Happy Birthday....to me!

Hello Dear Readers,

Yesterday was my 29th birthday and what a wonderful day it was! First, unexpectedly, I got a lovely card from all my friends at the Natural History Museum and THEN they sang Happy Birthday To You. In the middle of free tea Fridays in the tea room. Though my back was to the rest of the room, apparently the director of science was there too and joined in. How fantastic! I believe I turned a brilliant shade of crimson, but it was really lovely to see how many friends I've made there in such a short time.

Shortly after my good friend from Graduate School who lives in Cambridge arrived.

Here she is, 9 months along and still has the energy to come down here and celebrate my birthday with me, what a trooper! We had an amazing day, I showed her around the back scenes at the museum (while she checked out every ladies bathroom......;-) ) and then we went up to High Street Kensington for a little Starbucks and some shopping. Later we met up with some friends at the Museum at a pub, but then had to dash off to dinner at a vegan place.

With us were Jess, Patrick, Chris, Molly, and a friend from work, Hannah, who made it all the way out despite having to pop out early because of another engagement (and I forgot to take a photo till after she left). Thanks for coming Hannah!

The food was great but the service extra slow, maybe that was just because we knew there was birthday cake waiting at home! We just made the 74 bus and rode it home and then devoured the extra special Lindon Family Traditional Birthday Cake which I made with ingredients Patrick smuggled in when he went to the US for Thanksgiving (and which I had snuck in last year to surprise Patrick).

Finally, I got tons of really sweet presents and excellent cards (Patrick and Jeff going the extra mile to personalize the cards for me...)

I love March because it means I get to stop washing my face with Coal Tar soap and start using lovely Lush products again! A friend suggested I have my own Lush spa day and I think that's exactly what I'll do today! Special bath, face mask, moisturize my skin, wash with 9-5 and toner, then finish off with a little massage on my legs which are sore from running to work 3 days last week. Notice the pair of socks I bought yesterday at UniQlo specifically for running in. They have a L and a R! No more aching feet..... I hope.

I have been working Saturdays and Sundays since December, but today I'm taking THE WHOLE WEEKEND OFF which so far has been amazing and it's only 11 am.... beautiful sunny day, I'm going to go hang the laundry out back and perhaps take a walk by the river. I may even have time for TWO posts this weekend!

Thanks for all the lovely birthday wishes everyone, and a special shout out to Susan Clarks's mother who I found out reads this blog! I think that brings the readership up to 5? I'm doing better than Car Talk!

The end is neigh...

Hello Dear Readers,

Riding the bus can be a pretty interesting thing, you see all kinds of people with all kinds of ideas about what is appropriate behaviour in public and what isn't.

There is talk here about putting cell phone signal on the underground. Now for those of you (I am mainly talking to you in the US) that aren't familiar with public transportation, one of the most annoying things is someone speaking loudly into their phone. Overheard in the past month by me alone was a woman who for 20 min kept picking up her phone, yelling "I'm not talking to you, I'm not talking to you, I'm hanging up, I'm hanging up" Hang up. Repeat. A woman with a very strong speech impediment seemingly deliberately choosing to use words she couldn't say properly and the person on the other line couldn't understand, so that she kept saying them over and over, louder and louder, spitting as she spoke. And there was the time I got on the bus and at the next stop a woman got up, turned to the woman behind her and said "If you don't want to hear people talking on their phones then you need to get a car or take a taxi cab because this is public space" and walking off. Apparently she had been loud on her phone and the other woman asked her to tone it down and she offended by that.

My question is, in all the interviews where they ask people their opinions about cell signal on the tube, everyone says they don't want to hear other people talking on their phones, but where are all these people that we hear talking? How come they are never interviewed? I suppose it's only other people's conversations we don't want to hear, not our own.

Finally, yesterday while getting off the bus, I saw a baby in a stroller. The baby was lying down, so she couldn't have been older than a year, but she was holding in her two hands her mommy's iPhone, and watching a movie. I would not have been surprised to see her flick through the YouTube selections with her chubby finger after her video was over......

Doing his mother proud.

