Death Traps

So for those of you who are interested, I kept the aforementioned shoes.  I decided tonight was a good night to break them in for the first time since I was meeting Kelly for dinner and drinks.  Since I am now on a strict budget because I bought the shoes, I decided to take the bus instead of a cab.  When I got out of my apartment and was walking to the bus stop I noticed that the bus was pulling up to the stop so I took off running, waving my arms like a mad woman...and then I fell...on my hands and knees...in the middle of the street...the bus kept going.... seriously!!?!?!?  How can a bus not wait for a girl who just ran frantically across the street and FELL trying to catch it!? Who would do that!  And then I quickly realized that I was thankful that the bus kept going because everyone on that bus saw me fall, and that would just be too embarrassing.  So I decided that buses were out for the ride home and I took a cab home so it could drop me safely off right in front of my door.  I made it to the top of the stairs then stopped to set my purse down then I FELL flat on my butt!! How does a person fall when standing completely still?!?!  These shoes are death traps!  Oh but I love them!

Things That Can't Be Captured in Photographs

I am having a bit of trouble locating my USB wire that connects my camera to my computer, therefore I haven't been able to download my pics from Istanbul yet. Conveniently, there are MANY things about Istanbul that cannot possibly be captured by a camera so I will share some of those things with you until I find my wire and download my pictures. In no particular order, the good, the bad and the ugly...

• The sound of the call to prayer echoing throughout the city 5 times a day - AMAZING
• The smell of honeysuckle growing in the tea gardens - fantastic
• The constant smell of B.O. lingering through the entire city - not so fantastic
• The smell of the hookah as you pass tea gardens and coffee shops - pretty delightful
• Being called "Lady" by about 1,000 people a day - very annoying
• Being scrubbed down by a fat naked Turkish lady in the Hammam - surprisingly awesome
• Being called "Dirty Dirty Girl" by the fat naked Turkish lady who scrubbed me down - slightly embarrassing (in my defense I had gotten a sunburn so when she exfoliated me a lot of dead skin came off...)
• Dancing in the streets to live music with crazy Turkish men until the sun came up - Insanely fun!
• Being in a city that straddles two Continents - so cool
• The taste of fresh Baklava - Delicious
• The sound of the Turkish flute - awesome
• The taste of Elma Cay, Turkish Apple Tea - Yummy
• Having every man stare you down without any shame - Rude
• Sticking out like a sore thumb and being called Paris Hilton too many times to count - annoying - I am dying my hair next time!
• Having the chance to watch prayer taking place in a Mosque - pretty cool...I have a video, I'll try and download
• Eating Kebab for every meal - yummy
• Getting sick on the plane ride home - not fun

The Rundown

I know I've been a bad blogger, the last couple of weeks I've been A.) Really busy B.) Really lazy when not busy and C.) had more visitors! So still in the spirit of laziness, I'll just give you a quick rundown of the past two weeks.



In some particular order I have gone to HH@ Texas Embassy, eaten Thai food three times, welcomed my mom and aunt to London, had Afternoon Tea at the Dorchester, seen Phantom of the Opera, celebrated Mother's Day with my mom, been to Stonehenge, been to Bath, had bus breakdown in Bath, celebrated my 27th birthday with my mom, aunt, Kelly and Annie at Gaucho, gone to 4 body pump classes, been to Borough Market 3 times, had a curry on Brick Lane, eaten about 20 cupcakes, had the yummiest risotto at Ooze, had a giant brownie for lunch, worked 99.5 hours, said goodbye to my mom and aunt, finished Twilight for the 3rd time, gotten my mexican food "fix" at Crazy Homies, played a little beer pong, went to an amazing rooftop party in Coven Garden, saw Angels and Demons, ate a shawarma on Brick Lane, saw Romeo & Juliet at the Globe, and bought a new pair of Louboutin wedges only to struggle with whether or not I should return them....I'm exhausted just thinking about it all!

What are your thoughts...I have until the 26th to return them, or they are mine forever :) I can't make this decision by myself, help!

