Back to the Britsh

Well, helllllllo, dah-ling!

I'm back across the pond for this post, in the motherland, aka, Great Britain, England, land of proper people and red buses. Oh, and Big Ben.  Which brings me to day two:

Day 2, Sunday, February 9th: Big Ben, Parliament, Changing of the Guard @Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace, V&A Museum
Daily Fitbit Stats: {coming soon!}
*This will be a recurring metric -- each day Gwen wore her fitbit to track the miles walked and number of stairs we did.
Daily Commonality: We both have little brothers. One of them happens to be British and resembles Harry Potter... and we both LOVE Harry Potter.
*This will be a recurring stat -- each day we found out more and more we had in common.

Day two. Wakin' up, feelin' fine.  And even better, once my favorite barista introduced me to my new best friend.  Nespresso Pixie and milk frother.  Yes, you need one of these.  Once you get used to the instant espresso and milk frothed to perfection, you will run out and get one and life will never be the same. {Just as I did once back state-side.}

Gwen in her adult-sized onsie (a gift from her mum).

http://www.nespresso-us.com/machines/pixie/pixie-titanium-bundle/

Ok, now we're all caffeineated and ready to hit the ground running (literally, you'll see).  Per usual, we hopped on the tube (Gwen even let me try and direct us... she's very much a take-charge kind of girl, so this was a big step), and popped out of the underground right in front of Big Ben.  Amazing sight!  We proceeded to take several hundred pictures of our surroundings ---- Big Ben, River Thames, Parliament, London Eye... and, red double decker buses! W-O-W.  I kind of felt like Joey from Friends, when he was in London and had a 3-D pop-up map that he would set on the ground and step on to get his direction and all the sights...so much to see in one spot, it was like eye candy all around me :)

"Look, kids.  It's Big Ben!"

Eye spy two pretty ladies...get it? Eye spy...

See what I mean?! So much in one spot to see!

After viewing the sights on our first stop, we started walking towards Buckingham Palace, strolling through St. James Park.  There was a group of rollerbladers meeting up for their morning "blade," dogs walking, people frolicking, and everyone just generally having a nice day. We looked at our watches and quickly realized that we had to book it in time to make the Changing of the Guard. So, we literally ran through the park, all the way to the Queen's diggs. BUT, we made it, and the Queen was in the house (her flag was flying), sadly, she didn't come out to say 'hi' to us.  We perched on top of a nice marble staircase for a good view... and then waited...and waited...and waited.  And realized that we actually saw two guards changing position, rather un-impressively, and that was actually the whole show.  I think we were envisioning something much grander like the Trooping the Colour http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trooping_the_Colour.  But, either way, been there, check, done.

We tootled along from the Queen's Palace and through Picadilly Circus and Chinatown, over to Kensington Palace to visit Kate, as I call her (we're BFF, duh).

Past the Ritz on our way... trey fancy!

At Picadilly Circus.  There was a little old cute British guy taking
our photo here.  He took about five of them and kept saying "cool, ok, cool".
But he had an accent so it was even cuter. 

Through Chinatown.

The gates of Kensington Palace.

We went to Kensington for a few reasons: 1) it's a palace, 2) Kate lives here, and 3) they had a special "Fashion Rules" exhibit going on.  Check it outt:  http://www.hrp.org.uk/KensingtonPalace/WhatsOn/FashionRules?gclid=CL2-n_m09bwCFUOSfgodLA0ARQ

We enjoyed looking at the beautiful dresses of the queens and princesses through the ages. I will say, while Princess Diana was lovely, she was still a product of the 80's, if you get my drift {think shoulder pads, pouffy sleeves, neons etc}

This is wallpaper! Isn't it fabulous!

Ok, not such a great photo, but a great memory!
The cutest old British lady docents were trying to take our
photo with G's iPhone and it was hilarious.  They told us to move
over to the left about 15 times and proceeded to take 100+
photos... all blurry!  ahahahaha

Us, mirror images of Princess Di.
{a docent's brilliant idea}

And Gwen, holding her baby brochure, just like Kate.

