Tuesday Thoughts.

I know you're thinking : 'What's on Victoria's mind this week'. Well I heard and I'm answering:

Looking forward to .... Easter Weekend. I'm heading back home to catch up with my friends and to see my parents and sisters for the first time in months.

I miss this place. I'm excited.


Watching ..... the new series of New Girl! Oh how I've missed Schmidt. It couldn't come back soon enough in my opinion!

Laughing over ..... Life as a twenty year old. I saw this ages ago but it's still all so true! 

Listening to ..... This new Vampire Weekend song.

Amazed by ..... This video of a man with Parkinson's Disease. I saw this video a few weeks ago and I'm still amazed by it. The man in it has such severe Parkinson's that he can barely walk, but put him on a bike and he's off! He even does a little sprightly jump to get off the bike at the end!

Eating .... Some healthy stuff....

And some not so healthy stuff.....

 (this was opened and consumed within the space of 2 hours....oops)

Getting sick of .... half marathon training issues. First it's the rain/snow/wind/sub-zero temperatures. I can just about deal with that. The painful muscles/blisters/toes not so much! Less than two weeks to go though!

Hoping for ..... the weather to warm up (STILL!). Although seeing as I'm heading up North tomorrow I can't see that one coming true any time soon!


Here's to next Tuesday when I'll hopefully be in less pain and the weather will be slightly warmer!

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Weekend Review

This week a woman at work has been hosting an art exhibition of her work as well as the work of two other in a gallery on campus. The exhibition has been part of Reading Science Week and was an illustration of how art and science have a lot of overlapping themes and as a result can be collaborative disciplines. All of the art was inspired by science, anywhere from neurones to nature. Pieces of art were on sale with funds going towards Brain Tumour Research.

Two examples of the drawings at the exhibition

After clearing up the gallery we headed to the SCR for a few celebratory drinks after which I met my house mates at Q Bar in town to dance the night away.

On Saturday I met up with some of the uni girls for Helena's birthday. After a nightmare of a journey into Paddington, (thanks First Great Western!) we met at a pub in Soho for pre-dinner pints.

Dinner was had at a Japanese restaurant round the corner called Bincho. The food consists of charcoal-grilled skewers of anything and everything: chicken wings, beef ribs, pork belly, sea bass, salmon, tiger prawns, asparagus, mushrooms.  You name it we had it. The beef ribs definitely came out on top in my opinion.We even braved a few of the more unusual fare: quails eggs wrapped in pancetta, Unagi (eel), and chicken gizzard (stomach!), none of which I'd rush back to try again!
All the food was happily washed down with a bottle of prosecco as a birthday treat for Helena.

The Charcoal Grill - apparently both the grill itself and the wood used as
charcoal is flown on from Japan to make our yummy food.
(picture taken from Bincho website)

Grilled Salmon (I think)
(picture taken from Bincho website)

The chefs at work

Group pic!
I appear to have a serious food baby going on here!

This London Eater blog has some amazing pics of the food to make your mouth water!

We then attempted to try out an underground new bar in China Town located behind a secret black door. But as I imagine is often the case with these new hip places the bouncers told us we wouldn't have a chance of getting in so we went off in search of somewhere different. We ended up at a pub playing live music in Covent Garden and sat outside under patio heaters with our beers (well orange juice for me, being a tad delicate from the night before).

Marshy with  her epic beer!

Unfortunately not living in London meant we had to depart pretty early to get the last train back to Reading. But that wasn't the end of my night. I got back home to a group of rather drunk house mates and friends who partied the night away until 6am! I only managed until 2am.


After two late nights I was in bed until lunchtime on Sunday but hauled myself out of bed to go on a run along the Thames. Speaking of which nobody mentioned when I signed up for this half marathon malarkey the problems it'd cause. I spent three days last week hobbling about with a massive blister and as soon as that healed my run yesterday has bruised two of my toenails and they're now clinging on for dear life. I think it'll bye bye bye toenails after my next run!


Yesterday evening, despite all being shattered and in various states of hangover and sleep deprivation, my house mates and I dragged ourselves over to a pub quiz. This used to be a weekly thing to stop us sitting around on Sunday nights mourning the weekend and crying over the impending doom that is Monday morning. But for a variety of reasons we haven't been since before Christmas. We usually do shockingly badly at the quiz but last night we managed a decent 47/80 (it is very rare that we get over 50%). And even better - we won a bottle of wine for our efforts in the opening game of heads or tails so all in all it was quite a successful night!


I am now sat at my desk at work, still shattered, hugging a mug of green tea and dreaming of Easter Weekend. Two 3-day weeks for me!






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Tuesday Thoughts

This is a slightly different post as I haven't been up to all that much lately, as you will see by the fact that I am talking about what I'm reading and what's on TV!

These are a few things I'm thinking about at the minute and things happening in my day to day life

Reminiscing .... about the Lakes with the crits

It feels like I spent forever looking forward to the weekend in the lakes with the girls from home, but once it arrived it was over in a flash. Why does that always happen?! It's really not fair.

Despite the miserable weather it was a great weekend filled with lots of wine, food and laughs. And we did make it out to see one lake, albeit for less than 30mins!

Lake Windermere (Image courtesy of Pip)

Reading.... Jo Nesbo - The Redbreast

Since my mum got a copy of one of Jo Nesbo's books in a deal with The Times I've been pretty hooked on the Harry Hole series. I've not picked one up for a while and this one did take a bit longer to get into than the others. Basically the series is about an alcoholic police detective in Norway who pretty much does whatever he deems necessary to solve murders regardless of the ethics/legalities behind his methods. The stories are pretty gruesome and full of suspense keeping me suitably on edge while reading them. 

