Beautiful Belgium - The Arrival Edition

During the February half term break, myself and two other fun humans, who we shall call Rach and Cara, set out on an adventure to Belgium..

First stop was Ghent!

After getting on the ridiculously early 7am Eurostar from London, we arrived in Brussels a couple of hours later to then enjoy another short train ride to Ghent.

Somehow, mainly thanks to Rachyroo our travel guide goddess, we got on the tram to the town centre where our glorious hotel was. For someone like myself who doesn't stay in hotels very often, there was quite a novelty about it all. I'm not sure what was more fun - putting our most prized possessions - read: passports - into the safe and opening and closing it a few times for fun, OR the fun of getting to sleep in a luxuriously huge bed!

We stayed at The Novotel hotel and I really couldn't complain one bit about it. We were lucky enough to have a pretty sweet view from our window overlooking a little square, getting cheeky views of the locals demolishing beers in the early afternoon and my favourite part - hearing the bloody church bells ring for a bajillion hours straight on a Sunday morning... I swear, it didn't stop for at least two hours and when our heads were slightly sore and we were all craving frites, it wasn't the best start! However - the windows of the hotel were very soundproof!

A slightly worrying long way down.

We did loads of exploring and walking around the quaint, little, cobble stone streets dodging bikes, ate lots of delicious things and took lots of photos of each other... and the beautiful city we were in for three days.

Ghent canal by day

Ghent canals by night - photo cred to rachy

It was fun walking down the street holding hands, merging into a line when the crowds got a bit squishy, taking in the stares and the feeling of being on a school trip...

It was almost, only just though, as fun walking down the streets holding a cone of frites in our warm hungover embrace, scouting out the best spot to sit down before we collapsed in heaps. 

There was so much more fun to be had... Stay tuned!!

You should check out Cara's blog - Britventures for part one and part two of our trip away!

Happy 3 Years in London!

I seriously cannot believe I've been living in London for 3 WHOLE YEARS!!! Time has literally flown by! I was lucky enough to be indulging in some delicious French wine in Paris when the anniversary hit!

I'm still very happy with my decision to move to London - most of the time! It has been hard work living in London, but so much fun at the same time! 

I have an amazing job and an even more amazing group of friends. 

I've absolutely loved having friends and family from NZ come over and stay too! 

I've been lucky enough to travel to a few places... like... Porto, Malaysia, Paris (3 times!), South France, Budapest, Stockholm, quite a few places over the UK and a trip back to New Zealand!

I've been able to meet some pretty special family members too!

I say bring on the next 3 years! 

Things I'm Loving!!!

This week I'm loving...

This Song

Flowers in your hair - The Lumineers

Conversations at work

I was chatting to one of the office ladies this morning about how the kids have really fancy cell phones. It went like this...

Me - "It's crazy how these kids bring their phones to school. They don't even need them"

Office lady - "I know! I mean, they have really fancy ones. Like Blueberries and Samsongs"

I lost the plot with laughter. Absolute gold!

Snacks

Love a good snack. Especially Sweet and salty popcorn!

Gifts

I sent today, a special gift for a very special cousin who's having a very special birthday that I can't attend. You're gonna love it Soph!!!

Crocheting

I crocheted this bad ass rasta hat in a few hours! It's a bit wild, but my favourite colour!!

Colour

Whilst we're on the topic of colour, I'm totally loving my new dark purple hair! Also, check out how long it is!

Breakfast

Last weekend we went to the The Breakfast Club. AH-MAZE-ING. NEVER fails to impress. Ever. I had the bacon (of course) and banana french toast. Read it and salivate.

Baking

I had my first success at baking with my little kiddies! 

Ok, I lied a little bit. My T.A had to fix the mixture because it wouldn't stick, she worked her magic, chucked these in the oven, and voila! (only 4 out of 10 burnt!)

The wind

I never thought I'd say this having grown up in Wellington, but, I was big time loving the wind tonight! It reminded me of getting blown blissfully out of control around Courtenay Place. Ahhh, home away from home!

Linking up with that gorgeous chick who has McChoice pants