It's Happening, It's REALLY Happening

So I've spent the past week glued to the internets searching for cheap accommodation in Leamington Spa for my yoga course at the end of this month and after emailing local B&Bs and finding prices for hotels online, all of which are horrendously out of my price range, I called the local college to see if they had any student accommodation available for people visiting the area. The very helpful lady at the end of the phone, Sandra, took my details and called me back 30 minutes later with the name and telephone number of a host couple who said they would happily put me up for the week. Huzzah to thinking outside the box!

I'll be staying with a couple called Gemma and Adam who live ten minutes away from the course venue with their three cats. I've spoken to Gemma on the phone twice now and she seems absolutely lovely! How lucky am I to have found a place in such close proximity to the course and with such lovely people! And with cats! Double huzzah!

It's made me realise... this is REALLY happening people! I begin my yoga TT in two short weeks and by the end of the year, I hope to be trained and ready to go forth in the world as a yoga teacher. Seeing a plan come together really is satisfying, especially one that I've been thinking about for the past 3 years. That seems like a long time but for me, finding the right course and the right tutor was really important.


I'm excited to see what unfolds this year and where this next step in my yoga journey takes me.


I'll keep you updated with photos n ting as the course goes on.


Namaste and peace to all of you.

Little Bit of Something and Nothing

The smell of burning popcorn is wafting through the floorboards and directly into my nostrils... I think Clare just returned home and is making her favourite snack. I'd go and say hi but I have to be honest, I've got a slight stomach upset and moving from a semi-foetal position is not an option just yet. Too much information? Sorry...

As the title says, this is a little bit of something and nothing. More just a reason to say hi and waffle on about my weekend. I had a really spontaneous day yesterday! Gareth text me at just gone 8am (not long after I'd woken up and was still dozing in bed) to say he had a spare ticket to go to the Harry Potter set tour and did I want to come. Did I want to come? Does a bear poop in the woods?! I pretty much had to hot foot it to Belsize Park in double quick time but I made it with enough time to meet his sister, eat some scrambled eggs and then head out to Watford with Gareth and his cousins. Felt a little bit like a hobo turning up looking uber tired, eating their lovely food and then leaving! 

Anyway, as is the norm now, here are some photos of the tour in no particular and by no means exhaustive...

 

Dumbledore, Snape and Professor McGonagall in the Great Hall

Some owl cages in Diagon Alley

Costumes from the Yule Ball in the Goblet of Fire. Emma Watson's dress (the purple one) is unbelievably tiny!

Ron's bed.

Nearly Headless Nick's Head

Professor Dumbledore's Office

Drinking butterbeer!!

Dobby!

A replica of Hogwarts. Absolutely stunning!

More wands than you could shake a...wand at.

The tour took about two hours for us to walk around at a regular pace and there is just so much to look it. It's amazing to see how much time, effort, energy and love has gone into making every single set, costume, prop - they didn't miss a thing. The newspapers contained real stories and "in-joke" advertisements... One of the tour guidey helpery people told me a story that when Michael Gambon was eating lunch, he kept his Dumbledore beard protected inside a beard bag so as not to drop food down it, so they used that idea and created an advert for Beard Bags in the papers. Every book contained real text in case, say, a book fell off a shelf and opened on the floor and was caught on camera. No expense was spared but when you're going to make a film that is adored by so many then you have to do it right! 

We even tried some butterbeer - it was ah-may-zing! It tastes really sweet and completely delicious; it's been compared it to shortbread which I guess could be too much for some but Gareth and I were both really impressed by it. Gareth was particularly taken by the "secret ingredient" that they put on top of the drink to give it a beer head... No idea what it is (obviously, being a secret ingredient) but it's really tasty.

The tour doesn't officially open until next weekend methinks, but Gareth works for Warner Bros so was offered free tickets for the tour before it opens to the public. I think tickets will be priced at something like £28 but it's worth it! 

So with the tour over, we drove back to Belsize Park and took a wander into Camden Town, had a little mosey and then headed home. I spent last night vegged in front of the telly watching a program on musicals then went to bed and fell asleep watching Midnight in Paris. I need to watch it again from beginning to end but from what I have seen, it seems like it's trying to be Vicki Cristina Barcelona but with cr*p acting.. I'll get back to you on that!

Today I've been a little hermit; I woke up this morning, meditated, fell asleep again and then got up, cooked an epic breakfast omelette, watched about 20 minutes of TV, realised it's rubbish, practiced some yoga, did a load of washing, tidied my room, popped to the shops for some essentials and then came back and now I'm in bed with a slight upset stomach. Sure it's nothing, I think it might have been the eggs.

This weekend's been awesome and had reminded me yet again how awesome life is and how great my friends are. I've been worrying a lot about money lately but a thought occurred to me earlier that I may be financially skint but I am abundant in life. That's something to hold onto and be grateful for.

If anyone has any photos from their weekend they want to share then please do! I'd love to see what you've been up to :)

xxx

This one's for you Amy

Happy birthday my beautiful friend!

Best Night...Ever!!

Oh my gawd, I'm so unbelievably tired/hungover after last night. I got in at 4 of the o'clock this morning and woke up at 11.30 - I haven't slept until almost lunchtime since I was a teenager! I've since spent the entire day on the sofa surrounded by orange juice, food and watching Home Alone and generally feeling sorry for myself. It just dawned on me that I haven't even had a shower or brushed my teeth. Gross.com. 

What happened last night I hear you ask? The Swing Ball happened that's what! It was one of the greatest nights of my life. I had a bunch of the swing gang round to my casa before the big event for some munchies and drinks and then headed to the venue, Shoreditch Town Hall, for  an entire night of swing dancing... They say a picture speaks a thousand words, so here's a few thousand for you. They need editing so I'll probably update later.

Livia and Cameron

Me, Cameron and Livia

The Highbury Banner

Beginner's class before the social dancing began

Some of the Highbury gang

More Highbury swingers plus our teachers, James and Gen.

<3

Out and About

I've been out and about in London and decided it's high time I took more photos. So feast your eyes below. The first six pics were taken in Borough Market this afternoon.

All taken with a Samsung something or other mobile phone and edited with an app called Pixlr-o-matic. 

I was shopping in Dalston earlier today and found myself walking behind an elderly couple who were going about their daily business and holding hands. I had to take a picture. <3

I'm having a burst of creativity today

The all important ingredients

Sugar and butter in all it's fluffy goodness

It's beginning to look like cake mix

Layer one complete

Oh yeah

Out of oven...needs a bit of work

Cravings

Snippet of actual conversation with a friend to plan meeting up for breakfast:

Him: I have a craving for huevos rancheros.

Me: Of course you do.

On a different note entirely, this was the view from my front door last night:

I'm about the head out to my new favourite cafe/vintage shop for a lovely morning coffee so I best dig out my wellies from the Cupboard of Things.

Have a great day.

Peace.