33 degrees!

Not bad, for the UK

This is a picture of the view from my window taken about ten minutes ago. It's still light! (ish) Summer is so much better than winter.

Speaking of, how was the hottest day of the year for you, UK people? I resorted to the maxi dress so comfortable I don't usually let it out of the house, and very little else. I had a cardigan for the office air conditioning, but thankfully there were enough people to absorb the Arctic gusts, so I only needed it in the morning.

I love being able to walk around outside feeling like you're in a fan oven. Warm breezes are most excellent. 

Work today was pretty hectic. By some sort of comedic miscommunication, we had not one but two work experience people! I was feeling a bit jealous as we gave them all the fun jobs, but they were very sweet. We've got a boy and a girl (I know they're technically adults, but I feel so old!), and they had a wonderful time opening the letters. As I said, slightly jealous. 

There was also some sort of technical fault about 15 minutes before I left, which made the automated 'alarm situation' announcements repeat for rather a long time. Although it's comforting to know that "The alarm situation has been canceled," I didn't really need to hear it 46 times. It started off funny, but quickly became reminiscent of the train journey I spent a few months ago with the auto-announcer listing every station on the route over and over and over. Slightly brain-frying. 

My lunch was excellent, by the way. I just wish I could have spent more of the day sitting in the sun eating pineapple!

Going to crawl into bed soon, as I am completely exhausted, for some reason!

Goodnight!

Bullet points again!

So convenient when you should be in bed already!

• It was hot today. My room is still roasting. And tomorrow will be hotter! However:
• The air con at work was on so high I had to wear a scarf (ninja-style).
• I got some very odd looks walking out of the office bundled up in a scarf and cardigan
• I've made a superior packed lunch for tomorrow! Including pineapple...
• 1 day down, 5 to go!

Goodnight!

Last taste of freedom

OK, I'm being melodramatic. But I can't help but remember that my next day off is next Saturday, which is a whole week away! Whinge, wine, complain, as my mother would say. 

I have been using my time productively to make up for this, though! Firstly, I had a bit of a tidy of my wardrobe:

Please don't judge me for my folding skills

In theory, I should now be able to easily access all my most frequently-worn clothes when I'm in a hurry in the morning. Whether this will make deciding what to wear any easier remains to be seen.

I've become slightly obsessed with knitwear recently, which was the weather's cue to turn tropical. The last couple of days have been really warm and muggy, and apparently it's going to get to 32 degrees in London on Monday. Makes me want to sit in a paddling pool eating ice cream. Sitting in an office doing spreadsheets is a poor alternative.

On the work front, I am considering a career change. Don't you think I'd make an awesome lumberjack?

Excuse the unbrushed hair and lack of makeup. Let's pretend it's intentional and I'm going for a grunge vibe

I got this awesome shirt from H&M for £5, and the necklace (which, you might just be able to make out, has an owl dangling from a branch) from Claire's for £1. They're both having sales of pretty cool stuff for pretty stupid prices, but I'm not complaining!

In other news, I need a haircut.

Also productively, I stocked up on toiletries today:

In all their shiny glory

Trying out a new shampoo because it smelled nice. This is pretty much my rational for every toiletry I buy. The spearmint lip balm keeps making me want softmints, though. 

And speaking of spearmint:

Look at all that sun outside! No wonder the camera didn't want to focus on my hand

An exciting nail polish. I think it's Miss Sporty, I got it ages ago and it's been sitting there staring at me while I've been waiting for my nails to recover. I'm going to be more circumspect with the nail-polishing this time.

Right, that's about enough babbling from me. I will try to blog in reaction to all the busyness this week, let's see how it goes!

Goodnight!

It's the weekend!

It is for me, anyway. I'm working Sunday-Friday next week, so my weekend starts here and will be very much appreciated! 

Things got a bit crazy at work today. Everyone was very busy doing extra things for Saturday's paper and competitions and so forth, so things got a bit behind. Even I was desperately multitasking, as I had to do a couple if New reader interviews (for we had none. There was also a bit of a drama trying to get a picture for a Family day out piece on tomorrow's DUR. Thankfully, I prevailed and now have lots of awesome pictures of Romans in my inbox, but it was a bit touch-and-go when I was on the phone to the photographer at 5.20. 

Anyway, a long day necessitates an awesome supper:

This, ladies and gentlemen, is creamy pork chicken with garlic mushrooms, which was probably the best meal I've had all week (although some of that may have been down to hunger...). I adapted the recipe from here, using chicken as that was what I had. I used to make this when I was at university and had time for such things, as it takes a bit of effort. Very worth it, though! 

With that, I will sign off, as I have at least another half an hour of relaxing to do!

Goodnight!

Briefly...

...As I have been enjoying the thrill of setting up yet more online banking:

• There was sunshine this evening! I am pleased
• I have eaten far too many strawberries, but they count for at least one of the five-a-day so I don't feel guilty
• Whizzkid is probably in Sweden by now
• It's the solstice, so I am disappointed not to have seen any pagans out and about
• We're getting a work experience person next week!
• My new polka-dot skirt is ineffective in windy situations
• Four days on, my Topshop silver ('Starlight', no less) nail polish from the beauty sample sale is still going strong: 

Excuse blurriness - way too shiny for flash

That's it for now.

Goodnight!

Sun! Sort of

There was about 10 minutes of proper, hot sunlight today. I had almost forgotten that it's technically summer, and how hot it was before all this rubbish weather moved in. 

Today I met up with Whizzkid in London! We had delicious Turkish food for lunch (worth it for the bread and turkish delight alone) and did some serious shopping for his imminent Swedish trip. I didn't buy anything! I'm very proud. 

The most impressive purchase of the day (for me), was this pair of sunglasses:

Whizzkid: from the future

I really quite want some for myself, but then we'd have to text each other every time we wanted to meet up to avoid embarrassment, and that's just too much hassle. Also I already have two pairs. 

Back to work tomorrow, and I've just realised I haven't had supper yet, so I will cut this short for now.

Goodnight!

Father's Day

It's technically now Father's Day, so remember to give your dad a card or something! Most of the ones in the shops seem to be sport-themed (especially golf, for some reason), which I consider pretty narrow-minded. It's the thought that counts, I suppose.

I'm having a very relaxing weekend, for once (although I'm going to be meeting up with Whizzkid tomorrow, so hopefully there will be highjinks galore!), and got some important shopping done. I'm feeling quite thrifty, though - more on that anon, perhaps.

More miserable weather, which is apparently going to continue on and off this week. I wore my wellies about town yesterday (very stylish, I know, but I came home with dry feet despite further downpours, so there!) and am doubly paranoid about always having my umbrella with me. Apparently it still counts as a drought...

In other news, I have found the best hat ever:

Check this page out for more weird hats!

On that note, I think I'll go to bed!

Goodnight!

P.S.: Happy Father's Day to my own father! He's extremely awesome, and there should be more than one day a year to commemorate this!