It's here, that we first learned of my ability to take
masterful photos of ceilings.  The beginning of an era...

We got to try on some of the clothes, too.

Next on my second day visit (yep, same day still!) we headed to the Victoria and Albert Museum http://www.vam.ac.uk/  Here we rounded out our day of museums, checked out some dresses and fashion through the ages on the first floor, and then visited some different periods of paintings and artifacts on the upper floors.  The museum cleared out and we were in a gallery when we heard through the intercom: "doors closing" and we thought we were getting locked in!  It would be like the movie Night at the Museum, for us but instead of pre-historic animals coming alive with Ben Stiller, it would be old fashion things like sliver tea service trays and girdles chasing us around the room!

And then, having walked 13 miles that day, we headed home, got a pizza, popped in Harry Potter, and relaxed. What a fabulous, fabulous day!

Of Fish and Crawfish

Fish... and crawfish, or crayfish, depending upon where you're from.  I've had a little of both lately in my life. 

Last week I hosted some ladies for dinner, and in the spirit of good ole' Alabama, my dinner party was themed Mardi Gras.  I had Mom ship me some authentic Mardi Gras staples --- plastic cups, beads, coins, moon pies, and of course, a baby for my king cake.  I decorated my tablescape with all the sparkly treats and fed my guests cornbread, gulf coast seafood stew (yes, with crawfish... that I amazingly found in Queen Anne at A&J) and homemade King Cake!!

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

To note - a baby was also hidden inside the cake.

And, fish.  Well, not actual fish, but along the same vein.  Will and I took our first fly fishing lesson this morning at Gasworks Park in Seattle.  It was basically an intro in how to cast.  I think we both got the hang of it by the time lesson was over.

London, Day 1: The Journey Across the Pond, Into the Great Beyond

London, Baby!  
[Let me preface this by telling you that I went to London recently and since I booked my flight I said "London, baby!" just about every day!]

It all started with an idea...an idea and a girl named Gwen.  The story goes a little something like this:

Once upon a time there was a girl named Gwen.  Gwen was a fun, blond, bubbly, twerking-loving, girl living in Dallas.  There was also a girl named Melanie (that's me if you didn't catch).  Melanie and Gwen lived two streets apart, were both in Junior League of Dallas, and had millions of things in common but hadn't met yet.  If this was a romance story then they'd end up getting married, but, it's not.  So, Melanie started working at GE in Irving, Texas and met Gwen.  Within a week or so they were carpooling and had become besties.  About two months after their meeting, Willis (that's "Will," Melanie's hubby) decides he hates Dallas so much and wants to move to Seattle.  So, being the AMAZING wife that Melanie is, she agrees, and they move within a month. Fortunately, Gwen and Melanie's bond had become secure and over the past few years they kept in touch and visited each other multiple times.  Most recently, Melanie went to London to do just that.

Now that you have the history, we'll jump right into my trip to LONDON, BABY!  Gwen and her husband, Cyrus, are living in London for a few months while he's doing a fancy-pants surgeon "study abroad," or at least that's what I'm calling it.  And, actually, while the program is very fancy-pants and impressive, Cyrus is about the most down-to-earth, unassuming, nicest guy you'll meet; just for the record.  Gwen is actually from London and lucky for her, and all her friends from the US, her parents have an extra flat in London that they loaned to her while she's living there.  Right after Christmas, I got the fabulous idea to jump on a plane and go visit her across the pond!  I started planting seeds in Will's head by leaving the iPad out with flights to London on the screen ;)  He really likes Gwen and he was planning a boy's trip to Canada so it didn't take much convincing that I needed to go.  I'm going to break up my trip into several posts, as we did so much, so bear with me because it will take a few weeks for me to post everything.  I can assure you, dear reader, that each and every day was fabulous, packed with action, and unforgettable.  Thank you, Gwen for a wonderful, wonderful trip... I mean, Wah-ah-wah!

