Friday, February 16, 2007

Wintryyy wArwick!

Moments before we sleep are the WorsT and Best moments!

Noora's 20th Birthday Bash @ this swanky restaurant called Lola.. the food was beautiful!

I love Belgium..its Quaint...

Its All About the Foodd.. Yums. Waffles waffles!

Its snowingggggggg like crazy!!

Wow..it has been exacttly a month since i last blogged. I find blooggin more and more of a chore now. Uni life is pretty much a routine life..and bloggin abt routine life doesnt seem exciting at all... the usual travelling spurts.. the parties @ the union...etc etc. Although i must admit life's been good thus far..

Went on a eurostar trip to Brussels with some wacky crazy seminar mates, by far the best ever course mates. Did loads of nutty stufff..ate loadsssssss of mussels & waffles...and am nursing a toothache now =/ tho its well worth it. Too much to say abt Belgium, so pictures will tell the tales.

Came back from a holiday to receive a conditional offer frm LSE to do a Msc in Comparative Politics. Brilliant stuff. Just what i needed. And its reading week this week which means quite the opposite.. zero readings & catching up on all my tv series. Back on my gymming routine.. been watchin VS fashion show 2006 over and over just to motivate myself. QY's coming in week 9..catching up with the girly mates then! Wheepee.

Dee's gone on a holiday to Jordan.. and it feels weird missing a rooomie.. just got to get used to it till she returns! 4 weeks to end of term & to Munich for a holiday!!! & Maybe Switzerland -again- with Wanny & Damilola.. I cant everrr resist travelling.

So far so good..everything's picking up. =p

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

A year older..but never been happier. First of all.. its thanks to Darling dee..who's always by my side, through everything. Hence i will start with this shot..simply the two of us. Spent my 22nd birthday with people whom i love and adore.. 

With Yeemeng, Sherwin & Germy 

Sleazily sexy mattie doing his move 

In love with deeee too. 

The picture speaks for itself. 

Mattie mattiee..& me 

Another artsy fartsy shot 

I LOVE this picture!!  

The Salmonella sisters (long story) are reunited... love dem so much. 

Dearest darling deee! 

Sexy mattie and i..  

Rachie darling and i..  

Dearest mattie boy and i..artsy shot. love it. 

Wishing...yearning...praying. 

Happy Birthday to meeee.. yummilicious choc cake! 

Blowing out the candles..at least i didnt burn my hair this year..=/ burnt my hair last year while blowing the stupid never ending candles! 

With muthusamy..gigi & dee... 

Love mama mots..she lied to me.!! But it was a worthy lie and i lovee her for that! 

with Germy and Rachie 

In a kissing mood.. love actually. 

Rachie and i.. crazy photo whores. 

Rachiee..acting cute.. 

I look so crazily happy.. 

Lolalitaaaaa..my evil twin sista.. 

Mama motzzzzzzzzz..my dearest friend 

Muthusamy and i.. muthu my personal trainer..=p 

Gigi and I..I love her dolly look..she looks like anna sui! 

All of us! 

Spot the difference? The end of my Bdae Dinnerrrrrrrr!  

Transittttting to part 2 and 3 of my bdae bash.. with my second fav present this year.. a handmade wardrobe..=) The best present will be the company of my friends...love them so much!!! 

With Noora smiling at the corner.. Bithika and Harsh.. cant rem the russian guy's name.. he's lolalita's friend.. 

The asian girls crew...=p  

With my fav girls.. evil twin in the corner..mika on her left and wanny with me.. love u guys. 

Part 2 of bdae bash ends here.. the remnants of my bdae cake. It was cheese cake too. Everyone knows abt my cheesy fetish. 

Part 3 of my Birthday Bash.. set in the cosy kitchen of claycroft flat 11 with darling dee, motsy dearest, sexy mattie, loyal bala & evil twin sista lolalita.. 

Loving dee & happy me..  

Lets pause for a moment to appreciate the fine spread of food on the ordinary claycroft flat 11 dining table set in rotten coventry.. totally transports one to a quaint swiss town.. 

Dee and i.. I love deeeeeeeeee sooo much!!!  

Bala wala the man -servant-..hehe..jk. One of my bestest male buddy in warwick.. =p 

The Anne Geddes 2007 artsy calender that Gigi and Muthu got for me..its really abstract looking. Love it by the window with the sun rays... 

