The lucky last

Hi Anna!

Forget the last post, I'm definitely excited now!

 My room is totally bare just like the first day I moved in. I gave away a whole lot of stuff  and I'm all packed. Just under a couple of hours until Benny gets here to help me get my things to the airport. It was difficult deciding what to leave behind but in the end I managed to get just over 30kg into my suitcase and happy that my favourite belongings are all in there including my rollerblades! Haha. They weighed about 3kg alone but I wanted to make sure I had them with me. I'm terrible because yesterday when I was in Oxford Street I wanted to buy more things to take with me. Clothes of course. Pull yourself together Chia, you're going to a place with a gazillion shopping malls not the jungles of East Kalimantan.

I'm  not so sad anymore because I know there are plenty of things to look forward to and I get to see a familiar face in KL! Wohooo!!! Additionally, thinking about all the wonderful things that I've experienced made me feel like I made the most of London. I shall leave you with one of the highlights of London.

I was here for the Royal Wedding, the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, and I was here for the OLYMPICS 2012!!!!!  I couldn't have picked a better time to come to London. It was one of the most fantastic experience ever and incredibly blessed to have Shaz and Lauren with me to celebrate and join in the fun. My Ausdon buddies hooray!

I felt very patriotic and proud to be supporting team Aus and although I haven't been back home in a while, Australia, Perth you will always have my heart! I will come back for you, I will!!!!!

GOOD MORNING OLYMPIC STADIUM :) The stadium looks rather small in this pic.This is us at 8am with our hockey tickets. Totally worth every quid. I still can't believe what great seats and fun we had.

View of Olympic Park. Shame about the grey clouds.

We were  here London 2012!

Our Aussie flags

Waiting for the game to start. So no one else wanted to wig it except for me. Took ages painting the flag at 5 in the morning. Should've thought of the tattoos. Looks odd when I smile too haha!

The damage. What a super game!

First game of hockey I've ever watched. Excitement, Mexican waves, win, hotness, no rain. Nothing else I'd ask for.

Celebrating with our beers.

We had a few people wanting to take photos with us including these American/Mexicans.

Why didn't I think of this idea?

We stayed for the whole day after the game exploring the park and doing strange poses. Well I was.

I'm thinking of the night when I was leaving Perth to London and you wrote our first post. I am so proud of our blog and love how we still have it up and running. I loved reading about what you've been up to and your updates on Perth.  I am feeling a little sentimental about the whole blog now. I just wanted you and all my friends to know what a great support they have been and no way would I be able to do all of this and get through it without you or them.

 As the title suggests, this is the lucky last post from London, but it sure won't be the last post at all.  I'm finally here. This is the last day in London.

See you on the other side Anna!

MUAH!

Saying goodbye to Hampstead

Hi Anna,

Your last post was really cute! Haha! I love how small simple things like that delights you!

I'm in a sad mood and I don't really feel like blogging about the Olympics. It's been ages since I've posted. My parents have gone back, I went to watch the football and hockey match, explored Olympic Park, ticked off a few more things on the to-do list, packed the room, and this time on Tuesday I will be on the plane to KL.

I know how much I hated London because of the weather but now that I'm leaving all I can think about are the happy memories. London has left me so many wonderful memories and I feel heartbroken to be leaving it all behind. I knew I would only be here maximum of 2 years so saying goodbye was expected. But now after all the talk, it's nearly time.

I deliberately planned a lunch date in Hampstead with Lauren today just to be there one last time. I wanted to be where I used to live, where I first lived, when I was all new to London. I wanted to stroll down the familiar streets again. I think whoever is up there was playing tricks on me because the weather was warm and sunny and it made me wish I wasn't leaving just yet.

 Hampstead will always have my heart. I love it to bits and I came home feeling emotionally exhausted with memories of everything that has happened here playing back in my head. Wild nights stumbling off the bus and onto the empty street. My birthday picnic. Seeing snow outside my window for the first time. Friends who have visited me and the cafes we sat in. Walking to the bus stop to get to work when it was pitch black in winter. Sprinting up and down the hill like a mad woman.  Fondest first date with a lovely British guy. Bumping into Pene on the streets when I'm out doing errands. Sigh...I am glad I have kept a diary and blogged my time in London. Perfect whenever I'm feeling nostalgic.

My friends know I have a love/hate relationship  with London. I don't think I can ever say that I loved London but I know I will go endlessly about how much I miss it.The hardest thing about living and working abroad is saying goodbye. Unfortunately it doesn't get easier the more you do it either. Who knows what awaits. I feel like my life is in blocks of two years. Two years in Indonesia. Two years in London, well almost, and now it will be two years in KL.


