Despite having lived in the UK my entire life (minus a tiny stint as a toddler where I lived in Amsterdam), I still get ever so excited to spend a bit of time in London. Coming from a dead-end town, London just feels so current and alive so I relish any chance to visit the country's capital. The place in question this past weekend turned out to be Covent Garden, where a few friends and I spent almost all of Saturday afternoon. After a little walk around the market we headed for food, feeling more than a little famished (London'll do that to you). As is often the case, we were on the lookout for anywhere that we, as a mixture of graduates and students, considered to be reasonable (aka a little restaurant where a meal was under £10!)

 

It was almost accidental that we stumbled across All Bar One, a little bar and restaurant tucked away a few hundred metres from the market. We were initially making a beeline for TGI Fridays - a place I still have yet to try out! - but the pull of food with the bonus of some celebratory cocktails won us over. Now I'm not the biggest foodie ever but determined to continue broadening my palette, after a quick perusal of the menu I opted for a delicious chicken and basil wrap (with added fries, because every indulgent weekend needs a few fries on the side, right?) The whole meal was exactly what the doctor ordered after a busy morning of trains, tubes and tons and tons of talking.

 

 

After stuffing our little stomachs, we swiftly moved onto the drinks menu where you're almost spoilt for choice when it comes to choosing a cocktail. A stickler for summery fruits, I opted for a raspberry daiquiri which was lovely, if a tad too strong for lunch time consumption! All Bar One also offer the chance to have a cocktail in a teapot for two or more people to share; very Mad Hatter-esque!

We only had to wait ten or so minutes to be seated and the staff were superbly attentive. We lucked in by arriving at the time we did; by the time we were half way through eating, it was getting busier and busier by the minute! It's definitely somewhere I'd go and eat at again, if I can remember how we found it that is. Geographical genius, I am not.

 

London itself is one of my favourite places in the world. I don't live massively far away from the city but far enough away that I only get to go and spend the day there on infrequent occasions. I haven't been in the evening for ages and it looked even prettier because it was decorated for Christmas!

As for Les Mis, I could probably write an entire article on the show itself but I'll save you from the boredom! All you need to know is that I felt utterly inspired when I left and that no matter who is cast, I always fancy the Enjolras! The staging was sublime, the set was fantastically built and the vocals were just incredible. A must-watch for any musical theatre fan and the most perfect Boxing Day to date.

 

I wish I could say I spent the day in London for the upcoming LFW, which would have been an absolute dream but actually, I had a fantastic day anyway. I met up with one of my friend's from university who has recently moved out the country for placement, so it was lovely to meet up in London and have a really chilled day chatting and chilling. Unfortunately the rain didn't hold off (boo) so we sought refuge in the Science Museum. A fair amount went over my head (I'm definitely more of a literary/artsy type of person!) but some of the exhibitions were quite interesting to look at, and definitely appealed to the historical interests in me.

 

After that we wandered around London a bit, browsed Chinatown and got pretty wet in the rain in the meantime! Then we hit a cute cocktail bar called Bar Titania in Leicester Square just after happy hour had started. It was just what we needed - somewhere warm (and dry!) to sit, drink and catch up. It felt quite sophisticated (for us, anyway!) and kind of gave me a glimpse of what life could be like in a year's time when I graduate from uni. Scary, but exciting too!

 

 

An OOTD post will hopefully follow either later today or tomorrow, need to find some time in between dancing, dissertation research and packing a few bits and bobs for uni!

 

What are you all up to this weekend?

 

Jade :)

I don't know about any of you but I am both messy and a hoarder: a recipe for disaster! So when I saw this beautiful storage box when I accompanied my dad on his annual TK Maxx haul, I had to buy it!

I haven't decided what I'm going to put in it yet but I'm currently considering using as a place to store all my writing and inpso ideas. It's too nice to put anything that could potentially ruin it and since paper is flat, I reckon it will take a while to fill it meaning all my notes and drabbles and doodles will be in one place.

The main reason I bought this though was because of the tilt to three of my favourite places. I have yet to go to Paris or New York but they are both on my bucket list, and since one of my closest friends is currently living out in Paris, I'm definitely going to try and maximise on this opportunity!

Anyone else a bit of a hoarder? I keep everything from train tickets to clothes tags!

I am of course talking about the listing of the Team GB selection announced earlier on. If I'm being perfectly honest, I agree with pretty much all of the decisions made though it is a great shame we're not being represented in every event. Surely we should be maximising on the fact we have the Games in our capital city? 

Having said that I am so glad Christian Malcolm's been chosen for both the 200m and the 4x100m relay - he's been around as long as I can remember liking athletics so I'm really happy for him. I also think choosing Dwain Chambers was a good move - until recently I was certain no one was going to challenge Bolt but as the Jamaican trials proved, Bolt is beatable and I believe Chambers is our best bet for making the final (though I do still predict a Jamaican 1-2-3 in the 100m final!)

Pleased to see Conrad Williams in for the 400m and the relay - a strong contender in my mind and very happy with all the 400m and 800m selections. It's a real for Will Sharman to miss out on the 110m Hurdles but we still have strong entrants for both hurdles races in my eyes. Very pleased to see Lyndsey Sharp selected for the 800m - a real shame they didn't select any others though.

Overall, I think we have a pretty decent Team GB to take to 2012. Anyone else have an opinion on selections?