Another glimpse of the wardrobe.. that's tommy lee and pamelaa... hot babe..not-so-hot dude..

Last view of the beautiful closet... i love it to bits! 

Present from Lolalita..my evil twin "sista".. she's my seminar mate for all my modules, gymming mate, holiday mate, partying mate..hence she calls me her twin sista and added an "Evil" in front. Despite that, i love her anyway. 

I always wondered who invented the notion of a birthday... who was the first person to have his/her birthday celebrated and when was that..too lazy for wikipedia now..guess it shall remain as a random thought.

It has dawned upon me that as one -ages/matures-.... birthdays aint that big a deal anymore.. it cld simply be that there's nothing to celebrate about ageing. -gasp- And with birthdays..come a myraid of emotions.. the stereotypical feelings will be.. bliss & happiness... joy & laughter... but in reality..there'll always be undercurrents of disappointment that someone out there somewhere forgot... moments of surprises when certain people remember... temporal period of extreme happiness before the days move on..and your birthday is merely 1 out of 365 days. And yet it can be so important to some..so insignificant and non existent to others.

Passing the 21st..onto the 22nd at the start of the year.. can be really daunting. Its really difficult tryin to recall the exact emotions or even coin a term just to describe it.. so here's a string of adjectives..

Starting off with being SURPRISED + SHOCKED. Part 1 of my birthday started last saturday at a really posh restaurant/bar called the Living Room in Birmingham. I really really liked the ambience and the music they played minus the dodgy ass-grabbing old rich businessmen there..the food wasnt great but the fine company made up for it. So.. my dearest dee took the dinner into her hands (being the sweet person she is) ..and organised everyone together while Mattie, Yeemeng and I were told to loiter in Birmingham for a lil while longer. Off we trooped to La Tasca for some sangria. Yums. Even though i knew exactly who the invitees were.. I was pretty certain Motzy wasnt one of them because she went down to London for her friend's birthday and told me she cldnt come. I was distraught. and very disappointed. Ah well. And..on the dinner day itself, Lolalita called me to tell me she was still on campus and cldnt make it for dinner.. *damnit* There goes both of my dearest nigerian mates. BUT they lied to me!!!!!!!!!! I shall say its a white lie for i was pleasantly shocked and happily surprised when they were sitting at the table before my eyes. NEver trust ur closest mates on ur birthday. HmPf.

It was one of the best birthday dinner ever... a cosy crowd of my closest friends.. the comfort level was perfecto & everyone knew everyone else well enough to mingle & converse.. I love this inner circle of friends so much. I was smiling and laughing so much that i was full from that than from the horrible food. =p Thanks to everyone, especially darling dearest dee who put in so so so much effort into making it perfect and it was perfectly enough for me. I enjoyed every bit of that night even though we walked to a club at 1am..and decided to head home instead for a cosy chat in our rooms. That was a nice way to end the evening.

Part 2 of my birthday continued with lunch..with my seminar mates @ Eat on campus. Believe it or not, this is the first time and prob the last time i will be eatin there..the food's pretty crap for the price u pay. Anyway..tts nt the point.. so off i trooped to catch up with my seminar mates. I felt extremely EXCITED.. there was just so much i had to tell them and so much to catch up on..everyone was everywhere over christmas & we will be headin off to Brussels in a few weeks.. its really fun hanging out with these bunch of people. =p Thanks guys for the HUGE card.. the older u get, the bigger the card size. Its like a subtle hint. =/ Just had a simple lunch.. and unfortunately classes continue even on special occasions...hence off to class we go. =///

Part 3 of my birthday was more chilled. though I was kicked out of the kitchen!!!!! Dee, Mattie, Motz and Bala were planning a dinner for me in our kitchen on Monday night itself..i had absolutely no clue what's goinng on. So I was CONFUSED and REJECTED by the kitchen crew.boohooo. It was worth it. Walking in.. to see the entire table transformed into a swiss dining palette of cheese fondue, with sausages,potatoes, bacon, cauliflower, salad..etc etc. YUMS. I was really really TOUCHED. And we had mango sorbet which was AMAZING.. and ended with chocolate cheese cake. MOST MOST YUMMICILIOUS cake ever. Thanks dee for baking it...i really love it. The entire dinner was themed "cheesey" just for me... i love cheese with a passion. I have decided to quit cheese for good for this -term-... and darlin dee, knowing how much i crave it.. pampered me lovingly with a cheessssssy meal. Woohooo. Thanks guys for the effort and the yummy yummy yummmy food!!!

