well, here we are: monday again! although today i am still in (well, on) bed, cuppa to my right, x factor on catch up, and loads and loads of laundry cued up. why? well, because i've gone and done some good things by me, and booked all the mondays off for the rest of the year, because: rest and relaxation. and because: life admin. and because: i need some time off. with all these long weekends lined up, i've got loads of things planned. and planning things makes me happy. as does:
fresh flowers on my desk: the darlings behind online flower delivery service 'blossoming gifts' sent me over one of their lush "fall" bouquets on monday, as well as gift code for you all to use if you fancy having some cheap flowers delivered to your own desk. grab 33% off with the coupon code BGIFTS33. a week on, and they're still going strong - and that's saying a lot considering the recycled air con and halogen lights and perma-germs floating around my office!
the carnival fiesta: on tuesday night i was stresssssed to the max and driven to cocktails while helping throw thomas cook airlines' latest blogger bash, this time at barrio east in shoreditch. to help celebrate their tenerife flights, we held the biggest santa cruz de tenerife carnival fiesta that london's seen since august; if you're thinking samba dancing and bejewelled nails and tropical cocktails, you're halfway there. check out all the fun at #carnivalfiesta!
blanket scarves and breakfast brownies: after my incredible cocktail making (and... drinking) skills were put to the test on tuesday night, wednesday morning called for wrapping up warm in my newest blanket scarf and indulging in another loophole in our stoptober plan: if you substitute your main meal (breakfast/lunch/dinner) with a snack, then it's allowed. seeing as i rarely eat breakfast, but i do work with the bearded baker, then it seems only right that breakfast brownies are now a thing. right?
long lunches: on thursday, little shaun, the bearded baker and i headed to brew dog's latest restaurant offering - dog eat dog in angel. after the many craft beer festivals i've been to this year, brew dog are one of the few that i remember really liking, and remember the names of the beers i'd tasted - which is saying something! so when they kindly sent over an invite to the soft launch last week, to try out some of the restaurant's crafty hotdogs (mine had poppadoms in it!), we couldn't say no. the best thing about the chain's newest opening: you can take your pooch as there's even a dog-friendly dog menu! how adorable is that? my newest favourite beer is "hello my name is holy moose", a citrus and wild berry-infused beer, but between us we had about six different pints. *hic*
pizza party: as if the stupid amounts of food didn't stop there, later that night mike and i tried our hand at homemade pizza. not a first for either of us, and he is a terrific cook by all accounts, but this was something new for both of us: stuffed-crust puff pastry pizza. i'd stupidly told him about this pizza "i'd made" once before, maybe leaving out the fact that someone had actually made it while i did other things, and so when it came down to it, it was the blind leading the blind. but! nothing that a bit of trial-and-error couldn't resolve, and within no time we had one and a half edible pizzas, and two very cheesy, very stuffed crust, very puffy pizzas! dream pizza making team.
elbow grease: i'd been hearing how good this stuff was, and after arriving far too early at waterloo on friday for my train, i killed some time in lush and picked up some of the magical stuff myself. i tried it out over the weekend, and it very much does live up to the name 'elbow grease'; it's very greasy. once it's all rubbed in though, it definitely does give the ink some more life - but i wonder if any old grease would do the trick? i will keep at it though and see how i like it over time. so far, so curious.
bournemouth baby! ok so it's not everyday you get the chance to escape the city by yourself and get some well-needed alone time. think blue skies, sandy beaches, and fluffy pillows. it was a lovely, well needed few days away, and there will be more pictures from my time away to follow!
silver linings: on sunday night, some of my bangarang babes and i headed to what was billed as a chef's table event in mile end. sadly, it did not turn out to be much more than thirty people crammed around an oyster shucking station while the frantic chef tried to serve his real customers as well as twice the amount of guests the organisers had anticipated. thank god for my girls, because we made the most of the situation by excusing ourselves with a plate of chips and sat downstairs, away from the fray, with a bottle of wine and made our own fun. we're good like that.
endless opportunities: a few weekends back i was supposed to attend an event with wonderush, a site dedicated to helping you try new things in your spare time, but i just wasn't able to make it in the end. it sounds like i missed a fab event if all the tweets and 'grams were anything to go by, but lucky for me the wonderful team behind the brand have given me a month's access to the site anyway, so i can try some of the fun activities in my own time. and with all my mondays free now, what better way to spend them? i'm thinking either the east end or music legends walking tours will be first on the list. if you fancy trying the site out for yourself, here's a sneaky code to get your first month for just £1: imbeingerica. let me know what you try!
and that's that, really! tell me about your week?
