Emma in London

UFC 95

2009-03-13T02:36:00.000-07:00

I headed to the UFC 95 very recently which was held at the O2 arena in Greenwich.

The UFC stands for Ultimate Fighting Championships of which I've actually been a fan for many years. Compared to the last UFC I attended in 2008 this time it was much better. The fights lasted longer and the main fight which was Sanchez vs Stevenson was excellent and last the full three rounds of which is went to the judges decision. Sanchez won the fight.

Birthday Celebrations in FEB

2009-03-12T11:54:00.000-07:00

In Feb I celebrated my 21st Birthday yet again :)
Had a wonderful evening out with friends at our local night club and it was a fantastic eve. Got to catch up with many friends I've not seen in a very long time and it was so much fun. A great night was had by all. Here's a few pics of the eve.

A great Sat Eve out !

2009-01-18T09:14:00.000-08:00

Last night Mandy and I went out for the eve. We left home and headed to a local club trying to make it in time for Happy Hour. Gosh we got there and the Happy Hour Bar was absolutely jam packed, we waited in the que for half an hour until we were served. By that point we had of course missed Happy Hour and the bar staff kept serving everyone around us, so it wasn't a great start the eve but it picked up after eventually getting a few drinks. The crowd was very friendly and we met some lovely people. The venue is owned by a South African owner so the crowd was largely South African which was great , so I heard many South African accents and got chatting to a lot of people. Ended up talking so much and uuummm yes had a couple tecquila's which wasn't a great idea. Of course it was a great idea at the time but today I'm really suffering for it :) All in all I had a lovely night out with Mandy and I'm sure I'll head back there again sometime soon.

A Night out in Clapham

2009-01-16T08:41:00.000-08:00

Last night a few work Colleagues and friends all headed out in Clapham.
I've discovered a bar that charges £5 Entrance and then drinks are free during 9-11pm, so we thought no this sounds too good to be true.....The alcoholics that we are of course !
So we decided to head on down there and check it out. We were not disappointed woo hoo ! The offer was totally legitimate and ALL drinks were free during that time. So we of course over indulged and even got up on the dance floor to show off our pretty scary moves such Emma's famous running man :) John does a fantastic Carlton impersonation from Fresh Prince of Belair and we laughed so much. Jonathan was doing some pretty scary break dance moves and had us all in fits of laughter. This venue has loads of specials on all the time and I'm a new fan we all are. It's close to my office and home so it's faifly dangerous ......I'm sure we'll all be visitng this venue on a regular basis from now on.
Even looking at going this weekend with the girls, so I'm sure there'll be some more funny pics next week for you to have a giggle at. Enjoy :)

Coldplay Was Amazing !

2009-01-16T08:21:00.000-08:00

In December 2008 I was fortunate to be invited to watch ColdPlay perform at the O2 Arena in Greenwich London. My friend Roger had some VIP tickets going as some of his clients couldn't make the show, so we snapped them up very gratefully and went to watch it with him. Chris Martin was fantastic as expected ! We had wonderful seats and were really close to the stage. I really enjoyed it when he sang Yellow and these really large Yellow balloons were released into the crowds from the ceiling. They also released small muti coloured paper butterflies which we enjoyed having fall onto our heads.

Attached a couple pics of us from the eve. I didn't get many pics of the stage as it was too dark and I had a really bad camera with me. But I do have a couple film clips to upload which will be up soon so watch this space.

Work Christmas Party

2008-12-04T09:27:00.001-08:00

On Fri the 5th Dec I attended my work Christmas Party. It was held at the Royal Hosptial Gardens in Chelsea where we had a Marquee. The theme was Moulin Rouge and we had a wonderful eve, with a live Band and delicious meal. Attached a few pics of the evenings festivities.

Kings of Leon Concert ....... woo hooo !

2008-12-04T09:20:00.000-08:00

I'm so excited I've been struggling to get tickets to go to The Kings of Leon concert next Thurs 11th Dec. The show was sold out ages ago and I've been hunting the web for tickets, but people have been selling them privately at 3x the cost of the original ticket, just way too expensive ! So have been keeping my eye's peeled on certain sites hoping someone will try sell some last min sue to a change of plans......Anyway I went onto a Site Called Gum Tree today which is great for all sorts of things expecially tickets to show's. Someone placed a post on there saying Quick Quick go to the Kings of Leon's Website they have just released some extra tickets ! I jumped onto the site quickly and very pleased that I managed to buy two tickets really cheap. So yay I'm really excited that I'll be able to see them live ! It'll be a great night out.

