Small and Skinny Celebs

I'm still star-struck. Several days ago i went to a cocktail bar in Notting Hill called Lonsdale. 10 minutes after we sat down in walk Sienna and her posse. It wasn't apparent at first, but then we noticed her extreme skinniness, the trademark hat. We decided we had to take a picture to tell for sure. It's definitely her. And to confirm further, the bar we were at was almost directly behind Twenty8Twelve, her store. Peep and decide.

Image credit goes to Courtney, as do the Portabello road pictures. I forgot the credit in a moment of mental abstraction. oops!

Ahh, The Joy of Being Followed by Security Personel

Shocker of all shockers, Harrods is heavenly. I woke up the other morning, and the first thought that I had was, "Dear sweet lord, why have I not been to Harrods yet?!" Thus, I gathered a posse and made what is hopefully one of many trips to Harrods. I walked in an almost had a heart attack. I was surrounded by luxury, electronica, and Burberry everything - like I said, heaven. And the food halls, may I add, really did nothing for the theoretical diet I'm on. I mean the one with candy alone was nothing but magical, and in true form i put down 3 quid on a carrot cake cupcake without a second thought (After bringing it all the way home, and defending it once i got it out of the box, it was the best cupcake that has ever been eaten). The only downside to Harrods is there is a lot of following happening. I'm a fan giving the benefit of the doubt, so I'll say that inside the Tiffany's and Cartier rooms, maybe it was legitimate. I'm guessing it was the blatant camera brandishing. Whatever, following or not, I was in awe. My favorite thing was simply a sign that directed you to the "room of luxury" there were actually 2 of them. Also, the window displays were a little saucy, but I'll leave that for you to decide for yourself. Its simply a palace of lovely; enough said.

We All Love Rocks

Queue the Spinal Tap album you know you have sitting around because....get ready for it.....Brits love big rocks. I don't mean the sort that you find in Harrods (and get followed around so that you don't steal at Harrods), but actual humongous boulders. I guess I should be more precise in saying the Druids have an obsession with rolling rocks into big round formations so that they would know what season it was. Slightly lesser known that Stonehenge is the stones at Avebury. I went there, I looked around, and even giving the Druids the benefit of the doubt and saying that Spring and Fall could MAYBE be confused for each other, I certainly knew what season it was, dammit. Nonetheless, it was fun to see how small I am compared to these hulking masses, and to think in history how small people were compared to us now. For all we know the Druids were no smaller than midgets which means that those rocks would have been mountains. Speaking of mountains there is this hill, really, that experts claim is the British equivalent of an Egyptian pyramid. Its just an average man made hill, but apparently there is only one person buried in it. I guess making it look like simply a hill saved the Druids some panic of looters, but really got them no marks on beauty. There aren't even flowers on it. If I ever become self absorbed enough to commission a pyramid built, I hope i ask for flowers. All of these ancient peoples and they're taupe memoriam are just not my style - men, obviously, decided on the decor there. Anyhow, enjoy.

PS who knew that thatched roofs even existed anymore?? I was certainly surprised.

The Great London Paperchase!

The View from the Wellington Bridge at sunset

Smoggy Sunset

Charles II of course, in Soho square

Cupid himself, watching over Piccadilly Circus

Chinatown during Chinese New Year

Courtney and I, the most ace of teams, ventured out on the London Paperchase in hopes of winning a hellicopter ride around London. Sadly we didn't find half the places we should've, got lost many times, and almost got locked into the Tube. On the bright side, our loss is clearly your gain beacause now you can see the pictures that weren't of random crap (like falafel, or people we don't know, or street signs). In the end we saw some awesome stuff and had a fab walking tour of Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, Chinatown, Soho, Covent Garden, and the South Bank. Enjoy!

Portabello

Ahh Portabello road, pilgrimidge site for Hugh Grant lovers everywhere, or if you're me, Sienna Miller and Alice Temperly. I think they're equally fantastic, and while you may be able to secretly be in love with Hugh everyday, you certainly can't wear him. Honestly I can't wear Temperly either, but I do have the Target version, and I wore it that day under that coat (power to the recessionistas everywhere!) Really though, Portabello road and market is something that I have never seen in the states. I guess the closest thing would be a flea market, but this has produce, olives, cheese, bread, dresses, and jewlery all along side eachother lining this tiny street. 

