Spooky Wooky!

Had a cosy night in on Friday decorating the flat and carving the pumpkin, stunning results shown above (one of my best yet!). Had a lazy morning and afternoon on Sat watching films, 'You only live twice' and 'Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark' to name a couple. And people arrived steadily throughout the afternoon, a bit too steadily to play werewolf as we had planned, though a game of Carcasonne was squeezed in.

Great to see everybody, and some fab costume abounded ... devils, ghostbusters, dead people and tea party activists. Oh yes, and a zombie witch!

I felt a little underdressed in my pumpkin bump t-shirt, was was still feeling a bit under the weather from my cold, especially because I have still been coughing a lot. But still managed to stay up till 2:30 BST.

Ruth, her boyfriend Wela and Nick H all stayed over, so we had a lovely brunchy lunch at the Rest is Noise today with Kirsten, Matty, Andrew and Alex.

So, the decapitated head was in the fridge, the bloody arm in the bathtub, and all is well with the world for another year. Wa-ha-ha-haaaa!

Spooky Approach

Starting to make plans for the enormous pumpkin I bought yesterday (and the teeny tiny pumpkin I bought). Very excited about the weekend, good to hear about various people who are coming.

Cold is improving, though still coughing a bit.

Thinking pumpkin soup will go down well as we play werewolf in the afternoon on Sat.

What type are you?

After a day of sleeping, nose blowing and drinking my bodyweight in Lemsip and squash, I now feel like I am over the worst. Yet to be proven, but feeling more like I need to get some fresh air into the house, which can only be a good sign.

On a completely different note, I just wanted to talk briefly about how beautiful letters and words are. Partly from the joyous year I spent studying Calligraphy, partly my love of the English language, and partly from my annual greetings/Christmas card outputs, I know that lettering bring such joy, and yet we all take it for granted. This can be seen at the moment by the tirade against 'Comic Sans', or as I might rename it, the 'annoying clown font'.

For those of you with a spare 2 minutes, you can do this quiz to determine what type(face) you are. To be fair, I din't quite agree with what it suggested for me, but it was such a joy to look at the other types that I am now convinced that it is just because the questions could not quite address the complexity of being me :)

Meeauugh!! (Sniffle ...)

Went into work this morning despite feeling even more snotty and achy throated than yesterday. But endless nose blowing just got worse and worse, so went home to work on a few necessary areas in the afternoon and to take it a bit easy.

Don't think it is 'flu, don't think I have ever had 'flu. No temperature, just feeling wretched, achy, hurty throat and oodles of snot. Drinking lots of fluids, I hope it passes pretty quickly.

Snot Overload!

Ok, so I knew it was coming. Having been quite snotty all week, I felt that a cold was in the post, and being pregnant does not make me immune. So, having awoken from my very strange dream of having dinner with Charlie, Matthew, David Cameron and George Osbourne where DC and GO paid with £50 notes (another bizarre manifestation of preggie vivid dream syndrome!), I found myself with a sore trachea, coughing up some interesting mucus and with even more snot than before.

Don't feel too bad in myself, but will be taking it a bit easy today. Mainly just hoping the cough doesn't get worse. Might have a lazy bath and cuddle up with a blankie in the lounge. Hopefully Natalie is coming round for lunch, and Jon is cooking an epic curry for the occassion, so shoudl also hopefully help to clear up my sinuses. Here's hoping!

Warm and Indulgent Day In

Didn't quite feel up to walking 10 miles in the rain, so left Charlie, Alex, Jon and Andrew to it for the day ... my waterproof jacket almost fit Jon ...

Have made the final adjustments to this year's Christmas card, so that is now all ready to go. Some good advance planning there! Then spent a lot of the afternoon cooking, making a Shepherds Pie for dinner, making a lasagne for the freezer, and making gooey chocolate brownies for dessert, with creme fraiche and a spiced plum compote. Was great to spend a bit of time just playing in the kitchen, with the new Star Trek and Empire Strikes Back on in the background to keep me amused.

So great to have a cosy warm house full of people (E, C, Andrew, Alex, Jon, Erika T, Kirsten) now the evenings are drawing in, and great to feed them all after a long tiring days walking ... they all looked knackered! Alex also kindly brought round a bottle of champagne to toast the foetus, was nice to have a bit of celebration. I had the teeniest sip, was totally worth it!

Erika T went home early, not feeling too good, and after Alex and Andrew left, C, K and J watched 'Falling Down'. Was a bit confused by the laughter I could hear as I fell asleep, I didn't think it was a comedy!

Cosy Winter Evening In

Made lasagne (both meaty and veggie) for Jon, Kirsten and Hannah B, lovely to see them all and have a cosy evening in. Also made the Jamie Oliver Portuguese tarts again, much better the second time round!

The London Film Festival Marries Itself

A whole throng of us, 13 I believe, gathered at the BFI on London's Southbank to watch a collection of short films which culminated in The Man Who Married Himself, the short fiolm Charlie wrote based on his short story of the same name. Some odd and some good films before it, but it definitely shone as a funny, bright and pacey piece.

Dinner afterwards at Pizza Express, lovely to see the Keats, Jacksons, Smiths, a Toth and a Jongberg!

Hail to the Chef

Lots of cooking in preparation for the weekend ... nothing better than having delicious food ready at minimal notice.

Christmas Planning

Made some good progress in planning this year's Christmas card. Pleased to realise I will soon have 10 years of handmade cards under my belt. A cosy thought.

A Belated Happy Birthday ...

