Monday, November 26, 2012

Weekend Well Spent!

I must say that this weekend was a massive improvement to the past one!

Friday night I took part in a hip hop class at Danceworks studio near Bond St tube station with Morwenna and Olivia. They had been going to a Wednesday eve one but decided to try this Friday one and asked me to join as well.

I was not disappointed! It was an hour and a half class, the first twenty minutes or so spent warming up and the rest of the class learning a routine. It was a great way to spend a Friday evening getting some exercise and having some fun with the girls, I think it's going to become a weekly thing for me!

Saturday was wonderful as well, it was pouring outside and after some transportation difficulties I finally arrived at Broadway Market to have a reunion lunch with my dear friend Stacy. She's been out of town filming and then joining up with her boyfriend's music tour. So it was great to catch up and enjoy a lovely lunch. It's a shame the weather was so rainy and windy though as we couldn't take advantage of the market.

That night I headed out to Sketch to see Morwenna dj again. We had a really great time as Olivia came later on to. We danced the night away to some disco and electro tunes. It wasn't as busy as several other Saturdays I had been there, so it was a nice change to have some room to dance and more freedom for Morwenna to play tunes she preferred.

The badboy capes Olivia and I were given to wear when we went out for fresh air

The weekend continued to improve when Sunday Morwenna rang me to invite me out to the estate that has been in her family since 1490, Knebworth House. I was very excited as the weather was finally sunny and it was a chance to see the place Morwenna is always talking about, and to get out of the city.

I quickly got ready and packed an overnight bag and headed to Morwenna's so me, her and her boyfriend Phil could catch the train from King's Cross.

Upon arrival I couldn't get over the beauty of the place. The land was so vast and the architecture was incredible. 

Knebworth House
After some yummy homemade vegetable soup from the garden, me, Phil, Morwenna, her father and their family dog Oscar headed out for a walk over some of the property. It was so beautiful to be out in nature, getting fresh air and forgetting about the bustle of London.



stags and deer we stumbled upon


The dinosaur park

Afterwards we watched a film by the fireplace and had some dinner cooked by Phil. This was followed by a tour given by Morwenna of the "museum" part of the house. The history was incredible and the decor, out of this world. The house is often used for filming, which it was this weekend, for an episode of Miss Marble.

Harry Potter shrine wall from scenes filmed at Knebworth

dining table
Overall I haven't had this wonderful of a weekend in quite some time and am very grateful to Morwenna and her family for having me!


























Wednesday, November 21, 2012

A different meaning

Well, the title of my last post ended up having a far different meaning than I thought it would. It my head, let the games begin, meant celebrating the submission of my thesis essay. Boy, was I wrong...

I had a great time celebrating Phil's birthday with Morwenna and other good friends at one of our favourite bars, Indo on Friday. But, that's where the fun of the weekend began and ended. I had had a toothache for several days, so I saw a dentist Saturday morning. She was lovely and I couldn't believe how much cheaper seeing a dentist is here than in Canada, shocking! Anyhow, she prescribed me with some antibiotics. So after doing some errands and picking them up from Boots, I took one.

This is where my weekend went downhill... I had a horrible reaction to these antibiotics and quickly acquired nausea and a migraine. That being said, I spent the whole of the weekend, and Monday after my morning castings in bed. I had to cancel seeing friends from out of town and attending a concert. Let the games begin more so meant, the games of sickness rather than fun. I'm still feeling rather dreadful, but slowly improving.

It may have been a dreadful weekend, but this week has been a much needed improved. Monday eve I found out that I would be working for Wella, a hair company the following day. I wasn't sure how it would go since at the casting it was all Italians, minus the photographer. But, arriving on set Tuesday morning took away all my apprehension. A fellow Premier model, Kerri-Lee was working with me that day, and boy oh boy did we have the best of times! I hadn't had that much fun on set in ages, the clients loved us both and we were all having laughing fits by the end of the day.

Molly, the photographer's dog

preview of Kerri and I

shot of me and the boys
 Wednesday turned out to be fantastic as well. Tuesday evening I got a text from Morwenna asking me to join her at a couple of launch parties she had been invited to, so of course I jumped at the chance!

We were lucky enough to have a car pick us up and bring us to the first event, a launch party with Spanish clothing company, Bimba and Lola. The music was great and soon as we walked in we ran into a lot of my bookers from Premier. It was a lovely surprise. Morwenna and I ate a couple of nibbles and had a glass of champagne while catching up with others, but then like Cinderellas, we had to go!
Morwenna posing with one of the looks
Our car brought us to the next party, a launch for SuperTrash, where our friend Olivia joined us. As the three of us were walking up we could tell it was a different vibe than the previous event. This one had about ten photographers waiting outside as well as blaring music. Morwenna had been given an outfit by SuperTrash to wear to the party (she looked stunning might I add) so everyone was fawning over the gal.

shot of the party
We had such a good time having a little dance and checking out all the gorgeous clothes. Pretty sure a good chunk of my income is going to go there next month...

