Upside Down.

It's been that kind of weekend - the kind where you sort of want to curl up in your pyjamas and not venture outside. Add the rain and the gloomy weather, and it all adds up to hiding indoors like a hermit. Which is exactly what I've been doing.

Two days indoors, indefinite cups of tea, and my newly opened box-set of Ally McBeal DVDs, and I feel a bit sorry that this weekend is coming to an end. Even though it's not been memorable in any sense of the word, it's been exactly what I wanted. And getting a weekend off this close to Christmas is pretty darned impressive.

What does this week hold? Let's see...

Work: can't escape that! I like my new job but it can be sometimes draining. Last week saw my colleague and I off on a roadtrip around some of our branches in South England, and even though it wasn't a super challenging week, just being away from my own desk made it exhausting. I'm happy to be back in our regular Central London branch this week. We have a new starter for our team starting on Tuesday, so I see lots of training days ahead that will keep everyone busy.

Play: not much planned yet! Will hopefully be squeezing in a showing of New Moon this week with a few friends. I think I'm about the last person on the planet to have NOT seen it yet?! Ah well, hopefully there will be one or two less screaming girls in our screening, if I'm lucky.

I'm also eagerly anticipating a parcel at work, full of new cat toys. I'm sure that isn't exciting to most of you guys, but if you had any idea of how naughty Oscar has been lately, you'd be excited too. He's a whopping 1.5 years old now, and is most definitely on his way to the Terrible Two's. Any ideas on how to keep an ever growing indoor kitty from losing his mind (and his owners from losing their sanity) are welcomed.

Happy end-of-November!

Spontaneous... Yes.

I'm really looking forward to being able to wedding plan. At the moment, I'm planning the wedding planning, which makes perfect sense in my head but not much sense when I write it down. I can look, but there's not a great deal I can actually DO, and at the moment that's just fine with me. Okay, I lie: it's more than a little bit frustrating, but what can you do?

Ha! I know what you can do! You can book an impromptu visit home to get a head start on everything, that's what you can do!

Yes, during one random lunch break a few weeks ago, I decided to have a quick peek at flights back to Australia for a visit - and it worked out quite nicely that I had some holiday allowance ready and waiting to be booked in. A few text messages later, and everything was booked: I'll be back down under in April for a two week visit, and I'm super excited.

I know it was literally only a year ago that I was sitting around back home, just itching to be back in London, but it's different now. This time around, I have my shiny Visa, and can head straight back here to my boys nice and easily. And this time around, I have a mission - to cram in as much wedding stuff as possible! I'm planning on stealing my mum and MOH (hee!) and checking out all of the churches and venues I've been ogling online for the last few months.. and maybe even put a deposit down on one that catches my eye. It's going to be awesome!

So in the meantime, it's back to trawling the web for ideas and inspiration, and watching my bookmarks folder continue to expand!

Bored Now.

In the midst of the vampire crazy hitting the internet, I thought I'd jump on board. I'm a huge Buffy fan, and yes, I may also be on the Twilight bandwagon (Team Jacob!) and came across this video. It's a clever little mash up between the two that made me laugh out loud a couple of times!

(I'm not an Edward hater, don't you worry - I'll be hitting the cinemas next week to catch New Moon and do my share of swooning.)

Watch the clip via YouTube.

Round Here.

It's been a hectic couple of weeks here in London. Why, you ask? Let's see...

(Be warned. It's photo heavy - like most of my posts lately. Love it!)

Bonfire Night
We didn't really get into this last year, as we didn't really have a clue what it was about and lived too far out to be bothered. This year, some work friends organised to head down to Clapham Common for the fireworks display, so off we went.

London Tour Guide
The fabulous Kirby and I had a few (short!) days together in London, and made the most of the Autumn weather to go sightseeing. Hot spots: Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, Victoria & Piccadilly Circus. Even managed to duck into Hamleys for a spot of shopping, and to escape the pouring rain. Wouldn't expect anything else!

Autumn Leaves in Green Park
Couldn't resist playing in them - and how could we not? They were everywhere, and simply gorgeous - made for some beautiful photographs. We started a trend with our throwing of the leaf shots, and ended up having lots of followers.

High Tea at the Haymarket Hotel
I've been here twice now, and love it. Sat in the conservatory with a never-ending supply of tea, sandwiches and scones and the most amazing strawberry cake I've ever eaten. Even for someone who doesn't like strawberries! Indulgence? Yes please.

Euro Disney
My third Disney visit in a year; who says it's just for kids? Caught the EuroStar to Paris and then headed out to the parks for a quick trip. We were there on its very first day of Christmas decorations, so lots of fun decorations and events. The weather was freezing, with the sky changing colours every five minutes. Gorgeous.

Paris Adventures
One of my favourite cities, I've visited quite a few times now. The weather was cold, but we took in most of the sights in one day - hectic but fun.

And... there you have it. A little overboard with the pictures, but that's just how it works around here! (Miss snap-happy over here managed to take 350 pictures in our 2-day visit to France alone.)  Crazy.

My First Pumpkin.

Halloween isn't much of a tradition where I'm from in Australia. We have the occasional trick or treater, but it's certainly not a holiday like it is elsewhere in the world.

We are staying in this year, but I was determined to do something to mark the occasion. Enter the one lonely pumpkin I saw sitting on a shelf in Marks & Spencer...

I actually had a great time creating my (albeit very classic) masterpiece. I didn't realise how much work went into it... and bar from one panicked moment when I happened to punch my pumpkin's eye out (literally) it was fairly simple. Jason watched from afar... sharp objects usually have a tendency to end up slicing off his skin.

So now let me present my pumpkin carving process in all its glory - with an Oscar snapshot thrown in there for good measure. Happy Halloween!

Did you do anything out of the ordinary this Halloween?