Happy new home Ed!

Last night my friend, Ed, invited me round for tea at his new flat! His flat is gorgeous!!! Another of his friends was there and it was a most enjoyable time, thanks Ed!

Just another day ... okay, so I am enjoying living in London at the moment....and rubbing your face in it because you don't.

Last Wednesday I had to go into the city for a conference* This was what I saw most of the day


...but one of the benefits of living in London is getting places. As I walked to the train station to go home**, I saw:

Clockwise from left: Statue of the Duke of York, The Mall, Buckingham Palace

What did you see on your way home today? Anything as note worthy as me? :-)

Yes, I got bored on the train again, and played with my camera

* for lack of a better word

** I walked to the train station instead of going on the tube - I wanted some fresh air

It made me laugh

A colleague told me about this. I found it funny enough to be the first non-Karen thing to put on my blog. With that amount of accreditation, you've obviously got to watch it. If you're not familiar with the All Blacks (New Zealand) Rugby team, you might not find it as amusing.




I also found amusment by this, not as much, but since I was posting one, I thought "what the hey" and posted another. Got to love my brain workings.

Thanksgiving in Derby

THURSDAY (Thanksgiving Day)
11 am - Drove to Derby.

Far to much traffic for a Thursday at 11.

2:30pm ish - Arrived in Long Eaton. Visited with Simon (from church) for a while. He was kind enough to bring my coat down from Kielder Water a few weekends ago.
3:30pm ish - Went to Asda to get ingredients to make a green bean casserole - my contribution to Thanksgiving dinner
4:15pm ish - Arrived at Bullocks. Made green bean casserole. Took shower.
7 pm ish - Sat down for Thanksgiving dinner

Clockwise from left: Susan, Ashley, Ken, Joyce, Patty, Tawanda, John, my plate.*

Ashley decided it would be fun to have a whip cream fight with Susan and I. It was. Patty, Ashley and John washing up after dinner

Not sure what, but something was interesting on the computer for Patty Tawanda and John

...elsewhere Ken was talking to Jenny*

And Ashley squeezed all the Thanksgiving food out of Susan

and then we played Apples to Apples - a card game. I lost miserably

FRIDAY

I met Grant for lunch We went to the new "mall" in Derby and this was the view from the table at lunch

After lunch I went to get a lump on my arm checked out at the doctors. It's been there for 4+ weeks. Apparently it's just a bruise that bled into the tissue instead of out like a normal bruise. Welcome to my world of not being normal.

Then I headed back to the Bullocks.

Patty was busy making sweets for the market the next day.

SATURDAY

I met Nick for lunch

We ended up going to see Stardust later Saturday. I then headed over to the house I used to live in to visit with the family that now lives there. And then back to the Bullocks.

SUNDAY

I went to church with Patty and John. Then met up with Andrew for lunch at a Chinese buffet in Nottingham.

After lunch we grabbed an over priced coffee ..and then I headed home. The traffic was horrific. You'd have thought it was Sunday evening traffic in America not England. Not sure why there were so many cars, but they sure did annoy me. Stop start, stop start all the way to London. I still made ok time, but I was fed up of driving.

I forgot to tell you about my Thanksgiving catastrophe. Years and years and years ago, my mother gave me shirts for different holidays - ie 4th July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas. These shirts are pretty loud shirts, but wouldn't be noticed in America. They are EXTREMELY overstated for England and get me odd looks every year. But hey - 4 days a year, I can deal with it. For the past 11+ years I've worn these shirts on their dedicated days. But I have lost my Thanksgiving shirt. I was devastated. It was the first time in over a decade I didn't have my Thanksgiving shirt to wear. :(

* Roll call: Patty and John are my "second" set of parents. They took me in as a stray when I came to England 8 1/2 years ago. Susan is their youngest daughter, Asley is her husband. Ken is a good family friend and minister at Ilkeston Church (where they all attend) and also the misiter that married Ben and I. Joyce is John's mother. Tawanda is a friend from church. Jenny (who Ken was on the phone to ... actually the phone was passed around and everyone said hello) is John and Patty's eldest daughter. She lives in America with her husband and their brand new firstborn.

American connections: Patty is American by birth, but has lived in England for the last 30 odd years. Ken's wife was 1/2 American, I beleive she lived most of her early days in America and then moved to Ireland followed by England; Ken also lived in America for a few years after marrying Beryl. Susan and Jenny are (obviously) 1/2 American, but grew up in England.

Happy Thanksgiving

Although I'm not getting to spend Thanksgiving with my immediate family, I have much to be thankful for. God has truly blessed me in the last few years. Happy Thanksgiving to all you in blog land.

