This one’s going to be a shorter post, as Monday/Tuesday of this week was Marseille. Coming back from a vacation (holiday) always feels a bit chaotic to me, like, how do I live my normal life again? So here’s how I eased back into a more normal week.

Wednesday morning, I worked out before work!! I’m pretty proud of that, as I’ve spent the past few months working with the wonderful Amanda Wheeler, re-grooving some of the fitness consistency I had pre-pandemic.

I planned the trip so I’d be back at work on Juneteenth, which meant most of the company was off. That way, I could spend the day catching up on everything I’d missed and prepping to finish the week off strong. It was a very productive day, which always feels good.

Thursday was not just an in-office day, but our Pride Trivia day hosted by Jonny Woo! This was so much fun; I won a macarena competition and my team dressed me up for a showgirl competition using random rainbow items!

I had to run out before the end of trivia to meet “my reddit friend.” I met Christine on reddit, and after plenty of chatting, we took our friendship to other forms of social media. We’ve only met once before, in Montreal, so when I found out she was in London with her family, I jumped on the chance to grab dinner. No pics from that outing, just lovely memories of a wonderful dinner.

On Friday, I learned a bizarre London lesson. Apparently for Amazon returns, all you do is take them to the post office, scan the QR code, and leave! That is… if you can find the post office! I put it into google maps, seemed simple enough. I then spent a solid half hour of my lunch break wandering around trying to find it. I’ve shown the screenshot to people and it literally looks like you turn right at an intersection, then FLY across the street in the other direction into a mall.

Finally, I broke down and asked a bank teller for help. Turns out… the post office is INSIDE A BOOKSTORE in the mall. I went back into the mall, found the bookstore, and y’all, that post office is in the veeeeerrrryyyyyyy back of the store. At least now I know! 

I made it to the gym Friday, Saturday, and Sunday this week – patterns really getting grooved! I cooked yummy burgers, we cleaned, Quinn built me an ikea dresser that I’m obsessed with. It was all pretty chill, which means we’re starting to get into some regular life patterns!

The cherry on top of the cake was getting to see my friend Abbey. Abbey and I were reservationists at Tavern on the Green when it reopened in April 2014, so we’ve now hit a decade of friendship. Every time we get together, we get to reminisce about our bagel brunch shifts and all the Lifesaver gummies we ate while answering the phones, and catch up about all the life stuff we’ve missed since our last hang.

This time, we got to do all that in London! We found a bar that made sense based on her plans for the day, The Owl and Monkey. Neither of us knew anything about it, but the wallpaper alone had me drooling. The bar snacks were delish, as were the drinks. I’d definitely recommend it if you’re in the South Kensington area.

And with that, I completed another week of living normal life in London! I made my way home from the bar to rest up and prepare for another week; specifically, London Pride!!