Morwenna posing with her dress
the two of us in our Wednesday best
The week has been going fantastic so I'm looking forward to what the rest of it holds. However, I will definitely be much more careful when choosing a blog title such as, Let the Games Begin!















Friday, November 16, 2012

Let the Games Begin!!!!

And HELLLOOOO readers! Sorry that I've been rather rubbish and posting the past little bit. But ,as previously mentioned, I had a thesis paper to write for my university course, and thank my lucky stars, I JUST submitted it!

Alas, this will be a brief enough recap of what I've been up to, besides spending my evenings prepping and writing this paper.

Saturday after going to the gym I decided to venture into town to get some vitamins, however, the shop I wanted to go to was closed so I ended up walking further west, and what did I stumble upon? The Lord Mayor's parade. It was rather fantastic since I had wanted to go but just couldn't be asked to make the effort. There was lots of people watching and all showing full support for everyone that was apart of the parade.




Did a few other bits that weekend, but nothing out of the ordinary. Tuesday I had a submission shoot which went wonderfully quick, considering I had to work on my paper. We completed 8 looks in 4 hours, including hair and makeup which was brilliant! The team was really cool and the mood was rather chilled, which I always adore.


The following day I was doing another editorial shoot. But, to my fear, we were going to be doing half the shots outside! That is not something that ANYONE likes to hear after september. It turned out to be a sunny day, but regardless, it's no longer summer! After putting my foot down about my conditions for shooting outside, we moved to the location. Lea Valley, its north London near Endfield and such a gorgeous location! Especially when the sun comes out! 


Unfortunately, the cold wasn't my only fear that day. To get to the park we had to go over a train crossing, and of course me following the photographer and him not paying attention, we were rather close to getting hit by the train. My heart definitely beat out of my chest, especially when the conductor blew his horn full force. I for one was extremely cautious with further crossing!


My day wasn't going great when I was almost attacked by a swan too.

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However, the shoot was fantastic, all shot in film, rather than digital, which is always a welcome change. I'm really looking forward to seeing the end product, which I'll be sure to post up here.

Now that it's friday afternoon, and everything I needed to do this week is complete...LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!!!




Thursday, November 8, 2012

Girl About Town

I was pleasantly surprised Tuesday evening when I got a text from my friend, Elsa (check out her food blog http://messi-palate.com/) inviting me to two events the following evening. I jumped at the chance as I had been in all week working on research for my university paper.

So yesterday evening her and I met at Shaka Zulu, at the Stables Market, Camden to attend the first event. Shaka Zulu was such an incredible location, it's African themed and there's carved wooden walls. Sadly, I didn't take any pictures, it was far too dark. 

This event was for a new store opening called Deki, unfortunately, you wouldn't have known why you were there, almost no promotion going on. We had a couple of glasses of champagne and decided to move on.

The next stop was for the press launch of Barrio East, a Mexican eatery/cocktail bar that currently has two locations, Barrio Central and Barrio North. The atmosphere was incredible! So many people, fantastic decor, yummy cocktails and fantastic canapes. 



Elsa and I's choice bartender
There was even some Brazilian dance and capoeira (dance fighting) performances. We were thoroughly entertained! I must say if you get the chance to check out any of the, soon to be three locations, head to Barrio, you're sure to have a good time!

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

The Beat Goes On

The past few days have been rather low key on my part of things. With the time going back an hour, the sun going down early, and winter quickly setting in, I've became even more domestic than usual. It really does feel like one should be eating dinner at 5pm and going to bed at 6pm when it's dark outside! I swear winter wouldn't be so bad if it were light out a tad longer. That being said, I really find daylight savings to no longer be relevant. It was created to benefit farmers, so they could make better use of having work periods in daylight. However, most societies that are most affected with daylight hours during winter are no longer predominantly farming communities. I feel that winter and daylight savings in our day and age now just brings on issues such as SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) and people leaving home and returning in the dark.

Anyway... I had the pleasure this past Thursday of having a catchup and session with my homeopath, Carolyne Hallett (http://www.homeopathtohealth.co.uk/). She is an incredibly brilliant woman and so easy to talk to, she's become my "English Mother". It's nice having a mother figure when mine is across the pond. Thru homeopathy, Carolyne has helped me reduce my anxiety, sleep better, I no longer get jetlag when I travel (thanks to her jetlag remedy) and she just generally advises me on any ailments and helping me to lead a healthy lifestyle. If you're interested in alternative therapies, I strongly suggest checking out her website, she's a miracle worker!

In other news, my parents decided to give me an early Christmas present, which I was more than keen to receive...a slow cooker! I have wanted one for several years, so it was the perfect gift! Now I can just pop the ingredients in in the morning and when I get home, voila! A fantastic meal!



                                                
So Sunday eve, I popped in all the ingredients, and made Chicken Cacciatore. DELCIOUS! It cooked the chicken so nicely that it just fell apart in your mouth. This is for sure my new favorite toy!



I also have a paper due in a week and a half so I have been doing tons of reading for that, along with research. It's going better than I thought it would, having freaked out at my professor about not having access to the books needed for said paper. However, with a little hard ball on my end, all is well!


It's cold out there, so keep warm everyone!