31.12.07
A Year in Reflection
Instead of a long list of resolutions this time round, my one goal this new year is to have more compassion. Compassion towards myself, compassion towards James, compassion towards others and compassion towards my environment/world. I really think this one thing will make so many other things that are insignificant in comparison fall in place. Can you imagine what the world would be like if everyone changed their perspective/focus to things like compassion & gratitude? It makes you think and personally I can't wait to see the potential for change it will bring to my own life.
So watch this space and hopefully this next time next year I will have a much different report to give! In the mean time, Happy New Year to all of you as well and I hope that the new year will bring blessings to you and your family.
28.12.07
Christmas in the Country
17.12.07
Drinking in England
Binge drinking is officially a problem in England. Many government initiatives have been started, with little positive results to squash and regulate this. I'm not surprised though because pub life is a huge part of the culture. When you think of pub's you think of seedy little bars with flashing neon lights, the smell of smoke and weird creepy men eyeing you up. Well, its not like that (for the most part) here. Pub's are a place you take the family for Sunday lunches out and is where friends and work colleagues meet. The government banned smoking inside pubs and most are old Victorian style, with beautiful interiors. The entire social networking is centered around visits to pubs and even if you don't drink alcohol, you still go to the pub and have a huge choice of alternate beverages open to you. In a way, pubs are very similar to cafe's, but a lot more 'homey'. So, based on all of this you can see why its so incredibly difficult to not grace through the doors of a pub in this country. If you don't you can pretty much kiss any chance of friends goodbye.
Being fond of 'the drink', the English have learned the art of making alcohol. Besides tea (that's a completely different subject) the amount of beer that this little island makes is astonishing. Alcohol in Europe has more alcohol content than the U.S. and your lucky to find anything for beer below 5%. (Beer in America is around 1 1/2-2%) and wine is ludicrous at 12.5%. The term 'alco-pops' is a big thing as well. There's a huge choice of sugar-laden alcohol related drinks that you literally cannot tell they are alcoholic as they taste of soda-pop. Its unfortunately become a problem for young teens obtaining these 'alco-pops' before the legal age requirement of being 18 years old. Its very common seeing teens standing around drinking because they have little else to do with their time.
The country caters to this 'abuse' and then is surprised when they have more problems with anti-social behaviors and other problems. Too many use alcohol as a coping mechanism, which only covers the real source of the problem in my opinion. I don't think a downright ban is necessary but more education should exist about the effects as well as alternate coping skills in dealing with stress. Alcohol should be approached with a very very mature attitude or completely avoided if not possible to drink in moderation. This has been my approach to it since I've lived here and James tries to do the same. On a positive note though, a lot of people it seems are starting to become more health conscious and binge drinking is getting better. I don't think that this problem will ever go away entirely but I think that there is hope for the future.
15.12.07
Training: Ten Mile Marker
In the mean time, I would like to mention that my partner James and I are required to raise sponsorship money for charity in order to run the London Marathon. Although there is plenty of time to think about this (its not until April), we would both be grateful for any assistance in reaching our goal. Please see the button in my side-bar for 'JustGiving' for more information should the mood take you!
The First Emperor: China's Terracotta Army
Although I hope to go to China one day and see these again in the country of orgin, I doubt I would ever be able to get up as close as I did today. If you can't tell by this post it was an amazing experience to see them and one that I will honestly never forget the rest of my life.
10.12.07
Christmas across London
I live about 10 minutes away from this market and although this picture doesn't do it justice, the decorations are beautiful this year. Greenwich Market is fabulous for buying artisan goods of everything you can imagine- particularly beautiful hand made bags. The stall directly to the right is selling mulled wine and apple cider, traditional English drinks for the holiday season.
21.11.07
Training, Day 22: Six miles or Bust!
Well we're nearly 3 weeks into running again after Morocco and it feels like a lifetime. The weather has been cold and dark. Can I emphasize the word dark? Because it gets dark so early now 95% of our running is after the sun has gone down. Our run on Monday was in the pouring rain and whilst I was completely soaked running in the mud and freezing, I kept asking myself now why am I doing this? If it wasn't for James' relentless positive outlook and motivation I honestly think I'd still be curled up in bed on a Saturday morning.
We're up to 6 miles per run, about 3-4 times a week (the other days per week we do yoga or weight training). Last week we did about 15 miles. As we get closer and closer to the time we'll be doing about 40-50 miles a week to train--about 15-20+ miles per run. From what I understand from James and his dad (who've both done marathons) this torture to my body is necessary so that the 26.2 miles won't be such a shock to my system.