Skinny Leaves

Saturday I found this really pretty leaf that was huge and beautifully coloured. Knowing how much my mother loves nature, I thought I'd pick it up, take it home, dry it out and send it to her. To my despair, the leaf lost its' pretty colouring. Boo. So I threw it away. Sorry Mom - but the thought was there.

Before chucking it, I snapped a picture

When I get home I often take my rings off at the kitchen sink. I had quite a collection of rings upstairs, so thought I should taken them down stairs. I bought the ring in the picture below a couple years* ago and wanted to wear it on my middle finger, but I couldn't get one big enough, so wear it on my right hand ring finger. Last night I was pleasantly surprised that it fit my middle finger - how cool! I had a skinny hand night! SO of course I snapped a picture of this momentous occasion!



* This is actually ring number 3. I lost the first one, bought another. Lost the second one, bought another. I have since found ring number two (I took it off to wash my hands at work and left in in the loo).

"Rice-cream" in London

I was meant to go to see a TV show recording on Saturday with some friends that I work with. After 1 3/4 hours after standing in the COLD and the rain, we were turned away as they give out more tickets than they have seats. BUMMER! Amy Becky, Lydia and I decided to get a bit to eat as we warmed up. We ended up at Chez Gerard, quite a nice French Restaurant. I forgot to take a picture of us girls, but...

here's a picture of Lydia

As I was finishing my meal, Andrew called. He and his mother, June, drove to London to see a Handel concert. Apparently is was fantastic. As I walked to meet them, I walked past

The London Eye.... and Big Ben (amongst other touristy sights)
Okay, so living in London does have some perks :)

Andrew and June were hungry so we went for food. Since I'd just eaten , I opted to have dessert. I ordered some sorbet and there was a few bits of rice in the middle of one of the scoops. As I enquired if the rice was meant to be there, Andrew comments on me having "rice-cream" - isn't he a funny one :P

It was quite late by this time and Andrew and June had quite a long journey back home, but before we parted, I had to get a picture!

Such happy people

June hadn't been to London in over 40 years. Apparently see is quite fascinated by a building called "the gherkin" so we walked along the river Thames so she could see it (and, yes, have her picture taken with it)

June is standing between The Gherkin and St Paul's Cathedral

I'm SO grown up!

Friday night Andrew, a friend of mine from near Derby*, came down to go to see a Baroque** Festival preformed by New London Soloists Orchestra at St Martin-in-the-Fields***. Andrew is a huge fan of the music composed during this time period. If memory servers, his favourite is Handel, but he is also a big fan of Baroque.

New London Soloists Orchestra

You can see them better here

Using the panoramic feature on my phone again. The church was light by candle light and the lights were chandeliers were dimmed. It was gorgeous! The acoustics were great for a performance like this!

Andrew was fascinated by the workings of this period instrument, the harpsichord (costing around £16,000 (or was it £160k - it was well expensive is all I remember!)

Andrew and I after the concert.

More photos

*Derby - where I used to live ... come on people, keep up :)

** Programme consisted of: Bach - Violin Concerto in E; Vivaldi - Oboe Concerto Bach - Air 'on the G string'; Pergolesi - Concertino for Strings; Vivaldi - 'Autumn' from Four Seasons; Purcell - Chacony; Bach - Concerto for Oboe and Violin in C minor

***Famous church in Trafalgar Square, London, designed by James Gibbs, and consecrated in 1726

Who said errands were boring?

Friday I was waiting in the queue at the bank and this little girl (who was obviously full of energy) decided it would be fun to come running up to me, make some squealing noises and then run back to her mother. I thought she looked the size of a 3-4yr old, but I don't think from her conversational pieces she was more than 2. It did get a little old after a while, but it distracted me from the long wait at the bank. (Of course I got my phone out and snapped a picture. I do realise she's a stranger, so I did try not to get her face.)

Am I vain?

Last night I met up with my friend and former colleague, Reena. It usually takes us a few attempts at scheduling to meet up and actually meeting up - this time there was only one cancellation - we're getting so much better! It was really good to catch up with her - it's been ages since the last time we saw each other!

My friend, Reena

We met at Green Park tube station and tried to find a restaurant that I saw online. (It turned out we went right out of the tube station and should have gone left.) A few minutes of walking down the road we decided to turn back, but some flashing lights (reflected off some buildings) caught our attention, so we went to check them out....

The flashing lights turned out to be Piccadilly Circus (you just have to laugh)

We ended up finding a Japanese restaurant that looked quite nice (unfortunately it wasn't so good).

Check out how close the tables are! You'd think we were one big party, but no, no one knew the person they were sitting next to!

