Pic 3

It's arrived, the 2007. More about the NY party a bit later. Stay tuned. Right now i just felt likeposting this pic. Because it's so peaceful.

My 3 Xmas

Ufff, so much to write about before the end of the year… yet, so little time. 2 last days at work in 06, time to wrap everything up and clean my desk and drawers of all the rubbish to be ready for 07. And S is visiting, and N needs my time and love because her love has left the country, again.

I’m done celebrating Christmas with the 3 of my closest families. First there was the office Xmas – with the biggest of my families. As already a tradition, there were performances. The girls performed a Thriller inspired dance and the boys (the competitive little …:) had 2 performances – one James Bond inspired act and another one, which was inspired by god knows what….probably by “Strictly come dancing”. And we ate and we drank and we held speeches. And as much as I wanted to go on partying and move on to night club, I just couldn’t. I drank one espresso after another, but still I was so sleepy that I had to retire.
Then there was the family Christmas – mum, dad and the 3 kids. I got lots of excellent presents and we ate and we drank and….we ate some more:) And the next day we went to the country and we lit the candles on the cemetery, visited some relatives and ate some more. The weather was excellent and it was all really nice and I even managed to take some photos.

And then there was the other family Christmas, with S, A, N and PM. So you can only guess what we did. A safe bet is to guess that we ate and we drank and we exchanged presents. Some really nice presents. Strangely enough I got several pairs of knickers. I’m surprised how well Mr. Claus knows my size and taste in this field:)

(Let me know if you want to see more pics)

Gifted

I love making presents. One of the reasons might just be, coz they look lovely all in a row like this, nicely wrapped. So, my loved ones, can you guess, which one is yours;)?

NY party, vol 1

There you go, the ultimate Christmas week had a wild kick-off yesterday. Resulting in a tiny hangover today. I guess that’s expected after drinking champagne for 5 hours yesterday.

What was I up to, then. Now, this is a big secret, but I know my readers and you won’t tell anyone, will you:)? I was at the filming of a new year’s show of a certain Estonia’s TV channel. The 3-hour show will be broadcast as a live show on 31st of December. But hey, you don’t really expect a channel to take the risk and go live for 3 hours….on a bloody NY eve, do you now?

Well, imagine dressing up for a festive event and then pretending you’re in an elevated mood for hours, as if you’re at the best NY party ever. It was easy though, as I was actually having a good time. And no, it wasn’t just the sparkling drink responsible for it. We were sitting at tables, eating finger food, drinking champagne (as mentioned before) enjoying the performances and laughing and clapping on call. I know now I made a wise choice wearing gloves. As for the performers and the guests, you can say everyone was there. The business elite was doing the same as was I, that is the aforementioned – food, drinks and clapping. And the stars and starlets and TV people were doing the performing part. As the infamous “Strictly come dancing” glamour show has just finished, all of the dancing stars were there and in a way the channel made all the dancers sing and all the rest of the people, like politicians, singers etc, dance. Generally it was all just about watching the show but it was rather strange to do the countdown…9…8…7… etc to new year. Then again, now that I’ve done the whole fancy part, I can just relax, wear my sweat suit and watch myself on TV on 31st.

Afterwards we were all invited to an afterparty, by a certain well-known businessman, to a certain night club he owns and his certain young girlfriend was actually serving drinks to me and taking care that we had everything. But you know how it is on Monday evening, without the right crowd, it’s rather difficult to get the party started.

Mr Claus

Last Friday proved again that you basically only need the right crowd to have an effortlessly good party. Well, seemingly effortless, as there are always things that need to be organized. It was J’s late birthday/house-warming party and you can only imagine our surprise when at some point in the evening we got a visit from Santa Claus…Mr. Claus was a bit to the kinky side with his ambiguous jokes, or maybe he was just automatically picking up our crowd’s vibe. Anyhow, I was glad he was still just a Santa, giving us presents and telling his stories, and not a Santa/Stripper, who’d have ruined my whole perception of Santa:) So, the Santa was the organized part, but the rest of it was all rather spontaneous, like Kox giving a memorable performance of the song “I fire you all!”, or the otherwise always sober as a judge, but this time so cutely drunk M, proclaiming his love to all the friends; or all of us singing the re-independence time songs together…eh, the moments that make memories…at least til the next party comes along.

And well, today the ultimate Christmas week starts, with Christmas lunches, Christmas dinners, Christmas parties etc. By the end of the week I’ll have eaten so much that it’s only wise to start the week off with the tight fitting dresses and leave the more loose ones to the end of the week:) I’ll review the best of the events here as well. Keep reading!

