Guilty Pleasures

One of my favourite things about London is that there is no shortage of things to do on a Saturday night and especially for a special occasion - like Lauren’s birthday. We discovered through a friend about a club night called Guilty Pleasures that is basically a club that plays lots of pop music and power ballads and isn't ashamed of it. None of this indie business for us - just pure old pop music and a good dance floor.

It was the beginning of summer so it was a beach themed party so armed with out lei’s and grass skirts we got all dressed up at pre drinks before heading up to Camden for a great night out. It was held at Koko which is a great venue with a stage, different levels and of course a huge dance floor. If there wasn't enough to see and do while we indulged in our guilty pleasures we were treated to a pretty interesting floor show with men in leotards shimmying across the stage.

The music was fantastic with a good mix of old school power ballads like ‘summer of 69’ and ‘don’t stop believing’ and also classic pop music such as ‘mmmbop’ and ‘hit me one more time’. We danced and drink and sang along until our throats were hoarse. We were a bit disappointed that we didn't get any Backstreet Boys or Spice Girls favourites as we were all 90’s kids who grew up with the boy and girl bands.

It was a great night out but its not hard to keep me happy - good music, good friends, costumes and a dance floor and I’m set! Highly recommend it as a night out in London and can’t wait for the next one!

In Brugges

I had been in the country literally three weeks and already had itchy feet so luckily for me my lovely friends and I had planned a weekend in Belgium for my birthday.

I was excited to be heading to Brugges which I had heard from lots of people what's gorrrrgeous. While I had actually been to Brugges for a total of one hour on my Topdeck tour I hardly thought that counted and was keen to explore a bit more.

I was also excited as it would be my first trip on the Euro star! so straight after work on the Friday I met all my girls with my little wheelie bag at Kings Cross. We armed ourselves with some wine snacks and cake (from the girls high tea)and set off on our journey. We spent most of the time just chatting away but I was a little disappointed that since it was so dark we weren't able to tell when we were underwater until I got a message saying  "welcome to France" from my phone company when we were on the other side.

Once we arrived in Brussels we still had to get the hour train to Brugges and unfortunately for us we had just missed one. After an hours wait and hours train journey we finally arrived in Brugges and the "popping" over to Belgium ideal was slightly shattered. Luckily for me though I have friends high places and we had managed to get a cheap deal to stay at the Crown Plaza which was a great four star treat. So even though it was well past one o'clock before we went to bed they were extremely comfy ones.

The next morning after a brief sleep in we left on a mission to find some Belgian waffles for breakfast. After being informed that waffles for breakfast wasn't really the done thing we managed to find a cute little restaurant to grab something to eat. Since we were in the land of chocolate and were yet to have any most of us went about getting some and ordered a hot chocolate with " real" Belgian chocolate. When they cane out we were excited to see they were cups of warm frothed milk served with a stick with a chunk of chocolate on the bottom. The idea was to dip it into the warm milk and swirl it while it melts so its the perfect chocolate consistency.

Once we had our chocolate hit it was onto seeing the city and we couldn't resist getting a horse drawn carriage around the city. It was about £10 each for a half an hour tour where we sat under blankets while we clip clopped around all the cobblestone streets. It was one of my most unique tours in Europe and was really fun way of seeing the city. Plus it was freezing outside so being huddled under a blanket was even better.

After the tour it was time for to try a typical Belgian Beer so we headed down the skinniest street in Brugge to their oldest pub and wandered up the rickety circular staircase to the top where we found a table and ordered a beer. A couple of the girls tried the famous fruit beers while Ainsley and I tried a local beer. After about half of it was I already feeling it and wondered why until I found out it was 13%! The best part about the pub was that they gave you some cheese and meats to go with your beer.

Since we had ticked off a Belgian Beer we had to tick off another couple of things so our afternoon was spent eating Belgian fries covered in mayonnaise and wandering around to try and find the best place to grab some waffles. On our food mission we got to see quite a bit of the city so it worked out well!

Once we had ticked that to do off our list we headed back out into the city to wander around and check out some other scenery. We wandered into a lolly shop and spent 45 minutes watching two of the staff make boiled lollies. It wasn't the most riviting thing but kind of addictive! A couple of the other girls checked out one of the churches before it was time to head back to our lovely room and enjoy our picnic of goodies bought at the markets plus a fair share of wine. Once we were all ready to go we headed out to try and find a nice bar or pub to hang out in.