At the moment, getting over this six mile mark is a huge psychological barrier for me. I've never run more than 6 miles at a time in my life. The longest race I've done is a 10k and I can feel my body being pushed in ways that its frankly just not used to both mentally and physically. I think mentally this race will be very hard because when you hit that wall of sheer physical exhaustion its the mental that has to carry you through to the finish. I know that it will be a huge barrier to get over especially with my history of self-doubt. I'm up for the challenge though and have wanted to do a marathon for so long. I was always the fat kid growing up and I want to do it to get over this stereotype and finally loose that last little bit of weight. With the amount of running I'll be doing and the calories it burns I'm sure I'll finally do it!
So---Watch this space and hopefully by my next 'training' entry I'll be over the six mile hump!
25.9.07
Best of London
Best............
place to eat out on a budget- Carluccio's in Canary Wharf
place to buy groceries- Waitrose
park- Greenwich
au natural smoothies- Crussh
museum to get lost in- Victoria & Albert
overall shopping experience- Selfridges
shopping for everything
including the kitchen sink- John Lewis
Clothes shop- Zara
art- National Gallery
food market- Borough Market-London bridge
crafts/outdoor market- Greenwich
place to watch movies- The Empire in Leicester Square
place to make fun of tourists- The tube (subway)
View of the city- Royal Observatory, Greenwich
Ice-cream- Movenpick/Green & Blacks
Cultural Experience- A play on the West End
place to hear a concert- Royal Albert Hall
Touristy Spot- Covent Garden
Place for a cup of tea- Organic Cafe, Greenwich
Thing to do on a Sunday morning- Walk through Blackheath Common to Greenwich Park
place for peace and quiet- Greenwich Park on a weekday morning
16.9.07
Two weeks & Running
The races these last two weeks were the same distance but two completely different worlds. The first one was the London Peace Run through Greenwich Park. About 100 people participated, 80 of them professional runners. Mentally I found this one horrible because half the people darted way ahead at the start, the heat was draining and the difficulty of the hills were unexpected. My time was crap but James did it with me and that made it a lot more worthwhile. Here are some pics of James and I at the end of the race:
6.8.07
Proms, Palaces and Picnics
Friday we went to:
Every year during the summer London has a 3 month classical music festival where every single day there is a different orchestra performing. Some of the best orchestras in the world play and the last night of the Proms is a national show of patriotism where flags fly for the national anthem and other English songs. Since moving here I've been every year and this year was no exception. We heard the BBC Symphony Orchestra--they played Russian music Stravinsky and Rachmaninov. I particularly liked the Rachmaninov piece---very beautiful smooth melodies. Anyway--we're going next week as well to the Proms so looking forward to it.
Saturday we went to:
Hampton Court Palace
Hampton Court Palace is just in the outskirts of London next to the Thames river. It was the home of Henry VIII (the guy with the many wives). It was absolutely huge and magnificent and reminded me of the palace of Versailles in Paris because of the sheer size of the Palace and gardens. They have activities throughout the Palace such as minstrels, guided costumed tours, etc. They also have a working tudor kitchen which is the oldest 'working' tudor kitchen still in existence. The chefs were making marzipan and bread and it was great fun watching them and the smells were divine. The palace has a deer park (the deer are original descendants of the flock belonging to Henry VIII), the largest and oldest grape vine in existence (planted in the 1700's and still living, produces a grape crop of 600-700 lb a year) and one of the biggest outdoor mazes in the world. In just under 4 hours we managed to see everything except the deer park. It was wonderful and a really great day out. Here are some pictures from the day (there are more on my flickr page):
23.7.07
Totally Sick of Harry!!
Living in the birthplace of Harry Potter its impossible to not know when a new Harry Potter book is coming out. Its plastered all over the news, all of the bookstores have midnight openings, every shopping centre seems to have 'wizard weekends', you get random people in the grocery store dressed up as Potter characters and even the pubs have 1/2 price pints for potter fans. It seems to go away after a while until the new movie comes out or the next book installment.
I figured it would be the same this time for the last book. Boy was I wrong though---It has totally completely gotten out of hand. You would think the Beatles landed or something. Most bookstores are completely out of stock already due to the (I kid you not)--2 to 3 mile long lines to get your greasy little hand on one. People apparently came from all over the world to stand in one of the lines here in the birthplace of Harry!! Why spend your only vacation time standing in line to get a book? Was a trip to the Taj Mahal too much money?
