Our Rocky Horror Halloween!

Boo!

Ahh, it's Halloween - and that means one thing to us....time for our night out at the 'Rocky Horror Picture Show' in a 75 year old cinema just off Leicester Square! For Rocky Horror virgins the following post may well be lost on you, but we suggest you make some time to watch the film and bring yourself up to speed on exactly why it has gained such cult status. :)

We love love LOVE RHPS!

In front of the screen - in Prince Charles Cinema!

For those of you RHPS vets, well you probably have a similar ritual to us - around Halloween you gather in a cinema/theatre dressed as your favourite character from the film (or just in lingerie, because you can get away with it there) and sing/yell your heart out at the screen with a couple hundred others! 

Love and white face paint <3

Laura in her Primark corset (who knew they did corsets in Primark!?)

Preparation started out 3 hours prior to leaving the house - it's amazing how long it takes to put, well, not a lot on! With a screen shot of the 'Don't Dream It, Be It' scene on the laptop, the transformation took place...first, the curlers and hairspray came out for big 80s style hair, then we strapped into the corset and tights, followed by an abundance of white face paint and black eyeliner, and finished with red tinsel eyelashes and feather boas... we were FINALLY ready to 'give ourselves over to absolute pleasure' - a night at sing-a-long-a Rocky Horror!

Sexy Sarah!

When we arrived, we lined-up with everyone in full costume in front of the screen for a costume contest, where the winners received copies of the RHPS DVD (sadly we missed out- but then, who can compete with a man in a corset & suspenders?!).

Sarah pondering her alleged discretions..

Confused about this English spelling of 'Asshole'

The MC gave us a dance lesson (though what tried and true Rocky fan doesn't know the steps to the Time Warp?), the film began and everyone settled-in, complete with 'party bags' full of the essentials - a newspaper (for the scene where the car breaks down), a rubber glove (to play along during Rocky's creation), a party popper (for the sex scene), some cards that relate to certain cast members - Janet = SLUT, Brad= ARSEHOLE, Scotty Dog with a stethoscope = DR SCOTT, a rock and the letter E = ROCKY (for the discovery scene) and a tissue (for the sad goodbye at the end). To explain, whenever Janet's name is mentioned, everyone yells 'slut' and Brad 'arsehole' - its all very loving and friendly, but it's a good time!

Our SWAG

Highlights of the night include being in a cinema with EVERYONE doing the timewarp, heckling the screen and being dressed in wholly inappropriate attire. We also love the fact that in London you can get a bus, tube and walk through Leicester Square dressed in underwear (well sort of) and get very few remarks - other than 'nice', 'sexy' and 'great boobs' (no guesses who that one was aimed at! :)) Laura says that is testament to what English girls wear on nights out!

Trying not to get rained on during 'There's a Light'

Scary!

Laura's owned the Rocky Horror Picture Show DVD for years now, and has gone to a show every Halloween she's been able to find a performance/cinema. She took Sarah for the first time a few years ago, and we are happy to report this year's show was FANTASTIC and up to the usual high standards!!

Dr. Frank N Furter's motto - we try to live by!

Halloween's not over, y'all - we recommend you find a showing NEAR YOU!!!

What We Love Wednesdays!!

Welcome to our first segment of 'What We Love Wednesdays!' We've decided that it will be the one day of the week that we take time out to recognise the people, places, and things that we LOVE and thought you should know about!

There was great debate as to what should feature first on WWLW- it came down to a tie between Diet Coke and Nandos. The winner, was *drumroll please*...

Nandos is a shared passion for the both of us - long before there was Sarah & Laura, there was Sarah and Nandos, and Laura and Nandos. In fact, it was one of our first talking points. And now, there is Sarah & Laura and every-other-week-Nandos. That's right, its an official fixture. And the great thing is, we have been able to continue our Nandos-love as we've traveled the world.

So, what is Nandos and why do we love it so much? Take a seat, let us tell you. First of all, Nandos is delicious. The chicken is consistently the best, juiciest chicken you will taste. Flavoured and spiced to your exact specifications, whether you're a Medium spice lover (like Sarah) or a Mango & Lime wuss (like Laura), it's served with more sides than we are able to mention in this post- but we recommend the chips and spicy rice. The fact that you can order and pay upfront means you get to relax and enjoy the latin-flavour music in this Portuguese restaurant actually started by a South African. Now that's an international restaurant!

The great thing about Nandos is that it isn't exactly mainstream (though saying that, since we got together, Nandos has appeared on every high street and in every shopping mall - we must be influential people!). No two Nandos are alike - they commission everyday unknown artists for paintings and pieces to decorate the walls of all their locations - and they have a core base of very loyal die-hard Nandos fans. Because of that, we have never met someone who LOVES Nandos, that we didn't like. So if you like Nandos, the bet is, we will like you!

Laura enjoying a Nandos in New Zealand!

They also have loyalty cards, so by enjoying a delicious Nandos meal, you are earning your way towards a mouth-watering FREE chicken! Every 10 times you visit, you get a free quarter chicken, half chicken, and finally, a whole chicken. They make it really worth coming back over and over! (and no, we are not getting paid to advertise this! ;D )

The Nandos connoisseurs we are, we have visited the restaurant in London, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, The Entrance (Central Coast), and Queenstown. Nandos is slighty different 'down under', but still great - we must say though, our favourite location is Fulham Broadway in London!

Queenstown- Sarah thinks Nandos is a great way to celebrate her first bungee jump!

Are ya hungry yet?

We'll let you in on a little secret - the reason Nandos beat Diet Coke (DC) in the race for first ever WWLW? We came from dinner there, a little over an hour ago. And it was good enough to warrant this post.

If we haven't given you quite enough Nandos info, go to their website.

