Frocks on rocks

Friday at work I made the executive decision to get a little romantic and take myself out on a Friday night date. A three course French dinner including oysters, white wine, and baked cheese in Soho? Yes please. A ticket to a musical playing in the West End? What fun!

Priscilla Queen of the Desert starring Alf Stewart - how much more Australian can you get?!

I have to admit to screaming (just a little bit) when Ray came out on stage - I hadn't actually looked into who was cast in the performance, so it was a flamin' surprise to see an Aussie icon walk out onto the stage!

I had an absolutely brilliant night out and have decided I am definitely one heck of a date. Maybe next time I'll go a little bit crazy and date someone other than myself...

Dot points of happiness

A few things that are making me smile (and not able to sleep due to my excitement) lately:

• My Dance Husband gets here next week.
• This is my last weekend in London. Next weekend I'm in Durham, UK, the weekend after I go to Oxford. After that it's Bulgaria, then Paris, then home!
• I'm going swing dancing next weekend... AND I have a dress for the movie premiere night that was on sale, and will double as my long-coveted black day maxi dress!
• I now own this ski jacket and salopettes:

• I got the above ski outfit for only £40!
• I now know that the fancy name for "ski pants" is "salopettes".
• His Travel Romance moves into our new house next week, and I'll be there just a month later.
• His Travel Romance booked my ticket home recently, and I get to fly in an A380 via an afternoon in Perth catching up with everyone I miss so dearly!

Wimbledon winter collection

A few photos from my walk this morning through the winter wonderland of Wimbledon Common...

 

Making hay

Today it started snowing again, and, once again, I was grinning like an idiot whilst staring out the window from my work desk.

As such, I thought it was an opportune time to show you some photos from when the last lot of snow started melting away, and the squirrels decided to make one last dash for food before they all ran off to tuck themselves into their cosy trees with their Cath Kidston duvets and hibernate for the winter.

Aren't they the cutest little things? Rat's in a better outfit? I say nay! That is one point on which Miss Bradshaw and I shall just have to differ (because obviously, she and I are identical in every other way...) Look at the little fluff-ball holding onto his precious little nut. Naw...

Knit like a fox

A few months ago I signed up for le cool's weekly email magazine, so that I could keep abreast of the coolest and quirkiest things going on in little old London Town whilst I'm here. Mostly I've browsed through the magazine and wistfully imagined how great it would be to have the money to be able to go and do everything I want to, but this week, I found something that was in my neighbourhood (relatively), and was free!

The ever so lovely and talented Sinead of Galavant is the brain mother (well, where there's a brain child, there'd have to be a brain mother right?) of The Crafty Fox Pop Up Market, which took place today in the Dogstar Bar & Cafe in Brixton.

Brixton, from what I can gather, seems to be London's attempt to merge Harlem with the back streets of Bangkok; with it's street markets filled with electric toys that crawl, walk, bark, and cry, and hunks of meat on display on fold-out tabletops, and it's gospel music shouting from various trailer-vans; I will admit to being slightly confused as to where exactly I was. But, I managed to navigate my way to the Dogstar and immediately fell in love with this market which made me feel like I'd just walked through my computer screen and into a real life version of Etsy! So many amazing stalls were cosily nestled into the pub, it was hard not to try on everything I saw! But, I had gone with a purpose, and that purpose was sitting up by a window on a comfy cushioned bench, surrounded by wool and knitting needles!

Tamsen, from Community Knitting Club, was kind enough to host a free two hour knitting workshop as a part of Crafty Fox. After picking up some cheap wool (hard to find over here!) and a pair of 3mm needles, I settled in and happily spent two hours surrounded by smiling, sharing women (and one man momentarily!), learning a new and speedy way to cast on, how to purl, how to do stocking stitch, and finally, how to create my very own little knitted Christmas decoration - my first ever knitting project that involved a pattern!

So, who else is up for a hot Saturday night in with a bottle of Bailey's and a ball of wool??

My world in white

IT SNOWED TODAY!!!!!!

Oh my bees and possums I am so freaking excited!!!! I've never seen snow before and it's just amazing - so incredibly beautiful and it just floats and falls from the sky and dances in the air - snow sways and twirls in all different directions at the same time. It brushes up against your face and gets stuck in your eyelashes and on your lips, in your hair and on your coat, making you look like a walking white marshmallow!!