Saturday we did a bit o' shopping at Canary Wharf and I saw about 5 complete brownie troups getting their faces painted and then standing in line to ride the huge broom ride. Are they even old enough to read the darn thing? Of course the usual dressed up people and by the end of the day I thought I was going to barf if I saw another little kid dressed up like Harry or Hermione. That and the thought of how much money is being made off a little book.
If you can't tell I'm sick of the hype around Harry Potter. Seriously I think its great that it gets kids and adults reading and excited about it. However, I doubt that most of the hype is due to the fact that these books will win the pulitzer or some other award for their amazing good writing. I think its because everyone is doing it because its the 'cool' thing to do at the moment. I've never read any of the books and actually walked out of the first movie cause I thought it was rubbish and have never turned back since. Call me strange but I'd rather read a book or go to a movie cause I want to not because everyone else is doing it. I am sure its great mindless fun but at the moment I just would rather do other more worthwhile things. Maybe when I'm retired I'll buy my first copy of a Harry Potter book, I just don't know. In the mean time I'm really sick of this whole thing and can't wait until this whole thing passes.
8.7.07
The Tour de France in a Minute or Less
27.6.07
Rain, Wimbledon & Strawberries with Cream.
I love the weather in England. The weatherman is never right and usually its the exact opposite of everything predicted. As you go through your existence here never "quite" knowing what to expect, you dress in layers and plan for every minor calamity--whether it be rain, snow or mini tornado. We Londoners are resilient this way though and you can rest assured that whenever a spot of rain hits "brollies" of every shape, size and fashion will be popping up everywhere.
Why the sudden fascination with the weather? Well its been raining a lot you could say at the moment here to the point most of the countryside seems to be flooding. Funny enough last summer there was a drought. If only mother nature could figure out a happy medium so that there would be plenty of water but still enough sun to work in the occassional BBQ. Maybe she didn't get the memo eh? Anyway, whilst I'll never seem to understand the British weather it sure gives me an excuse to catch up on watching movies under nice warm duvets. I've managed to fulfill my duty in this area nicely recently, favorite recents: Last King of Scotland and The Queen.
On another note I do have to say the rain this time of year also means its time for Wimbledon which started a few days ago and goes for two weeks. Have been a couple times now but don't know if I'm up for the journey all the way out to SW19 (SouthWest London) this year or in the mood for strawberries and cream*. We shall just have to wait and see how the weather holds up. Unfortunately, this year I may only make it as far as watching it on t.v. with my duvet!
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* Its a tradition at Wimbledon going back like a LONG TIME to have strawberries and cream whilst watching the tennis. English strawberries are very much in season at the moment and its just another excuse for people to be posh at a 'social event' like Wimbledon. They charge a fortune for them at about £3.50/$7 a pop but it really is the thing to do when you go.
5.5.07
Knick Knacks and Dinosaurs
The building the Natural History Museum is in is incredibly beautiful. It is very Victorian, has stained glass windows, lots of carved animals on the outside and grand wooden floors. The inside was even better. We went to see the Dinosaurs and the ecosystem section. Particularly for the Dinosaurs it was great to see all the little kids so darn excited seeing everything and even some making growling noises. The best part of the entire section was a life-size robotic T-rex and it seemed a bit too real if you know what I mean!
Notting Hill--very posh part of town and incredibly cute. Portobello Market is actually featured in the movie Notting Hill and you can definitely see why as its one of the best markets in the world! It was so much fun to look at all the incredible antiques, the quaint boutiques and smell the outdoor food being cooked for the masses. Things like this is why I love London and don't know how I ever could leave!
(The Natural History Museum)
(Notting Hill)
6.4.07
Happy Easter
I do miss the jellybeans and the countless Easter egg hunts in America but celebrating it here is wonderful as well. This time of year is always a sign that the tourists will be soon popping out of every corner and that the warm summer months are nearly here. However this said, I feel truly blessed to see spring and that only a few minutes away I can see ducks, and other birds and smell all of the pollen from the blooming flowers!
Hope you all have a blissful, relaxing Easter weekend.
24.2.07
Me from A to Z
Available or single: Neither, engaged--no date yet unfortunately
Best friend: James
Cake or pie: Chocolate cake (fresh, not from a box)
Drink of choice: Pomegrante Juice (Not from concentrate), Alchoholic--I'm a red wine girl (healthier)
Essential items used daily: Body shop lip gloss and lotion
Favorite color: Dark Blue
Gummy bears or worms: Neither, don't eat sweets anymore
Hometown: Lacey USA
Indulgence: Chocolate fondant from Carluccio's, Green & Black's Vanilla & Caramel organic icecream.
