Guten Tag

He he - a picture of the ugly little suitcase before it was tossed in the bin:)

My stash - American foods - YUMMY!

And something I saw on the way to the bus this morning. They popped little cages around each of the tires, then picked it right up! I've never seen anything like it! Good way to keep from damaging the car when towing it I guess. So tonight we are off to Munich for Oktoberfest. When I think of Oktoberfest the first thing that always comes to my mind is that scene in Chevy Chase's movie National Lampoon's European Vacation. The Griswald family goes to the beerfest and Chevy dresses up in lederhosen, he some how ends up dancing on the tables with the locals as well. I can only hope we have that much fun! Bring on the sausage & wienerschnitzel & beer!

A picture one of the people in our group just sent to 'get us in the mood.'

"One of the Lowenbrau tents rocking"

"A perfect motivation to get going early in the morning regardless of how bleak you feel."

What happens if you arrive late (how sad does that guy look in the window)!

Funny Story

Mruray called me this morning to tell me that he saw a lady standing close to the edge of the platform this morning, not really paying attention, and she accidentally dropped one of her shoes onto the tracks! There's nothing they can do (as the lines are live) they'd have to shut down the system to get to it (which they are so not going to do)! So there she is on her way to the airport with one high heel and couple of suitcases! Oh my gosh! I hope she had a spare pair in her suitcase!
ha ha ha

Oh my little ugly suitcase

I met my Mom and Dad at the airport this morning. We had a nice breakfast and an hour to chat before they had to catch their next plane to Italy. They will be back in London a week from tomorrow for 2 nights, looking forward to that. They brought along a little suitcase of stuff for Murray and I. Inside is some yummy American candy, salad dressings (YAY!), a no bake cheese cake mix (gosh I haven't had that in YEARS! - thanks Mariah), and my pumas (shoes) that I forgot in Minnesota in June (ahhh how I missed them). Wow is it an ugly suitcase though - it must be 20 years old. They chose that one so we can just throw it away so they don't have to worry about bringing back an empty case.

T Minus 30 hours until we're on a plane to Oktoberfest!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good to Know!

Reeses Peanut Butter Cups

Very popular, one of you is not enough.

What Kind of Candy Are You?

YUMMMMMMM I LOVE Reeces Peanut Butter Cups!

Delayed Trains = Mo Crabby

Last night I got to the train station to discover a TON of people hanging out in the entrance way. Turns out the trains were suspended due to the radios being down. They told us they'd be back up and running (probably) within half an hour. So I hung around for half an hour, when they still had no new information I gave up. Caught a bus to the overland train, a train to the central terminal, and then another train back to Putney, a bus to meet Murray for dinner, then another bus home. **SIGH**
It took me two and a half hours. Thank goodness I had a fascinating book with me! So other than my frustration of missing the class I wanted to attend at the gym, I was engrossed in my book and not too upset about the delays.

I don't usually comment on what book I'm reading on my blog because I usually stick to chick lit. I like having a book to read that relaxes me after a day of work, rather than having to think too hard. However, I highly recommend the book 'Freakonomics.' Wow, just SO fascinating! It is about applying economic principles to real life to explain things. The book is a sort of collection of a few random topics, with no real unifying theme, but very interesting! One chapter is entitled 'What do Sumo Wrestlers and Teachers have in common?' Another discusses how much obsessive parenting really matters (i.e. reading a lot to your child, putting them in early learning programmes, etc etc) and how much does the name you have effect your success in life. Anyhow, I don't want to give too much away. Great book though!

And the award goes to....

Cheesiest boy band in the world - Us5!
I totally forgot to write about this American boy band who performed on the Sharon Osbourne show we attended. It was so cheesy we were giggling throughout their 'performance' (i.e. goofy 90's style dancing while lip synching). Oh wow was it a good laugh! I guess they are the newest thing from the guy who put together the Back Street Boys - hmmmm - bad idea if you ask me.

Also on the show was a very very emotional piece about a seven year old boy who needs a bone marrow transplant in the next 4 weeks to survive. They shared the horrendous statistic with us that if you are white and need a bone marrow transplant you have a 1 in 5 chance of finding a match, but if you are mixed race or black you have a 1 in 100,000 chance. How terrible! The little boy's mother started sobbing on stage while appealing for people who are mixed race to come forth and sign up to be a donor. Then they brought out the little boy, oh so so sad, had us all in tears. I really hope they find a match for him!

Anyhow, on a happier note. Last night Karen came over and we subjected her to watching our wedding video and looking at pictures. We also got to see some of her great videos!

