small memories

As I'm starting to look back on my blog posts, I keep seeing all of the big things that have happened here in London.  As in love as I am with each big thing that has happened, I don't want to lose sight of the small things that go on here that make me laugh, or smile.  So, here are some small things that I have loved about this past week

Every time Caitlin and I try to make pasta, this happens.  We don't
have a colander here, so we are left with using the lid as a strainer
and it always turns out in a complete mess, but leaves us rolling on the
floor laughing at how ridiculously challenged we are at cooking here.

A sushi lunch with a friend followed by this small
hot chocolate made my day exponentially better
(and the marshmallow on the side didn't hurt anything)

Right after I recovered from my mysterious sickness,
I met a friend in Hammersmith for some Nando's.  We got dinner
and a movie when this lovely couple gave the whole restaurant
a nice PDA show.  Accompanied with their lovely mashed potato
and chicken dinner was a bottle of champagne.. only in London
(PDA is EVERYWHERE here, and obviously, I had to document it)

And this.. Roehampton Student Union elections were this past week,
and all of the posters for candidates were as weird as this one.  It provided
us Americans with plenty of entertainment.
(If you can't tell, this school is Liberal Arts dominated, providing me with London's oddest peers)

So, I keep reminding myself that the small things are what I am going to look back on and laugh at upon my return home.  I'm so thankful for each of the people and small things that make me smile each and every day here in London.  And yes, I am still locked in my room writing papers, two to go!

papers, papers, papers

so, this blog post is just about as exciting as the last since I have been busting my butt (and brain) to get papers done.  Basically, classes are done next week (!!!) and then we have Easter/Spring Break from March 28- April 21, and after that, we have until June 7 to get all of our work submitted.  Ridiculous, I know.  But, since I'm planning on traveling, I'm trying to get all of my papers done before I go to meet my Mom in Dublin in 1 week and 2 days!  So I have 4,000 words left (1 picture book, 1 self evaluation, and 1 sports feature) and I am officially a SENIOR IN COLLEGE!  Seriously, where is time going?

This weekend, I think I am going to Borough Market super early Saturday morning with a friend and filing in with the crowds to get some fresh stuff, and maybe sneak in a Saturday morning mimosa before heading back here to crank out some more papers.  Yesterday, we signed up for a wine tour in Tuscany as well as a blue grotto boat tour in Capri, which is making me even more excited for 10 days in Italy! YAY TRAVELING!

Side note-  HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my amazing dad!  I can't wait to see you in 2 weeks! 

Love you to the moon!

Down with the sickness

Well, you would think this post would be about the awesome things I did for St. Patty's day.. unfortunately, it's about me being sick.  I was determined to stay in Fri/Sat night in order to do it big for St. Patty's Day on Sunday, however, I woke up Saturday morning achey and feeling sick.  I spent the whole day in bed with something that resembled the flu, and wanted nothing more than my mom, some chicken noodle soup, and my big bed.  Unfortunately, I was stuck with no food and my small bed.  I am so thankful for my friends here though, one who brought me bottles of water and sprite in my time of need.  I'm still not feeling 100% and can safely say that I am hoping I never get sick here again because it was definitely the most miserable experience of my life.

Now, I'm in the library working on a paper, blah.. hopefully my next post will be far more exciting, xoxo!

21st celebrations

As most would guess- turning 21 is not a big deal here, at all.. so, since one of our international friends was turning 21, making her legal in the states, we decided to make it a big British celebration.  Her flatmates planned a cute prinking party in their flat, so we took her to a wonderful dinner at Thai Square while they were making preparations.  The American girls made her a 21st birthday sign, which had random things she had to do throughout the night (make someone think you are British, hug 21 people, take a birthday cake shot, say the pledge of allegiance to a bouncer.. you get the drift) so, we surprised her with that while everyone was at prinks!  After that, we all took the tube to a club called Tiger Tiger in Piccadilly Circus, fun fact: it was snowing, and we were all in heels, I'll let you go ahead and picture the extent of our miserable-ness. Also, drinks in central are super expensive, for example: 9 pounds for a drink (aka 15 dollars)

We all had a great time, especially the birthday girl!  The not fun part was waking up Tuesday morning to turn a paper in during class, but I survived!  The next three weeks are dedicated to papers since I am officially done with classes 2 WEEKS FROM TOMORROW! Where is time going?  BTW- I took like no pictures the other night, so here are the 2 I do have xoxo

maisie and I

at Tiger Tiger

Mum's Day

Since today is Mother's Day here in the UK, Happy Mum's Day to all of you mothers reading this, especially my smokin' hot mama!  I'm not sure what I would do without your constant guidance, support, humor and unconditional love every day, but I sure am blessed!  I miss you so much & can't wait to see you in 20 days, Mom!  Hope you do something that makes you happy today :)

On another note, I dropped Nada off at the airport this morning (insert sad Savannah face here) and headed to church with Caitlin.  I had such a wonderful time with Nada and am so happy she got to experience London.  Tonight, I'm working on a 21st birthday project for an international student here, so I'm getting my crafty pants on and getting to work! xoxo

Stonehenge & Bath

Friday

Yesterday, we headed to Stonehenge and Bath.  This was something that was definitely on my bucket list while in London, so what better time to do it than when Nada was here?  We had to get up super early (5:30) to get ready and be at the bus station at 8:00, so we were super happy to see that there were only 20 people on our massive coach bus, which meant we got to lay down and SLEEP!  It started raining on the way there, so we knew it was going to be a wet day, which made staying in the bus and sleeping all day more and more tempting.

