London 2008

2012-01-02T10:06:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

Dave and I spent Christmas with his family this year and then escaped for a few days together in Bruges. Bruges is incredibly pretty. It started out as a trading centre in the 1400's, but quickly the economy went down the drain and everyone fled. Somehow it survived countless wars and retained its pristine medieval charm, drawing millions of tourists each year. Most certainly one of the few unspoiled cities in Europe - it is listed as a Unesco world heritage site and should not be missed.

We arrived on Wednesday morning and after settling into our hotel, we headed straight to a Belgian Beer Brewery for a tour of Bruges' only active brewery, De Halve Maan (Half moon in Flemish). We enjoyed a pint afterwards and met two older Belgian men who gave us a few pointers for our stay. So friendly! We spent the rest of the afternoon meandering and enjoying the city.

Thursday was a little gloomy and rainy, so we ducked into the folk museum to learn more about traditional Belgian life. I heard rave reviews about the place, but unfortunately (probably due to it being the holidays) there wasn't anyone giving demonstrations in the candy shop, bakery or pub :(

Afterwards the clouds cleared just in time for our scheduled 2 hour guided walking tour of city (compliments of the hotel!) It was my favourite part of the trip because we were able to explore many nooks and crannys I never would have found on the traditional beaten path.

Dinner on Thursday night was... Interesting. We were really keen to have vegetables (what is it with Europe and their lack of readily available colourful veg?) and we also wanted a traditional Flemish meal (and not just moules / chocolate / beer) so we headed to Vlaamsche Pot. Both meals, although tasty, were saturated in oil and cream and served over a bed of fries. Mmm. Instant regret.

Our last day was the sunniest so we headed straight for the canal tour. The view from the canal boat gave us a lovely perspective of the city... a definite highlight. We had a lovely meal at De Buhne before making our way back... stopping on the way for chocolates of course!

Below are some pics.. enjoy!

Bruges, December 2011

Vienna

2011-12-18T02:36:00.000-08:00

Happy Christmas! Sandy, Jodi and I just returned from a weekend in gorgeous Vienna... land of music, beautiful architechture, and of course... sausages.

We arrived on Friday evening and promptly dropped off our things at our hotel. The lady at the front desk recommended we head over to the Christmas market at Rathausplatz. We squealed in delight at the idea that we'd be able to squeeze in a Christmas market on the first night. We could almost taste the Gluwein as we walked closer and closer to the market but... the crowds were all heading in the opposite direction?! Like the Griswolds at Wally World we lowered our heads when we saw the last weiner stall all boarded up. Our first market would have to wait until tomorrow. Thankfully we stumbled upon a cute restaurant filled with twinkly Christmas lights and all was well again.

Saturday we headed to the city centre to explore a bit of Vienna. Our first stop was St Stephen's Cathedral where Mozart was married, had his two children baptised and also had his funeral service. It was quite beautiful but didn't get to see as much of it as I would have liked given that they were closing for Mass. Afterwards we meandered around the city /Jewish quarter a bit, and lunched at The Palmenhaus and headed over to Hofburg Palace.

The Imperial Apartments in Hofburg Palace were the winter home of Franz Joseph and his very troubled wife, Empress Elizabeth (Sisi). Sisi's story was an interesting one: she refused traditional court life, suffered from depression, built a gymnasium in her bedroom to keep fit, and ate only eggs, milk and beef juice in order to maintain a 16 inch waist! Obviously she didn't eat vegetables because as our resident vegetarian Jodie found out all too quickly, vegetables are sort of difficult to comeby in a traditional Viennese meal!

After The Palace we walked back to Rathausplatz Market - this time very much buzzing with Christmas cheer. Over the next few hours we proceeded to consume every edible thing possible.. Pretzels, gluwein, bratwurst, apple cider, potatoes, punch, doughnuts, and jagatee -literally a tea made from Jagermeister, and yes, it's as gross as you might imagine!

If that wasn't enough Christmas festivity for one night, we then headed over to Spittleburg Market (according to our cab driver, it was pronounced Shpeeetelburrrg). Positioned around windy cobblestone streets, Spittleburg was actually our favorite of the markets. It felt very authentic and less touristy - a great way to end the day.

Sunday we woke up and took the train to Schonbrunn Palace, the Summer home of Franz Joseph and Sisi because A) We can never get enough of royal families and B) It too had a Christmas market! We couldn't have been happier. Afterwards we headed back to the city centre to soak in the last of Vienna. We enjoyed the Christmas lights and had tea and tortes before making our way back home.

Jodi, Sandi and I made our way to the airport a little heavier - bags filled with pressies and bellies filled with potatoes and sausage! Success!

Here are a few photos:

Vienna

Bloggity Blogging All Over the World...

2011-11-19T09:24:00.001-08:00

My lifelong friend Christy invited me to post as a guest on her blog, http://www.andtophertoo.blogspot.com/. She and her husband Oliver are amazing - they are both loads of fun and incredibly talented (Oliver finishes up his doctorate degree in the Spring and Christy (Cullen) is an artist whose work can be found on her Etsy page). Their witty and enlightening blog focuses on how to live a heart healthy lifestyle, whilst not going overboard - as Christy says, "everything in moderation, including moderation" :) I hope you'll like reading it as much as I do.

Below is a picture of Christy and I dressed up as Cabbage Patch Kids (note our matching nightgowns) - Halloween 1985! x

Marrakesh

2011-10-15T04:41:00.000-07:00

Hi All - Dave and I recently returned from visiting some friends in Morrocco - We arrived bright and early Monday morning at 9am so were able to enjoy a full day in Marrakech. Our friend Jodie picked us up from the airport. She and her husband Rachid are spending some time in Morrocco to do some renovations on their property there, so it was nice to spend time with them and their weensie baby Zacharia too!

Our first stop was at a gorgeous riad, Maison Arabe for a hammam. Although I can look back and say I enjoyed it, there was definitely an element of pain involved as the lady literally peeled off layers of dead skin with her razor sharp loofah! This was worth it of course because it offered the promise of a perfect tan, yesss! The spa itself though was stunning and I felt very pampered :)

After the hammam we stayed at Maison Arabe and enjoyed the pool and sunshine for the afternoon. We got home and got ready for our first night out in Marrakech - Dave took me to Palais Solomon for dinner, which was a gorgeous old riad where dignitaries used to live. We sat in the open air and were entertained by traditional Morroccan musicians spinning their fez's! Such delight!

Tuesday we layed by the pool at Dave's apartment and then headed to The Medina, Marrakesh's walled old city. We went to check out The Souk, (market) and spent the afternoon winding in and out of the old streets and market stalls. We watched the sunset from a lovely cafe called Cafe Arabe (yes, same name - Morrocans also all name their children Rachid, Abdul, and Mohammed or a combination thereof, and I wouldn't be surprised if they named all kids one of the three!)

After sunset we had dinner in one of the traditional food stalls. Not unlike a travelling circus, every night the stall owners set up little restaurants in the market with full service kitchens and tables to dine, only to take it all down and start over the next evening! Wow!

Wednesday we set off for a night in the Atlas mountains. It was very picturesque where we stayed. A lovely couple took care of us in a friends' empty b&b that we had all to ourselves - delicious food, wonderful scenery, wholely relaxing! We also had a driver take us to the high atlas mountains, probably a highlight of the whole trip!

Thursday we took a bus to Essaouira, a lovely beach town. Essaouira was like a mini-marrakesh, also with a Medina but much more laid back. We spent most of the time sunning, eating good seafood, and relaxing in the riad where we stayed.

Friday we stayed in Essaouira to get the last bit of sun in before heading back to Marrakesh. Jodie, Rachid, and Dave and I went to some really neat bars in the evening. Bo Zin was a favourite with its beautiful garden and fancy drinks. We also headed to a traditional Morrocan club - a full band playing Arabic music and a live singer created quite the atmosphere!

Saturday was our last full day so we relaxed again at Maison Arab and shopped a bit for some souvenirs in The Souk. Our final meal was shared with Rachid's family who kindly made a traditional couscous for us, followed by homemade biscuits and mint tea :). It was an experience I'll always cherish and I'm very thankful that Rachid's family opened their home to me.

Morrocco was amazing - I'm so lucky I was able to experience the best of both worlds here, glamorous Marrakesh and traditional Morrocan life. :)

Marrakesh Pics

2011-10-15T04:40:00.001-07:00

Adventures in Norway

2011-09-03T13:37:00.000-07:00

This past weekend my trusty travel partner Sandy and I went to Oslo. We towed along Caroline, a lovely friend of Sandy's as well. Determined to find some cute Vikings, we arrived late on Friday and salvaged just enough beauty sleep before our hunt ;)

Saturday we set off and walked around the city centre a bit to get our bearings. We meandered down Karl Johanes gate to The Royal Palace. The rain started to pick up so we ducked into a cafe for our first Norwegian meal. I hate Fiskesuppe which was a delightful fiskesuppe filled with shrimp and salmon and mussels and served in a gorgeous creamy broth. Cream showed itself to be the key ingredient of Norwegian fare, so obviously I liked the food in Norway very much :)

The afternoon was spent at Alkershus Castle and Fortress where we learned all about the Norwegian Kings through the ages. That evening we had another traditional meal at Olympus which was recommended by a friend and v good. Despite the touring and many cute men at Olympus, sad to report, 0 Viking sightings on Saturday.

The rain stayed at bay on Sunday so we headed straight for the Fjord tour. It was nice to get onto a boat and see a bit of the surrounding islands in the Oslo Fjord. We then had another lovely Norwegian meal (Sandy bravely tried the reindeer which I was quite jealous of after having a bite - yummy!) and headed to Vigelands Sculpture Park.

Vigelands... what a unique and beautiful place! It was nothing like I've ever seen - The main walkway in the park was surrounded by sculputures of people - mothers, babies, strong vikingish-looking men. Some poses were sad, others heartwarming and some were just downright silly! We spent a good amount of time there checking out the sculptures and walking to the top of the park to take in the view. After Vigelands we took the tram to Grunerlokken.

Grunerlokken has loads of cute shops, cafes and bars, and seemed like the kind of place I'd want to live. We explored a few of the shops, stopped for a drink and also walked to a neighboring street in the town with a block of wooden homes, quintessentially Nordic. A very hidden treat! We were pretty pooped after an epic day of walking so took it easy and enjoyed a leisurely dinner before heading back to the hotel for a nice long sleep........ Viking sightings, 0 for 2. Cute Norwegian men, too many to count.

Sunday we managed to squeeze in a trip to the Viking museum and the Folk Museum. (We didn't fool ourselves, people... We know Vikings wouldn't be interested in hanging out at the Viking museum). I have loads of pictures of both, have a look below:

Overall Oslo is lovely. The rain put a slight damper on it (pun intended) but we were reassured by the hotel receptionist that we were actually quite lucky as snow flurries are common in August!

Tak (that's Norwegian for thank you) :)

Oslo, Norway

The English Countryside

2011-08-25T12:11:00.000-07:00

Dave and I recently attended a wedding in North Essex on a Friday, so we decided to take the weekend to explore a bit of the surrounding countryside. We read about an old medieval market town close to our B&B called Levenham (staking claim as one of England's prettiest villages) so we drove over to check it out. At first glance it looked like your typical (lovely enough) English market town. I stepped out of the car and claimed in disdain, "they've over sold this place...." We wandered down the street, winding our way to the town centre, each step taking us further and further back in time. I sheepishly regretted my strong sentiments only 5 minutes earlier. And Dave found it very funny...

We had lunch and headed over to the town's church, which so happened to open the bell tower that day and offered a great view of the surrounding countryside. We also sat through a semi-entertaining presentation the inner-workings of the bells. Actually I found it quite sweet that some of the bell tollers had been doing it for decades and wondered who in this day and age would keep such a task going... Dave secretly wanted to have a go so maybe if we ever move the countryside he can take it up as his new pastime.

Sunday we headed back to London but stopped on our way for a pub lunch. I'll try to attach some pics of our adventures... coming soon!

Barcelona!

2011-03-20T02:46:00.000-07:00

For Dave's 30th, I planned a weekend away in Barcelona, somwhere I've wanted to visit since I moved here so was excited to tick it off the list.

The weekend was amazing - we arrived Friday morning and after settling into the hotel we ventured down La Rambla and into the Bari Gotic for a long and lazy lunch. It was a beautiful day so we enjoyed getting lost in the ancient streets, popping in and out of sights at our leisure. We followed a walking tour in our guidebook of Roman Ruins - I was particularly impressed with an old Roman temple (Templo de Augusto) which stood at the exact place Barcelona was founded called Mons Taber, supposedly on the site of an old pagan temple atop of a hill. They have actually built housing around the temple, which was a stark example of 21st century life plowing forward. We also visited the Cathedral which was also built into the existing Roman walls. Amazing.

Saturday was quite rainy all day but as Londoners we'd like to think that wouldn't stop us! Dave checked out the Barcelona Football Club which apparently is very iconic - I happily sat that out! And then we had another long lazy lunch at Menjador which I highly recommend if you're ever in Barcelona. Definitley our best meal there! We had some down time after that and a little siesta before heading out for the evening for drinks and dinner.

Sunday was absolutley gogeous weather - no need for a coat either! We woke up early and set off to see the last of the Gaudi sites we hadn't seen and took a walk over to Sagrada Familla. What an amazing place! The Cathedral, designed by Gaudi, is still under construction (has been since the late 1800's) and builders say it wont be completed until 2026! I thought it was really interesting how incredibly modern and current it felt despite its plans having been set in the 19th century. Simply stunning.

After that we walked up to Park Gruell and took in some lovely views of Barcelona before heading down to the beach for - wait for it - another lovely long and lazy lunch of Paella! YUMMM.

Sadly had to make our way back to the Airport on Sunday evening but, overall a really great weekend - Barcelona definitely tops my list! Album below :)

Barcelona

Christmas and The Cotswolds

2011-01-01T09:19:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! Hope everyone has had a lovely a Christmas :) Mine has been quite eventful with my parents in town. I hosted my very first Christmas in London, celebrated Boxing Day with The Peters, and drove through The Cotswolds stopping at Stratford Upon Avon, Bath and Lacock. What a week!

My parents arrived the morning of Christmas Eve and we relaxed over a "get to know you" lunch at our favourite pub, Freemason's Arms. Naturally Dave won them over with his British charm (no surprise there) and my parents could finally breathe a sigh of relief ;) Knowing my parents were probably tired from their long flight, we kept the day low key. Mom and I prepared a traditional Lithuanian Christmas Eve dinner and then exchanged a few gifts courtesy of my sister's white elephant exchange.

Christmas morning we opened more gifts - Dave handled most of the cooking.. he made his very first roast Turkey which was brilliant, even despite the oven door falling off mid-way through!

Boxing day we headed to Bourne to visit The Peters. Dave's parents, Derek and Gloria kindly invited my parents to their home and cooked up yet another fantastic meal. It was really lovely having our parents meet and I hope they enjoyed the evening as much as Dave and I did.

