Dog or Job!

In Japan, Valentine's Day is a time when girls and women give gifts such as chocolate to boys and men as expressions of love, courtesy, or social obligation. Yesterday was 'White Day', when men are expected to return the favour!

We (the girls) all opened our doors in the morning to find a bouquet of sweet-pea flowers and an invitation to "an evening of drinks, dance, and delights". It was all such a lovely surprise. That night, I wandered into the kitchen (as the dress-code specified, in evening-wear (read "kimono"!)), expecting to find a low key event with a couple of drinks and maybe a biscuit or too. Instead, I was greeted with soft lighting, quiet jazz, and a red carpet! The boys, all dressed in tuxes, then proceeded to pour me a glass of champagne and welcome me in with deep bows. Jesse serenaded us on the guitar, Stephen proffered the truffles, and Matt had made one of our favourite desserts, apple crumble! Honestly, it almost made me cry, it was all so lovely. I skyped Luke to show him how far the romantic bar had been raised!

After a fantastic evening and a few drinks, we began playing a game which has become dear to our hearts this year. This is called "dog or job". Basically, one person has a white board, and draws two pictures on it, to convey two different rhyming concepts (vanilla or gorilla, coach or roach, bond or pod, for example). They then show it to everyone else, who have to guess the rhyme. I think that describing it probably definitelydoesn't really relay how fun it can be, especially after a few drinks and when you are with a group of lovely and hilarious people.

But here we are, in the throws of the game sometime in the early hours of this morning. I think the blurriness only adds to the atmosphere for me, just looking at this picture makes me smile! I love how my eye gets immediately drawn to Anna and Rosie in the centre, laughing away, perfectly summing up the moment.

Thank you boys for a wonderful evening!