vauxhall & I

2008-11-17T00:01:00.003Z

more to come mes amis!...i'm working on posting photos (& maybe some commentary too) from over the past 6 months. i'm up to june/july 08 so far. soon to come is joe's london visit and our travels to germany, czech repub, & croatia plus weekend in athens for amaryllis' wedding fun fun. stay tuned (if you're even still out there. i fear i've lost my fan base due to my extensive hiatus). hello?! anyone still out there???

2008-11-16T23:54:00.006Z

a few summer sunsets on the thames (from my balcony)...

birthday June 08

2008-11-16T23:37:00.010Z

my birthday fell on a friday so we did it up this year. started at trash palace, a bar in soho, and moved on to da club afterwards for a special evening of Popstarz shenanigans. woo hoo!

trip home (may 08)

2008-11-16T23:00:00.015Z

you can tell I barely worked in may. it's ok, i'm making up for it now!...photos from rva, c-ville, & a few from nate's wedding. oh virginia, you're so beautiful!

spain w/ Rennie! (may 08)

2008-11-16T22:36:00.015Z

Renee & I bused it across the border from Faro to Seville and then journeyed down to Ronda for a taste of small town Southern Spain.

ronda

2008-11-16T22:01:00.016Z

seville

portugal (may 08)

2008-11-16T21:16:00.006Z

a proper holiday in the sun!

important note to blog readers:

2008-07-31T18:10:00.003+01:00

YES, this blog is still in existence!

A BIG APOLOGY from the blog maintenance team here (me)!!! Due to ongoing continuous technological difficulties having to do with crapola internet connections, an old dell laptop with many faults, and now foreign keyboards; we(royal) have been unable to update since spring (shameful i know!). i hang my head low, my friends.

on a brighter note, Joe and I are currently exploring germany and the czech repub and enjoying our travels immensely and when i do finally get online for good, i will have MOUNTAINS of exciting photos and stories to wet your optical and literary tastebuds. stay posted in later august/september.lots of love your ways.

AHOY!

BIRMINGHAM, UK

2008-05-11T23:17:00.010+01:00

Ratna and I headed up to Birmingham for a weekend in April to visit Ashley P., a friend of mine from grad school, who recently made Birmingham her new home. We had great fun, especially enjoying our American-ness by eating lots of junk food-specifically Oreos and American-style thick buttery pancakes (both extremely hard to come by here)-while also getting a general feel for the city and going to a sweet international art exhibit called "The Art of the Stitch" at one of Birmingham's museums.

The marathon is easy. There are no lions.

2008-04-27T00:40:00.006+01:00

Two weeks ago, the London Marathon swept through Greenwich town centre & just past the main road my apartment is off of, so we had a first-hand view of the action...it was amazing. The dedication, determination, & strength of people who run marathons gives me chills & brings me to tears! (I'm serious, I had to hold back what might have been a complete emotional catharsis/meltdown brought on by the power of the masses coming together for a comon cause). But even more so is the strange goodwill events such as marathons bring out in ordinary people(standerbyers). It was odd for complete strangers to be laughing and talking to each other in a city known for being normally noticeable distant and cold. Day-to-day you're considered a freak if you so much as smile or make eye contact with another human being on the street...But on the day of the marathon, things were different. Complete strangers, even complete strangers who were ENGLISH, were opening up to conversations about themselves, what they do, where they live, who they date, & how they've tried to run for fitness before but it's just not their thing or how they ran in the marathon last year but suffered an injury during training this year...

There is something really powerful, I think, about watching other human beings push themselves to the limit...physically, mentally, emotionally, & often in memory of someone or for a charity. It's like watching the possibilities of your own strength come alive in front of you in someone else. There's passion, sweat, love, joy, pain, the nasty, the beautiful, lots of people gathered together for a single cause, cheering others on, screaming and meaning it, pushing themselves, and all of us opening our eyes to all the little and big ways human beings, our physical bodies and our minds are amazingly strong. There was one guy who had run 35 marathons around the world in 22 days. Unbelievable. Not to mention INSANE! People from all over the world come to London to run the marathon, too. People with incredible stories & causes.