Hello Dear Readers,

Been another busy few weeks here across the pond, I've been gymming, knitting, cleaning, digitizing specimens etc. But most of all enjoying the knitting! I have a list twice as long as my arm of projects to do and with the bus rides and knitting groups I've been getting through it. I finally finished both monkeys.

Here they are hanging off Chris who is dressed sharp for his Visa photo to come to the US (yes, everyone needs a visa to visit the US even for vacation, CRAZY!)

Yesterday was Chris's 31'st birthday, as a lovely gift I got him some hair loss tonic. It shows I care! Pat, Chris and I all went to a great little Persian place near our house and had an amazing meal.

Today I did my knitting class in the morning and have been chilling out this evening at home, knitting and cooking. I was in the kitchen when I heard a strange sound, a kind of high buzzing whine, when I went up to investigate I found this:

Patrick doing a serious clean of his room, using the crevice tool and everything! Mom, this photo is for you.

Happy Blogiversary to Me!

Hello Dear Readers,

The 10th of February was a very special day for me. That's right, it marks ONE YEAR since I posted this about my troublesome trip to the UK. Well, I've been here for one year now and what a fun time it's been! It's so nice to be able to look back over my year of posts and pictures and see how far I've come, from no job to my dream of working at Kew to my new position at the British Natural History Museum. I was floored by a cold for the last week so I've been pretty lazy and have no pictures to post but I have been busy having fun and knitting up a storm, so many deadlines to meet. Chris and I went to see Totem which was AMAZING. Really inspiring, makes me want to kick up my yoga a bit. Then we went to a great vegan reesturant in South Kensington, dangerously close to my work..... I'm just relaxing at home today te shake the remnants of my cold, but plan to be back a the gym starting tomorrow.

Hope you guys have enjoyed reading my blog as much as I enjoy writing it, and most of all hearing from you.

Here's to another good year of posting. I managed 67 last year, that's at least once a week, not too bad!

Knit-o-Rama

Hello Dear Readers,

I know, I know, long time no post. Been busy this month with working 6-7 days a week (plus taking Greek lessons on Thursdays, at last!) but I am feeling a bit rough today so I'm taking it easy and working from home today. Taking a break from work though I thought I'd update you on my craft activities.

You may remember this yarn from this post almost a year ago that Patrick gave me for my birthday. I have been working on this cardigan since August, designing, knitting, ripping, knitting, repeat and finally finished two weeks ago. It's so light and lovely, but still warm since it's cashmere and silk. Love wearing it, but I'm still a bit nervous that I'm going to snag it on something, or that I will spill sauce on it!

Here is another finished item, a little shrug made out of what was left over from Odie's sweater
And this fun little guy who is very naughty and keeps appearing all over the house; i.e. in Patrick's bed, in my closet etc....... naughty monkey! My mother sent me the yarn and patterns for making sock monkeys and I am loving it. After finishing this one I cast on right away for the baby version. They are going to a friend of ours in Cyprus who is having her second son in April.

Big plans this weekend as Chris and I are going to see Cirque du Solei's new production, Totem. It is at Royal Albert hall and we are going with our friends Molly and George from Graduate school. Afterwards we are going to a vegan resturant, hooray!

Last post about Cyprus

Hello Dear Readers,

Made it back from Cyprus last week safe and sound, but from the time the plane hit the ground I was off running, back to work, back to the gym, back to Kew on Sat's and teaching knitting on Sun so I've been too busy to post properly. Chris and I moved rooms over the holiday and now we are in the spacious upstairs room that used to belong to my brother (he's moved his huge stash of clothes, books, video games etc into the largest room, he needs it!). The upshot is that Chris has space for his desk and computer and I have a horizontal space for my sewing machine and crafting. Yay! It's the perfect amount of space for us, photos to follow. It also means we have lots more room for visitors, including a pull out futon in Patrick's room (Hint Hint HINT!).Here are some of the last images I took in Cyprus. The Epiphany is a really big deal there, and the Archbishop of all Cyprus comes to Paphos (he's from there anyway) and throws the celabratory cross into the sea, which crazy young men dive in after. I have no idea what this is supposed to symbolize, but it's a rip roaring good time with a band, marching naval ensigns, cotton candy and popcorn sellers, the works.
In the afternoon Chris and I took one last drive in the mountains. We saw donkeys and goats, and this amazing waterspout over the sea at sunset. It's a little hard to see because the sunset lighting was poor, but towards the left of center is a dark bit of cloud that extended all the way to the sea. Pretty neat sight!