A small dose of Swedes

The Swedes were back in town for the weekend. It’s been 3 months since they left. On Thursday evening almost the whole summer crowd was back together, greeting them and approximately an hour into them being back it felt as if everything was like it was supposed to be. And you just know that even if they were gone for longer they’d still fit right in. So the question really is, why did they move away in the first place.

On Friday evening there was the birthday party of the third Swede, Mr. Nui. How come it’s this way, that when you’re drunk, all kinds of things are “more possible” than when you’re sober. And not just in your head. No. For instance, when the time came to move on to night clubs and the ever-lasting problem of getting a taxi arose….we just took the bus. I mean, there was a night bus or sth like that and we took it. Mr. Nui paid the bus driver, the driver asked the other people to wait and there we were with our crowd of 10 people or so, in the huge bus, which only made 2 stops, as some of us wanted to go to one and some to another club.

And, as far as I’m concerned, I got through the weekend with no permanent damage. However, I still tend to end up in situations, where (in my most rational moments) I think I shouldn’t end up in. But since I still do, even with the universe (that jealous biatch) trying to stop me, I like to take comfort in the thought that it’s probably not entirely my fault. Maybe some things are just supposed to happen. That much I know about myself that that I’m not the kind of person to deny myself sth good in present for a possibly greater good in future.

MIKA

I have a new favourite. He’s called Mika, he’s a musician, he looks great and he’s got an amazing voice. The only thing is that he might be just a bit young for me and that he lives a bit far, in London right now.

Ok, wishful thinking:) But Mika really is my new musical favourite. I want to hear more of him and I want to see him perform. There’s a huge talent there and as much as I’d like to keep him only for myself, I believe in a year or so, he’ll be big all over Europe. Right now he’s hitting the radio stations with the song called “Relax”.

However, for a little taste of him, here’s another song “Grace Kelly”, performed live on “Later, with Jools Holland”.

Edit: The next single Grace Kelly will be out at the end of January and the album will be released beginning of February. I'll review it soon after i get it:)

Surprises in the night

Last night, when i was coming home from my night out, which, by the way, was a really good one after a long while now. I really felt like a socialite yesterday, going from one party to another. Even the infamous BB club, which has recently only managed to disapoint me, was top notch...

Ok, back to the getting home story. It was sth around 4.30 at night and i was on my way from the taxi to my place when i saw a young woman lying on the street in front of my house. Of course i went to check on her. She was well dressed, wore jewellery and was just lying there next to the house wall, sleeping. I tried to wake her up to find ut where she lives and help her home. Waking her was not the easiest task, as she was obviously really really drunk. At least i hope she was only drunk, in the light of recent stories of people being druged in the nightclubs. So i woke her and my next task was to find out the address. Not so easy either, as she was really not registering what i was saying, nor was she able to give me any intelligible answers. I offered her differnet languages in which we could speak. For some reason she chose English. Later we switched to Russian, because that was her mother tongue. As it turned out, she lived in the same house as i. I managed to get her on her feet. Again, not a very easy task, considering i was smaller than her and wearing heels. I walked her to her staircase, somehow found keys in her pocket, helped her in, found her flat, opened the door and helped her in. I hope she was able to take it from there and just get to sleep. At least she was in the safety of her own home. I really hope she’s doing ok and i hope nothing had happened to her in her drunkenness. I keep thinking maybe i should’ve done more, like help her to her bed or sth but that would’ve felt like invading her privacy too much.

Now, i know sth like that could never happen to me from drinking. I know my drunk self and how and what i can and cannot do. I always, always manage to get home, the very least ...or maybe i just don’t get so drunk. However, i know some people in my circles to whom this could easily happen and, if something as bad would happen that someone would drug me with a pill slipped into my drink or whatever, then i’d have no idea of how my body reacts and what i am or am not capable of doing. I just wish everyone had good friends to party with, so that there’d always be someone to take care of you, make sure you get home and maybe also give you an aspirin and a glass of water or if need be, take you to the doctor.

To sleep, perchance to dream...