I am going to bed and hopefully wake up feeling a bit more alive and positive. I would like to do a post with photos of my last week in London and I know you would love to see the Olympic photos.

My birthday week

Hi Anna!

Happy Monday! I hope you had a good weekend :) I know I did thanks to you! I should really say happy Tuesday because this blog was typed in two parts. Halfway through I ended up going for drinks in the local pub with my housemate and that went on for 6 hours because of the unexpected sunshine.

(Started typing on Sunday) As I'm typing this I'm eating the most delicious made ever by yours truly for lunch! Before I go into that in detail, let me tell you how I celebrated my second birthday in London!

So on Tuesday, it was pretty much a normal morning. I went to the gym and I was a little sad that the first person to wish me happy birthday in person was the gym receptionist. It must've come up on the screen and I was a little embarassed that I was at the gym on my birthday. I felt like I had no life! He even asked if I was planning to do anything and told him the truth that I just wanted it to be a normal day. Nothing monumental about turning 27. It was rather exciting to check my facebook and feel the love from friends and that really made me smile, especially messages from people I haven't spoken to in a while. I felt enveloped in warm air and a spray of wildflowers!

Benny insisted I had to do something even if it's small so I last minutely organised drinks at a local pub that I always walk past when I go to the gym. It was a nice quiet night with Shaz, Lauren and Benny. It was quite special that Shaz and Lauren also celebrated my birthday last year with a picnic on Hampstead Heath. I think one of the best part of the day was picking out the cake! I am such a kid. I saw the Hungry Caterpillar one and I thought YES! But then I saw the Gruffalo one and I spent about 15 minutes deciding getting in the way of mums selecting cakes for their children. I think only a teacher/parent/child would know who the Gruffalo is and can appreciate a Gruffalo cake! Funny how Lauren thought it was from The Wild Things. That is one book I don't like. We had the cake back at my place and to tell you the truth it wasn't the greatest tasting cake because there was just too much icing (which was unavoidable if you wanted some character loaded up on it). We had a few more drinks and then at about 2am I was ready to be in bed.

This?

Or this?

Very happy indeed!

On Wednesday it was predicted to be partially sunny for half the day and of late there has not been any decent sunshine at all so I knew I had to get out and soak whatever sun was poking through the clouds. I am so glad that my next birthday will not be in London... all that grey is depressing. I was going to go to Richmond Park as I've never been before and I wanted to see the wild deers, but I decided to go to Hampstead because I didn't want to make the long journey there to be rained on. Good decision because it did rain later on the afternoon! It was really nice sitting on a bench reading and people watching. I love Hampstead Heath! I am going to officially announce that it is my most FAVOURITE place in London! I have so many fond memories here and it's one place in the middle of all the hustle and bustle that feels like I'm in the English countryside. Now I'm wondering maybe I have declared numerously how much I love it there.

On Friday I decided to make roast chicken. I don't know where this desire came from. One free range corn fed chicken, bunch of thyme, garlic, lemon, salt, pepper and an hour in the oven later, my chicken was done! It was my first roast chicken ever and according to Benny it was good but he did keep pestering me to watch Heston and pick up some pointers.  Good thing I invited him over to help eat the chicken otherwise it will be chicken salad, chicken soup, chicken sandwich, chicken-whatever- you-like for the rest of the week.

First time roasting chicken

Brothers are great for taking photos. This is how I transfer the chicken from tray to board- by the two back legs!

This brings me to my awesome pizza. I made it using the leftover chicken. A M A Z I N G! I know it was because I made my housemate taste one and he ended up getting a second piece! I used olive oil, salt, plain yoghurt and self raising flour for the base (google yoghurt base if interested!) and this time, instead of assembling it all together and into the oven, I roasted capsicums, mushrooms, leftover chicken, olives, and tossed all together with olive oil, oregano and capers. When everything was cooked, I added the red onion slices and mixed it all up then piled it on the pizza base. From now on, I am going to roast everything in the oven first. It gathers so much flavour that way. Not very traditional but I love my pizzas loaded with vegies and it's the best way to cook them without them dampening the pizza base.

You can barely see the base! haha!

I can't wait for my parents to come back from their tour so I can cook. I think it's time someone paid me to cook dinner for them. I could be a live out chef, but they have to expect some meals to not taste that great because I'm not that great. It will be wholesome, healthy and low in fat though :)

Saturday was turning 27 part 2! Very exciting stuff! In the morning I went to the post office to pick up my parcel! YAY!!! It was presents from you! I loved how you wrapped it with butcher's paper. I love the rustic simplistic look of it. When I saw the earrings I knew I had to incorporate them with my outfit to high tea later on the afternoon.The necklace watch is too cool of an idea!! I've never seen one like it and I love how unusual it looks and it makes me feel like an explorer from centuries ago! I love the meaning of the gifts it's hard to decide which one is my favourite!!! I love them all!!!