I mentioned in a previous blog that I got a new phone. Well traveling into London - what do you do besides play with your new toy .. which has a camera. And what else do you take a picture of than yourself. Hmmm. This is what I was doing to occupy my time in transit yesterday

On train heading to London - how good looking am I!
On train headed home (check out the blood shot eyes!)

...then I got home and couldn't sleep. So what's a girl to do...other than play with her new toy, and take more pictures. Goodnight from Karen

Notice the difference a bit of makeup makes. Hmm.

"Boys and their toys"

Boys aren't the only ones who get new toys! Tuesday I got a new spangly mobile phone. It's really cool - it's a PDA (palm pilot type thing) and phone in one ... and it even has a qwerty keyboard that slides out. I was playing with the camera Tuesday night and discovered it always you to take 3 pictures and it turns them into 1 panoramic photo:

Cool, right?!

Tuesday I also wore more of the jewelry my sister sent me. I was only wearing little hoop earrings, but I quite like them. It's now Thursday and I've been wearing them since Tuesday. I was hoping they could replace the studs I always wear, but I fear they're not real sterling as my ears are bothering me. Oh well. They're still pretty cute.

Big cheesy smile from Monday* for my sister

Wednesday my flatmate brought up (upstairs from her room) her Nintendo DS and got me addicted to the game where you test your brain age - have you seen the adverts on TV for it? Oh my gosh - SO addictive! I am ever so slightly competitive and have an additive personality...I ended up playing it for the majority of Sunday night. My "brain age" did improve from 60 when I started to 29 by the end of the night. Wa'hoo. (My flatmate had a Brain age of 45 and she plays it loads - how clever am I :) Ok I say clever, you say sad and pathetic and addicted to video games - semantics!)

*If you look at Monday's comments my sister compliments the necklace and queries the lack of makeup and smile. I did state the picture I posted was one I took as I was getting fed up of not liking any of the shots I'd taken. This one would have probably gotten posted if I wasn't so amused by the face I pulled in the other one :)

The big recognistion

I forgot to tell you - I finally got a sign on my door!* I've been validated! I have my own office. My first office. I'm growing up mom! :)

*Too bad I'm changing my name soon.

My epic bath

Monday was a bit of a 'nothing' day, in the sense that I have nothing exciting to tell you. After work, my flatmate and I went grocery shopping. We were in and out in less than 45 minutes, which was pretty cool. I cooked dinner once the groceries were put away, and then I was ready for bed. I was up late on Sunday night so most of Monday I was tired. I mildly suffer with insomnia, so I try not to sleep until bed time (ie naps are bad).

In the attempt to waste a bit of time I thought I'd have a bath. Being the considerate flatmate that I am, I asked Helen if she needed in the bathroom before I took a bath. She didn't. (As a side note, those of you who have lived with me might be able to recall I sometimes have a pretty long bath - sometimes I get bored very quickly and am out within 20 minutes, sometimes I'm in the bath for an hour...) Well yesterday I fell asleep in the bath (really warm bath when sleepy, maybe not so much a good idea) and emerged from the bathroom an hour and a half later. By that time poor Helen was crossing her legs. Opps! Sorry Helen.

I also called my mom's to say hello, Cheryl (my sister) wanted to speak to me so Mom passed the phone to her. Cheryl wanted to say thank you for the baby gift (a car seat) I had gotten for Madilyn (my niece). I can only take a thank you for buying the car seat. My dad, bless him, traveled 2 odd hours to pick up the car seat*. He went above and beyond the call of duty, but I'm really thankful! Since it was a bit pricey of a gift, Mom wrote a card from me saying "Congratulations on your new arrival, happy baby shower and Merry Christmas (and Happy birthday Cheryl**)" and wrapped the carseat to match. Pink paper with a baby face on the front, holly leaves for Christmas on one side and birthday decorations on the other. My mom's a very clever and creative lady. It was good wrapping! Thanks mom and dad for your help!

Left to right: baby side, Madilyn enjoying pressie, bday side, xmas side)

I'm also wearing more of the jewelry Cheryl sent me. I got fed up of trying to take a picture of it that looked good. This is what I ended up with:

How fun am I!

