Gone baby gone

I got home at 8:20pm tonight! Booo working late sucks huh?!

My day has gone pretty much like this:

Alarm goes off at 6.15. I snooze.
Goes again at 6.20. I snooze, but feeling awake now.
Goes again at 6.25, I'm thinking: Fine, I'll get up!
By the time that emergency 6.30am alarm went off, I was up.

I hit the lights switch to get some light in my room and actually be able to see around (curtains were closed, and of course it was rainy and cloudy outside).... no light comes on!!! After I played around with various plugs, switches and my main switch board, I succum and call EDF's fault's line. Oh yes! There is a fuse blown in the powerstation, pretty much everyone in my area has no power, they are aware of the fault and they are 'working on it'.... Great start huh?!

I have some breakfast (wholewheast bun roll with peanut butter + strawberry jam) and a glass of semi-skimmed milk and rely on day light to put on clothes and apply makeup - pray I dont look like a clown!


Work is relatively standard, people running around, the customer changing their minds every oh 5 minutes, people asking me the silliest of questions - my favourites being:

• Where can I sit today? (It's an open-plan office and seats are first-come, first-served) - Jeez, I dont know, why dont you try the empty seat?!
• Are we having the 1pm meeting? - Yes it's been going on for 3 months and we have it every-single-damn-day!!!
• Do you want that in writing? - No, I want you to sing it from the rooftops!!!

Ah the joys of working in IT!

Anyway, lunch was a delicious bacon and barley soup with their fantastic thyme bread. Usually I digest soup in about 1-2hrs but this held me full for about 3.5hrs! I was chuffed! I love how they have seeds next to the soups and you can add them to your cup!

Can you tell food makes me happy? Hehe

After working away for 3-3.5hrs, going to meetings, coming back, typing emails, talking to people, chatting with some colleagues, it was time for my 2nd lunch of the day. My gorgeous wrap with some cherry tomatoes! Oh it was good, I'm telling ya!


And of course around 5pm - just as I thought that hey, I may go home on time and pack some more, the *beep* hit the fan and I had to stay at work till 7.15!!! Boy, was I pissed off! I dont mind staying back when there is actual work to be done, but I cannot stand staying behind just to babysit 4 adults who cannot tie their shoe laces unless they get spe-ci-fic information and step-by-step instructions!

Came home at 8.20 (told you, it's a hour's worth of commute!! but not for long hehe!) and quickly showered, and prepared myself a tasty, light dinner of pasta salad, cucumber, avocado and pink salmon with a yogurt dressing... Yum yum!


Now it's only 10.30pm but I am feeling so beat, I think I will just dry my hair quickly - no straighten tonight booo! - pick my clothes for tomorrow and crash! This day has overstayed its welcome - and it's only Tuesday!!!

Apologies for the rant - hope you found it more funny that annoying! It's pretty much who I am though, I love a good rant!

Speak later
xx

PS. The nice EDF people did indeed fix the power issue and at least I didnt have to shower by candlelight!

PS2. I am still sore! Love you and hate you Pilates DVD!

I cant wait for the weekend to begin!

My abs are sore.
I cant feel be back on my legs.
I spend 2hrs packing last night and all I managed to pack was books, DVDs, and some more clothes.
My HUGE red suitcase is now full and there are still clothes left to pack!
The box that contains the DVDs and books is so heavy I can barely push is to the side let alone lift it...

Frustration!!!!

And of course, it's raining!

Happy Tuesday people!
x

Dizzy, my head is spinning

Morning!

You know how some days you wake up and even thought you are fully functional and awake for about 1-2hrs, afterwards you get kinda dizzy and sleepy again. I have major sleepiness now and I woke up a full 2.5hrs earlier!

What's wrong with me?!?

Yesterday's dinner was same as lunch only half in size as I shared a wrap with my sister, but I also ate some sister-made spanakopita (spinach and feta cheese pie).

For breakfast this morning I had semi-skimmed milk with some multigrain bread with peanut butter and jam -delish!

My sister tells me that the delivery people just dropped off the boxes to my place (she was house-sitting for me), so I guess I really do need to pack when I get home...

God, I hate packing! Hate is with a passion! :-D

Cya later xxx

PS. I got some soreness in my gluts and my upper abs - I should have know this was coming right?