We got to Stonehenge, and it rained the whole time.  It was awesome to see such a piece of history, or lack thereof, but I don't think I would go there again.  It was those "see it once, now mark it off the list" things, but still interesting.

We then had a short bus ride to the city of Bath.  It reminded me so much of Edinburgh with the hills and old buildings.  We had 3 hours there, so we did a bit of sightseeing, fudge eating, cafe drinking action, then took the bus ride back (3 hours) and slept the whole time.  We finished the night at.. THE RAILWAY, shocker!  It was delicious after a long, rainy day

excited faces waiting for our bus!

stonehenge

get an idea of how rainy/cold it was?

again..

making things a bit more interesting.. not successfully

Bath Abbey

Puletney Bridge in Bath

Bath gardens

Pulteney bridge

countryside!!

Saturday

Today, we met up with Nada's god sister in central to go through Borough Market.  This is the oldest market in London and has everything you can ever imagine and it is all super fresh.  We started out the day at St. Paul's and got a bite to eat before meeting her at the market.  There are things to taste everywhere, cheese, drinks, fruit, literally everything.  We got shrimp wraps for a lunch par deux, and I could have rolled out of the market.  We spent a few hours browsing and then went back to see St. Paul's more and go around some shops there.

Now, we are getting ready for dinner and packing up Nada for her NC return tomorrow morning.  I cannot believe how fast this week has gone by, and am so sad to see her leave!  On top of that, I am getting a sore throat, sure sign that a slight cold is going to come, lets hope it's knocked out in 20 days when my parents get here! xoxo

rabbit, anyone?

Borough Market

Spring Has Sprung! Kinda..

Tuesday

Since Nada has been here, we have been doing 'London things,' as I'm sure most can imagine, that includes the iconic spots (Big Ben, London Eye, Buckingham, etc.) but Tuesday, I decided to take her to Notting Hill and Kensington.  Notting Hill is definitely one of my favorite spots in London, and I knew that day would be even more perfect than most because it was PERFECT WEATHER.  When I say perfect, I literally mean the sun was shining all day and it was about 58 degrees.  I think my perception of perfect weather is changing slightly.

The last time we went to NH, it was cold and not many vendors were out on Portobello Road, however, there were so many on Tuesday!  Also, flowers are starting bloom!  I cannot get enough of the start of Spring in London, its amazing.  

We started out the day in Notting Hill, browsing shops and street vendors.  Nada then spotted The Hummingbird Bakery, which I have been DYING to go to!  It's supposed to have the best cupcakes in London, so we stopped in and got our red velvet fix, and it was nothing short of a party in my mouth.  After we worked off the calories in that by walking around, we got a lemonade and sat outside to watch two street guitar performers.  They were really good, and so was our lemonade :)

After visiting NH and Portobello Road, we headed to Kensington, just a short walk away.  It was absolutely beautiful and there were so many people out in the gardens with their kids and dogs.   Did I mention how perfect the weather was??  We ended the day with dinner at a great restaurant, Giraffe, which had awesome mexican (kinda) food, then called it a day!

Notting Hill

Portobello Road

Magic, pure magie

hummingbirds!!

Portobello Market

spring has sprung, y'all 

can't even handle the perfectness of this day

Kensington

Kensington

Daffodils with Caitlin and Nada in the background

Wednesday
After class, I swung by my room to pick up Nada and we headed to Abbey Road.  It was way less crowded than the first time I went, so I got to take a few good shots of her making the infamous cross.  After a few pictures, we headed back to campus to get ready for dinner with Nada's God-sister, who lives here in London!  

We met her at an underground bar, Purl, which has some really cool drinks!  I got one called Ball-point, which was a vodka sour with 4 test tubes in it with watermelon, apple, bubblegum and raspberry flavoring in them.  You could basically flavor your own drink, just like you would be able to choose the color on the old ball-point pens (please tell me everyone knows what I'm talking about??)  We then headed to dinner at Sketch, which was a super cool place with really different food.  I got a lobster bisque with ice-cream starter and chicken (I'm Craig & Sherry's daughter, are you surprised?) for dinner.  I know the lobster bisque with ice cream sounds different, but it was so good!  Nada then got a birthday surprise from her God-sister since her birthday is the day she gets back, the big 21!!  We took the tube back with her and then made our way back to Roehampton and into a sleep coma.

I signed the wall!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NADA BUG!

