Tuscany

I'm sat in a thick woolly cardigan in August. As you can assume, I am in England and it has been raining.

As such, I am missing Italy, where I've spent the past week with some of my favourite friends. The weather was very, very hot, and although there were enough mosquitos to eat me for dinner, the whole place was rather beautiful.

We stayed in this gorgeous old house, full of beams and stone steps, with grape vines and peach trees in the garden. The house was at the top of a hill, behind the bell tower, and was surrounded by mountains and the rest of the town. Which was essentially a village.

The week was spent trying not to faint or get burnt, whilst simultaneously seeing all of the cool things that were near us. We spent a day in Pisa being the cheesy tourists that climb the tower (and then nearly die climbing down the leaning marble steps), as well as visiting Florence for lots of ooohing and ahhhing over the ridiculously romantic city. I have decided that if I ever get proposed to, it should be there. And, if I ever need a sabbatical to write, it should be there. Or if anything else poetic is needed, it shall occur there. I really loved it, if you hadn't noticed. Full of statues, piazzas, sunshine and market type stalls and shops, it was a bit of a geek fest for someone that likes history and literature and italian. And by italian I am rather partial to italian food and funny words.

One of the girls made a rule at the start of the week, that we had to try one different type of gelato every day (this being the famous italian ice cream). Without hesitation, we all agreed this was essential holiday happenings, and embarked upon our challenge with gusto. This was made much easier with the aid of the local gelato man, who was about 20, and italian. He served us three types of ice cream, every day, for two euros. I think we might've eaten our body weight in ice cream.

And then there was pasta, and pizza, and barbecues, and Tiramisu.

Forget the body weight of ice cream, I fear we ate all of Italy.

Now that I'm back in the land of Olympics and rain however, I must face the fact that I move back to London in a week and must therefore attempt to get organised. This would be easier if I had a clue what I needed to do or how to accomplish it. Still, all things work out in the end,.

In the meantime, take a peek and get a little jealous... XO

Newday

So I'm currently still in pyjamas. I don't feel guilty about this, in fact I'm relishing the opportunity to laze about as the past week has been seriously hectic.

Last night I got back from Newday, a festival aimed at 11-18 year olds. The focus is worship, teaching and social action...and a whole lot of fun. This year, as I've stopped doing youth work since moving to London, I decided to go and join a cafe team. 

Along with about twenty others, mostly friends from London, we ran the Global Cafe. This essentially meant making 600 milkshakes every afternoon, dancing non-stop to ridiculous music and shouting insane things in a bit of competitive rivalry with the other cafes. Needless to say it was rather full on. Still, with it being the first time I'd seen a whole bunch of friends from London in over two months, it was a well needed bonding time. Nothing like a bit of family when you live in tents with one another for a week.

We got to meet with God, and one of our team got amazingly healed of a rugby injury, after six years of back pain and needing physio! So that was super exciting! 

We also saw loaaads of shooting stars which has to be one of my favourite things when you go camping. There were unfortunately LOTS of mosquitos and I am sufficiently bitten to wonder whether there is any blood actually left in my body.

Anyhow, I'm trying to sort some last minute things out before heading off to Italy on Wednesday for a week of glorious sunshine with the giiiiiirls. Enough tired rambling, I need to go by some shorts!

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Jitterbug

I have had so much caffeine that, despite lunch and a non-caffeinated drink, I am still shaking. I think dancing might aid the crazy right now. Buzzzzzziing! 

Peace and Quiet

The Scots have descended, and my life is a chaotic blur of work, strange dates and a house full of people. I have about an hour (if I'm lucky) with no one in the house. I am blasting some of my favourite music and sorting things out before I need to be sociable once more.

I cannot wait to finish work this week. I don't know what it is, but I am just done. It's been such a blessing, so many summers, and the money is great, but my motivation has shrunk to nothing in the past few days. Perhaps this was due to a few too many days off last week, and some slight craziness whilst I am at work, but all in all I am seriously looking forward to the end of the week.

And then I am off camping. And I get to sing a lot, and dance a lot, and make a billion milkshakes, and a few friends, and catch up with some old faces that I've not seen in far too long. It sounds like bliss, despite the threat of mud, mud glorious mud, and therefore a soggy tent.

And then I'm off to Italy! Some friends and I are having what might be the last girls holiday for a while, and have booked a villa in the middle of Tuscany. I envision wine, pizza, old buildings, sun baked skin and laughter.

So, there is lots to look forward to if I can get to the end of the week. Fortunately tomorrow is interrupted by a family trip to Longleat. Lions and tigers and bears - Oh my!

Oh aaaand I got a final email confirming that I have a place on the programme that I desperately wanted to work with and never ever thought I would get. I am so, so excited about the opportunity, just because I know I could never have sorted it for myself and God is just so involved. So, serious hurrah for grace.

Time to go and make a cuppa, and make use of the peace and quiet.

That is, if the next door dogs would ever learn not to bark.

xxx

Unexpectedly Free

This week I had a rather unexpected amount of time off from work. Working only two days freed me up to do some exciting things. We ventured out to Salisbury on Tuesday and visited the market, and I spent an obscene amount of money on new make up and smart jackets. These things I have termed an 'investment' and therefore justified them. I'm not sure that a silk jacket and primer are essential to life but I refuse to consider these things too deeply.

Wednesday involved more shopping and a very civilised girly lunch in front of huge open windows. We played a hilarious game of 'Pig or Horse'. Choosing the appropriate animal for the face walking past brought new hilarity to people watching. 

Thursday I went on a not-really-but-then-yes-really date. That was amusing. But also a little awkward pyjamas. Hmmmm. 

Friday and Saturday involved drinks with friends, hennaing my hair and causing lots of mess and then celebrating a couple of birthdays. Pizza, cocktails and dancing was the perfect combination, and the sun even  came out to aid our celebrations. There were also animal masks. I'm not sure why, but it was very good. The bar we in had a band that played blues covers and so this required a fair amount of dancing and loud singing. There was also a return of the cocktail in a tea pot. OM.

Here's a few pictures of the last couple of days. I bloomin' love my friends. 

Rabbit, Zebra, Giraffe all went out to dinner.

Chillin' by the River.

Bessies.