January or February: neither, prefer warmer and less 'rainy' months like May.
Kids and names: None--like the name Rachel or Emily though.
Life is incomplete without: Travelling, friends and family and yoga
Marriage date: When our job situation is fixed
Number of siblings: 1) Spencer 2) Scott 3) Miranda
Oranges or apples: Apples--less messy
Phobias or fears: 1) failure 2) heights
Quote (favorite): I have many but one I like in particular that I've actually had put in my blog heading is "Anyone who lives within their means suffers a serious lack of imagination" Oscar Wilde. I really think this says that you should always be willing to take risks and challenge yourself and improve in life. Its something that I'm always trying to do better on taking risks.
Reason to smile: Going to Paris again this May via the Eurostar (woo hoo!)
Season: Springtime
Tag 3 people: Jenny, James and Thomasina (Sorry I'm cheating and sending this via e-mail for two people)
Unkown fact about me: Unfortunately I don't know how to ride a bike or swim (hope to learn before I turn 35)
Vegetables you don't like: Love my veggies, particular favorite is steamed broccoli
X-rays: Last year (2 very expensive and painful root canals in one year, not a pleasant memory!)
Your favorite food: Too many to choose from--love mashed potatoes, anything warm and chocolate (DARK-70% or above and organic)!
Zodiac sign: Saggitarius
14.2.07
Free London
So, I in my 'time of recent unemployment' (long story dont ask) today decided to venture out into the city to take advantage of the National Gallery, one of the FREE museums. The National Gallery is the main art gallery in London and one of the most famous in the world. You can see Canaletto, Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt and all the greats. It was so wonderful to be able to walk through and see wonderful 'artsy' things without worrying about cost or budgets or anything of this sort. Its amazing how human this can make you feel again especially if you've struggled a lot like I have recently with the job front. So, I say thank you to whomever or whatever made this decision--probably some fellow geek stuck in an office somewhere in the city. But anyway-- I thank you and my pocket book thanks you too.
4.2.07
The Best Place to Live
Pictures of Blackheath: Top--the Ranger's House (art gallery), Bottom--Blackheath Church next to the Village.
Greenwich Park--Love this tree very bushy. In the summer bands will play in the gazebo as well.
Royal Observatory (Greenwich Park)--this is where the line is for O degrees longitude and where the phrase "Greenwich mean Time" began. All time in the world (time differences/etc) is based off of Greenwich mean Time apparently.
Views of London from the Observatory: You can see nearly everything in London from up here--the eye, London Bridge, the Gherkin, Canary Wharf and the Dome. The picture in the middle with the white houses is the Royal Naval College with the Queen's House, the River behind is the Thames and the big buildings in the distance is Canary Wharf (the business district). The white building with spiky orange things coming out of it in the bottom picture is the Millenium Dome (I think they filmed some scenes for one of the James Bond movies here)
1.1.07
Resolutions in the New Year
1) Having a job for nearly a full year and James having a job for the entire year.
2) Thailand & Paris--in particular bamboo rafting in the middle of the jungle, sharing a moment w/the Hill Tribe people even though they didn't understand a word of English, sitting in a Cafe this last May on the Left Bank in Paris eating a grilled salmon & cheese sandwich w/James.
3) Going down three dress sizes.
4) Discovering Yoga
5) My theatre, concert & art trips this year.
6) James finally figuring out what was wrong w/his health.
7) Strengthening my relationship w/my brother and sister.
8) Re-Discovering Books and old movies
9) Sunday Walks w/James up through Blackheath Common down to Greenwich Park
10) "Kitty"-the neighborhood stray cat
Thinking towards the future here are some of my goals for the new year (in no significant order):
1) Finally get to where I am considered to have a "healthy" weight.
2) Fix my career and/or lack of
3) Laugh lots and lots and lots more
4) Travel--go back to some of the places that didn't quite finish like Rome, Amsterdam, Nice and tuscany.
5) Work on Relationships---make more of an effort to make friends & keep them, cherish James lots more, work on relationships w/my family.
6) Help others more--volunteer, maybe do a long haul trip to Africa, help my community, smile at strangers.
7) Learn to Forgive
8) Figure out me (patience, sense of spirtuality, etc)
9) See number three
10) Not wasting energy or time on stupid things or things that don't matter.