Dinner tonight

Meeting Louise for dinner at Tempo tonight, and I am celebrating that with a very short black dress and heels.

Free Weekend

The good thing about not going out this weekend is that we didn't actually spend anything at all (except for the £10 I spent on chocolate when I went out in the cold with champagne in my blood - never a good idea since I get a real sweet tooth then) which means that we have kept that money for next week instead. Considering that the $ is cheaper than the £ we should be able to live like royalty for 10 days.

Well that's my fantasy anyway.  

Sunday

The Italian woke up with a very sore head and a craving for croissants...

While he went to the shop to buy what he needed to calm his cravings I cleaned up the flat from the night before.

Four (!!) bottles were put in the recycling bin. He started a few hours before me while I was still at work so no wonder he was struggling a bit Sunday morning.

He went back to bed after breakfast and I stayed on the sofa listening to music reading Vogue. Bliss!

When he joined me on the sofa we did what we do best nowadays - watched Criminal Minds.

After a few episodes I noticed the glorious day outside and thought it'd be a good idea to get some fresh air.

We decided that this goose was Italian and not Canadian, he just came out of the water because he saw my camera and posed for the picture and then went back in the water again. Typical Italian behaviour..

I love swans. I love how they look so calm and gorgeous on the surface but then under the water they are kicking like mad with their little feet to get anywhere.

That's my Attenbourough moment over....

I got a bit over excited about the sunshine and put on a really thin jacket and no gloves...

Needless to say I couldn't feel me hands when we got home.

We were supposed to go to the cinema and thought we'd just watch ONE episode of CM before we go. Eight episodes later and it was time to go to bed again...

When it comes to food I went for Croissants for breakfast, chocolate for lunch, crisps for snacks and pizza for dinner...

Back on track today though with a nice swim this morning and body combat tonight.

Saturday night

Italian made risotto and champagne:) Hello weekend!

A week to go...

...and then the Italian and I will be spending 10 days here. Yum!

Thursday Night

Candles, Italian, Good Food, last episode of 24 - ever (thank god I can't take it anymore), Criminal Minds.

Life is good.

Even though I dreamt about profiling all night:)

Disturbed Mind

I think I might have to start watching something a bit lighter at home from now on. All the Criminal Minds and 24 is messing with my head now.

Yesterday two men came into work to fix the printer that had collapsed.

Straight away I got suspicious and thought that they looked like two hit men that had come in to try and found the schematics (a word that is used in 24 a lot) of the building and then do some government business in one of the tunnels underneath (something I am also now sure that we have).

Sure enough they left without sorting out the printer...

I went to the receptionist and asked why they didn't fix it. "Oh they weren't proper engineers they are sending someone else tomorrow morning instead."

Hmm, yeah funny that.

Everybody thought I'd gone crazy when I mentioned that they are probably hit men, but let me paint you the picture.

Two bald, well built men in suits coming in to fix the printer ?!? When have you ever seen a maintenance man in a suit?!?

Well, well we'll see how it turns out.

Italian off tonight so more Criminal Minds on the agenda.

All jokes aside, I think it is just such an amazing TV serie.

Every episode is like an amazing film. And I love it when you work out who the bad guy is before they tell you.

MBT

I've wanted to buy a pair of MBT's for a long time. I had in mind to wear them for power walks etc.

Then I realised that they now make them in leather so I bought a pair when they came up on sale on Brandalley (another great website) to use at work.

And today I wore them for the first time. Straight away by just putting them on I could feel my posture changing. My back straightened, shoulders back.

That's what they do. They are like this magic pin behind you holing everything in place.

I could feel that my legs and butt were working with every step I took.

I am very excited about this and I wish I would've bought another pair for power walks as well.

I am back in the office now and I have changed into my normal shoes, but I can't wait to wear them for the whole day this weekend and see how I feel after that. 

Wrong day

Today I've had a wrong day - a day where everything has gone wrong.

I've dropped everything I've picked up, I spilled my tea all over me etc etc.

