Saturday strolling

Portobello market and the Noting Hill area in general is one of my favourite places. It's right up there with Central Park and that's really saying something. One day when I'm rich I'll live there. But for now I'll just have to enjoy strolling through the market on a Saturday, rummaging through the vintage gems, drooling over the many tasty treats on offer and picking up my fresh fruit and vege for the week.

Today, Ella, Shannon, Chris and myself did just that. With a nice warm coffee in hand, we started from one end of the street and slowly made our way through the market. Picked myself up a nice little purse for a mere £2.00. Very proud of myself.

The only downside to portobello is it can be very crowded. Today, the lines for street food were huge and as the temperature got more and more chilli we opted for an inside lunch. We literally stuffed ourselves at a delicious little Asian place. With our stomachs protruding, we waddled back home and had a much needed nap. Now to see what Saturday night has to offer....

Mumps got my mojo

In an unfortunate turn of events I got mumps. Yup, mumps. Mumps you ask? Well, it's a viral infection that basically makes you look temporarily fatboothed and you just want to sleep for days on end. After doing said activity (sleeping) and hiding my chubby face away from the London eye, my mojo was somehow lost.

You see, my mojo is something I hold rather dear to my heart so loosing it was quite the conundrum to both myself and my flat mates. So they decided to do something about it.

The boys were in Leeds for the weekend so my flat mates decided/dragged me out to soho for a big gay night out. Doctors orders.

After a red bull, a few vodka sodas and lots of girly chat we jumped on the tube. A quick stop off to an Irish karaoke bar to pick up some friends and we were on our merry way.

We danced the night away pink wine in hand. In the early hours of the morning after our feet were beginning to ache, we decidedto call it quits and caught the night bus back to our little house on Sawley. All in all a very successful evening.

Oh and in case you were wondering, I found my mojo. I think it was somewhere between the disco balls and pole.

Angus

One of my many New Years resolution is to blog more about what I get up to in London. Sadly, it's feb and I'm only just getting around to my first post for 2013. But I guess you gotta start somewhere right?

After spending a very short but jam-packed time back in Central Otago for my brother's wedding, I headed back to glorious grey London.

When I touched down at Heathrow, my two lovely friends Ella and Micheal were there to greet me and assist me back to the flat in my jet-lagged condition.

After a quick power nap, some hot chips and a red bull we were off to the O2 empire in Shepards Bush to see the amazing Angus Stone.

Wow. Just wow. He was perhaps one of the best people I have seen live! I was memorised throughout his entire set and If I ever got the chance to see him again I would not hesitate.

I managed to take a few sneaky snaps on my phone.. Enjoy!

London life in the autumn

First London blog post eeeek excitement!! So I've finally settled into this place and I absolutely love it!! Sorry family but I'm never coming home..(you'll just have to come over here and visit me-Chris that includes you).

It's the first time I've had two days off in a row for a little while now so I have made the most of it and have done some much needed exploring.

One of the many things I love about London is the underground. It's the most amazing public transport system and it is so easy to use. I can get around London, going from West right up East without bating an eyelid. The only down side is my lack of knowing where exactly I am as hinted in its name, you're traveling underground. So on my expedition over the past two days I have vowed to use the tube as little as possible. Thank god for google maps is all I can say. But it's been a great workout none the less. Bridesmaids dress watch out.

Autumn in London is truly beautiful and the christmas festivities are in full swing. Yesterday I went East, exploring Shoreditch, Hackney and Bricklane. Bricklane is one of my favorite areas and has the best vintage stores which I spent a total of 2 hours trawling through (don't worry mum, I was very self controlled). My favorite is a little, well actually it's rather large, place called Blitz Vintage. They have a lot of reworked stuff but it's a little on the pricier side. I fell in love with a little blue denim jacket number. But sadly my practical side prevailed and I left it there on the rack screaming 'purchase me' as deep down I know I need a proper woolen bad boy to keep me snug this winter.

Today mother nature has put on a stunner with crystal blue skies, crisp and cool, almost like central. And they say it always rains in London huh?
I started the day off by sitting in Trafalgar Square reading my book and sipping on my new found addiction, a Christmas themes toffee nut latte. I then had a look around the National Gallery which is free to the public. Yuss winning! There was also a photography exhibition on that I've been wanting to see for a while now so I decided to break the bank and splurged on a ticket to that. It was amazing. Well worth the £12 entry fee. I ended up spending like two hours in there as there was so much to see and take in.

When I finally finished at the exhibition I realized I was starving so I navigated my way to Soho to my favourite little cafe called the Breakfast Club. I had the best wrap ever. Haloumi, hummus, sundried tomato, balsamic and spinach aka pure heaven.

Something that I'm gonna have to get use to is the sun setting so early now that winter is upon us. Come 4pm I'm ready to head back to our little flat on Sawley Road and hibernate for the evening. We have a great flat of people so the evenings are always lots of fun when we all return from a day of work. A typical evening usually involves lots of food (we usually all sample each others dinner), onsies, a few cheeky drinks, the occasional movie and heeeeeaps of banter! And then the weekend... Well that's a whole other kettle of fish. Hehe.

My top ten memories of Texas

1.Fourth of July trip to austin aka the hangover 3. So much fun with amazing people and a whole lot of crazy stories I'll never forget.

2. Going to 'Billy Bobs, a western bar in Fort Worth and learning how to 2 step. Defiantly was exposed to some raw Texan culture.

3. Spending the day at Six flags over Texas with all the counsellors

4.Getting to swim, kayak, tube and canoe every day

5. Eating s'mores in the cooked, raw and frozen form. I'm addicted.

6. Learning how to cook over a camp fire and doing cook out every Wednesday with the campers

7. Camping out on another site on wednesday nights and getting to do night swims with the girls. Waking up right on the lake edge is amazing and the sunrise was always so beautiful.

8. Getting spoilt in the weekends by Texan hospitality. People in Dallas are so kind and have taken such good care of all the international counsellors. They really have made our stay that much more amazing.

9.Experiencing a baseball game. The atmosphere was awesome and the margaritas weren't bad either.

10. Just hanging out with cool people 24/7 and having lots and lots of laughs.