I know I am often prone to exaggeration, but just hear me out. There is epic hype over this show – the adverts are absolutely everywhere, in every paper, every magazine, all over Twitter and the Internet in general, the buzz is HUGE. And it is 100% justified. That show was the BEST f**king thing I’ve ever, ever, ever seen!! And I’ve seen so many musicals, I thought that none could top Wicked (my former favourite, seen it 3 times) but this absolutely blew me away.

You love the South Park movie? You love Team America? You CANNOT miss this show! There is a good reason why tickets are now sold out until summer. It’s because the show is a full 10/10 incredible amazing brilliant hilarious hysterical extraordinary feast of awesome! I am so thankful I had the foresight to book these tickets in October because otherwise I’d still be waiting to see it.

We got there and TG refused to believe the hype because high expectations have let us down before. We were smiling and laughing from the very first minute to the very, very last. Constantly. My face was actually a bit sore when we left. My throat was hurting from laughter. My hands were stinging from nearly constant applause. My brain was reeling with all the magic I’d witnessed.

It is too fabulous to put into words. And too hilarious as well. Go, go, go, go, GO! You must see it. Get your tickets booked for summer and enjoy! The cheapest tickets are £40 but trust me it is worth every single penny.

Ingredients:

10 carrots, topped and tailed

3 cups vegetable stock

1 large onion, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, finely chopped.

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 can coconut milk

Your chosen spices. I used salt, pepper, ginger, chilli and a pinch of nutmeg.

Method:

Heat the oil in a large pan.

Add in the onion and garlic, stir and cook gently for 10 minutes or until softened.

Add the vegetable stock and carrots. It may be helpful to roughly chop the carrots but this is not essential if your pan is big enough.

Spice up the soup according to your particular tastes.

Once the carrots are cooked through, remove from the heat and add in the coconut milk, stirring all the time to ensure it is mixed evenly throughout.

Blend all the ingredients together until smooth.

Finish with a tiny drizzle of coconut cream and serve warm.

Enjoy!

One of my unsatisfied aims for 2012 was to buy a Vitamix. Back when I lived with my folks I convinced them to buy one and oh how I loved it. It is truly a fantastic machine that I got tons of use out of. I made soups and ice creams, crushed fresh spices, blended fruit for fresh smoothies, you name it.

Living in my own house and covering all the necessary living expenses (mortgage, gas, electricity, water, council tax, TV licence, broadband) has left me without the necessary £400 budget to buy my own Vitamix.

Christmas was getting close and TG told me with utmost sincerity that he was concerned he hadn’t got me anything particularly noteworthy as a gift that year. I said that was completely fine. I was really short of cash myself and welcomed the opportunity to not feel pressured into buying an overly expensive gift.

TG and I each spend Christmas Day with our own families so we usually see each other for a gift exchange on Christmas Eve. We opened a couple of the presents and it was lovely. Then TG produced an enormous, beautifully wrapped box and asked me to open it last.

I held the box and marvelled at it, full of excitement. At no point did I come close to guessing what it contained.

I’ve never been the type of person who rips wrapping paper to shreds in an instant, I’m always more cautious than this. I tore off a corner of the paper. Then another corner. Suddenly the word “Magimix” jumped out at me. I looked up at TG in temporary bewilderment and all the pieces came together. He knew I didn’t have the funds to buy an expensive gift so he told me he had done the same and in the meantime he bought me a power blender.

I was beyond bowled over with surprise, excitement, gratitude and love. I hugged him and thanked him repeatedly, giddy with joy. He said that he couldn’t afford the real Vitamix but had done plenty of research and found that the Vitamix was a bit like an iPhone; very flashy and incredibly expensive but that there are some really amazing alternatives out there which come with a more reasonable price tag.

I love my Magimix and I use it all the time. This is the first thing I made with it; vegan raspberry, strawberry and banana smoothies for me and TG. Yum!

Busy times have been occurring. I’ve been settling into my new job in earnest but am dismayed to find that I am the youngest in my grade by at least 20 years and the others are unfriendly. I don’t know whether they see me as a threat or they just think I can’t do the same job as them due to my age? But either way I think it’s poor and shameful. They are wrong to attempt judging a book by its cover.

I’ve been spending more time with TG which has been rather lovely really. He’s suddenly jumped up a few leagues in the awesomeness table and is helping me in many ways of late. I feel truly lucky, thankful and blessed.

I’ve been doing a lot of cooking lately. Photos to follow soon.

A friend of TG’s recently told me about an incredible add-on called AdBlocker which has saved me from despair.

I used to love YouTube but of late it has become chronically riddled with relentless adverts all over the place. If it’s not an ad playing by default at the start of a video, it is annoying banners that pop up just as you click “Maximise”.

ARGH!

But downloading a simple extension to Chrome has stopped the despair. Now my videos play beautifully, with no interruptions whatsoever.

It is off the scale awesomeness.

2013 has gone beautifully well so far. I am settling in well at my new job and though it hasn’t been 100% perfect, I have received good feedback and managed to avoid being fired so far.

I love the location of the new office. It certainly beats the last one where I was on the fourth floor of a massive building and just getting outside took at least 7 minutes each way! I’m also a lot closer to my favourite places; Waitrose at the Brunswick, my original Hummus Bros, Lincoln’s Inn Fields and all the fruit stalls where I can stock up on fresh yummies without overspending.

Things are going well at home; my new lodgers are completely awesome and TG has been brilliant of late too.

New babies are arriving, a dear friend of mine from Uni welcomed her first born last week. She had a healthy baby boy and named him Jordan. My inspirational friend Bow is expecting her first baby too.

I feel excitement brewing in the air. Can’t put my finger on why exactly but everything seems to be coming together beautifully. I can only wonder what spectacular magic the future holds…

I used to take great pride in keeping up with handwritten correspondence to my loved ones, both far and wide. Last year I really failed and hardly sent out any letters at all.

So this year I am writing letters again, with renewed vigour, and what’s more I am really enjoying it. It’s therapeutic to avoid an electric screen, hold a pen in your hand and let the words flow out onto paper. Sure, mistakes happen and scribbling them out isn’t as neat and tidy as pressing the backspace key but who cares? It’s a real, thoughtful, tangible, handwritten, unique letter written with real love. And I know that the people who receive them have their day instantly brightened as a result.

London has been hit by a big freeze. The snow is certainly pretty, picturesque and somewhat magical to look at but it causes problems too. For one the absolutely bitter cold that makes you dread leaving the house. For another, the treacherous ice that makes walking along the pavement turn into a hazard. And of course the absolute chaos it creates on the public transport system.

I cannot get warm today. Despite having a switched-on radiator in close proximity and a pashmina wrapped around my shoulders the cold has well and truly hit my bones and it feels horrible. Thank goodness I was organised last night and prepared my lunch for today. This way I don’t need to leave the office at lunchtime.

Thankfully work isn’t drastically busy so I can quietly get on with things whilst trying to preserve heat wherever possible.