I was quite tired at the end of the afternoon so I didn't really feel like going to the gym.

I was so proud of myself that I went anyway, only to arrive and realise that the spinning class was full.

Deep down I did actually feel a bit satisfied from this.

I decided to do some errands in town and then cycle home - oh I forgot to say the gears on my bike broke as well so it's only the 2nd gear that works, not very hard core to snail through London in 2nd gear.

I arrived home starving, only to find that there is nothing I fancy in the house. In fact I can't think of anything I fancy to eat for dinner.

So I am eating some yoghurt for now and then when my hunger has calmed a bit I might go to the shop and buy something proper. If I go now I will just grab the biggest bar of chocolate and have that for dinner.

Every time I don't go to the gym I get cravings for chocolate. Weird.

Anyway not sure what this post was for, I think I just wanted to rant a bit about my tough day...

Dilemma

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I have got this Saturday night off, I am also off on Sunday all day.

This is something that hasn't happened since before the summer. I have had the odd Saturday night off, but then always worked at 7am the next day, I have also had the odd Sunday off, but always after a late finish the night before. 

I feel like it is my first month in London. I feel completely lost as to what to do and where to go on a Saturday night.  

I put a post up on facebook for suggestions or reminders of what I used to do before, when I had a life that wasn't revolved around working.

Somebody suggested that I should get a social life and have a few glasses of wine without worrying about getting up at Stupid o'clock.

I told her that I think my social life has dumped me after all the countless times I have had to say no to celebrate peoples birthdays and all other celebrations in the last year.

We still have about 10 bottles of champagne and wine at home as well that we have had for a few months but never wanted to drink since one of us always has to get up early the next day if we have a night off together.

So maybe we'll stay in together and have some lovely dinner with lots of wine and champagne instead.

Or maybe go out and party seperatly and dance all night long.

We are, after all, spending 10 days together as from next Friday;)

Oh decisions, decisions....

♥ M&S ♥

This Tuesday morning I am sending some love to Marks and Spencer who is saving me a lot of time from having to make my own packed lunch these weeks when I am in the office and don't get to eat restaurant food.

And I still get a brilliant nutritious meal which gives me the perfect balance of Protein, Carbs and vegetables.

It really does as it says on the tin - keeps you fuller for longer.

I just remembered

I never showed you the tops that the Italian got me for Christmas from All Saints even though someone asked for it... Sorry.

So here is a picture from when I went out with Niall on Friday night.

We decided to change venue altogether and instead of Polpetto we went to a place called Shampers that is just by Kingly Court by Carnaby Street. It was a really cute place and the food was nice.

I would definately return.

Anyway, back to the tops, it is a beige t-shirt that's got a really cool cut by the neck and a grey singlet top with a really cool cut at the bottom.

At the moment during the winter I wear them in layers but in the summer they will be fabulous on their own as well.

Actually I have just realised that this picture really doesn't show how they look at all, but at least it gives you an idea. Maybe I'll do it all over again next time I'm wearing them.

I am now going to watch an episode of 24 and have an evening snack with some green tea.

Good Night sweet people.

Tjohoo!!

I am so happy, and I feel so excited.

It hit me the other day that we have a shop very close to work that sells all sorts of natural Chinese medicine.

I thought it was worth a shot to go in and ask them about shampoo, which is what is missing in my new skin regime.

And they did! They had a shampoo that is made from just herbs.

So I went in for shampoo and £53 later I came out with all this.

I also got a shower gel, a body lotion and a massage oil all of them working against cellulite and toning your body.

And I got two free gifts.

A hydrating face mask (which I was about to ask for and buy as well) and a massage brush.

I love all these Chinese products. Not only is it super natural and great for environment and yourself. They all have a purpose as well.

Like the Shampoo is not only a herbal shampoo it also makes your hair stronger and nourishes it and prevents you from losing lots of hair. The only thing I don't like is that it is two-in-one shampoo and conditioner. My hair has never been a fan of that. But then again I haven't tried it for a while so let's give it a go.

I went to the shop by green park but they are spread out all over London. 

