Ziatitina

What a week it's been!! I am finally able to open my eyes without risking to fall asleep again within 5 minutes. Note: it's almost 8pm... Yes, it's been a party week. I guess this is just part of December madness. Not only do you have to hit the masses to manage a half-decent christmas shopping, this is also the perfect opportunity to have a fantastic staff christmas party! :) Yes, we had ours last night, and I can honestly say it has been the best Xmas Party I have ever been to!

Where to start, we were invited to Hertfordshire to celebrate in a barn. So far nothing special, but wait for it.... Theme: Oklahoma. The initial reaction was a bit suprised, shocked, clueless all put together, but we started looking forward to it. So, here we were... Friday night, 6.30pm and a bunch of cowboys, sheriffs and similiar figures make their way to the Strand to jump into our massive white Limo. So, off we go with our coolbox (yes, we had loads of champagne!), the hats, the horses and our secret santa box.

Try to pour champagne in a moving Limousine. Certainly not an easy task, but as you can see from the picture everyone was sorted within a very short time. Looks cosy doesn't it? The Secret Santa was a success and we had all sorts of presents ranging rom Twister, to a blow-up-wife :)

It took us about 2 hours to reach our destination, also because we got terribly lost nearby our final destination. Clare and myself asked a passing by car, but we didn't get anything out of the driver except a very weird and confused look.... Never mind! We finally arrived at the house and were warmly welcomed with even more champagne!

This is Paul and one of the gorgeous poodles of the house. I have to admit that I have never really been a poodle fan, but these little creatures have captured my heart since this summer, when we were invited for a BBQ. In fact, within no time everyone had their own little one caddled up near them. There was no time to rest though, due to our delay we had to reach the final location for the event soon. The barn was waiting.....

...and what an amazing scenario it was! Christmas decorations, a bar, a line dancing band, comfortable tables and chairs, many other cowboys and cowgirls and a truly Wild West atmosphere. How can you not grab a drink and make the best out of it????? :) 

Here we have.... Clare and myself, Helen and Lu, Helen, Mia and last but not least Crispin, Mike and myself. Come forward if you believe we weren't dressed appropriately!!! I owe a big THANK YOU to Helen for sponsoring some of these brilliant pictures...I only had a few and that would certainly  not have been enough!!!

 Many dances, drinks and lots of food later we had to return to London so we left, a bit like Cinderella, around midnight only to reach Covent Garden in the pouring rain after 1am. Nice.....

PS from 2 days later... it's Monday evening and I have a horrible cold. Need a bit of a moan, because I really feel rubbish. 5 more days and I am on holidays, how is it actually possible that I get sick before going on holidays?? No way! Here I am with my Strepsils and my Day/Nightnurse and can not think about anything else than how rubbish I'm feeling. Hoooray to thinking positive. I think I'm off to bed... Good night x

We're almost half way through December, Christmas is only two weeks away and suddenly I find myself thinking about how quick the past year has run by. I know, it's a normal thing that happens around this time of year. It probably has got to do with this whole winter thing: the days are getting shorter, you arrive at work it's dark, you leave work it's dark, cold wind hits your face when you're out and about, the good old rain doesn't seem to stop, the cosy warm flat when you arrive home, the even nicer warm duvet in the morning when you have to get up, the lights and decorations wherever you look, hundreds of people fighting their way through Oxford Street on any given evening holding 10 bags in each hand... I could go on forever. Anyways, time has flown by scarily quickly. I know I will wake up tomorrow and it's already the New Year...somehow that always happens. :) No, I am not going to loose myself in thought about what I achieved this year and what I could have done better and what I will do different next year... I'll leave that to the 1st January 2007 Reflection Moment. Ha ha ha!

Last Thursday I was standing in Regent Street waiting for the my bus and for once I was actually enjoying those weird blue lights they put up every year. Trust me, they normally have some random cartoon figures on there that don't really have anything to do with the festive season, but it suddenly sort of felt right. Let's forget about the fact that it was absolutely freezing ....

This is Hamley's all lit up and this is Regent Street the other way towards Piccadilly Circus...

Good you can't actually see the cartoons, because they would just totally spoil the picture. So, I hope I have been able to pass on a little bit of a christmas feeling. 2 more weeks and I'll be in the Swiss mountains...can it get more christmassy than that? :) Can't wait..... HOLIDAYS!!! But first let's get ready mentally for all the christmas parties coming up over the next week. Starting of with...ta daaaaa...our office christmas party on Friday. Not only will we be going to the countryside, there is also a theme associated with it. Wait for it.... more to follow on the weekend (if I am still able to talk). There actually are 2 more parties beforehand and 2 afterwards, so, yes, it will be a tough one. :)

Tine

Ok, here you got it. Put together a Friday afternoon in the office (approx 5 pm), a really rainy, dark and sad day, an office without windows (yes, that does contribute quite a bit!!!), a small yellow rubber duck (that is normally stuck to my keyboard), a moment of "Friday Afternoon Madness", 2 very understanding colleagues and you get this.....

Do I need to say much more? :)

3 more weeks and I will be on christmas holidays, that should hopefully calm the madness down a little bit. I will be off to the wonderful Swiss Alps, to a small town called Scuol - my family has been going there ever since I can remember. There is not a hint of snow at the moment... how depressing. Fingers crossed I will be able to hit the slopes at least a couple of days.

What a strange week it has been. Lots of rain and shorter days and then the wind last night....truly spooky if you have a small forest in front of your bedroom window. On Friday evening I met with my dear friend Jo and some colleagues after work and we went to a Wine Bar on Bedford Street. The Bedford & Strand has a lovely atmosphere and a good wine list, but once you have booked a table note that you have to have something to eat, otherwise you will be charged 10 Pounds each! We got told after about an hour, and apparently it didn't really matter that we already spent enough on 4 bottles of wine or that there were another 5 empty tables. We finished our glasses and tried to get out of there as soon as possible. Very disappointing experience! So we reached Smollensky's on the Strand, where we were much more welcome. We found a table immediately, had a lovely smily waitress to assist us and enjoyed some nibbles! All in all it was a lovely girlie night out. :)

This weekend Nicoletta (AKA Bagassa) was visiting from Milan, so we went for some drinks and Spanish Tapas around Bayswater last night. It was really nice to catch up with her, Cri, Giulia e Marzia. Niky hope to see you soon again!!