weekend stories

Great news! I have submitted my dissertation and so I had my first c-o-m-p-l-e-t-e-l-y free weekend in what it felt like ages! of course we enjoyed a lot! Friday night we did the ultimate british program and went to the dog races! The dogs were soooo fast I couldn't manage any good picture, but you can think of this Blur album cover to get an idea. Of course we had to bet and even without understanding a thing we all managed to win a race! Now that I'm a millionaire... nope! I only bet 2£ and won a whooping 4£! Yahoo.

This betting guy was an old school one (papers and pens while everybody else had computers) and always looked so serious!

Saturday was a lovely day so we went for a picnic under the trees, organized by our chilean friends. I learned that September is a whole month of partying in Chile, celebrating their independence. You are supposed to eat and drink a lot and dance "cueca" and other traditional dances. My friends loved the "cueca"!



The sunset was absolutely stunning.

Like this city needed more things to do, Saturday and Sunday there was the Thames Festival in Southbank. It was full of shops, food stalls, happenings and... people!

A nice view of Blackfriars bridge, St. Paul's and the City skyscrapers.

 

And at night: Carnival! Very nice, full of colour and different "acts" from all over the world: japanese, colombian, brazilian, african, caribe, etc... and I must say nicer that the famous Notting Hill one.

The last car was a brazilian one. Quite nice.

And you? How was your weekend?

weekend stories

Last weekend included a bank holiday on Monday and we headed for the famous Notting Hill Carnival. It was quite an experience, street hyper crowded, loud music everywhere and a great amount of buts and boobs. It was very chaotic and confusing but was great fun. When we got home we felt like we had been mountain climbing or something really very exhausting. Here's some pics for you.

On other news I'm on the last stretch for my dissertation submission. Oh man I can't hardly wait!
Please remind me of this last hectic weeks if I ever decide to embark on a PhD.

Lately...

Time is flying by without much control. The usual I reckon. I'm trying to finish a dissertation without much success. Everyday I'm feeling more tired and on the verge on a breakdown. But I know that I won't break and this thesis WILL.BE.DELIVERED.
I could moan how I'm such a perfectionist and procrastinator (not so great combo) but I'll spare you the pain.
But, in between the crazy amount of hours reading and typing I've been enjoying London.

Went to the Blur concert in Hyde Park and had a blast! I wasn't a big Blur fan and ended the concert in tears and embracing strangers, that's how beautiful it was (or how crazy I am).

This weekend was the hottest in the year (31ºC is crazy for London) and we had our niece in town so it was the perfect excuse to ride a pedal boat in Hyde Park and jump in Hampstead Heath ponds!

I also toured around for a couple of hours with some friends doing a stopover on their way to New York (fancy!), we entered The National Gallery looking for the coffeshop but were deterred by Van Gogh, Gaugin and Monet. I admit that I had never been inside and was appalled by the amazing works exhibited there.

I must have stayed 30mn in front of this Turner.

Yesterday I popped into Mr. Brainwash exhibition in Tottenham Court Road during lunchtime. Some nice stuff, although a bit Banksy meets Andy Warhol. Still I found courage in this print:

All nice relaxing breaks from work, work, work!

Yesterday it was 11 months I moved to London, where has this year been?! There is still so much to see, so much to do! I am still to reflect on this fabulous year but September is coming soon with many decisions to be made... Ooooh do you ever feel like moving on a roller coaster? How do you calm yourself?

weekend stories

London is a schizophrenic city when it comes to weather. It's sunny, it's pouring rain, it's hot, it's cold, gosh so hormonal!

I had the dullest of weekends with more than desired unhealthy doses of staring at a computer to complete a deadline today (which I did!). Fortunately, in stressful moments, I allow myself to indulge in guilty pleasure: banana and nutella crepe... so yummi!

Still I am incredibly happy to have my boy back home - and what a way to celebrate with a full time work weekend :( - and life is beautiful!

Have a nice week!

weekend stories

The Olympics have finally arrived and kicked off with a huge party friday night. I let go my resistance and watched the opening ceremony. Some moments were actually beautiful (the final torch moment was quite incredible and seeing artic monkeys performing made me quite happy) although in general I found it all a bit too long and boring in bits. I have this feeling that the Olympics are a bit anachronistic and I don't see much sense on it, but hey I have two weeks to see if my mind changes. So far I've been able to escape the chaos in town. My daily schedule is slightly peripherical to the most crowded areas although I've seen thousand of olympic volunteers everywhere. 

Since the weather was nice we celebrated a friend's birthday with a picnic on Saturday! You can never go wrong with picnics. And you can never go wrong with film too :). I have been quite analog recently and lately all my digital pictures are from the iPhone (except the picnic one). I've been carrying my beloved Pentax with a black & white and the LC-A with a color film doing a double exposure experience. Let's wait for the results!

Sunday I headed into town to pick some pictures for my clients (yey so happy to spread my images around the world! You can still get your discount until tomorrow! Hurry hurry - happy 20%). I was very naive to get on the cycle-hire bikes as it started to rain heavily and I couldn't find a docking station so got totally wet. Finally I left the bike and took the bus home. Relief!

What's better to warm you after a soak? Tea and toast oh yeah! Who need summer, right?

Then I did a special packaging for one of my prints which will be a wedding gift :). Packaging is my favorite part when I'm preparing an order and I don't think I've ever sent out two of the same. I have so much fun!

How was your weekend? 

Wish you a lovely week! Mine is going to be soooooo full of work but also love as my beloved is finally returning home after some (very long) time away.

weekend stories

This weekend started earlier on Friday afternoon with a friend's wedding! It was a very simple and beautiful ceremony (in which I got tearful... god, I'm such a crybaby) followed by a nice lunch and some drinkings in what is now for me London's most amazing bar: Paramount. The views are superb. Highly recommended if you are in London.

On Saturday I had to make for the previous celebrating afternoon so I stayed at home trying to work. Wasn't much successful so I thought it was a good idea to head to Angel with some friends and dance the night away. It was so much fun.

Oddly enough on Sunday I woke up fresh and jumped out the bed to enjoy the long desired sunshine in this city. London gets an amazing vibe when it's sunny. I think everybody gets slightly hysterical (I know I do). I went to the park for a solo picnic and some study (it actually worked!).
Being barefoot in the grass is the best feeling. A lot of people were just laying on the grass and soaking some sunshine. Now let's see how much it lasts.

How was your weekend? Wish you a lovely week!