Hello, friends. Yes, in his most recent comment, Josh correctly spotted the status of my neck; sadly the back of my neck and shoulders were worse. At the start of the concert I realized that the front of me was burning, so I put on my hoodie backwards…which obviously left the back of me vulnerable. Didn’t so much think about that. Anyway, I have been applying lotion and aloe constantly since, and I was able to take a real shower today and only grimaced once. I think we’re almost out of the woods. Plus, it should be noted that I’ve been putting on SUNSCREEN before my walk to/from work.
Next comes the peeling though, and that will be unfortunate. Leprosy, anyone?
So now to pick up where we left off – Sunday! It was a chill day. I managed to sleep until 10am, which I was happy about. I was quite lethargic out all day, which I’m sure was leftover from Saturday’s festivities. Anyway, I went grocery shopping Sunday afternoon, and around 6ish Laura, Liz, Billy, Traci and I left to go to meet up with Ellen at her flat. Then we went to Earl’s Court to get dinner and watch the EuroCup final at a pub. We went to the Prince of Teck for dinner and the first half, then over to Earl’s Court Tavern for the second half. I was rooting for Germany, but that didn’t really work out to well for me. I kept it under wraps because almost everyone in both places was very pro-Spain. I didn’t want to get stabbed. Speaking of which, knives are a HUGE problem over here, I had no idea.
*Fun thing about Monday: I saw John Oliver, the British correspondent on the Daily Show! It was right outside of Oxford Circus tube station, by my work. He was just casually walking, wearing a hoodie (and the rest of an outfit, obviously) and carrying a messenger bag. I didn’t say anything; just stared at him, open-mouthed, as we passed each other. I’m pretty smooth. But the sighting was enough; it made me smile for the rest of the day. I heart him.
Not much else to report, so I will go through with you my routine day. See, that way, we can just do this post once so you know what I’m doing (or not doing) between weekends and return to posts with decent content!
*6:30-7am – Wake up, grumble.
*7-7:45am – Check computer, make tea or coffee, make lunch for the day, eat breakfast
*7:45-8am – Realize I goofed off all morning, say “Agh, shit” and jump in the shower and start getting ready.
*8-8:30am – Make my hair/face/outfit look presentable, pack work bag which will inevitably weigh 300 pounds. (This morning, Traci asked me if I was going somewhere after work because it looked like I was packing for an overnight trip. Sigh.)
*8:30am – Put on my tennis shoes and we’re out the door! Walk to Angel station (about .5 mile)
*9-9:30am – Arrive at work after a somewhat hellish and sauna-tastic tube ride!
*9:30am-5:30/6pm – Work! I do the little stuff like getting the mail, occasionally make coffee/tea for everyone (if you get some for yourself the general rule of kindness is to ask everyone else in the office if they want some. You might not think about this, but there is a LOT of pressure for an American to prepare a British person’s tea. Just saying) checking government web sites for news, and I also work on various writing assignments. I get an hour for lunch which I usually try and take later in the day, around 1:30 or so. Sometimes I’ll walk up to Regent’s Park, or just walk a different direction that I haven’t gone yet, or sometimes I’ll just sit on the couch in the back of the office. And you never know how long work will go, it depends on what you get done, or what time I decide to give up.
*5:30/6pm-6:30/7 pm – Walk from work to the King’s Cross stop (it’s about 2 miles), take tube from King’s Cross to Angel. Walk the .5 mile home. Sometimes, like today, I’ll walk the whole way home. That brings the total walk home tally to 3.5 miles.
*6:30/7pm to 10-11pm – Check computer, make dinner, sing 80s and 90s songs with Laura, Ellen, Liz and Traci, maybe write in personal journal, get ready for bed! And PS at 10pm, it’s still somewhat light out.
Shoutout to Ro: if you’ve been keeping count of the miles I walk, it’s roughly 3 (sometimes 4) a day. So I have a constant reminder of you and our Saturday morning walks – 3 miles in London is pretty cool, but it’s no 3 miles butt-early on a Saturday morning with you and Helen :-) Just saying.
Aaaaaand that’s my day! My super thrilling day. Sometimes we’ll do stuff after work, but I’m usually worn out. Though last night I did go over to the Offside (pub across the street from our apt) and met up with Laura and Liz for a bit. Tonight they’re going to a movie, but I don’t think I can justify spending the money, nor does the activity seem London-ish enough for me to really commit to. Though arguably, neither is sitting at your computer. I hate when I call myself out.
After this week, I’ll only have 3 weeks left. Where did the time go!?!!?!!??!?!?!!!?!??!?!
7.02.2008
6.29.2008
Weekend Shenanigans
Been a long time, eh? I suppose because I haven’t really been doing much – until this weekend! We have a LOT to cover. Buckle up.
Friday was a fun day – Liz and I went to the National Gallery and Portrait Gallery, which were both right by Trafalgar Sq. I liked the National Gallery more than I thought I would, and I liked the Portrait Gallery less than I thought I would. The National Gallery’s impressionist rooms were amazing and I could stand in those for a considerable amount of time. I don’t have a detailed or sophisticated eye for visual art by any means, but for my money, Monet was pretty much on top of his game. Just saying. I thought the Portrait Gallery was cool for the earlier centuries, but once you got into the second half of the 20th century I didn’t like the portraits as much. Though the Andy Warhols of Queen Elizabeth II were pretty sweet, I liked those a lot.
After our cultured morning, we walked over to Leicester Sq and got Subway for lunch. I know I said that I was trying not to eat things I could get in the states, but…you can’t always do everything right. Besides, it was really good and I could consider it somewhat healthy? Maybe? Excuses? Anyway, we ate it in that same park where we had gelato and watched the Hancock dancers practice last week. The park was back to normal, except for the fact that they had just put down new mulch and it smelled like a zoo. GROSS.
