My own home

 Hello Dear Readers,

Life is settling in very nicely for our new flat, we have our chores set out (I do cooking, laundry and the bathroom, Chris is SUPPOSED to vacuum and do the bills, Patrick, well, Patrick is still the baby I suppose.....)

There is still a bit of work to be done though, we suspect the people who lived in the flat before we did made absolutely no improvements, and when something broke they just left it.  We replaced a window handle that didn't work, and glued the frame of the bathroom mirror back together (it was being held up by a DVD).  I have the electrician in right now in fixing the bathroom exhaust fan. It is very important in a ground floor flat with an interior bathroom to be able to vent some air out!!

We are also getting a plumber in to deal with the leaky kitchen tap and the fact that it is almost impossible to balance the hot and cold water in the shower.  I have no idea why someone would even put in a shower tap that didn't work, or why other people would live with it so long, but there are a lot of things in foreign countries that you just have to accept and move on.  Or call a plumber.  And in fact we will probably end up replacing the tub at the same time since it has a crack in it already, and I would hate to have to rip it out again if it starts leaking.  Then I got a brainwave, if we have to replace the tub anyway, how much more will it cost to get a jacuzzi?!?  He's looking into it now..... hey, it's my own place I can do what I want!!

We get to spend the evenings in our lovely living room, which after living in a tiny room I shared with Chris for 3 years is a real treat.  Of course now the boys want to get a nice flat screen digital tv...... sigh.  I've also been motivated to start up P90X again since I have all this space behind the couch.  It also looks out onto the trees of the parking lot, so it's not a bad workout in the morning.

 The best thing for me about the new place is of course the kitchen!  It's my own little heaven, full sized dishwasher, washing machine, two ovens and PLENTY of storage space.  Here I am below with a carrot I found that looks like it has a face...

I've been pretty busy with work as well, in fact I worked both days this weekend, but fortunately have a small break this morning as the electrician is here.  This Friday though Patrick and I are going to Thorpe Park AGAIN!  I know, twice in a month?  What am I like?!!  And I'm buying the super express pass so I can get as many turns on the upsidedowny coasters as possible.  It's so going to rock.

By the way some of you may know that my mother lives in Colorado, specifically Longmont.  She was hit by the flooding, but only the basement was filled with water and sewage, so the rest of the house is salvageable.  Of course all of my father's collection of political memorabilia is gone, and all of my childhood stuff that was stored down there, but she had a lot less damage than many of her neighbors, and the house is still intact.  I'm trying to convince them to put in a home theater now, since they have to redecorate ANYWAY.  Some rows of cushy seats, a projector, popcorn maker and kegorator....... a lot more useful than a bunch of old buttons and a signed Micky Mantle baseball, right?!

Hope everyone is enjoying the last of the summer and getting exited about fall, the Knitting season.

Cheers.

What I did on my Summer Vacation

Hello Dear Readers,

I realize I've been a bit MIA this summer, but to be honest I've almost been too busy to blog, this is the first time I've caught a break!

When I last left you I was still desperate to move house, my sister was still pregnant, it was still August........ well.......
 Check out this sexy moving man, oh and my brother on the left.  We moved!!  on the 2nd of August, and not a moment too soon as we had to be out of the old house at the beginnig of the week and the new house had to be cleaned and the old house had to be cleaned.  Chris and I rented a van which was ok except for when the key broke and there was a massive cycle race along the way the next day when we returned it.  Sigh. Next time we are hiring a company to do the cleaning and the moving for us!!

We managed in just THREE van loads and two car loads (thanks to amazing helpers Jo Kelly (pictured below with fellow box-putter-in-the-van-no-take-it-out-put-it-in-the-not-broken-van helper Lizzy) and the amazing Katherine from knitting and her new car pictured left.  I may have bribed them with cookies and muffins.  I think that's the only reason Jo came.  Lucy also helped but had to dash off before I got a photo but Patrick was majorly impressed with how she managed to climb almost entirely into his closet to clean out the mold.

 The new place is amazing and I'll have to do an entire blog post about it, but suffice it to say that I'm in heaven.  Chris and I even splurged on a NEW mattress which is pocket sprung, wrapped in real sheep's wool and covered in organic cotton.

