Casper and Cakes

Casper decided it would be fun to attack J all night rather than go to sleep so I hardly got a wink trying to get him to calm down and at least stop trying to eat our feet. We would've put him out in the living room, but then he starts yowling loud enough to wake the neighbors. It's hard to get mad at him, he's cute and furry and fat enough to get away with murder.

I was dead on my feet the next day and decided to stay home and try to catch up on my sleep. I don't know how people with babies do it! Anyway, since I was home, I decided to bake a chocolate and raspberry cake. Good times! I'm getting better with the buttercream, but I think a turntable may be in my next Amazon order.

Baby, it's cold outside

I haven't been posting much lately since I've been back at work for nearly a month now! I decided I needed some extra pin money for Christmas, and I probably had a little too much time on my hands since I knitted Casper a jumper for the winter ahead. He's not such a fan, he flops around like a landed fish when he puts it on. 

In other news, J got some awesome news at work - he made partner! I made a cheeky cake to celebrate the occasion and added his name to the firm's name. The people at his office had a good laugh over it.

He's also recently moved into a bigger office. I'm making plans to visit him at work to scope out the new space and see if I can make it a bit homier since it is where he spends the majority of his waking hours!

Casper At Home

It's been two and half months since Casper joined our little family, and we still haven't fully settled into a routine. He's good about falling asleep when we go to bed, and he's almost completely stopped treating J as a walking, talking chew toy, but the mornings are still a bit rough.

Casper falls asleep wherever he wants, which is usually on the bathroom floor mat (I couldn't imagine a stranger place) or at the foot of our bed. Unfortunately, he wakes up way before we do, and he likes to have company in the mornings. He's tapped J on the shoulder to wake him up, jumped on top of my head, and if all else fails, meows and meows until I have to get up and shut him out of the bedroom.

But it's all worth it with all the fun we have with him. Especially when the tables are flipped, and we get to mess with him when he's trying to sleep.

 

But he got his revenge this morning when I went to the bedroom after my morning coffee to make the bed. Comfy, much?

Casper v. Bike

J and I have a big eating weekend planned, and we've been making a concerted effort exercise beforehand so we could gorge without guilt.

We haven't used our little exercise corner since Casper arrived, and let's just say that Casper does not approve of this exercising business!



I think he thinks (and I tend to agree) that we should be doing a lot more of this instead...

Autumn's Here

We've had a wonderfully warm summer this year - multiple heat waves with temperatures near the 30's. It more than made up for the soggy summers we've had since we moved here when it rained most of the time, and the sun peeked out once or twice from behind the clouds.

The heat left suddenly as it came, and it feels like autumn. I'm actually pretty pleased, since London is poorly equipped to deal with heat. Most places (including our flat) don't have air-conditioning, and the heat can become pretty unbearable at times. And not to mention the Tube during hot days - it's common for people to faint dead away in the heat and TFL posts signs everywhere advising riders to carry water with them to stay hydrated.

Another plus of the cool weather is running outside is much more pleasant. It doesn't feel like I'm breathing through a hot sock, and it's not such a big deal that the water fountains in Regent's Park are usually broken. 

This is Casper's first taste of cool weather, and in spite of his very fluffy fur, he's been bundling up for his naps.

He's also been making good use of the fireplace. He's pretty fascinated with the flames, and I'm so glad I thought to buy a screen for the fireplace or we'd end up with roast cat!

The other good news is that work on our flat is finally complete, and I no longer have builders traipsing through on a regular basis. I think Casper's going to miss "helping" them...

The bad news is that it didn't mean that everything in our flat is working as it should. We had no cold water for over a week, and Thames Water was shillyshallying on repairs. Believe it or not, they told our building that they would get to it at the end of the month! Our building had to threaten them with their solicitors to get TW to get the leak repaired so that we could have cold water again. I'm still amazed at how insanely terrible a lot of the services are here. It's not abnormal for it to take two months for internet to get installed or for TW to expect you to go for a month or so without cold water. Insane!