We came back home and hung out in our apartment for a few hours. Around 5 I headed to Oxford Circus (where my work is) to have drinks with Valerie and Neena (girls from work). We went to a place off of Carnaby Street. It was fun to finally hang out with them outside of work. We were there for a couple of hours then I headed over to South Kensington to meet Liz, Laura, Ellen and Billy at a pub for a bit. Liz and I got home and watched most of Nelson Mandela’s birthday extravaganza on TV. I suppose we could have stopped by the actual festivities (to watch from the outside, obviously) but…well, we just didn’t. Besides, we probably had a better view watching the TV than we would have had being in the area!
And yesterday we had…HARD ROCK CALLING!!! First, the morning of. Okay, so Liz and I had the apartment to ourselves, as Traci and Sharon are on excursions for the weekend and Ellen is at the other flat with her boyfriend. We didn’t have to leave for the festival until 11 or so, so both of us expected to sleep in, enjoy our quiet morning….NO. We were rudely woken up around 8:15 (I was sadly already up, I can’t seem to sleep past 8:30am here. I guess that has its good and bad points…) by incredibly loud steel drum banging like crazy. Outside our window was ANOTHER film crew…doing whatever they were doing? I don’t know. I took a picture. What the hell?? Laura came over shortly after because she also woke up to the dulcet tones of loud banging drums. Since we were up, we walked up to the main drag to get money for the bank, lunch for the afternoon, and COFFEE. So even though it was kind of unfortunate that we didn’t get our lazy sleep filled morning, I think it was pretty good anyway; productive, involved coffee with friends, and a little walking too.
Random tangent: Friday afternoon Liz and I were talking about how we never just roll out of our apartment dressed down – there is always makeup, hair styling, and presentable clothing involved. Not to say that’s a bad thing, but sometimes that whole process gets tiresome. So the morning of Hard Rock Calling when we went to run errands in town, we totally rolled out in our pajamas and hoodies. I took a great amount of pleasure in that.
So…the concert! Let me first say, I just uploaded all the pictures I took…a lot of them are off center, but you can just deal with my lack of composition skills. And there are roughly 100 of them - pages 1-4 on Flickr are all from the concert. Sorry about that. I just got camera-happy. We got there an hour before the gates even opened, so we had a great view! We had some beers, ate our lunches, and just chilled out for a while. The first band up was the Steve Boyce Band – they were some contest winners from some group that tries to get old school bands back together, I think similar to that bands reunited show on VH1 from a while ago. Anyway, they were fun. The highlight was really this woman standing next to us that came there specifically for them, because she knew them in primary school. So cute.
After Steve Boyce came Robert Randolph and the Family Band. They can rock, but unfortunately only played 3 or 4 songs. He was a lot of fun to dance to and a great performer. I would definitely see him again. After RR came my lover Jason Mraz. Honestly, I think I was most excited to see him. He has an incredible live voice. He played a number of songs, a lot of which were from his newest album. But he opened with Remedy which was fantastic, and then he played I’m Yours, which was SO GOOD. There’s a video of it. God bless my camera, that’s all I can say. Between the zoom for pictures, and the video function (and zoom there too) I have really good footage. So after Mraz, all hell broke loose and everyone pretty much squished in towards the stage, for…JOHN MAYER! He started with Waiting on the World to Change, then played I Don’t Trust Myself with Loving You, Gravity, (SO GOOOOOOD) and Vultures. He was obviously really good. I mean, come on.
After John Mayer came Sheryl Crow! I was really impressed with her; I haven’t really thought that she has a great voice in the past, but she sounded great live. I was also happy that she played all her old school stuff – All I Wanna Do, A Change Would Do You Good, Soak Up the Sun, First Cut is the Deepest, If It Makes You Happy, etc. She was great.
Okay, by this time in the day it was PACKED and we had been standing for like 8 hours, and we just reached our limit. We left the crowds and got some food (my first fish and chips since being here!) and sat farther back for Clapton. I regret it a little bit, but I still think it was a good decision because we could just chill out and listen, and we still had really good sound from where we were. I got some videos of him playing Layla and You Look Wonderful Tonight. So after Clapton finished we knew good stuff was ahead so we booked it back towards the stage to make it closer in time for Clapton, John Mayer, Sheryl Crow and Robert Randolph to jam out on stage. Definitely great way to end the concert and the day!
I have deep, intense red coloring all over my arms and shoulders, and it kind of feels awful. But it’s totally worth it.
Friday was a fun day – Liz and I went to the National Gallery and Portrait Gallery, which were both right by Trafalgar Sq. I liked the National Gallery more than I thought I would, and I liked the Portrait Gallery less than I thought I would. The National Gallery’s impressionist rooms were amazing and I could stand in those for a considerable amount of time. I don’t have a detailed or sophisticated eye for visual art by any means, but for my money, Monet was pretty much on top of his game. Just saying. I thought the Portrait Gallery was cool for the earlier centuries, but once you got into the second half of the 20th century I didn’t like the portraits as much. Though the Andy Warhols of Queen Elizabeth II were pretty sweet, I liked those a lot.
After our cultured morning, we walked over to Leicester Sq and got Subway for lunch. I know I said that I was trying not to eat things I could get in the states, but…you can’t always do everything right. Besides, it was really good and I could consider it somewhat healthy? Maybe? Excuses? Anyway, we ate it in that same park where we had gelato and watched the Hancock dancers practice last week. The park was back to normal, except for the fact that they had just put down new mulch and it smelled like a zoo. GROSS.