Brrrrrr.......it's Cold.......

2008-12-04T09:18:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

Just wanted to say these last few day's in London have been FREEZING !
Every morning on my way to work I've had to scrape the Ice off my Windsheild and on my way back home as I get to my car have to do the same. Bbbbrrrrrrr Winter is definitely here !

Happy Birthday Johno

2008-11-21T03:01:00.000-08:00

This Saturday I'll be joining my friends Kerryn and Johno for a Birthday BBQ !
Yes even though we're due to have snow this weekend and it's going to be around 3 degrees us crazy South Africans.....(well Johno is an Aussie we'll forgive him) will actually be having a BBQ to celebrate Johno's Birthday.
A number of us will be heading down to their house in my Old Neck of the Woods Forest Hill to enjoy some great food and great company. I'll also be taking down my Poker set for some serious gambling.....ha ha.
Anyway will update my blog on Monday with some pics and all the news of the day. See you soon and have a great weekend. x

RIP Reece I will miss you

2008-11-21T02:19:00.000-08:00

On Sunday the 16th Novemember my beautiful Reece passed away from old age. I bought him as this gorgis 6 week old puppy 13 years ago. He was the most adorable dog and my most faithful friend. Even as a young pup I rememeber how I took him to the beach for the first time and if anyone approached me he'd stand on guard and bark at them to protect me, he always made sure he was by my side. As he grew older the trips to the beach became so enjoyable and entertaining. Reece was a total water baby, and I could never keep him out of the swimming pool at home ..... so when we went to the beach I always had to laugh as he'd run straight down the ocean bark at the waves for a minute before running full speed into the waves. As the ocean was usually quite rough he'd get dumped by the waves, and then get washed back into shore....He absolutely loved it, I don't know how many times I was worried he'd get washed out and drown, but nope Reece always came swimming back and would get washed up and would just get straight back up, shake off his shiny coat from all the salt water and sand and was ready to go for it again with his tail wagging furiously ! He was such a gentle soul and had the most gentle nature. He would obediently always be at my feet and if I was seated his paw would be placed gently on my lap so he could get some love and affection, but if he had the chance he was so sweet , even in his massive size given the chance if you were seated he'd want to give you a hug. He'd slowly try kreep up on your chest and want to place his head on your chest and rest with you like he did when he was a pup....This obviously got harder as he grew into a full size Lab but that didn't stop him trying to snuggle up to you if he could. He was always just a few feet away and if I ever got up to go anyweher he always followed me and kept near, he was such a beautiful companion and will be very sorely missed. My Family loved him so much and we will all miss him dearly. May he rest in peace. xxx

October Update

2008-11-18T09:38:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,
I am the worlds worst person at keeping my Blog up to date, and again have to apologies. From today going forward I will make more of an effort in keeping my Blog up to date.Work has been crazy and life so busy.A lot has happened in the last few months.My lovely friends, Sisters Kerryn and Tarryn came back to London after living in Brisbane, Australia for the last three years. It's wonderful to have them back in London again. Kerryn returned with her Australian Boyfriend Johno and don't live very far away from me which is fantastic. It's even better that Johno is an amazing chef in the kitchen and has cooked up many storms which we've thoroughly enjoyed ! Attached is a Picture of myself and Kerryn taken recently at a lovely little pub on the River in Greenwich. We all met one Saturday afternoon for some lunch and a catch up.

During October sadly my lovely friend Leanne Moore left England to live back in Sunny South Africa. Prior to Leanne leaving we had a lovely evening out and a farewell party for her. Us Girls had a day of pampering, by getting our hair done by The Amazing Kingsley, and our nails done by my friend Jamie. Then later in the eve, we all met out at a great bar and restaurant called Las Iguanas for cocktails and snacks. Whilst there we presented Leanne with a beautiful Necklace which we bought her from Tiffany's. She was very touched by our gift, it was called the eternal circle and felt it was a perfect gift for her to represent our circle of friends and how much we love her. A few tears were shed but that didn't stop us from then heading out the door and going to a Night Club called SE1 in London. We partied the night away and had a fantastic time. Soon after Leanne headed to Italy on holiday and on her return we had a lovely dinner together the day before she flewout. She's now back in SA and miss her loads. Our group of friends wont quite be the same without her. Attached are a few photo's of her Farewell party at Las Iguanas.

