A lazy Saturday morning

Wow, it's almost 1 in the afternoon and I'm still in my pj's and putzing on the computer. Thats what you get for staying up until 4 a.m., though. Nobody else is around in the flat right now and I kind of like it. I'm just catching up on a few things online and listening to my new music that Kris gave me. A little Jem, Imogen Heap, Sufjan Stevens, Regina Spektor, Gnarls Barkley, etc.

Tonight I'm going to dinner with my parents and tomorrow we are headed to Windsor Palace. Then they're headed back home to the states. I think they had a really good time while here- I'm really happy they were able to come. More posting later- I've really gotta get motivated for the day.

Packing for Germany

So... not only did my global issues midterm get moved to NEXT Thursday, but class even got cancelled today! Bob is such a push-over. So I got to sleep in a little bit, but I decided to wait and see my parents because I still have Brit Lit with Patricia from 1-4 p.m. Ugh that class is absolutely horrid. (I just said that in my head with a British accent, just to let you know.)

After class my mom and I are going to get some dinner, drinks, and go see WICKED at the Apollo Victoria. I have been so excited to see this show, you can't even imagine. Mo is actually the one that introduced me to the music. I tried to get tickets when the show was in Minneapolis, but it definitely sold out in about ten minutes. Yuck. But Idina Menzel, the originial Elphaba (spelling?), will be in it tonight. She also played Maureen in Rent.

I have been enthralled by the Wizard of Oz ever since I was a little girl. My dog at the time, Belle, and later Beau, were never that small. But I would still pretend that they were Toto and that I was Dorothy. I even had some plastic red sparkly shoes and a little basket. I cant believe I was never Dorothy for Halloween, though! I remember spending hours watching the show and eating tuna fish sandwiches, cut diagonally in half. : )

I'll let you know what the show was like after I see it tonight. I'm expecting that I will probably cry because I am just so excited and I have heard how utterly amazing it is.

That's all.

Pic time!

Description of pics: 1. Here I am with Kris in front of the Tower of London. That was the day that I learned to ALWAYS carry an umbrella in my purse. 2.And there I am with that cute umbrella! There was a neat maze at Blenheim Palace...I also liked the life-sized checkers and chess games. 3. My first fish and chips meal- in Cambridge. It was great, except this country loves to serve everything with mushy peas. That's right- they actually call them "mushy peas." 4. Here I am in Cambridge in one of those cool red phone booths. It turns out that people use mobile phones more so they are slowly getting rid of the famous booths. I also heard that the red double decker buses would be gone too. I had better live it up while I can!


 

These are two of my favorite pics. The one with the rose is a self-portrait taken in the gardens at Blenheim palace. It was a pretty rainy/chilly day (typical for England!) but it got better later in the day. The next one is from our last day trip for Global Issues, to Bath. The drive there was absolutely gorgeous. Green grass, old cottages, sheep! The city itself was pretty neat...I found the Roman Baths fascinating. Apparently, the Romans used them for praying, exercising, bathing, socializing. And there is still a hot spring that flows into the Bath...just like when they used it!

trying this thing again

I’m going to try working on this whole blog thing again. When we didn’t have internet, I got used to writing down my thoughts in my journal. I’d like to continue doing that because it’s something physical; it’s something I can look back on in forty years and remember my excitement, frustrations, adventures. But now that I’m falling in love with Google’s Picassa, it is way easy to just post pics and blogs. Shutterfly is getting a little frustrating with my friends/family being able to view pictures. Maybe I could just send out reminders to my London email list for people to view my blog? I’ll figure it out.

So here’s a list of some things I still want to see/do in London: Holland Park, Kensington Palace and Gardens, Speaker’s Corner at Hyde Park, Guy Fawkes events on November the 5^th, afternoon tea at The Orangery, take a picture in front of an expensive French restaurant called “Lindsay House,” Imperial War Museum, take a boat cruise from Little Venice to Camdentown, Jack the Ripper walking tour, and definitely some more open markets.

I’m also excited to continue going to shows. I’ve seen the following shows: Comedy of Errors, Fabulation, See How They Run, The Seafarer, The Producers, Les Miserables, Caroline or Change. I will be seeing the following shows: Posthumerous, Wicked, Mary Poppins, Avenue Q, Evita, Moon for the Misbegotten, and some other random fringe show. WONDERFUL!

I have the whole day with no obligations today, but I really feel like just hanging out, reading, picassa-ing, blogging. That’s okay, right? I did just take a big day trip to Brighton yesterday! I think tomorrow since I have no class, I will go to Kensington Gardens and Palace, return my purse to Accessorize, buy that new blue pea coat from H & M, pick up a few things from Tesco, go to the Devil Wears Prada, and clean up the flat a bit for when my parents come.

Solo ride to Brighton

Here are a few pics from Brighton. The first one is just a few random houses/hotels on a street. It looks a lot like the houses in the Notting Hill neighborhood. Two things I love to take pictures of are colorful houses and bikes. The second pic is me at the beach. I took this after a day of listening to great music, eating by myself for the first time, enjoying some white wine, some window shopping. It was basically a perfect day. Too bad the weather was a little gray (no rain, though!) so I couldn't see too far over the ocean. The last pic is the shoreline. The beach was different than I expected- it was filled with pebbles/rocks instead of sand. Very pretty for pictures.