Among those who ran this year were six Maasai warriors from Tanzania who ran to raise money for clean water for their village back home. They ran the 26.2 miles in traditional clothing including sandals made of car tyres! See a few photos from the marathon-taken before it rained :)-and check out the link below...it's the chief of the Maasai warrior group's diary of his time in the UK (his 1st time outside of Tanzania). Funny & a bit scary from a vegetarian's point of view. :/

http://sport.guardian.co.uk/athletics/story/0,,2273114,00.html

Olympic torch in London...

2008-04-26T23:47:00.005+01:00

You can't actually SEE the torch in these photos, but on April 6th, the olympic torch made its way on a boat down the Thames PAST MY APARTMENT (this is the view from the balcony off of my room!) to the O2 Millenium Dome in Greenwich where it ended its stint in London. It was cool to watch the torch's journey on TV until it boarded the boat and then run out onto our balcony & see the boats go by with helicopters trailing them above! exciting times!

DUBLINX2

2008-04-26T22:31:00.021+01:00

I liked Ireland (and its residents) so much my first visit in February, I had few objections to Ratna's suggestion that we journey there over Easter weekend. Rut & I were lucky enough to receive the gracious hospitality of my favourite doctor from Ireland who kindly welcomed us back to the city of Dublin(and fed us absinthe upon our arrival!)...Fun times, needless to say. Highlights of the trip included: the largest calzone ever, the discovery of "stimulation drink", a day trip to Glendalough & the Wicklow Mountains, which are absolutely gorgeous, & the Jameson whisky tour, where Ratna became a world-class whisky taster...Oh, and one more thing...when in Dublin out in Temple Bar, mind the dodgy English blokes there (wasted!)on holiday(see pic below (25th down)-i was forced into the picture, but ironically, am the only one fully in view, eyes fully open, & smiling)...

2008-04-26T22:02:00.016+01:00

2008-04-26T21:44:00.011+01:00

dublin, 1st time around

2008-04-26T21:24:00.017+01:00

badass cafe, my "double order" of nachos

guiness brewery

trinity college

me & oscar (wilde that is)

2008-04-26T20:49:00.012+01:00

my favourite doctor from ireland & i

baby guiness baby guiness baby guiness!!!

mike taught irene & i about baby guinesses-shots of guiness & baileys-yum!!!

i had to take a picture of this building...this is my cousin's name! :)

irene is a silly girl

2008-04-26T20:43:00.006+01:00

late night funnies at the pub, cheesy pub signs, late night eating

2008-04-26T20:29:00.009+01:00

howth & malahide.

irene & i took a saturday day trip to howth, a small seaside town with spectacular cliffside views, & malahide castle, a 12th century castle situated near the town of malahide (both just north of dublin). after taking a quaint little tour of the castle, irene & i glanced back at the castle form a far as we strolled back to the train station and saw...a rainbow!!! how wonderful, a rainbow in ireland. i jumped up and down and decided i must be lucky afterall. :)

meanwhile back in virginia...

2008-04-16T22:22:00.010+01:00

http://www.oddmusic.com/gallery/om25450.html

my french canadian composer musician creative genius extraordinaire friend Sonia who lives here in London sent me the above link to the "The Great Stalacpipe Organ" apparently located in Luray Caverns in the mountains of good ole' VA. check out the link. I say: very cool. I'm planning my visit.

NOTE TO DEVOTED BLOG READERS: I know I've been lazy about posting lately. It's just the winter is not going away here in London, which makes me ANGRY and ANNOYED, so I have to find little ways to rebel (against myself? nature? the world? global warming? ...no, the government!! yes, the government.)-I know, it seems odd that not updating my blog could somehow bizarrely translate into rebellion against THE MAN, but human beings have never been easily understood, have they? Plus, I have soooooo many photos...I'm having trouble choosing which ones to actually post. The Agony! Nonetheless, I'm feeling motivated again to update the blog and get back on top of it, cause it's just not cool for me to leave you hanging like this...Sooo anticipate loads more HIGHLY INTERESTING items to be posted verrry soon, INCLUDING Dublinx2, the olympic torch in London, AND the London Marathon woop woop!!! PS: I love your comments so keep um' coming. Miss you! -blog facility manager, Steph

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY!!!!