Feeling the weekend end

It's only 4pm on a Sunday but I'm already feeling the weekend ending... booo so sad!

After lazying around for an hour or so after breakfast, I did some hoovering around my house (it desperately needed it!) and then poped in one of my fave exercise DVDs Pilates Perfect Body, part of the 10 Minute Solution range. These are pretty awesome as they are broken down into 5 segments of 10' so you can stop/start and modify them as you see fit. I did the whole thing - yay!!


I did it in this order:

• Bums & Thighs
• Belly
• Silhouette
• Arms
• Stretch

I find stretching out after excercise to be key to avoid sore muscles the next day. Although I'm pretty sure I will be beat tomorrow morning!!

Afterwards, I had my shower and made a great little wrap for myself using the following:

• Wholewheat tortilla
• Prawns (already cooked - ready to east)
• Spinach
• Total Greek Yogurt
• A drop of olive oil
• Salt, pepper

Also had a side of boiled broccoli and cauliflower.


It was yummy and very filling. I think wraps like this will become more of a staple in my diet. You can put in it pretty much whatever you want (I am thinking smoked salmon, tuna, chicken, tomatoes, cucumber, and more spinach - althought not all together!) and they are easy to carry to work for a tasty and healthy meal.

Now I'm just on my couch taking it easy before the muscle ache sets up! Im waiting for my sister to come over and spend the night here.

Cya later
xx

Cold tofu isn't good tofu

I was experimenting yesterday with posting from my iphone which it totally cool however I still havent mastered the 'art' of posting with pictures.... All in good time, I guess, I'll have another attempt later on!

I did manage to make my Suunto training watch work but turns out you need a POD to measure speed and distance... HOW ANNOYING! It was a very expensive present and something I wanted for so long so I am double disappointed about this... boooo :-(. Being as pissed off as I was, I didnt go for a run and opted for a night in front of TV instead - cause I'm cool like that! Watched Angus, Thongs, and Perfect Snogging, which was cute even thought a bit too 'young' for me and then later my flatmate and I watched Monster In-Law, which was meh. Very average I would say.

During the first movie, I had a fantastic snack of a watermellon slice. It was so juicy and sweet... really fantastic! I still cant believe this was on sale in Whole Foods for 99p for half a (very heavy) watermellon. It tasted like summer!


My dinner was a baby leaf salad, some cherry tomatoes (I think they are hidden under the greenery), parmesan cheese and tofu. I tried out a new flavour - Cauldron salad toppers marinated in tomato and basil. The package said ready to eat but I really should have heated it up beforehand... Cold tofu isnt good tofu :-S


The meal wasnt all that, but that was probably my fault right? Hehe. Plus I felt bloated for hours aftewards - Maybe it was the cold tofu???

This morning I had 2 slices of the multigrain Whole Foods bread with peanut butter and strawberry jam and a glass of semi-skimmed milk. I cant believe I went 24 years without ever trying this combination!!! It's so awesome you have no idea - Well unless you have tried it and then you do have an idea! :-)

I leave you with a picture of my god-daughter, aka cutest kid ever! Hope her parents dont mind me posting this picture!

Cya later xxx

My first phone post

Ok I have just discovered that I can post from my iphone directly to
the blog. This is just a test so bare with me...

Sent from my iPhone

Saturday in Kensington

Hey all, How's your Saturdays going?

Mine so far, has been great!! My friend and I went to High Street Kensington for a light brunch. Instead of our usual 'Patisserie Valerie' we went to 'Le Pain Quotidien'. I have been hearing about this place from a few people and thought why not give it a shot?

I got the cappuccino and it was yummy! (I actually ordered another one later on, I luuuuve coffee)

The menu looked great and even though we were set for getting some eggs (there werent any on the menu), I ordered the beef carpaccio salad with asparagus, pine nuts and a pesto dressing.


Doesnt that look fab?

There was also a jar of praline spread around which we enjoyed with the fresh brown and baguette bread they brought along. My gosh that was good! So tasty and rich, I was like having desert!


The tables had the cutest salt and pepper shakers on them. These were actually on sale in the store.


What Saturday is complete without a trip to Whole Foods Market?! God how I love that store!! Wish I could shop there full-time, but it's a bit too pricey to be doing all your shopping there.


