The anti-tourist

With my next LA trip less than two weeks away, at the suggestion of some friends I have decided to write a travel blog. I've been over there enough times now to have already done the usual clichéd touristy things like the celebrity homes bus tour and posing with Elvis on Hollywood Blvd, so instead expect my random observations, lots of photos of cacti and ramblings about what I've been watching on the Game Show Network.


Right now I'm enjoying being a lady of leisure again after a busy year working on the Lloyds project. I've been making the most of the Indian Summer by going down to Brighton Beach with my iPod and an iced latte, dreaming about the day I win the Euromillions so I can this all year round.

Brighton Beach, 22C and a couple of days away from October... the UK and its freaky seasons

I must be the only person who sits on the beach in skinny jeans...

I finished work last Friday after a very fab and cool year on the HBOS integration project. It was sad to leave some of the great people I'd met there, especially seeing our team dwindle down one-by-one over the past couple of months, but on my last day the Project Team got me a rather lush box of Thorntons chocolates and I got to leave early \o/


Last weekend was jam-packed with seeing friends and family back home, starting with a night out in Richmond for Cheryl's birthday - 2-for-1 cocktails and S Club 7, yay! Also had a delicious Sunday roast at my grandparents, curry night with Heather, a great afternoon out in Shoreditch and took my mum to Brighton for an afternoon in the sun.

Happy birthday Cheryl!

We look like a bunch of alcoholics...

I've got a busy couple of weeks before I fly out - several trips to London to see friends (...including the Detroit bar, yay!) Recs Team reunion, birthday meals, starting my new novel properly, as well as my (early) birthday party. The theme I've settled on is 'Things that begin with L' - I've got an idea what to dress as, but I'm open to suggestions ;)


Then there's my actual birthday next month when I'm in LA... what to do? I doubt it can beat last year in Berlin, which was the best birthday ever hands down ;) Nevertheless I've got a few ideas of what I might do to celebrate it - Universal Studios, San Diego, 80s Night at Clockwork Orange in Hollywood and a trip around New Mexico to name a few.


I'll post more when I get out there in a couple of weeks, but in the meantime I'll post some flashbacks from previous trips over the past few years, watch this space... ;)