2008-03-07T17:29:00.004Z

...from this woman to all of yous!

check out www.madre.org

Daytrippin' to Cambridge

2008-02-24T22:48:00.006Z

Check out punting along the river (esp last photo of this bunch)...

visit home

2008-01-18T22:50:00.000Z

richmond, baltimore, christmas, music, lights, food, friends, family
i miss u i miss u i miss u i miss u. i miss u. i--heart--u.

2008-01-18T22:00:00.000Z

2008-01-18T21:35:00.000Z

build your own stonehenge.

RMT (Ratna Mean Time) aka Ratna visits Greenwich & other parts of Greater London

2008-01-15T20:17:00.000Z

dreams of love in a quaker church for all my friends

2007-11-10T16:55:00.000Z

dreams of love
for the future
for my friends

with this thought
i welcome love
for your future
all my friends

i know of love
from my past
makes me feel lucky
makes me feel warm

dreams are distant
but i’ll make them real
not in an aggressive way

like a peace offering
made in a quaker church
in north london

i’m lighting a candle
and smiling about
the love I’ve felt
because it’s how I know
what love
to welcome now

it’s how i know
it’s out there
for all my friends
it’s how i know
you can find home
everywhere you go

in your future
all my friends.

i'm a hippie. and a romantic. but i recently went to a conference on "crack cocaine & the community" and it was held in this quaker church called "the friends meeting house" in north london. the place was so peaceful and welcoming and the conference was very inspiring. i couldn't help but think of all of the people in my life who matter to me and whom i love and miss on a daily basis (especially being away from so many of you). a few days later i was showing a friend who was visiting picadilly circus and took this photo of the statue there, which sort of looks to me like cupid shooting an arrow (not sure what it really is). i thought of each and every person i care about getting hit by an arrow of love (wherever it may come from) and it made me smile. i've never been very religious (in an organised or ceremonial way) but i do believe that thoughts and communication are powerful and the connections between people deep. i hope my little "prayer" for love reaches you and you feel loved.

2007-11-10T16:52:00.000Z

WEEKEND IN MADRID!!

2007-11-08T23:00:00.000Z

Puerta de Europa, the world's first bent buildings!

2007-11-08T22:47:00.000Z

madrid's city symbol

we stumbled upon a lovely little organic/vegetarian restaurant. yum!

and a cool cafe for sweets, hot chocolate, & beer

cute little room in a hostel of many mirrors

making music on glass, amazing

at a cafe, ain't nothing like tapas & sangria on a friday afternoon :)

2007-11-08T22:27:00.000Z

Comunications Palace in Cibeles Square

Puerta de Alcalá

2007-11-08T22:01:00.000Z

el Parque del Buen Retiro...

water fountain parking deck. cool.

plaza mayor

2007-11-08T21:25:00.000Z

spanish children awww (courtesy of amaryllis)

spanish spiderman hmm

street performer

(inside Atocha Station-lots of plants, very serene)

Atocha Station (Estación de Atocha), the largest railway station in Madrid

turtle fountain, el Parque del Buen Retiro

Danielle's wedding, Madrid

2007-11-07T20:26:00.000Z

What a beautiful wedding and a wonderful weekend!

jiske, amaryllis, & i/marc, daniel, & jiske on the bus to the wedding ceremony

2007-11-07T19:57:00.000Z

the ceremony

2007-11-07T19:39:00.000Z

reception drinks & dinner

2007-11-07T19:09:00.000Z

"21st century omelette" yes, omelette

my vegetarian meal :)

the wedding cake. yum!

2007-11-07T18:54:00.000Z

funny moment: as i was working hard to keep the celebratory cigar lit, one of the men at my table mentioned "you know, in spain you don't often see a woman smoke a cigar". i looked around and noticed i didn't see any women smoking, though cigars were offered to everyone & there were several female (cigarette) smokers at my table . i think he thought i was a bit odd, which i sort of enjoyed. at the end of the day, i wasn't very good at cigar smoking-too much work with too small a reward-but it was fun to take part!

2007-11-07T18:38:00.000Z

the afterparty
Danielle put on a rad mix of music, including my fav depeche mode. sweeet!