It crunches underfoot and makes you slip and slide your way along the pavement. It lets you leave perfect, crispy footprints all over the place and makes the grass look magical!

Snowflakes come in all different sizes and can be so tiny you think they're rain drops, or so big and fat you spend your time staring out the window or out from the tram stop shelter, watching them lazily twirl and fall to the ground, sticking your tongue out to catch one, and laughing as they coat your hat and scarf with their big, fat, iciness.

Most importantly though, the snow clumps together like a ball of frozen dough, and lets you create retarded looking miniature snow-creatures in your lunch break, with one green smartie eye and one blue one! How freaking awesome is snow?? Seriously!

A marsipan day

What better way to celebrate the 30th birthday of one of your childhood friends, than to take her to a sumptuous chocolate and champagne afternoon tea at the Winter Garden?

Surrounded by palm trees and elegance, we stuffed ourselves silly on a delicious selection of sandwich fingers - organic egg mayonnaise and mustard cress, chicken, tarragon, and creme fraiche, oak smoked Scottish salmon, and the classic cucumber sandwich on fluffy white bread.

We quaffed sparkling glasses of Rose Tattinger Reserve Brut Champagne, sipped warming cups of the Winter Garden's bespoke tea, and then gorged ourselves into stupors on our tower of chocolate! For those not in the know, the tower of chocolate includes such delights as a white chocolate and mint macaroon, chocolate dipped strawberries, chocolate and raspberry creme brulee, a milk chocolate and banana pot au chocolate, and a dark chocolate and mango 'dream'...

There were also chocolate chip and fruit peel scones served with jam, clotted cream, and chocolate hazelnut spread but, our poor little tummies could take no more! So, we had them packed up for this beautiful lady to take them home for later in her special Landmark shopping bag.

An assortment of London

So here a few of the things I've been up to in London over the last two of weeks...

I had a dinner date with the lovely Miss Mara, and we ate baked cheese that had a use-by date of her 30th birthday!

I went to the Sunday Up Market and indulged in a Kooky black forest cupcake and a coffee...

... And later, in a Kooky peanut butter whoopie pie and a mulled wine!

I experienced my coldest day yet in London this year - one degree, with much evidence of Mr Jack Frost on the ground!

I lost the Thames. I'm sure this is where I left it last time.

And, I wondered down Oxford Street two hours before the shops opened on a Sunday, when there were no crowds, and found some fun Christmas display windows!

The shoes of huzzah!

These are lovely swing dancing shoes.

These are lovely swing dancing shoes that I bought.

These are lovely swing dancing shoes that I bought because I could afford to.

These are lovely swing dancing shoes that I bought because I could afford to and I was celebrating.

These are lovely swing dancing shoes that I bought because I could afford to and I was celebrating because I have a job!!!

Finally! A a little pre-Christmas miracle happened in the shape of the perfect opportunity met with perfect timing. On Monday, not more than an hour or so after I bombarded a wide selection of recruitment agencies with my CV, I received a call which lead to an interview on Tuesday, which led to a job on Wednesday! Huzzah! Said job is with an events company (huzzah!) and goes through until around mid-April (huzzah!), and they're absolutely fine with my pre-booked Christmas holidays (huzzah!). It's in a location where I don't have to contend with delayed trains on the tube (huzzah!) and therefore save money on transport (huzzah!), the team seem to be quite fun so far (huzzah!), they finish early on Fridays (huzzah!), and today, they invited me to their Christmas party next week!

Suffice to say, I'm just a bit happy at the moment.

Oh deer

Things have been reasonably quiet for me here in London town. I managed to score two weeks of work at a medical practice which was a saviour because heaven knows the agencies I'm registered with aren't helping an awful lot with keeping me in bread and milk!

So, I've been working 8:30am-6pm for the last two weeks, which means I've been out of the house from 7:30am-7pm for the last two weeks, only to come home, head out to the gym for another hour or so, then come home, cook and eat dinner, and fall into bed. The weekends I don't seem to remember overly well. Not due to me getting up to exciting adventures, but moreso because they've been filled with necessary things like grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, and shopping for a coat.

I did manage to have a lovely girl date with Mara on Sunday, during which we scored a free bottle of wine due to the bar staff's incompetence! Huzzah for bar staff who forget to add bottles of wine to tabs!