I am now sitting here on the sofa and feel great, hydrated and extremely clean. All the products smells so great;)

Good Morning Monday!

It's been a good weekend even though I haven't done much.

I came home Saturday night and felt quite tired since my only day off last week (Friday) was spent rushing around rather than relax which is what my body would've liked.

So my body told me off on Saturday night instead and I fell asleep on the sofa at 8pm.

I then woke up only to move myself from the sofa to the bed.

Needless to say I felt very rested on Sunday, and for once I didn't fall asleep on my one night off with the Italian:)

We spent the evening yesterday watching Criminal Minds and I feel well qualified to profile people now....

And now I have arrived in the office after a quick stop at the gym for a 25 minute swim.

BIG breakfast on the plate in front of me. Yum!

Goodnight.

From a tired Swede. I need to wash off my make up and head to bed. The alarm goes off in five hours.

Too hot to trot

I never go into the actual gym when I am there. I always go straight to the pool or the studio, but yesterday I was early so I went on the cross trainer for 20 minutes before zumba. I was amazed by all the dressed up girls in there. One girl in front of me was wearing very sexy clothes for being in the gym. And as I though she wasn't really there to work out. She hardly even broke into a sweat. Just kept posing and looking around if any guys were staring at her.
And then today a girl turned up to class chewing gum. Doing half assed excersices whilst chewing away....
They made me laugh if nothing else

Sent from my iPhone

Friday - day off

A busy morning, we got woken up by the maintenance man at 10.30am that came to fix the electricity in the bathroom. Got up, had breakfast. Cycled to the gym for 45 minutes body conditioning. Met the Italian in the lobby for a quick kiss. Cycled home via sainsburys.

Lots of yummy food at home for the rest of the week now.

Made myself a yummy sandwich with cottage cheese and mackerel in tomato sauce. A nice meal after the gym. And what I'm doing now...? Hmm I'm a bit embarrassed by it so I am not sure I'll tell you. I need to think about it. I am however willing to tell you that I am then meeting up with Niall for dinner at Polpetto tonight at 7.30.

More gifts

The belated Christmas presents are still raining in:)

When I met up with L, S and J at Cecconi's yesterday L and I swapped our presents since we haven't seen each other since Christmas.  

I got a gorgeous bath set from Laura Mercier

It's a Crème Brûlée Soufflé Body Crème and a Crème Brûlée Honey Bath, and I love that it comes with a honey stick.

We had a really nice time and I am impressed that I still left in time to get to Step Aerobics.

Felt really tired this morning and it was hard to get out of bed.

But I feel a lot better after a swim and some breakfast and now I am ready to get going with this Thursday.

West End food

Sometimes I find myself on oxford street when I get completely starving and feel like I need food NOW otherwise I'll end up punching one of my fellow shoppers.

And then I realise that I am in fact on Oxford Street where the nicest thing you can find to eat is a Belgian waffle...

Not anymore..

Enter Vapiano

First time I heard of them was from my brother in law who had spent a weekend in Stockholm and recommended that I'd go there if I ever went to Stockholm.

By the time I went there, a year or so later, I'd forgotten all about it.

But then Emma took me there for lunch one day when I visited her last year.

As far as I can remember the food was nice, not the best, but still very good.

But the main thing that made me like it is the concept, it is very good if you are going out with people that you don't know very well and find it hard to decide about who's paying the bill or how to split it. 

It's not too much of a problem here since people are usually very relaxed about either just splitting the bill in half or say - I'll pay today, you pay next time.

But in Sweden however, where it is important to split the bill correctly down to the last penny. "I had a coke and you had a freshly squeezed orange juice so I should pay 30p less than you..." is a normal conversation you would hear in a restaurant in Sweden...

And that's where Vapiano comes in and saves the day.

However many people you are in the party, everyone gets their own individual "credit card", and everything you order gets put on there and then you take it to the till and pay for what you have had on the way out. 

Absolutely brilliant!

And as I said at the beginning of this ramble, they have now opened in London on Great Portland Street.   

