Have you been to Hastings?

We went to Hastings for the first time on Saturday. It’s a good hour drive from where we live. The place is on the south coast of England and if you have never heard of Hastings, that’s ok. Google it! Hahaha just kidding. Hastings is famous for the Battle of Hastings of 1066, when the Normans conquered England.

The actual town where the battle took place wasn’t even Hastings – the place is called, tah-dah, Battle. Original, isn’t it?

So, our first stop was this cute little medieval town called Battle, where the cathedral and the battle field are. Entrance is free for under 5s, seniors get a discount (I think it’s about 6.50) and adult is around £8. We got falconery (whatever it’s called) and archery sessions included, but we couldn’t be bothered to wait.

Pushchairs are not recommended if you want to go around the whole field, but the good news is that you can leave it at the room you collect your audii guide from.

Laura enjoyed part of the walk (the whole round takes about 40min), but she was tired and bored several times. We stopped for a picnic and then for a quick relaxing time, when she almost fell asleep. Other than that, she ran a lot, played with the audio book (she was actually listening to it), asked to be carried several times.

Battle is adorable. Tiny buildings (cottages), sweet local shops selling all sort of lovely decoration objects (all of those things you don’t need but still end up buying). I saw a couple of shops I wanted to go back – including a charity shop selling cooler stuff than the stuff in my area – but I didn’t have the chance to go.

We had lunch there – the main street is full of cafes, but very few restaurants or pubs. We managed to find a pub (I don’t know about you, but I love pub food), where I had a yummy grilled seabass with prawns (I think they were crayfish though) cream, new potatoes and broccoli/baby corn/cabbage. The boys had fish and chips, my mother in law had chicken and bacon salad and Laura had chicken nuggets. Service was really good. Not pricey.

Here are some photos of the first part of the day. These were taken on my phone; I have more in my camera, I’ll post them later. The 2nd part of the day will come tomorrow.

Howdy ho!

Today is my mother-in-law’s birthday! La multi ani, Voichita! Mwah!

Today the day was great, sunny, warmish, productive, delicious. The floor in the living/dining rooms and hallway are done. I manage to find some energy to organise the mess a tiny little bit.

Little one turned 21 months last Wednesday and she is funnier than ever. Her vocabulary is also increasing, and as well as all the words I posted before, she also says “yes” (bizarre how she refuses to say it though), “more”, “bubble” (will post a cute video of her shouting bubble), “aeroplane” (I heard it a couple of times), “moon”, “book”. All in English.

Yesterday I went to Covent Garden with my team. I love CV, I love it even more early in the morning, before the tourists wake up and take over the city. We went to the museum of transport and walked around… There’s this exhibition of giant eggs in the city – 200 of them in central London. I saw only 10 or so.

Daddy and baby have some quality time together every weekend, when daddy takes baby to the park nearby. I hardly ever go because I can’t bear the park when it’s cold and wet.

And a bit of old news: I didn’t think I would manage, neither did hubby, but we had a great valetine’s dinner. I had 30 minutes to prepare everything, from setting the table to cooking. I think I did a pretty good job considering the time.

Last but not least: I am officially British. I booked the passport interview and should get my passport by end of March. Bad timing, ski trip was cancelled and and god know if we will be able to ski this year. But at least we are all British at home and won’t have any more problems renewing passports and such.

Ok, I’m going to sleep now. Tomorrow will be another great day for us!

Blah-dee-blah (written on Monday evening)

So we are almost in August. How quick has the year gone? Scary.

My mum left this morning, but I had to go to work and didn’t have the chance to take her to the airport. It wasn’t all bad, because I’m pretty sure I was going to cry a river. Feeling very sensitive today, for several reasons.

I’m a creature of habit – I like to feel comfortable in my life and am not so keen in big changes. It might be why changes come in bundle in my life. I’m normally fine with changes that don’t involve having to deal with many people, i.e. moving houses and changing cars are ok. Difficult, but I can enjoy them. But when it comes to interacting… geez, it freaks me out. Going back to uni and changing jobs for example.

It might sound a little too much for you, but going back to work after 13 months away, having my mum around for more than a month and seeing her going back so soon, changing jobs, knowing that in 3 weeks time my in-laws are going, Laura will go to the nursery and winter will soon be here is giving me the creeps. I could do without the changing jobs bit, but it’s too late. It’s done. And I hope I won’t regret.

The weather was nice today – a little bit too cold for my liking, but beautiful nonetheless. I decided to go all summery to work (could have used an extra layer), abusing the mish mash of colours (pink, red, yellow, blue, white) and even wearing sun glasses! I don’t know if I ever mentioned here, but I totally dislike sunglasses. They might be cool (although I don’t see myself as cool wearing them; I’m more like “snobbish without a reason”), but I hate the fact that the day becomes dark and the bright colour of the sun and the sky are totally deformed but its lens. As I say “I rather be blinded by the light and live in the shadow”. I got my sun glasses really cheap, 2 pounds or something – cheap and I look like Stallone Cobra.

Here are more photos for you (taken with my mobile – some of them quite old):

Sunny, warmish, colourful

The new car inside and out

Trying to look taller... it didn't work, did it?

I’m alive!

Oh dear, almost a month without posting here. Sorry, I’ve been busy busy. As you all know by now, I’ve started working – 3 weeks today! I’m exhausted, but alive and in one piece (despite having the most bizarre head-neck-back-knee pains). I guess I’ll get used to this life, but I can’t say I’m loving it (the same way I can’t say I’m hating it). I guess I like having the money at the end of the month and being in touch with a bunch of few nice people. I was going to add “and being productive” but I can’t think of anything more productive than raising a child.

Anyhoo, I heard an interesting thing today – one of my colleagues was telling us that her mum’s way to say she was a good kid during her teens was “at least you had never brought the police to my door”. haha. yeah, ha-ha.

Now, let me shut up and post photos. A little story of the last 3 weeks.

My bag on my 1st day back to work - baby hair brush and a dummy!

My outfit on my 1st day at work: very few clothes still fit

New shoes - they don't hurt that much

The office at 8am - just my thoughts and I

Is it possible to prepare lunch in 30 minutes? It sure is!

On my way to work I saw this little mouse, it was shaking, maybe dying. I almost cried. 😦

My work handbag - I found it "lost" (dumped) in my cupboard

One day I got home and saw this scene: grandma and baby asleep with the TV on

And we put the curtains up (we had to fix them today, looks a bit better now)

At uncle Roberto's home - we loved the blue wall. Now, painting the wall here is part of the plan. 😉

Mummy, hug!

BFF Laura & Stina

See you next month!