Welcome to world Paul the Pumpkin

So for those of you who don't know i'm British born & bred - Laura however is an All American All-star so when it comes to Halloween our experiences vary somewhat. For me Halloween was about avoiding kids who knocked at the doors wanting sweets....for Laura it was about costumes, candy and all things frightening! This year however we put differences aside and bought a pumpkin so we could get into the Halloween spirit. It's October the 16th 2011 and our lounge became the carving centre.

Once complete Paul the Pumpkin came to be and started a day of adventure....

As with all good pumpkins Paul's day started with a shower to freshen up, complete with rubber ducky and loofa.....

Then a breakfast of sausages set Paul on his way...

Straight to the beach to soak up the last of the winter sunshine!

From there we took Paul on a whistle stop tour of the world...

On returning from the tour Paul took a moment to deal with a call of nature and catch up with the local news

As the day came to an end it got a little chilly so Paul revealed his inner Boise fan by wrapping up in a 'ever so cute' bobble hat.

It left just enough time to relax and watch the sunset from our balcony

Then we all settled in with a diet coke to watch tv...

Then Paul headed to bed to snuggle up with his Spuddy Buddy.....ah not a bad life for a pumpkin!!!

Laura Turns 23!! Yay!!

October 6th, 2011was my 23rd birthday. It was so amazing, such a great couple of days.

On the 5th, after work, Sarah told me we had to go see her sister in central London to pick something up. I didn't really want to go, but tagged along anyway. We passed the entrance to the musical Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, and Sarah went into the box office! It turned out we weren't going to see the sister at all, but Sarah had surprised me with 2nd row tickets to my favorite musical! I was so excited and surprised- I didn't see it coming at all!! 

Love!

As usual Priscilla was AMAZING!!!!!! I teared up at the beginning because I was so excited, and sang along the whole way through. Sarah caught me a pink ping pong ball from one of the scenes, and we bought a programme to commemorate the occasion. We went around the stage door after the show and got to meet the cast, including Sarah's childhood crush from the Aussie show Neighbors, Alf from another Aussie show Home and Away, and my favorite character in the show, Adam/Felicia. It was so amazing and I was so lucky!!!

The next morning (the morning of my birthday!!) Sarah woke me up with McD's breakfast, and drove me out to Windsor to get my hair highlighted and cut at a Toni and Guy salon. It was such a luxurious experience and while I was getting it done, Sarah saw (and said hi to) Rhys Ifans from Notting Hill and The Boat That Rocked at M&S!! 

My haircut! I'm blonde again!

From there, we went to Borough Market, and I got to buy all the yummy things there that I'm not usually allowed to get because they are too expensive! We had a delicious sausage butty for lunch.

Mountain Sausage Salami! x3!!

Yum!

Afterwards, we visited the new big M&M store in Leicester Square and took a ton of photos. I felt like Sarah was stalling, and I soon found out why- she'd organized a little surprise party at TGI Fridays for me! Mel and Doug, who were visiting from Australia, were there, and Gabi, my Hungarian friend from when I first moved to London (my black man hunting days, according to Sarah). We had a lovely dinner, and I got to open all my presents! As if today wasn't enough!

Watch out, Orange!!

Abbey Road- M&M Style!

From Gabi, I received some makeup in a cute little leopard print makeup bag! I love them! 

My parents gave me some GORGEOUS earrings, a little pink iPod (with twice the space as my old iPod- a necessity) and a lovely new handbag! Also, they sent a personalised bottle of Rose wine, my favourite, to commemorate my birthday! And a hilarious musical card with a bartender's arm shaking!

Sarah gave me an engraved jewelry box with 'To Laura, with all my love, Sarah xx' on it and a butterfly- it is so beautiful! Inside she also put two lovely pairs of earrings and an Oyster holder to replace the one that got stolen when my parents were here! She also decorated a cake, which was sweet but unfortunately got a bit battered about during our day out.

Lovely prezzies from Sarah!

Birthday cake!

I of course got lots of lovely cards from family too- thank you to everyone who sent me one!

My party!

It was an incredible day, and I feel so lucky- thanks especially to the incredible Sarah, who I'm so lucky to have, and my wonderful parents- I couldn't be more grateful for all you do for me!

My birthday loot!

23 not 25!!

The Thames Festival 2011

When we arrived in our riverside apartment on the side of the Thames on a grey January day we had no idea just how amazing it would be.....the river is like a conveyor belt of entertainment. During the day it's the tourist boats pointing out the sights and at night it's the party boats showing people a good time. However come September and the Thames steps it up a gear and hosts it's own festival.

It was by chance that we discovered it was holding a parade by Victoria Embankment and although Laura couldn't make it I went to see what it was all about. I arrived at Temple underground station and wound my way through the crowd until I found a perfect viewing spot. With a camera in one hand and my phone videoing in the other I was ready to capture the experience- little did I know that night time photography would be quite so difficult!

As the parade started I was blown away by the sound of drums leading the way and what followed can only be described as the weirdest parade I have ever seen- giant skeletons, skeleton horses, rollerskating luminous kids, go-go dancers, aliens, turtles, meercats, dancers from all over the world and my personal favourite a mouse doing the locomotion with frogs (I think that's what they were?!?). The music never stopped and I loved it - and it's already in the diary for next year :)

As if the parade wasn't enough when we woke up on Sunday there was an unusually high amount of boats on the river...after an hour of seeing small rowing boats battling the tide we googled events of the Thames and found out that we were witnessing  'The Great River Race, London's River Marathon, is a spectacular boat race up the River Thames that attracts over 300 crews from all over the globe'   so we pulled up a chair, balanced an umbrella (well it is England) and watched as big boats, little boats, boats with drums, boats with flags and boats that just looked lost rowed past us for hours. I don't think many people get to say they wake up to that!