Indian summer - hot stuff.

So the move is done! Hurray! It was horrendous. Had to keep the keys a few extra days to get it all done, but I'm now in and settled with my friends. Moving happened during our mini-heatwave, our late Indian Summer heat. It was amazing weather, didn't enjoy it so much when I was schlepping boxes about and moving furniture, but after that was all done, it was brilliant. We had a BBQ last Sunday and it was hard to believe that we were in England on the 2nd of October and not in the South of Europe on a hot summers day. It wasn't just the weather that was amazing though, so much about this last week, has been totally, mind-blowingly amazing. That BBQ night was tremendous, making new friends, meeting such interesting people, feeling that flutter again! Brilliant! A friend, VB, said that a year was a milestone and that things would change. She was right, wise old bird that she is. A polar shift one could say.

I'm packing again, I'm off on holiday. Going to Portugal tomorrow to spend a week with my Dad. It'll be so lovely to see him and spend some quality time with him because, unless he comes to see me in Morzine (which is doubtful, he's not a winter sports sorts of person), I won't actually get to see him until next May/June - yikes! That's the problem with a global family really, everyone spread out over the globe, but thanks to social networking and Skype etc. the world really does seem much smaller than it actually is.

I've been practising my chalet menu. So far I've cooked about eight things out of the recipe book (not even a tiny fraction of it really!), and they've all been received well! Going to wow my Dad with a recipe or two this next week.

Got a new snowboard this week! I went for a Bataleon Violenza 153 and it came with Burton Escapade bindings. Pretty sweet and got it all for £200, which I thought was a bit of a bargain! It's in my room and it's the first thing I've laid eyes on for the past few days, helping to get my excitement building for the coming Alpine fun season!

Just a last little thought for today, as I sit here in this gorgeous living room, in this gorgeous house that's in a beautiful bit of countryside, I feel so incredibly lucky and grateful to have such wonderfully giving friends around me. KH and LH have taken me and I really can't thank them enough. I mean, doesn't it just blow your mind when someone really helps you out and welcomes you into their life?! It blows my mind and I'm so stoked that I can count on friends like them. Not only them though, AH, DS and DM helped me move, not just once, but twice and I feel so lucky to have such wonderful friends.

Time to get on with the suitcase, swimwear and summer stuff is the order of the day, it's still 30+ degrees in Portugal! Boof! :)