The Devil lives in Northern England

Seriously, I have walked the landscape of hell. So when Annie asked me a couple of weeks ago if I wanted to join her and some co-workers to go hiking in the Lakes District I had no idea what I was getting myself into! I thought I would be going for a nice leisurely hike around some lakes maybe some big "hills" too. Well turns out we were climbing Scafell Pike, the highest mountain in England. Awesome. You know, I did do the stairclimber in the gym about 4 times in the last two weeks, so surely I'd be fine. After the first 30 minutes, I literally wanted to die. I wanted to sit on a boulder and wait for them to come back for me. Unfortunately, Annie wasn't having any of that. If I expect to climb Kilimanjaro in January then I had to do this. Scafell Pike is only 1/6th the size of Kili, needless to say I have a LOT of training to do in preparation. Even though my stance right now is that I would be perfectly happy not ever climbing another mountain again. Although, that feeling gets slightly less as I regain use of my legs and my memory fails me a little more with each passing day. So I'm sure by January I'll be fully recovered and a lot more prepared! All of that said, the Lakes District is absolutely beautiful! It is dotted with tiny towns that have really cute B&B's and restaurants, it is very quaint and just what I thought the English Countryside would be! Here are some pics so you can see my agony....

Patrick, Irene, Me and Annie about to start our Hike...my last smile for a while...about 7 hours to be exact!

I thought that was it, I was wrong...it was much higher than that little hill!


Pretty scenery

my favorite part of the hike, the flat part...

the view on our way up

the start of "the boulder field from hell"

we had to go down just to go back up, I was not excited about that at all! that narrow little patch of boulders is what I was about to go across

looking back at what I had just crossed...

about to make the final ascent to the peak, it was a forced smile. those are some pretty big rocks ahead that I have to get myself up. (about the LEAST flattering picture of myself!)

The peak...almost there

view from the top!

On my way back down...concentrating on some tricky terrain. A person as clutzy as me should be allowed to do these kinds of things!

Only in London...

could two grown men sit outside on a sunny day and share a bottle of rose.

I'm off to Northern England to the Lakes District for some hiking this weekend, should be interesting :)

Warning: Photo Overload!

A couple of weeks ago my two very best friends came to London to visit me! We had the best time and spent most of the trip being very lazy and relaxing. We didn't want to have to take a vacation from our vacation, so we took it easy! We also flew to Portugal on Easter for a few nights to hit up the beach, however, the beach had other plans...namely clouds, rain and wind! We did too much, so I will recap in pictures...lots of them!

As soon as they landed I dragged them out into the yucky london weather

We went to my favorite place, Borough Market, I love the Baklava table!

Melissa was very sleepy from not sleeping on her flight

Getting ready to go out to the Home House for some drinks!

(Mom, this is the front of my flat...I know you've been wanting a pic!)

Drinks at Home House

We had quite the fun cab ride home:)

The chalk board outside of a pub in my neighborhood the next morning.

Easter brunch at The White Horse

Courtney and Melissa's friend Emily from high school was in London with her husband, so they met us for Easter brunch.
PORTUGAL!!!

It was very cold, but we were very determined!

We eventually gave up and gave into the Sangria!

We headed down to the beach for sunset, it was gorgeous!

The beach was awesome, there were cliffs surrounding it, our hotel was at the far end of the beach on top of one of the cliffs.

frolicking!

The town of Albufeira

The next day we had some real sun! it was still a little chilly in the AM.

beautiful beaches!

We got all dolled up and treated ourselves to a nice dinner our last night

followed by some drinks, there was a great American coverband playing

me and sue

sad to be leaving portugal

Melissa's birthday surprise!! It was a whole musical based around Queen songs...great music, interesting story line....

we did a little sight seeing...

this has to be my favorite pic from the whole trip! that pic of Prince William must be old, he hasn't had that much hair in several years!

drinks at Lounge Lover in Shoreditch with Annie. Loved this bar, they had such fun martini's!

more sightseeing the last day...

ending with the classic london tourist photo! I had a great time girls, thanks so much for coming to visit me!! It was so great to get some Q.T. with ya'll!