I noticed it when I cycled home from La Ratatouille last time, but didn't think it was the same thing, and then yesterday I saw it again, which made me google it today and realised that it is in fact the same thing.

Not sure how long it has been there so I could be completely lost here saying that it is a new place.

At least I know where to have my lunch on my next shopping trip.

La Ratatouille

A very nice evening last night, with gorgeous food and lots of laughs.

Lovely starter with prawns, green beans and cherry tomatoes, the Italian went for the foie gras

A blurry, grumpy looking me

 I had the Choucroute de la mer that I was admiring last time I was here, and the man had whole seabass, both were yummy and cooked to perfection (something the Italian NEVER says when we go out so a very good grade indeed)

Cheese board and plum and almond tart for dessert

All the yummy food and a few of these stopped me from going for a swim this morning, but I hope to go to step aerobics tonight after meeting up with my friends at Cecconi's.

Or I might take today as a rest day and go for a run on Saturday instead, we'll see.  

Forgotten birthday

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My blog turned one on the 9th January. I forgot all about it.

So happy birthday to us, and a big thank you to all you readers that come in here on a daily basis, and those that only visit sporadically.

You are all very welcome and appreciated.

Have a great day my lovely friends.

Tuesday

It's already Tuesday. It only feels like yesterday it was Friday. I don't mind the weeks going fast now though, only two and a half weeks left until we take off on holiday:)

My body was aching a bit from Body Combat last night, but it feels better after a swim this morning, it stretched all the muscles out nicely.

I am sorry that it is all food and exercise talk at the moment, but I feel like all I do is work, gym, eat.  

I am however going on a date at La Ratatouille with the Italian tonight since he is off today.

And tomorrow I am meeting friends at Cecconi's after work for a catch up before Step Aerobics.

So I have a little bit of a life this week.

Last night I spoke to my mum, and in the mean time I did the washing up from the night before, folded clothes that were dry, hang up the wet clothes from the washing machine, put in a new load in the machine, and cooked dinner. 

I made cous cous with salmon, spinach, cherry tomatoes and a bit of cream cheese.

It was yummy.

Sometimes I wish I could learn to just sit and do nothing.

I never do. Even when I am watching a film I am doing a million things at the same time (if I am alone, in company I usuall manage to behave) I suppose that's part of my failed new years resolution...

I'll work on it.

Gym Pool Etiquette

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No pool hang:

It's an indoor pool in a gym!

It's not an outdoor pool in Marbella (or wherever you usually spend your holiday.) 

So don't just stand there in the water at the end of the pool looking at girls (I'm sorry but it is mainly guys that does this)

Get in the right lane:

Don't swim in the medium fast lane just because you are too embarrassed to get into the slow lane.

It is very annoying for everyone that has to overtake you every lap.

And now for the hygiene

Runny Nose

Sometimes when you swim your nose might get a bit runny.

That doesn't mean that you can "blow your nose" in your hand and then carry on swimming....

I am going to add an extra one here, but it's not really something I can complain about.

I have a bit of a phobia for body hair (well all kind of hairs actually come to think about it -

to be honest public pools probably isn't the best for me)

And if I lived in an ideal world back waxes would be given away for free to people just before they enter the pool...

Just a few thoughts from me on the week I have decided to pretty much move in to the gym pool, but after this list I am actually quite tempted to cancel my plans...

We'll see how I get on.

Monday morning

Good Morning all. 

I hope you had a nice weekend.

Mostly work for me, but I had a nice night off with boyfriend last night. We watched SATC2 (even though I'd watched it two days ago on my own...)

I am on a late start all this week (8.30am) so I decided to go for a swim this morning before work.

I had forgotten how nice it is to swim and how great you feel afterwards.

I was absolutely starving when I came to work so I went to M&S and bought lots of nice, healthy breakfast things.

A very good start to the day indeed.

Quite hungry now again though so I had to top up with some nuts and fruit.

I feel very energetic and great for it though so I might have to make it a habit for every morning this week.