... to the blog, which turned 1 year old on 5th Oct without my noticing. Must have been distracted by something ;)

Caroline's Hen - Back in Time!

Met at Westminster Abbey for a 1940's themed Treasure Hunt at 10am, which had us traipsing round the Cabinet War Rooms, asking a nice young man to sing 'pack up your troubles' for us and kissing various Churchill statues. Met back at the Red Lion on Whitehall, and then to the restaurant Sarastro.A fabulous, theatrical venue, apparently they have people singing opera on some nights. Gold fabric and harlequin flashes cover the walls, and some tables are completely set away in a stage or audience box setting.

We all brought Caroline a pair of knickers for her 'bridal trousseau' (I still don't know what that is!), and one brave and brilliant soul (not me) knitted some!

Then back home to prepare for an evening out in Shoreditch, hairpins and red lipstick at the ready for full 40's glamour.
Had lovely chats with Caroline, the South America ladies, and another pregnant lady Claire, who is 7 months and was happy to chat about her NCT experiences.

Moseyed on home to meet with Fish who had been writing at the Ritzy all day, and yet again indulged a craving for a Macdonalds Cheeseburger (why that? I never usually eat Macdonalds?!?!) on the way home.

More Pottos ...

Just in case you don't know what one looks like, here is a pic from Cincinnati Zoo:

In some parts of Africa it is called a 'Softly-Softly' ... I love it!

Pottos and Meercats and Piranhas ... oh my!

Finished work at lunch and spent a lovely day with Mink at London Zoo ... so exciting! Some mild threat of disappointment in the night zone when the pottos seemed to be hiding, but they made up for it when we went back a minute later ... they are so stretchy and furry and lovable!

Highlights include the pottos (of course), meercats, penguins, the spotty stingray. Then joined a bit bundle of lovely ladies for the first meal to kick off Caroline's hen weekend ... a weekend of fun awaits!

A Confession - Some fabulous news!

Dear Blog, I have not been telling you the ENTIRE truth over the last 3 months. Various entries where I have been hungry, not 100% well and exhausted betrayed some predictable symptoms.

So, Charlie and I are expecting our first baby, due in the middle of April, the above scan is from 28th Sept. We spent a wonderful weekend telling the whole family, just great to be able to tell all of them face to face. It is a relief that we can now start telling people at work too.

Not feeling sick anymore, just a bit worn out from time to time ... taking good care of us both :)

Jean Michel Jarre - Lasers of Fury!

After a scrumptious lunch with T and D, took the train back to London, and had some brief time at home before meeting Mum, Dad, Andrew, Erika and Matthew for dinner at Azzurro near Waterloo, before heading off to the O2 at Greenwich to watch Jean Michel Jarre.

The jumping Frenchman leaped down from the audience at the back, chequered trousers and floppy hair all ready for the electronica-fest that awaited.

Was a fun evening, of course so lovely to see the family as well.

A great way to spend 10/10/10!

Chocolart!

We met up with Robin, Marion, Erika Dan and Ellie to celebrate Robin's birthday in Reigate at Pizza Express, and then proceeded to celebrate further by attending a wonderful chocolate making workshop.

Was great to learn some basic tips about chocolate, creating delicate (and sometimes slightly too clunky) choccies and generally making a chocolatey mess.

Finished off a lovely day by getting the train down to Brighton and having a yummy moussaka with Theresa and Demitris, had a lazy evening in their beautiful newly arranged lounge before bed.

Veggie-fest with Nat

Took the lovely Natalie out for a belated birthday present to Vanilla Black, a vegetarian restaurant spectaculaaaar! Food was amazing, beautiful and pristine. Lovely to catch up and hear all her news about the Corsica holiday, the boyfriend and the job. She is always so busy, so it was a joy to get some good quality Nat time, just me and her.

Roll on the weekend and seeing the family!

Ai Wei Wei at Tate Modern

Spent the evening at the Tate Modern at a preview of the new turbine hall installation sponsored by Unilever (the hosts for the evening), many millions of handcrafted handpainted porcelain sunflower seeds. Lovely food, including a main course where jasmine tea was poured on top and dry ice fizzed and smoked in front of my eyes. Heston, eat your heart out!

Oof Monster

Ruth came down to stay with us this evening, and we went to Pizza Express with Mink for a lovely dinner. So good to see them both!

Not too disadvantaged by the tube strike. Actually, as some of the stations were closed, the journey was quicker than usual.

Coffee and TV

Met up with Caroline this afternoon for a lovely lazy coffee at the Hive. Was really good to catch up with her, what with her approaching wedding. Followed by some good impactful sorting out, plus finishing off some minor work bits and pieces with TV on ... some good lazy Sunday activities. Especially as we have a few busy weekends coming up!

A Cosy Day Inside

Though the ran fell outside, we stayed in and had a lovely time. OK, so I snuck out to Brixton in the morning sunshine to pick up some food, and went for a swim in the afternoon, but mostly spent the day inside playing board games and eating!

Andrew, Erika, Kirsten and Alex came round, and mostly played Carcasonne. Even I played a couple of games, and it wasn't bad, though a bit challenging for my very short attention span. Andrew and Erika went out for dinner, so the rest of us ate in (the fabulous beef and ale stew I made earlier in the week, and a pasta bake foe me and K) and watched a film.

'Dark City' was odd and creepy. Not bad, but scary at points.

Tired Bees

Juts had a lovely dinner in the Hive with Mr Fish, now zoning out after a long week, possibly watching the film 'Waiting'. A relaxing weekend awaits, joy!