 Thursday
Since I got out of class at 1 today, we had a late start on the day.  We headed to Piccadilly Circus and Regent Street for some real London shopping and dining.  We started out at Bella Italia, a great Italian restaurant just outside of Chinatown.  Then, we headed down Regent Street as I started to get grumpy because of the RAIN.  It has finally come back, and brought the cold, foggy London weather with it.  So close to Spring, but yet, so far..

To bring my spirits back up, I got 4 minibons from Cinnabon, my mama taught me well, yum.

After Piccadilly, we headed back to campus then picked up Caitlin and headed to Putney for some Wagamamas (Thai) that was soooo wonderful.  We are now getting ready for bed because we have to be up and ready tomorrow morning at 6:30 to get on a bus for STONEHENGE & BATH!  I am so excited, and keeping my fingers crossed that the rain holds out!  Will update soon, xoxo

Piccadilly, on a cold and wet day..

Hey guys, I changed my name since I've been gone

Nada's Visit!

Friday 

Caitlin and I went to St. Paul's Cathedral and then to Tate Museum of Modern Art.  Although we realized that neither of us are really that into 'modern art,' the museum was really pretty!  After we got utterly confused by the art, we went to a thai restaurant and then made our way to a super cute cupcake bakery.  We had the BEST red velvet cupcakes and had a really pretty view of St. Paul's while we were in the cafe.

red velvet heaven

please notice the precious teapot light fixtures

peekaboo with St. Pauls

Nothin' like a little crack to get your Friday started out right

Saturday 

I went and picked up Nada from the airport!!  I was super nervous that I wouldn't find her gate, but I had her under my wing safe and sound in no time!  After I showed her around campus, we went into Putney and got some (surprise, surprise) more Thai food and then went to a pub nearby for a drink.  If you didn't guess by now.. Thai food is really popular and good here, as well as Indian food.  As we were leaving the pub, I realized that my wallet was missing.  It apparently disappeared out of thin air because the workers checked the cameras and it showed no foul play.  Thank goodness my smart Dad told me to put aside a visa gift card in case of an emergency, as well as my passport.  So, last night was spent cancelling cards, getting a new student i.d., and panicking, of course.  Thankfully everything got worked out in time for us to go to the University Performer's play.. Rent.  It was good, but Nada was so jet lagged I was SO exhausted that we called it a night after intermission and got a quick bite to eat, then headed back to campus.

And no, my wallet was still not recovered, but huge shout out to my awesome parents for helping me in such a crisis and getting money to me anyway they could!

Rent

Sunday

We were bound and determined to make it better than the day before and got an early start in central to go see the London Eye, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey and Big Ben!  It was super exciting to see her reaction to everything exciting in central London and we had a wonderful time catching up and wandering around central.  For dinner, we went into Putney to a new Sushi/Japanese restaurant we heard about, Hare and Tortoise, that was AMAZING.  It is so wonderful to have a friend form home here to share exciting experiences with.

London eye with my Schnada!

Monday

We met up with Caitlin this morning and decided to head into Windsor for the day.  Since it is one of the queen's places of residence, we knew we wanted to scope it out.  The town is separated into Eaton and Windsor by the River Thames, so we headed into Eaton for a bite to eat first.  The small town reminded me of the town in The Holiday, really quiet, quaint and full of wonderful food.  We got sandwiches for lunch and then headed to a chocolate shop there where I got.. PEANUT BUTTER HOT CHOCOLATE.  Sounds weird, I know, but it was so amazing, and tasted like a warmed up Reeses!  We then made our way to Windsor where we toured the castle.  We made it just in time for a free guided tour, and after she finished, we took an audio tour of the inside of the castle.  The art tour that is going on now is all about The Queen, so I had to sneak a picture of the Andy Warhol exhibition dedicated to her.  There is actually diamond dust on the pictures to commemorate the Queens diamond jubilee, pretty cool, and probably really expensive.  I hope everyone enjoys the picture, thankfully I did't get caught.  (the things I do for the sake of my blog..)The Queen was actually in Windsor when she got sick and was taken to the hospital two days ago.  She is all better and recovering in Buckingham now (its sad how much I follow the royals)  After Windsor castle, we went around a small shopping center and saw some really precious stores.  At that point, our feet were definitely feeling the burn, so we headed back on the train (1 hour from Roehampton)

When we got back, Nada and I went to Rigviny Garden, a stop between campus and Putney to get a bite to eat.  We found a cute pub called The Half Moon that had SUCH cute decoration.  I will definitely be going back soon.  We had a few beers and burgers and topped it all off with some caramel and dark chocolate ice cream (YUM) 

Tonight, we are calling it an early night and watching Notting Hill before we go visit tomorrow after my class (shouldn't class be cancelled when friends are visiting?!) Thankfully, every day has been so much better since the start of her trip (with the wallet stealing fiasco) and I can only imagine it will continue to get better!  

Side note, thank you so much to everyone who checked on me after Saturdays mishap, I cannot thank you enough for your kind words and messages! xoxoxo

Voila, Andy Warhol's artwork of the Queen

couldn't resist..

Windsor Shopping Center

Chatting it up in the telephone booth with Kate and the baby..

The Half Moon