We also had our first visitor in our new house, my good high school friend Jennifer Imamura, this is her second visit to me, I'm so lucky to live in the world's crossroads.  We went and saw the famous Canterbury Cathedral the first weekend, well worth the Pilgrimage and the hype.  The following weekend when Jennifer was done with her conference we walked a very rainy day around Barnes and enjoyed the Nepalese place just next door to our flat.  Sunday we walked all around South Kensington and Chelsea and saw the beginning of Wagner's Persival at the PROMS in Royal Albert Hall.

 Monday Jennifer and I explored the nearby Ham House, an almost perfectly preserved 17th century manor house, which was the scene for many a BBC period drama, including Sense and Sensibility.  I really love these National Trust sites they have here in England, I must get myself a membership and see more of them!! Anyone fancy a Jane Austen film site tour??


Tuesday Chris came with us when we took a Thames Clipper boat down the river to Greenwich, home of Greenwich mean time and the prime meridian!  We stood on the eastern hemisphere and western hemisphere AT THE SAME TIME. Thrilling.

But wait.  There's more.

Monday I played hooky from work and went with some girlfriends to Thorpe Park, our local amusement park.  I don't think I've been on a roller coaster since Worlds of Wonder in Amarillo, so I was THRILLED.  We had a really great time, despite being the only people there over the age of 20 but without children...... there is nothing like being an adult and being able to skip work and go ride some rides on a Monday.  I may go back at the end of the month, I can't help myself, it's TOO fun!

You see that big swoopy one on the right that goes upside down corkscrew first thing?  Yeah, we did that right off the bat. Front row.  I was flying.

I really didn't think life could get better than this, but it did last night at 7:11 GMT (that's 2:11 central) when Clara Mai-Lin Wu arrived by emergency c-section at 6 lbs 12 oz and 21 inches.

Now most of you know I'm not a baby person, but really, I have to say she is the most beautiful baby I have ever seen.  I mean, look at those CHEEKS!

Can you stand it?  I hope she loves wool.  Well really, she doesn't have a choice, I am her only auntie and I have to make the most of it!

So that's been my summer break. Lack of internet in the new house and just plain enjoying myself has meant I haven't posted in a while, but I do plan on getting back into it.  I've just got a lot on my plate now, knitting Christmas presents, working a paper for work, having a column in a new journal on willows, oh, I didn't mention those things?  Well it will just have to wait, this post is too jam packed!!!

Cheerio! 

Let's go to the Mall!

Hello Dear Readers,

As a natural consequence of my new obsession with fashion blogs and videos, coupled with the fact that this slow house buying buisines is making me so cranky I can't even stand myself, I decided to take myself out this weekeend.  One of the blogs I watched showed that H&M is running a promotion where when you bring in a bag of clothes to donate they give you 5 pounds off of a 30 pound purchase (or 15% off one item in the US).  Hmm, clearing out old clothes before the move AND finally replacing my holy skinny jeans while AT THE SAME TIME saving money?  Sold! 

I also had 5 Lush pots from the lovely gift set Chris got me last Christmas, which I'm still very much enjoying, so I was planning to turn those in to get a free fresh face mask.   A quick email to a friend who very handily lives a 10 min walk from the mall and I am set!  I cycled up there and spent an enjoyable few hours trying on every pair of jeans in the place, while scoping out all the other goodies too.

Since I knew I had to get up to 30 GBP worth of stuff, I kind of turned it into a treasure hunt, finding exactly what I needed and knew I would use.  In the end I got some slim jeans to replace the ones that had embarassing holes in the ah-hem region, a lovely new top with lace panels (since we are still having a decent summer with temps in the 80's), a semi-statement necklace (which I will sitll be able to wear when the trend for statement necklaces is gone) and some faux tortoiseshell hair snaps, which I think look better in my brown hair than the silver ones.  To top off the day, we had lunch at Yo-Sushi!, one of those places where the sushi goes around on a little conveyor belt.  Since I saved 2.80 on transport by cycling, 5 for bringing in my bag of clothes and 5 on the fresh face mask, lunch practically paid for itself!

To top off the evening I soaked in a long bath with a Lush Twilight Bath bomb, suds-ed up with their Turkish delight body wash, and washed with their Angels on Bare skin facewash and had a Brazened Honey face mask, finished with their Celestial moisturizer.  Sigh.  I love my Lush box, the Christmas gift that keeps on giving.

I also wore my new outfit to work today and felt like a million bucks.  I'm not usually an advocate of retail therapy, but new clothes without holes or stains and fashionable new jewelery, well it can really lift a person's spirits.
 
