In No Mood to Work

I don’t know why … could be cause I know my little sister’s wedding is on this weekend but I’m in a bludgy kinda mode. Could also be cause I’ve been working my butt off since I returned back to work from holidays and feel I’m entitled to relax a little bit.

It could be cause I’m actually feeling fatigue which is ironic. During our holiday we would be walking practically all day and out at night, but back home I commute 3 hours of the day (usually sitting in a seat), sit at a desk all day yet I'm feeling exhausted and run down.

Whatever the reason I’m in no mood to do any work – for the rest of today.

I even didn’t go for a run and had a longer lunch with this hottie ...

Bring on the weekend!!

Moving Out

On the weekend we cleaned our RH investment property. Note: need to add a post regarding that purchase.

Looks like we may be moving into the property for a little bit. Not the plans I had for this property or for us but trying to see the positive in the situation.

The positives include:

• Being on our own as a family and all the joy that comes with that. We can do what we please, when we please and not think about bothering anyone else. We can leave the house as clean or as messy as we want to.
• Decorating a brand new home!! I can’t wait to buy furniture and slowly decorate our home. I can’t wait to start hanging personal photos on our walls. I’m already starting to scope ideas online from all the excitement!! 

Here are some inspiration for our living area:

Going for a minimal, contemporary look with lots of storage possibilities. Minimal so we can hide everything from the little one who likes to grab everything he sees. Low maintenance is a requirement for me too so need storage options where I can dump the mess into places no one will see and give the impression of cleanliness. I want something that can be reused with different furniture and interiors for when we update and upgrade.

What interior style are you?

What We Parents Do

Eli can’t say balloon yet he says “baaww” instead … it’s so cute

On Saturday it was Mr V’s 2^nd birthday party which was held at a local pub near us. I appreciate how these venues have embraced the need to be family friendly and have updated their facilities to cater for children. There is a dedicated play ground, games room and a jumping castle on offer for kids.

Through out the party Eli kept gravitating to balloons. First the balloons Mr V had then to the helium filled one’s from another party. One of the guests noticed he kept coming back to their table and gave him one. We attached it to his arm and he would grab it and try to bite it. I was waiting for it to pop in his face. He eventually realised if he let go of the balloon it would fly away from his hands so he kept a tight grip on the string.

This morning I get a call from home. It was my mum telling me the balloon escaped. Eli was with my dad at the front yard and he had his baaww with him outside. So of course the predictable would happen, the balloon flew away. My mum said after the incident he still kept asking for "baaww"

I called Ian and told him about the incident. That evening he had a new replacement "baaww" for him. A bigger, stronger and more expensive one too. 

Have you ever done something above and beyond to please your infant child knowing that they'll never remember it? 

More Base2Stay Photos

Additional photos for this post.

Still sifting through all the holiday photos. Almost done culling the London one's and in the process found more pics of the accommodation we stayed at in London.

How I miss towel warmers ... best part of coming home from a cold and gloomy day in London town.

Back to Work

I returned back to work on Tuesday (post labor long weekend) after 4 weeks off, to find as I expected little progress since I left. No surprise the project roll out didn't commence in my absence, but will next week. Although the reasons were due to hurdles the project had to overcome, a part of me feels like they were actually waiting for me to come back.

Again no surprise, heard my name was dragged in the mud, because I'm not there to defend myself, cause it's never the PM's fault for anything as she deflects any admittance to any mistakes.   

Anyways I'm not going to commit a post about her - well not this one.

So leading up to the first day back I felt a sense of dread that I've never felt towards a job before. I think it was because I knew the mess I had left and was not confident it would be fixed while I was away. I think also knowing I would be continuing to work closely with her added to my feeling of dread. 

Luckily I had an even shorter week only working 3/4 days. It helped the transition back to work a little bearable ... just a little bit.

Returning back to work just iterate how much I don't find joy in what I'm currently doing. I'm sure the project and the PM plays a factor but I don't know whether looking for a new role is what I need to do. I think finding my own business is where I want to head more towards so I can work my own hours and be with my family most of the day. I need to stop being complacent and really start the process of working for myself.

Base 2 Stay

So I'm in the process of going through the hundreds of photos taken during our trip and culling the one's I want to develop and also upload onto FB. 