Sleep-sleep-sleep….dreams-dreams-dreams. It’s been all about dream life and sleeping lately. I think I’ve talked about dreams lately with almost everyone. Talked about the power of dreams, flying in dreams, freaky sexual dreams, dreams so real you think they’ve happened for real etc. And then there’s sleeping and the enormous need of sleep all the time. This weekend that’s almost all I did. From Friday to Saturday I slept 13 hours, from Saturday to Sunday 11 hours. And that couldn’t stop me from taking 1,5 hour naps during the day. If I count the hours from Friday evening to Monday morning, then I’ve slept 35 hours from total 58. This is weird stuff. I think I’m starting to hibernate. When I’ve slept enough I hope the handsome prince will be on hand to wake me from my beauty sleep.

Edit: At least i wake up, after i've done my sleeping. Please read here about how one girl didn't wake up after a night out. It's in Estonian but i feel i need to spread the word. Don't leave your drinks alone when you party and don't let strangers buy you drinks. This is serious stuff!!

Ladybird

There’s a ladybird in my office. It’s actually walking on the verge of my computer screen right now. It’s November….and there’s a ladybird in our office:) I think there’s actually 2, because this one is red with black spots and about a week ago I saw one which was black with red spots. So…it’s November…and there are 2 ladybirds in our office:) It just makes me smile!

Nancy Sinatra
Ladybird

Nancy:
I've been where the eagle flies
Rode his wings 'cross autumn skies
Kissed the sun, touched the moon
But he left me much too soon
His lady bird...he left his lady bird

Lee:
Lady bird come on down
I'm here waiting on the ground
Lady bird I'll treat you good
Ah, lady bird I wish you would
You lady bird...pretty lady bird

Nancy:
Lightning flashed across the sky
The night he taught me how to fly
The sun came up and then I found
Too soon he let his lady down
His lady bird...I'm his lady bird

Lee:
Lady bird come on down
I'm here waiting on the ground
Lady bird I'll treat you good
Aw, lady bird I wish you would
You lady bird...pretty lady bird

Nancy:
Winter lives in my heart
In the times that we're apart
Summer sings a song or two
When he says 'I love you true'
My lady bird...yeah, I'm his lady bird

Lee:
Lady bird come on down
I'm here waiting on the ground
Lady bird I'll treat you good
Aw, lady bird I wish you would
You lady bird...pretty lady bird
Nancy:I'm your lady bird

Lee:You're a lady bird
Nancy:Yes, I'm a lady bird
Lee:You're too much you little bird

Music or movies?

“I can’t decide if I’m a music or a movie person,” N told me the other day. Not that you’d even have to choose, unless if you have to decide which of the 2 books – “1001 movies that you have to see” or “1001 albums you have to hear” – you want as a Christmas present. She finally chose to be a movie person.

Me, I’m definitely a music person. I enjoy a good movie once in a while and I can’t wait for the Black Nights’ Film Festival to start next week, but I must say sometimes a half a year can pass without going to the cinema. Music, on the other hand, has a tremendous effect on my life. Don’t ever try to take my music away from me. Sometimes a good song can tell you a whole story in just about 4 minutes. What is a movie compared to that:)

I love it how music comes to me from different sources. Sometimes it’s just a fragment i hear in a movie or series or even advertisement that catches my attention and makes me wanna look it up. Often my friends tell me if they’ve discovered something worth listening. Or, I hear a song at a party or in someone else’s playlist or blog etc. Very rarely I find new intriguing songs on radio or TV. By the time the songs I like make it to the charts, they’re usually old news for me. Not to mention that a lot of really excellent music never figures in the charts.

I think it’s amazing how songs can trigger emotions. There are songs, which always make me cry when I hear them, be it that they have so beautiful tune or the meaning of their lyrics. And then there are “good mood” songs, which (almost) never fail to lift my spirits. Like last week, when we were driving back from Riga, on a night bus. The bus was almost empty, it was dark and we were watching Sting’s “Inside Sacred Love” DVD. The emotions I got from it were really, really powerful, so I literally both laughed and cried. And yet, each time it surprises me, when it happens. Like when I’m at a concert and suddenly realize the effect the music is having on me.
Anyway, I was trying to get to some point with this story but I have a feeling I’m not reaching it:) Except that I am, for sure, a music person. If I think of the point later, I’ll come back and edit this post.

London, my London

Greetings, Earthlings! Sending my best from London this time. I think it must be my 5th or 6th time in this wonderful city. And it's always great to come back here. Glad i always have a reason to, as well, with S and J living here and all. The thing with travelling is that whenever i go somewhere, i always have a feeling i have to go there again, however, when i start planning the next holiday, i still feel i have to go to a new country. There are just so many places to discover.

