Valentine's Day

Happy (Belated) Valentine's Day everyone! I actually wasn't alone at all this time...well not literally anyway. For lunch I headed over to Deb's place for home made pho which was delicious and filling. She had a few of her other friends over as well. Dessert was cheesecake, M&S teacakes and ice cream cake so it was safe to say I was full. Then I took the bus to Radrian's (haha that name is so going to stick now!) place in Fulham for a home made gourmet dinner of pan fried salmon, rice and asparagus wrapped in prosciutto. Mmm mmm! I was spoilt with good food and good company.

Funny though, I still do feel really alone at times. I guess it is really magnified during V-Day when you see lovey-dovey couples walk hand in hand on the street, beaming girls holding pink or love-heart shaped balloons and all the stores festively decorated (and overpriced!). It went a little downhill from there when it took me over 2 hours to get home because the N29 didn't seem to be running, I happened to be carrying 3 heavy grocery bags and it felt like sub-zero temperatures outside. Oh, and there were two couples at the Angel bus stop totally PDA-ing on either side of me :( The highlight of the night was when I lugged my three huge Sainsbury's grocery bags onto the bus on the way to Angel, and some guy volunteered to put some of my bags on his lap due to lack of space - hm. Perhaps that was a pick-up attempt? I was too tired to notice. Singledom can be a curse at times...

Moving along, today was a better day, not weather wise though! My housemate Marta was having a stall at the Battersea Car Boot sale, with her fellow CSM graphic design classmates. They were selling off their designs/quirky products which ranged from flannelette scarves (basically the top half of the shirt with the arms and collars that you wrap into a scarf), postcard holders, homemade chocolate mousse and Marta's screen printed canvas bags. It had been awhile since I trekked to the markets, so decided to head down and see what treasures I could uncover! Frankly, Camberwell market owned this one completely - no contest whatsoever! Lots of bric-a-brac, yucky unwanted clothes but none of those really funky, vintage wares that you find racks and racks of back in Melbourne. It was more like a suburbian junk fest really. Even Marta agreed that this wasn't the ideal place for their target market - more suited to Brick Lane. It didn't take me long to cover the entire market space, and I was lucky to pick up a cute Little House on the Prairie-ish (really inspired by the S/S trend forecast in Russh mag) peasant/crop top with puffy sleeves, frill neckline and tie waist...I don't have the abs to pull off a crop top but I can tuck it into something high waisted which would be much more flattering! And grand total was 50p! Finally, something in London that is actually reasonable!

Later I headed to Chelsea for a proper sit down lunch...just something nice to end the week (or start the week?). Went to one of my favourite cafe joints, Le Pain Quotidien is a lovely French cafe with branches on High Marylebone Street, South Kensington and Kings Road to name a few. Though it's a chain, it feels really boutique, but without the pretension. I had a Milano Salami tartine with ricotta spread, rocket and little chopped up tomatoes, as well as a skim hot chocolate which was yummy! Headed home to watch some DVDs - Hairspray (such a feel good flick!) and Shutter. Tomorrow it's Stardust and Fools Gold!

Off to work tomorrow for my first full week at Woman & Home.

Wishing you a great week ahead.
M xo