Monday 31 March 2003

don't mind me, i'm just sitting here aging



What an absolutely fantastically brilliant weekend that was! Saturday morning I woke up, feeling a little less hideous and packed my things to spend a weekend at Paul's house. We drove down the A1 but went right past our exit. "Umm...where are you taking me?" I asked my beloved, who then switched the car stereo to play a CD containing the "Lisa, it's your birthday" song from the Simpsons. Paul revealed not all, but some of the birthday weekend plan - we were going to London! We got to our hotel in Kensington, I had a quick nap (oh how I needed that), then got dolled up for an evening out. We hopped in a cab and headed for Soho (wherein Paul made many jokes about taking me to a strip joint), and ended up at a fantastic sushi place. Sushi, tempura, soup, and noodles trundled by us on a conveyor belt as we sat around a counter on stools. It's too damn easy to overeat at these places, what with food parading past you the entire time. It was a bit like a roulette wheel at certain points, because we'd spot things we were interested in that would get snapped up by someone else, and we had to wait until the kitchen prepared more. We sat there going "Come ooonnnnn spinach! Let's go, tempura!" as we watched the food go around like an airport luggage carousel. The best part was watching a small child next to me try wasabi paste for the first time. I do not suggest you eat it by the spoonful if you've never tried it before. Full of good food, we rolled out of the restaurant and Paul led me through the streets of West London. A few short blocks later, we emerged by the Lyric Theatre and I spotted the huge sign for the Ian McKellen play "Dance of Death". Guess where we were headed next? No, not a strip joint. The play was excellent (and we did resist the urge to yell out "Look! It's Gandolf!") and was the first West end play I've ever seen.



Sunday was beautifully sunny and warm, and we headed over to the Ideal Home Show. A bit disappointing because it was more like walking around a gigantic informercial. We'd go past booths of people literally jumping out at us asking us to try their product, let them do my hair and nails, or sign up for their insurance/finance/utilities plan. One woman actually came at me shouting, "Stop stop stop, darling!", which was more than just a little unnerving. Otherwise, there were some interesting booths from less insane (but still pushy) companies and it was a nice way to spend a few hours. We drove back towards Cambridge, stopping at one of our favourite pubs for dinner and went past our new house (which now has the sold sign in front of it YAY!). We shared a bottle of wine at home and relaxed after our fun-packed weekend.



This morning I woke up to a big pile of birthday gifties from my Mom and Dad, Paul's parents, Russ and Debs, and Paul. As if my weekend in London wasn't enough, Paul also got me a set of gorgeous Japanese teacups, which is something I've really wanted for a while. Best. Boyfriend. Ever.



This aging thing really isn't so bad when there's all this other good stuff happening, eh. :)

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