On the way to WFM, there was a girl on the street giving out vouchers. Even though I dont usually pick these up, I noticed they were for Whole Foods Market so I quickly snapped one. Guess what it was for?? Free freshly baked bread! What a fab Saturday treat! I picked up the wholegrain loaf and my friend picked up the walnut and blue cheese one. We shared them half and half so we can both enjoy both! The bakery guys even sliced them for us!


Thank you Whole Foods!

I went ahead and exchanged some of the pressies I got for my nameday last weekend. Some people take offense to that but I am a firm believer that it's better to change the presents and get something you want and will use, rather than keep some stuff in your closet that you'll never use, in order to spare people's feelings.

I got a great smart jacket from Kew (thanks Sis!) - that's where the cream cardi is from - and a great jumper from Gap! It's the softest thing, so cute! The scarf in the middle is from my flatmate - it's great huh?

My mom send me the Suunto training watch - I have wanted one of those for sooooo long! Thank u thank u thank u! Now all I gotta do is read the manual cause I cannot make it work yet!! :-)


As soon as I make it work, I am off for a run cause the weather is looking good in London town and we all know that that doesnt usually last - hehe! If the living room wasnt in such a state, I would pop in my Pilates DVD but there is no room to exercise in here for the time being. Plus it feels like a waste not to take advantage of the warm weather outside.

Cya later guys!

PS. My mom is travelling to Crete today for a 2-week vacation. While she's gone, I will be taking care of her blog Betty's Cuisine (scary thought!) so I will be doing some posts there too! I will keep you in the loop!

xx

A week's worth of recaps

Seeing as it's 22.15 here in London and I am living the dream by being in my PJs and seriously considering my bed as the best place to be right now ;-) I will make this post more about the photos and less about the blah blah! Hope you enjoy.

Picking up from where I left it last, on Saturday night I had my nameday dinner with a few friends. That had a sweet ending with a variety of desserts.


Oh they were so yummy!

On Sunday I made a traditional Greek meal of roasted chicken with orzo and tomato sauce. It turned out brilliant, really reminded me of my mom's cooking.


Tuesday night in the Docklands! I love how this photo combines everything that Canary Wharf is about. Tall buildings, the Reuters sign, people in suits drinking and loads of lovely views.


Early morning view from the West side of our floor.


This was my Friday lunch at work. Work's canteen has this self-service salad bar so today's choices were:

• Pasta salad with olives
• Lentil salad with carrots and celery
• Spinach
• Roasted veggies with cous cous
• Green beans
  
• (and a few other things I cant really remember)
• with a gorgeous pesto dressing. I love how sometime a dressing can just make a salad taste awesome.

And this was my Friday night dinner.

Well that and a couple of Crisprolls with peanut butter and strawberry jam (not pictured)


Both my flatmate and I are in the process of moving out of our current place, so our living room currently looks a little bit like this.


And finally what would London be without a bit of rush-hour tube traffic to keep up all ticking?!


Time for bed people! xxx

Friday bloody Friday

Late post but hey!
Friday was mad and insane at work - Why does everything have to go wrong around 3pm on Fridays?! Urgh it's so annoying. I had been fighting a pretty major headache all day anyway so the combination of pain and the stress really didnt work out for me. I didnt take any paracetamol as I would normally cause I try not to take too many pills when I can. Turns out that was a mistake! My headache didnt go till I slept around midnight.

But lets recap.
Friday

For breakfast I had a bowl of cereal with semi-skilled milk. As breakfast is around 7am, that usually doesnt take me till midday (lunch). I often have a little snack around 10.30 but on Friday I managed not to. Some people say it's better to have a snack and a smaller lunch and others believe that snacks are pretty much the devil. oh well... different courses for different horses as the Brits say.

My Lunch was as pictured: Chicken broth soup with a slice of bread and a salad. I only had about 3-4 bites of the salad and had the rest at 5pm.



Dinner was a hasty affair of already-marinated tofu on a bed of spinach, balsamic vinegar and parmesan - so delicious! I hardly ever eat tofu and that's only when I'm in a restaurant, but this was very very good and I intend to make it again asap! Was very quick too - it only needed about 5' in the grill and it was all set!



Dunno what's wrong with this picture. It just wont rotate! Sorry...

