I am not doing too good at updating this site as much as I had hoped. I was hoping for at least 3 posts a week, but look now.. it’s been 10 days and here I am finally attempting to make an update!

It has been a bit of an eventful last little while. I last posted on Friday night - it was a usual Friday night, we went out to get groceries, came home and had a late dinner, and sat in front of the tv till probably 2 am. Saturday morning we got up in a rush, we went to Kidlington and had breakfast on a patio outside of a little cafe. Tim had a hair appointment at 2, and I had an appointment to get my eyebrows waxed and tinted. After that, we searched around Oxford for a Bundt style cake pan (no dice), and then stopped at Sainsburys to stock up for Tim’s birthday that night.

I headed into the apartment with the groceries, leaving Tim to get the beer out of the trunk of the car and follow me upstairs. He came up stairs saying “my bikes been stolen!” and at first I didn’t believe him. I mean come on, we live in a gated community, cctv cameras everywhere, and all the bikes are locked up there metres from the main front door. But yeah, it was gone. Both of our bikes had been covered in black bike covers that velcro through the wheels at the bottom, and locked up through the tires. Unfortunately, there’s almost no room for bikes on the racks (seriously, there’s 4 rack spaces for 6 2-bedroom apartments), and we have to put both of our bikes on one side of a rack together, so we have to put them opposite ways. So the lock was going through Tim’s front wheel, and my back wheel. They removed his front tire, and took the rest of the bike :/

I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning and cooking, while Tim called the police, the insurance company, and went driving around to see if he could find anything. Then everyone showed up for the party, which went pretty well, it was a Britpop theme so everyone dressed Britpoppy. We listened to the new Oasis album for the first time as well. I made more Nanaimo bars, and I even made a Union jack on the top out of white chocolate coloured with food colouring. It looked really good! I also made an Angel Food Cake, which was okay for my first ever attempt, but not the greatest because I didn’t have an electric whisk, just my arm, which meant I was crap at getting air into the egg whites.. the cake came out a little dense but still tasted YUMMY :)

After everyone left, Tim and I sat around for a while, but I finally decided I was too tired and headed to bed. Tim was about to come to bed as well, but I mentioned to him that I was worried about my bike now.. what if the people who stole it come back? So he went downstairs at nearly 2 am, and locked my bike up through the frame. He came back inside, and told me he was just going to get a drink then come to bed. All of a sudden, he was rushing back towards the bedroom, whispering loudly that they were back, the bike thieves were back! We ran to the front window, and just then, Tim yelled really loudly at them. They took off, and we could see that they had been trying to get this other bike, that we thought was owned by one of the guys below us. We called the police, again, and stayed up because we could not fall asleep.

The next day we had plans to meet up with Tim’s Dad, Pauline, and Tim’s sister and her new boyfriend. On the way out, we stopped and spoke to one of the guys who lives below us. Tim wanted to let him know that someone had tried to steal the bike the night before. His first response was “Again?!” Apparently, they had stolen the front tire of the guy’s bike the same night Tim’s bike (minus front tire) got stolen. So now we know how they got away with Tim’s bike :/ But the part that gets me is when we all went downstairs to the bike racks. Not only was the tire back on our neighbour’s bike (they brought it back with them), but the bike lock was cut, and the bike was sitting there totally unlocked! So Tim scared them at just the right time that they had gotten the wheel on, and the lock cut, but hadn’t gotten on the bike yet to steal it. So, while at least this guy got his whole bike back, Tim’s is still stolen :( The only positive is that at least insurance are covering it, so he’s going to be able to get a new one. We’ve been in touch with the management company to get the cctv tapes for the police, and the guy downstairs is actually a forensic scientist, and has taken both his bike and the cut lock to the police to hopefully get tested for fingerprints.

I spent a lot of last week feeling really horrible and crappy about myself. I’d been pigging out like crazy since Tim’s birthday party.. like you would not believe. It did not help that my Mom sent me a bunch of chocolate the day before as well.. :S I weighed myself on Friday and I was 173lbs :( I’ve decided I’ve had enough.. and I’m kicking my ass. Tim and I have plans to take up badminton and also go swimming on Thursday night. Hopefully we will start this Thursday :) I’m back down to 170.4 now, so hopefully it will keep dropping. I’ve been drinking more water, and less of the crappy, sugary drinks. I’ve also got my eating back on track.. I’ve been trying to cut out a lot of the carby stuff I was eating as well, and instead eating more fresh fruits and veggies. We went for a walk on Saturday, and then into town on Sunday so I could shop (:D), and that was about 10km in total, not including the walking around inside the shops ;)

And speaking of walking around in the shops, I must post what I bought :)

Pink Knit Beret - Miss Selfridge, £12, Brown Wide Stretchy Belt - Dorothy Perkins, £8,
Turquoise Stretchy Ruffle Scarf - Dorothy Perkins, £10, Brown Opaque Diamond Knit Tights - Primark, £2, Black Opaque Tights, Primark, £2

I’m still on the hunt for a knit dress, and a black skirt that I can wear all these awesome tights with!

I used to love when I lived at home, showing off all my new purchases to my Mom :) So I decided, to indulge myself and do it on the internet now instead - hah! So here’s some of my new stuff :)

Lacy bubble top - Primark, £4

The elastic doesn’t look like it’s very stretchy in the picture, but it does indeed fit tightly around my hips, covering all the bad parts in nice jersey fabric that doesn’t touch my chub!

Cable knit cardigan - Dorothy Perkins, £28

Love this cardi, it’s actually a size 10 and it fits good.. I usually wear EUR size 16, but the 16 and 14 were so huge and frumpy.