I have never felt so LOVED before. The best part of your birthday is remembering who you wanna spend it with and why you wanna spend it with them.... and really..its not about yourself..but about the people you love whom you wanna keep for as many birthdays as you can have... who will be there with you on this special day. Thanks to everyone who transformed a normal mundane monday for me...so special. I just realised i loved myself because of the people who made me who i am...and who i wanna be for them. With that..EPIPHANIC is the last and most important adjective. Everyone "spoke" and "reached out" to me in different ways.. deeds or words, silence or action over the years to varying degrees. Thank you. Its just the start of another year..and it has started on a good note. =)

Part 4 and the last bit.. will end in London next week with the girls whom i miss so much and love so dearly. To be continued...

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Toffee chewing away on brocoli! Our healthy babies.

Look how eager they are...;p Munchin away.

Our sweet babies. 

My fat babbies nibbling on anything they can find!

How Cuteee!

Mocha!!

Toffeee!! 

I really wanna get this for upcoming beach holidays!! I blame Damilola for distracting me with sAlinas even though i got her hooked on it. 

Year 2007. A brand new year has arrived! A lil slow in embracing this year.. nevertheless HAppY New YEar to all.

Term has started.. with that..work is piling as the clock is ticking.. yet i am still snoozing 9 hrs a day.. gymming 2 hrs a day... surfin the net for -who knows- ? hrs a day... facebooking & msning the whole -darn- day = a simple mathematical equation for a complicated humanities student = it's time to wake up (earlier) literally & metaphorically. 9 more weeks to go... 8 seminar presentations...7 days in a week...Belgium in week6... 4 assessed essays to deal with... a whole load of readings..(this almost sounds like the cynical version of the Christmas carol "12 days of Christmas...").... & soooooooooooo much more to look fwd to this term.... I'm gonna work extra hard to deserve the extra breaK in Easter.

Strangely..my working pace follows the seasons..winter's the HARDEST month to work hard..all i wanna do is sleep.eat.slack.hibernate. like my babies. and just grow fat. and i wish everyone still thinks thats acceptable. Unfortunately...we're often more cruel to ourselves.. and fat is definitely not acceptable. Unless u're either Mocha or Toffee who have accomodating parents that love them unconditionally regardless of size. Just for updates.. BOTH of my babies have Ballooooned. I cant help it but call Mocha or Toffee "fattie" now.. seems like the natural progression for offsprings who receive unconditional amount of love from unconditional amount of food. =p My Fatties..i love them. Absolutely Adore dem to bits.

On the other hand....I have started my intensive gymming again. Just to keep the adrenaline coming.. & the endorphins rising.. weight losing... waistline dropping. Aint gonna be like the crazy celebrities... and drop to a size -14.. i just need to tone up..lose some weight in some sacred places...& be fit. My first New Year Resolution in ** (gasp) years. Thou shalt not reveal any age - which is simply the artificial construct of mankind. Yeaps...the stage of denial.

Evading that topic.. my life is still the same. Dorm life hardly changes. Uni life is like almost cyclical.. term breaks. And holiday starts. Term starts. holiday continues. Tts me. Living everyday as if its a holiday.. because life's meant to be enjoyable anyway. Well to justify myself, holiday comprises doing work too. So there..dont judge me. Its nice to be back in school.. Harsh is finally back from Dubai.. Noora is also back from Lebanon..Bithika's back from India..Wanny back from London...Mika back from Europe trekking.. Dami's back to her lazy self... Matt's still as sleazily sexy..(realise sleazy comes before sexy).. tho i adore him anyway. Motzy always busy.. but available upon request.. Bala..is usually at our services..Muthu's back to giving his pep talks to us... Rachie's still unfathomablely sane/insanely unfathomable...haha... Dee's the constant... And Warwick Term 2 Rolls on. Whee!! Pump it up!

Friday, December 29, 2006

I love this building! 