Mom, Dad, Dave and I set off again on Monday for Stratford-Upon-Avon for a night at Willow Corner and a day visiting Shakespeare's birthplace. I really loved our thached roof b&b (see pics) and enjoyed learning about Shakespeare's daily life back in the late 1500's.

Tuesday we drove to Bath which is an amazing place if you've never seen it. The whole city is a Unesco World Heritage site - and the Roman Baths are absolutely mind blowing. I had been before but was still completely awe-struck by it all. Bless the Romans.. they basically brought civilization to Britain as the locals were all basically barbarians before the Romans came along. I mean, to think the Romans had devised a system to heat the floors at the baths is really unbelievable for it's time. Brits have a lot to thank them for!

On our way home from Bath, it was suggested we stop through a tiny village called Lacock, most famous for being the set of various films including Harry Potter. I have been to a few villages in The Cotswolds but this one was ooozing with English Charm. I honestly felt like I was walking through a storybook. Simply delightful!

I've uploaded pics below so have a look.... parents are in Istanbul now but I'm looking forward to having them back for a few days next week :)

Cotswolds

Euston Hall, Suffolk

2010-12-06T03:41:00.000-08:00

Hi again! Dave and I just returned home from a wintery wonderland of UK countryside... I was absolutely devastated when I realised I left my camera behind, so I've just found one from the internet. Will have to do I suppose!

Dave's friend Katie invited us to her family home in Suffolk for the weekend with a few other friends from the Acupuncture college. The weekend was generally relaxed, but the highlight was certainly visiting Katie's grandparents, the Duke and Duchess of Grafton at their beautiful home - Euston Hall.

In the 1600's, King Charles II had an affair and an illegitimate son who then became entitled upon birth (as you do) and given huuuuuuge plots of land. Fast forward 11 generations to the current Duke and Duchess who still live in the gorgeous home bestowed upon him.

Opened during the summer months for public view, the home houses great works of art from Van Dyke amongst others. Other famous family members include General FitzRoy who sailed with Darwin around the world and was a nephew to Lord Nelson. Therefore, the house also holds an old barometer that was invented by Darwin and Lord Nelson's telescope... pretty amazing!

My favourite part of the weekend was meeting Fortune FitzRoy, The Duchess of Grafton - Queen Elizabeth II's Mistress of the Robes, who is her most important Lady in Waiting. Fortune is 90 years old and absolutely charming. She still attends state visits and hosts dignitaries which keeps her v sharp! Katie says after 43 years of service, she still keeps every one of the Queen's secrets... not a peep from the Duchess! I wonder if she's got a diary somewhere :)

Lake Como

2010-11-22T03:36:00.001-08:00

Just got back from a cheese filled weekend in Lake Como, Italy! The Italian lake district had not been on the top of my list of places to visit, but Sandy suggested it and I'm so happy she did... what an amazing place - certainly a must-see when in Northern Italy.

The girls - this time Sandy, Amy and Jo - and I all met up for our flight to Milan on Friday afternoon. We quickly realised our collective knowledge of Italian included "pizza, linguini, chianti, prosecco and grazi" so we knew we'd be ok.

We landed and hired a car to drive up to Lake Como. Having bought a few groceries to sustain us in our self catered cottage, we arrived and tucked into a spread of proscuitto and cheese and shared a bottle of vino(or three). We got a bit caught up in the fun of it all, and suddenly it was 9:30 and we had run out of food and wine. Our sleepy town didn't have much of a nightlife, so we took a walk down the street towards what we thought was a small family run restaurant / hotel. Jo bravely knocked on the door and it quickly became apparent that dinner had not been served there since the holiday-goers left in late August. Seniore at the door was really kind though and generally tolerated us as Jo mimed the words "restaurante? vino? chianti? San Giovese?" hoping for directions to the closest bar. Sadly the nearest place was only in driving distance so that was out of the question after our libations. Beddie byes for us.

Saturday we woke up and headed over to Bellagio. The town was absolutely charming and we happily spent the day there shopping and meandering. The weather was a bit rainy but that only allowed us to feel less guilty lingering over wine, cheese and prosciutto!

Saturday evening Amy prepared us a delicious dinner - it was a relaxing and very appropriate way for us to enjoy our laid back Italian setting.

Sunday we drove down to Como to explore the town. It was raining again but we used our time wisely by ingesting yet even more pasta, wine and cheese. Clever, aren't we?

Below are some pics from the weekend. If you look close enough you may actually see our waistbands expanding!

Lake Como

Brussels

2010-10-26T04:30:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone! Dave and I are just back from mini break from Brussels. It was a lovely city with superb culinary delights - Mussels, Waffles, Chocolate, Frites and Beer! Oh and brussel sprouts. I most certainly had my fill of most of them, you can think about which one I left out ;)

Brussels is a lovely European city. It is rich in culture and history and also very modern as well since it is essentially the capital of Europe and the center of the European Union. There seems to be a lot going on there, but aside from walking through Brussels' charming old city and exploring a bit of Ixelles, our mini break was primarily relaxation inter-mixed with stuffing ourselves silly with delicious food. I actually can't think of a better way to spend a long weekend!

We arrived on Friday via the Eurostar - I still can't get over how amazing the train service is. Left our house at 9:30, voila two hours on the train later - in Brussels! We arrived and headed to the old city centre where we saw the Grand Palace and Manneken Pis (the pissing boy statue). Naturally this amount of sightseeing made us extremely hungry so our first pit stop was for Belgian Frites - yummm! We quickly washed that down with some beer at a little firelit pub. I had a cherry beer and Dave had something dark which was yum-0! After our aperatif we decided it was time for dinner so headed to Chez Leon for the most succulent mussels ever (and of course more beer).

Saturday was more of the same.. shopping, lunch, strolling, waffles, meandering, beer, resting, steak frites. Actually, speaking of frites, I realised upon leaving on Sunday that I had them at every meal and one snack in between. I am not stepping on a scale for a very long time!

So Sunday we headed down to Ixelles in search of a shop where they made hand made chocolate... a very long journey by bus and foot only to realise when we arrived, the little place was closed. Zut. It was worth the adventure though.....

All in all a great trip to Belgium and will always remember my trip when I gorge on fries in the future :)

Brussels

2010-08-20T08:29:00.001-07:00

So, this entry is a bit out of order but, just before I started my job at Mawi (www.mawi.co.uk) I escaped for a weekend away in Portugal. Niki and I decided we needed some sun and relaxation, so we headed to Villamoura in the Algarve, a gorgeous resort area in Portugal.

I arrived on Thursday and spent the afternoon at the beach. Beaches in Portugal are gorgeous and sandy! I met up with Niki later in the afternoon and we had dinner in the Villamoura Marina. Afterwards we had a few beers at “Old Navy,” a bar that featured a little acoustic guitar player. He was really fun, and the atmosphere quite lively. Apparently everyone siestas in the afternoon and stays up past midnight, even the children! We happily perched ourselves at the bar and waited for him to play Hotel California and Brown Eyed Girl. Two most overplayed bar tunes ever.

Friday we spent most of the day at the pool, before taking an afternoon boat tour to visit the caves along the coastline. The scenery was beautiful, and we were even able to go on a little excursion to poke in and out of the caves. V beautiful! We made it back around sunset and found a delicious seafood restaurant where we gorged ourselves on seafood rice, kind of like paella but 1000 times better! Mmmmm!

Saturday we decided to take a break from the sun (or so we thought) and visit beautiful (and scorching) Seville. Seville is an old historic town in Spain – a tidbit about the cathedral (having now just come from Istanbul) is that when it was completed in the 16th century, it surpassed the Hagia Sophia as the largest cathedral in the world. Christopher Columbus is also buried there. Exciting isn’t it? Well, it should be better known as the hottest place on the planet Earth next to the Saraha Desert. Apparently Seville is in a basin and is one of the hottest places in Europe.

On our drive back to Villamoura, we decided to stop at Tevira, which was by far the highlight of our trip. Tevira was a lovely seaside town in The Algarve. Here we had dinner and enjoyed walking around the old charming town. I definitely recommend making a stop here if you’re exploring Portugal.

Sunday we headed to the beach to squeeze in a little more sun. It was a perfect end to a relaxing holiday!

Will try to get the full link to pics from Niki soon! x x

Istanbul

2010-08-16T14:16:00.000-07:00

This weekend my trusty travel partners, Niki and Sandy and I found a little rolling stone (Jamie) and packed our bags for a Turkish getaway. We arrived in Istanbul Friday afternoon, which turned into late afternoon after a very painful traffic- laden taxi ride into the city. We finally made it to our apartment near Galata Tower and dolled ourselves up for a night on the town. First stop: 360, a rooftop restaurant with incredible views of Istanbul and the Bosphorus. As the sun set down on another day of Ramadan, the city lit up with twinkly lights and everyone spilled out onto the winding streets of Galata- the "soho" of Istanbul.

We were sort of fading a bit after dinner but thought it would be rude not to have at least one more drink somewhere, so as we meandered through the streets we were lured in by bar a host who sat us at the primo table on a corner reserved for pretty girls just like us! Here we met Miles, an Australian teaching English in Turkey who took great responsibility in making sure we had an amazing night in Istanbul.

Miles took us into a rooftop bar that had an amazing view of the city and a perfect corner table. Two bottles of champagne made the scene complete and we spent the rest of the evening dancing our little hearts out!

We had an absolute ball and finally stumbled home at 3:30 :) I must say Istanbul is the only city I've ever been to that could possibly rival New York. That's a big price to follow but the next two days did not disappoint!

Saturday morning we took the light rail to Sultanmet and checked out the big sights: Hagia Sophia and The Blue Mosque. The Hagia Sophia was the worlds largest cathedral for a thousand years before it was attacked in the 4th crusade and transformed into a mosque. It's very bizarre to see Christian mosaics such as "Virgin and Child" in a mosque.. quite surreal.

We saved the rest of the afternoon for The Grand Bazaar, shopping our feet off! Our first destination was checking out the Turkish carpet wares. We drank apple tea whilst Sandy and Niki negotiated like seasoned veterans - both ended up with beautiful and very unique rugs. It was a great cultural experience AND I got to meet Turkey's number one carpet dealer who made sure we knew that Eric Clapton and Laura Bush came to his shop because he made us watch the dvd of him on Turkish Fox news. Hilarious.

Since we had a bit of a wild one on Friday we kept Saturday eve fairly low key. We got some great Turkish food and afterward sat in a outdoor cafe and smoked from a hookah. Personally I don't understand the point of a hookah bc it doesn't make you feel funny, but it was all part of the fun :)

I didn't want Sunday to arrive because it meant we almost had to go home :( we did manage to squeeze in some more sights by visiting The Bascilica Cistern. During the Roman Empire, aqua ducts were built to feed into massive cisterns in order to fill the water needs in Istanbul. This is by far the most beautiful sewage system one will ever see in their lifetimes! Can you imagine visiting a modern day cistern in New York or London? Gross.

Next we hit the spice market where I loaded up on Turkish Delight mmmm! Meandered our way back to the hotel stopping for lunch along the way. Finally hit some boutiques in Galata Tower and headed back to get a taxi.. Waaaayyy too short of a trip but that only means it must go on the list of places to re-visit. I absolutely fell in LOVE with Istanbul. Thanks to Niki and Jamie and Sandy for being such fun travel companions! :)

Istanbul

Staycation!

2010-08-08T10:07:00.000-07:00

With Dave having just finished exams, we decided to enjoy London this weekend as tourists and have a little "staycation" in our home city! We started out on Friday night by going to a comedy show at The Comedy Store with our friends Matt and Rachel. Very funny indeed - No one in the room had the courage to raise their hands when they asked if there were any American's present so I escaped all pointed jokes.. Phew! Afterward we headed to SoHo House which is just like the one in New York and had dinner and too many drinks.. finally hit the hay at 3am :)

Saturday Dave and I woke up and headed to Hampstead for a pub lunch; We got caught in the rain so decided to stay a little longer and play Battleship and drink more beer.. it was really British and v fun! Then we hopped on the underground down to Southbank and explored a bit of the Tate Modern, once the sun came back out we went on the London Eye - Dave picked the perfect time... Sunset!

After our "flight" on The Eye, we walked over to SoHo for yummy Caribbean food! It was delicious, even though we were missing the steel drum band ;)

Sunday was spent in the park with more friends, Keith and Rachel. It was a gorgeous weekend with my gorgeous boy... see pics of the eye below!

London Eye

Belfast!

2010-06-12T02:40:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I went to Belfast. My friend Sandy had to fly there for work so I decided to tag along with her :) We started off at 4:30am on Saturday morning and landed by 8:15am- quite an early one but worth it since we had the whole day to enjoy it!

Saturday Sandy and I rented a car and drove up the causeway coastal scenic route all the way up to Giant's Causeway- so pretty! Our first stop was the Carrick-a-Rede bridge which was a bridge built by old salmon fishermen to catch the fish as they headed back up stream. It was a swingy rope bridge, kinda high up and scary but the views were amazing!

Next we drove over to Giant's causeway which is a series of hexagonal stones that were created by a volcano over 60 million years ago. Absolutely mind blowing! I think I could have stayed there all day exploring but we needed to shoot off to make it to our most important stop: The Bushmills Whiskey Distillery!

Bushmills is the oldest working whiskey distillery in Ireland. We enjoyed a whiskey tour and then a tasting... As I left I think I felt a hair grow on my chest!

That evening Sandy and I went to dinner at a charming old pub / retaurant which was adorable and they even had a little Irish band playing tunes. We couldn't quite make it until the wee hours of the night since we had such an early start, but it was fun nonetheless!

Sunday morning we had a lovely breakfast in our b&b and checked out a few castles on the way back to Belfast: Dunluce and Carrickfergus. I have loads of pics of Dunluce castle but by the time Carrickferguys rolled around it was rainy and cold and I couldn't be bothered.. it was all much of the same anyway. Did i just say that? Oh, hmm.. seen one castle you've seen em all (who am I?!!!)

Belfast was our last stop- we were lucky because the sun came back out and we were able to enjoy walking around to see the city centre and the famous Crown Pub and then hit a street fair where we bought loads of cheese and nibbles which became our dinner!

Traveling with Sandy is such a treat.. I had a great quick trip to Belfast and look forward to our next trip (Istanbul in August, yay!)

Belfast

New Orleans, LA

2010-05-19T05:05:00.001-07:00

New Orleans, LA

My New Flat!

2010-04-19T04:14:00.000-07:00

Dave and I moved in together over Easter weekend and I've finally had a moment to take some pics of our new pad :) It's not quite together just yet, but below are a few pics.. And so you have it, our new address is:

64 Agamemnon Road
Flat 2
London
NW6 1EH
UK

Our New Home :)

Venice

2010-03-17T11:57:00.000-07:00

Bonjourno! Dave and I just got back from Venice to celebrate my birthday! It was probably the loveliest European city I have ever visited; I absolutely loved it!