At the end of October my lovely friends Justin and Kelly and their two children Ty and Eiyla, also left London to live abroad. They initially headed to South Africa for four Months but will finally settle in New Zealand which is where Kelly is originally from. Prior to leaving the UK they had a small Farewell get together at their home in Gallions Reach East London. Many friends arrived, and I got to see some old faces that I've not seen in a very long time. It was wonderful to catch up with old friends but also a sad day to say good bye to Justin, Kelly and the children. Attached are a few pics of us at their home. Mark and Hayley were there too and I got some great photo's of us all together.

October workwise was an incredibly difficult month for me. Due to some serious fraudulent transactions that took place at my Company I was required to urgently work on some database area's. This was needed to assist the company in better monitoring unusual activity in order to recognise fraudulent activity faster, when these transations occur. This involved a lot of work for me and a lot of long hours. It was great work , but extremely mentally draining and was hard I must admit. Thankfully all that work is out the way now as of last week phew....I'm now working on other projects. As a result of this hard work I haven't been able to keep by blog up todate but hope that I can keep on top of it now so once again want to say a BIG SORRY :)

The V Festival

2008-09-17T09:10:00.000-07:00

In August I attended the V Festival held at Chelmsford in Essex.

http://www.vfestival.com/

This is an Annual Music Festival that's held in a couple locations in the UK and the best of the best bands come and perform, so you're able to go for a day or stay for the entire weekend and watch a lot of artists perform, and of course have a great party at the same time.

I went with my friends Justin, Carly, Kris and Stacey. We drove up in two vans on the Saturday morning and headed out to Chelmsford fairly early. There was a fair bit of traffic on the way there, but wasn't too bad fortunately. On our way we popped into Asda and got our groceries for our little camping adventure and off we went to the Festival. We stated in the Yellow Camper Camping Site I think it was or maybe it was Red not sure anymore he he..... We had a great spot and a lot of space around us.

We set up camp and once all ready we headed off to the stages and main festival area.

This was a bit further away from the campsites but the weather was wonderful so enjoyed the walk there. There were a number of different stages to chose from so we purchased an Events Itenarary and then selected which stage we wanted to go to and which artist we wanted to see.

There was so much choice that one really was stuck having to choose.

I ended up seeing some fantastic bands and artists such as Lenny Kravitz, Sterophonics, The Verve, Muse, Kings of Leon, The Chemical Brothers, The Script, Amy Winehouse and many more.

We had a fantastic time there. I must admit it's probably the best weekend I've had this year so far. I was with wonderful people and we had such a good laugh together, I enjoyed every minute of it.

Of course the whole Porta loo experience is never one to write home about , but all in all I LOVE IT !

We left late on the Sunday evening and headed back home.

I definitely intend on going back again in 2009, it's now become one of those events that I wont miss if I'm in the UK that's for sure !

Would love to go again with a big group of friends and camp it will be a blast !

Here's a few pics of the fanstastic time we had.