Watched the Sex and the City movie on Sky Comedy and then went straight to bed as I had a killer headache :-(


Saturday

God, 10hrs of sleep feel good!
My breakie was a wholewheat roll with some butter and strawberry jam washed down with 2 glasses of semi-skimmed milk (not pictured).



I quickly got ready and headed off to Richmond to celebrate a friend's birthday. Unfortunately our ideas for a BBQ were canned as the weather was rainy and crappy.

Richmond's pretty though!



Cu later xx

She closes her eyes, dreams of pretty things, pretty things

Funny post title huh? :D
It's from Athena, a Greek singer/songwritter who writes and performs in English. She's so good! Love her music.

Picking up from where I left it off yesterday, one of my colleague's wife, just had a baby, so yesterday I 'sampled' some chocolate (praline filled - de-li-ci-ous!) and some Bailey's filled ones too - yummy!


My dinner was super yummy and delicious : PIZZA! Not the healthiest of options I know, but still was so worth it. I believe that when I eat out I do end up eating more calories, or generally eat stuff that isnt so good for you. On the other hand I do believe that in most restaurants (except fast good restaurants ofc) you can make some decent choices that wont be too bad and will leave you full without being too fatty.

Like last night for example, went to Pizza Express. There, they are introducing a new range called Leggera (means 'light' in Italian I think). So I had the Gustosa pizza which basically is:

Hand torn prosciutto cotto ham, fior di latte mozzarella and slices of portobello mushroom with sweet yellow peppers and a sprinkle of thyme.

The pizza has a hole in the middle and they have placed a cute little salad there! The menu said that these pizzas have around 500cals each, which even tho it isnt 'little' it's still better than most pizzas I guess.


It was delicious and quite light, I ate about all of it, except the salad (naughty!).

This morning I had my typical breakfast of granary toast with peanut butter (seriously I LUVE this stuff, cant get enough) and a cup of semi-skimmed milk. Peanut butter keeps me going for hours with no snack. Today I had lunch a full 4.5hrs after breakfast and I wasnt even that hungry then. I had a cup of yellow split pea soup (was store-bought and very average) but I also got a medium sized salad with an assortment of cesear's salad, roasted carrots with herbs and (more!) yellow split peas with cous cous. Was a bit meugh! (so so). But it did keep me going for about 4hrs... must be all the beans!



Now I'm off to do some laundry and straighten my hair! Cu tomorrow x

I don't care if Monday's blue, Tuesday's grey and Wednesday too

Remember how I was saying that it's warm and nice? Yeah, forget about that! London's back to grey - booo. So annoying having to drag out umbrellas and closed toe shoes ...

Why, London, why?

In the meantime, I had a nice nameday celebration yesterday - Got Crispy Creme doughnuts for my colleagues (and managed to only eat two!) and had a Wagamama dinner. Too bad they changed the menu so my favourite soup Miso Ramen Soup wasnt there anymore. Dont you have it when restaurants change their menu and leave out your favourite stuff?

As it was my nameday (Greek tradition by which you celebrate if you're named after a Saint on the day of the Saint's day basically), I am expecting muchos presents over the next few days as I see my sister and friends... I'll keep u guys posted! I'm very very very excited! :D

I had a quick work breakfast of granary toast with crunchy peanut butter spread (I think I prefer the smooth one overall tho - I am such a HUGE peanut butter fan - love it!) with a glass of semi-skimmed milk - yes we have one of those fancy vending machines at work which has the bad stuff (crisps, chocolate, fizzy drinks) and the good stuff (nuts, milk, cereal, energy bars). This works out pretty well when the 4pm hunger strikes and you have forgotten to pack some snacks from home.

I often try to bring lunch and/or snacks from home as it's a) healthier - you know what's in your food cause you made it! b) portion controlled - no temptations by an extra portion of cheese/bread/sauce and c) cost-effective - spending £5+ a day on just lunch is too too much and even though there is plenty of option around my work area it's still kinda silly to be spending that much just on one meal a day. However, I am now in the process of moving houses so I am trying to keep my pantry and freezer stocks low and eat them up as before I move out. It's not a very smart idea to have to move food around so my fridge is looking rather like a wasteland at the moment. Which means of course, there is nothing to make into lunch food, hence I buy from the shops!