Lil kids we saw at the christmas market..so cuttee!! 

The Cathedral has moorish like architecture... 

Curious goose 

13 geese guard the cathedral.. 

One of the Cathedrals.. 

The walk to the museum 

Wintry trees 

If our national museum looks like this..i wld visit it everyday! 

At the National Museum! 

The Olympic Torch 

Sista and I 

Welcome sunshine! 

@ the Olympic Stadium 

Winter's beautiful too..in the right places.. 

Lovee this pict 

All geared for our shopping trip to the mega sth sth mall.. 

@ the port..very very beautiful! 

@ the magma-sth sth or mega-sth sth mall..this is the bridge that leads to it.. 

@ Picasso Museum..I Love this museum. Aint a big fan of museums after being through galleries after galleries in Europe..but Picasso is really a genius. love his art. 

Its really majestic but its beauty is spoilt by tourists (i.e. myself) and also construction work..sucks 

The Quadruple Towers..that's what i call it! 

I loveee this place! 

After trekking uphill on heels for 20mins..we finally arrived at park guell..well worth the trek! 

The famous lizard.. 

In love with Park Guell..every angle looks awesome 

From the foyer @ park guell.. 

Love this shot! 

Park Guell is such a paradise to be! 

At the balcony of Park Gueel 

View from the top of Park Guell 

End of Fantasy Gingerbread land.. 

That's the end of Barcelona! 

On the flight.. the Swiss Alps 

Sleepy me on the train to Bern.. i think i can sleep anywhere.

Clock tower of Bern 

Vintage Bern! 

Thats the end of Bern..because i ran out of camera batt..long story. 

On the trainnnn! 

At the Christmas Market! 

Sista and I  

Jo and I  

The christmasy town of Montreux..is just so captivating! 

Beautiful sunset 

The view from the walking along the christmas market 

My sista and the rest had 100% hot chocolate..it was so thick and creamy.. was like melted chocolate.. not much to my liking. I had tea instead. =P turning tooo English. 

The old town of Geneva 

The church in Geneva where we attended Christmas service 

Dead town 

Us in Carouge..quaint area..just outside the city center..its a dead town on Christmas!! 

In a quaint little part of Swiss.. 

Me, sista and cousin in the park 

My lil sista on a board of chesss in the park 

Photo whores unite 

Fattttttttttt US!!! 

Sista & I were well pleased with the array of food and drinks 

Leo busy at work..cutting chorizos and mixing drinks.. 

Vain sista posing with the Christmas tree 

Our dinner setting in their cosy home! 

Cheese Raclette..with potatoes.. ham..grilled mushrooms.. chorizos.. pork fillets..etc.  

Had the most hearty dinner ever!! 

Sipping Champagne..yums 

A blessed Christmas in Geneva! 

First day back in COLD coventry after living on a suitcase for what seems like the longest time..

I feel settled yet unsettled at the same time. Everything's packed and put in place..scrubbbed myself clean..not that i havent been showering. Saw my darling babies.. even tho they have grown as FAT as me.. i still love them. The past few days just swept past so quickly.. everyday feels like same.. one day's the next when you're europe trekking.. waking up earlier than usual..eating more than usual.. seeing and living the life as a tourist. It takes a whole to settle back into college mode again. No more fancy meals... awesome sights...astonishing surprises..unpredictable events.. pure enjoyment, bliss & indulgence.. back to the books.. =/ May not be a bad thing..though not exactly the best either

I am so glad my sister came.. I just realised how much i miss my family and how impt she is to me. Had a very nice christmas dinner in Geneva..with my cousin, her bf Leo, sista, Joanna and another bulgarian friend.. chic and cosy. Champagne.. Cheese.. Chorizos.. =) All of my favs. Switzerland has been a slow lazy and yet chilled-out holiday.. filled with chocs...cheese. Bern was really nice..i love quaint vintage towns! Geneva just feels like another home to me cos my cousin's there. Montreux was really pretty as well.. a rich area in Switz that holds the best Christmas market.. it is near the lake, so the view was really nice! Besides the icceey cold..Switz is lovely.

