Diamond Jubilee

Jun14

I’m such a royalist. Red, white and blue everywhere. We don’t having anything that resembles bunting in America. Union Jack’s flapping in the breeze has been such a cheery sight for the past couple of weeks.

There’s nothing I can compare. As a Washingtonian, coming from the 42nd state admitted to the Union in 1889 (what do we know of age and history?), celebrating the Queen’s 60th year on the throne was important to me. 60 years is half of how old my state is! Well done Queenie!

I think it’s also the pride felt throughout the country. Pride at being English, pride at their sense of tradition, the pride I wish I could be apart of. Last year I braved the crowd alone to wave my flag and cheer for Wills and Kate. The warmth of the people banished away the April London Chill. Circumstances this year prevented me from joining the masses for the Diamond Jubilee Flotilla – a massive parade of boats along the Thames. It was almost more fun watching it on TV, although my flatmate and I did venture to the park only to find everyone had already rushed home due to the heavy rain.

I went to a party on Monday – proper English with spot on food, decorations and even paper masks of the royals. It was an absolute splendid time. I made lemon squares to add to the flavour.

It’s an astounding time to be living in London. How I hope to continue my life here, become established in a career, settle. I can’t complain that I’ve been given some of the best years to be living in this amazing city. The royal wedding, Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, and the 2012 Olympics, all I get to (or have already taken) part in. Three years. Moments in history that won’t ever be repeated. They’ve directly become part of my life. I’m incredibly thankful.

God save the Queen! Long may she reign!

The Lucky One

May28

Quick post this week.

I’m not a fan of Nicholas Sparks’ work. His latest, The Lucky One – well, the advert is doing nothing to make me want to see the film adaptation.

To get my demographic on board for a movie like this I need something else, not Zac Efron.

I love adverts on the buses, tube and around the rail, but they need some help when choosing the quotes.

London Egg Hunt Results

May26

Shameful. Just ever so shameful. Where have I been? Well, I have been blessed by meeting a delightfully unique English Gent (aka EG). For my birthday he borrowed his parents Wii for my flatmates and I to partake for a few months. I was so excited I kicked the table and broke a glass. So where have I been? Well in Super Mario Galaxy 2, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword and am currently inhabiting Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

I was however, able to complete my Big London Egg Hunt amongst the digital fun and my ending total was 200 eggs out of 210! *dusts shoulders* I got to know more areas of London better which greatly aided my guide touring skills last week as I had a sorority sister come stay. How it got to be nearly June is frightening. Oh the things there are still left to see.

As promised, here are the eggs I enjoyed:

For the complete gallery of all 200 eggs: The Big London Egg Hunt 2012

All the eggs were auctioned off for charity with the ‘Mailbox Egg’ being the highest bid for egg!

See you around.

A Grain of Salt

Apr8

I’ve been following the Duggar’s since their 16 Children and Moving In premiered back when I was in college. Astounded by this family that had 16 kids, all with their name starting with the letter J, how could you not want to keep up with them instead of the Kardashians?

I rented their first book, The Duggars: 20 and Counting! and read it in a day. There is something fascinating about a family that runs their life so unlike your own. Religion itself is an interesting subject for myself. I wasn’t raised with a direction of religion within my family, but had been placed n a Lutheran primary (elementary) school growing up. I’ve never recovered from it.

What I took from my young school years was the knowledge and understanding of the christian faith. Now the Duggar’s, to those that don’t know, are actually Christian themselves. The strand of Christianity they practice is the Quiverfull movement. As with most religions, they should be taken with a grain of salt. The Duggar’s are known for having a load of kids, making the older kids in the family raise the younger children, obviously not using contraception and for being extremely conservative (they also believe in creationism).

I…have some support for the Duggar’s. Regardless of the negative things people love to exploit them for because they don’t understand their family dynamic, I am impressed with the love they have for each other. They love each and everyone one of their children and want them to succeed. It’s a rarity nuclear family lack.

Having children is a spectacular thing, but 19 of them? That is something not every family would be able to face. (the Duggar’s also are known for living debt free) I think along with most of the general population that having that many children is way out of line for me. However, the Duggar’s are not me, and I am certainly not the Duggar’s. I am not one to pass judgement on their lifestyle. I try to learn the positives from them, minus the religion.

Recently Michelle Duggar experienced a miscarriage. That kind of event is private and personal. The Duggar’s, being as public as they are, are ridiculed for their chosen way to mourn the loss of their unborn baby. Whenever I bring up the Duggar’s, it’s to make fun of them, but to expose a different kind of thinking to those unaware. No matter how wrong or strange you think they are, a miscarriage is a horrible thing.

They are a unique family, and if the video hasn’t brought that out (seriously? The people of the world CANNOT fit in Jacksonville), I encourage you to take the good aspects their family presents, love, respect for each, and helping those in need. But always with a grain of salt.