Ok just realised how long this post is! Sorry, didnt mean to just rant! And since I dont like blocks of texts with no pictures, here's a little selection of what I already have!


Tube Strike London



My sister making friends with a little goat at Mudchute Farm


cu later xx

Kitchen pressies

Sundays always put me in a sort of sad mood when I was younger. Maybe cause the weekend was away, maybe cause a full school week was ahead of me, anyway I always kinda got me down. At uni, Sunday wasnt like that anymore, it became a day to sleep in late (well... later than usual that is hehe) and just relax with friends. Now that I'm working, it has unfortunately gone back to that feeling on sadness. It probably factors in all the tiredness from the week and the fact that I try to make weekends quite busy as they are my only free days!

So today was picking up kitchen appliances day - hehe! I told you about those friends of mine who are moving out of their place right? Well they have a whole BUNCH of brand new, barely used kitchen appliances that they were leaving behind or taking out for trash! What a waste!!!

Look what I picked up - arent they pretty?!

- A coffee maker
- A toaster/grill

- A multimixer
- Electric salt + pepper dispensers
- A coffee/milk broth mixer
- A wok
- Taboo board game
- Another mixer for soups/sauces

Oh on the way there I had a Starbucks Frappucino Coffee Light (medium size). It was delish and so good in the heat!


Once I got home I had my dinner, which tonight was 2 grilled turkey fillets with some broccoli and cauliflower. Was good but rather boring.


Im now off to watch some (bad) TV and straighten my hair. Cu tomorrow

x

My sister's keeper

Hey all,

Just came back from the movies - my sister and I caught the evening screening of 'My Sister's Keeper' at the Odeon Whiteleys. The movie wasnt all that - however, it was a nice good film to watch - definately kept the tears flowing. I am the easiest person to cry with a movie - hell, I even cried with 'Escape from Alcatraz'! Overall, I'd give it a 6/10 - wouldnt buy it on DVD, but may watch it again if it was on TV.

The rest of my day evolved around watching 'Factory Girl' on DVD (love that movie, love Sienna Miller, and loooove the 60s - and there is a Bob Dylan character in the movie - my all time favourite) and unfortunately some apartment cleaning up - dunno if I've mentioned it before, but I'm currently in the process of moving out of my sweet little (and a bit run-down) flat into a great, roomy, new complex down in the Docklands! So the estate agency are doing viewings which means the place needs to be in a decent condition 24/7 (boooo!).

I had some lentil soup for lunch (and dinner!) - Check out the recipe on my mom's blog here


I'm now home relaxing in front of the TV with some nice rose wine... mmm yummy. This used to my my old flatmate's (and best friend) fave wine - so this one's for you, Kat!


Cant wait for tomorrow - I've recently been hanging out with a very sweet couple - Nikos and Katerina. They are moving back to Greece permanently in a few days, and we're going over their place tomorrow to 'help them packing', i.e. sit around, have a nice final - booo :( - gossip, and perhaps pick up some of their fantastic kitchen appliances.... I'll keep you posted!

-----------------------------
New Blogger Alert!!!

I may not have mentioned this before but I am a keen reader of Meghann's blog The Inner Workings of a College Graduate. While she is on a cruise (lucky girl), her sister Kelly wrote a guest blog. Kelly is inspired by her sister's blog so much, she has now created her own!! Check it out at Beneath It All. Dont know about you but I am quite new to the blogging world and this is the first time I am following up a blog from its beginnings! I am very happy for Kelly to have found this outlet and I hope she keeps it up. Keep blogging girl!

xx

London's hot!

For British standards :) !!
Temperatures were 'soaring' according to the papers to .... (hold your breaths)... 31oC hahaha hilarious! Obviously in the office the air conditioning is at 15oC which mean I need a cardigan! Oh my...

So when it's 30oC outside... what do we do?!

1. We have lunchbreaks outside - preferably in a park by the fountain


2. We drink nice freshly squashed juices


3. We spend some time by the river


4. We drink a LOT of Pimm's


5. We get some honey-blonde highlights to match our sunny mood!


6. We get ice-cream!



I suggest we enjoy it while it lasts. The papers said today that the temperature will return to more normal – for this time of the year – standards, i.e. low 20oC…. Time to bring out the duvet!

x