We came back home and hung out in our apartment for a few hours. Around 5 I headed to Oxford Circus (where my work is) to have drinks with Valerie and Neena (girls from work). We went to a place off of Carnaby Street. It was fun to finally hang out with them outside of work. We were there for a couple of hours then I headed over to South Kensington to meet Liz, Laura, Ellen and Billy at a pub for a bit. Liz and I got home and watched most of Nelson Mandela’s birthday extravaganza on TV. I suppose we could have stopped by the actual festivities (to watch from the outside, obviously) but…well, we just didn’t. Besides, we probably had a better view watching the TV than we would have had being in the area!
And yesterday we had…HARD ROCK CALLING!!! First, the morning of. Okay, so Liz and I had the apartment to ourselves, as Traci and Sharon are on excursions for the weekend and Ellen is at the other flat with her boyfriend. We didn’t have to leave for the festival until 11 or so, so both of us expected to sleep in, enjoy our quiet morning….NO. We were rudely woken up around 8:15 (I was sadly already up, I can’t seem to sleep past 8:30am here. I guess that has its good and bad points…) by incredibly loud steel drum banging like crazy. Outside our window was ANOTHER film crew…doing whatever they were doing? I don’t know. I took a picture. What the hell?? Laura came over shortly after because she also woke up to the dulcet tones of loud banging drums. Since we were up, we walked up to the main drag to get money for the bank, lunch for the afternoon, and COFFEE. So even though it was kind of unfortunate that we didn’t get our lazy sleep filled morning, I think it was pretty good anyway; productive, involved coffee with friends, and a little walking too.
Random tangent: Friday afternoon Liz and I were talking about how we never just roll out of our apartment dressed down – there is always makeup, hair styling, and presentable clothing involved. Not to say that’s a bad thing, but sometimes that whole process gets tiresome. So the morning of Hard Rock Calling when we went to run errands in town, we totally rolled out in our pajamas and hoodies. I took a great amount of pleasure in that.
So…the concert! Let me first say, I just uploaded all the pictures I took…a lot of them are off center, but you can just deal with my lack of composition skills. And there are roughly 100 of them - pages 1-4 on Flickr are all from the concert. Sorry about that. I just got camera-happy. We got there an hour before the gates even opened, so we had a great view! We had some beers, ate our lunches, and just chilled out for a while. The first band up was the Steve Boyce Band – they were some contest winners from some group that tries to get old school bands back together, I think similar to that bands reunited show on VH1 from a while ago. Anyway, they were fun. The highlight was really this woman standing next to us that came there specifically for them, because she knew them in primary school. So cute.
After Steve Boyce came Robert Randolph and the Family Band. They can rock, but unfortunately only played 3 or 4 songs. He was a lot of fun to dance to and a great performer. I would definitely see him again. After RR came my lover Jason Mraz. Honestly, I think I was most excited to see him. He has an incredible live voice. He played a number of songs, a lot of which were from his newest album. But he opened with Remedy which was fantastic, and then he played I’m Yours, which was SO GOOD. There’s a video of it. God bless my camera, that’s all I can say. Between the zoom for pictures, and the video function (and zoom there too) I have really good footage. So after Mraz, all hell broke loose and everyone pretty much squished in towards the stage, for…JOHN MAYER! He started with Waiting on the World to Change, then played I Don’t Trust Myself with Loving You, Gravity, (SO GOOOOOOD) and Vultures. He was obviously really good. I mean, come on.
After John Mayer came Sheryl Crow! I was really impressed with her; I haven’t really thought that she has a great voice in the past, but she sounded great live. I was also happy that she played all her old school stuff – All I Wanna Do, A Change Would Do You Good, Soak Up the Sun, First Cut is the Deepest, If It Makes You Happy, etc. She was great.
Okay, by this time in the day it was PACKED and we had been standing for like 8 hours, and we just reached our limit. We left the crowds and got some food (my first fish and chips since being here!) and sat farther back for Clapton. I regret it a little bit, but I still think it was a good decision because we could just chill out and listen, and we still had really good sound from where we were. I got some videos of him playing Layla and You Look Wonderful Tonight. So after Clapton finished we knew good stuff was ahead so we booked it back towards the stage to make it closer in time for Clapton, John Mayer, Sheryl Crow and Robert Randolph to jam out on stage. Definitely great way to end the concert and the day!
I have deep, intense red coloring all over my arms and shoulders, and it kind of feels awful. But it’s totally worth it.
6.24.2008
Happiness in a variety of forms
This one is kind of a mish-mash of things. But who doesn’t love a good mish-mash? Right. On with it, then.
*I am currently in love with Burt’s Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream. My hands get really dry here and BBLBCC really helps. Plus it smells like heaven. Warning: you may want to eat it, that’s how good it smells.
* I loved everything about yesterday. The weather was beautiful, I ate really healthfully, walked a lot including a lunchtime trek up to Regent’s Park (which I’ll probably do again today), got a lot done at work, and had a silly-fun evening at home with the girls involving dancing and belting songs from the 80s and 90s...and maybe some video recording. It was a happy, fun, productive, sunny day.
*Sunday was also a fun day. More great weather, and Billy, Laura, Gareth, Jenna, Ellen, Traci and I ventured out to Camden Market. It’s a crazy mix of punk, hippy, goth, antique, girly, 80s, cool vintage and more. Plus the food was amaaaaaaaazing. I haven’t put it on flickr yet, but they had this donut cart…it was incredible. I took a picture. They were huge and we all got different ones. We also had lunch there, and we got everything from Mexican to Indian to Chinese…and that doesn’t include the Moroccan, Indonesian, Italian, Thai, Japanese, and many many others that were offered as well. Ugh, I shouldn’t be writing this so close to lunchtime. Anyway, Camden Market gets an A. I definitely want to go back before I leave.
