Summing Up Summer

It's been a busy month or so. I moved house, went to see The Bodyguard, went to two weddings and a hen do, Notting Hill Carnival, Bicester Village, had a visit from my sister who's back from Oz, had my boyfriend who I've lived with for six years move back to the North to finish uni and have had an American houseguest to stay for the last week and a half. On top of this, work has been super busy, I've been visiting my grandmother and my internet connection has been extremely wonky if not non-existent at times.

Since we decided to move to London for Dave's placement job (his absolute dream role), we always knew that he'd be going back, and that I wouldn't be joining him. I got here and settled into a role at a great company with great people, and unfortunately while I was up north, nothing was happening for me career wise at all. Even though we knew we'd eventually have to part it came as quite a shock when the morning came that he caught that train. I told myself on that Thursday that I had that one day to mope and then I needed to get on with it and with all the distractions listed above and a mobile contract with unlimited minutes, it hasn't been too bad at all. We saw each other this weekend for his brother's wedding, which was a very emotional but happy day, but as he was best man he had many duties to perform so our quality time together was limited, but he looked very dapper, and did an amazing job!

Luckily it's his birthday this weekend so he is back in London at my side, and I'm going to spoil his rotten. He's choosing some new trainers, these Spiderman Vans are his current favourite and we'll eat, drink and make merry in the Capital.

Spidey-shoes

Here's some recent photos that sum up the last couple of months

Three generations. Love you Nan, even if you don't remember me

Meat Market

Reunited with the sis

Pub Frustration

Loving Pizza Express's blue glassware, can I get 100 glasses for my wedding?

Hen Party Selfying

This seat took me 2 years to get round to doing, took me 20 minutes. Echino Nico Fabric, Stag Minstrel telephone table

Rum Punch at Notting Hill Carnival

Traffic People Dress, ready for wedding

Geek Wedding Centrepieces: Take car. Go to Mum's. Kill Phil - "Sorry." - grab Liz, go to the Winchester, have a nice cold pint, and wait for all of this to blow over.

Best best man

Now Autumn is on its way, though these last throes of summer are going down a treat, I'm ready for some hibernating. Now that this summer's weddings are over, I've realised that the next one we attend is our own next June, when his studies are finally over. While most of the big stuff is done, there's still bridesmaids dresses and wedding rings to find, and more little details to finalise, which means some crafty days dreaming up table decorations with plenty of tea and biscuits, my homegirls, and good movies. Nice.

willPower and Grace®

I mentioned before how I was on a bit of a yoga drive, and that's still true, I bloody love it. But today, I tried something new. Realising that I've been eating like a dirty, dirty dawg recently (seriously, the Friday night before last I went to both MeatMarket and MeatMission) I thought I'd better up my game and throw some cardio in the mix in order to combat the badness.

I can't stand working out on the machines in the gym itself, and I could throw up at the thought of spinning. When I saw willPower & grace®  on the menu at my gym, Virgin Active, with the blurb, "Go barefoot and plug into some positive energy for the mind and body from the ground up. It’s a whole new kind of class that frees your mind, improves your flexibility and boosts your cardio system. It’s truly awesome!" I was a little unsure, and in truth it's taken me weeks to psych myself up to go, not sure what I was expecting.

The class is very cool (figuratively, it's actually very hot). The feet are the focus, and if you think about it, why not give them some love? We walk around on them all day, and yet we never give them any attention. Most of the bones in your body are in your feet, yet we rarely work on their strength and flexibility. The class is "designed to strengthen feet while progressively correcting imbalances in the ankles, knees and hips." (source). If you're curious, you can see a snippet of a class here.

Image Source

The class is quite intense, with fast-paced music, and lots of squatting and jumping, but the instructor (Lourdes) was friendly and encouraging without singling out the newbies - I think I was the only one, but I was easily able to keep up with everybody else, some of whom spoke like they;ve been going for a while and clearly love it - I'm converted! My class was this lunchtime, and I had a bit of a sweat on afterwards, but the facilities at Virgin meant I could have a quick shower and head back to work, fuss-free. I'm a little achy already, but that just means it's working! It's a class I'll definitely go back to, while still continuing to practice yoga - this is going to be good for not only my fitness levels but also my ability to get away with eating all those burgers.

You can find a class here or see a list of instructors here - it's pretty big Stateside. Unfortunately for northerners, most seem to be south based with a handful in Scotland and Northern Ireland. But I am sure this movement is only set to grow and hopefully they'll be one in every town and city in the UK soon.

From North to South (London)

I've moved to a new flat. I have gone from North London girl to South London girl.  I don't get a bus to work anymore, I get a train. I am in zone three. But I love it. My new area is much leafier and quieter than my old one. And our flat is to die for. There's a lot of work to do in my room. This is how it looked when the moving men had finished their work.

I know. But after an hour or so we'd cleared a decent space around the bed, so we could actually climb in, and also located some clothes, as we were due out that night (I went to see The Bodyguard, it was amazing).

Day by day it's improved. We sorted out the kitchen straight away, because ain't nobody that can do all that work on an empty stomach. And once this big brown cabinet is up we can fill it and free up some more space to actually concentrate on making it look nice. This is how it looked before my worldly possession took over.

 

I've had various Oyster and utility bill related financial disasters this month so am absolutely skint with more weddings and hen dos to attend before payday, so it's time to focus on  nesting, making my room nice and cosy and liveable rather than a box room with a bed in the middle.