one week later

the first week of being 37 isn't as tough as i thought it would be. yes...i'm that much closer to 40 but its not as scary as it was a week ago. but believe me...it was real scary!

my actual birthday was quite lovely. i woke up to a kitchen full of happy birthday balloons and a gift from dee (another one!) so i could go shopping at fresh (where i bought lychee bath cubes - can't wait to soak in them!). i got to work to see a decorated desk (sticky notes saying happy birthday in multiple languages), the company shark (huge stuffed animal) saying he loves me and happy birthday, and a treasured gift from a good friend (bill bryson's shakespeare...and thus far a fascinating read. so much so that i plan a trek to stratford to visit all the circumstantial evidence that is will). so all this before i booted up my computer only to find two videos from the family. one of is, g, mad and jonah singing me happy birthday and one of jonah playing amazing grace on his guitar. needless to say, by 8:30 am i was bawling my head off.

so, i finally got myself put together but was still thinking about my babes. i miss them a lot. but later that afternoon, i was spoiled with homemade cupcakes with various themes all over them (i ate you are sexy...and sex...hmmmm....) and the gang gave me two lovely cards and a fiorelli bag (using it already). later that night, i met up with dee and caroline where we noshed at Patara off regent's street. i love that restaurant...best thai food ever! in all, it was a lovely day. and because of the time zone changes, i woke up to even more bday messages on facebook. love and miss you all!

regent street was all dressed up so i decided to return on tuesday night with camera in hand. i love the christmas lights on the high streets here. they have light ceremonies and its really a fantastic thing. i also took some pics of the selfridges windows all dressed in fables. absolutely stunning. i hope to go for a walk today to see what's happening at the harrod's windows. last year it was a quantum of solace dressing so hopefully this year, its more christmas-y.

on the 18th, my darling madison became a teenager! i can't believe it! i remember when she was born and the first pic we took of her...she was wheeled in to isabell's hospital room in her little bed all wrapped up in a cocoon with her little cheeks sticking out. and we took a pic and she kind of jumped and we jumped and said no more pictures. sigh...the good times. i remember holding her for the first time too.

the rest of the week was quite long with work travel, lots of meetings and has thus left me exahusted. dee was away for the weekend so i opted for a nice quiet weekend at home. i went for a drink to sosho in shoreditch as rob is taking a year off and moving to canada (haha - i know, the complete opposite of me). he's starting in montreal but hopefully will be in calgary around the same time i plan on going home for a week in the summer.

although i was not feeling well, i made myself go outside for a brief spell (the drugstore and then a movie - the informant with matt damon). but other than that, i was desperate to get back home...its not that i feel sick but was feeling really run down. hopefully the vitamins and immune boosters i got at the drugstore (and really, to call john bell & croyden a drug store is a slap in the face....it had EVERYTHING in it)...they should give me a boost indeed. i took some this morning and already feel better (course the 12 hours sleep might have had something to do with it).

christmas is around the corner. i can't wait to go home...it'll be like a reset button for me. but until then, i've got some intense projects to complete at work so hopefully i'm not totally knackered by the time i hop on that plane!