We flew out Friday afternoon and landed in Venice in time for dinner. Since there are no cars in Venice, we had to enter via a Vaporetto, or water bus, to San Marco Square. I brilliantly left the directions to our hotel behind, so we had an interesting time of finding our way to where we were staying. Thankfully getting lost in Venice is a favorite pastime, so we just made the most of walking around in circles!

We finally made it and took a moment to regroup before heading out to dins. We stumbled upon an adorable pizza place, and I proceeded to stuff myself silly with thin crust pizza and red wine mmmmm! I haven't stepped on a scale since i've been back... I'm a little nervous about facing the damage!

Saturday morning we woke up bright and early and headed to St. Mark's basilica. It's reputation precedes itself.. absolutely stunning! Then we hopped on the #1 Vaporetto for a tour down the Grand Canal. We decided to explore a bit on foot so we got off at the end of the line and meandered through the streets all the way back to the Rialto Market. Dave and I found a place to buy bread and cheese and proscuitto so we had a picnic lunch in a square in the sunshine :)

We had a little siesta in the afternoon and then headed back to San Marco square to see the sunset from La Companile- so pretty! We finally meandered over to have some drinks and dinner and meandered back home... lots of meandering in Venice!

Sunday morning we decided to explore Murano and Burano. Murano is known for it's glass, so we started out at a glass museum to see how it is made. We also headed to Burano, known for it's lace and brightly colored houses. Again, more meandering..............

Venice is fantastico! I am v. happy we avoided any offers we couldn't refuse from some Italian Don and I am v.happy that I made it out of Italy alive and don't have to sleep with the fishes! Must go back soon! x

Venice 2010

Bourne, UK

2010-03-09T06:54:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I headed up to Bourne to meet Dave's family! I always love getting out to the country, and this trip did not disappoint!

We headed up to Peterborough after work on Friday evening. Dave's sister (along with her new pet fish) picked us up and we headed to the village of Bourne where Dave grew up. We had a pretty quiet one that evening.. just had dinner and read and relaxed a bit.. after all, I needed all the beauty sleep I could get for the big round of meet and greets the next day!

In the morning, Dave took me on a tour de Bourne. We walked around the little village, through a lovely park to see the black swans and finally made it round to "Nanny White Hair's" house (Dave's grandmother, obviously). Nan is 92 and cute as a button! She offered us tea and loads of fun stories so we barely realized it was after midday and were late for lunch!

We headed to Dave's parents for Fish 'n Chips from the local and then topped it off with home-made apple pie mmmm! After all that food we needed to walk it off so the afternoon was spent walking their dog Tilly in the woods donning our very English wellies.. yay!

Saturday evening was spent by the fire drinking wine and hanging out with David's older sister and brother in law, Denise and Alan. It was a great way to wind down from the day.

Sunday morning Dave and I headed Sacrewell Farm because we heard that Lambing had started! The baby lambs are usually born in March and April. Some sheep have triplets and can't nurse them all, so usually the littlest one is left to fend for itself. Thankfully the nice people at Sacrewell take them in and bottle feed them until they're big enough to eat on their own... They let visitors volunteer to feed them soooooo........

After the Lambing fun, we walked through cutie Stamford- a medieval sort of village which I LOVED of course! Then headed back to Dave's parents for Sunday Roast. As if the first farm wasn't enough, we headed over to Dave's older brother's farm and fed even more animals! He had ponies and geese! Such fun. We headed back to wind down with a cup of tea and visit with Pete and Toby (Dave's Godson) His family even surprised me with cards and birthday pressies.. It was really so very sweet!

All and all it was the perfect mix of fun and relaxation.. I'm hooked on the lambing too and can't wait until next year! Many thanks to Dave's lovely family for being so sweet to me!

Bourne, UK

The Kerala Backwaters

2010-02-18T03:59:00.002-08:00

Our last week in India was spent relaxing in the South of India on the backwaters of Kerala. What a phenomenal place! Absolutely stunning and fully relaxing.. I loved it!

We flew South after Simer's wedding on Sunday and spent one night in Fort Kochi. We didn't have much time there but we managed to have a nice walk in the morning to see the Chinese Fishing nets that are quite famous for their unusual form of fishing. The weight of the man walking along a plank lowers the net into and out of the sea. The concept is known to be Chinese in origin, which makes sense really since Kochi was an important centre in the spice trade. Quite cool!

Monday morning we set off for Alleppey where we boarded a houseboat for a cruise through the backwaters. The landscape was tropical and picturesque- like nothing I've ever seen in India!

After a very relaxing day and night on the houseboat, we were dropped off at a lake resort to spend the next two days doing absolutely nothing except reading and working on my tan. Heavenly!

We headed back on Thursday quite refreshed, well fed and a few shades darker than we did when we set off :) For those looking for a beach holiday in India, I think I recommend Kerala over Goa! It's amazing!

Kerala

Dehli

2010-02-18T03:59:00.001-08:00

In between Simer's wedding events, my mom and I hit every market in town (or so it seemed) including Old Delhi/ Chandni Chowk. We had a ball taking the metro there and pottering about the different areas- silver market, clothes market, even a spice market! Such fun! This is a picture of me and my mom in a cycle rickshaw. Attached are a more pictures of us in Old Delhi.... Enjoy!

Old Delhi

Simer and Hasmit's wedding

2010-02-18T03:09:00.000-08:00

Namaste! I've just returned from India where I attended Simer and Hasmeet's wedding.. It was quite the Delhi event!

For those who have not had the privilege of attending an Indian wedding, I'll try to do my best to explain a little about the functions I attended. Technically the wedding kicked off on the 15th of January, even though the actual marriage ceremony was on the 7th of Feb. In between was an endless round of parties and celebrations!

The first event I attended was the boy's sangeet hosted by Hasmeet's family. The sangeet could be compared to a wedding reception- lots of drinking dancing and eating! Usually the boys's side and the girl's side will host their own. There are usually choreographed dances performed by the bride and groom's friends.. such fun!
Simer's sangeet was held at my auntie and uncle's "farm". The farm at one point was built on the far outskirts of Delhi and has now been encroached upon- the neighborhood now has its own metro stop!

The next event was the Mehndi celebration. This is traditionally a party hosted by the bride's family where the bride and her "sisters" and friends adorn their hands and feet in intricate designs made from Henna (which is a little bit stinky, I'll be honest.. but it's all part of the fun.)

After the Mehndi celebration, we had the Chura ceremony. During the Chura, Simer's maternal uncles place bangles on her wrists. Subsequently her sisters and friends tie adornments to the bangles and feed her sweets and give her pressies. The Chura is a bittersweet ceremony, since it is to remind the bride that although she is leaving her family, they will always be in her life.

Sunday was the day of the marriage. The bride's family gathered in the morning to receive the groom's family and the Barat. The groom usually arrives on a horse and his face covered with flowers. Th groom's family sings and dances alongside him. Each of the male members of the bride's family meet their counterparts on the groom's side and give each other hugs. (I've always really liked that part!) Then Simer arrived to greet Hasmeet under a beautiful canopy of flowers, which carried by her "brothers."

The actual ceremony is called the Anand Karaj which means "blissful union." Prayers are sung while the couple makes four rounds around the Granth Sahib, or holy book. Voila, newleyweds!

After a celebratory lunch, the bride departs with her husbands family in a Doli. Usually this is quite a sad event, since the bride is leaving her family. Thankfully Simer quite likes them so it wasn't such a tearful event.. (I think her father may have been a bit misty eyed though ;) )

Simer was beautiful and we thoroughly enjoyed the parties and celebrations. Many thanks and well wishes to the bride and groom! xxxx

Delhi, India

Oast House, Kent

2010-01-14T08:00:00.000-08:00

For Christmas, Dave surprised me by booking a weekend in an Oast House in Kent! The countryside was absolutely beautiful and our place so perfect that I almost chained myself to the cottage so that I would never have to leave. I loved it!

I almost want to keep this little place to myself but it was so lovely I feel like I must tell everyone! Oast Houses used to be where brewers would dry their hops before sending them off to the brewery. They have conical roofs and are small and round; you can see loads of them as you drive in and around Kent.

Our Oast House was in the postcard perfect village of Shoreham, and next to the village of Otford. We spent our afternoons in both villages, snuggled up in cozy firelit pubs. We were pretty much snowed in over the weekend, so I couldn't have asked for better scenery or company! I'm one lucky girl :)

Oast House

Winter Wonderland in Durango, USA

2010-01-07T09:44:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! I'm back in London after a glorious two week holiday in the states- sadly my suitcase is still on holiday. Hope it's having fun...

I'm surprised I lost my bag on the return journey, when rather it was during my outbound flight that I more expected to lose it. After a three hour delay in Denver, I narrowly made my connecting flight to Durango by sprinting a mile and a quarter to the veeeery last gate, gasping and wheezing as I boarded the flight. I would have been all too happy to leave my bags behind if it meant I didn't have to stay the night in Denver.. UNTIL, 7 year old boy projectile vomited all over the six passengers surrounding him (including me). I could really have used a change of clothes. Alas, we (bags and I) made it (20 hours later) all the way to the snowy winter wonderland of Durango :)

I think now is when I'm supposed to go into the details of my vacation. It pretty much went like this: Wake up, eat, ski, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, sleep, repeat. Honestly. It was great. It was really fun laughing and spending time with the girls (Lily, Jessica and Lauren), and of course so nice to see my parents and sister since I was away last Christmas. And the skiing was GREAT! I managed only one super duper cataclysmic tumble. And twice I fell down whilst standing. I think the latter is a harder feat!

The weekend before I went home, Stan and Suzy (Patrick's father and stepmother) invited my parents and I to spend the last three days in New Mexico. I had never been to NM, so it sounded fun, plus it allowed me shop somewhere other than Wal Mart! I have a few pictures attached from a field trip we took to the Aztec Ruins where Pueblans built a community in 900 AD. Really, really amazing. Who says America has no history?!

It was a lovely trip all in all, but I'm glad to be back! See a few pics below:

Christmas 2009

A Day Trip to Canterbury

2009-11-24T06:11:00.001-08:00

This past weekend Dave and I went to Canterbury for the day. Such an adorable and very historic place! First we visited Canterbury Cathedral in the morning... this is where the Archbishop of Canterbury and the current head of the Anglican church is based. Absolutley stunning. Then we were stuck in a torrential downpour so we ducked into a little pub for mulled cider to warm up, yum! We decided to have some lunch so we filled up on a Sunday roast and then headed over to "Europe's 7th best Christmas Market" which was quite an understatement to say the least! I think there were about 6 stalls in total....... booooo. I was glad I didn't travel very far to see it because I could have had a better Christmas market in my living room. Anyway, all was not lost... we tottered around cute Canterbury and enjoyed a fun day out of busy Londontown! On our way back to the train station we stopped at Canterbury Castle which was built by the Normans in 1066- It just never ceases to amazing me how incredibly old this place is!

Click on the link below for pictures of the whole album :)

Canterbury

In and Around London... November 2009!

2009-11-24T04:27:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!

I didn't plan a trip in November but this month has been filled with lots of fun activities. A few weeks back, Dave surprised me with tickets to a football match at Wembley!

It was a World Cup Qualifying match between England and Ukraine and I got to see David Beckham in full glory! He didn't play until the second half (Dave ignored my "well what is the point then?!!" comment when I found this out) but it was very exciting nonetheless. I also got to sing "God Save The Queen" which is a very fun little ditty to the tune of "Our Country Tis of Thee" and no, they didn't copy it from us.

Bonfire Night was November 5th (Remember Remember the 5th of November!) which signifies the night that Guy Fawkes attempted to burn down parliament but his plan was foiled. Brits celebrate by burning effigies of him (or real life pop culture celebrities like Katy Price which is mildly disturbing because she is still very much alive) and light fireworks. My friend Angeline and I went to Primrose Hill to get a view of all of the fireworks going on around London which was great!

Malta

2009-10-19T08:46:00.000-07:00

Ahh, Malta. I've just returned from a lovely holiday in the Mediterranean! I can say after three days of warm sun, yummy seafood and good wine- I felt sufficiently relaxed until about 9:33 this morning when I walked into work :) At least I can still reminisce about a very lovely mini-break........

Malta is a beautiful island situated just South of Sicily. Over the years the island has been captured and conquered many times over by Greeks, Romans, Arabs and most recently the British Empire. The culture is layered with all of the different influences- you see it reflected in the architecture, the food, the language.. all quite unique and undoubtedly stunning!

Dave and I left on Thursday afternoon and arrived in Malta by the evening- just enough time to take a little stroll around the streets of Sliema where we were staying and enjoy a glass of wine on our hotel terrace.

Since it was dark when we arrived, I was delighted to wake up to a lovely sunny day and stunning view of Sliema and Valetta. We decided to head to the beaches that morning, so we took a charming old local bus to Paradise Bay on the Northwest coast of the island. I was determined to play in the Mediterranean Sea but after one toe in I decided I very well could freeze to death and had to ask Dave if it still counted that I went swimming in the Mediterranean? We still managed to enjoy reading and relaxing on the beach before heading back in the afternoon.. It rained Friday evening so Dave and I ordered room service and relaxed in our lovely hotel.

Thankfully the next day was much warmer-- we hopped on our favorite bus again and headed to Gozo via ferry. Gozo is part of Malta but just off the main island. We had a great lunch in Rabat and then headed to Ramla Beach which indeed lived up to its reputation for being quite beautiful. Even better, Dave and I took a wander Eastward and found a secluded beach that we had all to ourselves.. not a soul in sight!

We spent Sunday at the hotel and tried to squeeze in the last bit of sun possible before heading back to dreary old London Town. I had a wonderful time and am already missing the sunshine and the sea. Must plan my next Mediterranean getaway soon! x

Malta

Oktoberfest!

2009-10-06T07:57:00.000-07:00

Prost!

Just got back from Munich to celebrate the 199th annual Oktoberfest! Originally celebrated as a festival to honor the marriage of Prince Ludwig to Princess Therese, it is now mainly an excuse to drink excessive amounts of alcohol, jump up and down to German folk music, and devour countless sausages, half roasted chickens, pickles, pretzels etc etc until you've reached a gluttonous state and then deem it prudent to ride swirly rides until you think you may vom and have to go home.

What a blast... Sandy and I flew into Munich a little late on Friday evening. We managed a good night's rest and prepped ourselves to take on the weekend! We got dressed and met Niki and Billy for breakfast and headed over to the beer tents around Noon. Saturday was probably the busiest day, so we had to wait a while to get in but, ohhh.. was it worth it!

The weather all weekend was absolutely stunning so we enjoyed most of Saturday at table outside with loads new friends! Germans, Italians, Swedes, the list goes on.. Now here's an idea for the UN peace talks... head to Oktoberfest!

