Sunday night

At the end of last year I requested some tickets for the x-factor final. 

Unfortunately there were none available. The company I asked were only allocated a couple of tickets per show and clearly the final was the most popular one. 

Instead a few weeks later I was sent tickets to one of their tour shows instead. 

So last Sunday the Italian and I got in a taxi and went to the O2.

We didn't have much expectations, but I have to say that we were both pleasantly surprised. Some were better than others off course, but luckily most of the finalists from last year were good. 

We had tickets to go and see them backstage before the show. The Italian and I could picture the queue of kids and then two alien looking tall people at the back. Hmm no thanks, it was too embarrasing.

So instead, being us, we arrived half way through the first song. I don't know why we just can't be on time for once.

Paije was souling it up

Aiden sang one of my favorite songs

Wagner... Hmm I don't know what to say, at least he put on a fun show with some hot looking girls

Good ol' Irish Mary

Katie 

Cher

And - the reason I wanted to go - beautiful Rebecca

She didn't disappoint and she had the coolest performance as well

And then thses boys came on and I almost feared for my life. The floor literally moved when all the girls screamed. 

Rebecca again

Katie

Cher and her cool dancers

Beautiful Rebecca again

The winner - Matt Cardle

Singing Bruno Mars just the way you are - I love that song

And his first single

The grand finale - the charity song they did

It was a good night and I hope that they all do well in the future. 

I love going to concerts - whoever it is.

At the o2

How cool?

The other day I cycled passed a couple of guys that had just started painting these. The next morning they were almost finished. Aren't they great? They are just on the corner of great eastern street and bishopsgate. Super cool. I love east London.

Ready for bed

After 7 1/2 hours of laughter and crying watching comic relief I am now ready to join the Italian, who came home a couple of hours ago, in bed.
In one night only Britain raised £74,360,207. That is just so amazing. But... there is always more needed. So don't forget to text yes to 70010 until 31st March. Good night lovelies:)
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Please donate

Everybody in England text Yes to 70010 and donate £10 to comic relief. Not much to you but you can, for example, save 12 malaria children. I am sure that everybody that watched comic relief yesterday have donated anyway but if you missed it you can still text until 31st March. You can help blind children in Africa see again and also closer to home you can help end child pornography. The list is long of all the good you can do from just one little text...

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Saturday night

Comedy relief on BBC iplayer and a massive cup of tea. Only the sweets missing.

Yes please

I can live with a week of sunshine:)

The view

From my bed right now. No wonder it feels easier to wake up this morning. Spring, spring, spring, spring, spring:)

Leftovers



Last nights dinner turned into two meals today. I brought three pancakes with blueberries and creme fraiche that I had after spinning and body balance. And the left overs from my feta cheese mix got accompanied by cous cous and smoked salmon for my evening meal. I should last until I finish at 11pm now.

I've heard rumours about a whole grain cous cous but I don't know if it's just urban myth because I've never seen it anywhere...

I miss you.

After a week and a bit on the barclays bikes I have to say that I am ready to get my own bike back. I think Boris is doing a great thing with the bikes and it is a great way to see London and easily the cheapest, healthiest and best way for the environment. But.... they certainly do have their flaws. You shouldn't go on a Boris bike if you have an appointment that you can't be late for. That will be the day when you arrive at the docking station only to realise that there are no free bikes, or the only bikes that are there are faulty (happens quite a lot). If you do however manage to get a bike when you've walked for a bit and on docking station three or four you finally get lucky, there is also the possibility that when you get to the other side the docking stations are full, and again you have to go further and further away from you destination trying to find a station with one little tiny empty space for you. My bike might have had it's problems and she's been at the doctors a lot lately but at least she always gets me to places on time.

Speaking of which I better get ready if I want to be sure to make spinning at 12.15. Have a great Thursday.

