Blades of Glory

Last night I finally got to go ice skating at Tower of London! Christmas is great in London, they have so many lights and trees up. There are four different venues to go ice skating at in the city and I think that the Tower of London is by far the best! I mean you are ice skating in the moat of a castle that is almost 1000 years old, how much better can you get!

Thinking and Thanking

Apologies for my terrible blogethic these past few weeks.  I have been so busy enjoying life and have had plenty of blog worthy moments, but I just haven't had it in me to get back on the horse.  With my 2nd Thanksgiving in London come and gone, I couldn't go without a Thanksgiving post to remind myself what all I have to be thankful for.  Luckily, it is a lot and I don't need a holiday as a reminder.  Although, it is a great holiday and a great reminder!  A year ago had just celebrated my first Thanksgiving in London with some new friends and I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of my family for their first visit.  A year later, yesterday, I celebrated Thanksgiving for a second time with those same people (although they are much better friends now and we had the lovely addition of Haper Rose Money celebrating her first Thanksgiving at only 3 weeks old!)  I also had the fantastic pleasure of celebrating with Cole, he gave up his Thanksgiving with his family to come and visit me in London!!  So even though I wasn't with my family on Thanksgiving this year, I was definitely in the company of my "London Family" and I had a HUGE piece of home with me since Cole was with me as well!  If I can't spend the day with my family, I can't imagine a better group of people to be with in their place. 

This year has brought me so much to be thankful for. I have really settled in here in London, I have amazing friends and I absolutely am loving my life!  I gained another neice, Ainsley Kate, who I can't wait to cuddle with in a couple of weeks!  My relationships with my family and friends back home are still strong as ever (thanks in part to modern technology!)  I have travelled to some amazing places and I have some really fun trips planned to look forward to in the coming year. I've had lots of fun visitors in this last year (Mom, Dad, Lindsay, John, Hayden, Lindsey H., Melissa, Courtney, Mom (again!), Aunt Linda, Cole!!)  and I hope to have many more next year (hint, hint to anyone who wants to come).  There is much to be thankful for :)

A Wee Bit of Fun

Well my friends, I'm not sure whether you would call this Spontaneous or just downright Irresponsible.  I'm sure it's a little of both, but either way, I am glad I did it.  It was late Sunday night a little after midnight and I am sitting on a Night Bus on my way back to my flat from Kings Cross wearing the very same outfit that I left the house in Friday evening to meet a few friends for dinner.  How, you ask, did I arrive in this situation?  Good question, lets rewind 48 hours to the beginning of this little story. 

It's Friday, I rush home from work, shower, change clothes and head out to meet friends for dinner at The Blues Kitchen in Camden and then for drinks and dancing at Proud.  I get to dinner and there are a few new faces there...Bill, just moved here from NY and is friends with my friend Kevin...and Jill, is over visiting Bill for a couple of weeks from NY.  I end up sitting next to Jill at dinner and we start chatting.  She mentions that her and Bill are leaving in the morning to go to Scotland for the night.  I mention that I haven't been to Scotland yet and I am hoping to go soon.  Soon, you say...Jill says she thinks I should go tomorrow.  I say, Oh but I can't I don't have any clothes, etc, etc.  She says you can borrow mine...I say, Okay!  We book my train ticket on Kevin's iPhone, finish dinner, go dancing at Proud, I crash on Bills couch and we are on our way to Kings Cross to catch the train at 7 am, a mere 5 hours later.  Jill has lent me a comfy sweater to throw over my outfit and given me her travel toothbrush that she acquired on her flight over, I'm set!  By 10 am we have made friends with some lovely (read rowdy) Englishmen headed to Newcastle for a football game.  They like us and share there Jack Daniels with us freely.  Did I mention it's 10 am? Sheesh!

We roll into Edinburgh around 1 head to the hotel to drop off our stuff ,what stuff you ask, oh that's right I didn't have any "stuff"  Then we head to a pub for lunch and decide to pass on the Haggis.  Google it if you don't know.  Then we are off to the Castle for some site-seeing.  The Edinburgh Castle is smack dab in the middle of town so it is easy to find.  After wandering around the castle we did some shopping on the Royal Mile...aka Tourist Trap Row.  Then we settle into another pub and meet some locals and a smattering of Norwegians...which is quite ironic since Jill is half Norwegian! After that we headed to dinner at Pizza Express (the Scottish fare didn't hold much appeal for us) and then we went to Bar Kohl a Vodka bar where I rediscovered my love of White Russians.  We tried to rally and make it a night for the books, but when we ended up at Espionage, think underground KGB-ish club, we realized that we had started way too early in the day.  So we cut our losses and headed back to the hotel before midnight.