This weekend felt sort of like a vacation because our two other housemates are away and it's just the three of us at home, so we can relax and not worry about being too loud or bothering other people by taking extra long baths or singing Little Mermaid at the top of our lungs in the kitchen.  For example.  In the spirit of being on a "stay-cation" (and speaking of gifts that keep on giving) I broke into my birthday present from Patrick this year, my emergency knitting kit to make a bicycle seat cover!!  It was a perfect project for a hot weekend in watching the end of the Tour de France, no?

Tah dah!  EVEN Patrick and Chris approved, and let me tell you they are hard to please.  Oh and they liked my clothes, also a rarity. 

 So I'm feeling a lot more chipper today than I was on Thursday when I out crankied myself and decided to do something about it.  We will move. Soon.  At this point it's just nice to take advantage of being able to pack and clean and tidy up slowly.




Patrick and I packed up the bike stuff in the office together, which was a great little achievement, and I packed up the bookshelf in my room (plus the bonus of two bags to H&M, let's not forget) AND my bedskirt to my friend who I went shopping with AND...... I have a friend who is supposed to pick up an extra duvet.  Soon I hope.  Now I just need to get Patrick to turn in those X-BOX games we went through in exchange for Portal, or maybe a party game......


Hope everyone is enjoying the summer!  I'm back to getting a veg box delivered every week and enjoying fresh salad and tons of fruits and veg. And making fruit smoothies in the morning without disturbing other housemates!   SUMMER!

Cheers!

Back in the saddle again.....

Hello Dear Readers,

Just like riding a bike.  These aren't euphemisms, I'm back to cycling again!  Hooray!  It's been two months since my surgery and I'm officially back to cycling.  (Except tomorrow I have to go to NORTH LONDON to meet with our solicitor so I'm on the train.  The house is close... so close! But North London is so far......). 

 Isn't she a beauty?  I had Chris check my wound before and after a test cycle on Sunday, then I wound around the neighborhood like a 9 year old again.  Afterwards I cleaned my bike off with soapy water and a rag in the front 'garden'.  London car wash. Morning commutes are again a thing of beauty, it's so lovely with the warm weather, and there are hardly any cars on the road since people are on summer vacation.  How I've missed it.  I'm so lucky to be able to cycle to work.

I've also become slightly addicted to beauty videos, only slightly more of a guilty pleasure than Vampire Diaries.  Three girls in particular I'm watching, Michelle, Elle and Blair, all apparently giants in the YouTube vlogger world.  I especially love Elle's home organization tours and Michelle's creative nail polishing (the clouds! 2 min 47 sec in).  Dont' worry, I'm not going to start applying foundation and false eyelashes every day, but it's kind of fun to live vicariously through them, pretend like they are your girlfriends that you are having a chat to when you want a girly night in of pampering. 

Watching these videos has given  me a lot of ideas though some of which will be coming to the blog soon, if I can swing it!

One that I have acted on already is to try to rid my face of these terrible hyperpigmentation marks on my forehead, the side of my eyes and my upper lip (you have to look closely in these photos, but they are there).  I look like I'm rockin' a 'stache!  A consequence of a childhood spent running around outside all day, lots of field work early in my career, and lets not forget Texas.  The sun.  The wind.  Ugh.  Of course I wear sunblock NOW, but it's already too late.

I started on the lowest shelf at Boots (Think CVS) and bought their store brand face serum promising to rid me of these marks.  I'm applying it to the left side of my face morning and night, so we'll see if I actually make progress.  I'll let you know.

Anyway, hope everyone is enjoying the summer.  I miss the apartment in Richmond with a pool on the roof at times like this.  We are having a 'heat wave' with temperatures up to 86 degrees!!  Hot dog! 

Cheers.

Henly-on-Thames Royal Regatta - At Last!

Hello Dear Readers,

You may (or  may not, as some of you I fear have yet to discover the joys of the RSS feed)  have  missed me last weekend.  The truth is it was so beautiful I didn't have the heart to sit inside and blog.  Chris and I walked all the way to Barnes on Sunday, which is quite close to our new flat and had a lovely day out pretending we had already moved there.  We visited all the cute little shops and admired the French and Italian cafe's with their outdoor seating.  We chatted with local sales clerks about how lovely it is to be in Barnes.  Sadly, we are not much closer this week to being in our new flat, but the Bank's solicitors have assured us that they only received the paperwork on the 4th of July (they received it June 30 according to the tracking number, but whatever).  Congrats and shoutouts to my friends Adam and Melch who have managed to move in to the condo they bought in CA, well done!