Wednesday night

Half asleep on the sofa. Just finished watching I am love. It was good. Maybe I should start to watch more films in Italian. Will I be fluent before our next visit in May perhaps...?? I hadn't realised that it was a subtitled film. I don't have time for those. I am always running around doing a million things in the flat whilst watching a film. Can't do that with a subtitled film. You need to keep your eye on the screen and READ the film. You can't just listen. So now I have to do the washing up and fold clothes and hang clothes. Normally I would have done that during the film and gone straight to bed afterwards.

I spoke to my mum this morning. I wanted to put the volume up because the phone had suddenly gone really quiet so when I was going to hang the washing in the mean time and put the phone in-between my ear and my shoulder I couldn't hear anything. My mum said that it was because she was wearing a head set since she was ironing her clothes at the same time. Ah so that's where I get it from... It always makes me laugh talking on the phone with my family. We're all the same. Always doing a million things. We can never just sit down and concentrate on the conversation. Any way I've lost my train of thought here.

Ah the film.. Yes good. Very Italian. Quite dark. Now I'm going to get ready for bed, in desperate need of a shower before the Italian comes home and decides to divorce me because of my lack of hygiene.

Sweet dreams darlings. X

Change of plans

Roberts sister decided to go into labour this afternoon so our dinner got postponed. I'm glad I didn't get the message until I was already on my way to the gym. I don't think I would've gone otherwise (I was going to meet him around the corner from the gym afterwards). Very exciting for his sister indeed!! I decided to treat myself to some nice dinner anyway so I made myself some spelt pancakes that I'm having with blueberries and creme fraiche or my mix of feta cheese tomatoes and spinach:) yum! All this while watching I am love on DVD. Not too shabby for a second choice...:)

New Instructor

We had a new instructor today on the lunch time Zumba.

She was so good and it is really easy to work out and sweat doing something that is so much fun.

I landed at home to have time for some lunch a long chat with my friend Tea and now I am getting ready to go back to the gym for Body Conditioning and then dinner with my friend Robert.

We are thinking of going to Polpo but they don't take bookings so we'll just see how long the wait is when we get there, maybe we'll go somewhere else if it's too long.  

The film

I went out of the cinema wondering who thought it would be a good idea to watch this film.

The Italian seemed to think it was me, I think he's right.

However, knowing what the film was like I wonder if it was such a great idea after all.

And not only did I freak out a few times during the film, the way home was a real freak fest.

First if all when we got out of the theatre there was a man preaching about Jesus. This happens quite a lot in London but I haven't seen it for a long time.

10 minutes later when we get on the tube, there is a woman with a canvas bag that had a picture of Jesus in front of it. I have never seen a bag like that before.

The train was filled with school children and at the end of the journey one of them takes of his jacket and shows off his jumper that says St somebodies school on it.

The Italian thought I was being ridiculous freaking out about all this, but after seeing a film about exorcism and freaky church things I don't think it was that surprising that I flipped out a little.

Watching two episodes of Criminal Minds when we got home actually made me feel light hearted...

Do you see anything different

Not a single person has noticed that I've cut off a good two inches. I'm practically bald if you compare the two pictures...

Tonight

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I almost feel like I am in a normal relationship at the moment.

We had Sunday night off together, Monday night off together, tonight off together AND he came to see me on my lunch break today and watched me eat a salad at Napket.

We are giving the guys at BAU (Criminal Minds) a break tonight and we are going to watch the Rite instead.

Something tells me that the nightmares will still be just as many, but maybe in a different form.

The dilemma of the day is obviously that I am not supposed to eat any sweets...

And all I can think about is that Patrick Cox' cup cakes are kind of on the way...

Wish me luck...

Baby Joy

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Speaking of friendship. Another baby has been born into our little gang. Beautiful P and R had a baby girl yesterday.

Friendship

Like I said when I came back, spending time with your friends gives you great energy.

Quite often I am sad about the fact that I don't live closer to my best friends (ask the Italian - he has to listen to it all the time..), but whenever we meet up it's like we were never away from each other.