Watching.... Broadchurch

I am loving this series! And unusually my house mates also seem hooked. I say unusually because the only things we tend to watch together are American sitcoms (New Girl, Revenge, OC to name a few). I usually end up watching British dramas on catch-up on my own. 

This series differs from other crime dramas as the entire series is focussed on one murder, as opposed to a different crime each episode. As a result it allows you to become fully immersed in the lives of the characters  and the developing story. As the plot unfolds, more secrets are unravelled and the list of suspects lengthens. My bets are on the mum.

Lusting over.... a new leather bag

On the way to my car after uni two weeks ago the handle of my day-to-day bag snapped. Not ideal. 

Last week I spilt curry in the bottom of my back-up day-to-day bag. Even less ideal.

As a result I am now on the hunt for a new bag. I have been browsing the web in anticipation of pay day next Thursday.

Excited for.... seeing the Uni girls on Saturday

Two months ago I met up with two of my best friends for lunch and a wander around London town. Having such a great afternoon we got out our diaries to plan our next get-together. This Saturday was the next available date! It's ridiculous trying to arrange things when people actually have lives! it was so much easier back in school! 

This weekend also coincides with Helena's birthday so there's now a large group meeting up for dinner followed by cocktails and potentially some sort of touristy activity in the capital.

Our last trip to London.
Photobombed by an innocent little girl.

Worrying about .... the half marathon

When my sister signed me up for Blackpool Half Marathon four months ago it felt like a lifetime away. Somehow it has crept up on me and is now only two and a half weeks away. No idea how that happened! As a result I am not at all prepared for running continually for two hours. Hence the worry. Brightside : there is still two and a half weeks. I WILL GO ON A PRACTICE RUN!

Hoping for .... the weather to warm up!

It's just getting silly now! Rain, snow, wind, freezing temperatures. I'm over it. Sort it out Mr Weatherman. I want these days back!

So those are my thoughts at the moment. I will do a similar post in a few weeks. Although I will still most likely worrying about the half marathon :( 

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It's Time for a Critter Reunion!

This time last year I met up with the girls for a weekend away in the middle of nowhere

It all started off very civilised with a tapas dinner

Then alcohol got involved. Mayhem ensued.

This seems to be quite a common theme when the Crits get together en masse. On Friday six of us are going away for the weekend to the Lake District. I can't bloody wait!!! After a particularly shitty week in work Friday can't come soon enough.


See you there crits!!!!! xxxxxxxxx Tweet

Burgers and Brownies

This weekend started out in the best way possible. With raclette, housemates, multiple bottles of red wine, and a late night trip to Tesco for chocolatey treats to eat in front of Graham Norton.
Raclette is a Swiss cheese, but as we were shopping in Aldi, we had to substitute it for a Bavarian smoked cheese. This was melted over salami/chorizo/proscuitto, and poured on top of roasted new potatoes, served with griddled asparagus, mushrooms, red onions, tomatoes, and peppers. It was EPIC. I'm drooling just thinking about it. I'm already looking forward to the next raclette night. nom nom nom.

Saturday morning was time to get my life in order, do my chores, re-heel shoes I completely destroyed by walking 5 hours a day for 6 days around European cities, and bake brownies!

White chocolate and dark chocolate chip blondie/brownie swirls

Saturday night was date night. Earlier in the week I had seen an article on the MSN home page listing their top 25 burger places in the UK, and one of their recommendations was a pub right by Ally's in Southampton. How could we not visit?! I proceeded to spend the remainder of the week building up my excitement for this burger.
The Rockstone was packed despite us arriving relatively early, we literally had to fight for a table. The extensive burger menu (almost 20 varieties to choose from) did not disappoint, and don't even get me started on the 18oz slab of meat that the couple next of us were attempting to work their way through! We opted for the Salzburger (bacon and smoked cheese) and the Livin' The Gouda Vida (chorizo and gouda) with a side order of onion rings and fries. As you can see the portions weren't small, I didn't even eat any of my bun and was still stuffed! The burgers were described as medium-rare but I would say they were slightly over-cooked for my liking.

After stuffing ourselves silly we waddled home and I finally watched Skyfall. I did fall asleep half way through so I didn't get quite as into the storyline as perhaps I could have, but I'd say it was only alright.


To attempt to redeem myself after the raclette/brownie/burger consumption of the past 48 hours Sunday morning was time for exercise. We drove to Eastleigh train station, ran along the River Itchen (I think) into Winchester, past the Cathedral and up to the train station there. All well and good except that an hour later I was still making my way home in my running gear and was freeeeeeeeeezing.
The route was one Ally had cycled before but I had never been along there before. It was a really nice route, and actually went some way to distract me from the fact that I was running 12.5km. Ouch. But all necessary for the half marathon training. 5 weeks to go.....

Just one of the pretty views along the River Itchen

After a rather muddy and rather looong cross-country run.

After (finally) getting home we made a variety of bruschetta for lunch : red onion, tomato and pesto, roasted aubergine, and avacado. And a cheeky brownie.

A couple of episodes of Grey's Anatomy and a cup of tea later it was time to head back to Reading, consume 2 and a half bowls of cereal for dinner (I should ALWAYS be supervised around cereal) and hit the sack ready for Monday morning. Booooooo.

In other news this week, I have booked my flights to Mexico, whoop whoop!!
I am presenting my research as a poster at a conference in Cancun at the end of April. Despite the fact that we are going for a conference, my supervisor did specifically pick this conference because "it's a lot more about the social side than the science" and taking his advice I intend to make sure I get adequate time on the beach in between attending lectures. CANNOT WAIT!!!!

Hope you have a good week

Victoria x




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