Some people power walk every morning (I find it too dark and scary where I live) so I'll go for a swim instead.  

And then if something comes up that means I'll miss one of my evening classes, then at least I've had some exercise that day.

Great!

Want, want, want, want, want

I came into work this morning tired and grumpy, and then I saw this picture on the front of Stella, and my eyes pinged open and a smile spread across my face.

This dress is so me!!

I am not sure how much it is, but being Marchesa I'm thinking it will have to remain a dream for me.

It put a smile on my face seeing it though

Good morning Saturday:)

Vanilla yoghurt with special k, nuts a clementine and a banana. Mmmmm...

Excel

It was 13C in London today so skirt and cardigan was all that was needed.

25 minute bike ride later and I arrived in boat heaven.

I have never really been too interested in boats before I met the Italian, but since he is really interested and we practically live on his best friends boat whenever we go to Italy I have become more and more interested. And too be honest what girl wouldn't be into pure luxury...:)

This one was one of my favourites (of the smaller ones of course, there were other ones that were about four times as big as our apartment - I wouldn't say no to those either...)

A Swedish company

Now we're talking:)

After my cycle ride back and forth to the gym, spinning class, cycle ride to the show and walking around in there for just over an hour I felt a bit dizzy so I decided to sit down and work on my sugar level:)

Before heading back to the Princess stand

And so did all these people. But they didn't have lovely V there for them to show them onto all the boats. Wow! I WANT ONE!! 

V is an interior designer, which is very cool in itself, what makes it even more cool is that she works for Princess Yacht and designs their boats... 

They also had two boats that were sponsored - one by Fendi and one by Armani and all the interior were made by them. Those boats were gorgeous indeed, but I have to say that the boats that V has done are amazing. 

I am so proud of her, first of all for landing this great job. and second of all for doing such a great job. 

Thank you for inviting me to come and have a look today.   

So far I like it...

Busy Morning

I woke up early and had my usual hot water with lemon drink, and today I also added some cayenne like Veronica advised me to do. IN the mean time I spoke to my dear friend in Australia to see how they are doing with everything going on over there. They are fine and we were on the phone for nearly an hour.

I watched an episode of 24 whilst getting ready for the gym, on my way to the gym I went to the post office to send of some late Christmas present (sorry Gen..)

I also went to paperchase to buy a calender for 2011... Yes I have known for 12 months that the year was coming to an end even this time and I'd need a new calender for when that happened...

Did I buy one in time?

No, I never do.

I get like a kid in a sweetshop when I go to stationary shops. I don't know what it is, but I just love things that makes you organised.

And now I've just arrived home for some lunch after a tough 45 minute spinning class (once again, first one there, clearly I am very keen)

And now I am going to get dressed and head off to the boatshow.

I might even put on some make up today...

Saved

Great music on the stereo while cooking.

Non burnt dinner - meat free mince and spaghetti with sprinkled feta cheese.

And now second film in and dinner being eaten.

I told you it was a lazy day...

Hmmm

Not overly impressed with it... I didn't like the ending!

I am now making some dinner and I'm planning to watch The Ugly Truth next.

Katherine Heigl is always a hit, and after the producer of "Life as We know It" told me that she is just as lovely in real life I fell in love with her even more...

Hang on! I can smell something burning

I need to concentrate on the cooking now...

Day off

My day so far

I went home from the gym via HMV. As a girl who's boyfriend is working doubles these two days when I am off I have to say that I couldn't be more pleased with their sale.

The queen of chic flics has obviously already seen all of them, except Heartbreaker, but with things like "the rom-com of the year" written on the front of it I think we'll get on fine.

I had a late lunch with about half a liter of tea in my favourite cup

A great choice for a rainy day, candles, pyjamas and films.

Sunday was a bit of a rush around with an hours drive to High Wycombe, a three hour show and then another hours drive home.

And in between all this we sat backstage for a good half an hour and then we took the girls for something to eat before their next show started.

So it is nice to just sit and do nothing today.

Lots of things planned for tomorrow - including a boat show:)