Bomber jacket - Dorothy Perkins, £40

I have been looking for a cute, casual winter jacket for a while. I have a peacoat that I love from Benetton but I don’t always want to wear it cos it was $300+, so I needed something more “everyday”. It was a bit more than I had originally wanted to spend, but in the end I only paid £37.75 shipped - £5 voucher and £1.25 back through Quidco! Saved the gas money + parking charges if I went to Oxford to get it :)

Flat boots - Dorothy Perkins, £45   Fake Uggs - Primark, £4

My new winter boots! The ones from DP were an impulse buy, but totally worth it as I am in love with them and they will be perfect for any winter activities that involve lots of walking (like, perhaps.. shopping! :D) The fake Uggs from Primark were too cheap to pass up, they’re always good for running to the grocery store or to get takeout or whatever. And I wanted dark brown ones because EVERYONE has tan.

Dramatically Different Moisturising Lotion, Clinique £27   Kaleidoscope nail colour - Chanel, £15
Diorshow Blackout mascara, Christian Dior, £18.50

This was my little Selfridges spree, on two different days. I needed new moisturiser, decided I was going to go back to Clinique for skincare. I wanted the new Superdefense moisturiser but they didn’t have it yet so I’m using Dramatically Different again until next time :) I also picked up Diorshow Blackout, which I have been lemming for over a year :D And also, of course, the coveted Kaleidoscope polish :) Not pictured, but ordered and on it’s way: Essie First Base base coat, Seche Vite Dry Fast top coat, China Glaze Blue Island Iced Tea nail polish, China Glaze Midnight Ride nail polish, Misa Candy Girl nail polish.

Bracelet, Christian Dior

My beautiful Christian Dior bracelet, a birthday gift from my wonderful boyfriend! :D :D :D It’s silver with Swarovski crystals all over the Dior logo. You can’t see how much they shine in this picture because I used no flash and it’s inside it’s little box, but it looks gorgeous when it’s on my wrist :D

Well, I am now 28. Two short years away from 30 - eek! My birthday was on Friday, so I had to work.. but it was alright because I spent the first half of the day in bed. :) Well, working while laying in bed. But to be honest, I do that a lot, so it really was no different than usual. :P

That is, until Tim got home from work. We had plans to go out for dinner, so we got all dressed up and headed out to Coco for insanely expensive, strongly alcoholic drinks (on empty stomachs). We had a reservation for 8pm at an indian restaurant in Oxford and I actually turned 28 while sitting at the front of the restaurant, waiting to be seated to our table - 8:06pm here is 3:06pm in Niagara Falls. :) I had my usual chicken tikka masala, but it just wasn’t creamy enough. Other than that, dinner was nice. They even gave us free veggies! After our dinner, we met up with Janel and Jon and went to George and Delila’s. I decided to make a special order for my birthday since I hadn’t had any birthday cake - a huge chocolate brownie, with a scoop of super chocolate ice cream and chocolate hot fudge on top. It was amazing, but I felt like throwing up after. It was worth it though! Then we went to the Cape of Good Hope for drinks, where a bunch of Tim’s work friends had congregated.

We stayed out for as long as I could handle it, then I decided I really needed to get home and open my presents!!!! Tim had wrapped some things he had bought for me when we were out shopping together - a coat and some tights from Primark. He also got me a Chelsea shirt.. I think he wants me to love football as much as he does but I just can’t seem to get into it. It feels like I’m cheating on hockey or something :( haha. He also told me he will buy me a bracelet from Dior, I just have to pick it out.. he didnt know which one I wanted. I’m not even sure, I am going to have to try them on when we’re in London this weekend ;)

I also had presents from my Mom, brother and Aunts that they had sent over earlier in September. They sat in our living room staring at me until I finally got to open them. My Mom and brother got me an xbox 360!! I also got a second controller, 2800 points, Viva Pinata: Trouble In Paradise, and Uno. I am already addicted to playing Carcassone on xbox :( My Aunt also got me a sweater that is horrendously too big. :) After I opened everything, I called my Mom and talked to her, then talked to my brother for advice and etc on the xbox and how to set it up and everything. I ended up staying up till 3:30am, setting up my xbl account and such :S We still have to get an hdmi cable, so it should look pretty sweet when we get that. It’s running at 1080i now which is pretty nice.

Saturday was a crazy day. I had to get to the bank before 1, which thankfully I did, and then went on a hunt through the shopping centre to find a muffin tin to use to make buttertarts. Went to Sainsbury’s, picked up chips and pop and stuff for the party, then headed home. Tim spent like an hour steaming the slipcovers for our sofa because we had washed them on Friday and they were soooo wrinkled. Then he hung balloons out the windows and blew up tons of balloons that are still floating around the house :) I baked, and while things would be in the oven, I’d clean. It was insanity. At 5:30 I hopped in the shower, and by 6:30 I was arranging the nanaimo bars I baked onto a plate for my lovely spread I put out! Tim and I stood in the kitchen at 6:50, eating pizza - our first meal of the day.

My birthday party on Saturday night went really well. The nanaimo bars were a hit, if only with Mark (who has been to Canada many times and loves nanaimo bars). Everyone seemed to have a good time, and we played some Guitar Hero 3 and Mario Kart Wii. I got some really nice gifts, Heather even got me a ‘Carrie necklace’, except mine says Laura and it’s silver!!!! I have always wanted one of those :)

Sunday was supposed to be recuperation day, but we ended up going for a little bike ride to the pub. That totally killed me, plus the fact that I was up late Saturday night playing xbox again, and woke up at 9:30am on Sunday (no idea WHY that EARLY!) I think I am still recuperating actually, and I attempted to go to bed tonight at 11:30 and here it is, 2am. And with that, I think it’s bedtime. :)