Next week I promise there will be more photos.

PUSA

Mar26

I know, I know, I missed a week. That’s only because I wanted to wait until….

I found him! I found Wally! Go me! Hooray!

Wally is also known as Waldo in America and Canada, (he’ll always be Waldo to me!) in Turkey he’s Ali, Willy in Norway, Walter in Germany and Charlie in France, among other countries. The Where’s Wally Egg has been moved all over London, anywhere from a couple of hours to up to two days at a time in a different place. It was NOT easy to find this guy, even with helpful people posting pics of him on Twitter. I found him at St. Pancreas, very lucky he wasn’t moved when I got there. Could have happened, I don’t like to think about it.

Moving on, the title of the post is from a Friday event two weeks ago. I don’t get a lot of visitors passing through London. Not hard to understand, as I’m over 3,000 kilometres away from everyone I know and love back home. Every once and while, I’ll get lucky and a friend will pass through. I’ll be given a few precious hours of understanding, laughter and entertainment of the world back home.

There’s something about moving away that allows for time to not be a factor in the lives of the people you care about. Nearly nine years have passed since I’ve seen my friend, but it’s as if its been only a day since the last summer we sailed around the Puget Sound at camp in 2002.

She was touring with PUSA, The Presidents of the United States of America.

She asked me if I wanted to be her +1 to the show the night she was in town. Of course I said yes! PUSA are from Seattle, and not only was I given this lovely gift of seeing my beloved friend, but I was thrown into a rock show the likes I haven’t experienced in years. I’ve missed it.

Yes, they definitely played peaches:

I came to the realisation that I’m fantastic at moving through crowds because of my mosh pit teachings during my youth. Ahh the feel of the crowd! The Heat! The sound of screaming love for their music! It was exhilarating. What a great crowd, and the show was fantastic. Unfortunately I had worn improper footwear (ballet flats), because I had been blessed by one of my flatmates. He put my name forward for filling in reception at his office for two days last week. Absolutely fantastic.

After the show I waited for my friend, who was helping sell merch with the lead singer’s wife. When she was finished we headed back stage and I got to actually met them! Just some guys from my hometown. I kept my distance, gave them my congratulations, it was lovely of them to let me hang out. As the night wore on, my feet began to wear out and I headed home as the others pressed onward into the night.

March has been the month for luck. I pray the sun keeps shining.

Egg-travagance!

Mar8

The past two Saturdays have been delightful. Catching up with friends and wandering the streets of London are my ideal weekend excursions. I’ve been equally lucky with the weather, bright sunshine that even the bitter wind can’t ruin. Spring is trying to settle in and I adore it. With spring comes Easter, and although Easter traditionally is about Jesus, in America our focus is on chocolate and decorated eggs!

There’s a part of me that’s wired to this city. My friends routinely call me ‘the human GPS’. The multi-tasker I am, I relish in any London street challenge. In 2010, London hosted the Elephant Parade to raise awareness and funds for the Asian elephant (apparently the African ones are fine). There were over 250 elephants placed around the city as you can see from my blog’s banner. In the end I found 247, with one-day left to seek out the final three. However, I know how to prioritise and when the family I used to nanny for arrived on that final day, the hunt was over and I was proud of what I’d found.

My love for artistically decorated animals began in 2007. Pike Place Market in Seattle, Washington is one of our most beloved tourist attractions. When you go to Seattle, you visit Pike Place Market. In the summer of 2007 Pigs on Parade was back (after their original run in 2001) to raise money for the Market. There were 100 pigs littered around Seattle, and I became hooked on wandering the streets to find them whilst explore the city. I found 80.

With The Faberge Big Egg Hunt, the eggs are hidden around London, whereas the elephants and pigs were mapped out. As if this event couldn’t get any better in my eyes. 12 zones are outlined, with names of the eggs and their approximate location, but it’s vague and the eggs could be anywhere inside of a building, or outside surrounding it. There are 209 eggs and they’re only going to be around for the 40 days of Lent. Talk about a deadline! I love a timed assignment that gives you that productive feeling of achievement from working under pressure.

Thus the hunt is on, bringing me to places of London I haven’t spent much time in and providing the opportunity to take on this personal research project. I’ve found fifteen eggs so far, and I’ll be spending a few hours tomorrow hopefully covering a few zones that are closely connected. If I’m fortunate maybe I’ll be able to have a friend join me in this adventure. I’ll keep you posted.

If you could buy one of the eggs which one would it be and where would you put it? Personally I’d go for the Dinosaurs egg by Rolando Di Sessa Neto, although All the Stars, Moon and Sun by Ajay Padda would be great in any flat! And the Where’s Wally by Martin Handford is adorable! That egg is being moved around the city every few days. Will I be able to find it? Check back next week for an update.

To eggs and beyond!