Sunday it was a bit easier to get inside the beer tents which was fun because (despite the massive cloud of smoke ingested) it was a generally one big German happy drunken party. LOVED it.

After one last round of swirly rides, and potentially some very incriminating behavior which shall go unstated, we officially called it a weekend and headed back to the hotel. At 10:15. So early, but so so late!

A little beat down on Monday morning we decided to hit the sights of Munich.. who knew there'd be so much to see outside of the beer tents? :) Sandy and I took a bike tour and enjoyed taking it all in...

I definitely recommend Munich and Octoberfest for anyone old and young at some point in their lives! Oh, and it's mandatory that you dress up in Drindls and Leiderhosen!!

Prost!

Octoberfest

Ireland (Dublin and County Wicklow)

2009-09-28T07:34:00.000-07:00

Last week I had a meeting in Dublin with Brown Thomas, so I decided to stay the weekend and visit again with Christie!

I landed in Dublin on Thursday evening and Christie met me at the hotel for dinner and drinks. It was a v fun evening and I enjoyed hearing Christie's latest stories and catching up on things since I saw her last month! I'm getting quite spoiled with her so close to me! We had dinner at a lovely restaurant in Dublin but called it an early night since I had to be on top form for my meeting with Brown Thomas the next day.

Friday I worked all day, driving to Portlaoise and back pretty much took all afternoon. In the evening, I met Christie and took the DART down to Greystones where she lives South of Dublin. The DART went along the coastline, which was a beautiful commute- not a bad way to start and end your work day!

Friday evening Christie took me on a "pub crawl" in Greystones which consisted of three pubs. Ha ha, but all in all a lovely quaint town and another nice night.

Saturday Christie took me to Glendalough, situated in the Wicklow mountains. Years ago it was an old monastic village and you can still see the ruins today. The best part of Glendalough is the scenery. Absolutely stunning!

We stopped by a delightful little pub on our way home, Jonnie Fox's Pub. It's a pretty famous little spot, and serves delicious seafood which we ate to our heart's content!

That evening we all headed to Christie's friend's engagement party in Bray.. It was lovely meeting all of their friends! I headed back to London on Sunday, and hope I can "pop" over to Ireland again v soon!

Many thanks to Christie and Gordon for being such lovely hosts!

Glendalough

Cornwall

2009-09-01T03:35:00.001-07:00

Ahh... just returned from a very relaxing long weekend in Cornwall for August Bank Holiday weekend (love the bank hols!) I actually headed down on Thursday evening to spend Friday scouting the surf shops for work, and then had the rest of the weekend to relax with my friend Niki!

I started out my Tour de Cornwall in Truro. I drove down Thursday evening on a very scenic road trip (I had a very "I love England moment" passing stonehenge!) I stayed overnight at a little B&B and spent the morning shopping in Truro. I was looking fowrard to Truro the least, but it turned out to be a really sweet little village.

After Truro I headed north to Newquay, which reminded me of Panama City-- loud neon signs and the like. I was happy to spend as little time there as possible and headed south to Penzance to check out more boutiques there.

After Penzance, I spent the night in a castle in St. Ives which was lovely and woke up early to hit one more beach shop in Falmouth before picking up Niki at the train station. After getting a little turned around getting to St. Agnes where we were staying for the long weekend, we finally arrived and headed straight to the pub for lunch.

Saturday was pretty relaxing overall. We just managed a long lazy lunch and relaxed back at the B&B before heading out for the night in St. Agnes. I'll say there's not much going on in St. Agnes on a Saturday night- we were hard pressed to find a place to eat that served dinner past 9pm. Ohhh, how I miss the conveniences of NYC....

Sunday we woke up and spent the day in St. Ives. Sadly we didn't really have the weather on our side, but we still enjoyed shopping and tottering around the town. We had delicious seafood for lunch and then headed over to Perranporth in the evening. Perranporth had a beautiful beach with a fun beach bar that played live music. I think if it were a bit sunnier and wasn't sunday and we weren't driving, we would have enjoyed it even more!

Monday was stunning... we got up early and took a walk in St. Agnes- called "Beacon's Walk" on the cliffs along the beach. We couldn't get over the views! We decided to drive to Padstow for lunch on our way back from Cornwall.

Padstow was amazing! I think it could be my favorite little spot... we had yummy seafood lunch and then cream tea and which is tea with toasty scones served with jam and slathered with Cornish clotted cream for dessert... I was in heaven!

I think Cornwall was the jewel in England's crown and I am so happy I have finally been! See the link below for pics:

Cornwall

Harrogate, North Yorkshire

2009-08-18T14:26:00.000-07:00

I’ve just returned from Harrogate with Poko Pano the new Brazilian swimwear company I’ve joined (www.poko-pano.com). We were attending the lingerie and swimwear show much like the one I attended last year in London. Overall we had a nice flow of traffic and made some good contacts so fingers crossed I get some business!

I headed up first thing Saturday morning. To give you a little perspective, Harrogate's not far from Fountain’s Abbey that I went to with Tom over Christmas. After setting up for the show I was able to walk around the cute town, a popular tourist resort over the ages known for it's spa waters- originally found in the mid 1500's (the original pump room still stands today). Amazing!

Sunday the show went well, I barely had time to eat lunch til 4 so I thought that excused me to have dessert/ tea at Betty’s by 7:30. Betty’s is famous for Yorkshire afternoon tea and boy was it delicious! I was in a near diabetic coma after the praline dacquoise.. mmmmm. This, after a drinks party and fashion show when the day was over officially pooped me out for the night so I went back to the hotel and put on my jammies and crawled into bed to watch Griff Rhys Jones on the BBC! So nerdy!

Monday was another successful day- I met with Lipsy, a cute London boutique who just got bought by Next so there’s great potential there. I enjoyed a nice dinner at the Drum Monkey and had a relaxing bath.

Tuesday was quite slow and after four days on my own I was ready to get back. Train delays meant it took four hours to go from Harrogate to York (which is 18 miles) so I ended up getting into King's Cross rather late. Oh well. As always I was hardly disappointed by another great trip to North Yorkshire and look forward to getting back again soon.

Ireland!

2009-07-23T04:21:00.001-07:00

Hi there!

This past weekend my friend Sandy and I met Christie in Ireland for a road trip along the southwest! It was a much needed girls trip and I had an absolute blast!

Sandy and I had a rough start to Gatwick due to a fatality on the train tracks.. in a pinch we took a cab and made it just in time for our RyanAir flight. (Jury's still out on RyanAir.. can't beat a £1 ticket, but service sure suffers for it!)

We arrived in Dublin about 11ish, and faced our first adventure head on: driving on the left side of the road! Sandy kindly let me take control ;) so I was the lucky one who drove most of the weekend. Aside from approaching the passenger side of the car everytime we wanted to go somewhere, and always reaching behind my left shoulder for the seat belt, and occasionally running red lights, and scaring the living daylights out of Christie and Sandy as I passed cars on tiny country roads... we were fine! :)

Sandy and I made it to the hotel and met her friend Jack out in the Temple Bar area of Dublin. It was nice to meet a local!

Friday morning Christie met us in the morning and we set off on our journey to Cork. We decided to check out Kinsale, a tiny shipping village on the South coast. Kinsale was adorable, very colorful and a perfect place to stop for lunch. We tottered around town and then back up to Blarney!

Pretty much every Irishman we met advised Blarney was a tourist trap and wasn't deserved of a visit... Obviously this is coming from people who have never been because it is absolutely delightful! The girls and I toured the grounds and explored the castle which was stunning. And of course.... we kissed the Blarney Stone! I had to do a lot of convincing for Sandy to go for it as she was sure she would get swine flu! Ha!

That evening, we headed back to Cork. Mildly disappointing I may say, since at night the town totally shut down. Christie pointed out she didn't understand why nobody's lights were on in their flats if all the streets were deserted. It was odd. We actually had a really lovely dinner though, and then decided to check out a local microbrewery. The beer was tasty, but there wasn't much to be said about the crowd.... travel tip: skip Cork.

Saturday morning we woke up and gathered some goodies for our day trip around Ring of Kerry. It could be argued that Ireland's countryside is even prettier than England's. I was blown away by the scenery (the greenery!). The mountainous coast, the beautiful water... absolutely stunning! There was so much to see, but we concentrated on Kenmare, Darrynane Beach and The Gap of Duloe. Pics are below:

The final night we spent in Killarney, enjoying a fantastic local Irish band and dancing the night away. Sunday we headed back up to Dublin to explore a little bit and we met Jordan, a friend of Sandy's and Gordan, Christie's bf. Jordan and Gordon.. I just realised that's funny! Oh, and to top off a great weekend, Sandy and I saw a RAINBOW on the flight back! Just perfect!

I can't thank Christie and Sandy enough for making this such a silly fun trip! Love you two! x x

Ireland

Wales

2009-06-18T02:36:00.000-07:00

Wales

Hey everyone! It's been a bit since I last wrote but that's mainly because I've been doing more of the same- enjoying London (Mindy came to visit!), a trip to Crathorne, fun nights out, etc. but last weekend Tom and I went to a wedding in Wales so I wanted to update with pics, etc. It's a bit hard for me to write this bc we've just split up but no reason I can't still reminisce on a lovely weekend in Wales!

Tom, his friend from law school Sam, and I rented a car and drove after work to Wales. We stayed at a lovely country house B&B (except for the very strong smell of smoke coming out of the walls despite a very clear NO SMOKING sign posted in the entry). Who said the owner has to follow her own rules?

Saturday morning we headed to Kate and Ian's wedding venue in a beautiful National Park. The wedding was set on a bank of an estuary which was gorgeous. There was an unusual set up to the day- but one I liked very much in the end because I was able to spend a whole afternoon getting to know Kate/ Ian's/ Tom's friends.

The ceremony was a 12, we had a lovely long lunch afterwards with speeches, etc. Then they cut the cake about 4pm. We broke for games (I played Croquet!) in the garden and more drinking until the dancing started about 7pm to Midnight. Quite a long day but all very good fun!

Sunday we had some free time before having to get the car back to London so we popped over to a seaside town in Pembrokeshire called Tenby. We walked around the town and then settled on the beach (the boys took a walk while I sunned and read Harry Potter). I definitely recommend Wales as the countryside is stunning and look forward to going back someday!

The picture above is a link to the whole album!

Oxo Tower

2009-05-19T03:05:00.000-07:00

Went to the Oxo Tower on the South Bank for a glass of wine on Saturday evening... What a view!

Cambridge

2009-05-18T03:58:00.000-07:00

Saturday my cousin, Rohini, and I took the train up to Cambridge to see my dad's cousin who is an esteemed professor of Economics at the University. We had never met him before so we were excited to have lunch with him :) Also fitting that Rohini is studying for her masters at LSE, and he is someone who may be able to give her a lot of guidance!

After a lovely pub lunch, we walked over to the campus and decided to take a tour of the University via a punting boat on the river Cam. It was a lovely way to see the highlights of Cambridge. See pics below:

Cambridge

St. Albans

2009-05-13T09:35:00.000-07:00

This past Friday I spent the night at Emma's in St. Albans. I'm always amazed at how old some of the buildings in London are-- it's quite common to hang out in a pub that was built in the 1600's, but St. Alban's still has ruins that were built durning the Roman times in 250 AD! That is old.

Friday evening Emma made us sushi (that's right, she MADE sushi!) and we enjoyed catching up over a few glasses of wine. We woke up in decent time on Saturday to take a long walk around the town. Emma took me to a park where the remains of a wall still stands which at one time bordered the ancient Roman city of Verulamium. Emma pointed out that the last person to see the inner bits of that wall was sometime during 265 AD. I had never thought of that before!
We also had some fun watching some ducklings waddle around eating grass. It was one of those "stop and smell the roses" moments that you enjoy with good friends. I'm very happy Emma is here!
After our stroll around the park we walked up to St. Albans Cathedral and Abbey Church and then on over to Market Place. There we climbed a Clock Tower which was built in the 15th century! Thank goodness for Emma calming me down as I thought I may die of claustrophobia- that little stairway was v small and dark! The views from the top were worth it though :)

Many thanks to Emma for being such a wonderful hostess! St. Alban's is a wonderful place to live and I look forward to visiting her there again soon!

The Palace of Westminster

2009-05-06T08:24:00.001-07:00

Tom and Kiki's father, Lord Crathorne (Jamie) has been a member of the House of Lords for over 30 years. He is also a very keen photographer whose pictures were being featured in photography competition between the House of Lords and House of Commons. Yesterday evening we were invited to view the exhibit, tour Parliament and have dinner at the House of Lords. It was a very special and rare treat that I am sure I will remember for a lifetime!

Parliament's official name is The Palace of Westminster because until 1512 it was situated where the royal family lived. The Palace is simply stunning. As ornate as the building looks on the outside with it's Gothic Revival style, the interiors are equally exquisite. Imagine oak paneled walls mirroring the intricate designs you see on the exterior of Parliament with grand old portraits of past Kings and Queens along with beautifully painted ceilings and awe inspiring tapestries... it's just incredible.

Our tour began in the Queen's Robing Room. Here the Queen puts on her special robe and crown in preparation of reading The Queen's Speech (which is written by the government!) prior to the State Opening of Parliament. She then walks through the next room we toured, The Royal Gallery. Because this room was once part of the royal part of the palace, it is known as neutral territory and one of the few rooms members of both The Lords and The Commons can meet.

We then were invited to enter the House of Lords Chamber where The Lords debate bills/ acts/ laws that are passed onto them from the House of Commons. I found it particularly interesting that even though it was well past 8pm, they were still working and had no sign of stopping for the evening!

Next we moved into the Central Lobby. That's as far as we could go with Jamie, who was not allowed into the House of Commons. Anything North of the Central Lobby is the House of Commons territory, anything South is House of Lords. Here there are beautiful mosaics of St. George (England), St. Patrick (Ireland), St. Andrew (Scotland) and St. David (Wales).

The last two places we viewed were St. Stephens Hall and Westminster Hall. The latter is the oldest part of the Palace that very well could not have been still standing today without a very noble act on the part of Jamie's uncle! During the fire of 1834, The entire Palace was burning. Jamie's uncle told the fire brigade to let the House of Commons burn (as it was a fairly new area of the building) and and lend their attention to save Westminster Hall (which had been around since 1099). Thankfully they listened to him and we can still enjoy the space today!

After the tour we had dinner there as well. As they were still debating in The Lords, Jamie had to leave dinner at one point to put in his vote to address a split. Very exciting to be a part of it indeed!

Sadly I wasn't allowed to take pictures except for in Westminster Hall, so I don't have many visuals.. Here are just the few pics I have.