Visiting the same place again, however, surely has its advantages. You've already got your systems working, you know what you definitely wanna see again and you know the places, don't get lost (well, only occasionally:) and can manage the transportation (the tube in this case).
This time around i've surely got my money's worth. Friday evening we went to the mexican restaurant Mestizo, run by my mexican friend's dad and his wife. I read on the internet that the restaurant has absolutely wonderful reviews. And i must say, the food was brilliant...and so were the margaritas, all 3 of them:) It didn't hurt that we got a special treatment from the staff, knowing the owners and all. Next time around, i'm surely going back.
Saturday we spent on Portobello market in Notting Hill, just chilling and looking around. And in the evening it was samba time in the Brasilian club called Guanabara. The funny part is that we had to be there already at 8! And the place was packed. Can you imagine. I've never gone to a nightclub at 8. In a way it's brilliant though. It means you can have a full evening full of dancing and still be home at 2 already and have a full day the next day. There was a live brasilian band (Saravah Soul) playing sort of funky, jazzy samba beats, something like Jamiroquai meets carnival. Absolutley loved it and rocked my socks off.
And last but not least, a little bit of Sunday shopping with S in Covent Garden. Didn't even bother going to Oxford street. Luckily enough I'm richer by a full outfit for Christmas party, so there'll be no last minute agonising this year. And now we've just had a wonderful Sunday roast, prepared by master J. Wish i could spend some more time here in their lovely home, but i guess i just have to start planning another long weekend. Cheers, mates!

Last week

Photo: Ardo Kaljuvee
Last week, Pink came to see me. Alright, she came to Estonia and I went to see her. I can’t say I’m a fan but she’s ok. And as she took the trouble of coming here….who am I to not go and see her show:) She seemed a bit tired or bored or she just couldn’t give a sh*t or maybe that’s what she’s about with the whole lot of attitude she’s got. Her live singing was better than I expected and she was really convincing in her act. And her acrobatics… 3 meters high in air, tangling on 2 strings of cloth…amazing! She’s got courage to do that without any safety cords AND keep singing while doing it. Respect! I don’t have any material from the Tallinn concert, but somebody filmed a bit of it on a Wembley concert, take a look here.
Photo: Ardo Kaljuvee
Last week, I also saw Fame, the musical. I’m not easily excited about musicals, if they don’t have either extraordinary good musical numbers or someone with amazing voice singing all the songs…and Fame sadly also failed to excite me. With one exception. The black Swedish guy (what a contradiction, right:) was really good in what he was doing in the dance numbers. And of course, his adorable Swedish accent just melted me. Then again, I may not be entirely impartial, for I’m a sucker for the accent. Anyhow, impartial or not, he danced really well.
Photo: Rocky
Last week, I also took part in a movie, in a “mass scene”. Or not so much of a mass scene, if you consider it was a house party with approximately 20 people or so. We went there with approximately 12 or more of our gang, we were dressed in 70’s style, were drinking wine and eating and being filmed at the same time. What a nice way to spend Saturdays:) I’ll let you know when to see me in the movie theaters.

It seems I did a lot last week.

Mask and moustache

Just a quick recap of what’s been up. Last Thursday brought a bit of glamour to my life, for monsieur Lee celebrated his birthday in Venetian masquerade style. Mask, boa, gloves up to my shoulders, little black dress and red shoes completed my look. The party was really glam, with a band and magician and ballroom dancing. Waiting for new interesting surprises next year. The pics are here.

Last Saturday it was the Borat day. With bunch of my friends we got to go to the pre-screening of the film. High fiiive! I laughed so much that I got a headache. After seeing the movie I don’t understand what is Kazakhstan whining about. The movie makes U, S and A look bad, with all their false puritanism and bigotry, not Kazakhstan. Who hasn’t heard about Borat must have been living under a stone, but if you’re really lost, let me know and I’ll give you some explanatory links. For the ones who know him and are wondering about how he could make the film happen, here’s some info about how the people were talked into consenting to interviews.

Rudebox

Today’s the day – Robbie Williams’s new album Rudebox is out. I must say it has surprised me in the most positive way. Not that I don’t have faith in Mr. Williams, course I do, he’s my main man. But…I mean, the album comes out less than a year after the last one and the man’s been on world tour for half of the time. Yet, the album is splendid. Better than the last one. I guess having all the great producers like for instance William Orbit and Mark Ronson aboard, helps a little. The album is very honest. In the song’s 80’s and 90’s you can pretty much listen to his whole life story and if you know a bit more about him from his book or interviews, several other songs can also be recognised as autobiographic. From all his albums, I think this one has most number of loans from other artists and genres. There’s a bit of Manu Chao, Pet Shop Boys and even Enya, the styles range from country to 80’s electro. And still, it’s got Robbie Williams written all over it and the whole bunch of eclecticism forms a tasty collection.