It's chilly today in London, I could see my breath this morning at the bus stop, which kinda freaked me out! Winter is definitely on it's way!

I'm a monster

Eva just sent me this photo of Abby. Saturday morning Abby & I were playing with some of the toys she brought and we could hear Richard walking around upstairs - Abby turned to me and said 'it's a monster'! Ha ha. So along with this photo Eva attached a voice message of Abby saying 'it's a monster' over and over - CUTE!

I almost forgot!

If you're in the UK and want to see me, Heather & Lorraine on tv - The Sharon Osbourne show we attended is on tonight at 5pm on ITV.

!

Some going out pictures

I wasn't going to post these (cause I look TERRIBLE!) but in honour of honest real life blogging - here you go:)

Karen & I (not so bad from a distance - just don't zoom in -

I seem to have a lazy left eye - frightening!)
Karen & Murray - always nice to catch up with friends you haven't seen in ages!


Wow - are we happy or what? Me, Karen & her fun friends.

A quick jaunt to the palace...

Saturday we babysat Abigail which was great fun. I forgot to take any photos though - opps! All of the sudden now she is a chatter box! When Eva arrived to pick her up Abby got up and performed a few numbers for us, including I'm a little tea pot - SO SO cute!
Saturday night we went out with Murray's friend Karen who's in town for a week. It was fun to see her and we had a fun night out with her & her friends.

Yesterday I went to Buckingham Palace by myself to see the state rooms and the special exhibition for the Queen's 80'th birthday - 80 of her gowns on display. I've been meaning to go for years, but as it is only open a few short months a year I always ended up missing it. So as it finishes for the season this coming Tuesday, I figured I better get in! It was great - I'm glad I went. You get to see a selection of 'state' rooms which are the rooms the Queen uses for entertaining. Granted, you don't get to see all that much of the palace, and the tickets were a bit overpriced, but I'm still glad I went.

View of the palace as I exited

Gorgeous chandeliers!

The gown exhibition was the best part - SO SO SO many beautiful dresses!

They were dresses from the 1940's onwards - this close up one on the right was stunning.

After finishing at the palace I had an hour to kill before meeting with friends so I did a bit of shopping. I love Covent Garden - so many good shops and such a cute area:)

I met up with Lorraine and Heather in the afternoon to queue up to see a taping of the Sharon Osbourne Show. I'm glad we got there early as there were already quite a few people in line when we got there. The buzz in the line was that we might be seeing David Beckham, as we saw a commercial the day before that said he'd be on the show that week. When we got as we were being 'warmed up' by a comedian I was keeping and eye on the teleprompter to see who the guests would be. When I saw the name David Beckham come up I grabbed Heather's knee and screamed a little, causing her to also scream. He he. Everyone turned around to stare at us - but who cares - to see him - and A list star would be fantastic. Turned out he was not actually there (very very disappointing) it was just a clip of her earlier interview with him. Oh well. Sharon's a pro - they filmed 'as live' which meant it was quick and only shot once. She had Sunita from the X Factor (our Simon Cowel pop idol type show), some soap actress (no idea who she is), some of the bad performers from the X Factor auditions, and 2 kids who grew a quarter of a ton pumpkin. It was fun - quick taping - great format - I quite enjoyed it:)

OH and of course the most important thing about today - HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my twin aunties Joni & Jani! :)

WW2 Bomb

They unearthed a World War 2 bomb nearby where I work yesterday. They had to evacuate the nearby buildings and everything! I guess they're taking it off for a 'controlled explosion' at another site. How bizarre! I just can't believe some of those are still around! Although I guess you do hear of them coming across these things once and awhile in London. Still though - that's crazy!

TGIF!!!!

Last night I skipped out on a company bowling night to go home and do laundry and have an early night instead.
I just feel like I've been going non stop this week, and I'm exhausted!

SO nice sometimes to just come home, throw on a load of laundry, watch one of my favourite tv shows (Dragons Den), take a relaxing bath, and head to bed early.

Ahhhhhhhhh lovely. Planning on a similar night tonight (after the gym).

It's raining cats and dogs right now, I REALLY hope this doesn't continue all weekend!!!

I brought in Krispy Kreme donuts for a few of the guys I work with today for our meeting. I swear I have never seen them so happy - nice to see some smiles on a Friday. I only ate one though, I can't imagine eating more than one every once and awhile. Just one made me feel ill (although it tasted SO nice). My colleague said he used to eat 6 a day for breakfast when he lived in the states. Ummmm WOW - that is insane.