*Work is still good. For every 10 Downing Street moment, there’s an equally trivial, intern-ish moment. They are currently trusting me to write two analysis-type documents that require research, critical thinking, and just generally a lot of brainpower. Also, I have to put stamps on 800 envelopes (200 down, 600 to go). I appreciate that balance and find it kind of amusing...I think mostly because the idea of 800 envelopes just seems so absurd to me – like it’s some crazy exaggeration I dreamed up and there are really only 15 envelopes, but no…I really have to stamp 800 envelopes…with the old-school, non-sticker stamps. I don’t know why I find it hilarious. Though to be honest, doing the trivial stuff is a nice way to switch your brain off but still be productive.
*The Minister of the Department of Children, Schools and Families is named Ed Balls. I laugh every time.
*I’m trying to stay focused on my time in London, but I’m already finding my mind wandering to September! I cannot wait to see the college crew and the Scouffi and fam. I’ve been saying this for the past year, I think, but now we’re only two and a half months out! I bet August is going to go by so slowly. Though August will be fun too – it includes a trip to Ocean City NJ, and the start of my last semester at school!
*I am currently in love with Burt’s Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream. My hands get really dry here and BBLBCC really helps. Plus it smells like heaven. Warning: you may want to eat it, that’s how good it smells.
* I loved everything about yesterday. The weather was beautiful, I ate really healthfully, walked a lot including a lunchtime trek up to Regent’s Park (which I’ll probably do again today), got a lot done at work, and had a silly-fun evening at home with the girls involving dancing and belting songs from the 80s and 90s...and maybe some video recording. It was a happy, fun, productive, sunny day.
*Sunday was also a fun day. More great weather, and Billy, Laura, Gareth, Jenna, Ellen, Traci and I ventured out to Camden Market. It’s a crazy mix of punk, hippy, goth, antique, girly, 80s, cool vintage and more. Plus the food was amaaaaaaaazing. I haven’t put it on flickr yet, but they had this donut cart…it was incredible. I took a picture. They were huge and we all got different ones. We also had lunch there, and we got everything from Mexican to Indian to Chinese…and that doesn’t include the Moroccan, Indonesian, Italian, Thai, Japanese, and many many others that were offered as well. Ugh, I shouldn’t be writing this so close to lunchtime. Anyway, Camden Market gets an A. I definitely want to go back before I leave.
*Work is still good. For every 10 Downing Street moment, there’s an equally trivial, intern-ish moment. They are currently trusting me to write two analysis-type documents that require research, critical thinking, and just generally a lot of brainpower. Also, I have to put stamps on 800 envelopes (200 down, 600 to go). I appreciate that balance and find it kind of amusing...I think mostly because the idea of 800 envelopes just seems so absurd to me – like it’s some crazy exaggeration I dreamed up and there are really only 15 envelopes, but no…I really have to stamp 800 envelopes…with the old-school, non-sticker stamps. I don’t know why I find it hilarious. Though to be honest, doing the trivial stuff is a nice way to switch your brain off but still be productive.
*The Minister of the Department of Children, Schools and Families is named Ed Balls. I laugh every time.
*I’m trying to stay focused on my time in London, but I’m already finding my mind wandering to September! I cannot wait to see the college crew and the Scouffi and fam. I’ve been saying this for the past year, I think, but now we’re only two and a half months out! I bet August is going to go by so slowly. Though August will be fun too – it includes a trip to Ocean City NJ, and the start of my last semester at school!
Huzzah!!
Today is (the one and only) Frank Benson's birthday!
Wish him well today on this glorious day of days.
I will be back later today for more updates, but if Frank Benson's day of birth doesn't deserve its own post, I don't know what does.
Wish him well today on this glorious day of days.
I will be back later today for more updates, but if Frank Benson's day of birth doesn't deserve its own post, I don't know what does.
6.21.2008
Extras from Wednesday, Brighton Trip
If you look here http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page41.asp you can experience my Wednesday night too! I saw the Cabinet Room, the State Dining Room, and the Pillared Room was where the reception was taking place. The White Hall Room furniture looks like what was in the room where the PM and George Bush had their chat, but it’s in a different layout – so I don’t know if it’s the same room or not. My guess is not because the White Room looks a little bit smaller.
The welcome area was downstairs on the main floor, but the reception was upstairs. To get upstairs, we used THE grand staircase. I walked up and down it a few times, no big deal. Just using some stairs in 10 Downing Street. Sorry, I’m still a bit excited over this.
So 5 out of 8 on the virtual tour! Not bad!
Also, I got the names mixed up with the Chapman person I thought I was talking about – it was really Chiwetel Ejiofor. The guy that marries Kiera Knightly in Love Actually. And Richard Branson’s sister was there, she was really lovely. Okay, enough about Wednesday.
Thursday at work was spent figuring out the above information, sorting out some more administrative stuff about the reception, and then researching a bill that was on the floor in Scottish Parliament on Wednesday. I had to call them up and I could barely understand what they were saying, but the accent was sweeeet. I also had a realllly good pesto-chicken salad sandwich for lunch from the little café right next door to our office. Deeeelish. Thursday night we went out to a bar in Islington called King’s Head. They had this crazy bluegrass-ish kind of band playing, it was pretty fun.