The O2 Wireless Festival Sunday 6th July

2008-07-07T08:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Sunday the 6th July I went to the O2 Wireless Festival in Hyde Park. The festival has been running all week and I joined my friend Claire to enjoy some of the artists playing.
The weather however was much to be desired. It was so windy and kept raining on and off.
We arrived there at about 2.30pm, Claire and I headed to a lovely beer garden at first, ordered some food a lovely big jug of Moscow Mule.
We sipped on our lovely cocktails whilst the sun popped out a couple times and enjoyed chatting and catching up, although we were blown away on a few occasions.There was loads of entertainment and activities on yesterday , a number of different marquee’s , bars , food stands and various companies selling goods. There was even a tent doing Rock-a-okee which was very funny, you could go and sing a karaoke song but with a live rock band playing behind you ! It was very funny to watch and amazing at how well a lot of people sang.
Claire and I headed to the main stage arena and then watched The Goo Goo dolls, after that the Australian band Powder Finger came on, We also nipped away to a Marquee for cover from the rain and watched a Band called The Delays but I had never heard of them before, they weren’t too bad. Later on we were then joined by Joris and his two friends (oops can’t recall their names I have a memory like a fish when it comes to names !) The five of us then enjoyed more drinks and watched Ben Harper play on the main stage. At this point I think we were rained on a few times and I had to get out my sexy blue poncho !
During Ben’s performance I had a call and turned out that a friend of mine Justin and some of his friends were also at The Festival, and were really close by to where we were standing.So Justin and Djuri came over to say hi. As the evening progressed Claire, Joris and I headed over to Justin and his friends and we hung out together to watch The Counting Crows play.We were standing next to a cordoned off area where staff were working , doing lighting and sound etc….however there were some private porta loo’s for the staff. This area was being covered by three security staff. At a certain point in the evening I was busting for the loo as you do when you’re drinking all day and the thought of walking really far to go to the loo’s on the other side of the park becomes a very painful mission….
So it was really quite funny, Djuri and I were standing together and he was watching security and there was a brief moment where they all had their backs to us, so I jumped over the fence and used the private loo’s !
I was thinking ok when I come out they’re going to catch me….but I snuck out jumped back over the fence again and none of the security saw me ! Bonus :) I was so lucky and all my friends were laughing waiting for me to be taken away by security on my way out. Naughty Naughty :)
Anyway so I started something and a couple guys not from our group tried their luck and they all got caught and were whisked away by security !he he…. So I was rather lucky, soon after they placed a security Guard at the Loo's to stop us naughty folk from using them.

All is all the show was really great and I had a good laugh with my friends for the day.
Got in at a reasonable time last night and did have a mini hangover this morning but it wasn’t too bad. It was a fun day out.

Jack Johnson Concert - Hyde Park

2008-07-03T09:30:00.000-07:00

On Wed the 3rd July I took a half day off work so that I could meet up with my lovely friends and go watch Jack Johnson in concert. I headed to Hyde park and got there about 1.30pm, the gates opened at 2pm and the show started at 4pm. I met my friends Claire, Michael, Guilia, Chris and Leanne. As we got there early we were right at the front of the que, so after getting through security we made our way to the front of the stage and found ourselves a great spot where we had to basically sit and wait in great anticipation for the show to start. On the way in I bought a couple Poncho's because the weather wasn't looking great and it turned out to be a good buy ! After about an hour the rain came down luckily it wasn't too heavy and lasted a short period of time, we also had
Claire's big green umbrella which we hid under. The skies were the typical lovely grey however by about 7pm the skies cleared and we were so pleased that the Sun came out for us. At 4pm the show started and we were entertained by Mason Jennings who I personally didn't like too much, Then G
Love and Special Sauce came on and they were really great ! They have a very Southern Funky Jazz sound but very upbeat, I had never heard of them before but loved them and definitely going to look up their music. We then listened to Ben Harper who too plays a Guitar like Jack Johnson and has a very distinctive voice. He was very good I liked him too. Then the main act came on around 8pm , Jack was dressed in a casual T-shirt and jeans and of course looked goooood ! The man is very easy on the eyes I must admit...ha ha :) Anyway Jack Johnson played many fantastic songs from his various albums and played till about 10pm. He was joined by the various different acts that had played before him and was also joined by Jimmy Buffet to play a song which I thought was great. Jimmy Buffet I know from when I lived in the Caribbean and he is very well known in the US for songs about Pirates, Island life etc.... He's very well known for a song called Margarita-Vile so it was quite a nice treat. Hyde park was completely jam packed and being at the front of the stage had it’s uncomfortable moments and entertaining moments….. Heading to the wonderful porter loo’s and back was a mini adventure. Luckily we had this extremely tall man next to us wearing a hat and he became our Land Mark so to speak, he towered over everyone so it was great that we had him next to us otherwise we’d have really struggled to find our friends each time we had to leave. The show all in all was fantastic we danced , laughed and really enjoyed ourselves. Chris took loads of wonderful photo's on his camera which I'm dying to see and will hopefully have them tomorrow so I can upload them for you. In the meantime I've attached a couple shots taken with my mobile phone.

House on Fire....