Trip to see Alex in Poland: GYDNIA, GDANSK, & SOPOT

2007-11-05T23:32:00.000Z

Alex says, "If there's one thing you learn from your trip to Poland, remember POLISH PEOPLE LOVE MUSHROOMS!!!" (The buildings in the neighborhood Alex grew up in are actually named after different types of mushrooms-see building sign in photo below- and mushroom picking is a popular hobby...Poland does have some mighty nice forests and natural areas...good for growing mushrooms (see below!))

2007-11-05T23:06:00.000Z

gdynia

the baltic sea

2007-11-05T22:55:00.000Z

2007-11-05T22:46:00.000Z

alex j in action

2007-11-05T20:25:00.000Z

gdansk

2007-11-05T20:11:00.000Z

2007-11-05T19:23:00.000Z

me, a statue, & some polish policemen on bikes

2007-11-05T18:40:00.000Z

Solidarność

2007-11-05T17:33:00.000Z

sopot

pirate ship arghh

Look Mom I'm eating properly/Dude, where's the Feta?

2007-10-29T23:00:00.000Z

Spaghetti
Olive oil
Red kidney beans
Basil
Garlic
Feta cheese (imported from Greece only, of course, wink wink)
Tomatoes

i'm so proud of my domestic abilities lately. i've thrown a few meals together using random ingredients (in lazy efforts to avoid food shopping) and they turned out super yummy (even my flatmate agreed) and painted some large wood picture frames to save us money as we decorate the flat some. anyway, i thought i'd share the meal w/you cause i'm not known to cook, but something's happening inside of me...i'm becoming DOMESTICATED...rah hah ha ha ha (wait why am i laughing, i'm scared).

IBIZA

2007-10-29T22:45:00.000Z

Strangely enough, on an island known for clubbing and partying, I found some peace of mind (And promptly lost it within a week of returning to the nutty office in which I work). Some photos from the Sept2007 holiday of bliss. Enjoy.

2007-10-29T22:33:00.000Z

yay! i've always loved pools, water in general really, & floatation devices

2007-10-29T22:22:00.000Z

2007-10-29T22:08:00.000Z

me tan :)

2007-10-29T21:39:00.000Z

yummy

ibiza, poland, madrid coming soon!

2007-10-22T21:12:00.000+01:00

2007-10-22T21:07:00.000+01:00

irene & i, up close & personal

me funny

Workmates

2007-10-22T21:03:00.000+01:00

at Susie's leaving Do

Notting Hill Carnival 07

2007-10-22T20:48:00.000+01:00

Amaryllis, Danielle, & I at Carnival, which included the longest-8 hour-parade I've ever witnessed and some amazing outdoor clubs lining the streets. not to mention food, drink, music, dance, culture, culture, food, drink, music, dance. Apparently it's supposed to be the largest parade/procession in Europe. We had an awesome day & topped it off with coffee, sweets, & good conversation afterward in order to revive ourselves for the tube journeys home.

2007-10-22T20:39:00.000+01:00

2007-10-22T20:32:00.000+01:00

2007-10-22T20:14:00.000+01:00

80s Party !yay!

2007-10-22T19:58:00.000+01:00

jay as mr. T

don't know who the guy next to me in the white mask is. i'm telling you i attract weirdos.

james & i jammin to the 80s tunes

Faith

2007-10-18T22:24:00.000+01:00

my beautiful little cousin once removed :)

the story of the bizarro cruise ship

2007-10-18T21:43:00.000+01:00

It is bizarre when you wake up to a cruise ship parked in your neighborhood, when a cruise ship docks on your doorstep. It is a bizarre experience. Let me share with you the story of the bizarro cruiseship:

One morning I woke on an average day of an average week to a very nasal very loud male voice over a loudspeaker or megaphone or intercom type-thing. The voice echoed in the morning air shattering my silence. The voice made me feel angry. It was like something out of a scary futuristic sort of movie about a weird, emotionless, antiseptic utopia (Think Farenheit 451, Clockwork Orange). I thought to myself in bed, not bothering to move yet, "Why is it necessary for these annoying little construction worker men to continue to introduce new noises into my sleeping environment at 7am in the morning (there is a construction site across from my apartment & the noise is an issue)? Are drills & shovels & cranes & bulldozers not enough for these testosterone-filled hulligans?! Is it not enough that they frighten me with their playthings out of my serene sleep every morning?...Now a megaphone? Is it necessary for them to announce EVERYTHING to each other!?"