Then on Friday we were off to Brighton! We ended up missing our 11am bus, but managed to catch the noon bus, so it was all good. We didn’t have any accommodations going into it (my first ever non-planned trip), so we walked around a bit, and found a really great place – the Urban House. It was a block from the beach and as you can see on Flickr, we had a pretty sweet room. We walked down to the beach, had some lunch at a café along the boardwalk, walked around town for a long time, and then ended up back at the room for the rest of the night. We watched a variety of things, including a GREAT Euro Cup game between Croatia and Turkey. Such a great game. We actually had a really really good time just goofing around in the room, definitely created a lot of “you had to be there” moments. :-)
Today we had our complimentary breakfast at our hotel (between us we had musli, croissants, yogurt, cereal, fruit, toast, tea and coffee...it was perfect), then walked around The Lanes (shopping district) and then went to Chockywockydoodah, which was a little place that sold cake and chocolate. And that’s it. None of us could finish our cake because it was so incredibly rich. I might have diabetes now. But oh was it good. And then we saw Mr. Weasley from Harry Potter.
Brighton was a lot of fun! It’s apparently a big destination for bachelor/bachelorette parties…today we saw a guy in a tutu and pink tights walking around, it was pretty hilarious. The weather was okay...it was overcast the whole time, but it was somewhat warm today so sitting on the beach was fun. We took some cool pictures on Laura’s camera, so one day I’ll have those to show as well.
Tonight will involve…..prrrrobably nothing. I actually don’t feel great. The bus ride home was rough – I don’t really get motion sickness of any kind, but the stopping and starting in London traffic can make anyone sick, I swear. Plus, the cake from this afternoon was so good but I’ve been eating really healthfully since I’ve been here. My body was like “WTF IS THIS SHIT!!?!?!!” when I gave it an insane amount of chocolate and sugar. It wasn’t so much used to that. My point is that I am taking it easy tonight and just relaxing.
Finally, congratulations Ben and Jess!!!! You two are an absolutely beautiful couple and I love you both dearly. I am SO excited for you!
The welcome area was downstairs on the main floor, but the reception was upstairs. To get upstairs, we used THE grand staircase. I walked up and down it a few times, no big deal. Just using some stairs in 10 Downing Street. Sorry, I’m still a bit excited over this.
So 5 out of 8 on the virtual tour! Not bad!
Also, I got the names mixed up with the Chapman person I thought I was talking about – it was really Chiwetel Ejiofor. The guy that marries Kiera Knightly in Love Actually. And Richard Branson’s sister was there, she was really lovely. Okay, enough about Wednesday.
Thursday at work was spent figuring out the above information, sorting out some more administrative stuff about the reception, and then researching a bill that was on the floor in Scottish Parliament on Wednesday. I had to call them up and I could barely understand what they were saying, but the accent was sweeeet. I also had a realllly good pesto-chicken salad sandwich for lunch from the little café right next door to our office. Deeeelish. Thursday night we went out to a bar in Islington called King’s Head. They had this crazy bluegrass-ish kind of band playing, it was pretty fun.
Then on Friday we were off to Brighton! We ended up missing our 11am bus, but managed to catch the noon bus, so it was all good. We didn’t have any accommodations going into it (my first ever non-planned trip), so we walked around a bit, and found a really great place – the Urban House. It was a block from the beach and as you can see on Flickr, we had a pretty sweet room. We walked down to the beach, had some lunch at a café along the boardwalk, walked around town for a long time, and then ended up back at the room for the rest of the night. We watched a variety of things, including a GREAT Euro Cup game between Croatia and Turkey. Such a great game. We actually had a really really good time just goofing around in the room, definitely created a lot of “you had to be there” moments. :-)
Today we had our complimentary breakfast at our hotel (between us we had musli, croissants, yogurt, cereal, fruit, toast, tea and coffee...it was perfect), then walked around The Lanes (shopping district) and then went to Chockywockydoodah, which was a little place that sold cake and chocolate. And that’s it. None of us could finish our cake because it was so incredibly rich. I might have diabetes now. But oh was it good. And then we saw Mr. Weasley from Harry Potter.
Brighton was a lot of fun! It’s apparently a big destination for bachelor/bachelorette parties…today we saw a guy in a tutu and pink tights walking around, it was pretty hilarious. The weather was okay...it was overcast the whole time, but it was somewhat warm today so sitting on the beach was fun. We took some cool pictures on Laura’s camera, so one day I’ll have those to show as well.
Tonight will involve…..prrrrobably nothing. I actually don’t feel great. The bus ride home was rough – I don’t really get motion sickness of any kind, but the stopping and starting in London traffic can make anyone sick, I swear. Plus, the cake from this afternoon was so good but I’ve been eating really healthfully since I’ve been here. My body was like “WTF IS THIS SHIT!!?!?!!” when I gave it an insane amount of chocolate and sugar. It wasn’t so much used to that. My point is that I am taking it easy tonight and just relaxing.
Finally, congratulations Ben and Jess!!!! You two are an absolutely beautiful couple and I love you both dearly. I am SO excited for you!
6.18.2008
I don't have a title that is worthy of the night that I had
But quickly, in honor of the night that I had because of my sweet company, I uploaded a few pictures of the office. I took them when I had a couple of minutes to myself :-)
Okay, and now we'll deal with last night. We went to a place called The Texas Embassy for dinner; a seemingly American place to fulfill some feelings of homesickness and lack of decent Mexican food. I wasn’t particularly feeling either of those things, but I didn’t want to miss out on any group bonding time. The food was a bit overpriced and just alright, but the BEST part was that they served ranch dressing. You cannot get that here, anywhere.
