sarah's birthday dinner

yesterday was sarah's 22nd birthday, so of course we had to throw a party! lots of preparation and cooking once again went into putting on a domestic goddess event. and for a while it looked like we were going to have to cancel as sarah was sick, but thankfully she pulled through and the show went on! 

the menu: olive tapenade and roast tomato pintxos, prosciutto and melon, roast pumpkin and goats cheese pintxos, camembert and balsamic fig pinxos, patatas bravas pinxos, dips with pita chips, sausage rolls with chutney, and coconut chicken rice paper rolls with vietnamese dipping sauce. the food was amazing if i do say so myself!

and then of course dessert: rumballs, portuguese tarts, caramel slice, strawberries, apple tarts and mille feuille. so much yumminess!! 

had a fantastic night and sarah was over the moon, her first birthday party with friends in years! 

thatlou scavenger hunt

on sunday i organised for a group of 10 sciences po students to do a scavenger hunt at the louvre. we did a hunt titled beauty + the beast(iary) featuring paintings and sculptures of fair maidens and fearsome monsters in all the various exhibitions and wings of the louvre. it was fantastic! we split into 3 teams and set off - no running, no phones, just a map and clues. so many silly photos were taken and everyone got super competitive, but it was loads of fun! time was almost up and we were half way across the louvre, so much stress getting back. 5 minutes late and sweaty messes, we managed to reach the finish point! 

after a few minutes to cool down, we made our way to a nearby cafe to tally scores... and no surprises, we won!!! wooo!!! but only by a few points, even tallying scores was competitive! 

it was such a great way to spend an afternoon in paris and bond as a group. whilst there isn't time to appreciate the incredible louvre, the hunt helps you determine the areas you want to go back to. would definitely recommend for anyone coming to paris!!

sorry, life's been in the way

so i realise i haven't posted in a long time and i've started to cop abuse... but i've been enjoying myself too much over here and i hope you prefer it like that! 

uni has been pretty hectic. i have at least one oral presentation every week, stacks of readings and now essays are beginning to creep up. despite this, i'm really loving sciences po, it's a fantastic uni and i would love to come back to do my masters over here! 

spent last weekend in london staying with crosby. it was freezing and rained constantly, but had an awesome time regardless of being woefully unprepared for the temperature difference across the channel! went out to cool bars, explored soho, ate at yummy restaurants, sat in on a lecture at the london school of economics and went to the tate modern. all in all a really fun and relaxing weekend - but i don't have any photos! my laptop decided to be my best friend the other day and corrupt it's hard drive, so i've lost all my europe photos save the 250 i put on facebook :(

this weekend is going to be lots of fun once again. we haven't really been going out all that much, instead we've been having dinners and drinking at each other's apartments. going out for dinner tonight, out out tomorrow night, market on sunday as usual and then a group of 15 of us are doing a scavenger hunt at the louvre!! going to be so so so much fun!!!

having another big family dinner on tuesday for sarah's birthday, we've got the domestic goddess thing down pat by now! and then off to marrakech and lisbon on thursday, so i'm sure i'll have plenty to tell you all about soon!