Chimney Highlights.

All the commuters were looking at me funny as I was taking photos in the nice light this morning... I'm so easily embarrassed, I'm sure it limits my photography. Gorgeous Autumn morning today: clear blue skies, pink light on the chimney pots and breath steaming white in the cold. Got to work fairly early, and got stuck into the massive pile of reports on my desk. It's nice to be busy, it makes the day zip past so quickly. I've been at my secondment office for 6 months and I'm FINALLY feeling like I know what I'm doing a bit.

When I arrived home after work, I did a quick tidy of the still-unpacked boxes (although the number is getting smaller now), hoovered and did a quick mop of the bathroom. I'd been shopping at lunchtime and picked up lots of food, so I got started on my Chinese feast for two of the girls from my office. I made (from scratch - no cheating with ready-made sauces) lemon chicken with chilli and spring onion, roasted 5-spice chicken drumsticks, chicken in a black bean sauce and home-made egg-fried rice with peas. I was so proud of myself! It has to be one of the better meals I've cooked, and I managed it all in about an hour and a half. Everything was relatively healthy and I really pride myself on not using things with preservatives or additives, so it's nice to do everything from scratch so I can control ingredients. It was nicer (and probably cheaper) than a take-away too.

G and N arrived as I was just putting the finishing touches into the meal, and they brought a couple of bottles of wine with them. I gave them a quick tour of our new house, which I think they were quite impressed with (I keep having to remind myself, and amazed guests, that it's not really ours, and it's only temporary!) - especially the dining room and all the built-in fancy wardrobes in our bedroom. The kitchen is amazing for cooking in, and it really makes things easier. We sat down with our food and ate in front of the fire, which M had laid for us before he left.

We sat and watched Bridesmaids and laughed all night, rewinding the good bits and listening again. When it finished, the girls headed home and I went up to bed to read my book. M had been out schmoozing potential clients all day - he spent the day playing golf with them, then the evening taking them out for dinner and round all the good clubs in Aberdeen. He eventually rolled in at about 1.30am - and his colleague and the clients were still out! A sore head for him in the morning!