.

Then on Monday afternoon, we enjoyed the sunny weather and went for a drive around Kingston upon Thames, Hampton Court Palace and ended up in Teddington for a walk along the Thames and delicious pub food.

Happy Easter

Afternoon nap

One of my weekend treats (when I happen to be at home) is having an afternoon nap. Usually around 16:00, I suddenly get really tired. And I always wake up after about an hour. I always wonder how I manage to get through my working day 5 days a week without sleeping!

Anyway, on Saturday, I had a very vivid dream during my afternoon nap: I was dreaming about work, being an event. Whenever I dream about work, I generally dream that I am not fully prepared, delegates start arriving and nothing is set up. And it was the same scenario. Added detail: I was wearing braces. The horrible type, with the metal thing on the outside that goes around your head (which I did have to wear as a teenager - only ever wore my braces at night). And I couldn't get it off. Which is when I woke up.

I googled braces and dream interpretation and found these two links:
Dream bible: and they link braces with perfection, and maybe a situation were perfection/total compliance is expected of me
Dream dictionary: it either signifies being a patient person, something about corrective measures taking time and/or an issue with self-esteem

Hm, not sure I can strongly identify with any of these suggestions.
Interestingly, I got an email from somebody involved with an upcoming event, who (in his own words) is getting paranoid about the event and wanting to ensure that everything will go perfectly. Well, I told him that you cannot possibly plan for all eventualities and things will undoubtedly NOT go according to plan. That's life, right?
I'm guessing that wasn't really the reassurance he was hoping for.

Zoolander 2

I cannot wait!

A million passwords

Argh - I hate booking train tickets. With all the different train companies, I have several accounts and of course can never remember my bloody respective passwords... Which generally means that I end up putting in all my payment details a number of times as it resets when the system realized I already have an account (which I of course couldn't remember).

But all booked now for my mini trip to Aberdeen :-)

Don't look at me

Jess takes the photos at our events. Her style is to catch people unaware. The other day she came in to take staff and officers photos for our new website to be launched in the summer. I'll be leaving about 2 weeks after the go live date, so technically didn't really need my photo taken, but I thought it might be good to get an update for my LinkedIn profile which shows me with a heavy fringe. It's not even that old, but with my hairstyle changing on such a regular basis, photos go out of date pretty quickly...

Anyway, her strategy was to get us talking to somebody who was standing next to her. So, we are not looking at the camera. I'm not sure that worked very well (having said that, the results show that some of our officers are incredibly photogenic!). In my case, I feel, Jess should have emphasized that my colleague H should have done most of the talking. So instead, I was chatting away. As it happens, I hadn't yet told H about my likely move, so that made for an animated discussion... 

What am I doing with my teeth???
And yes, I am aware I am finally showing my face

Always more to discover

Even though I go (and primarily eat) out quite a lot, there are still so many places in London I haven't been to. Like The Cut, near Southwark/Waterloo. A number of restaurants and despite the cold weather, very busy on Thursday night (before the long weekend - clearly everyone was celebrating the long weekend ahead). With so many mezze on offer at TAS, always easiest to go with one of their menu selections:

And who would have thought that (candied) baby aubergine actually work as a dessert?! I did prefer the pumpkin though which was slightly less sweet. And bottom right is the chestnut puree. I probably would have opted to present it differently...

It also reminded me one of my first work dinners I had to attend by myself - at TAS London Bridge. Must have been nearly 7 years ago! I had been quite nervous about it, as I felt responsible as a host. And it turned out to be a lovely evening. That's how long I've known AF for, too! His twins were born just before I started my job there. How time flies...

Let's hug it out

One of the many reasons I love London!
And yes, whoever I told that I was going to this event looked at me as if I was a little mad... It was a brilliant experience. Even if slightly unsettling at times. Just listening to the music and singing while blindfolded was pretty special. Due to the accoustics, the room seemed much bigger than it was. I would have liked to see my singer who hugged me, but we didn't get to meet them afterwards. Pity.

The London bucket list

The other day, G asked me what was on my London bucket list - things that I hadn't yet gotten round to doing or seeing. And I am pleased to say that there isn't much on there. There are a number of restaurants that I've been meaning to try but having said that: new ones open up all the time, so that is kind of an on-going list that will never be all ticked off. Kew Gardens is probably on that list. And the other day I read about Eltham Palace which looks pretty cool.

Brasserie Zedel is one of the places that has been on my list literally for years! I think I must have read about it on Time Out and one of my colleagues had highly recommended it. But somehow it took me until last Monday to finally go.

It's just off Piccadilly Circus. The decor is fabulous, the service friendly and the prices very reasonable. It feels very 'European'. After dinner, we went over to the Bar Americain for cocktails - different but equally atmospheric.

Duck and Ile Flottante

Mr and Mrs B

Salisbury, 1 April 2015