Spain was very different.. the architecture. .the feel of the place..the people..the food. Barcelona is too touristy for my liking.. wld love to head to southern spain..or somewhere beachy soon. And i was very -disappointed- by Zara, Mango and Pull & Bear.. so much for being spanish brands..i didnt get much from those brands at all! Either the fashion trend this year is really warped or i have lost my shopping instincts. =/

Am itching for more holidays. Planning to cover lisbon. Porto.Faro/Algarves(again), Istanbul, Munich, Brussels, Nice, Lyon, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Naples, Madrid, Seville, Granada, Balearic Islands, before i leave Europe for good.

Brussels is coming up in Feb with seminar mates. I might end to Munich for end of term.. and maybe Istanbul/Cyprus/Greece (again)/Palermo for Easter. And Dami has been psyching me up for a salinas-clad and beachy summer holiday in Spain, Portugal.. that's definitely confirmed. Will also head to the rest of the exotic islands in summer before/after graduation. Sobs. I don't wanna leave. IF all plans go well.. I shld be heading to the US straight after graduation and europe touring.. and be in Miami with Lolalita.. heading to dominican republic and puerto rico.

IF all plans fail.. i will still be europe touring..but my life will take a 180deg flip. We'll see.

Sunday, December 17, 2006

The start of the december holidays! Barcelona.Geneve.Bern.Montreux.London. 

My lil sister who's extremely happy & even more of a photo whore than me... 

Double dozen of Krispy Kreme..one for mattie's family..one for flattie..yUms. 

@ Muthusamy's 21st with the rest..nadz, amar, gigi, keok, wave, nick & gf, joanne, sam, will.. 

Muthu & Gigi..aint dey a sweet couple! 

Our steamboat dinner..  

Last shot of the night..zero leftover food.. happy & contented faces.. 

Welcome to Coventry..it aint really that bad ..frm this angle. 

The Quekers..:P 

Mattie & Mottie.. 

Mattie..Me & Motolu..Will miss dem over christmas:( 

Mattie's always disrupting and destroying my photo whoring sessions!!!!! 

Sista and I 

Sista..Jo..me..Mattie...Mottie at the chinese restaurant..had a yummy tim sum lunch! 

Lol.. i love and hate this picture..really unglamorous shot of me.. my dearest Mattie was trying to KILL me with his affectionate moves! 

We wanted to take a time foto..but mattie was unaware of that.. hence the lapse in reaction. Can u spot him! 

Us in Coventry.. Near the Cathedral..I am only smiling like that..because lousy Mattie was tickling me. =/ 

Jo & my sista 

Dining at home.. the process of my sister eating a mandarin orange 

My lil sis and i :) 

My lil sister has finally arrived!! Been quite a hectic weekend..

Started from 3am last friday.. I wwatched (F)Ugly Betty (a new series i am absolutely obssessed with).. the whole night till 3am..Muthu & Gigi drove me to catch the coach to Heathrow... & it was the longest bus ride ever.. Kept falling asleep in splurts & waking up to a seemingly never-ending journey. And the wait at the airport was even worse.. I was so bored at arrivals and half zombie-ish that i was lookin at the different varieties of luggages everyone had more than their faces. =/ Eventually.. i was more worried than excited..thinking about the 101 things tt cld go wrong.. Thank God she finally arrived!! YIPEE..tis the season to be jolly...lalalalalala.

Arrived back in coventry for a powernap before heading straight to Birmingham for some shopping. She's definitely my sister when it comes to shopping.. jet lagged yet motivated enough to shop. lol. Shoppped for about 3 hours.. Bought a gazillion krispy kreme for flatties and mattie's family.. before trooping to muthusamy's 21st birthday celebration at Taipan, some steamboat restaurant that is really affordable for the food we get.. steamboat buffet that has the leanest and freshest slices of beef, amazing salmon fillets, my favourite meatballs & dumplings, chinese mushrooms, asparagus, crab, prawns, etc. Nice spread of food..Ate so so much. =/

So we covered Birm. On to Coventry. Spend some quality time on Saturday with favourite flatties motzy and mattie.. had a tim sum lunch..quick loook in Primark & H&M.. before heading home for some lazy slack bumming time. Chilled with Mattie for abit.. Watched a movie.. and dined at home. Jo arrived here too!! can't wait for our europe treekking.. to Spain & Switz..hehe.
SundaY is a restday as always. Lazy me was supposed to wake up at 11 to gym today.. i cldnt drag myself out of bed..hence gymming has been postponed to tmr morning. ONe last Shot at slimming before puttin on the tremendous amount of weight over christmas. =/