This past week I indulged in two days of Holiday for the 4th of July and went to NOT see Patrick race at Henley-on-Thames royal regatta. Something I meant to do every year I was here and just now got around to.  Above is a photo of Thames boat 'A' who made it to Friday's race...

 Sadly Patrick's boat (Thames 'B') did not, but then they drew the boat favored to win so it was no surprise they lost on Wednesday.  Thames 'B's loss was our gain though, as it meant Patrick got to hang with use at the Remenham club.  Pronounced not remen-ham as it's spelled, but more mumbled as a one syllable word like remenom, though I can't do it properly since I'm not English.

 For the first time ever I went to a public event with a dress code, much like Ascot's horse-race, ladies are advised to wear hats, and they MUST wear a dress to the knee.  Men wear jackets, ties and slacks.  The men were allowed to take their jackets off this year because it was actually warm, but not the ties.  Chris didn't have a jacket so we went shopping on Thursday and got him this lovely tweed number from TopShop, where Matt Smith (current Dr. Who) I think does a lot of his shopping.  This coat, with a red bow tie would be very Doctor-y, and frankly that's just a bit sexy to me.

 I'm wearing my favorite new dress with starts on it, pearl necklace and earrings, and my hat, also from TopShop.  Very conservative, very English.  Some women went all out in the hat department
as you can see here.  I think this is a wig, but I'm sure these are two tiny oars she had sticking out of it...

 And this woman I Kinneared on the train on the way to Henley.  It isn't so clear in this shot, but there is a full on bird sitting atop her fascinator, and how fascinating it is.  Turns out she's the friend of a rower on Patrick's team, small world!  Well, I suppose as big as the world of English rowing anyway.......

 Chris and I really enjoyed our day out, and everyone was in high spirits.  Mosley's team even went for the traditional pyramid shot, this was attempt two, and I managed to get the photo just before they all tumbled down again.

I've been enjoying the nice weather here, it's gotten up to the 80's just about (27 C yesterday) and I'm loving it.  I've invented a new soft serve vegan ice cream, which I call call Go Banana's!.  It's frozen banana, pureed with a tiny bit of milk (almond, coconut, soy, anything really) sprinkled with some chocolate chips and swirled with some Reese's' Peanut Butter that I snagged at TKMaxx (that's not a typo, that's what it's called here). The warm weather is also bringing out all the neighbors which is lovely.  We have two kids that moved in next door and they are so inquisitive and friendly, a refreshing change from most English who feel it is polite to pretend like they can't see you.  When I said my dad had been in the army, he said in all earnestness, "Does he carry a spear?!"  when i told him, no of course not, he corrected, remembering that I said my Dad HAD been in the Army, he said, "Oh, well did he USED to carry a spear?"..  I hated to disappoint him.  Maybe he thinks my dad was a Roman centurion?

Hope everyone had a lovely 4th of July holiday, and to my English friends, how about this weather?  I'm watching Battlestar Galactica at the moment, otherwise I'd be outside every waking moment.  Happy birthday shout out to my friend Nina, who had a lovely picnic in Regent's Park for her birthday yesterday (I made her cashmere socks, just realized I forgot to photograph them, meh.)
Cheerio!

The way I'd like to remember weekends

Hello Dear Readers,

This weekend was pretty great. I did all the laundry between Friday and Saturday, including all the sheets and even Patrick's extra duvet cover, which was looking a little bit like a place mat since Patrick often eats on his bed in front of the TV.  Naughty! Not gonna happen when we get a proper table in the new place, whenever that is, still no news on moving grrr! At least I love using the clothesline in the garden to wash sheets etc.

But anyway, laundry done, Saturday was a bit overcast so I didn't feel guilty staying in and finishing up my latest sweater (voila!)  Ooops, boob shot, the next one was better, forgot to set the timer on the top one.

