beautiful black swans

is it a good thing or a bad thing when you have to open your calendar to see what you did this past week?

monday was a non-event except for the fact that i got to watch glee. it makes me happy.

tuesday was a very bizarre yet very interesting day. i spent the day at a marketing conference (focus on social media like blogging, twitter, facebook and linkedin) with one of my colleagues. lately this particular colleague and i had a bit of a blow out and since then our relationship at work has been unsteady. we've both been very busy so i think that not working together the past couple of weeks has not helped the situation. but this day was a good day.

we went to a few sessions and eventually, tested the waters of peace which led to a very eye opening conversation in the warm sun. trust is a delicate thing, and i was trusting this person with how i saw things, and i think this person realized we weren't that far off the mark when it comes to what we fight for everyday. so if anything, i got a great ally, again.


that night, i met my friend abi for le relais de venise. the restaurant is literally in my back yard and it took me forever to get there, namely because the price seemed steep and there was always a line up...but now i know why. for starter and main, there literally is no choice in what you can eat. simply put...its a steak frites joint. for a starter you get a walnut starter, and the subsequent following courses are your steak (your only choice is medium or well done) with frites, all drowned in a secret sauce. and dear lord, this sauce is a little bit of heaven. and i said courses because yes, they serve your meal with 2 servings. we rounded out the dinner with some of their house wine (a delicious bordeaux) and a vechrin...and dear lord if you don't know what that is, you must click on the link. meringue + ice cream + hot chocolate sauce = ah-may-zen. all for £35 (including tip)

if you ever get to london, go there. the restaurant is steeped in rumour and tradition. only 4 of them in existence (Paris, London - 2, and New York), so it will definitely be a highlight of whichever of those cities you visit. i heard that the secret sauce first came about 200 years back, and that the family that owned the restaurant, well, this was the only dish she could cook, and she cooked it well. another rumour is that the family owned a vineyard and the only legit way for them to sell the wine was with food, and coupled with 'its the only dish she could make', a restaurant was born. there's also rumour that another restaurant very similar was owned and operated by the original owner's sister, who maliciously set up a competeting (yet inferior) business. either way...eat there. maybe ask the server next time what the real story is. hmmm, my friend chris is in town next week. maybe i'll take him there!

on thursday, i went to the troxy in east london with the spanish-speaking contingent at work to see los fabulosos cadillacs i had so much fun. i have no idea about what they sang but it didn't matter because they sang it passionately and with vigor. how could you not dance and enjoy yourself. they are a very famous argentinian (argentine?) band and their big hit i would think was matador. i post the live version so you can grasp the enormity of it all. i loved the concert because i was on the floor and had a great view of the stage. i was average height there and it made me veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery happy! ha ha. how often can i say that?

friday, i made my way to jo's house for dinner and i saw her new house...absolutely lovely. her kids are so fricking adorable!


its a long weekend here in england (the first of 2 this month) so with so many people out of the city, it was tough to find company. but i did manage to finagle an evening with bim, and on sunday, i met up with my friend ania and we set out for leeds castle. the castle has quite the history, dating back to the 1000's (is that the ten hundreds?) and our favourite tudor henry called it one of his homes as well.

but before we got there, we had to wait for the shuttle bus and while i was left along for a whole 3 minutes, i made a friend with elena, a gal visiting london from moscow, and i asked her if she'd like to join anna and me. so the three of us set off...in the pouring rain...did i forget to mention it was raining? and i don't mean showers, i mean downpour. but i digress.


we walked through the gardens to get to the castle and the gardens are teeming with birds. peacocks, white swans, black swans, mallards, and those pesky canadian geese. man, they're mean here too. we checked out the castle, shopped in the shop, had lunch at the cafe, and then did what we thought was the most fun thing ever...the maze.

because of the rain, the grounds (and the maze) were practically empty so we got to run around screaming our heads off. it was fun. we kept coming across lake sized puddles so we devised a new strategy. take the path that wouldn't get us completely soaked. and lo and behold, we found the middle of the maze. underneath is a grotto (man made but cool none the less) and the way out. so after about 4 hours of the pouring rain at leeds castle, we decided to call it a day. we were cold by that point too. but, we made a new friend, which is very cool.


today, i'm meeting up with some friends to go to the victoria and albert museum to check out the grace kelly exhibit. then back to work tomorrow but for a short week as next friday, i head off to dublin with caroline, to hang out with our fave chica dee.

xoxo