It feels like November has sped past super quickly… we’ll be opening our Lego-filled advent calendar tomorrow.

I spent my last couple of days with my family hanging around Maida Vale. We had bites to eat on the canals and went Christmas ornament shopping in Clifton nurseries.

We have nice new neighbours upstairs, Olivia and Juliet, who came down for drinks and took our unwanted orange sofa away. When Emma moved out, we got her bigger one and bought a red cover for it. I’m going to make some social-networking cushions to go with it.

On Saturday night we went out for Alex’s birthday, starting off at the Eagle Bar Diner, where we had delicious food that Raven had recommended (goat’s cheese burger, fat fries and a hard shake). Ben and Emma shared a fish bowl filled with cocktail and fruit.

Apple had a sale for Black Friday, so I got myself a shiny new Macbook Pro. It’s so light to carry around. Not only does Tom get to play pingpong and on slides all day at work, but his new boss took him computer shopping in the Apple store and, when he’d picked the one he wanted, told him he could have more money to get a better one. The office were sent 1,500 bars of Green & Blacks chocolate, so Tom came home from work with a big box of them – far to tempting for a Monday afternoon.

Today my Mum and I went to Kew Gardens. Kew was a lovely little town filled with coffee shops, organic delis and pumpkins.

The gardens were huge and very picturesque, we had a sushi picnic next to the pond.

The tree top walk was pretty but a little scary when we realised that the entire structure was swaying from little children running around.

It was half term, so there were kids running and screaming everywhere – I wouldn’t think a botanical garden would make for a great kid’s day out.

My favourite part of the gardens were the aquariums, which had adorable little seahorses, turtles and pufferfish.

In the evening, we went pumpkin shopping. It was the 75th birthday of the Maida Vale studios, so there were lots of people and bands kicking around the street. We came home and I carved this kitty pumpkin, which I’m quite proud of.

I’ve almost finished my quilt, I’m just waiting for the batting I ordered to arrive and then I can sew it on the back. I’ve had an alright week, mainly recovering from the party, hanging out with friends and going to the cinema. It turns out that Raven did have swine flu and, even though we had all been hanging out with her, none of us caught it.

Yesterday, we went for a slap-up lunch at Plan 9. They make amazing smoothies with names like berry-go-round, cardio angel and acai dream. Tamara Beckwith was there drinking one too. It turns out that lots of stars live near us, including Jude Law, Natalie Imbruglia, Bjork, Kiera Knightly and Sienna Miller.

Tom’s brother Jack has come to stay, so we picked him up from the station and went to see our friend, Ashxyz play at the Good Ship. Amy, who was one of my friends in high school was there, so it was fun catching up after years and years and sharing Vegetarian cafe tips (note to self: got to check out Pogo Cafe for banana, honey & rice milk shakes).

I also bought some new Tatty Devine jewelry in the sale with my birthday money – a huge zip brooch and a heart-shaped glasses necklace.

Yesterday we went for brunch at Plan 9 with Raven. Even the waitress commented on how awesome her “heart attack bagel” looked, it was a proper rockstar breakfast. We couldn’t help but notice how fit, healthy and pregnant everyone else in Maida Vale is at the moment.

I won weekend tickets to the Sonsisphere festival, so we put on our wellies and headed up to Knebworth to meet up with Tony and Nick, who were also going. It was such a hot day and almost everyone was wearing black!

We saw a bit of Feeder and then headed over to see Limp Bizkit, a band who I had hopped to forgot since being 14. It was a bit like an f-word contest and Fred Durst is way too middle-aged for that these days.

We went for a wander and saw a few other bands. Raz was there too but we didn’t bump in to him.

We watched bikers doing tricks for a while and then went to see Nine Inch Nails, before heading back to London for dinner at Vapianos. The weekend has been full of sin (fast food and alcohol), so today I’m getting back to my yoga, jogging and healthy living!

The weather was so lovely today, so we had a picturesque day around Maida Vale  and Little Venice with my parents.

I started by topping up our olive oil at the deli – it’s fresh from Italy and they give you a discount if you bring your bottle back and top it up.

We went for a snoop around Clifton nurseries, where Sharleen Spiteri from Texas was buying plants. I was eyeing up these rainbow deck chairs for sitting outside the mews.

After that we went for a picnic in the park…

and fed the leftovers to the geese.

Then we went for coffee and cheescake at Cafe Laville, which sits ontop of a tunnel over the cannal.

Then we walked up Primrose Hill and watched the sun set over London before having dinner at Vapiano’s.

On Monday we went to see The Yeah You’s with Dermot O’Leary at the BBC Maida Vale studios.

We walk past them a lot on the way home and we’d always wondered what they were like inside, so when we were offered tickets, we jumped at the chance.

It was really cool inside. The band weren’t very good but Dermot was funny and it was free, so we can’t complain. We’re going to apply for tickets to recordings there a lot more now.

Last night we went to the Hawley Arms in Camden. It was Amy Winehouse’s favorite boozer, but now that she’s moved out of Camden, it can be ours. The roof terrace is really nice and you can sit and watch the fancy trains go by while you drink.

Grant and his girlfriend, Hannah were suppose to be meeting us there, but he ended up going on a drunken adventure with the singer from The Others, and we didn’t see him until much later on.

The best thing about the Hawley is that they serve mini eggs, lollipops, dolly mix and caschew nuts on tap.

Tom’s goal for 2009 is to go on all the tube lines on the London Underground, so I’ve been helping him do it by keeping him company. (P.S. do you like his Vivienne Westwood scarf? It was an xmas present from me.)

He has a tube map which he highlights when he completes a line.

We even made it to Edgware last night!