The next morning we woke up, showered, I put on the same clothes then headed to do the Underground tour of Mary King's Close. You see, Edinburgh was built up rather than out. They built streets and buildings ontop of one another so there is a whole underground world underneath the streets from many many years ago. You can still go down there and wander around. They tell you some of the history of the town and what life was like back then, all about the Plague, etc. I'll tell you what, if I had to go back in time to live back then, my one luxury item would have been a pair of golashes! I'll spare all of the gory details, but lets just say they didn't have sewage plumbing back then! YUCK! After the tour we had a few hours to spare before we had to catch our train back to London so we did a little more touristy shopping, met William Wallace, drank in a couple more pubs then were on our way back to London around 7 pm. It was a whirlwind of a trip, but a lot of fun and I'm so glad that I went! I now how two new friends and a lot of Scottish memories! Scotland, check!

Pics from the Castle....

Because everyone needs a picture sitting on a cannon!

Just checking to see if the rumor is true...

Meet Bill and Jill

EEK...I am such a geek!

William Wallace was one chatty fellow

I'll leave you with a very Scottish image...

A Halloween Miracle

I finally recovered from the week spent on my death bed, and just in time for Halloween!  It was a true Halloween miracle!! I spent all of last week quarentined in my bedroom with a terrible sore throat and fever for 4 days straight, it was miserable!  I was so worried that I wouldn't be better in time for Halloween, I LOVED my costume that I had bought for this year and I did not want to miss my chance to wear it!  Luckily I came around on Friday with a miraculous recovery!  Ever since Britney's Circus tour this year, I knew I wanted to be a Ringmaster!! I found the Perfect costume and was so excited!! I wasn't trying to go as Britney, but so many people thought I was that I just gave in by the end of the night.  This year I had two parties to go to.  The first was at Kim and Langfords flat and was a Tube themed party...Mind the Gap!! Everyone had to come dressed as a Tube stop or a Tube line. It was really fun to see how creative everyone got!!

Christine as "Chalk Farm" Frances as "the Bakerloo line" Me as "Oxford Circus" and Kim as "Greenwich"

After the Mind the Gap party I headed into the city to a party sponsered by the Texas Exes.  It was a huge party with a bunch of Americans, so much fun!! I met up with Annie, Colby, Meg and Jackie!  Meg and Jackie are lifelong friends from Connecticut and have spent every Halloween together for as long as they can remember...aren't they cute little flappers!  It was a great Halloween, my only greivance is that I left my whip in the cab between parties..boohoo!

Meg, Me, Jackie and Annie (as Beyonce!!)

Me, Colby (as a cat) and Annie

aren't we cute!

The Future Lauren

You know those times in your life when you feel like not much is happening, but in reality there is a lot going on around you?  That's what the past few weeks have felt like for me.  I guess that means I'm finally really settling in here and London is starting to feel like my home.  All the things going on don't feel new and exciting anymore, they are now just a part of my everyday life.  That is not so say I am bored, by any means!

The possibilities here are endless, this rang true when I realized something the other week, something that I didn't even realize I was doing.  So most people who know me probably know that I like to change things up from time to time, I'm not a fan of routine.  I get antsy doing the same thing too long.  I had no idea I was doing this until the other day when I was walking home from the tube, but in the 9 months I have lived in my new flat I have probably gone to work or come home about 10 different ways.  I'll get stuck on one route for a few weeks, then inevitably I'll change it up and start taking a new route a few weeks later.  It is so strange, I really never made a conscience decision to change my route, I just kinda took a different way one day.  I guess this city is good for a person like me, there are about 5 different bus routes and 3 different tube routes to and from work for me...and that doesn't include all of the different ways I can walk. 

I have also found myself worried and stressing about the future, something I traditionally have never participated in.  I have always been one to live for the moment and let future figure itself out.  However, for some reason I have been so focused on the future lately.  Whether it be which trips I want to take a year from now, when am I going to end this London adventure, what area of London do I want to live in next, what job I want to have 5 years from now...I have been stressing on every little detail of these questions trying to plan out several different scenarios for each.  I don't know when this started or why, but I am going to make a conscience decision to live in the now and enjoy each day without really worrying too much about what the future holds...as my new friend Meg taught me..."I'm going to let the Future Lauren worry about that"  Some may call it reckless, but I am ready to embrace the old me, I know she's in here somewhere!

Unprepared

This past Sunday Annie ran in her first half-marathon! I am so impressed, she finished all 13 miles in under 3 hours and get this, the most she has ever run is 6 miles and that was months ago! I am starting to worry about Kilimanjaro, if she can run 13 miles with little to no training, how am I going to keep up with her on this mountain!  I feel so unprepared!!  Speaking of unprepared...Jackie is arriving in the morning, I need to finish cleaning out her room!! Not sure if I've mentioned it on my blog yet, but I have a flatmate for the next 3 months! Jackie is Kelly's best friend from home and she is moving over to London for the next 3 months so she is going to live in my extra room.  I am SO excited to have a roommate again, I like living alone...but it gets kind of boring to be quite honest!