2008-07-03T08:54:00.000-07:00

On Tues eve (01/07/08) I was at home getting ready for bed it was about 10pm and I heard a bit of commotion coming from outside.....I just assumed it was possible road rage as unfortunately I live on the A205 South Circular and it's a very busy road 24 hours a day. I do have double glazing and you don't hear the traffic much but I could hear people shouting and then some car hooters going. I walked into my living room and could see this orange light coming through the frosted windows, I jumped up to see out the window and was totally shocked to see huge flames across the road.
I dashed outside in a hurry and luckily could hear sirens approaching ! The house across the road was up in flames, and I was just so worried if there was anybody inside. The Fire truck arrived so quickly and started hosing down the home which was engulfed in flames.
Amazingly the fire was put out very quickly and the Fireman and got a ladder to enter the building through the upstairs window. Soon afterwards a Fireman came out holding a Black Cat which they handed to this lady outside and another Fireman came out with a little staffiture bull terrier who was so pleased to see the Gentleman outside in the road, So thankfully it seemed that the owners managed to get out the house without harm. I took a few photo's but they weren't very clear and will upload them when I can. But was just grateful it was a happy ending to an incident that could have been tragic. The emergency services were there within minutes and I was very impressed at how fantastic they were. So here's to the wonderful Fireman we have working in London !!

Emelie's Birthday Sat 28th June 2008

2008-06-27T05:41:00.001-07:00

On Saturday 28th June I went into Piccadilly to join Emelie for her Birthday Celebration drinks.
I headed over to Tiger Tiger where I met Emelie & a number of her friends. I arrived around 8.30pm and it was surprisingly busy, I had never been to the Bar section of Tiger Tiger only the restaurant section and was surprised at how many people were already there to enjoy the evening and party away.
I arrived and met many of Emelie’s friends and had a great time. We moved from our area at the Blue Bar to a private area downstairs which played many old songs and a lot of old disco.
So after a few drinks which included a number of shots…..we were up dancing and having a great time.
You’ll see a few very funny pics of us doing “YMCA” which the DJ played and we had a good giggle….
Later on in the eve we headed back upstairs to the main dance floor where we stayed dancing until early hours of the morning.
It was a fantastic evening and I had a wonderful time with Em and her friends.

Monica's Funeral 26/06/08

2008-06-27T05:34:00.000-07:00

On Thursday 27th June 2008, my Mum and I travelled to Merton where we attended my Great Aunt Monica Moore's Funeral.
Monica Moore sadly passed away on Wednesday 18th June she was aged 74 years Old. Monica was a wonderful woman and very much loved by all. The Funeral was a lovely service and many beautiful wonderful words were shared about Monica and her life.
Unfortunately Monica was ill for the last few years but is at peace now, she leave’s behind a devoted and loving Husband, Two Sons , Two Daughter in Law’s, four wonderful Grandchildren and many other beautiful family members.
Having grown up in South Africa there’s a lot of my family here in the UK that I’ve not had the pleasure of getting to know very well or even meet, so although it was a terribly sad and emotional day for all, something wonderful came out of it as I got to meet many family members I’ve not had the opportunity to meet and some I’ve not seen in many years.I've attached a few photo's taken on the day.

Leanne Moore's 27th Birthday

2008-06-23T09:45:00.000-07:00

On Thursday the 19th June it was the Lovely Leanne's 27th Birthday !

We all headed down to a beautiful restuarant called Dim-T. It has beautiful views as you can see and is closest to London Bridge although you have wonderful views of Tower Bridge.

There was about 15 of us and we all enjoyed a wonderful meal together for Leanne's Birthday.

Fri the 20th a few of us got together and went to The Langley in Covent Garden and had some celebratory Birthday drinks ! We enjoyed some lovely champayne in our own private booth and then later Leanne moved on to The Verve Bar and partied the night away. It was a great evening and I was really pleased to spend Thurs and Fri with Leanne celebrating her special day.

Denae's Back in Town !

2008-06-23T09:36:00.000-07:00

On Tues 17th June, I got to see my lovely friend Denae. She came over from Oregan for a quick visit to London and it was wonderful to see her on Tuesday.

Denae had her Valediction ceremony at The University of Westminster that evening and then hosted a cocktail part at The Club Bar and Dining near Oxford Circus in the city. Myself and Claire headed down to see the lovely Denae and catch up.

It was a wonderful evening of which involved many delicious cocktails and a few bottles of wine. Needless to say Claire and I were feeling a little worse for wear the following day but we had a wonderful evening and it was definitely worth it !

