My First Day as a Free Woman - Day 36

      I have an announcement to make: I FINISHED MY BOOK! YIIIPPPEEE!!
      After five (meticulous and painstaking) revisions of my 75,000 word manuscript (approx. 300 pages) and after working harder on it than I have on anything else in my life, I am proud to have not only finished it, but to have completed a piece of work that I'm actually excited to share with others. (Which, I don't know if you know this, but is the scariest thing ever - to share your creative work with others is literally like handing over your baby to someone and asking them if it's cute or not. Many people that know you, in order to preserve your feelings, may lie and say they like it is, even it isn't. But post that baby's picture online anonymously and ask strangers their opinion - ruthless! Just look at comment logs on youtube. Truthfully, I'd rather people be honest in spite of the whether or not it might hurt my feelings. I need to know so that I can gauge my work realistically and assess if there are things about my writing or characters that I should change. Anyway, I digress. It's done. For now. I submitted it to my thesis readers and now I wait to see if it passes. Fingers crossed, y'all!

So today is my first day as a "free woman"! I'm ready to kick back and relax a bit and enjoy the city now without having this deadline and this manuscript hanging over my head. And best of all, I am ready to get started on my next book!

Before I get to what I did today, I'm gonna back up and just fill in what (little) I've done since my last post. I didn't get out much, I was under self-imposed house arrest.

Sunday - I went for Lebanese food at Westfield with Matt after his shift at work. Neither of us had ever had Lebanese food before, but the restaurant looked nice and we were both feeling rather adventurous. And it was worth the risk, it was delicious! Hummus, tabbouleh, and chilean sea bass with an awesome tahina sauce. YUM!

Wednesday - I went out to meet Bhavya in Bethnal Green at an event he had heard about called Jawdance. It was a "spoken word" open mic night and it was freakin' awesome. No seriously. I thought it was going to be amateur central, but each poem and speaker was better than the other. It was like 2 1/2 hours long but was thoroughly entertaining. Who knows, maybe I'll get up there next time I go and present a poem or two? Or maybe a short selection of my novel? Hmmm....

Very hipster part of Bethnal Green. The event was held across the street.

And today, Saturday - I was ready to sleep in, snuggling into my bed without the ominous cloud of my deadline hanging over me any longer. But THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN, thank you very much construction crew outside my window that started with the buzz saws and hammers at 8:30am. I woke up and my first thought was "Someone's gonna die!" However, I wasn't gonna let them ruin my day! So I made myself a small breakfast, lounged about a bit, and then dressed to go exploring Borough Market, Southwark (pronounced Suthick, thank you Matt!), and Tower of London. It was a bit drizzly and cold, but the weather shifted and it ended up being a beautiful day for exploring. I took some fabulous pictures... I'll let them do the talking!

Borough Market on its busiest day! LOTS of food stalls and fresh market items - especially cheese, my favorite!

Never too early for a mimosa! It was either coffee or this - day drinking ALWAYS wins. 

And the fun continues... these were DELICIOUS!!

One mimosa and three of these drinks later, I was a bit tipsy in the market! 

Tower Bridge in all its glory!

Selfies are awkward! But this was me all day!
Except when I struck up the nerve to ask random strangers to take one for me!

Like here.

And here.
(Dad look, a LEGIT sign. Now THIS is what we're takin' about!!)

So ominous.

Tower of London

I love the contrast between the old and the new.
Tower of London vs the Shard.

Now, I'm just kicking back with a bottle of red wine, some cheese and bread I bought at the market, and some Great Expectations on Netflix. Resting up before my big day tomorrow. STEELERS AT WEMBLEY! I'll be sure to take tons of pictures and report back! Cheers!