Eton/ Windsor

2009-05-04T09:04:00.000-07:00

Until I moved to London, I was never a big fan of the Springtime but I must say it's the most delightful time of year in England. The flowers are in full bloom, the weather is warm and sunny.. I absolutely love it! I've been trying to do as much as I can outside these days- running and tennis and picnicking in the parks! It's been great :)

This weekend Tom and Kiki and Robin and I went on a day trip to Eton and Windsor. It was a fun day for an outing and especially nice to be with Tom for whom it was a little trip down memory lane.

Eton and Windsor is essentially one area separated by the Thames; Eton on one side and Windsor (with the castle) on the other. We took the train up on Sunday morning and spent the first half of our day touring Eton. Since Tom is an "old boy" we were able to see bits of the school that other people aren't able to see! It was a holiday weekend, so sadly it was a bit quiet since most of the boys were away. Didn't matter though because it was an absolutely gorgeous campus and I enjoyed every minute of it!

We crossed the bridge to Windsor and had a delicious Sunday roast at a pub along the waterfront. The afternoon was spent exploring the old streets of Windsor. We didn't go inside the castle but the Queen's flag was flying high and mighty so we knew she was there :) We all wondered what she could possibly be doing inside.. I'd like to think she was chillin' in her PJ's watching trash tv. Hmm...

Eton and Windsor

Easter at Crathorne

2009-04-14T11:57:00.000-07:00

I'm definitely feeling the holiday blues after leaving Crathorne this weekend. We had an amazing time and the weather was quite perfect... even enjoyed our Easter lunch in the courtyard!

We drove up late Thursday evening and had the whole of Friday to relax in the country. We woke up, had a little breakfast and took the dogs on a nice long walk in the valley. After lunch, Tom and Kiki gave me my first tennis lesson since I was 7! Poor Kiki had to run all over the court to return anything I hit over to her side. Good thing Kiki is quite fit!

The thought of not continuing the tradition of decorating eggs at my flat made me a little sad so Kiki thought to invite the Geisers over for a little afternoon tea/ egg painting! It was great to see everyone's artistic talents. I was most impressed by Pete Geiser's Pirate Egg for whom Sylvia promptly made a beautiful girlfriend. Everyone's eggs were special in their own way!

Saturday we awoke and Skyped Charty and Ish and the kids in Delhi. After that, Tom gave me another tennis lesson... little improvement but much enjoyment on my part! Then we headed to the Point to Point which is an annual horse race (including jumps) and very important social event in Yorkshire. Here we met loads of Tom and Kiki's mates from growing up which was wonderful. Tom even won 55 Quid! Hooray!

Saturday evening, The Platts invited us over for supper. I had my very first Yorkshire Pudding which was delightful! We headed home around midnight after a very nice evening but not before Mike fell out of and broke his chair!

I could not have asked for a better Easter Sunday! We went to church in the morning and then hosted a champagne reception/ egg rolling competition for the Geisers, Platts and Dugdales afterwards. The weather was fantastic for the big event. I believe the winners were Susie (whose egg went the farthest) and little Eliza (whose egg didn't break). I had Sylvia's beautiful girl egg whose little brains fell out and sadly didn't make the journey to the bottom of the hill in one piece.

Monday morning we headed to Crathorne Hall to see a very special surprise... Jamie had arranged for a painting of Sylvia and her sister and brother when they were young to be hung in the entryway to the hotel. It was lovely and indeed a "circle closing" of sorts for Sylvia who proclaimed "Look! The Montgomerys have invaded Crathorne Hall!" And she and Jamie had two girls and a boy of their own.

Afterwards Susie made a little dream of mine come true and let me ride her darling horse! I had a ball "trotting" on Slim Jim. Tom called it a rising trot or something or other- I called it fun and I hope to do it again soon!

Many thanks to Jamie and Sylvia for a wonderful holiday weekend! xxxx

Click on the pic below for the whole album...

Easter at Crathorne

Chamonix

2009-04-07T11:59:00.000-07:00

I just returned home from a week’s skiing holiday in Chamonix. Having never skied before, I was a little nervous that I’d break both my legs; however, despite many dramatic tumbles (sliding face first for about 20 meters and subsequently having to dig snow out of my pockets), I only went home with a few bruises. I’m still pretty shit but perhaps it was my super fantastic 1987 electric blue and pink ski outfit that gave me the confidence to make it down the slopes in one piece?!

We set off for Chamonix early Sunday morning. There were nine of us altogether: Nikki, Gervase, Emily, James, Katie, Chris, Emma, Tom and me. After arriving in Geneva, we met our amazing (-ly good looking) hosts and drove to our chalet in the Alpes. That day we explored a little of Chamonix center, had lunch, rented skis, and settled in for the week!

The Alpes are AMAZING.. quite spoiling skiing all day with Mont Blanc as your backdrop :) Most days I had ski school in the morning and met up with the group for lunch. Generally we’d come off the mountain about 4ish and head on to après ski, then home to shower/ clean up and have a nice dinner in the chalet.

On Monday we went to Le Tour and Tom was sweet enough to ski with me in the afternoon- Proudly I made it down my first green run on my own! Tuesday I met up with everyone at Brevent and was somehow convinced I was ready for my first blue run. I may as well have skied down on my bum the entire way. After aforementioned dramatic fall, I desperately looked at Tom, then down slope and said, “Ok, now what? Do we have to ski down?” Tom responds, “Umm… do you have a better idea?” Hmmm. Fair enough. After that, Emma and I did a run together. She also witnessed me eat sh*t and I have her to thank for so kindly teaching me how to put my skis back on mid slope.

Wednesday, everyone except James and Emma went off piste with a guide so I met up with them to ski Brevent again. James (who only agreed to ski with me if I called him Mr. Instructor ;) ) and I did the same blues I did the day earlier only this time I didn’t fall! Quite a proud moment…

That evening, Emily suggested we go out for Fondue. Afterwards we decided to check out the local nightlife. The highlight of the eve (and perhaps the whole trip) was when I had a mini photo shoot kissing everyone in the group (girls included) while Tom was in the loo. We finally showed him what I was up to when he left….. quite funny indeed.

Skiing-wise, Friday and Saturday were my favorite days. On Friday, Nikki Tom and I skied a red through and avalanche (yes, it’s true!), Saturday I had a private lesson and I skied reds all day on the most difficult mountain. I was very pleased to have come so far!

I’m looking forward to the start of ski season next year! And perhaps this time around I’ll invest in new salopettes! 
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Click on the pic below to see the whole album:

Chamonix

My New US Phone Number

2009-03-22T02:42:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

In addition to my UK Cell, I have a US home phone number that you call for free! I have VM so if I'm not home, please leave a message and I will call you back when I return!

I've already spoken to Ginny and Aleesa so I'm sure it works... I look forward to catching up with everyone else too!!

My number is 646-929-3349. Please program it into your cells :)

Speak to you soon!
Sabrina xx

Amsterdam!

2009-03-17T10:31:00.000-07:00

Charming canals, lovely old architecture, happy people on bicycles, prostitutes, drugs.... aahhhh, Amsterdam! For my birthday, Tom and I decided to pop over and see what it was all about :)

We headed to Gatwick after our 4:30 wake up call... things were running fairly smoothly until I seriously offended the security official by not putting my little shampoos in the special plastic baggie. Was sent on a wild goose run back to check-in, then through security x2, then stopped again so special plastic baggie now containing my shampoos was tested for bombs, then finally made it through....... only gate was closing in 2 minutes and I had not thought about strapping on my sneakers for the 5K run I had ahead. Thankfully I just made the flight.

We arrived early enough on Saturday to enjoy a full day in Amsterdam. We started to get the feel for how laid back everything was when we went to breakfast in Nieuwarkt, and it took about 30 minutes before the waitress asked for our order. And it surely didn't take long to smell our first whiff of the funny cigarettes. Wondering if there is a correlation between the two ??

We spent most of Saturday tottering around the city center and exploring the red light district. I was a wee bit shell shocked at first but got used to it all pretty quickly... Except that I don't think I will EVER really believe what goes on inside those brothels actually goes on!

We took a canal boat cruise in the late afternoon sun which was a highlight and spent the rest of the evening taking advantage of all that Amsterdam has to offer!

On Sunday, Tom and I rented bicycles and rode all around Amsterdam. Even though I crashed twice, it was still my favorite day :) I happen to think the best way to see Amsterdam is by bike. There are so many splendid little streets/ canals to explore! We stopped for lunch and a trip around the flower market (bloommarkt!) which was lovely as well.

Monday we decided to hit the museums that were too busy on the weekend. The Anne Frank House was a place I had always wanted to see ever since I read the book when I was younger. It was a powerful example of how the Jews were persecuted during the German invasion of Amsterdam. We also visited the Van Gogh museum. There was a special exhibit on Van Gogh's use of light and and his specific interest in night paintings. I quite enjoyed it since "Starry Night" is probably my favorite Van Gogh piece!

We set off for London Monday evening feeling like we ticked off everything on our list that we wanted to see! I would definitely go back!

Click on the tulips below for a link to the whole album!

Amsterdam

ps- Had my visa stamped on my way back through customs and I am now officially a legal resident of the UK!

"Fat" Tuesday

2009-02-24T10:17:00.000-08:00

While I was dreaming up what I was going to put in my salad tonight, I decided that I am boycotting Fat Tuesday and am not giving up anything else for Lent since I have been forced to eliminate everything fatty, chocolaty, cheesy, yummy, and tasty from my diet... not to mention perfectly nice glasses of wine.

Do you think God thinks I am being selfish? I sure hope I'm back to my old self by Easter.

Pic is Leigh's and my favorite expression- like in the cartoons when the characters die and they have Xes over their eyes..... That's how I feel :(

Springtime!

2009-02-22T02:39:00.000-08:00

Everyone tells me that sometime in March, London starts to bloom. The flowers burst open and Spring arrives. I can almost feel it coming already; the birds are starting to chirp, the sun is setting later, little daffodils are pushing through the grass.. it's so exciting! We had a sneak peak of Spring yesterday-- It was so nice out, Tom and I spent the afternoon picnicking and walking through Hyde park.. what a treat!

Yesterday we also went to see the Wildlife Photography Exhibit at the Natural History Museum. Our friend Piers Calvert (see prior posts) received a "highly commended" award for his photo, "City Descent" and I definitely felt privileged to know him!

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/temporary-exhibitions/wpy/photo.do?photo=2372&category=52&group=3

Friday evening Tom and I went to see the play "On the Waterfront." It was in one of London's oldest theaters (Haymarket Theatre Royal), and really lovely. Directed by Steven Berkoff, the play was an imaginative adaptation of the well known film. Essentially, there were no props other than about 8 bar chairs on the set. The acting and lighting changes were the only thing that separated scenes, but done so brilliantly that you didn't even notice that absolutely nothing tangible on the stage had changed. It was fantastic!

Off to meet my cousins up in Camden Market now.......

Valentine's Day Weekend <3

2009-02-15T11:45:00.001-08:00

After spending a week in the hospital, Tom and I decided at the last minute to visit Bath for Valentine's day. We booked a night in a little family run coaching inn on the edge of the Cotswolds, just outside Bath.

Bath is amazingly charming; I recommend it to anyone coming to London! It is one of Britain's 7 world heritage cities... The Romans came to Bath over 2,000 years ago because Bath is home to the UK's only naturally occurring hot spring. The Romans built an amazing complex of baths and temples around the "sacred spring" which have since been better preserved than any other Roman Bath, even better than the ones in Rome itself!

After visiting the Roman Baths, Tom and I took a wander around the city. We stopped for a cup of tea and a snack before heading to where we were staying for the night. Our little b&b (The Lord Nelson Inn) was built in the 17th century and is situated in a lovely village called Marshfield. Albeit simple, it was v charming and the perfect place for a quick little getaway.

We had a nice dinner in the pub on Saturday night. Sunday morning we went on a walk in Marshfield before driving over to Castle Combe. Castle Combe isn't a castle at all, just the name of a town that used to house a castle sometime around 1140AD. It was a picturesque village in the Cotswolds, and the scenery for many Jane Austen type period films-- some even go so far as to say it is the prettiest village in England. Very pretty indeed... I really enjoyed spending a relaxing day there before heading back to busy London Town.

Below are some pics.. The last picture is a link to the whole album. It's a picture of a delightful little flower that blooms all over England in January, the snowdrop.

Valentine's Weekend 2009

And she's back!

2009-02-09T09:50:00.000-08:00

Yikes! I just got home from a week long stint in the hospital with freaking pancreatitis! Wha?? Yeah, seriously. I feel like I blinked and a week of my life passed by in a morphine haze.... I am proud to report that I had a very good experience "in hospital" as they say here (I've learned it is like saying you're in jail, you "go to jail" and henceforth "go to hospital.") Took a long time to get used to it... not sure if I entirely am. Regardless the point is that the NHS seems to be a very well run organization. Walked out with a handful of pain killers and no bill to sign! Nice :)

Anyway, last weekend you may have heard about the massive snowfall the UK received.. biggest one in 18 years! I took some lovely photos of where I live (a mansion block called Queen's Club Gardens) so you could see where I live! I'll get around to taking some of the inside at some point, too! Please come see it soon!

Greenwich

2009-01-25T08:48:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, Jo, Rachel and I headed out to Greenwich. Initially I was just excited to explore the cute town, totter around the market and enjoy a boozy lunch with friends... Turns out this trip was way more educational than expected :)

After lunch, we walked along the pier to the Royal Naval College, a v picturesque University. We then sauntered up to the National Maritime Museum and finally up the hill to the Royal Observatory. I've been reading Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything," and having just finished the chapter on Astronomy I was particularly interested in this bit of Greenwich.

In 1884, it was decided that the Longitude O would run through the Royal Observatory. Fascinating that the Brits were able to arbitrarily declare this point the Prime Meridian- the sole indicator of where eats meets west. I guess it's kinda like Kramer in Seinfeld declaring the corner of 1st and 1st in New York City the nexus of the Earth. Either way, with a basis of longitude now fixed, scientists were able to keep official time, study the night sky, and perfect the art of navigation!

Rachel and I were really overly excited about taking a picture here. See below:

Eats, Shoots, Leaves...

2009-01-13T11:04:00.000-08:00

This weekend Tom and Joe hosted a shoot at home in Crathorne. There were about 14 of us altogether, not including Pete and Annabel's pint sized baby Freddie who took his first steps on Saturday! Hooray!

Friday evening Tom and I took the train up North with his friends Eivind, Lucy and Piers (Piers hosted my first ever shoot in December). Pete, Annabel and Sophie were already at Crathorne House when we arrived for a late evening supper.

At some point, dinner conversation took an interesting turn. Someone declared that a chicken can live a freakishly long time without it's head. After much debate of how long each of us believed it could survive (Lucy decidedly announced it must have been 6 weeks), we "AQA'ed" it (AQA being a text version of google). Could you believe the longest a chicken has ever lived without it's head is EIGHTEEN MONTHS??!!! Extraordinary!