Seeing Denae was great, Claire and I highjacked her camera and had a bit of a laugh....think Denae may have found some odd photo's on her camera the following morning :)

UFC at The O2 Arena London

2008-06-23T09:13:00.000-07:00

On the 7th June I went to the O2 Arena here in London and watched UFC 85 !
Yes I'm sure many of you are asking what on Earth is UFC right ?
Well it stands for The Ultimate Fighting Championships. Yes that's correct you didn't read incorrectly.
I have actually been a fan for many years and wanted to go and watch this event live. I understand this may seem a bit odd as not many woman like watching fighting or Boxing for example but I've always enjoyed watching the sport.
It was a great experience the venue was full and there was a great atmosphere, we even did the Mexican wave it was quite funny....
I was however very upset that the venue confiscated my digital camera. They argued that as it's not a standard 35mm camera it was considered professional equipement and held it for me in a locker. I was very upset about that !
I did manage to purchase a T-shirt but not exactly the sort of T-shirt I'll be wearing out, probably just to sweat in at the gym...but a nice little token to remember the evening.
The actual event was a little disappointing I have to admit unfortunately. There was quite a lot of fights and a fairly good line up, but the fights were all pretty uneventful.
The UFC is usually 3 x 3 minute rounds and the fighters can use various styles of fighting and the idea is to get the opponent to tap out, knock them out or it goes to the judges who score the fight on points.
Most of the fights on the evening went to the Judges for a decision.
All in all though it was a wonderful experience and it's great that I can say that I've been to The UFC.

Good Food, Great Friends

2008-05-31T14:42:00.000-07:00

Last night I joined my great friends Claire and Leanne in Angel for Dinner and Drinks. We were joined by Chris, Leannes Partner who is Claire's Brother and Michael a freind of Claires.

We headed to a great little Pizza place in Angel where we had pizza which was brought to us on a metre long wooden board, where we all tucked into the Pizza together and enjoyed. We had a great bottle of wine and thouroughly enjoyed the good food and great company.

After our meal we ventured down the road to a great cocktail bar for some wonderful cocktails, and had a lovely evening just chatting and catching up.
I've atached a few pics for you to enjoy.

The Miracle of Lost and Found

2008-05-25T10:28:00.000-07:00

Just recieved a call from my Cousin Chris Moore to let me know about a truly inspirational story which has made it to the news on ABC4.com.

When he was 11 years old he was snorkelling off the coast of Cyprys where my Uncle was based in the British Air Force. Chris decided to go treasure hunting in search for lost coins. Whilst going through the sand he came across a lump and quickly realised he'd found some treasure. Chris discovered this amazing ring pictured left , which he's kept for the last 30 odd years. Since moving to Salt Lake City 3 years ago and through the use of the Internet has managed to return the ring to it's rightful owner after all this time !

This is a really wonderful Story, read and hear the story in full on ABC4.com by selecting the link below.....

http://www.abc4.com/mostpopular/story.aspx?content_id=d897a27f-9929-4902-bf4e-5450920c13d9

Emma & Paul's Wedding in Barbados

2008-05-22T02:58:00.000-07:00

My Brother Mark and his Grogeous wife Hayley, have just returned back from Barbados yesterday where they attended the Wedding of Hayley's Sister Emma to Paul at Almond Beach Bardados.
Unfortunately I was unable to attend but my heart , thoughts and wishes were with them on their special day.

Mark tells me the Wedding was fantastic and they all had an amazing time away. Here's a few photo's of the Stunning Bride and her new Husband.

Minster - On - Sea

2008-05-12T04:16:00.000-07:00

This Saturday May the 10th I drove down to Minster-on-Sea where my Brother Mark and his gorgeous Wife Hayley reside.
Mark and Hayley headed off early on Saturday departing from Gatwick to the Sunny warm beaches of Barbados !! I’m very jealous !!
Hayley’s Sister Emma is getting Married this week and having a beach ceremony which I’m sure will be truly magnificent.
Hayley will be her Bridesmaid and can’t wait to see there photo’s on their return not to mention the golden sun tans they’ll be showing off.

I headed over to their house to meet up with my Mum and spend the rest of the weekend with her.
After being stuck in the typically English traffic for two hours I managed to get to Minster where the weather was stunning.
We had a glorious weekend of sunshine so I managed to get into my swim suit and try soak up a few ray’s of sunshine on my incredibly pale skin !
I’m currently looking a lovely shade of pale blue after Winter, I think I’m actually transparent it’s that bad….
Mum and I also headed over and did some grocery shopping and made a BBQ ( Braai for my fellow South Africans ).
Mark and Hayley have a great garden area that gets sun all day long which is quite rare in this country.
Mark has recently had decking laid in the back yard along with a large table and bench that was made so it was really enjoyable to be outside and soak up the great weather.

