Scattered Strawberry Summer

Hello my chums

Last few weeks were very busy, I've been out and about for work and it seems I had hardly any spare time. But my efforts have paid off.. A new position was created in my office, I new about it for quite a while, it feels like it dragged quite a bit but I can tell you know I got this job!! It's a step up for my position, a significant salary increase and, of course, responsibilities are much greater and I will be managing 6 people. It will be both exciting and challenging! I don't have managerial experience..however I do have management degree which is finally going to pay off and I will also get some further training. I actually have booked a course in January and will be looking into more courses. I think this is such a perfect opportunity for me and I need to make the most of it! This job will also mean more travel to London, I don't really mind! Might actually go to see a show and meet my cousins who live there.

Tomorrow we're having staff Christmas party at a Spanish restaurant so I will celebrate this tomorrow with my colleagues!

 Friday night I had dinner with my girlies at Pablo's. It was a joint birthday dinner, we all have birthdays in December, there is also another friend with December birthday but she wasn't able to make it. To burn a few calories we took a walk around the harbour. It's beautiful at night, many people had Christmas decorations up already. Even though it was Friday night, it was incredibly quiet and for some reason sea looks sinister at night.  Saturday and Sunday flew by incredibly fast and I am about to face my last week at work this year!
I still need to get a few presents before I go but most of them are taken care of. I'm looking forward to spending Christmas in Germany, it will be a nice change.

 I had such a busy week and I'm behind with a few things, I need to do so much before the holidays but I don't have time! I haven't planned anything for my trip in Lisbon and not sure when I'll be able to do that! I'm off today but there are a few things I need to do for work (I'll tell you more about that next week), some social events to attend to and I really need to catch up with my sleep!

The latest trailer of Sherlock: Series 3. I'm soo excited and I cannot wait. Too bad I'm not in the country on 1st January and might not see the new episode till Jan 3rd, but hey I waited for two years, I can wait a bit longer.

I have the tree up already but haven't finished decorating, I'm very much into nordic decorations, but I haven't found much of these kind of decorations on the high street. I might have to buy  some online.

I noticed recently a few backlash against  very fit women, namely Maria Kang and Caroline Berg Eriksen.

My skin is terrible, I'd been prescribed antibiotics, but they didn't help. I've been browsing r/skincareaddiction,the folks there know what they are talking about. I'm trying to set up a new skincare routine, bought loads of products that might work. I'd suggest to check it out, website might look a bit weird for those who're not redditors, but don't worry, you'll get used to it. I'm trying out cheater's oil cleansing method, I'm using Pond's cold cream, it seems to be less messy. It's too early to say if it's working.

I'm also keen to try  Curly Girl Routine, I've seen some fantastic results on r/curlyhair. I think I will try to do this by slowly phasing out shampoo until it's not needed.

I'm having a very lazy Sunday- which is a
rare occasion.We're having The Office (US) marathon.  We've been watching it pretty much every day. Today we reached the episode where Michael leaves, it's going down the hill from there, isn't it?Anyway, I love it, it's hilarious.So many great characters, I couldn't tell which one is my favourite- there are too many.





Once we're done with this, we're watching the original British version, I've seen some episodes but not all. Afterwards I'll need to find another good show. I'm open to suggestions...

I'ts bloody cold outside. It's either too hot or freezing in my office, I never feel comfortable. It feels like June was just yesterday but reality is that the holiday season has started. Christmas decorations everywhere, Christmas adverts on the telly,  dear god how annoying, it's November!!! So  yeah I'm a bit like the grumpy cat.

 
There are many reasons to be grumpy, but what annoys me most at the moment is the crowds in the shops. And it will only get worse. I haven't got any presents yet, hey I still got a month, but I will buy the most online to escape all the crowds, it's usually cheaper anyway. This year I need to get more presents than usual as I'm going to spend Christmas in Germany and there are so many relatives there, dear oh dear how I'm going to fit all the presents in my suitcase.