My top favourite songs are Louise, She’s Madonna, Actor, 80’s, Lovelight. Louise probably wins in lyrics and She’s Madonna in the tune department, even though you’d have to twist my arms to actually make me choose between the two:) Now, as I said, the album’s out, so go and buy it from your closest music store. But just to get you started, here’s one for you to listen. I only chose this one of the 2 because of all the publicity the lyrics have received.

Edit: I know a lot of the songs are covers of other artists, that does not bother me, they're still served in thick RW sauce. However, finding out that Louise was also a cover made me just a bit sad:(

Robbie Williams
She’s Madonna (just download it from here, i can't seem to get the listening thingy working)

Red shoes

So I bought those impractical but absolutely adorable red shoes. For 2 weeks I kept going back to the store to check if they were still there and I finally had the reason, motivation and finances to buy them. But believe me, if they bring about compliments like “the world’s sexiest shoes”, they are worth every penny and discomfort.

I know I must sound like a superficial babe but show me any woman, be she the-world-saving-philanthropist type or the-giving-all-her-money-to-the-poor type, who is not thrilled to treat herself once in a while with something really nice and girly, especially when it comes to shoes.

Being the star of the soap opera that my life is, i need to look amazing, don't i:)?

For R

Honey, I know you're going through hard times and that you're hurting and i promise it'll be alright...someday. Good things will start happening to you...for sure!

This song is for you:

Reamonn
Alright (link to live performance)

Wipe those tears away from your eyes
Just take my hand you don't have to cry
It'll be alright
I'll make it alright
Don't let the world get you down
Reach for the love that's all around
It'll be alright baby we'll make it alright

My newly found fame

So it turns out my stage appearance with Bobby Farrell and Boney M made it to the evening news. That means, approximately 156 000 people might have seen me on TV, ca 6000 of them belong to my favourite target group (men, 24-35, urban:) My name and company was mentioned twice during the short section, that means a lot of publicity (thank god I didn’t do anything stupid;). Anyway, it has yielded interesting results. I myself was not at home and did not see my TV premiere but a moment after it was on air my phone started ringing and people told me about it. Later my parents told me that several of family friends and relatives phoned to confirm if that really was me on the news. The next day, an old flame contacted me, and now we’re probably going out for a drink. Also, the next day, I got an email from someone I danced with at that party, asking me if we could meet up again for a bit of dancing. Hmmm…I think we just might. Lots is happening. I liiike! I guess that really was just a bit of good publicity.

How to spend Fridays

It all started Friday morning. I had just dropped off my sister at the bus station and was driving to work, when “Boogie wonderland” started playing on the radio and pfff…there he was, Mr Friday, on the backseat of my car. So, the whole day I felt that dance was in me, trying to get out. At the end of the workday we were already dancing at the office to Justin Timberlake “Sexy Back”. And it was only the beginning.

In the evening, after finding all the necessary accessories for N and myself, we made ourselves up and headed to the birthday party of an Estonia’s TV channel. The welcome drink was the deadliest alcoholic mix ever made – champagne with Vana Tallinn (do not try this at home!). After a little bit of small talking and a little bit of eating and drinking I pretty much focused on letting the dance out of me. So, at some point in the evening, the surprise band came on, which was…Boney M…the real and original one. So, after a while of dancing in front of the stage I was suddenly ON the stage, dancing with Boney M…hmmm…N later told me she was not surprised, for I had told her earlier that soon I’ll be dancing on stage. Go figure! I guess there goes my chance of ever becoming the president:) All-in-all, i got the dance out of me and it was a good night.

Welcome home!

Today’s the day! The day when our dearly beloved N finally returns from her 3-month Ecuador adventure. I’ve managed to survive the time, with seemingly no permanent damage (if not take into account that my hair is falling out and a couple of more stress-related bodily reactions). During those 3 months lots and lots has happened – there was the amazing Estonian summer, the Robbie concert, the Swede, the 2 of my personal small-scale crisis, the workload, the new clients, the one-week holiday, the numerous parties and events and so on and so forth. And N expects me to fill her in on all of that during one night…pfff….