Happy Monday!
And I’d say “happy first day of Summer” but LOL WHO ARE WE KIDDING.
It’s cold, it’s wet, it’s grey and I made the mistake of wearing ballet flats to work this morning.
BUT.
One of my lovely clients just stopped by to hand me a surprise coffee cos apparently I looked cold (I was). I have dates in the diary to catch up with a few of my favourite people this week over yummy food and drinks. And (best of all) Gary is working in London for the next couple of weeks so we’re actually living together for the first time since he moved in 7 months ago. Yay!
I also got back to London last night after a lovely little 24h break in Brighton with Claire and Ibis.
On Saturday we watched Dirty Dancing from a giant double bed on the beach, ate delicious pesto and goat’s cheese pizza, sang along to all our favourite songs and went paddling in the sea at midnight with Katie and Greg.
On Sunday I nursed my wine-and-then-beer-and-then-gin hangover with a ginormous (and fab) breakfast at our wonderful Ibis hotel, before trundling down to meet the lovely Aisling for a wander along the sunny Brighton sea front and a giant slab of Victoria sponge cake.
We also stopped to take photos at the beach huts. Because of course we did.
All in all? It’s been a pretty good week for me.
There’s been so much awful, ugly stuff going on in the world, that it almost feels a bit weird to say that. But you know what? I think it’s at times like these – when there’s so much hate and sadness filling the media and crowding our lives – I think those are the times when we really do have to focus on the little things that make life worth living.
So here are 10 little things that have made me smile this week.
1. The smell of the sea. I grew up surrounded by beaches, so it’s probably not that surprising, but there’s something about the salty sea air that I just find so healing and relaxing.
2. Dogs in Brighton. THERE ARE DOGS EVERYWHERE. Dogs rolling around in the grass. Dogs chasing balls on the beach in the dead of night. Dogs being carried in backpacks. Dogs running, jumping, smiling and tail wagging. Dogs.
3. Midnight bolognaise. I got back from an evening with my friends on Thursday to find Gary drunk-cooking a bolognaise sauce. At 11:30pm at night. A full-on home-made, cooked from scratch bolognaise. A) it was hilarious and B) it was delicious.
4. Phantom of the Opera. One of my childhood best friends came over to London for the first time since I’ve lived here so we splashed out and went to watch Phantom and argh it was so good. I had actual goosebumps.
5. New jeans. A few months ago I ripped the seams on my skinny Gap jeans (#foodbloggerproblems). Since then I’ve been on the hunt for some new ones but just couldn’t find any I liked… And then this week I found two pairs. I bought one pair of high-waisted mom jeans with cat faces embroidered on the knees (I love them so freaking much) and one pair of accidental-boyfriend jeans. Accidental because Gap had a 60% sale on and I found a pair of my usual skinnies in a fab “Authentic” distressed grey-blue denim – but couldn’t remember my size. So I had to guess. And I went a size too big. But they actually fit PERFECTLY as low-slung, boyfriend-style jeans! I wore them all weekend in Brighton and they’re super comfy and I love them. SARTORIAL HAPPINESS.
6. Thai food. I’m currently obsessed. I tried Busaba Eathai for the first time last week and now I basically just want to eat Thai calamari and pad thai for the rest of my life.
7. Surprises! Gary surprised me by arriving home 3 days earlier than planned, which was SO LOVELY. Unfortunately he also arrived back to find me a bit drunk cos I’d been vlogging and drinking wine. And then I made him watch The Twilight Saga on E4 with me. So I’m not sure he was as happy about this situation as I was.
8. When good things happen to good people. Several of my friend have had some epic good news this week and I’ve been jiggling up and down in my chair because I’m SO HAPPY FOR THEM! I love it when lovely things happen to people who deserve it.
9. Flat Iron. Met up with Jaye and Tasha for dinner last week. I WILL NEVER TIRE OF THIS RESTAURANT. Their bearnaise sauce is what my food porn dreams are made of.
10. Claire. I have actual video evidence of how much this lady made me laugh over the weekend. And yes we wore wearing matching tops. And no we didn’t plan it. And yes we totally rocked it.
This coming week is looking pretty awesome as well.
Hanging with some of my fave ladies, some excellent food on the horizon, voting on Thursday, not sleeping most of Thursday night cos OH GOD ARE WE GOING TO LEAVE THE EU.
(If anyone cares: I’ve done a butt-ton of reading and research on both options and I’m firmly #VoteRemain)
And (most exciting of all the things) on Saturday I’m off to watch Cursed Child! So that will be a nice little escape from whatever happens on Friday. Which I’ve got a nasty feeling is going to be awful whichever way the vote goes…
ANYWAY.
I hope you all have a fantastic week and please please please make sure you vote. And please please do some reading and don’t just vote without looking at any facts or figures.
But mainly: VOTE.
Peace out.