Anyhow - I hope everyone has a great weekend!!!!

Mo Sack of Potatoes

Last night we went to a viewing of our photos from the session we did last week. We got there 20 minutes early, thinking maybe we could get in and out a bit early (as we both were really tired). After waiting for nearly half an hour they came out and said they were running about 15 minutes late, and that if we wanted to wait in the pub next door they'd call us when they were ready. Forty five minutes later, we had finished a drink and chatted for awhile and finally went back to the studio - they STILL had not finished. By this time I was upset - we had an APPOINTMENT - and they keep us waiting for an hour - not good.

Eventually we got into the viewing room and as a goodwill gesture she upgrade our free photo from the tiny 5x7 to the slightly bigger 8x10. We sat through one viewing of the 30 best photos from our session, then on the second viewing we selected which ones we did NOT want. Turned out there were less than half a dozen decent ones, and in the end only 3 that we liked. After much deliberation we decided to get one really nice pose and one goofy pose. The nice photo is me leaning back on Murray, just shows mostly our faces. At first when we first looked at it I rejected it because one of my eyes was super squinty and looked lopsided, but thanks to the magic of photoshop software she was able to fix my eye so I didn't look like a monster. We got that photo as the 8x10 - it's actually a really nice casual photo - I love it!

We also decided to buy one photo (even though we had promised ourselves that we wouldn't buy anything)! But this photo was just SO SO unique - we both loved it. It's a picture of Murray holding me like a sack of potatoes over his shoulder. I have a scary (oh my gosh I'm upside down) look on my face, but Murray looks great and it's a fun unique photo. I can't wait to see the finished product - which we should get in a few months she said. What we really wanted was to buy one of the amazing mounted photos, but as they start at £500 for a 12x12 photo, which just seems VERY overpriced. Shame, cause the examples they had were absolutely gorgeous. Oh well.
Turns out I only have one photo of Lorraine's moving in day - but I think it's cute! This is the mug she bought for her room (you know how the Brits love their tea)! Looking forward to seeing her this weekend, I've set aside a set of 2 bowls, 2 small plates, 2 large plates, 2 mugs, 2 forks - knives - and spoons, and maybe a few other things for her to bring back to her dorm room. Fun fun!

Braai, BBQ, Sausage Sizzle

We went over to a Braai (South African BBQ, also known as Sausage Sizzle in Oz) at a friend's place. Had a lovely Boerewors Roll (a spicy sausage in a bun - also known as a roll) with chakalaka (a spicy salsa like sauce). Although there was a mix-up with sauce. They realized after a few of us had heaped tons of the 'mild' sauce onto our rolls and eaten a few bites that it was actually the 'very hot' mix - opps! It was still really nice though!

I've been tagged!

But first, a funny story I forgot to write about yesterday.

Sunday on our way back home after helping Lorraine move into her dorm, we decided to take the overland train home.
We got on the train and suddenly heard VERY loud Indian music. We glanced out the window and saw on the next platform that a music video was being filmed! There were about 30 female and 30 male dancers and a man who looked like the an Indian Willie Nelson. He had a cowboy hat, long grey hair, cowboy boots - interesting. Everyone on the train was glued to the windows - watching as they started the music over and over as the camera man walked through the dancers catching all the action on film. Even though I have no idea who that guy was - it was kinda exciting! Murray and I were wondering why the heck you'd use a dirty old train platform as a film location though - strange!

Thank You to A Novelist for tagging me (as I have nothing else to write about today).

I don't often carry a handbag anymore actually, I usually carry my back pack with all my gym stuff as I go on the way home from work.

SO, in my 'hand bag' (backpack):
Gym shoes, socks, outfit, flips flops for the shower, pink mini i-pod and headphones, tube pass, vaseline for your lips, my work badge, mini kleenex pack, a book (usually chick-lit), bottle of water, a pound coin for the locker at the gym, a mini pack of gym essentials (shampoo, conditioner, hair bands, deodorant, fruity body spray, lotion), my mobile (phone), hairbrush, house keys, purse (in the UK they call a wallet a purse and a purse a handbag - very confusing)

In my purse (wallet):
money off movie vouchers, credit/debit cards, gym card, 2 grocery store point cards, open water diver certification card, my Minnesota drivers license, library card, photos of my sisters, cousin Jennifer and a mini photo of us from graduation, Murray and my student cards (for movie discounts!) , stamps, Ferrari rentals business card (from the place we rented a corvette for a day on our honeymoon in Hawaii).

Exciting - I know!
:)

What a weekend!

