Slowing down as autumn arrives ☕️ solo dates, hosting onam & lots of reading

Hello, it's me! I'm having a little solo day to myself. I've actually taken today off work because I was feeling just quite drained. It's been a very busy summer. Work was also quite busy and just very hectic and I just found myself feeling very low energy and quite drained from lots of social interactions and I realized I was really craving just a bit of me time where I can just sit and read my book in peace for a whole day, which is my plan for today. Life of an introvert, hey? So I spent my morning at a cafe reading my book for a few hours and then I realized that the Museum of the Home, which is a museum that captures how homes in London have evolved over the years, was right next to the cafe. I'm gonna go check that out. Just craving a day that's very slow with no human interactions, just me and my book and the sunshine. I feel like this might be the last proper hot week of the summer. I just see more and more leaves on the ground now, it's starting to smell a little bit like autumn and so I wanted to yeah take today off so that I really make the most out of this weather because I am a summer girl after all. Although I am also very concerned for the planet because London has really turned very crispy in the sun. All of our parks are, it's basically hay instead of grass everywhere, which is worrying for sure. So hopefully I don't turn into hay myself today and hopefully I just get to enjoy a little bit of the of the warm weather. Or maybe I should say really blisteringly hot because it's more than 30 degrees today. Hope you enjoy coming along on my very chill, relaxing solo day. I feel like a farmer but this is what it takes to protect myself from the sun. I got a little sweet treat from that bakery as takeaway so that I can do another solo picnic, which is obviously one of my favorite activities. I don't know why I enjoy and need my own company so much and why I go slightly crazy when I haven't had enough me time. I'm very grateful though, I feel like it's a good thing to be able to be happy by yourself. I feel like the balance is good. I was actually going to take myself to Kenwood Ladies Pond, which is like a women's only swimming area in London, but again as most things in London it was completely booked out. That's one of the frustrating things about the city is that you just can't do anything spontaneously, you have to plan and reserve. Even the cafe that I went to this morning, it's a brand new cafe that only opened a few months ago I think, and I went at like 10 30 a.m on a weekday and I thought it would be pretty much deserted. But boy was I wrong, it was so crowded I barely got a seat. So I think I spent most of today searching for quiet spots in London. I finally found one. I'm gonna eat my pastry now and continue reading my book. What a perfect day! Paint, which I probably haven't done since like school days. I'm very excited. Now this is mine. Anam shopping! You look crazy. Hello, happy Anam to all the Malayalees who watch. I'm hosting Anam today with some of our friends. It's my first time hosting Anam as the only Malayalee in the group. For any non-Malayalees who are here, Anam is one of the biggest festivals celebrated in Kerala, where I'm from. Celebrated by like people of all religions, although the origin I believe is from the Hindu religion. It's kind of like the second biggest thing after Christmas, maybe even at like equal levels back in Kerala. So yeah, to us it's a big deal. Are any of you guys Malayalees by the way? I would love to know how many of my viewers are. If you are, please leave me a comment. Say happy Anam! I think because I've married into a Tamil family, I'm even more so proud of my culture and background. I don't know if I would be like this excited or into hosting Anam and sharing my culture if I was like not married into a family that wasn't already familiar with it, but it's quite nice. It gives me an opportunity to like yeah share my culture, be really like proud of it, and just celebrate with people who've never celebrated Anam before. It's quite cute. I'm excited. I've cooked most of the curries myself, which I'm so proud of. There was a couple curries that I've never made before, and I think they turned out successful. Hopefully it turns out nice. Problems. Holy! Cambridge with my girl.