How much is that dress in the window?

....£1080. Yeah so that was a new high for me in terms of having expensive taste... !!! I had been watching this dress for weeks - every morning I go running past this shop and it's right on Portobello Road, where most things are pretty reasonable, but lots of fun clothes. So I thought, when I get paid on the 15th, I'll go check it out. They had taken the dress down, but I went in to ask anyway, and when he answered it was one of those moments where I would have spewed coffee on the guy's face if I'd been drinking anything. I laughed and said well I won't be doing that today!! He said do you want to try it on anyway? (I'm thinking NO! I don't WANT to know if this dress looks good on me!) So I tried to shrug off, but he insisted, saying he hadn't seen it on anyone, so I caved, and he went to get it, and I very, very carefully tried on the dress - and of course it was beautiful and fit perfectly. So not fair. It was fun though, to prance around in and try to think of some reason I would ever need a gorgeous pale pink shift with real pearls sewn into it in the shape of necklaces and delicate sequin detail...but there really isn't one. Especially not for a cool grand. Thus, I wandered down to the market and found a not quite so glamorous but still cool pink dress for £10, making today the first time I have spent 100 times less on an item I wanted.

In other news, I FLY TO THE US TOMORROW! I can't believe I'm so excited - last trip was, honestly, awful. The one weekend I spent up in Richmond was great, but work was just a nightmare, and I could not wait to get back to London. And I must confess I'm starting to understand why people don't like traveling all the time for work - just when I start to get into a rhythm of seeing friends and meeting people, I disrupt it for two weeks and it takes a while to get back in the swing of things.

This trip may turn out the same, but I've got two fun-packed weekends planned, so hopefully that will make up for any other stress. It's crazy how lucky I am though, I get to do this and not lose more than one holiday (vacation day). So even if the US office is painful, I should just take it in stride - it's a small price to pay for all the benefits on the other side of the pond! :)

Missing Music

I went to the BBC proms last night and had SUCH a good time! The proms are 8 weeks of world-class concerts put on by the BBC, most at Royal Albert Hall (which is an amazing venue), and if you get there 2 hours before to queue, you can get a £5 standing ticket in either the gallery or the arena. The arena is down on the ground, and the gallery is all the way up above the top row. I'm going to go again before the 8 weeks is up, so I'll take some photos. We opted for the gallery - the acoustics are better and there's room to sit down if you get tired.

The music was awesome - Gershwin, Stravinsky, a modern piece with audience participation (had to clap a rhythm while the orchestra played - so cool to have 1,000's of people collaborating with the music in a constructive way) and a world premier of a jazz/classical piano concerto where the young composer played the piano himself.

We sat/stood next to this gentlemen who was from Pittsburgh and has come over for the proms every year for the last 40 years!! So cool. The atmosphere is something to experience, and there are usually guest orchestras and big names and it's just such a cool thing - I think they've been going on since the 1800's.

Then only downside was that I seriously wanted to go home and play the piano for hours though...and couldn't :( I will be purchasing a keyboard the day I get back from the US and move back in my flat - it's been WAY too long now.

Break point

Something amazing happened when I reached my the point that I was willing to move back to NC if that was what it would take to be happy again. After I faced up to the worst that could happen (sorry, my home state, I love you, I will be a Carolina girl forever, but I just would shrivel up and die living in Cary at the moment), and realised I would survive, I was able to face my life with a huge weight off my shoulders. I wasn't staying at my job because I HAD to, I was fully prepared to leave if that's what needed to be, and I could calmly wait out a few things and see if things got better (so far so good). And since that moment, life has just been awesome. Nothing really changed, except my outlook. I could deal. And I'm not just coping, I'm loving being alive and in London. Such a cool city (I know I already gushed earlier this week, but I feel I'm overdue for some happy posting). I went to Portobello market this weekend and just wandered around, ran into an acquaintance, remembered what it was like to be part of such a cool neighborhood.

This month is the BBC 'proms' which are classical music concerts almost every night at Royal Albert Hall that are open for standing room tickets for £5. I'm going on Saturday night with a friend for some Gershwin and other jazz/modern music. Should be fun!

There's also some cool festival type things going on for the Olympics in Trafalgar Square, may try and go by for that tomorrow night.

If I had a baby...