Work Perks

J's job can be incredibly demanding at times, but there are some perks. For instance, some of the firm's vendors like to take him on various outings, and he always insists on bringing me along. I'm definitely not complaining!

We got tickets this summer to go to the Longines Global Champions Tour, which is a horse -jumping competition. I'm not quite sure why the camel was there.



We got there during a lull in the action, so we spent some timing shopping the various tents. I'm guessing the people who go to these kinds of events are a bit more posh than I am, as Harrods had a tent along with a bunch of other shops for the toffs in our midst. I picked up a fleece jacket, which fit perfectly for once - I guess I should shop in jockey stores from now on!

Anyway, it was a bit windier than we anticipated, and I ended up bundling up while we watched the horses leap about. Everyone would hold their breath when the horse would launch into a jump, and there would be a collective sigh if the horse touched the hurdle. It was almost comical how in unison everyone was!



We had some awesome seats, and the horses were literally just a few feet away from us.



After a while, J grew a bit bored, and I couldn't help laughing when he asked, "Is this it?" I was freezing cold, so we ended up going home a bit earlier than anticipated, but it was a fun day.

Another fun activity that we got invited to was golfing. We had gone the previous year, and I guess it was time for our annual lesson. We got picked up and driven down to the London Golf Club, which is down in Kent.



It's absolutely beautiful there, and the weather couldn't have been more perfect! We decided to grab some lunch first, and we sat down to enjoy the view of the early morning golfers finishing up their games.





I gobbled down some fish and chips, then we all headed over to our lesson with the golf pro. We remembered a few things from our previous lesson, but it was embarrassing how bad we were when he asked us to take a few practice shots at the driving range. J and I spent a good hour swatting at balls and watching them kind of just roll away. The driving range turned out to be pretty hard work, and I was working up a sweat by the time we moved over to the putting course.



The sad thing is that I'm even worse at putting! I'm guessing I'll may be passable after next year's lesson. I'm guessing at a rate of a lesson a year, I might be able to play with my dad after twenty years or so...

Reykjavik Culture Night

It was a quick flight from Akureyri to Reykjavik, and we hitched a ride to our hotel. It turned out that it was Culture Night in Reykjavik, and we got back just in time for the festivities. Unfortunately, it meant that the roads around the hotel were closed, but we we got there just the same.

Hotel Centrum was really nice and it looked like it had been recently renovated to a high standard. J and I lucked out with an upgrade to an apartment in the building next door, and it felt a bit like we were locals for a night!

We unpacked our things and joined the crowd milling around outside and saw a blacksmith at his forge. Hm, never thought I'd see a blacksmith in action!

J and I didn't have much of a chance to look around since we were pretty hungry and we showed up thirty minutes early for our reservation at the Fish Company. The place was really cosy and well-decorated, but the food was the real star.

After being in Iceland for a week, we got used to have really fresh seafood, but this was just out of control deliciousness. I had a plate of pretty much everything that could be fished out of the water, and J had a beef and potatoes dish that he loved. I think it was definitely one of the best meals we ever had, and we didn't expect it in Iceland!

By the time we waddled out of the restaurant with our stomachs full, pretty much everyone had poured into the streets for the celebrations. All the roads were pedestrianised, and everyone was out and about despite the inclement weather.

J and I walked around town and bopped along to several of the ongoing concerts in the different parts of town, but our bellies forced us to retreat to our hotel lounge to sit down and try to digest our dinner. I'm guessing the carrot cake and hot chocolate I had in the lounge probably didn't help.

We were pretty drowsy with the combination of travelling and the large dinner, but I forced J to stay up to watch the fireworks that were scheduled to go off at 11pm.  And I'm glad I did as we got quite the show! The central plaza where we were watching was pretty empty, and it was a really amazing end to our stay in Iceland.

After the fireworks, we went straight to bed and hopped on the plane the next day to go back home. I was more than excited to see my cat again! I'm happy to report that he gained a full pound while we were away - we are now the proud owners of a seven pound kitten. Lol.