Friday night we went to see a series of 'Endurance' movies, part of a special week long showing of Adventure movies at our local theatre. There were 6 'movies' in total that night.

The first one was about a guy who swan the Amazon (yes SWAM - all 6000 km - he is insane!). The most interesting part of that film was when he told about how at one point he was captured by a village who thought he was a white devil who caused every bad thing in their village. They took him off to their chief to kill him, luckily while playing with his radio they sent off the SOS signal and the army came in and scared them off. Geez!

There was also a short film which was a tribute to Dan Osman - an absolutely crazy speed climber and 'controlled free fall' specialist. He was well known for his crazy stunts and pioneered a 'sport' that is similar to base jumping - but even more insane. Jumping from extremely high cliffs attached to a very very long thing bungee rope, and trying to control where he fell so he didn't hit trees or smack into the rock face. We read up on the internet last night to find out why it was a 'tribute.' Turns out he miscalculated one of his jumps and ended up smashing to the ground and drying. Very sad. Actually, the 10 minute tribute is on youtube.com. However, I cannot seem to figure out how to post the hyperlink - so here's the standard link for you if you want to watch it.
Tribute to Dan Osman

There was also a short movie about a ten year old girl who is an amazing rock climber, a guy who walks tight rope attached to huge clifts, and another guy who speed climbs huge rock faces. In total the 6 films were just over two hours, and I swear I have never felt so physically ill as I did that night when leaving the theatre. Seeing someone throw themself off a cliff counting on one little knot to keep them alive - I just cannot imagine!

Saturday had a nice morning babysitting Abigail. We just hung around the house as the weather was a bit chilly. Lorraine arrived mid afternoon, and once Eva came to pick up Abby Lorraine and I went off in search of a decently priced duvet for her dorm room (woolworths - £5 - score)!
That evening we went to see 'The Vegemite Tales' with friends. It's a play about a group of Australians (and one Italian) living in a shared house in London. There were some very funny bits, and they were pretty good actors, but overall I think it was poorly written, could have been done better. It was a nice night out though.

Sunday we got up early (well, early for a weekend - 9am) and headed out to Elephant & Castle to move Lorraine into her dorm. The mix of people was interesting. Some very young looking people (one girl was sitting on the floor clutching her teddy bear), Lorraine is very mature for her age - so we found that pretty funny! It took AGES to get through the queue for her to register, I sat outside with her bag so no one would take off with it. I felt that a LOT of the parents were give me a look that said 'you're a bit old for uni aren't you'? Ha ha. Once she finally was assigned to a room the exciting part began. It's great - a private room for just her, huge wardrobe (with floor to ceiling mirror - YAY), a nice big desk to study at, and nice people on her floor! There's only 4 flats a floor, a very cute shared kitchen (with lockable cupboards for each person, a nice big full size fridge and freezer) and a cute table with 4 chairs. It's all set up in a very social, but in a clean and cute way. After we dropped off her unbelievably heavy suitcase we headed to the shops to get some groceries and some student essentials (3 ring binder, pens, paper, mug for tea, can opener, etc). Had a nice lunch, then left her to set up her home for the next year:) I got a text from her late last night that said she has all her pictures up now so it feels a bit more like home, and she met a bunch of nice people in her buildling. Gosh, I remember those days - SO SO exciting!

Last night Murray woke me up at 4am by jumping up and turning on the light. He told me a spider had crawled across his face. I assured him it was probably just a dream, then I spotted a giant raison with legs walking across our bed - EWWWWWWW! We ended up catching it in a glass and tossing it out the window. It was hard to get back to sleep after that though, and predictably I had a few nightmares!

I still got up half an hour early this morning to catch the early bus, I just don't want to be late to work anymore! And wouldn't you know it - transport for London decided to be SO unhelpful. Due to slow tubes, delayed trains and a slow bus I did get here on time, but thirty minutes later than I should have arrived. Very annoying.

Ah well, bring on Monday! Only 1 week and 4 days til we're drinking beer in Munich. Woo hooo!

(I have a few pictures of Lorraine's moving in day on my phone, but due to the exhaustion this morning from being up at 4am I forgot to transfer them to Murray's phone so I could post them. Will try to get them posted asap)!

Blatant Copy Cat

I admit it, I am completely copying Andrea.
This (dumpr.net) is the coolest thing I've seen all week.

Look - they put some of our wedding pictures in a museum - we're FAMOUS!

2 more years, 2 more years...

Well, 2 years anyway. I just realized that today is my anniversary - 2 years at this job:)


The post title though comes from a Bloc Party song. I actually only have one more year left on this job.

