Christmas and birthday
Well, that was a lovely weekend :o)
I had the day off work on Friday, and after a nice lie-in went into town and had my hair done, then also had my nails painted. Very decadent! Returned 2 library books, paid in my birthday cheque to the bank, and went to a couple of shops for some bits.
Then I came home, sorted out a few clothes and bits, and off we went to London for my Christmas present. We stayed in the Queensway Hotel, just 2 minutes walk from Paddington, and got the train into the city so didn't have to park or anything. The hotel was nice, and in a great position for going out for food - there were *loads* of restaurants really close by!
On Friday night we went for an explore, and walked round the whole lake in Hyde Park, seeing a mousie and the Peter Pan tents on the way round. It was really pleasant, and good practice for my sponsored walk in a couple of weeks time (www.justgiving.co.uk/katiesell).
We had a late dinner, and it was lovely to do something a bit different.
On Saturday we got up a bit after 7.30, had some brekkie, then headed out on the tube to Camden Town. I wanted some new Doc Marten boots, and reckon Camden is one of the best places to get them - theyhave such a lot of choice, and last time I needed some the market was the cheapest option. Though, Amazon have recently started selling them at a most reasonable price :o) As it turned out, we were a touch early as the market was still setting up, so we went for a wander to the Lock, and found another shop that had DMs reduced. Still about the same cost as Amazon, but I could try them on. I ended up with some shiny black patent ones, for a change, and also got some wide purple laces for them :o) They had some *gorgeous* long zipper patent boots, too, but sadly only had them in my size in white, or I'd have had those. I've added the black ones to my Amazon wish list!
Once the boots were sorted, we then got back onto the trains and headed to Harrow and Wealdstone, as I was intrigued as to how (if) the area had changed since I lived there. It hadn't, much, but there were more betting shops and a new library :o) It was good to see.
Then we headed to find the hotel in Piccadilly. We sat in the park and had an ice cream, then went back to the hotel, changed, and came out again for our afternoon tea. It was at the Park Lane hotel, and was my Christmas experience voucher. It was all very civilised, and tasty, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you, B!
Last night, we had another late dinner, this time in the pub down the road from our hotel, and that was lovely too. The main reason we ate late was the *huge* walk we'd taken down Regent street and Oxford street! Even G's feet hurt, which doesn't often happen!
On the birthday front, we are going to a knife skills course at the local cookery school in October, so that will be another lovely day to spend together :o)
Somehow, the scales also said that I've lost 1/2 a stone in the past 2 weeks!! I was pretty impressed with that. I was dressed to go out for dinner, but I'm sure those clothes aren't significantly lighter than my exercise kit! I'll be most happy if I can maintain that this week :o) I've been having Slimfast milkshakes for some meals recently, and am actually quite impressed with them - I've not been seriously hungry after them, and they're quite tasty (except the Banoffee one, I really didn't like that much!). I got a few more today in Morrisons, as well as a can of the powder to try that as well.
Onwards and upwards (or downwards as far as the weight goes!). Only 1 week until the Bank Holidy :o) Can't wait. And between then and now, the kitchen will be tiled, and hopefully the electrics will all be finished and we'll have a fully working kitchen. The plumber is coming first thing tomorrow to sort out the sink plumbing, and the worktops were fitted on Thursday and look *gorgeous*. I'm so pleased!
I had the day off work on Friday, and after a nice lie-in went into town and had my hair done, then also had my nails painted. Very decadent! Returned 2 library books, paid in my birthday cheque to the bank, and went to a couple of shops for some bits.
Then I came home, sorted out a few clothes and bits, and off we went to London for my Christmas present. We stayed in the Queensway Hotel, just 2 minutes walk from Paddington, and got the train into the city so didn't have to park or anything. The hotel was nice, and in a great position for going out for food - there were *loads* of restaurants really close by!
On Friday night we went for an explore, and walked round the whole lake in Hyde Park, seeing a mousie and the Peter Pan tents on the way round. It was really pleasant, and good practice for my sponsored walk in a couple of weeks time (www.justgiving.co.uk/katiesell).
We had a late dinner, and it was lovely to do something a bit different.
On Saturday we got up a bit after 7.30, had some brekkie, then headed out on the tube to Camden Town. I wanted some new Doc Marten boots, and reckon Camden is one of the best places to get them - theyhave such a lot of choice, and last time I needed some the market was the cheapest option. Though, Amazon have recently started selling them at a most reasonable price :o) As it turned out, we were a touch early as the market was still setting up, so we went for a wander to the Lock, and found another shop that had DMs reduced. Still about the same cost as Amazon, but I could try them on. I ended up with some shiny black patent ones, for a change, and also got some wide purple laces for them :o) They had some *gorgeous* long zipper patent boots, too, but sadly only had them in my size in white, or I'd have had those. I've added the black ones to my Amazon wish list!
Once the boots were sorted, we then got back onto the trains and headed to Harrow and Wealdstone, as I was intrigued as to how (if) the area had changed since I lived there. It hadn't, much, but there were more betting shops and a new library :o) It was good to see.
Then we headed to find the hotel in Piccadilly. We sat in the park and had an ice cream, then went back to the hotel, changed, and came out again for our afternoon tea. It was at the Park Lane hotel, and was my Christmas experience voucher. It was all very civilised, and tasty, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you, B!
Last night, we had another late dinner, this time in the pub down the road from our hotel, and that was lovely too. The main reason we ate late was the *huge* walk we'd taken down Regent street and Oxford street! Even G's feet hurt, which doesn't often happen!
On the birthday front, we are going to a knife skills course at the local cookery school in October, so that will be another lovely day to spend together :o)
Somehow, the scales also said that I've lost 1/2 a stone in the past 2 weeks!! I was pretty impressed with that. I was dressed to go out for dinner, but I'm sure those clothes aren't significantly lighter than my exercise kit! I'll be most happy if I can maintain that this week :o) I've been having Slimfast milkshakes for some meals recently, and am actually quite impressed with them - I've not been seriously hungry after them, and they're quite tasty (except the Banoffee one, I really didn't like that much!). I got a few more today in Morrisons, as well as a can of the powder to try that as well.
Onwards and upwards (or downwards as far as the weight goes!). Only 1 week until the Bank Holidy :o) Can't wait. And between then and now, the kitchen will be tiled, and hopefully the electrics will all be finished and we'll have a fully working kitchen. The plumber is coming first thing tomorrow to sort out the sink plumbing, and the worktops were fitted on Thursday and look *gorgeous*. I'm so pleased!