For some reason we don't actually speak very often when we are apart.

Although we try and visit each other as much as we can (C from Oslo is coming in April, A is coming in June, my sister is coming in May) or we will always try to go and visit our families at the same time and spend time there instead.

At the times we are apart I relive our moments by looking through the pictures and remembering our good times together (and there are many, many, many) like this one of me and Carolina in Madrid last week.

I miss you all, all the time. Love you! 

Monday

Got up early to go to the gym and swim for half an hour before work. Had a text on my phone. Plans changed, people sick, straight to work instead. That however meant that I finished a bit earlier so instead of 5.30 finish and rush to the gym for 5.45 body combat I decided to get my hair cut. I found myself in a massage chair while having my hair washed. Quite different from sweating and being in pain at the gym....

It was 5.25 when Tommy was done with my hair so I went to the gym. Got there just in time for the class. 6pm still no instructor, turns out no one turned up to cover for the original instructor who was sick so the 15 of us that had turned up for the class had to change our plans - again.

Not too bad I thought. The Italian is off tonight so I'll go home and cuddle and watch criminal minds instead. Just as I walked through the door at 7 he calls to say that he just finished. He is now having his hair done... All the Monday plans went out the window, but at least I am very pleased with my hair. It's short and choppy again. I went to a new place that my old hair dresser has move to. They use only natural hair products and I am loving it. Might even try to do my colour there next time as well... We'll see...

So far so good

Spring is here.

6.30 am this morning on my way to work on a Barclays bike. The sun is shining and it's bright light outside.

Oops

Decided to postpone the diet until tomorrow....;)

Diet not going too well....

Might as well buy some chocolate later as well.

The view

From my dinner table. I just started a two week diet of no bread, no chocolate and no alcohol... This could be dangerous...

Saturday night.

Mango pieces and the new Matthew Perry show - Mr Sunshine

Love

I think it's healthy for a relationship to spend some time apart.

All the excitement that I feel in my body today is also mixed in with the feeling you get in your stomach when you fall in love with someone for the first time.

I know the Italian and I don't see each other very often even when we are both in London, but being in another country and leaving it 48 hours between each kiss, still made me miss him and appreciate what we've got.

Maybe it was also the fact that I spent my time with two couples. Not that it was disturbing in any way but it still made me feel like he was missing.

In two weeks we're doing it again as I am off to Sweden for a week and a bit. He's joining me there for the last weekend and I can't wait. I haven't been able to bring him with me to Sweden for nearly two years.  

This picture is from his birthday that we celebrated in Miami. There's nothing quite like an excuse to have a cocktail or three in the middle of the afternoon.

Butterflies

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Butterflies in my stomach and excitement in my heart. That's my general state of mind today. I don't know if it is the smell of spring in the air or I am still high of all the laughs and amazing time in Madrid. Either way I feel like lots of changes are happening in my life.

I want to re decorate the whole flat, in fact I want to move to another flat and decorate that.

Maybe even in another city, another country. I want to buy lots of part outfits and go out dancing - all day every day.

I want to sit in cafes and drink hot chocolate and eat cakes. Talk nonsense with my friends.

None of this is due to happen anytime soon, but just the thought of it makes me excited.

I don't know what has brought this on, but it proves that some good quality time spent with friends makes you smile for weeks afterwards just thinking about it.

I am excited about running home today, eating healthy and get back to my usual 4-5 visits/week to the gym.

Even thought I suffer from some major lack of sleep in the last few days I feel filled with energy and I'm ready for a new work week.

Back in London

Landed late last night and got home around 1am. Went straight to bed since I had to be up early for work today. But I had time to kiss my Italian prince and show him the pictures from my short but oh so sweet trip to Madrid.

I am having some strawberries from Spain at the moment to get some energy for the run home and to re live the Spanish life. I will try and post some pictures later on.

I hope you are having a great Saturday. The sun is shining here in London and I hope it is the same where ever you are.