On the way into the square we met some other people who were heading out and they recommended a bar so we followed them to a little square right around the corner and found it full of pubs. They were all one next to another which provided a good venue for some birthday drinks and dancing. The first place we went to was pretty quiet which suited us fine but it soon got busy so we moved on to the next place to compare. It was fun and we danced the night away until the wee hours. Luckily for us we had a nice comfy bed to go back to so even though we got back in the early hours we were pretty well rested the next day.

Sunday we spent the day recovering from a hangover and finalizing our touring of the city. It was pretty cold so much of the time was spent ducking in and out of shops and cafe's before heading back to Brussels on to get the Eurostar.

It was a perfect weekend away with my favourite girls and a great way to celebrate my birthday. I was so lucky I had the chance to jump across the ocean and explore a new country and do something I love to do on my birthday. I'm not sure what I'll be doing next year but hopefully its exploring somewhere new!

She's A Jolly Good Fellow

It wasn't even my birthday but I don't need an excuse to get involved in birthday shenanigans and this weekend just gone we had a big one celebrating my housemate Sam's 25th. The day started really well as one of the bonuses of living in the same house as the birthday girl is you are also treated to the birthday pancakes.

From there the day was really fun as we all managed to fit quite a lot in and the first thing was a surprise high tea at the Hilton. Was a great way to kick of the birthday drinks with champagne, tea, mini sandwiches and of course cakes!






Once we had our fill we headed over to the Natural History Museum where they had set up an ice rink. We met up with a few more of Sam's friends before they embarked on their hour of ice skating. Since my knee was still sore from my accident in Croatia I decided to skip the ice skating. Luckily for me so did Dan so we had a few drinks and were appointed photography duties. After everyone had finished ice skating it was our turn for a bit of fun and Dan, Sam, Lance and I all jumped on the carousel. It was so much fun to be a big kid again for a little while!






From there we headed off for a dinner at a Thai restaurant right by the river in Putney. It was the perfect setting for some good food, cheap drinks (yay for happy hours) and lots of chatting. After all the drinks we were ready to dance to we went down the road to Citizen Smith which is one of my favourite local bars. Not only do they do yummy cocktails but they play really good music so its the perfect place to carve up the dance floor.





There were so many good songs and lots of long island ice tea's (Citizen Smith specialty) it was time to call it a night. Was a great day of fun, food, drinking, celebration and shenanigans with lots of my favourite people. I hope that Sam had as much fun as I did on her birthday.

Cruising Cambridge

The last weekend in August is a bank holiday in England to give everyone one last chance to grab a day of summer (I’m not actually sure its the reason but thats exactly what everyone does). People flee the city to sunny destinations and try and wangle the last of their annual leave to fit in one more holiday. I on the other hand had to stick around London. Not that this is a bad thing because I had so much to do while I was here but I was momenatrily depressed when I realised that August is the one month this year that I didn’t get to go on holiday. By holiday I mean spend a weekend not in London. Then I realised that I was being whingy for no reason - I am lucky that so far this year I have been away about seven times.

That said I did get a chance to spend at least one day of the long weekend away from the city for a girls trip to Cambridge for Toni’s birthday. Toni and her two friends Dani and Tara and my friend from home who was visitng Barbs and myself, were all up bright and early on the Saturday morning to get a train out to Cambridge. We arrived by about 11am and soon got stuck into checking out the city. We were lucky that since it was the long weekend there were a few things going on in Cambridge one of which was local markets in one of the town squares. We wandered these and checked out the fresh food, knick knacks and clothes before continuing on through the little streets and via some of the oustide of a few colleges.






As we were perusing the markets we got touted by a student giving us a good deal on a punting trip along the river. After googling Cambridge and talking to a few friends we had realised this was a must do and when we got a good deal it was hard to say no! We set a time and continued to wander the town before grabbing some ciders and snacks and making our way down to the river. We were on a boat with about 6 other people but since there was five of us they put is in the main bit so we were facing each other. We were also treated to a very cute punter (if thats what they are called) so the girls facing the back had a good view!






We set off from the banks and started our tour and it was amazing to see how many people were along the river. Our guide had lived gave us a good commentary and we learnt lots of facts about punting, cambridge and the colleges along the way. We had a few near misses as tehre were many people punting themselves around which looked hard if you weren’t a pro! We also made a few friends along the way - sharing our grapes and carrot sticks with other people in other boats as well as our bread with the local ducks who swam along side the boat quacking for a snack. In fact I can’t belive how fast those little things can swim if it means a crumb of bread - at one stage a whole flock of them flew to us and landed right next to the boat!