I arose, leaving the warm calm of my bedtime palace & entering the cold, noisy universe outside, and found my flatmate, Kati, downstairs drinking her morning tea, looking equally as baffled, equally as annoyed to be awake. I expressed my anger regarding the new megaphones or loudspeakers or whatever introduced the morning at the building site across the street. Kati quickly corrected me, "Umm, it's not the construction workers....Take a look out the front door, darling". When I opened the door, I could not believe my tender eyes. My eyes felt insulted, overtaken by the massive white plastic giant planted on the narrow strip of the Thames before me. "I'm a Barbie girl in a Barbie world" popped into my head for a split second because this thing before me seemed pretend, fake, like something Barbie & Ken might take around the world on holiday. So, the loudspeaker wasn't something the poor construction blokes came up with. In fact, their little building site looked like a leggo set for infants compared to Barbie & Ken's antiseptic Dreamland cruise ship. The noise was the sound of some weirdo cruise ship captain calling out to his passengers as if they were not parked on a narrow part of the Thames in London admidst Canary Wharf, St. Paul's, the tip of the London Eye, the Gerkin, and my average little neighborhood at 7am on an average weekday, but instead out at sea! How strange! How bizarre it was!...the morning of the bizarro cruiseship.

Since the "Silver Shadow", we've had several others, including "The World", which apparently came from Sydney and really does sail around THE WORLD. Last week we had a naval battleship. All of these massive, worldly structures parked on our doorstep, barely beyond the safety and comfort of our little neighborhood.

BRIGHTON PRIDE

2007-10-07T20:52:00.000+01:00

( 2007 baby, whoop whoop)

london to brighton hehe (via megabus)

tam lotioning me up for a day on the beach. :)

me & rachel

BRIGHTON

2007-10-07T20:42:00.000+01:00

the oh so handsome Neige. yum

me, cath, gary

singer at the club

jay & moi

BRIGHTON

2007-10-07T20:24:00.000+01:00

the group of us

outdoor club

two cuties

Night out with workmates

2007-09-14T22:28:00.000+01:00

(Leanne, Amaryllis, Jiske, & Susie)...good times.

Weekend trip to Ramsgate.

2007-09-14T22:02:00.000+01:00

Wiki describes Ramsgate as "an English seaside town on the Isle of Thanet in East Kent. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century and is a member of the ancient confederation of Cinque ports. The town has one of the largest marinas on the English south coast and Port Ramsgate has provided cross channel ferries for many years". (Kent is a large county that borders Greenwich, the borough of London in which I currently work, and also includes part of the southeast coast). Amaryllis, co-worker & friend, & I went for a little soiree (actually in Broadstairs, a neighboring seaside town) put on by my supervisor & a mini weekend getaway at the end of July...hooray for English seaside towns :)

2007-08-28T23:03:00.000+01:00

On the train today
Eastbound
I felt my life slowly changing
my perceptions shifting
I suddenly felt like something other than a tourist
Not exactly a visitor
This feeling crept up on me
Surprised me in a way
The question of Where is Home
didn't seem so relevant
for a second
Less significant
But instead I thought
What am I doing
Who am I
The questions don't get easier I thought
I believe questions like these are always lurking around
for all of us
But we aren't always forced to answer them
Questions like these hover
Just above the atmosphere of my day-to-day routines
in the CO2 layer
at the tops of Parliament and St Paul's and Tower Bridge
Still
though I felt overwhelmed for a moment
Eastbound
on the train
I also felt warm
Like if I can be ok with this
than I can be ok
I felt a kind of content
Serenity
after a long day
Peaceful in a buzzing city that's always changing
A city of travelers and visitors and wanderers
People come here to get something
find something
learn something
And then they leave
"And the ones that stay (men she meant at the time)"
My friend Kati said
"You have to wonder about"
Anyway I thought this over again
on the train
and it is strange that the closest thing to home for me
is a massive collection of villages
made into a city
full of transients
from all over the world
And I'm asking myself
Am I one of them?
But then questions like these are far too difficult to answer on a diet of
alcohol
Jamaican food
and espresso
after a day of Carnival.
So I settled for feeling good
peaceful
serene
Because after all
I spent the evening surrounded by two strong amazing female friends over espresso
admidst a carnival
in a city of transients
like me.

