Scotland Mini Break

Popped to Scotland for the weekend last weekend, was so great to see my wee darling cousins again and visit Grandad with my Aunties as well. We took the children to an inner city animal farm which was cool, it was pretty chilly but a beautiful day none the less. Had a bit of a blonde moment, as I do, I picked up Ethan so he could see the animals better and pointed at a goat and said, 'Look! A lamb!' (insert roll your eyes pic here...) I don't know where it came from, I'll just say there was a lamb in there too but needless to say I won't hear the end of that one... especially being a Kiwi! 

Its really cold in London now - the cold snap has finally arrived like 3 months late but its here, luckily I have my thermals my Mamma sent over for me and my Kathmandu jacket - best jacket I have bought since being here! Ripped the sleeve of it a bit like 3 days after I bought it though, decided to walk into a bollard in London, as you do.

Anyway I have booked my trip for Turkey in April (YAY) and looking into flights for a visit home mid-year (YAY) and on top of that heading to Paris this weekend (YAY) for a mini break but also heading to Premiere Vision while I'm there for work - a whole day walking around viewing the latest textiles to come on the European market!!! I can't even breathe thinking about it!!! Then its back to London for London Fashion Week - won't be sleeping much but who cares right? Will touch base with photos of Paris and Fashion Week mid-Feb!

Kiwi Burger Night

Keeping things Kiwi, as we do, we had a Kiwi burger night!!! We had beef patties, cheese, pineapple, poached eggs, beetroot, lettuce and tomato as well as kumara chips to top it off!! MMMMMM we also watched Notting Hill that night, its sooo cool watching movies based in London now that we are living here and I couldn't believe it - the main hotel they use in the movie is The Ritz - I walk past this hotel every day on my way to work!! Felt an extra bit special on Monday morning when I walked past haha and of course its filmed in Portobello which features in my other blog entry - good times!

My World Map

After working on my photo heart collage for my room I felt so much more homely having some wall decorations up! Recently I have been constantly planning the year (travel wise) to see how I can make the most of my budget and annual leave! So I thought it would be a great idea to get a map of Europe, highlight where I have already been with photos of my friends on I on our travels and then post it note '2012' on the countries I want to go to this year, and this is the end result! I love it!  

Yes Please!

Hello life sized chocolate fountain! Actually its waaay bigger than life size, it reached the second level at the mall in Shepherds Bush mall!!!! Lets be honest, you just want to dunk your head in! We also got some frozen yoghurt from Snog - just thought the branding was cool! 

British 'Winter'

Whilst I was suffering in bed from my two week vomit / flu-athon over the New Year, the girls went out near Brighton for a 4 hour walk in the hills, jealous much!!! Wanted to share the photo that Nikki took and also one I took when I could finally drag myself to the corner shop - such beautiful weather for a 'white'?? Christmas…

Anthropologie

I am going to be dramatic and just put it out there - this shop changed my life! I walk past it most days and never thought to go in, I guess with the hustle and bustle of Regent Street you just put your head down and get to where you are going while trying to dodge the ocean of people surrounding you!

Anyway, its my definition of a dreamland to the point where my work mate Hannah put her hand on my shoulder and asked if I was OK and even then I struggled to respond - it literally left me speechless!! All my favourite things in one store - beautiful design books, stationary, mugs, tea towels, aprons, cushions, bed linen and oven mitts all made from gorgeous vibrant fabrics. There are also perfumes, clothing and candles and the merchandising was just phenomenal - everything was set up so thoughtfully and told a special story - it even has a three storey high 'living' wall - by this I mean the plants on it are, well, living!

http://www.anthropologie.eu

Christmas and New Year

 

For Christmas I went up to my cousin Grahams - it was so nice to finally have Christmas together with his wife Sarah and wee gorgeous son Jacob - one little man that melts my heart day after day!!! I designed my own template for this years gingerbread house which Im proud to say stood up even while being gluten free! It was nice to experience Christmas with a bustling house hold as its usually pretty quiet for us in New Zealand and being with my cousins really kept the homesickness at bay which was good! Its ironic though because I waited my whole life to have Christmas with my family over here as I felt I had grown up missing out on big family Christmas's and then it was there right in front of me and I would have given anything to be at home with my parents and brother - not that I didn't have an awesome time with my family or anything but you really do realise how precious holidays like that are when your not with your parents. Christmas consists of, 'what do you want for your present' etc (even though its about being together, were all guilty of saying what we want for our Christmas presents!) I can honestly and wholeheartedly say that when I eventually return to New Zealand I will never ask for anything for Christmas ever again, so long as I'm with my parents and brother, I will be very happy and thankful!

Anyway, just something for ya'll to think about!

After visiting my cousins I went on to Uncle and Aunties for a couple of days so on boxing day we were at my Aunties brothers house with all their family and it was just the nicest evening - I felt so welcomed and at home and I felt like I had two Christmas days in a row! And seeing my Uncle playing Wii the next day was just the cherry on the cake....
Next stop was my other Uncles and Aunties house - I was really hoping to see snow there but it just wasn't meant to be this year! It was great to catch up with them and spend time in their gorgeous cottage but then I fell ill with an awful flu and was in bed most of my visit with them! I came back to London and just got sicker and was completely out of it for a week - whenever I said in NZ I had the flu Dad would always say 'You just have a little cold, you Kiwi's don't know the true meaning of flu!' and boy was he right, this was like a viral stomach flu and cold flu all rolled into one! So I ended up missing the first week back at work as well... but Im all better now :) New Years resolution? To fully focus on living and being in London, I spent a lot of time last year constantly emailing and skyping everyone in NZ and it just consumed far too much of my time. Whats up next? London Fashion Week and Paris in February... look out for my next post then!