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!

'Comedy', by the BBC

Erika and Dan had a spare free ticket to go and see 'Live at the Apollo at Hammersmith along with them and Gilly. Managed to get to the front of the queue pretty quickly as I arrived early which made everything much easier.

Some good comedy with Stephen K Amos, Sean Lock and others, though by the end (having arrived at 5 and leaving at around 11) I was pretty tired and hungry and ready for bed!

Good to see them all too!

Poor Charlie could not join us as he was still finishing his dissertation, which is now on the brink of being finished ... just one more day!!

3,500 people were packed into the Hammersmith Apollo, a good audience for a fun night of comedy. I wonder how much they edit out, as there were a few technical hitches and risque comments by both the comedians and the audience.

Managed to get home pretty speedily, good thing too as it is a school day tomorrow ...

An Unexpected Guest

Feeling much better.

Left work a bit early to make up for my very long day on Friday. Had a wander round Notting Hill and Oxford Street, but to no avail. And had a call from Barry Drew when I got home who was on his way to the Academy to watch Placebo (long story). He popped in for a cup of tea and a chat, quite a pleasant diversion for a normal Monday evening.

Feeling A Bit Peaky

Something has clearly disagreed with me, as my tummy is complaining and I feel a bit sick, and have been doing since I woke up. So, I have been having a relaxing day in bed trying to figure out what is up, felling at various points quite sick and then much better. Can't really blame the chef of last night's feast, as it was me, and besides Fishy is fine.

So now I have at least showered and started sorting out my wardrobe, going through to ditch and store summer things, replacing with brown woollen skirts as I tend to in the season of dark evenings and mellow fruitlessness.

Just popped out to take a load to the charity shop and pick up some chicken for dinner from M&S, and caught both shops before they shut. A brief feeling of success, before once again feeling sicky. Am going to see if the soothing tones of Michael Palin's 'Around the World in 80 Days' can fix me.

A Civilised Evening In

Met Alex for a swim in the afternoon, which I followed by some pootling around Brixton to Traid and Sainsbury's. He and Kirsten came round for dinner in the evening, mushroom risotto with fabulous chocolatey petit fours made by Kirsten herself, followed by a couple of games of Ingenious. All very respectable!

Sleeping Rocks!

Just woken up to chocolate chip brioche and a big glass of milk after 12 hours sleep. With a relaxed weekend ahead, feeling just wonderful. This is the stuff of dreams ... wait, did I really wake up?

The Longest Day

Up at 3:30am for an all day meeting in Amsterdam. Was a very good day, but pleased to be home now and in my 'jamas.

I don't think of my job involving much travelling. But last year was my epic work travel year, with Vermont, Rwanda and Cote D'Ivoire. And this year seems to be the year of random meetings in European cities, which I manage in 1 day (usually by getting up brain splinteringly early): Bonn, Zurich, Geneva and Amsterdam.

Felt pretty wiped out on the train and tube back to Brixton, but couldn't resist an invitation from Mr Fish to meet him Upstairs in the Ritzy for some lovely folk music, a quick drink, and some incredible sword dancers. Brilliant!

And now a relaxing weekend awaits, as I mildly police Fish's efforts towards his dissertation (just in case he gets too tempted by Catan or Carcasonne). I have even pre-emptively bought some chocolate chip brioche for breakfast ... Jurassic Park!

Big Tuesday Film - 'They Live!'

An entertaining day at work, finished off by coming home to Charlie watching a bizarre and quirky film about a guy who discovers the aliens have taken over ... as he can see them when he wears special sunglasses.

I kid you not. Has to be seen to be believed.

They Live

90 Years Young

Charlie, Lynn, Lena and I

To Grantham for Aunty Lena's 90th birthday, and it was lovely to see her, especially with such a big smile on her face. And great to see some family I have not seen in a while, Aunty Lynn and also Pat and Dennis, their daughters Carol and Kay and their respective families. Such cute and well behaved kids!

Worn out on the way home, so nice hot bath and early to bed, ready to take on next week ...

Sweet Spalding Song

Spent the morning wandering round Spalding with Dad, pootling round the side streets and commenting on the changes, both good and bad. Stopped for a cup of tea in the South Holland Centre, where Fish and I got married almost exactly 3 years ago. The town does change, strange to see how some of the more traditional shops (e.g. the independent jeweller, Drydens) are closing down, while others (Paceys, the baker) are thriving.

Rested in the afternoon, and indulged in another delicious dinner in the evening, oven baked trout and delicious homemade chips, finishing off with Mum's legendary lemon meringue pie ... yum! Try and spot the Pope in the news before bed.

Lincs Bound

Caught the train up to south Lincolnshire to see Mum and Dad, and to celebrate Aunty Lena's 90th birthday on Sun. Mum kindly picked us up from the station, and had a lovely evening chatting and eating dinner.

Pizza Perfect

After a drink with colleagues after work, met with Charlie, Erika, Dan and Theresa in Pizza Express to catch up on all the news after the happy couple's return from honeymoon. They had an amazing time, and showed off some photo highlights from their wedding too. Lovely to see them all!