So after dinner we walked to Leicester Square to get some gelato – as we were doing this, we walked by this little park thing where the premiere for Hancock is going on tonight. There were a ton of dancers practicing and performing and stuff, so we stayed and watched while eating our gelato. (I had pistachio which was pretty good, but this place definitely warrants additional visits to try the toffee, cheesecake, chocolate hazelnut, coffee, mint chocolate chip…I could go on.) Anyway we found out that the premiere shenanigans started at 7 tonight, and I think a few of my roommates were going to go. I totally would have gone to catch a glimpse of the Fresh Prince myself if it were not for the fact that I…
was at 10 Downing Street tonight!! Yes, THAT 10 Downing Street. Okay, you guys. YOU GUYS. I had a ONCE IN A LIFETIME NIGHT. I was super intimidated when we first got inside the gate, there were guards with HUGE scary looking guns, just standing there. I was afraid to sneeze. I mean, that kind of security is obviously expected, but I was a little nervous at that point. And then we just walked up to the door, with a big number 10 on it! It looks exactly the same as the one from the Churchill Museum, really.
Okay, the rest will be in bullet point-ish form. Let me just run down the things that I experienced:
*Walked around in some of the rooms, went into one of the big dining rooms where Bush and PM Gordon Brown had dinner, and went into the meeting room that Bush and GB chatted in when he was here the other day.
*At the end of the night, got to go and stand in the Cabinet Room while Helen Mirren and Gordon Brown were just talking away. Yes, I typed that right. I was in THE Cabinet Room in 10 Downing Street listening to Helen Mirren and Gordon Brown have a conversation.
*TALKED TO HELEN MIRREN. She was unbelievably nice, gracious, beautiful and FIERCE. At the end of the night, she was heading out and we were in charge of getting all the name badges back, so I asked for hers (which was placed in the middle of her suit jacked in front of her cleavage because she’s fucking awesome) and then chatted with her about her having a nice time, the speeches, etc, I gave her one of our packets and wished her well, and then she turned around and smiled at me when she was leaving. I LOVE HER. I LOVE HER SO MUCH.
*TALKED TO SIR IAN MCKELLAN. I was busy bringing other people in, and standing by the table and all of a sudden I turned to my right and he was literally standing shoulder to shoulder with me. He said his name to me like I didn’t know who he was, and so I gave his namebadge to him and said “Enjoy the reception!” and he said thanks or something like that. Then at the end of the night I got his name badge from him, did the same rig-a-ma-roll about the “how did you like it” yada yada, and then we exchanged pleasantries, and he was off as well. He was nice too, but not like overly warm or anything (like my bff Helen was).
*I talked to Joanna Lundley from AbFab. She came down early and talked to us about how there were tons of good looking chaps up there – she was really nice and really funny. I didn’t recognize her at first until the other interns told me after she left and then I was like “Ohhh, what’s up Comedy Central?!”
*Eileen Atkins was also there, I chatted with her for a few minutes about the reception. I haven’t actually seen anything she’s in, and I feel bad.
*I briefly exchanged words with Imelda Staunton, who played Professor Umbridge in the most recent Harry Potter. She is SO TINY. Like, really really tiny. She can’t be more than like 5’1. She was pleasant. I didn’t really talk to her that much at all though. I didn’t want to geek out too much in front of her. She looks really different in person.
*Jude Law was also there, but I didn’t talk to him. Just happened to be standing within like 7 feet of him. I must say, he is much better looking in person. I previously didn’t buy into all his hype (but don’t think I wasn’t excited when I saw his name on the guest list) but when I saw him, I was like…WELL HELLO. But I didn’t say anything, I was too scared. I was in close proximity to GB a few times, but didn’t talk to him. I was also too scared. He looks much better in person, and he just seems like a regular dude. At one point, he just walked across the room we were in talking on a cell phone. No big deal. I’m pretty sure my eyes bugged out at that point.
There were a ton of other people that gave me their names like I should already know them, so there may have been other English actors but I wouldn’t know them from a hole in the ground. There was one other guy whose last name was Chapman or something like that…and he looks SO familiar but I can’t figure out what he’s been in. I'm going to have to check the guest list tomorrow and do a little IMDB-ing. But I didn’t really talk to him anyway. He was one of those people that looked at me like I should know who he is. The one person that had accepted the invite but didn’t come and I was REALLY sad about it, was Alan Rickman. DUDE. PROFESSOR SNAPE. But he didn’t end up coming.
My other favorite part, honestly, was the staff. They were a lot of fun and not rigid at all. This one maid snuck us down food from the reception (we were allowed to go up and mingle, which we did, but at the beginning and end of the night she snuck us food) – she brought us asparagus with some kind of mayo dipping sauce, these smoked salmon caviar things, prawns in some kind of cream sauce (served with silver spoons. literally.), and a few different kinds of sushi, Everything was so delicate and perfect and deliberately placed, and nothing was bigger than the circumference of a quarter. I have never had caviar before, how hilarious is it that I experience it for the first time in effing 10 Downing Street!?!?! Wow. WOW WOW WOW. I’m still in freak out mode, as I just got home maybe an hour ago. Anyway, the staff was so nice, one of the event staff brought me wine, and another one (a really cute guy, actually) was talking to me and keeping me company when I was standing in the front area. Somebody’s kids (toddlers, barely could talk) were running around in their pajamas and the staff were around dancing with them and singing with them. It was so great. Everyone was so friendly and warm.
So yeah, that was my night. My evening inside 10 Downing Street.