I don't know how I managed this facial expression. It's my quizzical look and it makes me laugh. Terrible! All this time I wanted to rip open and find out what's inside!

I can't rotate some of my pics :( WOHOOOO three in one! I just wanted to tear the paper open straight away.. but no.. photos first.

LOVE LOVE Had to use them straight awayyy!! I made a bit of a mess and got my hands covered in ink :/ Friends beware- you will be receiving handmade cards, wrapping paper etc. covered in these stamps. Stamp crazy!

Time + traveller :) I love the symbolism of this little piece of jewelry. I feel like I need a monocle and a telescope too! I haven't figured out the chain yet :(

In the rush of opening your presents, I realised I did not take a photo of the earrings because I put them on my lobes straight away! Maybe you can spot them in the photos to come.

Lauren and I have been trying to do new things in London and we both thought that having afternoon tea and dressing up would be a lovely experience. I had google and booked at The Lanesborough Hotel for 4pm the night before and was happy that there were places available for us on Saturday.

It was my third high tea experience. The first two times were in Perth, I remember going to one in Cottosloe with you Anna, and then another time by the Swan River with HW. That was age ago and I forgot how fun it was to be all dainty, drink tea and marvel at the tiny portions of carefully presented delights! I also forgot how full you get too! It was fantastic because they also offered you refill of whatever you like. Looking at the photos you might think we needed round two, but the sandwiches and savouries really filled us up. We also decided to go all out and have champers too, shame that was not free flow! It was such a splendid afternoon tea and the service and setting was impeccable. There were only waiters it seems that you have to be good looking to work there.

Scones and sweets hmm... I'm getting into this layer of lemon, berry cheese mousse with crumbled cheesecake base and diced crunchy rhubarb. YUM!

With my lovely Lauren. Just noticed that Lauren has a little quiche on her plate! Aw you can't really see your earrings here but they were perfect for the simple elegant sweet look I was going for. The savouries were at the bottom and I liked them more than the sweets. The top layer of sweets had too many flavours and textures going at once and it was almost a bit distracting because I was too busy looking at them and trying to get them without sticking the whole thing in my mouth. Definitely preferred the red velvet cake in the middle tier though.

I tried all three but loved the plain scone the best!

Other afternoon-tea-ers

Feeling tiny next to this oversized bouquet in the reception hall

At about 7pm we walked to Piccadilly Circus to sip on half price cocktails in Jewel Bar. It was a really lavish sultry decorated bar think chandeliers, candles, drapery etc, with lots of very good looking women! In some bars, people are so well dressed and trendy it's good fun to people watch.

Their waitresses wear shiny gold sequin dresses

I haven't been around the area at night and it was so lovely to see it lit up. I have to admit I have a soft spot for London when the lights come on at night. Although it was raining, it was fun to take photos and we even ended the night in an Irish bar  but at around 1130pn we called it a night and randomly went inside a souvenir shop making a note of things we wanted to buy to commemorate our stay in London then we split ways to head home.

This brolly fits inside my clutch. One thing about London is you always have to carry and umbrella and wear patent shoes.

There you go Anna... that was my birthday week :) Thank you and to all my lovely friends for your thoughts and warm wishes XXXX

I will finish here with a photo of the culprit that stole my planned afternoon away from blogging. 

Strawberry & lime goodness

Summer is finally here!

Hi Anna

YAY happea days you are loved too :) I'm glad you found The Alchemist so inspiring and everything that you wrote was exactly how I felt after reading it too which was why I wanted to share the book with you.

Yesterday I went to Borough Markets with Chrissy and Alex. It was a splendid sunny Saturday and it had to be spent outdoors. On Friday I tried to organise picnic at Hampstead Heath but the only confirmation I got was from Chrissy so we thought we'd go to Borough Markets and for a walk along the Thames instead.

With our apple/orange cranberry juice

Along Thames River. Such a sweet couple aww!

Where we were walking. I wish London was like this everyday!!!

What a grand idea! Socialising, exercising and drinking all in one.Would love to do this. Maybe someone in Perth can start a barcycle?

It was truly a beautiful day and there was so many people around you could really feel the change of mood. I was infinitely happier to have direct contact with the sunshine rays although I came back home a little sunburned.