It's the minimalist cardigan from Interweave 2007 magazine, sent to me by Jennifer Imamura, thanks Jennifer!  That's the 3rd thing I've knit from it.....
The sweater is also special because the wool came from the mother of a co-worker who is moving her out of her home into care.  She had a huge wool stash and my friend kindly brought it in to share around the Herbarium.  I got this lovely brown and lots of nice grey wool.  I'd like to do another cardigan, but I'm afraid I'm getting too many handknit sweaters, anyone want a handknit sweater?  Or this cardigan?  Anyone? Bueller?

Also took advantage of the grey Saturday to finish watching Lincoln with Patrick and Chris.  I had kind of already spoiled it for Chris by telling him Lincoln gets shot, oops!

Baby foxes have gotten braver and come right up to our back door now, looking for a handout.  He seemed to be inspecting my mint collection - rosemary, lavender, mint and thyme - all repotted and ready for their move.  You know, whenever that is.

I optimistically brought home some boxes from work to start packing, but my heart isn't in it yet.

To cheer ourselves up, Chris and I went out for a coffee, then treated ourselves to a movie - the new Star Trek!  It was pretty good, lots of insider stuff for the hard core nerds like us (Nurse Chapel! Ha!)  When we got back, Chris found the LockerGnome Chris Pirillo blog where he finally acknowledges my scarf, hooray!

He likes it! He really likes it!  I'm just happy to make something that people enjoy, I think my family is getting a bit fed up with my knitting......

I made a great dinner of lentil walnut burgers out of the Oh She Glows website, along with some handmade spelt rolls, packed two for lunch tomorrow, got my lunch ready, wrote my blog.  Great weekend with all the ends tidied up, rested and ready for the next week, what could be better.

Oh, a rainbow of course! The natural result of our rainy days here, and the looooooong days, it was light at 10:30 on the solstice!

Hope you all had a lovely weekend too.  Cheers!

Still here, no moving date yet...

Hello Dear Readers,

I'm still here, I just haven't felt much like blogging lately.  Nothing bad or anything, but sometimes you just need to take a break from things to get a fresh perspective on things to get energized about it again.  I also have been recovering from my surgery, and am just now feeling comfortable enough sitting down to work at the computer at home.

We don't have a moving date for the new apartment yet, still waiting!!! It's very frustrating because I'm not really motivated to do stuff (like clean, or blog, or anything) since I keep thinking ahh, we'll be moving soon anyway.  The holdup is with the solicitors (lawyers) who are moving the paperwork around for the place, apparently delivering it by carrier pidgeon.  One of the offices claims to not have email, what? That is not possible.  We still expect it to be soon, real soon, so stay tuned. Though I will miss the super cute baby foxes in our backyard, awwww!

In other news this weekend Chris and I got to meet a celebrity, YouTuber Chris Pirillo.  Chris watches his vlog everyday (and I watch it with him occasionally) so when we found out he was coming to London we were very excited to meet him.  About a week before I said to Chris, too bad we couldn't think of something to do for him when we meet him, like knit him something.  He really loves bacon, and Chris suggested something bacon related.  I came home Tuesday night to find him on Ravelry looking at a double knit 5 foot long bacon scarf from the now sadly defunct The Anticraft WebZine.  He said, can you make this for Saturday?  Uh, yeah, only because I'm Super Yogi Knitter!!  4 days of frantic knitting later, I had it, Phew!

He seemed to genuinely appreciate the scarf, though he didn't wear it in the humid basement we were in since it was so stuffy.  I said if he just wore it in one of his videos it would make me very happy, hopefully he will!  Hey, he'll probably need it in London anyway, summers here are very cold and wet. 

He was very kind to pose with Chris and I for photos.  In fact he was kind enough to pose with EVERYONE for photos, fame has not spoiled him.  His demographic seemed to be largely young boys (15-18) and older men (30-40).  I felt a bit like Penny at the Comic Book Shop, especially when it transpired that of the other 6 or 7 women there most of them were one of the kids mom's, it was so sweet when they were asking Chris to pose for just one more photo with their kid.

As a thank you Chris (my Chris, not the celebrity Chris) took me to a vegan restaurant for dinner called Saf in Whole Foods in South Kensington.  Well, I told him he was taking me, but still, it was nice.  Good times.  I had the raw tostata but envied his Buddha Bowl, everything on their menu looks amazing!

Anyway, off to finish cleaning the house, though I know it's pointless since the people who just bought the place off our landlord will probably gut it.  Sigh.  On to bigger and better things, I am comparing garbage can designs and trying to source a bowed-out curtain rod....

Cheerio!