*Cheryl and Scott registered at places that Paris (where my parents live) don't have and the car seat wasn't available to buy online. Talk about complicated gift buying!
**Cheryl has a birthday coming up in the new year - it's a bit of a "here's a gift for the next few occasions that I should give you a gift" kind of gift :)

Busy busy busy

Last week a friend from Derby came down to visit. He arrived Sunday night and we found this really cook Japanese restaurant in Crystal Palace*. The restaurant had low tables like (I believe) they have in Japan where you sit on the ground instead of in the chair. But it was cooler because you sat on the floor but there was an inset feet hole so it was like you were sitting on a chair but you were on the ground - hard to explain but really cool. I had some sushi as a starter and didn't like the main course I ordered, so Grant being the great friend he is switched with me. He ordered a cracking meal that was yummy! We came back to the flat around 11 and watched a movie. Grant picked Jurassic Park (a good movie that I haven't seen in years and years, but a very long movie to start at 11). Grant was on holiday this week but I had work Monday morning. Looking back, going to bed at 2:30am not a great idea.
Monday I met Grant after work and we went into London. He was meeting his cousin so we ended up just having a late lunch / light snack at a quaint little wine place in London Bridge. Good atmosphere, wonderful wine selection (if only I liked wine!) comfy seats and good company. As I bought a travel card for the day and had nowhere to be I kept Grant company through to Victoria and then headed back home. I got home around 6 and decided I wanted to do something besides sit in the flat, so I headed back into London to see if I could get a present for my new niece. (My flatmate had suggested a shop to try which was in London.) While I was waiting for the Train back into London, Grant called and said his cousin wasn't very well so he was headed back to my flat. I said I was headed into London, so we met up and he accompanied me for a spot of baby shopping. The shopping trip proved fruitless, but it was a good outing none-the-less. As neither of us had eaten tea** we stopped at Waterloo and went to an Italian place I'd been to before with a girlfriend I meet up with.

This is Grant at the Italian. No clue what he's doing with his face.

It should have been relatively easy to get back to Crystal Palace but we just missed one train and then the next one was cancelled, so we ended up waiting 40 minutes out on a cold platform for the train home. Boo. We got back around 11:30 again and yes, watched another film - after all you only live once and you can sleep when you're dead! Tuesday's film choice was For Love of the Game another movie I hadn't seen in years! I was pleasantly surprised by the movie, cause I thought it had a rubbish ending - but it doesn't, it has a happily ever after ending that makes you go all gooey inside :) Another late night, this time with a 3am bed time.

Grant going through my extensive DVD collection

Tuesday was harder to get out of bed than Monday, but I managed. I was jealous that Grant got to stay in bed and not go to work though. I was even more jealous when I called after 12 and he was still asleep. Grant headed off to see another friend in London on Tuesday so I had a very early night - 9pm bed time for Karen on Tuesday. No idea what I did on Wednesday. Thursday I was meant to meet up with a friend I used to work with, but plans changed and Grant ended up coming back to mine. I cooked tea for him - good old fashion Bangers and Mash. I can't remember the last time I cooked for someone! So it was kinda nice. 2 guesses what we did after tea - yep another movie. I love movies! We watched a dvd that Grant had bought, Remember the Titans. This was a movie I had wanted to see when it came out, but never managed to, and then I forgot about. A very good movie. One that I reckon my dad really liked.

Friday I headed off to the lake district. Every year there's a church fellowship weekend that I go to in Keilder Water. It started as an 18-30s weekend then changed to a Young adults weekend and now I think is just a fellowship weekend. It's always a great weekend, and this year was no exception. Oddly enough it took me less time to get there this year even though I'm 3 hours further away: I ended up getting a high speed train to Newcastle (a big city in North England) and then someone picked me up and took me across to Keilder as they passed through Newcastle. It was a 5 hour journey for me. Nice! Expensive by train, but nice. There was much
good singing...


...very good lessons, and great fellowship:

A good friend of mine, Andrew, and I at the fireworks. It was pitch black and I couldn't seewhere the camera was pointing, so it's a bit off centre

This is Jessica and dad, Simon. The fireworks were past her bed time. How is it she can sleep on her dad's head! Carla taking her chance to cuddle little Georgia Haliday. How cute is this!

...And yes, more fireworks! Richard set a tradition many years ago of bringing fireworks to Kielder Water. It's now something we all look forward to. And those around me enjoy laughing at me for jumping at every big bang - what can I say, I'm easily startled!

(more of richard's fireworks. this one, i didn't jump at, but we were so close it still made me nervous. It's amazing that we've not had any firework injuries at kielder water through the years!)


...plus good ole campfire singing. After fireworks some of us stayed in the cold and rain around the campfire and sang for a bit. My memory card was full, so I didn't get much of it, and the camera was the wrong way round, so you'll have to tilt your head to the left, but you can here the fire crackling and us singing. Best singing is always 'round a campfire.



Now I'm back home and it's time to go to sleep so I can start another week.

*where I live
**super, dinner, or what ever you choose to call the meal you eat in the evening