It’s been another couple of weeks of mayhem, with everything being stupid busy at work, my festive social life ramping up, and as a result, I’ve got my annual December cold. It’s been here for a week now and frankly, I’m fed up of it. I spent most Friday and all of Saturday in bed trying to shift it, but it’s persisting and I’ve got too much to do so I’m just cracking on. I’ve got just over a week of work left until I head home for Christmas and then I’m not back in the office until 16th January. Woohoo!
Here’s the best bits of the last couple of weeks:
1) Erica and I went into the Habitat flagship store on Tottenham Court Road after hours for their sleepover event, teaching us all about how to get a better night’s sleep. We learnt some basic yoga stretches, spoke to a sleep therapist on how to encourage the best 40 winks possible, and looked through the gorgeous nightwear collection from Sundays. The chocolate martinis were pretty helpful for helping me nod off too!
2) A few of the girls and I headed east for Emma’s boyfriend’s 30th birthday party. Pablo is basically one of the crew and a stellar bloke so it was a pleasure to be invited to celebrate with him.
3) I went to see one of my favourite Christmas films, Gremlins, at the Prince Charles Cinema. It was introduced by the star of the movie, Zack Galligan and there were some extremely enthusiastic fans there to greet him!
4) We had one of the most glamorous Tuesdays on record when we headed down to the Troxy to see Christmas Queens. The festive gathering of some of my favourite queens from RuPaul’s Drag Race was sparkly, sweary and sassy. A carafe of red wine and some cackling with some of my best squirrel friends was just what I needed.
5) One of the best parts of this time of year is all my friends who live abroad start trickling back to visit. On Monday, my Phoebe ended up hanging out at mine and staying over the night for girly chats which is EXACTLY the sort of thing that miss most when she’s all the way over in Australia.
6) On Thursday the wedding of the year finally rolled around! I was a bridesmaid for my wonderful friend Jen and the whole day was utterly beautiful. I cried a lot. Their vows summed up how perfect they are for each other, we had an incredible Christmas dinner feast including a festive sing-song, and lots of dancing late into the night. Congratulations Mr and Mrs Bailey-Smith!
7) I took myself on a little solo date out to the new Design Museum on Sunday, hoping that some fresh air might clear my cold. It didn’t. But the museum is well worth visiting, with wonderfully curated exhibits that everyone can relate to.
8) After the museum I decided to walk for a while and went via Kensington Palace and Gardens. By the time I swooped down into South Kensington, I was rewarded with the most stunning sunset behind the Natural History Museum and its ice skating rink. London is so wonderful at this time (minus the hoards of people, obviously).
9) My housemate’s boss made her some berry gin for Christmas and it is deeeeeeeeeelicious.
10) I’ve had a weekly appointment in west London for the last few weeks and each time I’m there I spot gorgeous, colourful terraced houses. Oh how I want to live in one!
This week I am mostly working but at the end of it I’m off on a press trip to the Isle of Wight and then I get to see my best friend who will be over from Hong Kong for Christmas. It’ll probably be the last time I see her before she has her twins in June so there is every chance I may just squeeze her and never let her go. Watch this space.