VIVE LA FRANCE!

2007-08-28T22:47:00.000+01:00

J'adore Paris!

Notre Dame

2007-08-28T22:32:00.000+01:00

La Sorbonne

i feel like this some days

cynthia's famous paparazzi pic

2007-08-28T22:11:00.000+01:00

Arc de Triomphe

2007-08-28T21:49:00.000+01:00

Tour Eiffel

paris' "redlight"

Daneen et moi in front of Moulin Rouge (apparently it looks cooler at night, but that's it)

melting building. pretty cool.

Basilique du Sacré-Cœur

Ville de Nice!

2007-08-28T21:44:00.000+01:00

C'est Magnifique!

2007-08-28T21:31:00.000+01:00

C'est Belle!

2007-08-28T20:52:00.000+01:00

cythia's feet resting alongside my super dorky water shoes after suffering the trauma of pebbly beaches

my new room

2007-08-28T20:23:00.000+01:00

before decorating. i have now added a bonzai tree & a rug :) And, check out the view from my balcony...that's the thames!

Hiya!

2007-08-14T13:16:00.000+01:00

Thanks for the comments everybody despite the fact I'm officially a blog slacker and deserve to be banished to "crappy blogs that rarely get updated land". :)

Aunt Stevie, it's not just you...my Mum happens to be notoriously horrible at returning phone messages/e-mails in a timely manner. In fact I think it must run in this branch of the family tree because I'm about as bad (sometimes worse)...hence my delay in updating the blog! I think it's about wanting to have the time to do a perfect job replying/the time to give one's full self to a conversation or e-mail... and NEVER having that kind of time! (But our intentions are good!). At least, that's what I think it is for me. Bad->zilch internet connection doesn't help either. Anyway, it's really nice to hear from you! Things are good and busy here-work, moving house, fun, travel, etc...I definately take after you :) I hope all is well in beautiful Cali!

Aunt Patsy, I have been a bit MIA. Sorry bout that :/(see comment above re: my good intentions) :) :). Hope all is well in VA. I miss HOT HUMID SUNNY VA summers so badly, though I know you're probably totally over it by now!! Oh, one can only dream. Hope all is well there! Say Hi to everyone! How's your trip planning coming??

Anonymous, Thanks for your comments, much appreciated. It's hard to say much more than that as I don't know who you are! :) Stay cool.

LOVE AND MISS xxxxxxx

ps: pic below is of a rickshaw...road around the block in one a bit more modern than the one shown here last weekend in soho (cost £2 for a 5min ride, but was totally worth it!)

my apologies devoted blog readers!

2007-07-23T12:46:00.000+01:00

The combination of moving, spending weekends out of town (Nice-->Paris-->Broadstairs (UK coastal town for supervisor's annual shindig)), and working overtime weekdays has left me internet-less at home and hopelessly cosumed in work at work thus without the ability to post! I am well and plan to be in good ole Greenwich this weekend...We think our internet should be up and working by then so I will be posting pics/thoughts soon. Hope everyone is well and look forward to your comments/updates/phone calls (hint hint) :) lots of luuuuv xxx

ps: this is my new "nephew" (2nd cousin? cousin once removed?-anyway, my cousin's new baby) Ben ...soooo darlin'

bradley in london (trafalgar square)

2007-06-30T13:59:00.000+01:00

fyi: Brad has a blog he's keeping about his time in Russia fromtheothershore.blogspot.com for anyone interested.

Basia Bulat

2007-06-30T13:05:00.000+01:00

While in Amsterdam, on our Sunday day bike ride a bit outside of the city centre, Irene and I stumbled upon a chill little music shop with a huge selection, and I got excited listening to stuff (Haven't invested in much new music lately and miss discovering new stuff)...Anyway, I ended up buying "Oh, My Darling" by Basia Bulat-She's a Canadian songstress-kinda folk-rock-pop-ish, but I really like her voice and though the music can be very sing-songy, it has depth as well. She has a website I think and a myspace page, of course. Good stuff. "Taste it and tell me it's sav-or-y"...

yay amsterdam!