Okay, and now we'll deal with last night. We went to a place called The Texas Embassy for dinner; a seemingly American place to fulfill some feelings of homesickness and lack of decent Mexican food. I wasn’t particularly feeling either of those things, but I didn’t want to miss out on any group bonding time. The food was a bit overpriced and just alright, but the BEST part was that they served ranch dressing. You cannot get that here, anywhere.
So after dinner we walked to Leicester Square to get some gelato – as we were doing this, we walked by this little park thing where the premiere for Hancock is going on tonight. There were a ton of dancers practicing and performing and stuff, so we stayed and watched while eating our gelato. (I had pistachio which was pretty good, but this place definitely warrants additional visits to try the toffee, cheesecake, chocolate hazelnut, coffee, mint chocolate chip…I could go on.) Anyway we found out that the premiere shenanigans started at 7 tonight, and I think a few of my roommates were going to go. I totally would have gone to catch a glimpse of the Fresh Prince myself if it were not for the fact that I…
was at 10 Downing Street tonight!! Yes, THAT 10 Downing Street. Okay, you guys. YOU GUYS. I had a ONCE IN A LIFETIME NIGHT. I was super intimidated when we first got inside the gate, there were guards with HUGE scary looking guns, just standing there. I was afraid to sneeze. I mean, that kind of security is obviously expected, but I was a little nervous at that point. And then we just walked up to the door, with a big number 10 on it! It looks exactly the same as the one from the Churchill Museum, really.
Okay, the rest will be in bullet point-ish form. Let me just run down the things that I experienced:
*Walked around in some of the rooms, went into one of the big dining rooms where Bush and PM Gordon Brown had dinner, and went into the meeting room that Bush and GB chatted in when he was here the other day.
*At the end of the night, got to go and stand in the Cabinet Room while Helen Mirren and Gordon Brown were just talking away. Yes, I typed that right. I was in THE Cabinet Room in 10 Downing Street listening to Helen Mirren and Gordon Brown have a conversation.
*TALKED TO HELEN MIRREN. She was unbelievably nice, gracious, beautiful and FIERCE. At the end of the night, she was heading out and we were in charge of getting all the name badges back, so I asked for hers (which was placed in the middle of her suit jacked in front of her cleavage because she’s fucking awesome) and then chatted with her about her having a nice time, the speeches, etc, I gave her one of our packets and wished her well, and then she turned around and smiled at me when she was leaving. I LOVE HER. I LOVE HER SO MUCH.
*TALKED TO SIR IAN MCKELLAN. I was busy bringing other people in, and standing by the table and all of a sudden I turned to my right and he was literally standing shoulder to shoulder with me. He said his name to me like I didn’t know who he was, and so I gave his namebadge to him and said “Enjoy the reception!” and he said thanks or something like that. Then at the end of the night I got his name badge from him, did the same rig-a-ma-roll about the “how did you like it” yada yada, and then we exchanged pleasantries, and he was off as well. He was nice too, but not like overly warm or anything (like my bff Helen was).
*I talked to Joanna Lundley from AbFab. She came down early and talked to us about how there were tons of good looking chaps up there – she was really nice and really funny. I didn’t recognize her at first until the other interns told me after she left and then I was like “Ohhh, what’s up Comedy Central?!”
*Eileen Atkins was also there, I chatted with her for a few minutes about the reception. I haven’t actually seen anything she’s in, and I feel bad.
*I briefly exchanged words with Imelda Staunton, who played Professor Umbridge in the most recent Harry Potter. She is SO TINY. Like, really really tiny. She can’t be more than like 5’1. She was pleasant. I didn’t really talk to her that much at all though. I didn’t want to geek out too much in front of her. She looks really different in person.
*Jude Law was also there, but I didn’t talk to him. Just happened to be standing within like 7 feet of him. I must say, he is much better looking in person. I previously didn’t buy into all his hype (but don’t think I wasn’t excited when I saw his name on the guest list) but when I saw him, I was like…WELL HELLO. But I didn’t say anything, I was too scared. I was in close proximity to GB a few times, but didn’t talk to him. I was also too scared. He looks much better in person, and he just seems like a regular dude. At one point, he just walked across the room we were in talking on a cell phone. No big deal. I’m pretty sure my eyes bugged out at that point.
There were a ton of other people that gave me their names like I should already know them, so there may have been other English actors but I wouldn’t know them from a hole in the ground. There was one other guy whose last name was Chapman or something like that…and he looks SO familiar but I can’t figure out what he’s been in. I'm going to have to check the guest list tomorrow and do a little IMDB-ing. But I didn’t really talk to him anyway. He was one of those people that looked at me like I should know who he is. The one person that had accepted the invite but didn’t come and I was REALLY sad about it, was Alan Rickman. DUDE. PROFESSOR SNAPE. But he didn’t end up coming.
My other favorite part, honestly, was the staff. They were a lot of fun and not rigid at all. This one maid snuck us down food from the reception (we were allowed to go up and mingle, which we did, but at the beginning and end of the night she snuck us food) – she brought us asparagus with some kind of mayo dipping sauce, these smoked salmon caviar things, prawns in some kind of cream sauce (served with silver spoons. literally.), and a few different kinds of sushi, Everything was so delicate and perfect and deliberately placed, and nothing was bigger than the circumference of a quarter. I have never had caviar before, how hilarious is it that I experience it for the first time in effing 10 Downing Street!?!?! Wow. WOW WOW WOW. I’m still in freak out mode, as I just got home maybe an hour ago. Anyway, the staff was so nice, one of the event staff brought me wine, and another one (a really cute guy, actually) was talking to me and keeping me company when I was standing in the front area. Somebody’s kids (toddlers, barely could talk) were running around in their pajamas and the staff were around dancing with them and singing with them. It was so great. Everyone was so friendly and warm.