On to Spain tmr evening.. till 21st..and heading on to Switzerland to visit my cousin & her bf.. touring Switzerland..Bern..Montreux for the largest christmas market in Switz. And finally back in London for boxing day & post christmas sales. Can't wait. Yipeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

That's a mirror image of me... its shocking. Imagine someone who thinks.. writes.. behaves.. exactly like you. Uncanny resemblance the world calls it. I call it inheritance and genetics.

Its scary how much my sister has grown to look like me. I begin to see myself in her. Was just looking at some of her pictures on her blog.. and i realised how much she has grown. She's still my lil sista no matter what nature defines her age to be.. how time has shaped her. Yet it takes awhile to get used to the fact that she's growing up. By extension, its harder to get used to the fact that i am growing up too.

Its hard to see someone getting to where you once where..because it simply reminds you that your time then has passed. Its strikingly scary how we have all moved on with time.. that we never realise how others have too. And we often impose the same expectations trapped in the same time period that we formulated them in.. on the same people we expect most from.

I still remember how our hair stylists, family friends, family doctors, family dentists would always call us "twins" and see the resemblance..which either of us cannot fathom. I always thought that's sth only strangers would say..because it takes time to realise real differences between people.. no matter how similar they are on the outside, knowing the differences on the inside changes the perceptions. And because my family knows how different/yet how similar we are in some ways.. we have grown to be two fundamentally different yet complementary individuals.

On hindsight.. i think it was out of intentional resolve that i chose not to acknowledge the resemblance. I wanna see myself as a different entity..not someone defined in a pair. That was probably in my teeny years. Not that she was a "different make" or someone i cant identify with.. just that i wanted ME to be just ME. At some stage in life, everyone just craves for that self-defined identity i suppose.

I have moved on... way past that stage. I am glad that we are so similar in so many ways.. think,act, write, feel alike. With time.. i have also realised that we are so differeent too. Strange concepts. Similarities with differences.. differences with similarities.

Just some random thoughts when i was lookin at lil sis's blog.

She's arriving in a day's time!!! Absolutely absolutely excited...!! And holidayig in Spain & Switz so soon. Life rocks my socks. I love this phrase as much as i love my life. =p

Monday, December 11, 2006

A brand new week! Just 3 days to my lil sis's arrival! I canttt wait!!

Went gymming today for 2 1/2 hours with the two gym addicts..muthusamy & nick. Gosh their determination amazes/motivates/impresses me so much. They frequent the gym everyday for at least 2 hrs. And they even eat proper healthy meals... taking note of the amount of carbs/proteins/fats intake they have each day. Incredible. I wish i had that motivation. I think i have to.. been watching too many dance movies with hot saucy babes.. i crave for a fit bod too. Vanity is part of the reason. More so for health reasons. Exercising makes me happier..more alive... keeps me awake for the rest of the day. =p

Watched a movie with dami & gigi.. amazing girls night in. =) Enjoyed the company very very much. Watched "the devil wears prada" again...but it never fails to entertain me. Gorgeous winter coats.. amazing fashion styles. Had a wonderful spread for dinner and dessert - contributedby gigi and muthusamy.. appleturnover with super premium haagen dazs praline ice-cream. yummilicious. So much for gymming today =p

Though i had another exercise after dinner.. hamster race again!! Omg.. i put the babies in dee's cos lousy lola was so scared of dem she practically stood on a chair the whole time. Anyway..i went to check on dem after dinner.. and the DOOR was wide open. the smarties figured it out again. UGH. fool me once, shame on u. Fool me twice.. shame on me. Fool me thrice..oh dear... shame for life.=( i didnt know who to run to but dear mattie.. who came to the rescue immediately. He was all over the floor & bed lookin for toffee..while mocha came into my arms after 5mins. I must admit that toffee is quite the athlete. Thank God dey returned home safely. And now the front door has been reinforced with paper clips and a ruler. Hard to imagine.. but it serves its purpose. Keeping dem in for now. Sorry babies.

extremely exhausted now.. off to bed.