Day 1, Saturday, February 8th: The Airport Pickup and Ballet at The Royal Opera House: Rhapsody, Tetractys the Art of Fugue, and Gloria
Daily Fitbit Stats: {coming soon!}
*This will be a recurring metric -- each day Gwen wore her fitbit to track the miles walked and number of stairs we did.
Daily Commonality: We both forget everything, fact.
*This will be a recurring stat -- each day we found out more and more we had in common.

I hopped on a giant double-decker plane at Seatac Airport on a Friday night, popped a few herbal sleeping pills, and slept about eight hours while the pilot sailed across the polar ice cap and landed in London.  Gwen and Cyrus were coming to get me at the airport so I walked though customs and was bit surprised not to see them.  We had a pre-determined spot to meet and I wandered through the crowds with my giant blue suitcase looking for them.  As I scanned the crowds, I finally saw a 5'1" girl (for the record, I am taller, though marginally) with long blond hair waiting at the gate, watching the weary travelers pass by.  I snuck up behind her and said "Who are we looking for?"  She jumped up and down and hugged my neck and asked where I had come from.  Cyrus, who was manning the other end of the crowd, was supposed to have seen me but he was busy playing video games and had missed me when I walked by.

All aboard!  I was in British Airway's "World Traveller"
class, which is a polite description for "coach."

We got in a tiny car, and Cyrus navigated us through the streets of London, on the wrong side of the road, I might add, to their precious flat.  Upon my arrival, Gwen had prepared a welcome package for me, wrapped in a London-themed bag, full of goodies for my visit: an Oyster Card (tube card, which I called my "pearl card"), tube map, A to Zed guidebook, British flag Whole Foods gc, British flag Starbucks gc, and more! I visited for a few hours, said hello to the girls, Duchess and Georgia, who wore pink bows with diamond hearts on them.  Duchess loved wearing the bow, Georgia was not so amused!  Then I napped for a few hours.

Cyrus, focusing on driving us home, on the left side.

George and Duchess so pretty wearing their bows!

Gwen, outside her flat.

Gwen & Cy's flat complex.

Once I woke up, I felt refreshed and ready to go.  We primped and pampered and then rode the tube to the Royal Opera House for the ballet.  The tube station we were getting off, Covent Garden, was supposed to drop us off right in front of the ballet, however, we wandered for a good 10 minutes asking people for directions because we didn't see it and were running late.  Finally, we saw it and started running, literally, to make sure we didn't miss getting in our seats on time.  We made it, and boy is it a stunning building!  Right before the ballet started, someone came on stage and let us know that a few of the ballerinas from the matinee that day had gotten hurt and they had to cancel Teatractys, the Art of Fugue, one of the performances for that night.  This was a shame, but really ok with us because I was a little travel weary and we still got to see two wonderful performances -- Rhapsody and Gloria.  We enjoyed every minute of the ballet and best of all, got ice creams (yes, I know that sounds plural, but that is what the English call it) during intermission.  I got a ginger ice creams and Gwen got a strawberry.  The evening was perfect and a fab-u-lous start to my trip.

Gwen, on the tube, reading her A-to-Zed.
[It's actually "A to Z" but the Brits say "Zed"]. One thing
that does cross all oceans is that you do NOT talk while on
the bus/train/tube --- Will and Gwen taught me this!

Royal Opera House

Rhapsody

On the way home on the tube...
I was a mass-transit expert in no time!

JLS Gala 2014

Last night my girlfriends and I got all dressed up for the annual Junior League of Seattle Gala.  It was themed Lights, Camera, Action! [old Hollywood glam] and we all looked gorgeous, if I do say so myself!  The gala was at the Fairmont Hotel in downtown Seattle, and it was a lovely building: http://www.fairmont.com/seattle/.  This is a once-a-year thing and we've loved getting together and going as a group of ladies... we leave the husbands at home!

Here are a few shots from our fun-filled night :)

L to R: Lauren, Carolyn, Devon, me,
Jocelyn, Lindsey, Blake

Me, all ready with my mink muff!

Lobby of the Fairmont Hotel

Lindsey and me enjoying dinner and the auction.

Bringing sexy back!