So yeah, that was my night. My evening inside 10 Downing Street.
6.16.2008
Little Details
I should be working…but I have to jot down a few quick thoughts.
*Sunday was a lazy day…Ellen and I went grocery shopping. That’s the only time we ventured out for the day. Our apartment seems to be the central one that people wander in and out of, which I like. So we have friends coming and going, seeing what plans are. I had the opportunity to go do the London Eye and/or a market over in Camden, but I just laid low for the day. I know I said I didn’t want to spend a day like that, but after two weeks of go-go-go, I really didn’t feel up to it. It was kind of nice to just hang around…we watched silly movies on TV, and listened to a little John Mayer (still gearing up for the 28th!!!)
*The work I did last week was put in the Friday Briefing! I was worried about the content, it being too long/not good enough, etc…but very little of it was changed – mostly just my American spelling! :-) So I’m feeling good about that. Today I’m just looking around for more news-worthy things, or “consultations” for NCA to comment on. As far as I can tell, I’m still on for this Wednesday’s reception at 10 Downing Street. Even though I’ll just be there to hand out name badges and info packets, I can’t believe I’ll be inside those doors! WOW! It still feels too good to be true!
*Here are things I miss:
Parker (I saw a beagle a few days ago and I think I lost my mind for a second).
Not having the feeling of “Am I doing this wrong?!” all the time.
My friends! (I love our group here, they’re great, but there are no friends like home)
I think that’s really about it. I set a few rules for myself while I’m here, that I will try my best to not buy anything or eat anywhere that is available in the states. Not to say that people come to London for the food, but there are so many new things here that are worth trying. That’s what I’ve been doing and I think it makes it more fun and it prevents me from getting homesick for anything. Plus, I’d been suffering from a bit of cabin fever for the past 3 weeks before I left, so I’m still on that “I’m out of the house!!” high. Who knows how I’ll feel a few weeks from now. My guess is I’ll feel the same way….I love it here. Plus it’s the little things I’m noticing how I’m more comfortable here now…when I’m walking home, I’m getting impatient with the slow walkers (like I would in DC/on the metro), or in the grocery stores I’m starting to figure out what I really like to buy (certain crackers, a particular type of yogurt, those naan things, etc). Silly little details but that’s what makes it fun.
*Sometimes I wish I had more perspective on this whole thing. Maybe it was just because yesterday was such a lazy, comfortable day…but I feel like I’m starting to lose the feeling of being here. Does that make sense? Like I don’t think about the fact that I’m here, IN LONDON much anymore. It’s just the place that I’m in with the people that I know now and where I work, and just the things that I do. I don’t want to take a minute of this place for granted, or feel like this isn’t a wonderfully amazing experience, which I know it is. But how do you experience things on a "big picture" level and an "in the moment" level at the same time!? Or is it just too early in the morning and I haven’t had enough coffee?
*Sunday was a lazy day…Ellen and I went grocery shopping. That’s the only time we ventured out for the day. Our apartment seems to be the central one that people wander in and out of, which I like. So we have friends coming and going, seeing what plans are. I had the opportunity to go do the London Eye and/or a market over in Camden, but I just laid low for the day. I know I said I didn’t want to spend a day like that, but after two weeks of go-go-go, I really didn’t feel up to it. It was kind of nice to just hang around…we watched silly movies on TV, and listened to a little John Mayer (still gearing up for the 28th!!!)
*The work I did last week was put in the Friday Briefing! I was worried about the content, it being too long/not good enough, etc…but very little of it was changed – mostly just my American spelling! :-) So I’m feeling good about that. Today I’m just looking around for more news-worthy things, or “consultations” for NCA to comment on. As far as I can tell, I’m still on for this Wednesday’s reception at 10 Downing Street. Even though I’ll just be there to hand out name badges and info packets, I can’t believe I’ll be inside those doors! WOW! It still feels too good to be true!
*Here are things I miss:
Parker (I saw a beagle a few days ago and I think I lost my mind for a second).
Not having the feeling of “Am I doing this wrong?!” all the time.
My friends! (I love our group here, they’re great, but there are no friends like home)
I think that’s really about it. I set a few rules for myself while I’m here, that I will try my best to not buy anything or eat anywhere that is available in the states. Not to say that people come to London for the food, but there are so many new things here that are worth trying. That’s what I’ve been doing and I think it makes it more fun and it prevents me from getting homesick for anything. Plus, I’d been suffering from a bit of cabin fever for the past 3 weeks before I left, so I’m still on that “I’m out of the house!!” high. Who knows how I’ll feel a few weeks from now. My guess is I’ll feel the same way….I love it here. Plus it’s the little things I’m noticing how I’m more comfortable here now…when I’m walking home, I’m getting impatient with the slow walkers (like I would in DC/on the metro), or in the grocery stores I’m starting to figure out what I really like to buy (certain crackers, a particular type of yogurt, those naan things, etc). Silly little details but that’s what makes it fun.
*Sometimes I wish I had more perspective on this whole thing. Maybe it was just because yesterday was such a lazy, comfortable day…but I feel like I’m starting to lose the feeling of being here. Does that make sense? Like I don’t think about the fact that I’m here, IN LONDON much anymore. It’s just the place that I’m in with the people that I know now and where I work, and just the things that I do. I don’t want to take a minute of this place for granted, or feel like this isn’t a wonderfully amazing experience, which I know it is. But how do you experience things on a "big picture" level and an "in the moment" level at the same time!? Or is it just too early in the morning and I haven’t had enough coffee?
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