I was perusing a street cart and this particular old man was selling antique cameo and deco jewlery. I picked one up and asked him how much it was and he just tells me, "Find yourself a rich boyfriend, bring him back here, and it can be yours." Strangely this was not the only time this happened. I was talking to a vintage pipe dealer and he says, "So this is for your boyfriend?" I said yes and he says, "Well when you bring him back here make sure he's rich, eh?". I guess that says something about the affordability of most of the antiques, but they're at least fun to look at and pretend  you can afford. I mean clearly you're not going to fool them, so why not?

Here's to you Hugh! 

Polar Bears and Palin; Orange and Obama

 In a political science class we learn all manner of british-isms but there have been 2 leaders that have pulled ahead as the clear winners. It is worth saying that the British are probably more interested in American politics than Americans. Every single Brit I've met has asked me if I voted for Obama, but as soon as I say yes they say, "I can't believe people voted for Sarah Palin! I mean really she kills polar bears for god sake. We were all hoping she wouldn't win" I initially thought this was mere interest in our politics, or even just a conversation starter, but then I realized - the Brits really love polar bears, really love them. Professor Cousins claims that if you ranked the top 5 concerns that Brits write to their MPs about #1 is Trees, and #2 is city crime, but coming in at #3 was the Polar Bears. There is apparently a pack of crazy environmentalists that go way beyond joining Greenpeace or PETA and have actually become violent when they suspect that someone is violating animal rights (Apparently an Imperial College professor was killed once for running cancer drug tests on rodents), but more regularly the common man is outraged that the polar bears are having to enter Norwegian towns rather than staying on their ice caps, but only outraged enough to write in, assuming their MPs can solve it all.  Sarah Palin probably has a death warrant with her name on it for even mentioning polar bear death.

As a side  note: I called Orange Mobile last night to top-up just after the inauguration and the man I spoke to finally asked, "Did you vote for Obama?" I said yes and he said, "That's fantastic, really, congratulations on that one. We all deserve someone sane for 4 years. Could you have imagined if John McCain won? You know Sarah Palin kills Polar Bears right? It would've been awful."

Side note numer 2: Did anyone else hear how Rick Warren said Barak's girls names? Malia and Sasha!  

Brits Are Still Wierd To Me, pt. 1

I love the British.  Its like suddenly the mundane in my life is an adventure: having to question if oxtail soup really is made of cowtails while in the canned aisle; spending nearly $12 to do two loads of laundry (guess who's no longer seperating lights and darks),  the name changing (TK Maxx here); but I think most of all I love the Furry Hat trend. According to the London Lite, the most trusted of all UK papers, its back! And it's not just for the blokes at the Tower of London this time. Just look at Lily Allen, doesn't she look happy, healthy and radiant in her white fur hat? Its been about 50 degrees here, so I'm simply not sure why all of this fur is needed. Although, in the same vein of general British cold-weather phobia, I was told today that just a 1/4 inch of snow will shut down the whole of London. A 1/4 inch! I told a man in a small shop in Kensington today that I was from Boston and he immediately asked how cold it was, which seems to often be the first question asked when someone hears that you're from Massachusetts. I said it had been cold, even for my taste at a whopping -30  Celsius with wind chill. He shrieked, " Negative thirty?! I've never been anywhere that cold in my whole life, well maybe inside my freezer, but do freezers even get that cold?" He proceeded to tell me that he was planning on going to Florida for holiday in August. I asked if that was because they took advantage of the off-season, and he replied, "No, it just warm there then". My professor later told me that many Brits think that Florida is cold, like the rest of the east coast, until summer comes. These winter-phobe Brits are currently Disney World's best friends.

You're delighted, I'm sure

So this is indeed my first post in my first blog (exciting though isn't it?). I've already decided that if I can't stand to read my own musing drivel after just a few postings that I'll just stop the whole thing from existing completely, so we'll all just have to see how it goes. Of course, assuming that I like it and others don't, I'll simply have to put my self-importance aside and axe it anyway. I figure this blog will be like the opposite of British hunting - efficient - and like it all at the same time - lots of dogs. So while you may have to hear me whine about the Brits, or how my Internet connection is about the same strength and speed as it was in the early 90's, I promise that this souped up travel journal will be filled with (mostly) interesting thoughts, and some photos that I'd probably make you look at anyway. Fabulous! So there's my manifesto, and my first real post is next door. Enjoy, and go Obama!