So - I don't have any photos to show you from my recent weeks, however, I did wander down to Richmond Park a little while ago, and was lucky enough to stumble across the deer that run wild throughout. The park is huge and wild and roaming, and is a brilliant place to relax as long as you're nice and toasty warm!

What did I say? Wild and roaming.

My very first deer spotting!

Unfortunately, I hadn't come equipped with my SLR, so these point and shoot mementos are all I have at this stage, but future wanderings to this park may produce some closer shots.

Now, I have a couple of interviews with agencies lined up this week... wish me luck!

Orange season

The area in which I live in London is surrounded by gorgeous parks and is therefore completely enveloped by beautiful deciduous trees at this time of year... I couldn't resist taking a few photos of all the autumnal colour on my walk the other day...

I had my first day at work today! Actual office work - huzzah for not having to stand on my feet for eight hours straight, cleaning up after shoppers who can't be bothered putting things back where they got them from! It's so toasty and warm and the girls I work with are lovely and I get to sit down if I want to - it's the simple things that make me happy right now :-)

A perfect breakfast and a bit of dosh

On Monday I started a new health regime/detox eating plan (spot the girl who hates the word "diet") to kick myself into the realm of health and fitness after those five food-filled weeks in Mallorca. My breakfasts have been a definite highlight of this new eating plan as I've stumbled upon a brilliant fruit salad combination! Try banana, apple, strawberries, blueberries, walnuts, toasted seeds, orange, and mint with lemon juice squeezed over the top - divine!

Today is day six and whilst I'm not craving anything that I can't have (dairy, grains, alcohol, caffeine) I can't say that I've noticed a remarkable difference in my energy levels or general feeling of well being. If anything, I've probably been a little tired but I don't blame that on my food, I blame it on the two shifts at Top Shop earlier in the week and my resulting sore leg, along with the continuous struggle to get some work.

I was put forward for a 3-6 month role earlier in the week which would have been perfect for me and which I could have done easily with one eye closed and a hand tied behind my back whilst wearing a pink bunny suit, however the company hiring decided they didn't want to go with an Aussie candidate purely because we Aussies get scared of winter over here and turn tail and head for home... This makes me a little sad - not only because I didn't get the job despite my skill set being a perfect match for it, but also because I therefore assume that within a few months, I will be the only Aussie left in London! Who will I be able to borrow vegemite from in December??

Luckily however, one of my flatmates works at a doctor's surgery that need an admin person for one, possibly two weeks starting Monday, and the lovely Stacey thought of me! As such, I have a whole week of office work lined up for this coming week, with the distinct possibility that it will evolve into two weeks - TBC later next week. Huzzah!!

Cultivating excitement

So the girl is back in London, and she's cold!

She had two interviews with two different recruitment agencies today, so all in all it was quite a productive day. Now she gets to sit back over the weekend and wait for the work to start coming in!

Well... Not really. It still seems to be a hard market in which to find work so I'm a little concerned about it, but am trying not to worry about it too much as history has shown I tend to be ok. Fingers crossed that this trend continues! One agency told me that the temp work is starting to come in quite nicely - the other told me it starts drying out in the lead up to Christmas. I look forward to proving the first agency right and the other wrong, but in the meantime I will be making a concerted effort to be in close contact with the three agencies I am now registered with, hassling them as much as possible until they're so sick of me they give me work to get rid of me!

I'm also trying not to be concerned about the fact that funds are very low right now. After a day of stressing yesterday, today I have decided to cultivate a sense of excitement at the fact that I'm living on the edge! I have friends that will keep me stocked up on bread (hopefully!). I have some dried apricots and a few pieces of licorice in the cupboard. I have a roof over my head and the funds to pay for another month of that roof, AND, I have a third of a bottle of scotch in my room, to help keep me warm as winter edges in!

I'm putting my faith completely in idea that I will land on my feet - after all - I always seem to have done in one way or another, and going through these times is part of the fun of traveling, right?! Besides... I do need to loose some of those Mallorcian pounds ;-)

Thames Festival

Today I popped into town to check out the Thames Festival. A short commute, because I've actually moved back to London! Ahh London... where even scary sheep men can get girlfriends, and where it's ok to wear flowers on your top hat or dye your hair bright orange.