The past two weeks have been a good mixture of eventful and mundane. But hey, life can't always be fireworks and parties (says the person that is too lazy to drag herself to a party), right? 

I had a nice walk around West London mid last week. The weather was gorgeous and I saw the most serene/creepy sculpture of a horse's head. Just a head, well, and a bit of neck. First off, I love horses and the expression was so serene, but then there's the fact that it's a massive horse head that's...well, just there. I also finally got to see the infamous Harrod's Egyption Staircase Hall, and I'm not kidding when I say I was confused for a minute as to if I was in a museum or not. It was also the day that I came to respect those that are able to (power) walk all day in heels. I was walking in chunk heel boots for only 5 hours, but it still resulted in me crawling around in my flat, refusing to let the soles of my feet touch the floor. 

We went international in the flat with my Swiss flatmate busting out the Swiss chocolate and having a proper 'fondue de chocolat'. Slightly disappointed by the fact that there wasn't any strawberries, that night was still a nice sugar buzz with chocolate-dipped pineapples, grapes, and bananas. Swinging Belgium several nights later, another flatmate cracked open several bottles of the country's specialty fruit beer that was of cherry and raspberry. Good thing there was a limited amount of bottles, otherwise I probably would've hogged the whole stash. Of course, I had to play my part in the food-game, and while not specific to a country, I made walnut banana bread that was so good, I had to hide away several slices in my room to prevent the flatmates from eating the whole loaf. 

It looks like I don't have eyebrows - but I assure you, it was the lighting. It should've given me a halo than take away the eyebrows. 

But the highlight of the week (it might even be highlight of the decade for me!) had to be last Sunday. I'm sure my Hadley Fraser obsession is known to many of you already. I managed to score last minute tickets for his gig on the 16th. It's an understatement to say that I was hyped up for weeks, but when the actual day of the show rolled around, I was actually nervous to go into the performance. You know those times when excitement completely overwhelms you to a point where it seems like you're staring directly at the sun? You know what I mean. The 2.5 hours were probably the best night I've had in ages! He sang songs that I've been listening to for years, and to hear them live was surreal. I think I was in a state of slight shock throughout the time. Especially since I was sitting no less than 2 meters away from him. We hung out for a while after the show, just chatting when suddenly Annie was all, I think Hadley is over there. My friend and I just looked at each other and started having a breakdown. If you remember, I had the chance to meet Hadley a couple months back and it was virtually the same situation - the man would just magically show up in our close proximity (read about it here). Of course it was Annie that braved the path and approached Hadley with my friend and I following close after. I wasn't going to mention previously meeting him and just thank him for putting on a brilliant performance, but the minute Hadley saw me, I knew he recognized me. But what really shocked me was before I could even say anything, he said Daphne. Daphne. He said my name. And of course, as me, I looked at Annie who was looking back at me with the same look of surprise. She didn't mention my name. I looked at my friend. She wore the same expression. I looked back at Hadley, probably with a face of terror and the first words that blurted out when I opened my mouth? I'm sorry. Later that night, when I look back, I had a literal head desk moment. Typical me. But I was in a complete state of shock that he remembered me. Hadley Fraser remembered my name. And it was probably due to the completely idiotic state I was in last time I talked to him. So naturally, the first words that popped out of my mouth were apologies to acting completely decomposed in front of him last time and probably scaring him. Hadley laughed and reassured me once again that he wasn't that easily frazzled before we proceeded onto more normal chit chat and joking around. We had monopolized his time for a good 10 minutes before we figured that we should let other people have their turn. I thanked him again and good lord, the man gives out great hugs. If you're interested, someone from the matinee show uploaded their recordings of that afternoon and my favorite performance was of his version of Fred Jones Part 2 and Coming Around. (Don't worry, Hadley said that we could record the whole performance) Oh and if you want to know the make up I wore that day, I did a breakdown that you can read here.

The weekend of Hadley's gig, I had the nasty feeling that I was going to get a cold. That throat itching, nose tingling tell tale sign? Yeah, I had that on Saturday. I had a sense of doom when I woke up Sunday as it was starting to be a full on cold, and my head was so dizzy it took me a good 5 minutes to stop the room from spinning as I held onto the wall when I stepped out of bed. It was so bad, I was tempted to give my ticket to Hadley's show to another roommate of mine and ask her to record the whole show for me. But luckily, when I braved to go downstairs and claim a package, the girl at reception learnt of my state and quickly jotted down some medication and instructions for a quick, temporary remedy. A quick trip to Boots and I was home, hyping myself up on pills and Vitamin C. I felt better than ever that afternoon and evening. But as all temporary reliefs are, I was pushing my body too hard when it was already in a weakened state and spent the next 3 days of complete bed-rest, refusing to eat or drink as it felt like there were thousands of knives every time something went down my esophagus. I know, not the best patient ever. I still have a congested nose, a bad cough, and slightly worned out, but I'm a lot better now. 

The burger, fries, and lemonade I have wonderful dreams of. 

Anya came down from Leeds on Saturday, and we chatted the whole day away while making quite a dent in the wallet as we trekked down Oxford Street and into Covent Garden before ending the day at Honest Burgers. We've came to the conclusion that we're terrible for each other's wallets as I don't think there was a moment when we said to the other person "No, you don't need that. Put it down." The phrase that came closest was probably, "Yeah, put it down first. We'll walk around and you can come back to see if you really want it." (We didn't go back) But it was a blast to be able to finally meet up after chatting away for months. It was a dreadful moment when she had to leave for the train, but another meet up is already in talks! Fun thing, Anya mentioned that I had a full blown American accent when I met her that morning, but when I went home, the girl at reception had asked if I gotten a new accent. Accent sponge, I tell you. 

We forgot to take photos, Anya! 

What have you been up to lately? It seems like a lot people are coming down with something, so stay healthy y'all! 

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