Other than that, nothing much new.
The entire network at work shut down at 3:00 yesterday. So, I cleaned my desk, cleaned out my old files, ate the second part of my lunch, and tidied my drawers full millions of paper clips. Eventually I gave up after hanging out for an hour and a half and left for the gym. Gosh, what did we do before computers?

Last night I was extremely confused again by the Sopranos episode that was on. I will be watching the repeat on Sunday with Murray to try to figure out what all the characters are up to.

Can't wait for this weekend. Abby, Lorraine, Shopping, Out on the Town, Dorm moving in, all very exciting - will fill you in on the details on Monday!!

CHOW!

PICTURES!

I just came across these on a shared drive - pictures from Tuesday night!

'The Girls' - 5 of the 8 in total who were there!

That's me in the middle in the bright shirt

Me battling it out with Anita (this was her cheap shot - she jabbed me!)

But I got her back! the next day they said in a meeting that now they know to not make me mad! (ha ha)

It was really unsteady - hard just to stand up!

And slippery from the rain!

In my final battle against Sarah (wearing the big boss's shirt as she decided it might not be a good idea to joust in her boob tube)

No pictures of my sumo wrestling unfortunately:( I think it was too dark by then. But here's a good picture of two guys in our group having it out - and you can see there were TONS of people standing around watching!

Past mid week.....

I'm glad it's past mid week, although I must say today feels like a Wednesday. I don't know why.

Sadly I think I need to start leaving earlier in the morning now:(
I've been 10 minutes late to work every day this week. Now that the kids are back in school, the roads are packed in the morning, which means it takes longer for my bus to get to the train station. I tried going another way today, but it still made me late. So tomorrow I'll try to force myself to leave 10 minutes earlier and see how that goes **sigh**. I was really loving that new bus route we found, I don't want to 'abandon' it. It's SO much closer to our flat, the thought of standing on the bridge waiting for the bus once winter comes does not appeal to me. However my only other option is to leave the house half an hour earlier and catch the 7am bus from the stop close to us. I just don't know if I can get myself out the door that much earlier. Will have to try I think.. before it starts to get too cold!

Sumo Mo

Last night we had a work 'celebration' in honour of passing the first of 3 big milestones on our project.

When we arrived at the place I was SO jealous, it was a tent set-up near a waterskiing club!!! I miss waterskiing SO SO SO SO much! We hung around a little while to watch the guys go around on one of those automated wire things (looks kinda boring) but they also had a few boats that were pulling people skiing and wakeboarding. The lake is about a quarter of the size of the lake my parents live by, but still - I wanna go!

Anyhow, so I arrived unfashionably early with a co-worker. They had a bunch of games set-up: a surfing simulator, jousting, sumo wrestling and giant jenga. I played one game of giant jenga, which was a bit of a disappointment actually. When they said 'giant' I was expecting huge jenga pieces the size of me, but it was actually just wooden blocks the size of my forearm. Still fun though (I WON)! Later I was convinced to get up and joust against another lady in our department. It was one of those huge blow up platforms, with 2 cushy blocks - one for each of us to stand on. Only problem was it had been lightly raining so they were damp. But we got up and put on our 'helmets' (just a cushy head cover really), and started jousting. She cheated though and jabbed me (which is against the rules). You're only supposed to hit the other person (with the soft ends of the stick) but because of her jab I fell straight off. After we got it cleared up that you aren't allowed to jab I knocked her off two times in quick succession. Then a friend of mine came up to try to defeat me. She smacked me in the head before the ref had even counted to 1 (he counted 1,2,3 START). So, in the next round I hit her in the head before he had got to one (ha ha). The sticks (not sure what they're actually called) were really soft though, so no one was hurt - it was all in good fun. By this time we had quite a crowd watching us (maybe because there were only 5 girls there and 150 men)? She ended up beating me - she's just SO strong. But we still shook hands afterwards - it was fun!

I spent the rest of the evening trying to convince one of the girls to Sumo wrestle me, but none of them would consider it. SO just as they were about to put it away I challenged my guy friend from work (as long as he promised to be nice and not hurt me)! He's SO tall though - the sumo suit came down to my ankles - and to his knees - to give you a bit of perspective! I got down low in the first match, and I acutally managed to surprise him and push him out of the ring (YAY)! He told me afterwards he was a bit shocked and knew he couldn't lose to a girl (especially since almost everyone there was watching - including our boss)! So of course he knocked me over the next 2 rounds and was crowned the winner. It was fun because the suits were so cushy that it didn't hurt at all, I couldn't get up though when I was knocked over cause the suit was really heavy! After my final defeat I just snaked myself out of the suit rather than waiting for the lady to come help me get it off (which got a laugh from the crowd)!