Annie about to cross the finish line! Gotta love that fanny pack!

Me and Annie after the race in front of the O2 Arena

Baby I Got Your Money

Last weekend I had the pleasure of hosting a baby shower with Kim and Christine for our friend Frances and Baby Money!! Yes, Frances' last name really is Money! She and Carl recently found out they are expecting a girl so her name has since been changed to Lady Money. We had so much fun planning this shower, this is my first baby to host! Frances, Kim and Christine are all Americans and Southern girls as well so we went all out for the baby shower...all of the British guests did not know what to think about all of this! (they don't do baby showers in Britian, it is actually considered bad luck to give the mother a gift before the baby has arrived)  Frances was nice enough to let us throw the shower at her flat, which is fantastically located right in the heart of London in Covent Garden/Leicester Square. Here are some pics from the day!!

Our drink station, complete with Mimosa's and Sweet Tea!

Our main table with all of the yummy food! We had breakfast casserole, pork tenderloin sandwiches, spinach artichoke dip, spinach and fruit salad, fruit kebabs, and spinach and feta tarts!! (Frances is a vegetarian, hence all of the spinach!)

Our clothesline of onsies!!! All off of Frances gift registry!

We also did some candy bowls with Pink candies

Our diaper cake!! We all met at Frances' the weekend before to embark on the new adventure of making a homemade diaper cake! It was a first for all of us, but I think it turned out pretty good!! Although here is London it is actually a "Nappy Cake"!  The cupcakes are from Primrose Bakery where Frances is actually a pastry chef!

Playing one of our games, Guess the Belly Size!  (which I won!) Our second game was name as many baby items as you can (which I also won, thanks to Lindsay, Hayden and Ainsley!) and the last game was Guess the Flavor in which we had to TASTE baby food and guess what flavor it was! I was so sicked out by this, I did NOT want to participate but they made me. I lost this one, but probably only because I took the most miniscule bite of each!!

Isn't Frances the cutest pregnant girl...she is 6 months along, believe it or not!

A few of us stuck around afterwards to continue drinking Champagne on Frances' balcony since it was such a nice day outside!

Life's a Beach

A couple of weeks ago I had to go to Bournemouth to visit a client for work. My meeting ended early and I had a couple of hours to kill before my train back to London, so I had the cab driver drop me off at the beach! He said I must be the luckiest girl because this was the first day of sunshine they had seen in weeks! I was so excited, I had no idea that beaches like this existed in Britian, oh how I wasted this summer! I had a great couple of hours hanging out on the beach and I even got some fish and chips right on the beach! I was in my suit, so I got a few strange looks, but I just took off my jacket and rolled up my pants an plopped myself down on a beach chair!

Never Have I Ever

Seen a cuter picture than this!!!!!

Snog

Here is your British vocabulary Word of the Day!  Seriously, they actually do use this term here.  I personally hate the word and think it is gross, but unfortunately, I hear it all the time...especially from screeching teenage girls on the tube. 

Verb.  snog - touch with the lips or press the lips (against someone's mouth or other body part) as an expression of love, greeting, etc.

Last Friday it was an okay day outside...and let it be known that by okay I mean it wasn't freezing, windy or raining...so I decided after work to take a stroll down South Bank and catch the tube at Westminster the rest of the way home.  It is about a 30 minute walk and I love walking along the river, next thing I knew I had walked the entire 2 hours home.  I love walking home because I discover so many new restaurants, shops, and areas in London I never knew about. When I got to South Kensington, about 3/4 of the way home, a store front caught my eye...you can probably see why...

Anyways, I was intrigued, so I crossed over to have a closer look to see what this was...maybe a kissing booth of sorts?!!?  Alas, it was not, it was a frozen yogurt shop. Once they see you peering in through their windows you are sort of obliged to go in and order something.  So I went in and Snog was another one of those Organic, natural frozen yogurt places like Pinkberry in LA or Berri-pop in Houston.  Moriarty took us all to Berri-pop when I was in Houston a few weeks ago, and sorry Courtney...but I wasn't a huge fan.  It wasn't bad, just I think I prefer my fro-yo artificial and sugary!  Well once I was in, I had to order so I ordered the smallest size which was still huge, but only had 130 calories or something like that, so the last 30 minutes of my walk were consumed with having a Snog! Haha, sorry, couldn't help myself :)

Arachnophobia

If you are scared of spiders you may just want to skip this post! When I got back to London a couple of weeks ago from my trip home to Texas I found a new flatmate had moved in while I was gone...he didn't last long, the met the bottom of my shoe...three times!  He was just chillin' in my bathtub, yikes! He was the size of my palm, seriously, HUGE!  He was also the 2nd little fellow like this I have found in my flat in the last month, I have a serious problem with that.  I say He, because I know he is a He and not a She.  I googled "Common British House Spiders" and found out he is just that, he is called a House Spider (original, huh!) They are most common in the fall b/c it is mating season and the ones you find scurrying across the floor or trapped in your bathtub are usually the males looking for some females to love.  Ick, I hope I caught my boys before they found any females, I don't have enough room for all their babies in my flat!