Goodnight from Madrid

We've had a great day today with gorgeous sunshine lots of food and laughter. Just got back to the hotel after dancing until our feet bled in a reggae club. I am eating Swedish sweets that I bought in a shop earlier today. I am so glad we don't have a Swedish sweet shop in London - I'd be there every day... Check out tomorrow is 11am so I suppose I should go to bed and get some sleep. I hope you all had a great day as well. Sleep well. Xx

Ready

Bag packed, nails painted. Tomorrow at 7am I'm flying to Madrid for a couple of days. See you there:)

Life's little gifts

A lady came in to work a few weeks ago. She wasn't feeling too well and had to leave again after about 20 minutes. Last night she came in again and she brought me these flowers for being so kind to her when she wasn't feeling well on her last visit. They are flowers from her garden and they make me feel nostalgic about when I lived at home and my parents beautiful garden. The vase/jug couldn't be more me! I love it! A very nice thought indeed that made me feel good about peoples kind hearts.

Yesterday the Italian and I actually made it to the cinema (don't worry we watched criminal minds as well...) and we saw The Adjustment Bureau.

I thought it would be exactly like the Bourne films, and I couldn't really see the point of him making another film like that, just a different title.

It wasn't.

This film is witty (well off course it it - Emily Blunt is in it), clever but most of all, a great love story.

I really, really enjoyed it, and then the fact that Ms Blunt is extremely gorgeous doesn't hurt either.

Spring in my house

On my way to work today I thanked the universe for keeping all the lights green for me the whole way.

During the day the universe realised that they'd made a mistake. I wasn't the one who were supposed to get to places that easily.

They made up for their error on my way home. I left the gym and arrived at the closest barclays bike hire dock (my bike is at the doctors - again - long story). I was very excited as this is the first time I'm using them and it's so easy now when they are available to everyone. Or so I thought... The dock isn't working. It's not accepting my card. I phone the help number and I'm told they are having problems with that particular one. I walk to the next one. Same thing. Next one - same thing. I decide to walk to Embankment and get on the tube. The class finished at 6.45 I got home at 8.30...

I still arrived home calmly and just thought to myself that it's ok. I didn't arrive home in a complete frenzy panicking about all the things I didn't get done... The sight of my beautiful tulips as I stepped through the door cheered me up as well.

Bring on the week. I'm ready.

I want to feel the wind in my hair again

I am so sorry my dear friends. I haven't ignored your complaints about the worst blogging ever, I have just felt exhausted.

I am well and truly back into the working mode now and the holiday is put behind me.

I was on a twelve day stretch when all of a sudden my body screamed STOP! Monday lunch time I had to go home and lie on the floor for 24 hours while I tried to recover.

When I got back to work people whispered, is it true that you were off sick?!? Almost eight years with the company and I don't think I have ever called in sick. They thought I was made out of steel.

So not only have I been tired I have also not really had anything to update about. Another day from the floor in East London. Not great fun!

However, The Italian and I had last Saturday night off together and we went to Wright Brothers for sea food and Prosecco, and then we met up with my friend Miriam who was over from Barcelona and Eric from work. We went to Hix for cocktails. Italian and I straight away asked for Mango Daiquiris to feel like everything was just a bad dream, and that we were in fact still on holiday. They didn't have Mango but she could make either an Apple or Pineapple version instead. I went for the first, Italian for the latter. Eric wanted to join in on the holiday feeling and also went for the latter. Ha! to them. Mine ruled and I wish I could have Apple Daiquiris on tap at work on particular hard days.

E and M went off for dinner at Quo Vadis and we went home and watched Criminal Minds and ate a mountain of chocolate.

I am starting to feel like myself again now and I have a day off tomorrow to recover even more.

Thank you for still being here even though I have been absent for a bit.

I also know that there are problems with the commenting but I can't work out why it's not working.

I hope you are all having a great weekend.

Speak soon. x