All in all a good night. The tube was SUPER DUPER slow on the way home though, so I didn't get home until 12:30. Thus, I am knackered today! Oh well, it was worth it!

Abby - the cutest little girl in the WORLD!

YAY thank you Murray for sending me these super cute photos of Abby from this weekend. (and as for the title of my post - I'm not biased - really!) We had such a great time with her. It's fun now that she can communicate with us (and now that she actually seems to know who we are). One more funny story - when Eva got back she came in and said hello. Abby just looked up at her, stood up and starting pushing her out the door saying 'No Mommy, Out.' Eva just laughed and said well, I guess she had a good time, she doesn't want to leave!

Do you like my lipstick?

I let her put on one of my necklaces and all of my bracelets and a hair band.

Then gave her my little lipstick compact which she LOVED (although she ended up putting most of it on her face rather than her lips). She kept looking at me smiling and saying 'Abby good painting' ha ha.

Chilling out with a bit of acoustic guitar music

Cutie! She's almost 2 1/2 now (end of this month).

This was Abby & Murray's game. He'd hold her up in the blanket as she was screaming with delight. She absolutely loved it and kept yelling MORE MORE! Which they kept up until Murray's arms were exhausted (she's getting really heavy)!

A Lovely Warm Weekend

Saturday we baby-sat Abigail all day. Although I was exhausted when Eva came at 5 to pick her up, it was a really enjoyable day. We took Abby to the shopping centre and let her look around the toy store (as soon as we entered the centre she pointed & smiled - she knows EXACTLY where that store is)! However, I was really impressed with her, this was the first time we have been able to leave the toy store without her getting upset. When she was finished playing a little bit with almost everything on display she grabbed my hand and walked out the door. When we got outside she looked up at me and said 'wee wee' (that's when I remembered I was supposed to be reminding her often - asking if she had to go - opps). She hasn't had many outings using a 'real' potty yet. But, all went well. I was really just impressed that she told ME:) Then we went home and I fed her her lunch while she zoned out watching Ice Age 2 (again)! We were going to go to the park, but it ended up being a cloudy afternoon, so we stayed in. After lunch she looked at me with a very serious face and said 'Me Mo' (with me looking at her saying 'what?'). She kept saying it over and over - finally I realized she was saying Nemo - and I had to disappoint her by saying we do not have that movie:) She also now regularly says 'Nique' and 'Mooray' which is SO cute.

Later on she put Murray's socks to bed (by unloading an entire drawer of his socks and putting them all under the covers to 'sleep' in our bed). And she tried on every bracelet I own while putting on lipstick in a mirror - very cute. Here's one photo Murray took of her. I have a ton of cute ones on my phone - but due to the Sopranos going so late last night I didn't have a chance to transfer the photos to his phone. I'll try to get some more photos posted tomorrow.

Saturday evening we went out to dinner with my mother and father-in-law's friends from West Virginia. They called us Saturday morning to say they were VERY upset as their luggage had not yet arrived. Having no comb and no change of clothes put quite a damper on their first day in London. However, thankfully their suitcases showed up just before we were due to meet them and boy were they relieved (30 hours without any provisions in a new city - not a fun experience)! We had a nice dinner and then walked back with them to their hotel. They are nice people, very easy to chat to - which made for a lovely night.

Yesterday we had our 'photo shoot.' We had filled in a card at our local shopping centre for info about this photography studio in the area that does really unique work. We ended up winning a free session - which includes one free photo. It was all a bit awkward - but I bet there will be some cool shots. He started us off by having us run towards him and then jump as he took a photo. Hmmmm not sure I want a photo to keep of my jumping face (scary). He also had us lie on the floor and roll towards each other (he took the photo as we collided). It was sure an experience - after an hour of lots of interesting shots I was dying to see the results! We have to go back a week from Wednesday for the 'viewing.' We won't be buying anything though (just the free photo thanks!) as the prices are BEYOND ridiculous (I seriously could not even believe their price packages). Just to give you an example - one really unique frame with 4 little square photos in it (about 5" by 5") was over £1500 (that's nearly $3000). Ummmm yeah - I can't imagine spending that much. The experience was really fun though!

Me & Brenda & Randy at Piccadilly Circus Saturday evening

TGIF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Saw some interesting things on my commute home yesterday on the tube.

