lou got herself a ticket to the remember me (new robert pattinson film) premiere tonight. she was only able to get one (despite her best efforts to get two!) so i went to keep her company before she had to walk the red carpet in.

it was insane! there were crazy twilight fans just about everywhere. i stuck around long enough to catch a glimpse of robert pattinson (couldn't manage to get a photo though...boo) and thought that was enough to go home. he was beautiful.

first time i've seen a premiere in the flesh though - despite living here for 9 months! it was very cool. i'm thinking that sometime soon (i'm thinking the sex and the city premiere in may) i'll take a half day and go be one of the crazies waiting for the stars to arrive.

just another cool thing about living in london. premieres just round the corner from work. amazing.

(i'm home in a week!!! can not wait!)

time won't let me go..home

Wow, it's been a while since I've last posted! Probably been the longest break in between posts. I've been a busy girl with work which has been nice. But there's good news attached to that - my contract has been renewed! So I'm excited, not gonna have to look for a new job. This also solidifies my trip home! My flights have been booked for a couple weeks now, but just to say it out loud, I'm coming home March 24th! I'll be staying until April 12th, so it'll be a nice visit. Gonna be home for Easter, which I'm also happy about.

There hasn't been much to report in terms of what I've been up to. Work, cinema, etc. Not a whole lot. One cool thing that I got to do though was attend a BAFTA (the British Academy of Film and Television) event! Lou won tickets to their Silent Picture House event. The BAFTAs are the British equivalent of the Oscars and the awards ceremony was a couple weeks ago. Two days before the awards they held this event where they played all the films nominated for Best Picture. You got a headset, picked a screen, and watched the film of your choice. It was amazing and the hospitality was phenomenal. We basically got to go in, have a bunch of hors d'oeuvres and champagne. Good times.

Anyway, I should get back to work. But I can't wait to come home! Tim Horton's, dim sum, perogies, family and friends. Just a few things I'm excited to have in my life again!

Miss you all and see you in a few short weeks!

another day, another year older.

Yesterday was my 23rd birthday! And as I'm a bit cynical about birthdays and the singing in general, it all went really well! I hadn't told anybody at work about it mostly because I didn't want people to make a big deal out of it. But Lou went ahead and informed my boss and my friend Karl. And go figure, round 4:00pm there was cake and singing. I'll admit now that it was nice. I was more interested in the card to be honest!

Then Lou was gracious (and awesome) enough to take me out for dinner. Katie came and met us here and we all headed off to T.G.I.Fridays (yes, TGIFridays, the same as in the states - they serve "American" food). We had a great meal and loads of cocktails.

Finished off the night with a quick stop at our local pub in Tooting. We mostly just wanted to reassure the landlord (Lindsey met him while she was here!) that we were alive. Had a couple birthday shots and headed home.

All in all it was a great birthday. Just like Christmas, it wasn't the same as back home. But it's a new year, I live in a new country and have some wonderful new friends. At the end of the day, you just want to be with people you love on your birthday and I got just that - so I'm not complaining. (Don't think that means I didn't miss you all!)

ringing in the new year.

me and lou at carat's christmas party.

hello 2010! i hope everyone had a great new year's, because i surely did! me, lou and some friends went out for a nice dinner in covent garden. we then did a bit of dancing and then round 11:00 headed off to waterloo to catch the fireworks. unfortunately, we didn't really get to see the fireworks because the bridge was far too full with people! nevertheless, we brought bottles of champagne and were surrounded by people and patiently waited for big ben to strike 12!

i frantically called everyone back home to wish them a happy new year's! it was a great time. the journey home was ridiculous but was well worth it. it was by far one of the best new year's eves i've ever had. lots of fun.

here's to hoping that 2010 is as good as 2009.

It's been a while since I posted - December has been manic! The picture above is the front of the London Evening Standard - one of the free papers they have here. And yes, -6° made front page news! What I thought was the funniest part were the posters with headlines saying "The BIG freeze tonight!". I suppose that it is cold for London, but still. I don't think any of them would survive a day in Saskatchewan in December!

Moving on. As I said, December has been a very hectic month. Very busy at work with work in general and loads of Christmas parties. I had 3 Christmas parties for work alone and then a bunch of lunches out with clients. It kept us going I suppose but I felt battered by the end of it! I can't even begin to explain how much English people drink. But it's a cultural thing - as odd as that sounds. Going to the pub after work is as common as taking the tube.

Needless to say I was happy to have a couple days off at Christmas - just to get a break from it all really! I went out to Surrey to spend Christmas with Lou and her family. And as far as my first Christmas away from home, it was the best it could be!

We spent Christmas Eve at the pub - an English tradition from what I understand. Then Christmas day we went over to Lou's cousin's cottage (which was beautiful by the way) and just chatted over champagne and canapés. Then we went back to her's for a proper Christmas dinner. It was good but not near as good as back home.

An added bonus was that Mom got the family a webcam and I had a bit of a breakdown when I saw them! I think it was more than likely because I haven't physically seen Mom and Dad in close to six months. It was nice though - it almost felt like I was there. Not quite, but as close as we could get. Seeing all of you on Christmas Night was also a weird occurence - waving hello to everyone was a bit odd! But I managed.

I'm now back at work - and it's slowed down. There's very few people in the office so it's quite quiet. But I'm sure next week it'll start to pick up.

New Year's Eve is this week - a few friends and I are going out for dinner and then heading to the bridge to watch the fireworks. Should be a pretty tame way to ring in the New Year, but I'm happy with this choice!

Miss you all and hope you had a great Christmas and an even better New Year's!

baby please come home for christmas.

So it's been a few days since Lindsey left and I already miss her! Sunday was harder than I can begin to explain. It was the first time since I've been here (and in my life in general) that I've ever been homesick. I think bringing her here was awesome but I also knew that she was just gonna leave!

Now that we're in December, and Christmas is fast approaching, it gets harder being away from my friends and family. I am happy though. Work has been going really well and I love everybody I work with. And I've realised that December gets busier and busier as you get older. When you're a kid, you only have Christmas Eve to wait for. Now it's dinner parties, get togethers and work parties. And I'm not complaining!

This weekend I'm off to Surrey with Lou. Her parents are away in China so she's stealing their house for a dinner party. And I'm very excited! She's planned this crazy menu and I can't wait to try it all.

Anyway, I gotta head to work now! Just wanted to let you all know that I love you and miss you - now more than ever.

xx