Pre- and Post- Tuscany

In light of my dismal previous entry and of all the activity over the past few weeks, I realise that I am severely behind in updating my dedicated readers of my whereabouts and activities. For those of you who didn't know, I was on holiday for 10 days in Italy with friends at a villa in the Tuscany countryside. That, and the preparations ahead of time, kept me offline and preoccupied.

Before leaving on holiday (yet again, after my 10 day trip to California in August), I went to Proms at the Park with friends here in London. Typically Proms is a classical music event with an orchestra that occurs throughout the UK on Saturdays during the summer. The last night is traditionally atypical, with singers from all genres and a final orchestra led end-of-the-night concert that is simultaneously broadcast to venues across the UK. There is much flag-waving (I guess since they don't have a 4th of July type event they need something to incite patriotism) and singing along.

Incidentally, there is a song about England and the Queen to the same tune as My Country Tis of Thee, although I reluctantly admit that the English version was probably invented first. That didn't stop the Americans from singing our version though, even though the other lyrics were posted up on the screen. It was a very fun outdoor picnic event, and at the end of the night, I randomly bumped into other friends in Hyde Park who were also there for the concert. Seeing people you know while out and about in London is very unusual, but it's nice to know I haven't lost my touch (this kind of thing seems to happen to me all over the world).

The next morning, my friend Sean from NYC flew in to visit prior to going on the Tuscany holiday. We spent Sunday rambling around Wimbledon, and having Sunday lunch at the Dog & Fox in Wimbledon Village. I worked on Monday and Tuesday while he went sightseeing, but I still managed to take him out in the City to the Royal Exchange for drinks and to Busaba for Thai to kick off my official holiday on Tuesday night.

On Wednesday afternoon, we were off to Pisa Airport to start our Italy adventures, which I will write about in my next post soon.

I returned from Italy this Sunday early evening, and Sean and I only had the energy to order Mexican takeout and watch TV. I almost avoided checking my work email until about 11:30pm, when I just couldn't help myself. In the meantime, I started to assemble my most recent Argos purchase - a 6 drawer dresser with a gazillion parts. I only made it 20% into the project when I hurt the tip of my finger with the exposed particle board edge and a lot of pressure as I tried to get two pieces to fit together - ow! I persevered a bit longer and got the frame together before calling it quits. As a nice surprise and thank you for letting him stay here, Sean assembled the rest of it for me while I was at work on Monday - yay!

Another surprise waiting for me last night was a box from Amazon.co.uk. I ripped it open like a kid on Christmas morning, very excited to find a Deborah Madison cookbook and a Jancis Robinson wine book with the message 'Happy Birthday' but no message as to who it was from! I was wrong on my first guess, but I learned today that Liz was the secret gift giver. Thanks again!

For those of you out of the know, this Friday 28 September is my birthday. I'm celebrating with work drinks on Friday night and I'm hosting a party at my house on Saturday night. I've themed it as a dessert party. Dessert of the chocolate, sugar or fruit variety and/or of the wine, port and cocktail variety (champagne is obligatory since it's my birthday). We won't have a huge group, maybe 10-12 people, but I am really looking forward to hosting my first event in my new flat.

I'm also spoiled right now as I have the two bedroom Wimbledon flat to myself. My potential roommate plans fell through and because of laziness and a real desire to live by myself, I have not bothered with finding anyone else yet. I'm thinking I might be ready for someone to move in mid to end of October (er, maybe). We will have to see..... For now, Chez Christie is hosting friends as they fly through London, offering such amenities as your own room with garden view. It's nice to automatically say yes to visitors, without having to coordinate with anyone else.

This week I am back at work, reluctantly so. On Monday morning, my team was surprised to see me, as for some reason they assumed I wasn't back in the office until Tuesday. So to make up for their expectations, I opted to work from home today :) allowing me to avoid hours of commuting and to have lunch with and say goodbye to Sean as he heads back to the States. Last night I was out for drinks and dinner with my friend John and his close friends to celebrate his birthday, so having a little bit of a sleep in this mornng was much appreciated.

The rest of the week holds more dinners with friends and hosting of visitors, as well as party planning and housecleaning/organising. Italy was a fantastic trip, but it's also really nice to be back home, knowing I'm not traveling anywhere in October. (Although, I am considering a weekend trip in early November to either Geneva, Switzerland, somewhere in France other than Paris, or somewhere else with a good deal on flights/hotels).