1. I laughed to myself as a bunch of people (including me) ran into the tube carriages to try to get the coveted 'end seat.' This seat is bordered by glass on one side, so it means you only have to sit by a person on one side (and you can lean your head on the glass if you are tired:) I love that seat, and get disappointed when someone beats me to it!

2. A lady got onto the carriage I was on with a guitar. She looked like Tracy Chapman and sang a song and played while we all ignored her. Actually, the music was really nice, she had a great voice. She made a little comment afterwards about how everyone was ignoring her. However, it IS illegal to 'busk' on the tube, we are all tired from work and don't want to be trapped in with loud music, and even though the music was nice it just isn't the right time or place. I didn't give her any money because I don't want to encourage that. They have legal busking points in tube stations now - not ON the trains - but in places where the tube men can control who plays and where.

3. When I got off the tube after going to the gym the girl walking next to me was dressed from head to toe in green. Green shoes, green clothes, green things in her hair, and get this - a green painted face! I don't know if she was trying to be the jolly green normal sized person, or a fairy or what. But I thought it was hilarious that she was traveling on public transport like that (while chatting to a friend on her mobile)! Gosh I love London - so many different kinds of people - makes for an interesting journey home sometimes!

4. This morning I was VERY upset when I got onto the tube and couldn't find a spare copy of the free paper 'The Metro.' It is my morning routine that I read the metro on the tube. However, the closest entrance to the station I now start my morning off at doesn't have any there. So I have to hope someone on the train has left their copy for me!

5. I LOVE the feeling of finding a gossip magazine on the tube. It's like a special little present just for me - a FREE magazine that I didn't have to waste my money on - YAY:) Murray always laughs cause I get so excited where I find an OK or HELLO magazine as I don't buy those, but I'll read it if I find one - ha ha. Yesterday on the way home, when I finished my cheapy magazine I set it up on the back of the seat (the sign to everyone that I don't want it anymore). A girl leaned across a few minutes later to ask if I was finished with it. I smiled and said yes and handed it to her. Her smile made my night:) Nice to pass on a bit of gossip magazine happiness!

Voice of an Angel?

Last night we went to a taping of The Charlotte Church Show. For those of you who don't know, Charlotte was a famous singer from a very young age (known as the voice of an angel). She now has a reputation (at 20 years old) for being a wild party girl, and has just bagged her own weekly night time chat show (this was the taping of only her second show).

It actually was quite good! Much better than I expected. They had a great stand up comedian who kept us entertained between takes (which was great since it was a 3 hour taping)! Charlotte herself looked great in person (smaller than the tabloids make her out to be) and very pretty (although she was caked in makeup). She had 2 guests - Patsy Kensit (who was married to Liam Gallagher from Oasis) and American comedian Ruby Wax.

The show went quite smoothly, after they taped us clapping. Then clapping and cheering. Then just cheering. Then cheering then clapping. Wow, that got old quickly. Charlotte didn't swear much at all, other than was was scripted and a few times when she messed up her lines.

The section 'Wales versus the World' was hilarious! They had two (as they described) 'Crap Acts' - one from Wales (supposedly) and one from the 'rest of the world' (which last night happened to be Australia)! The act from Australia was a guy who was covered in oil and pushed himself into a gigantic balloon. So so weird. The funniest part is when he was totally inside and had just one leg sticking out. At the end of his act he popped the balloon and appeared wearing a cheaply made Elvis costume and awful wig (he went in wearing some frightening looking tight blue biker shorts). The second act (from Wales) was a woman who 'ate fire' and then took her top off, stuck things over her bits and lit a little string and ball attached on each one. She lit those on fire then twirled them. I think everyone was just in shock! Thank goodness the Australian guy won! HA!

Ruby Wax was actually quite entertaining, and not too annoying. Patsy Kensit was very pretty - but looked like she had a had a lot of work done, her face looked very stretched out. And wow did she have ugly shoes on (sorry, I notice these things)! Oh, and by the way - I loved Charlotte's shoes - very nice!

The band was called 'Orson.' I must say that's one of my favourtie sections of the show. Charlotte sang along with the band. It was well rehearsed and came across really well actually (other than the fact that they had to film it twice). She sounded great, but the lead singer of Orson was even better.

The other great part of the show was the prefilmed and in studio skits. The one we got to see live was Charlotte dressed up as Paris Hilton. Quite funny actually. She got upset when she was told by her agent that her album has sold negative albums (more people returning it then actually buying it) and threw her dog down and kicked it (don't worry - it was a stuffed pooch)! Then she demanded another dog, before having another fit and kicking that one into the audience too. He he he.

