summertime in londontown!

for one day, it was almost summer in london. saturday saw the sun shining and the thermometer hitting a record 22 degrees. londoners fled to the outdoors in droves and every inch of footpath, street and even grass was heaving with "flipflop" (sorry, can't say thong here) wearing pasty-white folk.

we spent the afternoon chilling in Soho Square just down the road... it felt less like a park and more like a music festival with eclectic groups of people hanging out, laughing, eating, sleeping... just having a good time. when i closed my eyes i could almost almost imagine i was back home at the beach.

it was lovely and all but i think it made me more homesick.

the never ending birthday

Panu's 30th birthday celebrations started 5 days before his actual birthday, with a beautiful dinner at Pearl (he refused to let me, the asian tourist, take photos *boo*), followed by the naughtily hilarious Avenue Q. and now, almost 3 weeks later, the celebrations continue... and will do so for the foreseeable future, at least for another three weeks!

aside from all the fabulous presents that I got him, amongst the highlights would be his family visiting from Sydney. Though it is always stressful and tiring hosting family (and believe me, the Nevalainens are a tiring bunch - and let me thank my friends now who've listened to me vent!) their effort for making the long journey for a mere week did not go unnoticed. It was lovely, solid family time.

But goddamn, thank f&%$ it's over. *grin*

the celebrations continued with various dinners, drinks and even high tea (ahem, man tea), but the mother of all celebrations took place on Saturday night at Dirty Martini. I really don't know what else to say about the night except that we started with cocktails at dinner, and throughout the night there was a constant flow of mysterious concoctions, shots, beers and delicious tequila!

(oh boy i think i have a new found love for good tequila...)

it was hands down the messiest trashiest night we've all had in a while... Sunday was spent comatose and randomly giggling our way through the ridiculous photos...




































































too many to load but they can be found here and here. enjoy!

one night in heaven!

Panu's parents were in town last week for his 30th birthday and after spending a week with the in-laws, i was well and truly ready to let my hair down for a night of reckless abandonment!

I hadn't had a big night in a while but who could turn down an invitation to see Carl Cox at Heaven? Admittedly, the concern that we were hitting a gay club flitted momentarily through my head, but I got my dancing shoes on and off we went!

The night was great... lots of gays and lots more sweaty gays... but the music was definitely heavenly...

a delight to the senses

this morning Panu suggested we go check out Camden Lock Markets. i was still half asleep and thus muttered something about "cold" and "sleep in" and kindly asked him to "give me a valium i'm going back to bed"... but alas, the evil part of me, the part which resembles an over-excited puppy yapping at your ankles, won the battle yet again and off we went, booted, scarved and hatted.

and am i glad we did!

Camden Lock Markets (note, not to be confused with the regular Camden markets located down the road) turned out to be a labyrinth of amazing colours, textures, sounds, smells - every imaginable everything to tantalize the senses. I could have wandered through the intertwining alleys all day (and i shall return to do just that), finding new and hidden rooms just when you think you've explored the whole market. Truly a hidden gem.