2007-06-26T21:52:00.000+01:00

My buddy Irene and I took a quick weekend jaunt to Amsterdam the weekend after my birthday in June. Despite some nasty cold I came down with the day of the trip and massively annoying flight delays, we managed to have a wonderful (and way too brief!) time. Seriously I wish we had a photo to capture the amount of freakin bikes in this city! They rule the road.-I actually saw a bike push a car over in the lane. Cars regularly make way for cycles. Wow. A city full of bikes and boats and water and canals...very cool. And drunk, wasted travelers and men drooling over half-naked 18 year olds in windows...not as cool. All in all: a very eclectic city with character. I approve.

me and hyde park

2007-06-25T15:25:00.000+01:00

Classic, I know. This was taken right before Cath and I were approached by a park ranger (well sort of) guy and asked to pay to sit in the lawn chairs in hyde park, which we refused. And, though the guy was very nice and courteous, he was also well-boundaried about his job and duties and insisted we pay or move. Thus, we moved...Ahh, England on a sunny day. One can only dream. sigh.

some photos from my b-day 6.6.07

2007-06-25T15:08:00.000+01:00

(it was millions of miles of fun thanks to all my peeps who showed up to the bricklayers arms on my birthday-which was inconveniently on a wednesday...I felt really flattered and loved and royally appreciated. and even got a massive chocolate cake with candles and singing! big smile thinking about it. I miss all of you who were across an ocean this birthday though you were in my thoughts :)

me and jay

jiske and maria the great one

josh and ollie

mescarywithcupcake

prilla, sonia, and D

susie et moi

*photos courtesy of Catherine

thought of the day: "in an emergency..."

2007-06-25T09:41:00.000+01:00

So I was on the Underground,
mind drifting, time idling.
it was my commute home.
the thing that is as much a part of my psyche now as is my name or my hair color
A part of me, my mind's landscape
Everyday
my commute.
it's funny, it's like upon leaving work everyday, it's the same:
I mentally prepare for it. I get hyped up, toned down, I zone out
All at once
My commute.
there are endless ways to spend a commute.
Among them are reading, writing, eating, listening to music, zoning out, sleeping, studying people, obsessing over my performance at work or personal life issues, my last relationship (let's go over ONE MORE TIME why didn't it work again?...), the meaning of life,
OR
reading the adverts
and also small writing on the train itself
things like
MIND THE DOORS
MIND THE DOORS
MIND THE DOORS
Ok, I've read that three times
moving on.
But this one day
last week
I noticed and really thought about
thought hard about
(cause I have plenty of time to do this on my commute)
the following words:
"In an emergency...blah blah blah...
Do NOT take ANY risks"
And I thought about it
And I know maybe it's silly,
but I thought to myself
Well, the thought came into my head:
"BUT
What if it's taking a RISK that SAVES YOUR LIFE?!"

Bratislava & Wien

2007-06-05T22:58:00.000+01:00

Kati, Lucy, Daneen, and I hit Vienna and rented an apartment for a long weekend end of April. Beautiful architecture, beautiful coffee (and notice the small glass of H2O to rehydrate you afterward-a nice touch I thought), desserts, and music! Several of these pics (toward the bottom) are of the royal Hapsburg family's summer residence and its gardens. The woman in one of the 1st Wien pics was our very considerate but also frighteningly intimidating "landlord" for the weekend. Ooh those Eastern European women! :) The random dude in one of the Wien photos is this super speedy waiter we had a bar/club we went to-literally the best service any of us had ever seen. We would comtemplate another drink and he'd have it on the table in front of us! Also hit up Bratislava (just a train ride away from Vienna) for a day, and these top pictures are from that trip.-The castle and statues and whatnot. Lovely time, it was.

Bratislava, Slovak Republic

2007-06-05T22:41:00.000+01:00

2007-06-05T22:28:00.000+01:00

Wien, Austria

2007-06-05T22:04:00.000+01:00

2007-06-05T21:52:00.000+01:00

2007-06-05T21:44:00.000+01:00

bike. and then some.