My very close friend is getting married very soon, so we went to a local bridal shop for a fitting. We have similar taste in clothing and we're good friends so I can feel like I can give her my honest opinion on the dresses.

I've never been to a bridal shop before and I wouldn't say that I particularly enjoyed my first visit. First of all, there was another future bride who brought pretty much the whole family there, so there wasn't much space especially as all the bridesmaids where trying on dresses too. Secondly, we weren't allowed to take pictures and they never leave the bride alone so you can't snap one secretly either. I find the whole experience of being in changing room with absolute stranger a bit bizarre. Thirdly, their selection of dresses was rather limited, one size in each style only and generally they all look so similar. I think I would really struggle to find a wedding dress  for myself.

Anyway, my friend tried on around 6 dresses ( so like a fifth of their whole stock..) and 2 of them were strong candidates. Too be honest she'd look beautiful in any kind of dress, so really it's up for her to decide what  kind of cut and style she prefers. We plan to go to some other bridal shops next week. It will be another challenge!

SPOILERS ahead


Damn you Cumberbatch. Made me download iTunes (yeah, not an apple fan) to watch Little Favour. 
It's a short crowd-funded film,Benedict plays quite a different role when usual, we're loving it, don't we? I love that even though he's such a big star now, he still involves in small projects. 

             
  My colleague and me were invited to a youth fair organised by the local council, we worked at reception and I was also asked to take pictures too. Good, another opportunity to practice. I was worried about lighting. It was held in an old theatre and it was  much worse than I expected. The lights were so dim,not sure if they were aiming for romantic mood or just saving money? I don't have fast enough lens for this, oh well, I had a few decent shots, but so many potentially good  photos have come out either blurry or too much noise in the picture. They had a few dance groups and also music groups, lets just say some were better than others. Anyway, the day was quite fun, any day out of the office is a good day!

I've got a special treat for you this week.
Not sure if this is widely known, but before his comedian days, Ricky Gervais was in a New Wave group, well duo, called Seona Dancing.

So apparently, a storm is coming our way, it should hit our coast Sunday night- Monday morning. Winds up to 80 mph. I'm ready, are you?

Update: well, it seems the storm skipped my town, I haven't seen any damage, a few branches on a pavement, that's all.

I'm just sitting here and listening to his songs and enjoying myself so much. His voice is  very  deep and distinctive, I love that.

The other day I went to see Fifth Estate with a few friends and my SO.  This was something I was looking forward for a while. Now I've watched it I got mixed feelings about it. First of all, let me state the obvious- Benedict was brilliant as Julian Assange. His manneers and even posture seem to be different and he nailed the awkward dancing style of Julian Assange (check a video on youtube). I'm not sure how good is his Australian accent, I can't really tell, but love trying to replicate the part from the trailer where he says "Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.". I just love how it sounds.


While I'm brunettebatch fan, his platinum white hair  really grows on you and I actually rather like it now. Cumberbatch aside, the film is not as good as I wished it was. At first it tried to raise a question whether Julian Assange is a hero or a terrorist but  in the end it came out  rather one sided and the decision  was made for you. They tried to save it by adding the bit where Benedict as Julian pretends to give his view on the film but it was too little too late. The whole film ended as if Wikileaks kind of ended in 2010, but that's simply not true .Wikileaks has published a list of inaccuracies in the film, you can read it here. While I do understand why Julian asked Benedict not to be in this film, I did enjoy watching this film, mainly because of the talented Mr Cumberbatch but also I took this film as a loose dramatization of real events and people rather than an accurate depiction. If you want the truth, you should seek it out for yourself


                     

   I spent my day at my friend's. We had fondue, it seemed quite fitting with this cold and rainy weather.  She has a lovely fireplace so I spent most of the time next to it as I was quite cold. She baked a cake and it was rather nice, cream a bit too runny, but it didn't ruin the taste and it looked very nice.

We spent the afternoon chatting about upcoming wedding of my friend, so many things to do! We looked at some wedding dresses and next week we might go to a bridal shop to try on some dresses, to find a style she likes.  I think it will be quite fun and she'll make a very beautiful bride.