Sweet Stitchings

I am so excited and proud to announce that my Mom has started her own business, Sweet Stitchings, doing embroidery and monogramming!!!  For those of you who don't know my mother personally, she is immensely creative and talented! I seriously only have a fraction of her creativity.  She has always loved sewing and even owned a small business smocking baby clothes when my sister and I were babies.  She has decided to turn her gift and passion into a business yet again!  I have already put her to work making a few things for some of my friends who have recently had babies!  Please check out her blog to see some of her work, she is still working on getting together her actual website and pricing, but it should be up soon! 

sweetstitchings.blogspot.com

Are You Ready for Fall? - Day

For a day in the City:



Fall Casual by lwaterfield featuring French Connection

My New Obsession

Polyvore.com

This is my new obsession!!! It is so much fun, you can create inspiration boards, I had so much fun doing this and I am working on several more Fall related inspiration boards so be prepared to see many more of these little gems on my blog!!

Are You Ready for Fall? - Night

For a Night out:



Fall Dress by lwaterfield featuring Chanel

A Year in Pictures - The Post

(***photo album in separate post below!)

This is a book I made for my dad for his 60th birthday this year. He and my mom bought me this camera last year before I moved. Hopefully, he doesn't think it was a total waste of money! I have been sitting on this book for a while now, but I am happy I can share it with you all since I gave it to him this past weekend while our family was together in Houston. His birthday isn't until October 7th, but I wanted to celebrate with him while I was in town so we threw a little surprise dinner for him Friday night!

When I was putting the book together for my dad, I thought "hey, I kinda want one of these too!" Easy enough, I just pressed the little up arrow when I was checking out and ordered myself one as well!! I think this is something I am going to do every year...hopefully for the rest of my life!!

Oh, and for anyone who might be interested, the cover is actually a photograph I took of a ceiling in the Royal Alcazar (palace) in Seville. I love taking pictures of patterns!

Here is a list of the places I have travelled in my first year of living in London (note: this is more for myself since people as me this question all the time and I always draw a blank...my short term memory is failing me FAST!)

• San Sebastian, Spain - with Kelly - August 2008
• Munich, Germany - with Amy - September 2008
• Africa (South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabe) - with Amy - November 2008
• Windsor, England - with my family - December 2008
• Paris, France - with Lindsey - February 2009
• Prague, Czech Republic - with Kelly & Desi - March 2009
• Albufeira, Portugal - with Melissa & Courtney - April 2009
• The Lakes District, England - with Annie - May 2009
• Istanbul, Turkey - Annie & Mary - May 2009
• Seville, Spain - with the Hernandez family - June 2009

A Year in Pictures

Click here to view this photo book larger

More Ainsley Lovin'

Don't be fooled, the actual reason I came to Texas was for Ainsley's birth, Hayden just demands a little more attention these days! Here are some pics of sweet Ainsley Kate from this past weekend!

Look at those teeny little legs!!

Sweet angelic little face

Ainsley and her LaLa

Just Keep Swimming

Finding Nemo is one of my favorite movies ever, I just love Dori!! But now my favorite little fish is Haydenbear! This girl loves to swim!! She also happens to love Nemo and we got to watch it together early Saturday morning while the rest of the house was still sleeping! This weekend my parents stayed at a brand new hotel they just opened in Town and Country Village in Houston so we took Hayden swimming. I forget the name of the hotel, so I am not a very good reference for them, but it was really cool!! I don't think their clientele is geared towards kids at the pool, as you can probably tell by the swanky cabanas in the pics below, but Hayden had a fabulous time!

Is there anything more precious than this girls smiles and laughter!?!

Hayden is so fearless, she LOVES jumping into the pool...although she is not so much a fan of her face going under water!

Testing out my new camera's underwater abilities for the first time!! Pretty cool!

Again, is there anything sweeter!?!

Hayden's fishy face

Little Miss Sassy

This is the hotel pool...not so much kid oriented, but pretty nice!

L.O.V.E.D. this mirror in the hotel

AND this chandelier is fabulous!!