2007-05-28T23:14:00.000+01:00

so I've got this bike now. it's new to me, but it's old in general. it's an old-fashioned looking, green, rusty, rickety bike with a big, springy seat, a wiry basket on front and a bell. no gears, but it does the job. sometimes the bell rings without me winding it up...I think it's like the Herbie of bikes if you know what I mean. I bought it for 8 pounds off of some kid in east london. God knows where he got it. he might have pulled it out of a lake? hopefully? either way, it's my new ride. I think if it was going to have a name, it would be Emerald (it's green but certainly not Emerald. Still, the Emerald shines through the dirt and rust). I'll post a picture soon (I'm having camera issues lately urgh, but I'll get them sorted).

In other news, I have further photos of Vienna and Bratislava to post this week. AND, am soon preparing for a little weekend jaunt in the Netherlands for my B-day!!Yes, none other than the city of bikes, sex shows, the Van Gogh museum, and legal cannabis: Amsterdam! yay! yay! yay!

Happy Memorial Day for those of you in the U.S. hopefully enjoying your day off today. I've heard (though hot maybe) your weather's much nicer than ours! Stay well and stay tuned, mes amis!

brighton!

2007-05-28T20:19:00.000+01:00

Kati, Lucy, Shannon, and I took a weekend trip down to Brighton for Lucy's birthday in April. Was still a bit chilly, but we did get lucky with the sun. It was tons of fun and made me long for lazy days on the beach (even though lots of beaches here are pebbles and not sand). Oh, the beach. Sigh.

Royal Albert Hall

2007-05-28T20:13:00.001+01:00

This was pretty cool. Got to see my workmate and friend, Susie, sing with a choir of hundreds at the Royal Albert Concert Hall last month. An orchestra, including a gigantic organ (was hard to get a good photo, but see below), played as well. And we had a wonderful Italian meal afterward. Yum. And fancy.

Kew Gardens

2007-05-28T19:57:00.001+01:00

(A very peaceful-and enormous-cluster of botanical gardens and such in SW London-actually very close to Richmond...Richmond, England that is. Ratna, I think I mentioned this place to you right after I went. I reiterate, I think you might loose your cool when you go knowing how much you dig plants and stuff (as long as there are no large insects-I know-and I didn't see any). It's quite nice. Notice 2nd picture down...the kind of flower photo one sees on calenders. :) Oh, and did I mentioned these gardens are Royal?

2007-05-28T19:48:00.000+01:00

Tam and Jayson looking cute with the plants

Night Out!

2007-05-28T19:38:00.001+01:00

These are from a night out at G-A-Y over Easter weekend...I think we can all agree Catherine is probably the only one who resembles normal (don't let her fool you!hehe). Please excuse me for looking windblown/sweaty/stoned in at least a few of these. I think I was just really getting my groove on (see 3rd down). Oh, and thanks Maria for your faces. Though sometimes, I fear you and your eyeballs and teeth, the night wouldn't have been the same without you :)

2007-05-28T19:25:00.001+01:00

Cath, you're such a beauty.

jay and me (looking unimpressed)

the lambing

2007-05-28T18:44:00.000+01:00

I know, sounds creepy. But "lambings" are actually traditional events around Easter when the general public is invited to come see the local farm animals, particularly the lambs (well, that's my working knowledge understanding of them anyway). As strange and foreign as the idea of going to something called a lambing was to me, the weekend of Easter I so bravely and curiously accompanied one of my trusted English compadres to one in Greenwich. It was a sort of low key family event and I was bored after ten minutes (just kidding-not really), but the lambs were SOOO CUTE (see below). As someone who's mostly vegetarian (ok, I do eat seafood now and again), I was a little frightened and turned off by the spray painted numbers on the lambs stomachs thinking they represent in which order the little lambies are to be slaughtered for meals at fancy restaurants in W London where posh ASSHOLES will so ignorantly devour... (I'm calm, everything's fine). Anyway, I never found out for sure what the spray paint is actually about. Maybe just to keep track of them if any run off or something.-Let's hope. Either way, I present...the lambing:

PS: Another English friend of mine, Ollie, travels often to NYC for business and was telling me a few weeks ago that it is very American to call things "CUTE".-He apparently runs into it a lot at work while in NY...I've realised since he mentioned it I say "Cute" ALL THE TIME (and said it above about the lambs)...which I guess makes me still American yay!-even though I've started saying "scenario" the British way ahh! Anyway, have a I told you you're cute today?

every house has a garden...

2007-05-28T18:33:00.000+01:00

somehow we have a shopping cart in our garden.

view from the garden