Saturday we woke up early and had a big breakfast and headed outdoors. We met up with Joe's group of friends for a fun day of shooting. Since it was bitterly cold and our toes frozen solid, Sophie, Lucy and I came back after the second drive to have some tea by the fire. I had seen enough for the day anyway since I nearly witnessed the chicken experiment put to test before my very eyes. (I will kindly censor this bit but there are a certain few who know I what I am talking about) ;)

The rest of the boys (and brave Arabella) came home for lunch which was delicious. I don't normally like when people launch into what they eat in their blog entries but I'm going to go ahead and annoy even my own self: For pudding we had a slice of fruitcake topped with a slice of Wensleydale cheese. Fruitcake and cheese? How odd I thought.... But no surprise it is a Yorkshire favorite- delicious!

That evening, everyone was invited to Park House for dinner and drinks. Joe was a wonderful host as we stayed up until 4:30am drinking, talking and playing games...such great fun! We finally walked home through the valley in our wellies guided by the full moon. Swingy bridge over the river made me realize I was a little more tipsy than I originally thought!

Saturday we had a late start and went on a walk and played Poo Sticks. Poo Sticks is a silly game where everyone picks a stick to throw into the river and the first stick that crosses the finish line wins. Eivan won the first game and I won the second! This was a very proud moment for me. Poo Sticks.

Another long lunch followed before heading back to the train station... Kinda sad and quiet when everyone left. I suppose every great weekend must come to an end!
Ps- thanks Piers for my aptly named blog title!

Crathorne Shooting Weekend

Christmas at Crathorne

2009-01-06T12:42:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! I just returned from a 12 day holiday in Crathorne for Christmas and New Year and now I have a whole lot of catching up to do! I could almost write a mini blog on each of the fun things I did, but I'll try to wrap it up for you all in one!

Tom and I drove up with his cousin Joe on Tuesday evening.. we woke up on Christmas Eve and helped his parents prepare for a party they were hosting that afternoon. It was nice meeting everyone and tasting their famous orange brandy.. mmmm! Christmas Eve we headed to the pub and met some of Tom and Kiki's old friends from home.

Christmas day was quite a treat! Father Christmas surprised us with a stocking in the morning (they tie theirs onto the end of their beds here!) but we didn't open them immediately because we headed to church instead. Then it was off to Christmas lunch at Park House. There were about 20 of us all in all which made for a very fun and festive party. We watched the Queen's speech (a first for me!) Actually, in all fairness- there were a lot of firsts: mince pie and christmas crackers and party poppers and christmas pudding, hooray! Afterwards we opened presents for hours it seemed.... we finally tottered home in the early evening and opened even more pressies with Tom's family.

Boxing day was a bit more relaxed.. we headed to the Geiser's in the morning for a bonfire and mulled wine.. yay! Then Tom and I went for a walk and spent the rest of the day relaxing.

Saturday we went shooting in the morning. It was my first time as a "beater," which means we push through the wood to get the phessies to fly about (and meet their fate). There is a leader who calls out the pace and tells us what to do... It was quite fun until I slid down the riverbank on me hiney!

I spent the afternoon with Tom's mother, Sylvia, at my first ever Panto! Pantomime is distinct British entertainment performed at Christmastime. It's mostly silly and for children but written cleverly so parents enjoy it too. Sylvia took me to the panto at The Georgian Theater Royal, of which Sylvia is the director. This theater is an old Georgian playhouse originally built in 1788 in a charming town called Richmond. It has been restored painstakingly.... a true labor of love on her part for sure. After the panto, Sylvia and I walked into the town square which I loved. I felt as though I had stepped right into medieval times!

Sunday, Kiki, Robin, Tom and I headed to the North Yorkshire moors for a little hike. We were at a favorite spot of Kiki and Tom's from when they were little. We decided it would be fun to climb to the very top of the hill. Fun not so much when you are climbing over thick heather and can't breathe from being so out of shape. I made it to the almost tippy top and plopped down for a rest on all of the heather and was very relieved to head back down!

Monday was generally relaxed which just means we took lots of walks and ate too much. Tuesday morning Tom was off stalking roe deer with Jamie. I gladly sat that one out and went to Yarm with Kiki for a little shopping.

New Year's Eve Tom and I took a little excursion to Fountain's Abbey. It was beautiful in the misty fog.. I've taken lots of pictures so you can all see below.
That evening Kiki made a delicious dinner of pheasant and lentils and invited the family over to celebrate. We headed to Crathorne Arms just before midnight... happy 2009!

We had a very slow start to our New Year, but finally made it up for lunch. A brisk walk in the cold air got rid of my massive hangover.... we watched movies for most of the afternoon and evening which was perfect!

On Friday Tom and I took a drive through the moors to go shopping for new "plus fours" and spent the afternoon in Whitby. Whitby was one of my favorite places I saw in Europe last Summer and I was happy to be back at Christmastime. Fish and Chips were a must as it's right on the North Sea :) We headed home via Staithes which was another lovely coastal town, once home to Captain Cook!

Saturday Charty and Ishy came back from Spain so we spent most of the afternoon with the children. We had a lovely dinner with Rachel and James (Rache and I travelled to Pushkar together in India last year) and met their new baby, Grace!

Sunday Tom and I went to go see the cows before we headed back to London. I tried fresh unpasteurized milk for the very first time which was delicious! After lunch we headed back to London (finally) very well rested and very well fed :) Thankfully I didn't have to be too sad leaving since I will be up again this weekend for another shoot, yay!

Click on the album below for all of the pics from my week...

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and happy new year! xxxx

Crathorne at Christmas

December in a nutshell...

2008-12-23T08:05:00.001-08:00

The past few weeks back in London have been really fun! The weekend I returned from India, Tom and I a low key weekend of simply catching up. There was a rugby match on Saturday which we watched with a bunch of his Uni mates. After that we headed out with cousin Clarey and her husband Barney, Kiki and Robin, as well as Robin's brother Charles. Charles is in the army and eats two hamburgers in one sitting despite his amazing physique. I hate him.

Sunday I was happy to catch up with my old friend Mini, aka Niki Dinkens Kelly who lives in Germany and was in town for the weekend. We had brunch together which was much too short of a visit in my opinion but I'll take what I can get!

The following weekend Charty flew into London with Feodora, and Tom and I had babysitting duty on Saturday. Feo was high drama before Charty left, but after about 30 seconds of proper meltdown when mom left, Feo was happy as a clam in our care. We set off for Hyde Park to go to the amazing pirate ship playground at Kensington Palace. All the excitement leading up to it must have put Feo overboard because she fell asleep just as we arrived. After a little kip, she awoke and we headed to say hello to the swans in the pond who were as Feo would say, "as big as me!" We had a quiet one Saturday evening watching The Jungle Book and she finally passed out around 9...

This past weekend I went on my first pheasant Shoot! I really had no idea what to expect at first, but now I realize that despite the death, it is just a nice way to spend an afternoon outdoors chatting with friends. I learned that pheasants are rather pretty and soft when I held one up close. I was excited to do this until I realized exactly what I had in my hand (one very dead bird) and let out a big squeal.

The shoot was hosted by Tom's friend Piers' family. They had a massive lunch for everyone at their beautiful home, which was a highlight of the day. A proper roast, pudding, cheese and sloe gin to accompany it.. mmmmm!

Tonight Tom and I are heading North to spend Christmas with his family in Crathorne. I've never been there in the winter, but I imagine it is v charming. I can't wait!

If I don't speak to you before then, Happy Christmas!!

My return to India after 11 months...

2008-11-17T09:42:00.001-08:00

Life's been a little stressful lately with visas and dad, etc.. I was happy to find out this past Monday that I was indeed going to be able to travel to India and attend my cousin Simer's engagment and Pia's wedding in Goa.

I left New York on Tuesday morning and arrived in London for a quick 36 hour whistlestop tour, just long enough to pack/ repack/ run an errand or two. I was so happy to be back in charming London :) I meandered down Carnaby Street on Wednesday afternoon to pick up some tea for the family in India (don't ask why I brought sand to the desert!). I also had a pint with Jo, and a lovely Thai dinner with Tom before setting off on Thursday...

Oh India.. what a wonderful and smelly place! Jassa was so sweet to pick me up from the airport on Thursday at 2am. Finally got used to the smoggyness by the time I awoke on Friday. After breakfast at Sunder Nager, my aunt Jan and I had a nice morning together before heading over to Charts and Ishy's.

Ish has been away since I arrived so I've had a great time on my own with Charty and the kids. It has been non-stop from the time I arrived: Afternoon play dates, birthday parties, volunteering at the children's play area at the Mela.. just exhausting but so much fun.

The best part of the weekend of course was Simer's engagement to Hasmit! My aunt and uncle hosted the event at their home and it was no surprise to everyone that they put on a fantastic party! Sim looked beautiful and everyone was in great spirits welcoming Hasmit to our family :) I really enjoyed the evening.. lots of dancing, endless amounts of food, amazing wine (although my Uncle insisted upon his special whiskey cocktail which I liked so much I had to have two!). Below are pics:

America!

2008-11-17T00:04:00.000-08:00

Hi! I had to go back to The States a few weeks ago to start the application for my work visa. My trip to New York was derailed to Dallas to see dad in the hospital. Despite the circumstances, it was very nice to see the whole family after three months!

When I was in Dallas, everyone was just gearing up for Halloween! We all tried to manage a little fun between hospital visits-- pumpkin patch and carving pumpkins put us in the Halloween spirit! :)

I was off to New York on the 29th.. Mindy, Jenny and Tiff all came over to greet me and we promptly went out for drinks! Such fun to catch up with everyone again :)

The next two weeks became a whirlwind of nights out with old friends. Highlights include: Ritesh's Halloween fancy dress party, Alli and Sean's wedding (SOOO glad I was able to make it back for that!), voting in the 2008 election, football with Jacob, Ty & Sara and brunching with my best friends :)

Just another weekend in the country....... i think ?

2008-10-14T13:35:00.000-07:00

Hi again! This weekend Tom and I headed to Somerset for a "quiet weekend in the country," (or so we thought)! We were off to visit some close family friends, Amanda and Charlie. Along with us, they had invited two other young couples around our age for the weekend: Rob and Chloe, and Tom and Alice. There was also a Matthew, an old uni mate of Amanda's and a few others that joined us for a dinner party on Saturday...

Tom and I just made the train out West on Friday evening. Amanda picked us up from the station and we met the other couples as well. Once we had a moment to settle in, Amanda was quick to fill our glasses to start off the evening! I definitely ate and drank very well on Friday night..... I think when we woke up on Saturday morning the wine to man ratio was somewhere around 14 to 9!

Saturday we woke up, had a big breakfast, and relaxed in the sunshine. The weather was amazing all weekend, we were v lucky! It was a wonderful day... Tom and Louis (his Godson/ Amanda and Charlie's youngest of three) played Rugby, Tom and Alice slept after waking up at 5am for a hunting trip; Charlie, Matthew and Chloe went flying in Charlie's plane; we fed the horses; took a long walk around the property, and came back in to prepare for the evening party. I had a nice long bath and came downstairs....

I'm not quite sure how to explain my Saturday night, except that Charlie and Amanda were fantastic hosts! We had an amazing dinner with lovely guests, great wine, good conversation, etc etc. What I wasn't expecting was Charlie turning into a DJ at midnight and recreating the entire drawing room into a full blown club. Could have thought I was at Marquee for half a moment... It was all so much fun that we stayed up well past our bedtime (Let's just go ahead and say dawn).

Sunday the wonderfulness just kept going... Breakfast turned into bloody marys which turned into black velvets, which turned into Sunday roast, then turned into watching the sunset in the backyard, turned to 6pm and no one even mentioning the idea of having to get back onto a train to go to London.

What a weekend....... !!

Edinburgh

2008-10-05T10:10:00.000-07:00

Hi! This weekend Chris G. and I popped up to Scotland for a quick trip to Edinburgh. We left at the crack of dawn Friday morning, and arrived promptly in Edinburgh at 8am! After stopping at the hotel to drop off our things, we headed out for breakfast. I tried to convince Chris he should have the Haggis special, but he wasn't having it... I had the sausage with a side of sausage and some sausage... and an egg (or at least it seemed like that).

After brekkie we headed up the 1,000 or so steps to Edinburgh Castle.. what a sight! It was a perfectly clear day and it seemed like you could see forever. We spent almost 3 hours up there walking around and poking in and out of all of the exhibits within the castle. We saw the Scottish crown jewels and learned how POWs were kept in barracks during the many wars that Edinburgh castle has survived. It's hard to wrap your mind around all of that history!

We spent the rest of the afternoon tottering down the Royal Mile, stopped for a pint on Rose Street, and explored Princes Street before we stopped to rest a bit prior to dinner. 4am was quite early to wake up!

Friday night we decided to head to Grassmarket for dinner... Chris and I were about the crash when I saw my friend Christina from high school walk in! What a small world! She and her friend Kristin joined us for dinner and I headed out with them for the night.

The girls and I decided to go on a spontaneous pub crawl which was a bit funny. We were trying to count the number of cute boys we saw..... to no avail. No girls either. Not even one. Beautiful town, seriously ugly people. We were rolling in laughter the entire night just people watching.. what fun! (My sincerest apologies if you are Scottish and are offended by my observations)

Sunday Chris and I headed out for a stroll and had a bite to eat before going on a Whisky tour. We debated going prior to 11am when they gave you like a 75% off discount or something, but decided our livers would be thankful if we at least had a bite before we went!

The Whiskey tour was pretty interesting.. I think the best bit of information we learned was that Whiskey doesn't age once it's been bottled. If you have a bottle of Whiskey that had aged 10 years in the barrel, and then another 10 years on your shelf... it's only 10 years old. Hmmm....

After the tour we went to a few museums.. National Gallery and the Museum of Scotland. The latter was pretty neat... they've stuffed Dolly the sheep and kept her at the museum. Why they had to put a little pile of poo in her box, we're not sure... we got the point without the poop. Unnecessary!

Chris and I headed back to London on the last flight of the night.. A very quick whistle stop tour to Scotland!! I'm sorry to disappoint everyone- we didn't have the haggis- but I guess we had to save something for our next trip! xxxxx

London, Day 68

2008-10-01T09:58:00.000-07:00

Days Rained: A lot
Pints Consumed: My liver hurts

Oooohhh, where do I begin?? I have been without internet for the last month or so, so have been unable to update. I will just have to give you the brief, brief synopsis so that I can resume properly:

The last few weeks have been great. I've fully acclimatised myself to life in London and am v. happy. I've made lots of new friends through friends and have enjoyed exploring the city with them. I've done some fun touristy things: Picnicked in Primrose Hill, stood in "The Yard" watching Shakespeare's King Lear at the Globe Theater, rode along the London canals from Camden to Little Venice, ate my way through Borough Market, etc etc.