On Sunday Mum and I decided to head to the beach for a stroll. We ended up getting a little lost but after a little while we managed to find the beach which turned out to be a five minutes down the road.
We had a good laugh because it took us about an hour to locate the beach….hhhhmmmmm ok say no more.
It’s not a sandy beach quite like the one’s we get back in SA, and took a few pics whilst there.

We were very amused in our desperate attempt at finding a loo…..to come across “The Hoff”.
Minster’s very own home grown Babe Watch, Mr David Hasselhoff.
Kitted out in his Red shirt , tight white shorts and a healthy cigarette hanging out the side of his mouth, The Hoff gave us directions to the local public bathrooms.
He’s only about 107 years old, had his hair all greased back, hoisted up the flag to let everyone know that the Lifeguard was officially on duty !
Heaven knows what will happen if you do come into trouble and you need to be rescued, you may be waiting an hour or two by the time he reaches you…..but hey there is help on hand should you need to be pointed to the public bathrooms..
I couldn’t resist and took a few photos of The Hoff as he was such a babe.

Later on in the afternoon we headed to The Aviator pub and grabbed a late afternoon lunch before hitting the road back home to London.
Mum will be staying with me for the rest of the week which is great, it’ll be nice to be able to spend some quality time with her.

The Amazing Windsor Castle

2008-05-12T02:52:00.000-07:00

On Sunday the 4th May I headed out to Windsor Castle for the day. I had never been there before and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. The Castle itself was fantastic and walked around the beautifully groomed gardens and entered the State Apartments.

As I arrived there was a Royal Orchestra playing and many people sat on the grass and listened to the beautiful symphonies that they played.

Windsor Castle, the largest and oldest occupied castle in the world, is one of the official residences of Her Majesty The Queen. The Castle's dramatic site encapsulates 900 years of British history. It covers an area of 26 acres and contains, as well as a royal palace, a magnificent chapel and the homes and workplaces of a large number of people.

What there is to see;

The magnificent State Apartments are furnished with some of the finest works of art from the Royal Collection, including paintings by Rembrandt, Rubens, Canaletto, Gainsborough and the famous triple portrait of Charles I by Sir Anthony van Dyck.

Among the highlights of a visit to Windsor is Queen Mary's Dolls' House, the most famous dolls' house in the world.

The day was very enjoyable and would most definitely go back again.

Singing Stars

2008-05-08T01:27:00.000-07:00

Last weekend myself and my lovely Girlfriends attended Lucky Voice Karaoke bar and had an absolute blast !

http://www.luckyvoice.co.uk/venues/soho

We a mini feast at my place before we left and headed out to Oxford St around 5pm on Saturday eve. Myself Mandy and Leanne headed into the City to meet Claire and Emelie.

We arrived at the Lucky Voice Karaoke bar where we were shown to our own private booth. The booth was very funky with red leather sofa's and a large screen for the karaoke lyrics and tunes :)
We had a great private waiter service and all these gadgets to play with where we could adjust the various sound options and a touch screen tv to go through the song selections on their system. We had two microphones which could use and we once grabbed a hold of them all sorts of funny sounds and noises came blaring out the large speakers.....

Just as well all the booths were sound proofed :)

We had a fantastic time and sang all sorts of songs from the 80's such as Footlose and Mandy did a great version of Dolly Parton (who she's going to see in concert very soon in London).
Mandy actually knew all the words to 9 to 5 and we all had a great chuckle over that !
Overall the alcohol flowed for the Dutch Courage was needed but we had a wonderful eve.

This Bank Holiday Weekend

2008-05-02T04:19:00.000-07:00

This weekend is going to be rather funny and eventful !
My wonderful Girlfriends will be heading to my place tomorrow and we'll hopefully get to use the new chair and table set along with the new shiny BBQ......weather permitting :)
We'll then be heading off to an evening of Karaoke ! We'll have our own private booth and I must admit I'm rather scared !
I think we'll all be needing some Dutch Courage hence the little get together at my place before we head off ......ha ha
Oh dear I think there will be some scary footage and some sore ears tomorrow !
Come back soon for an update on the weekend's activities....