Yes people, develop your photos or at least upload them somewhere for people to view. Why take photos and not share them with people? Prints cost 9c everyday at Kmart. You can upload your images online from the comfort of your home, pay online or upon pick up and most stores close at 12pm on weekdays - there are no more excuses for not printing photos. I enjoy the experience of going through a photo album with someone as they explain stories behind a photo they are sharing.

In the mean time (more like while the little man is asleep and I have some time to blog) I want to share our experience and provide a review of the accommodation we stayed at in London. 

We stayed at Base2Stay Kensington, however it's more like Earl's Court. It opened its doors in 2006 so it's a relatively new hotel therefore its interior and rooms have modern fixtures. We booked our room directly through the hotel however, there are other online vendors you can book through. At the time it worked out cheaper to booked through them directly than go with these third party websites.

Cost of the room was ... slightly above our budget in terms of how much we wanted to spend, but the para-Olympics, which started on the same day we arrived, played a factor on the price. Base2Stay is a well priced hotel and rates are usually cheaper than the period of time we were there. Actually because of the para-Olympics we couldn't afford to stay closer to the heart of London.

A summary of my review of our room, 205 at Base2Stay:

• Room was clean and cozy, beds warm and comfy.
• Room was basic but contained a cupboard, small kitchenette, safe, flat screen tv and modern bathroom.
• Kitchenette contained basic kitchen utensils, a small sink, coffee facilities, microwave and a fridge.
• Rooms were quiet, never heard other guests around us although I knew there were people staying next door and across from us.
• Accommodation included free wifi for guests. Rooms even contained a keyboard to allow you to connect online and use the flat screen tv as a monitor.
• Five minutes walk to Earls Court train station therefore can access either the Piccadilly or District tube lines. 
• Because hotel was on the Piccadilly line we could catch a train directly from the airport without forking out extra for the Heathrow Express train. 
• There are many grocery stores, fast food outlets, restaurants, pubs, banks and convenience stores within walking distance to accommodation.
• When we booked accommodation we mentioned it was our wedding anniversary and they sent us a bottle of champagne as a gift.
• Staff were very friendly and helpful. We need to print some documents that needed to be scanned and emailed. Staff was able to assist us with this process by printing email, rescanning document and emailing back to me.
• Rooms serviced daily.
• Hotel monitors feedback from visitors like a hawk via TA and take all feedback seriously so they can improve on their service. They pride in the constant positive feedback.

Faults I would raise:

• There is a building next door currently being renovated / built so could hear the construction noises in the morning and thorough out the day.
• No exhausted in the bathroom so would fog up after a hot shower.
• Using the shower faucet was a bit confusing at the start. Some information provided in rooms would have been helpful however we soon figured it out. There is no cold water, the cold water tap controls the hotness of the hot water.
• Water pressure was not that great, don’t know if it’s the hotel or London as a whole and do not have strong shower water pressure.
• No iron facilities.
• Air conditioner was very noisy when on. It would actually wake me up in the middle of the night. 

Overall Base2Stay was a pleasant stay for us. It was well priced, clean, modern and meet all our creature comfort needs. 

Would I stay here next time I come to London .... if our dollar is stronger against the pound and there isn't a global event factoring prices I would probably like to stay a little closer to the shopping districts of town.   

Comfy beds to crash on after a long day of sight seeing and shopping

The small kitchenette area. The microwave is on the shelf above and fridge is hidden in the cupboard  below. 

I'll upload the pictures taken from Ian's camera ... when I get to them.

We're Back

I'm back from our big European adventure ... booo *sad face*

But yay back with our little man whom we totally missed while we were away. There wasn't a day that I didn't say out loud "I miss Eli!!" or watched one of his videos to get me through the day. He's ... changed so much ... but more on that later.

I want to put some time into writing about my holiday so that in I in a few years time I can recall the moments and experiences with all its detail. So give me a few days or weeks (depending on how lazy I get recounting my adventure) to write in thorough detail about the experiences of our long awaited holiday across Europe.

Our itinerary included:

London (view of the London Eye, Big Ben and Houses of Parliament)

Paris (Eiffel Tower)

 Florence (The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore)

Rome (The Colosseum) 

Crete (beach from Candia Maris Resort & Spa) and

Santorini (view from our suite at Aliko Suites)


All images taken by me with my iPhone.