I've also been on a few fun side trips! First trip was to Sandbanks on the South Coast with Tom's uni mates. The weather was gorgeous and the English Channel was bloody freeezing....... in the most delightful, refreshing way :) We spent the weekend at the beach, on the boat, bbq-ing, etc etc. So much fun!

On the way back, Tom was ever so sweet to drive out of his way so I could see stonehenge! The weekend we were there, archaeologists were digging into some of the burial sites to see if they could investigate when it was built. It was pretty cool to be there while they were doing it... and a few weeks later they announced it was from 2200-2400 bc. Seriously old. Seriously weird. Serious weirdos about.

Next I went to Paris for a trade fair for work. The show itself was quite slow and a little disappointing, but it was nice to be ahhh Paris! My colleague, MaryPat and I even had a chance to catch a burlesque show... oooh la la.

Next trip was to Dorset for Tom's friend Claire's 30th birthday party. It was a proper party in a marquee (only this marquee happened to be a yurt). The dress was "glamorous and colorful" which was a bit loose in it's definition. I took it as the perfect opportunity to buy a new dress (not so colorful, but def glamorous!)

The trip there and back was really fun. The weather was perfect and the drive through the English countryside was delightful. Tom's friends were hilarious.. they dubbed me Bree for the weekend, decided I should go to the "rare breeds" farm that we passed because of my background, and took every opportunity to take the piss out of my accent..... !

Ok, so that's the round-up... I'm heading to Edinburgh this weekend so will post again next week! Lots and lots of love from London! xxxxx

London Weather ??

2008-08-13T02:16:00.000-07:00

Days Rained: 10
Pints Consumed: 6
(I realize this is a very sad ratio, which brings me to my next point.. )

London weather is completely wonky. It rains everyday. But just as often as it rains, it's sunny. I can't decide if the weather should be compared to a crackhead, or a moody teenager. One of the two... but I suppose a crackhead and a moody teenager are not too far off in comparison. I woke up this morning and it was STUNNING. So exciting! Put on a little dress, ran to the grocery store, right when i get home and am putting away my groceries.. it's starts to POUR. I'm like, WHA? Seriously? Out of nowhere. And then it will stop after about 7 minutes, and the sun will come out (or maybe it wont).

It's really crazy.. I think you have to be amused by it otherwise it'll drive you bonkers!

City Mouse, Country Mouse

2008-08-04T09:33:00.000-07:00

Days Rained: 4
Pints Consumed: 4 (I'm drinking, it's just not beer!)

Hi all! I'm now sharing a 2 bedroom "flat" with my friend Susanne from Australia. I met Susanne last year when I was here in August (she was Emma's roommate). Emma has since moved out and Susanne has a room available for the next 3 weeks or so.. It's nice to actually be able to unpack finally!

Our flat is really quite charming. It's in Kensington near Holland Park and I really love the location. Notting Hill (Hanne's fave neighborhood!) is just a 10 minute walk...

This weekend I went up North to Crathorne. Tom and I took the train up on Saturday morning. After a light lunch in the Summer sunshine with his parents, we put on our "wellies" and took the dogs on a long walk through the English countryside! What fun for a city mouse like me :)

We came home in the late afternoon and went for a swim before heading to Crathorne Arms for a dinner. Crathorne Arms is the little village pub which has been around for ages. In fact, the whole town is rich in Tom's family history, and it was nice to have the perfect person show me around! The pub has all of these lovely old photographs of the village over the centuries and the people who have made an impact on it over the years. I really enjoyed hearing all of the stories that make Crathorne such a special place :)

Sunday morning we popped over to Crathorne Hall as I missed it during my first trip last year. Then we took the dogs on another long walk and came back to help his Mum prepare a fantastic Sunday meal! We picked some veggies from her garden and she made us pheasant and grouse! Since never having grouse before, I was warned that I most likely wouldn't like it and not to feel bad at all if that were the case. I psyched myself up to think it was going to taste like absolute dirt so the good news is that I was pleasantly surprised when I tried it :) It was quite tasty! Except for the first bite when I bit into the pellet that had killed the poor thing. Didn't like that so much.. was happy I didn't swallow it!

Tom and I headed back to London and made a pit stop to get my things from Emma's in St. Albans. The boys (including Em's boyfriend Christian) were little knights in shining armor to help me move my 3 suitcases and massive box to Kensington!

Now i'm here an all settled in... just wanted to give you an update!

lots and lots of love!!

I'm going to England to see the Queen!!

2008-07-29T09:45:00.001-07:00

Days Rained: 0
Pints Consumed: 2

Hello from the other side of the pond!! I've just arrived and finally have a chance to update everyone :) Friday morning I settled into the hotel and decided to go on a run... past High Street Ken, past Kensington Palace (Diana!) and into Hyde Park :) Despite it's reputation, London's weather has been delightful.. 70's and 80's and not a bit muggy as compared to NYC. I just need to get used to this celcius nonesense... although perhaps I should just get over that farenheit nonsense as the latter really IS nonsensical!

Anywhoo.... spent the afternoon running a few errands, etc. After a little kip I met a friend from India who is also working on a project in London, Vishal (see prior posts) for a celebretory pimms!! Simer, my cousin met us as well and we all went for dinner on my first night in London.

Saturday was set up day for the tradeshow that i am participating in so I did that and met some friends at Borough Market for the afternoon. I adore it there and instantly missed Christy who I know would have taken much better pictures than I did :( Borough Market is the best... it's filled with tons of food and great beer and everyone just drinks on the streets like they do in New Orleans! Fantastic!! Had dinner with Tom at v. cute restaurant near High Street Ken called Abingdon Arms..

Sunday was my first day at the show and overall it's been going well. I've made some good contacts with boutiques and press which is great. Sunday eve was bbq at Vishal's friend's house, last night I invited Emma to our fashion show event and tonight is dinner with Tom and Kiki and their cousins. So far I have plans every night this week! I'm having an absolute ball and thank God for that otherwise I'd be missing everyone so badly that I couldn't cope!!

I can be reached at 011 44 79482 87268... send me updates on you when you have a mo!

Lots of love xxxxxxx

Goodbye!

2007-12-06T05:14:00.000-08:00

I'm so sad!!! I can hardly believe my little journey has come to an end. I thought three months would be sufficient time to spend volunteering, travelling and with family; however, I've decided I easily could stay a solid year and STILL have so much of India to explore!

India is incredible. There is no way to describe it... It's quite a juxtaposition that you can only understand when you travel here yourself. It's absolutely brilliant and just aweful all at the same time. Rich and vibrant yet poor and dilapitated. The people are wonderful.. wholly spiritual and have such a strong sense of religious conviction. It's inspiring, really...

I've loved every bit of my trip and am already dreaming up the next reason for why I should come back. Anyone want to pay me to be their tour guide? ;)

I spent this week making the rounds to say goodbye to all of my Aunties and Uncles who have been so generous and have taken such good care of me while I've been here. Yesterday was Pitamber's birthday so we went to the farm with the kids, which was a great way to spend my last day here. My aunt Simrit has this beautiful home with a backyard full of geese, ducks, ginnea fowl and turkeys! Jazzy, Feodora and Veer were a little suspicious at first but warmed up to them after a bit :)

I also had to say goodbye to the sweet girls at Udayan Care with whom I've been working the last few months. I will miss them all very much, but will keep in touch via email so that is good.

I'm heading to london this weekend for one last hurrah! I have somehow accumulated a lot of friends there these last few months... I will most likely see them when I am in town so it will be fun to reminisce a bit about my lovely trip.

Heading back to New York on Monday. Albeit a little bittersweet, I am looking forward to seeing all of my friends back home!

Attached is a picture of me and the girls. Lots of love and will see you stateside!

Mussoorie

2007-12-02T04:29:00.001-08:00

Finally! I made it to Mussoorie :) I brought Tom along, Charty's brother, whom I met in England this past Summer. He was perfect company to join in on my Hymalayan adventure!

We left Delhi Tuesday morning and arrived in Dehradun early afternoon. We then took a taxi up through the windy streets to Mussoorie, 2.5 kilometers high! It was v. scary. Not very comforting was the fact in some areas, the barriers that were supposed to keep us from falling off the edge of the road were missing in the most treacherous of spots. Like maybe at one point someone wasn't so lucky? I dunno. Lucky for Tom, I had already bitten all of my nails off so they couldn't go any deeper into his thighs...

Nausea subsiding, we arrived at our hidden hideaway in the hills.... My Aunt and Uncle have the sweetest little rustic cabin in the woods that was too cute for words. We settled in, met Tikka Ram and his family (who take care of the house when no one is there), and went out for an afternoon walk.

Mussoorie is amazing. During the day if it's nice you can see the snow-capped Hymalayan Mountains in the distance. It is literally up in the clouds, so sometimes you see this mist which is actually a giant cloud creeping up over the hilltop. Mussoorie overlooks the Doon Valley and at night there are the twinkling lights of the town below, all under the sparkliest blanket of stars! Unbelievably pretty..

We came home from our walk and had some hot chai and watched the sunset from our cozy cabin. Tikka Ram made us dinner, then we had some wine and talked and headed to bed a little early so we could get a head start on our day!

Tuesday morning, Tom and I hiked 5 km down to the town of Mussoorie proper. It took a while as we kept stopping to take pictures and point at the monkeys. We had lunch in town, then walked Camel's Back Road in the afternoon... We were very lucky to have perfectly clear weather!

I decided if I ever lived in Delhi I would have to have a house in Mussoorie; It's just that simple. It's v. quiet and beautiful, and is the perfect respite for the crazy city.

I was sad to leave on Thursday, wishing I had more time up there to simply read and hang out. Our ride home was just as treacherous. At one point we passed a shell of a car that had once been engulfed in flames hanging off the cliff of the highway. I don't know how I missed it on the way up but better I did or I don't think I ever would have had that trip to Mussoorie!

Mussoorie was well worth the wait, especially because Tom was able to join me and I couldn't have asked for better company!

Pushkar Camel Fair

2007-11-12T05:34:00.000-08:00

I just returned back to Delhi after being at the Pushkar Camel Fair. They say this is one of the few things one needs to experience in their life, and I defintely agree! I had an absolute ball and my only regret is not being able to purchase a camel and bring him home with me to New York. I just wasn't sure he'd be able to fit in my apartment....

Pushkar is best known for it's annual camel fair where farmers travel far and wide to converge in the middle of a valley in the Rajasthani desert and set up a proper camel market. To entice buyers, farmers dress up their camels in all sorts of bells and whistles, and these funny old camels stand proudly in all of their glory hoping to be sold!

We also visited Pushkar's other famous sight- one of India's very few Brahma (the creator) temples. According to legend, the Gods released a swan that was holding a lotus flower. The flower fell upon Pushkar and up sprung a lake where Brahma was to hold a prayer/ sacrifice. Brahma's first wife, Savitri, put a curse on him so that he could only be worshipped there.

Rachel (my new friend from London) and I knew our trip wouldn't be complete without taking a camel ride up to the Brahma temple! What a way to travel.. I loved it and oddly, I felt quite comfortable on it :)

The other fun thing was that we stayed in tents in the desert, which was very charming during the day but bloody cold at night! Brrr.... Rach and I nearly died in a fit of giggles as I looked over at her buried under 5 blankets and a cashmere hoodie! I don't know if I could do it any longer than 3 days but it was all part of the experience. So was coming home and smelling like a camel, but hey... it's once in a lifetime they say..

Tikka

2007-11-11T09:09:00.000-08:00

Today my family gathered together for Tikka, during which the sisters in the family celebrate their brothers. It's really quite sweet :)

First my "cousin brother", Jassa, sat down and I put a little dab of saffron and rice on his forehead while we said a little puja (prayer) of well wishes to keep him safe. Then we offer something sweet (a little chocolate, sugar/ cardammom, etc.) Lastly we shower him with flowers and exchange a small gift-- a token of thanks for being our brother and protecting us throughout the year. In return, the brothers give their sisters some money as well. I did this, one by one, for each of my "brothers"... jassa, gobind, aman.. unfortunately ishy was in Amritsar and couldn't make it :(

I have to say the best part of the entire experience for me has been spending more time with my family. What is so amazing about India is the importance of family, and the how it is clearly the center of one's life. I am really, really, REALLY going to miss them all when I leave :(

2007-11-10T03:33:00.001-08:00

Diwali/ Agra - a photoset on Flickr

Diwali/ The Taj

2007-11-08T11:45:00.000-08:00

Happy Diwali! Any Indian would tell you the best time to visit would be during Diwali. I agree as the last week has been the most fun by far! I feel like Diwali is a mix between Fourth of July (fireworks), Christmas (gifting), New Year's (celebrating), and Spring Break in Vegas (gambling/ partying/ staying up until 4:30am for the past 10 days straight).

Historically, Diwali is a celebration "of lights" where people light up their homes with candles and lanterns and everything, everywhere is illuminated. They do this in honor of Ram's defeat of Ravan (who was that evil guy who kidnapped Sita). Nowadays people find it a great excuse to host "card" parties where people get together/ gamble/ party/ celebrate late until the morning hours.

On Sunday, my new friends Mandeep, Pritica, Elias and I went to a cards party that can ony be described as OTT (over the top). Flashing lights, Russian Dancers, Bollywood actresses performing, the host walking around with a harem of ladies- one to light his cigarettes and the other to hold his scotch and soda! There were million dollar rupee tables where people were placing bets as high as 25 lakhs (the equivilent of $60K) !! Rediculous. We stayed way longer than expected because the scene was just too funny! My pictures tell a the whole story so check them out. Needless to say my sides hurt from laughing all night long...

I'm exhausted from all of the fun, but Diwali is officially on the 9th- it hasn't even started yet! It really is a great, great time...

Goa - a photoset on Flickr

2007-10-30T23:39:00.000-07:00

Goa - a photoset on Flickr

Goa

2007-10-30T21:40:00.000-07:00

Here's what you need when you're in Goa:

Flip Flops
Bikini
Sarong
Soap

:)

I just spent 5 days (aka, not long enough) at Arambol Beach in Goa. Goa was originally a Portuguese settlement and is v.tropical. I met my old family friend, Neelima (our dads were best friends growing up in Delhi) on Friday and we drove up to Arambol- the Northest beach in Goa.

Goa/ Arambol is awesome.. totally laid back beach town, extremely affordable, and absolutely gorgeous. I could hardly believe I was still in India! When we met, we had absolutely no plans/ no idea where we were going to stay upon arrival in Arambol. We figured we would be able to sort all of that out once we arrived (are you getting the meaning of laid back?)

First of all, everyone is sooooo nice here. Our taxi driver took it upon himself to find us the perfect hut on the beach at which to stay. It was great! We were happy in our new home that cost us 250 rupees (divided by 2 = $3.10 a night) and promptly went to grab a bite to eat. The restaurant we went to the first night was right on the beach so we dug our toes into the sand and settled in- For the next 4 days I barely changed out of my swimmie suit/ sarong/ flip flops...