About a couple of weeks ago I found out some exciting news and I went celebrating with Benny for a Mexican meal and we watched American Pie Reunion. I have to say it was very funny to start off with, but I fell asleep towards the end. I cannot stay up after 10pm! I've  really enjoyed having him around although we have our little bickers. Currently he is somewhere in Italy doing his first ever backpacking trip by himself. I'm a little worried for him being his first time and all but I am sure he will come back with a few good stories.

Green rice, beans and shredded pork

We also spent the next day wandering through town and visiting Chinatown to have some dumplings that I've been meaning to try. I have been buying all sorts of things to bring back with me including the cutest pair of salt and pepper shaker.  They will remind me of London and I love how the rabbits are facing in different directions.

I made oven baked chicken nuggets coated in cornflakes (which I had fun crushing) and herbs and invited Lauren over. I love cooking for other people and it was lovely to have my brother and Lauren try my first attempt of this recipe from Lauren's CSIRO recipe book.

Can't figure out how to rotate it on blogger!

I've been covering a reception class (5 year olds) and the students have been making Mr Grass Heads using stockings, grass seeds, and packing it in with sawdust. I think it's hilarious that they are multicultural. We forgot the mouths though.

To market! Two markets!

Dear Anna

Another week post from me :)

I can't believe it's been a week since my short post and my brother is here in London! As I type he is downstairs googling  and looking up accomodation. It's so strange to think that he is going through what I went through except of course he has a lovely sister to look after him!

I've been taking a lot of photos for you. Last Sunday I went to Shoreditch and the markets around Brick Lane including the Sunday Upmarket. I forget how much I LOVE secondhand shopping and looking through other people's junk. Something beautiful about old worn things that bears memories of the owner over the years. There were other things for sale and I searched high and low for something I liked but I only came out with a pair of vintage cute patent bow ballet flats with a tiny heel.

Bikes you can hire to cycle around London

Bags!

Lots of secondhand and new clothes sold

After you said the pic of me in Brighton with the lobster reminded you of Simpsons, it stuck in my mind and this knitted prawn brooch reminded me of you mentioning it! I love the dog brooch too and I thought of you. This store had really cool designer jewellery but they were so expensive :(

I had the chicken one and they were delicious! Very similar to the Malaysian curry puffs.

Some of the newer items for sale

Section of the market

Street performer with ball

East side. Plenty of Indian restaurants on Brick Lane.

The crowd

Ta da! Haven't worn them out yet!

 On Thursday morning I woke up nice and early to meet my brother at the airport. Turns out he was there before I was. I have a bad habit of being late to airports and making people wait! Yikes! He brought 3 boxes of SHAPES for me. I miss these biscuits the most and I can't justify paying £4 a box here from Selfridges. BBQ shapes were devoured first :)

Happy? YES!

My Venus fly trap has not been able to catch any insects but it is still alive! In fact, I allowed it to flower by mistake resulting in this strange looking singe stalk. After googling I found out that I shouldn't let that happen as it prevents the fly traps from growing.

My cacti and odd looking flower stalk of venus fly trap

Yesterday I felt a bit lonely and it was nice that Pene was free and she even made me lunch! I love being cooked for. On my way there I walked past my old place. Big sigh!

Pene made pan fried mackerel and salad with a delicious onion soya dressing that I must get off her :)

Do you notice something about these photos?

Shops I took for granted when I lived in Hampstead

Miss it all the time!

I want to live in one of these mansions

Like the three colours of my shoes, book and bag. I picked up this old book filled with English/ Irish proverbs from Oxfam.Was a lot of fun to read and I love how it's cloth bound embossed with gold lettering.

Finally, today I went to Portobello Market. My brother went and explored south London and I met up with Chrissy! I don't know about her but I had a lot of fun looking at bric a brac and all sorts. It was funny hearing her tell me about her morning experience cycling in London on the Barclay's bikes you saw in the pic above. There are crazy drivers out there and I have to praise anyone that is gutsy enough to have a go on the road.

Tourists everywhere

Avoided going in there in case I leave with a pet fish or something like that.

Lost soles/souls haha!

Found this fantastic secondhand shop on my way home.

I went home with this old suitcase for £25 . It's the cutest and the lining has pink areoplanes all over it. Will take a picture of me carrying it and also to show you the lining.

Chrissy helped me pick this one out. £5 It's a French fashion magazine cover. that I'm going to frame one day. Can you spot something peculiar about this? It was the reason why I bought it! A talking piece.

 Nautical tin and rabbit for £3. My mantel is looking a little crowded.

 I suddenly have this impulse to buy all things vintage, decorative and pretty. I think after talking to Pene and her secondhand/ opshopping has brought up my old habits once again. I don't know how I am going to cart all these items back with me. One thing I love about London is that there are so many beautiful old items to be had!

That's all for now.
Enjoy :)