Anyhow, it was fun. And free! I wish her the best of luck with her show. But to be honest, I don't think it will last. I don't think the format is catchy enough to capture enough viewers. But, we'll see I guess. We were all a bit disappointed though when she told us who'd be on next week :( Johnny Vegas (a great UK comedian) and singer Nelly Furtado. Boooo I want to see THEM! I will definitely be applying for more tickets today!

Suri Cruise is not an alien

I have nothing interesting to say today.

So, I'll just note that it's about darn time photos of Tom Cruise & Katie Holmse's baby Suri were released. Just proves that she actually does exist and is not an alien like the gossipers claimed. Good to know.

All for now and back to work!
:)

Tuesday (I can't think of a good post title:)

Congrats to my work colleague Pete & his wife Angie on the birth of their baby boy Lewis Robert last night. All of us at the office are SO happy for you two:)

Last night I went to the gym and watched tv, very exciting as usual. I did watch a very moving programme last night though that I can't stop thinking about. It was called '9/11: The Miracle of Staircase B.' It was the story of the 14 firefighters who were caught in a staircase when the second tower fell, and survived. It was very moving to hear their stories, and how one decision - stopping to help a lady who was having trouble getting down the stairs - by some miracle saved their lives by putting them in the one place that would allow them to survive.

It looks like it's going to be another beautiful day in London today, shame I'm stuck in the office. Oh well:)

Strange - starting to feel like summer again!

I had a nice relaxing weekend.
Saturday I actually made it to an afternoon class at the gym (a HUGE feat for me)! That evening we stayed home to watch the VMA's (MTV's video music awards). Jack Black did a poor job presenting, and I didn't like a lot of the performances. Justin Timberlake did a great job though.

Sunday American food shopping at Panzers in St. John's Wood (north west London). It felt like a treasure hunt, each aisle had some UK and some US foods. SO exciting! So, I bought a few reasonably priced things, and one or two ridiculous priced things. I just had to stop converting the prices in my head. I'm ashamed to say I paid £3.80 for a boxof Triscuits (about $7).

Eeeekkkkkk. Oh well, they were REALLY nice to snack on on the way home:)

After the shopping I had a nice pint of cider with some fellow Americans which was great fun:)

Oh - and reason for the title of my blog - it was SO warm yesterday! Felt great! And the paper said today it's going to get up to 25c (80f). WOW, in September? We deserve it though after a not so nice August!

Most of my American food bounty!

Last night we stopped by the best Italian restaurant in London - Il MazCalzone. Love the food, love the service, love the low prices! And some friends of ours just happened to be there at the exact same time! Made for nice chatty dinner:)

And now, here are a few belated pictures of the flowers Murray gave me last weekend

Lillies & Roses

Gladiolas, sunflowers & exotic flowers

This is the Nemi cartoon from the paper this morning - I just thought it fit today SO well!

SO. TIRED.

This 'Nemi' cartoon from the paper this morning made me laugh as it reminded me of last night.

After a fantastic first episode of the new season of the Sopranos, we went to get some sleep at 11pm. We knew our neighbour was having a party - because we saw from 8 onwards that he had a ton of people on his balcony. However, at 11 it was still going strong, even stronger. The loud talking and laughing was getting on our nerves, but we decided to just hold out til 12 to see if they would quiet down. At 12 they did finally go inside his flat and shut the door - YAY - finally we'd be allowed to sleep. But, it must have got too hot with the door closed, because they opened it back up and decided to watch a Robbie Williams concert on dvd on sound level 1,000,000.
Eventually Murray leaned his head out our window yelling 'SHUT THE DOOR.' But the dvd was so loud they couldn't hear us. Eventually I got out of bed at 1:30am and saw my flat mate who agreed we should call the police (as the cotton she had put in her ears wasn't working). So we called the police, they said we should call the council. We got a hold of the sound squad (or whatever they're called) at the council and they said they'd send someone around. Of COURSE (sod's law) when I went back to bed after the phone call the dvd had finished and it was much quieter. We could still hear them in the hot tub talking about the hot tub and other things. But, at least we were eventually able to get to sleep.
Of course people can have parties. But on a Thursday night? When you have neighbours so close that have to go to work in the morning? That is just rude. And now I'm sitting here with bleary eyes feeling awful after less than 4 hours sleep. What a jerk. I'm looking forward to hearing back from the council as to whether they spoke to him or not!
BRING ON THE WEEKEND!!!