All in all it was an ok trip, but all the family obligations we had, not to mention staying with my mother in law for two weeks, meant I was REALLY glad to come back to my own house and my own space.

We may be going back at Easter time, we'll have to see. For right now I'm enjoying finishing off my blue laceweight sweater, making a prodded rug for Patrick's new bathroom, and knitting up some sock monkeys for some friends of ours who are expecting their second child in April. Never at a loss for somethin to do.

Cheers!

More Holiday Fun

Hello Dear Readers,

Another whirlwind week in progress here at our holiday house in sunny Cyprus. After recovering from New Years, Chris and I took a fantastic hike on a trail in the north-west peninsula known as the Akamas region. There is a sort of nature preserve there with four hiking trails. We took a 7.5 km one that started out going pretty much straight up a hill, what would in Texas probably be classed as a mountain. It did afford us spectacular views of the bay of Lachi which this photo hardly does justice to (yay for dipping into my 2011 photos now, love that fresh feeling of a new year!).
It got pretty warm hiking and I was down to just a tank top - I know Chris will not like the plunge back into the London cold next week! We saw some pretty good flora, including lots of cyclamins which are my favorite.

We also saw this strange new bush with unusual berries.......(the picture isn't great so I'll tell you they are shells from shotguns)
We heard quite a few gunshots while we were out, and even ran into a jeepload of hunters. I was repeating "don't shoot don't shoot" as we were hiking but as I don't know how to say it in Greek it probably didn't make a difference one way or another..... When we got to the top there was a large stone structure and some ruins, it looked like an old church or monestary, with a few remnants of paintings on walls still visable. I took some of the stones that had fallen off the ruined walls and put them back on - every little helps as they say in England.

Another day we went to the little botanic gardens that is set up here, but to be honest it was pretty dissapointing, mislabeled plants and very small gardens. We were also the only people there, I think they were preparing for some big event because the tavern was set up with chairs draped in white fabrices, but no one seemed to pay us much attention anyway.

One of my favorite things to do in the world is to finish things, specifically craft projects. Chris's mom has had these needlepoint projects in her closet certainly as long as I've been coming to Cyprus, and most of them were started when Chris's sister was 5 or 6.

This time I decided to really get cracking on finishing some. We took a trip to the local habadashary to see if they had some of the same yarn, the woman said whoah those are really old, we don't carry that knid of thread anymore but you can try a shop called Evros. We went there and took a look and lo and behold he still had most of the colors I needed! I asked about the white for the background and he said evyerthhign I have is there because the factory stopped making that kind of yarn a long time ago. I may very well be the last person that buys that kind of tapeestry thread off of him.
As of the writing of this blog I'm just about done with the one with the girl in the white background....... no idea really what I will do with them but they were just calling out to me to be finished and liberated from their bag in the back of the closet. If you see anything you like feel free to call dibs! I can make it up into a pillow, or it can be framed, turned into a bag.... you name it.

Finally on Tuesdsay we caught some of the solar eclipse that was visable here. I tried to take a photo of it but it didn't turn out at all. Here is chris checking it out behind the safety of some polarised glass he has just for that purpose.
I never saw a proper solar eclipse before, even a partial one like this. It was pretty special.

Tomorrow is the Epiphany, the last day of Christamas and an important day here in the holiday calander. We are going to try to get up early enough to watch them throw a cross into the sea an see a bunch of grown men swim after it to try to catch it..... not sure what that achieves but it'll be a good cultural experience anyway. After that we are driving to the capital to see Chris's sister and her family, in the quiet of their own home instead of the craziness of the holiday.

Home again home again on the 9th....looking forward to it. I like being here on vacation and learning lots of Greek, but there really is no place like home!