Nell and I decided that you could tell how long someone had been in Arambol by the length of their beard! I managed to get in a lot of sun and relaxation, which was perfect. Here's what I love about Goa:

Sunsets on the Arabian Sea
The Fruit Walla (aka little guy who sells pineapple, papaya, coconuts on the beach and will chop it up for you right there on your blanket..)
The Corner Store Owner who would let you take things on credit if you happened not to have any money at the moment (oh yes, you take, is good, you pay me tomorrow!!)

But the best part though, was spending time with Neelima and our long talks about everything under the sun- life, love, spirituality, whether or not one could remove dreadlocks from their hair without shaving their entire head, etc, etc.

Will post pics asap. Tonight is Maneesha's Sangeet, hooray!

Dussehra, etc...

2007-10-23T02:58:00.000-07:00

I'm enjoying another gorgeous, sunny and breezy afternoon on Charty and Ishmael's rooftop. We didn't get to Musoorie this weekend, which I was actually super bummed about because it was something I've wanted to do since I came to India in 2000. I am doing my best to reschedule but it seems like there is something going on every weekend in November! Have I mentioned that I can't believe how quickly time is flying??

Charty and I just came back from Mrs. Sharma's shop in Cannaught Place. Mrs. Sharma is this funny old lady with no teeth, but she makes fabulous garments from old sarees and things. Charty has been working with Mrs. Sharma for years and exporting her stuff to boutiques in England. Anyway, one of Charty's friend's boutiques is near Balmoral, soooo.... Prince Charles' wife (Camilla!) is now Charty's very important client! Anyway, I was thrilled because Charty let me come along and help pick out what she is going to send her. I mean, who gets to dress the Dutchess? How fun!

This weekend was Dussehra. Dussehra is a very popular Hindu festival, which marks the defeat of Ravana by Lord Rama. I, myself, find all of the Hindu God/ mythology stuff beyond confusing, but I try to keep up. Something like Ravana abducted Sita from Sri Ram and took her to Sri Lanka. And so this Ravana guy is like really extra terrible, right? So everyone celebrates by pitching huge Ravanas (20-100 feet high) in their neighborhoods and hook him up to explosives and watch him blow into bits while they cheer loudly and shoot off fireworks. It's all very exciting.

In burning the effigies the people are asked to burn the evil within them, and thus follow the path of truth and goodness (bearing in mind the instance of Ravana- who despite all his might and majesty was destroyed for his evil ways).

I quite enjoyed it.

Friday I am leaving for Goa (the beach) to meet Neelima which I am very much looking forward to. I am trying to decide if I can actually call it a vacation when I am already on vacation ??! Ahh, life is good. Just makes me realize how lucky I am for the opportunity. It is hard not to count your blessings here with all that surrounds you- both on either ends of the spectrum.

2007-10-18T22:02:00.001-07:00

Free Counter

2007-10-12T03:58:00.000-07:00

Week 6!!

I've definitely settled into a routine here, and already imagine it will be difficult to leave! Right now it's about 4ish and I am sitting outside on our verandah enjoying the breeze.. the weather is perfect these days. Warm and sunny in the daytime and cool at night..

It's funny how your perspective changes after some time... when i first arrived, I was overwhelmed with the amount of dirt and poverty around me. Now as I drive through the same streets I don't see any of that anymore, even though it's all still there. Now I notice how green Delhi is and how beautiful it is once you see past all of the grit. My first trip to the market I was in complete shock (although I didn't know it at the time), and now I'm totally at home.. bouncing from this shop to that one picking up the little things I need...

I had the most amazing time in Sunder Nagar market yesterday. I went to Mittel's tea shop to pick up a tea strainer (I'm slowly being Britanised) and ended up spending over an hour there talking to ex-pats and a nice Sardar who was on a spiritual journey through India. It's impossible not to make friends here, everyone is so welcoming!

So all and all I'm really, really enjoying life here. I am particularly liking volunteering at the medical clinic.. I have seen way more than I ever expected to-- yesterday I worked with a dentist and witnessed 4 teeth being pulled and 3 root canals..... on only TWO patients! Geesh.. I wont be skipping the floss routine anymore!

BUT there is a downside to all of this fun... last night I had a showdown with a mosquito in my room and it won. Seriously, I'm soooo over being scratchy. Kachina likes having me around because she says I'm good mosquito repellent. Yeah, because they're all too busy biting me!!!! :)

What else? Omigosh, ok. Earlier my grandmother mentioned she has some things of hers stored at my Auntie's house that she wanted me to have. So yesterday my Aunt came over with this old box that I swear was from the dawn of time. She gave me the key and I unlocked a whole treasure of old saris that are practically antiques.. nearly put me in tears thinking about her wearing them to parties when she lived here so long ago. I tried on a few of the cropped tailored blouses that were all dyed to match. They couldn't fit any better if they were made specifically for me. It was quite surreal. I called her immediately to tell her all about it..

I'm spending this weekend in Delhi with my cousins. I'm going to give Jan and Kanwarjit a break and stay at Ishmael and Charty's starting this weekend.. i'm pretty excited about spending more time with them. We're all going to Musoorie with the kids next weekend (which is in the foothills)... then probably to Bombay to meet Neelima on the 24th, Goa for the weekend and back to Delhi for Maneesha's wedding November 3rd. I can't wait to go to a proper Indian wedding! And now I have a trunk load of saris to wear! It's all so exciting! :)

Amritsar Part 1 - a photoset on Flickr

2007-10-04T02:12:00.000-07:00

Amritsar Part 1 - a photoset on Flickr

Amritsar/ Beas

2007-10-03T08:42:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I travelled to Amritsar, which is located in Punjab. It's crowning glory is the Sikh's Golden Temple. For me, Amritsar is special because it is the town where my grandmother was born and raised.

We departed on the Shatabdi train to Amritsar early Sunday morning. We arrived and settled into the house where my grandmother lived when she was a small girl. It's a great old six bedroom house, built in 1935. Kachina and I spent Saturday shopping for upholstery which we brought with us for all of the old sofas and chairs . It's a labor of love on her part for sure..

A fun tidbit... has anyone seen Bride and Prejudice? The house from the film is our neighbor's across the street and it was also the home where my grandmother was married! The movie is really cute and you should see it if you have the chance..

That night, after dinner at the house with some friends who were also in town, we went to the Golden Temple. The temple is covered entirely in gold, and is really breathtaking! I have been a few times before but it never ceases to amaze me how beautiful it is..

Monday we spent the afternoon touring. We went to Jallianwallah Bagh which was the site of a huge Sikh massacre where over 2000 people were killed in 1919. Then we tottered around Old Amritsar which is a maze of streets that are too narrow for even a car to drive! We stopped by at the home where my grandmother was born and spent some time with my uncle who still lives in their old house :)

Tuesday morning we rose early to view the Golden Temple in the morning light.. It was very peaceful as it was during the time of the morning prayers. We left early that afternoon headed for Beas by way of the Grand Trunk Road which links Kolkata to Afganistan. It is one of Asia's oldest and longest roads used as a trade route for centuries.

Beas is the headquarters of the spiritual group, the Radha Soamis. We were invited to visit the "compound," from our friend's aunt who lives there. I must say it was an interesting place to say the least. The entire town is subsidized by donations and volunteer work. Once completed, the library on site will have the largest compiliation of philisophical and spiritual works in the world. As well, they have an enormous Charitable hospital that is open to all for free health care and served hundreds of thousands of patients a year.

To me, their good work was over-shadowed by the fact that we were at a "compound" and had to surrender our cell phones to the "control room" when we arrived. I took a snapshot, and a militant guard confiscated my camera on the account that I may be a terrorist and could be plotting proper placement for bombs. Umm... paranoia much? It was just plain weird. No one confiscated my camera at the Golden Temple or when I went to the Vatican for that matter.... Seriously bizarre.

I will say; however, the landscape was lovely and I thoroughly enjoyed the views of the Beas river. It was an amazing stretch of flatland that I have yet to see anywhere else in the world. So pretty!

I'm back now and am already planning my next trip to Musoorie which is in the foothills of the himalayas! Will post Amritsar pics soon, Pitts has most of them on his camera...

2007-10-03T07:06:00.000-07:00

This week was filled with lots of exciting events.. I attended a restaurant opening at the Metropolitain Hotel, a wine bar launch at Baci, but the highlight of my week was being invited to the Prime Minister's house!

On Friday I was invited to Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh's home for a book launch.. Oh, my! Never have I ever felt like i had absolutely nothing to wear ;) My Aunt was so kind to come to the rescue and lend me a Sari for the occasion :)

The book was Mr. & Mrs. Dutt, a memoir of the actors turned political activists. It was quite remarkable that the Prime Minister supported the book and even opened his home to the press for the book's reveal. I was able to hear him speak, as well as Sonia Gandhi as well! (BTW, Sonia is the President of India's Congress Party. She is of no relation to Mahatma but rather India's first president Nehru, so very important nonetheless). Anyway, it was really a treat and I was grateful for the opportunity.

Another fun event this week was watching India defeat Pakistan in the final first ever Twenty 20 World Cup Cricket match! Their win over rival Pakistan was a victory in more ways than one to say the least... Quite honestly I was just celebrating because I managed to follow the game and have half a clue to what was going on! It's really quite fun :)

More importantly though, I've started working at the Delhi Commonwealth Women's Association- http://www.dcwaindia.com/. The DCWA has a clinic that offers medical care for those who can not afford it. They pay a nominal fee (10 rupees, which is the equivalent of .25 cents). This way, the patients feel a sense of value for the service. In addition, they do not feel indebted to anyone and/ or feel they are receiving charity. It's really amazing, actually.

The doctors and nurses on hand are all volunteers. Many of them are retired and spend a few hours a week helping out. I will have the opportunity to work with them and assist in any way possible. So far I've been exposed to a lot, and have found it very interesting and rewarding.

I can hardly believe I have already been here a month and a third of my trip is over-- there is still so much I want to do!

Jaipur/ Ajmer - a photoset on Flickr

2007-09-18T04:38:00.000-07:00

Jaipur/ Ajmer - a photoset on Flickr

2007-09-18T03:02:00.000-07:00

Jaipur/ Ajmer

As I am writing, I can hear the sound of a little conch shell man who blows to signal the start of his puja, or prayers... Fitting, after my trip to Ajmer...

This weekend my new friends Maneesha, Richie and Vishal took me to Jaipur and Ajmer. We left early Saturday morning and made our way to Jaipur by early afternoon. Our first stop was the Anokhi Museum, which is a museum that features the rich history in Indian textiles and block printing. I was particularly fond of it because I've seen the imports working in fashion over the years. We had the chance to see how it all began, and also tried to do it ourselves. This is definitely an acquired skill and is much more difficult than it looks!

We drove through Jaipur, and past Amber fort which I had seen during my last trip to India. We stopped a little along the way to shop, etc. Lunch was at a fairly nice Indian restaurant called "On Toes." Seriously. Something is definitely lost in translation on that one...

Our afternoon and evening in Jaipur was really lovely.. I enjoyed meeting more of Maneesha's friends and staying out too late despite needing to get up the next morning at 6am!

We had a little bit of a late start to Ajmer, but it was worth it! We arrived and met our guide, a friend of Richie's and direct decendant of the Sufi Saint for which Dargah Ajmer was built.

I have to say Ajmer was one of the most spiritual places I have ever been! Khwaja Saheb was a Sufi Saint who's motto was "love towards all malice towards none." Today, his shrine is open to people of all walks of life and faiths from all over the world, irrespective of caste, creed and beliefs.

When we arrived, I was given a basket full of roses to put on my head as we walked into the shrine. These were thrown in as an offering... the smell of rose oil filled the room, it was amazing! Next we were given a blessing and a small piece of string to tie to a silver post to make a wish. Followers believe if the wish comes true within one year, you must return and untie your string!

Another thing I found interesting were the Degs. These were massive cauldrons that were used to cook rice to feed 5000 people. It is cooked by the individual devotees in fulfilment of their vows and is distributed among the devotees and the poor.

After walking aound the area for some time, we finally headed back to Jaipur. On our way back, we ate parathas at a little rest stop... i'm definitely conditioning my belly!! So far, so good....

We got back to Jaipur and spent the rest of the evening playing Carrom. Carrom is an Indian game that is very similar to pool except that you use your fingers to fling the "coins" in the pockets. Super fun.. even if I wasn't very good :)

We made it back to Delhi Monday morning (finally!) after a flat tire and slow moving traffic (ie, camels and buffalo)!

Many thanks to Maneesha, Richie and Vishal for being so patient and going on a proper camel chase so I could take the perfect picture!

India 07 - a photoset on Flickr

2007-09-14T07:04:00.000-07:00

India 07 - a photoset on Flickr

September 14th, 2007

2007-09-14T04:08:00.000-07:00

Hello from India!!

I arrived a little over a week ago after a lovely weekend in London! I've been warmly received by everyone in my family :) It's nice to be able to spend time with them as our visits are usually few and far between...

So far I've been staying with my Aunt and Uncle in Sunder Nagar, which is a nice little neighborhood pretty centrally located to all things Delhi. Overall, life here is pretty good. I've been relaxing a lot as there is loads of help around the house (my meals prepared, room tidied up, drivers to take me around the city, etc., etc..) I've already read two books (ps- read the Kite Runner if you haven't already!!!) and I've decided I'm going to return home 500 pounds heavier from all of the delicious food i've been eating! The weather has been surprisingly delightful, only in the 80's or so, which is refreshing!

I've started volunteering at a home for orphaned girls. There are 11 altogether, ages 6-16. They are all very bright and sweet; I look forward to getting to know them better!

I have enough time to volunteer two places. I'd also like to get involved in an organization that works in health care to some capacity. This is still to be decided upon, but will keep you posted!

My cousins have all been taking me out and showing me Delhi :) Last weekend we went to this place called Aqua and it reminded me of being at the Delano on South Beach. Not bad..

Wednesday I went to Chandni Chowk with my cousin Kachina. Chandni Chowk is the Old Delhi market. You can pretty much find anything under the sun there.. We went to find some candles for our friend Maneesha's wedding this October. I can't even tell you how much fun it was!! Seriously, every single one of your senses is stimulated in a place like that.. we rode a rickshaw and thought I could die at any moment.. i loved every bit of it! It really is a different world!

I'm going to Jaipur and Ajmer with some friends I've already made this weekend! I've never been to Ajmer, so I'm pretty excited about that. It's best known to be the holiest Muslim pilgrim center after Mecca. Will post pics as soon as I'm back!

Ok, that's the long and short of it... I've posted a few pics at the top of this blog. I will do my best to keep you posted as my adventure continues.. just wanted to say hello and i wish you all were here with me! I hope everyone is well back home!

My address/ phone number is:

120 Sunder Nagar

Delhi, India 110003

011 91 98 71947565

sabrinasingh00@hotmail.com