Before long our 45 trip was over and we had to get out of the boat much to our dissapointment. We said goodbye to our guide and decided to head to a park along the river to finish our picnic and enjoy the sun. As we walked for about 30 mins (the very very long way) we got to see more of Cambridge but started to get a bit frustrated about the long walk. In the end we managed to find a good spot along the river where we chatted about our travel plans and other gossip in the sun. About 5 minutes later the clouds came over and we had to run for cover as it started to drizzle with rain. As we were walking back in the direction of town we realised we were only about 15 minutes away from where we were punting!

As the weather had taken a turn for the worse we decided to duck into a little cafe and have a cream tea as Cambridge is pretty small and we had done most of what we had wanted to do. We found a cute little cafe on the way back to the train station and treated ourselves to a cup of tea and cake. We then strolled back through the town to the train station and jumped back on the train into town.

Earlier in the day we had spoken about continuing Toni’s birthday out in town with a few bottles of wine at a BYO resturant. By the end of a busy day those plans turned into a lazy movie night in. Since most of my flatties were out of town the girls all came back to mine where we stocked up on wine, pizza, lollies and popcorn and watched movies in a row. Whilst it wasn’t a massive birthday night for Toni I’m pretty sure she had a fun day! I think it was a good end to a busy day!

If you get the change to visit Cambridge I would totally recommend it. Unluckily for us a few of the colleges weren’t open so we didn’t get to go in and visit so i’m thinking I may head back one day. I would love to go back and see it from a students perspective too!

Hanging Out With Lizzie

One thing I had been looking forward to all year (because we booked the tickets in February!) was the Royal Ascot Races. Not only was I looking forward to it because yet again it is a great summer event in London but because 1. My friend Sophie from Australia had arrived for her visit and we could go together and 2. It was my friend I met travelling Vanessa's (Ness) birthday. These three things coinciding meant it was bound to be an awesome day.

The races were on the Saturday and the preparation for it started on the Friday including - fake tans, last minute shopping for fascinators, bobby pins, stockings and food and booze. There was also an afternoon of watching girlie movies while we painted our nails and baked muffins. It may not have been the most exciting first day in London for Sophie but gave us a good chance to catch up.

After sleeping in my rollers to make my hair curly we were up bright and early to head over to Shea and Vanessa's flat (a.k.a K10)for a Champagne breakfast for Ness's birthday and more time for all the girls to put their finishing touches on their outfits, hair etc. A friend of mine Laura is a Mac make up artist so she came round a few of the girls got their make up done. I arrived feeling pretty average as I was wearing track pants and curlers in my hair but when the door was opened by Jen in her shorts and t-shirt and the lounge roomed filled with girls with their hair in rags I felt much much better.

We drank champagne and Malibu punch while we all put our finishing touches on. The rest of the Topdeck crew joined us a bit later in the day and we all tucked into a champagne breakfast with savoury muffins, pancakes and fruit before packing our picnics and heading off to the train. The queues for tickets were horrendous and the train was packed but we got there in the end. Right into the middle of a torrential rainfall.






As we got off the train we had to high-tail undercover because it was bucketing down - good ol' English weather. We waited for about 10 minutes before deciding we were going to power on - put up our brollies and make our way into the racecourse. Luckily for us the sun came out just as we were walking into the venue.

The best thing about English events is they usually let you take in some food and alcohol. With Ascot the rule was that you could take 4 cans of cider or 1 bottle of wine each as long as you had a substantial picnic. Which means all of your food and drinks for the day are taken care of! Once we got in we found a spot on the hill and sat down for our picnic. As most of us didn't have picnic rugs we ended up sitting on plastic garbage bags - still that is all you need to keep your bum dry! We soon got down to what we do best - eat, drink and chat!







The crowd behind us started making a lot of noise and we were wondering why and as we got up someone told us it was the Queen! So we ran up the hill and stood on our tippy toes and saw the Queen in her Carriage as she rode past and did her special little wave. It is the first time I had seen Royalty up close so I was super excited!

The rest of the day was spent hanging out on the hill and just drinking and hanging out. I put a bet on the Australian horse that was running but didn't have much luck. My friend Emily put a £4 bet on a random horse with the number 13 and ended up winning £90! Lucky girl! Half way through the day the rain bucketed down and we had to run for cover under our umbrellas or down near the bar. I created a make-shift poncho out of one of the rubbish bags.





We survived the second downpour relatively unscarred (hair and make up wise of course) so we continued on drinking! There was a band playing in an undercover marquee so after we headed down there for a bit of a dance before heading back to the train at the end of the day.





Very fun day out and a great first event to take Sophie to. It was also a fun way to celebrate Vanessa's birthday as she was away from the Topdeck crew last year so we had to have a big one to make her feel special!