Fingers crossed for some sunshine :)

My Garden Adventure

2008-05-02T03:15:00.000-07:00

Last weekend (April 26th) the weather was wonderful ! So in my excitement decided to get into my little backyard and complete some much needed TLC...

On the Friday evening, I headed to homebase after work which thankfully is almost next door and ended up spending a mini fortune !
In all the excitement of the warm weather forecast for the following day I wanted to spend some time outdoors in my little yard.
I ended up buying some beautiful flowers, a new gas BBQ and a table and chairs set with new cushions to go with.

So first thing Sat morning I jumped out of bed and starting sanding down my little two seater wood bench that I have outside. After spending a while sanding it down, I then gave it a new coat of paint and it looked brand new ! I was rather pleased at myself it was quite funny.

I then got my lovely Nikki outdoors to enjoy the sunshine with me.
Nikki is my beautiful Scarlet Macaw. I've had her roughly ten no actually 11 years now.....wow where does time fly ?
I love her to bits ! I got the hose pipe out and with a fine spray gave her a bath ! She gets so excited at bath time it's the funniest sight.
She sometimes gets so excited that she literally falls off her perch and then she can't quite figure out what happened.....

I then used some special decking cleaner and scrubbed my decking down. It's become a little mouldy from all the wet winter weather so needed to be cleaned. I now just need to repaint it, another task on my list of things to do.

As the day progressed I then planted some pretty flowers into my two hanging baskets that I have outside and planted some more into a little garden bed that I have in the corner of the outside area.

I have taken some photo's and I'll have to update them onto this post over this weekend. I spent the entire day outdoors and never even got to take the new BBQ out the box or the table set !

Around 5pm I then dashed off to meet my friends in Fulham to watch the AFL (Australian Football League)
Us gals pretended to watch, can't say I know anything about the rules of the game.
We had a really good evening and ended up going to our friend Roger's house afterwards for the rest of the evening.
Overall it was a great day. :)

Our last night out with Denae

2008-05-02T02:29:00.000-07:00

Just prior to our Gorgeous Denae leaving London, myself, Claire, Leanne and Denae went out on the Town.

We started off the evening at a wonderful Sushi bar which Leanne suggested only to our amusment discovered Leanne doesn't eat fish ! We had a giggle over that I must admit, however Leanne was adamant she loved vegetarian sushi :)

After our great meal we took a stroll to a fantastic cocktail bar down the road and indulged in various drinks off their large cocktail menu. The drinks were delicious and we enjoyed spending time with Denae and we miss her heaps !

Spring Snow

2008-05-02T02:03:00.000-07:00

Amazingly at the beginning of April we had some beautiful spring snow.....

Strangely enough this time last year England experienced a mini heat wave and this year we've had snow showers.

It wasn't a lot of snow but it was still really beautiful to see.

Saturday - A Sad Farewell

2008-03-15T04:58:00.000-07:00

Today I had to say goodbye to my wonderful friend Denae.

We met about a year ago and although our friendship hasn't been very long, she's become a very dear friend of mine and someone I'm going to miss.

It's a bitter sweet moment as although I wont get to see Denae very often...(she'll have me calling her ALL the time) I'm incredibly proud of her for making a very dificult but courageous decision in her life.

Denae headed over to London a while back to complete her Master's Degree and has had an amazing career in Journalism and TV in The USA.

Whilst being here in London Denae has made many wonderful friends and made some fond memories I'm sure she'll never forget.....BUT......

Denae has just been offered an amazing opportunity as the Anchor presenting the evening News in Oregon !

After some serious consideration, soul searching and having to make some really heart breaking decisions

Denae will be heading back to the US to get back into her career and long time personal goals.

Leaving behind many loved ones Denae I feel is making the right decision.

This is an opportunity for her to shine, move forward and progress into the career that she's already invested many years of study and hard work for.

I know this has been a very painful decision for Denae as London has become her home and there are many loved ones in her life effected by this decision, however Denae only has one life to live and needs to do what's best for her and I'm very supportive of that.

She's a wonderful, amazing woman who has most definitely touched my life in the time that I've known her.....and I certainly am going to her miss her heaps....However I'm so proud of her and can't wait to see her again when I head over the Sunny USA.

I wish her all the best in the world, and everything she very much deserves.

http://http://www.blondacrossthepond.blogspot.com/