Apparently I would sit it down to try and play a game with me, banging its head against the wall as I tried to prop it up, creating a massive knot on the back of its noggin. I would then run with the baby to get some ice from the store, and instead find some sort of cold magnetic eggs, which only made the baby cry worse, and ask advice from every one there as to what to do. Then later on I would leave to go out and forget to make sure someone else watched the baby while I was gone, and send frantic text messages to my friend who was in the house to get them to switch the baby from sleeping on its stomach to back or whichever is the one they're supposed to do.

At least, that was my dream last night. Very weird. I can understand some of it, because I know I have always been petrified of having a baby, but not why I was thinking about it last night, when I spent the evening in a Soho club with my friend and six Italian guys dancing to crazily mixed music and trying to plan a 2am outing to play foosball!

Speaking of 2am, I'm getting old. I went out Tuesday night, Thursday night, and last night, and wow am I tired. Somehow I managed to make plans with 3 different people tonight, so I will probably end up very dazed and confused on Sunday, when oh yeah I might try to go play golf! Why can't I learn to find the happy medium in life? Either I'm doing nothing but watching iTunes movies and sitting on my roof terrace, or I'm acting like I'm in college or something.

Not a complaint - it's much better to be really enjoying life again, I must say!

...and she's back!

Yes, the end finally came for the long weeks of misery, shutting myself in, stress and tears at work, and not sleeping...I'm happy again. It took a little 'stepping out there' to see a few friends, an awesome business trip to Italy, and a co-worker's visit (allowing me to relish in my favorite role of hostess to London), but I'm back. I've been running, smiling, laughing, enjoying life again. It's so nice.

Italy was awesome. I mean, I love that country. Ice cream? Divine. Old cobblestone streets and fountains/squares? Amazing. Work connections and business meetings? Beautifully successful.

I had to move out my flat on Saturday for 5 weeks, but I'm staying in a friend's place for the next 3 weeks, then going to the US for 2 weeks, probably leaving on August 18th and returning Sept. 1.


I'll get back in the hang of this blogging thing again now that I'm settled somewhere for a few weeks - I miss it! I've had so much to talk about lately, and kept it all to myself, it's a weird feeling :)

Happy 4th!

Wow it's been a while since I posted! Probably because I've been a really boring person lately, staying in, shutting out the world, dealing with life by watching endless TV seasons about fictional people's lives.

BUT, things are turning around this past week - I went out with a friend after work on Monday, then to see a flamenco dance on Tuesday with another friend (and loved it!!) and then tonight I had a little get-together at my flat for Independence Day. This may be weird to say, but this was the first 'party' I think I have ever thrown as an adult. I never, ever do this. Part of it is my own insecurity that I'm cool enough to have a party worth going, and part of it is the result of always having incredibly different friend groups that wouldn't really mix easily. And I did have ppl from just about every association I have in London, and only one didn't mesh perfectly for a little while, then it went really well! It was fun to have the roof terrace with friends in the nice weather (that then turned cold, but oh well) and even the 'bbq/grill' worked - I bought this 'instant bbq' thing at Tesco's for 2.50 that made a pretty good burger! And tofu weaner and hot dog. :)

I made sweet tea - from tea bags and boiling water, the old-fashioned way - which was a hit, surprisingly! And found this Betty Crocker choc chip cookie dough mix, which was kinda strange (where are you Nestle?!!?) but turned out yummy. The only American to attend brought Coke and ice cream for Coke floats - which was hilarious to try and explain to everyone else (especially bringing root beer into the discussion) but everyone tried one and the whole experience was awesome.

I'm really happy I stepped out on a limb and did this - I still don't know enough ppl to throw a massive party, but having a few friends over for American treats? That I can do :)

Friends don't let friends stay down too long

So today was good. :) One of my college friends that lives in Germany called, and I made plans (and stuck to them) to meet a friend out for dinner. I went shopping, watched a bunch of "Weeds" on my laptop (next show addiction, not as good as Dexter, but it's entertaining), had yummy spanish food and lively conversation with my friend, and the servers (2 spanish brothers), while watching the end of the Holland v. Russia game. My friend is Italian, and Spain and Italy play tomorrow night, but the one guy was convinced Italy would beat Spain - so he made a deal that if Spain wins, he'd buy us dinner next time we came in.

I walked home from Soho, which was really nice - it was breezy and pleasant out, and I love being able to walk - especially when I can help burn off some of the excess calories from the tapas!

I really do love this city. Which is half the problem - if I didn't like London so much, I could just pack up and leave and be a lot less conflicted!