Hey all -
Sorry for the long delay - moved offices and things have been really hectic at work. Not too much time to update before I head home for the holiday weekend and then head off to Florence(!), but here's a quick recap:
St. Patrick's Day was fun - spent it in two Irish pubs, celebrating my 1/8 Irish heritage. Gotta love it. Still one of my favorite holidays of the year. Pictures forthcoming. Denis and Raquel (his friend from Argentina) came to visit for the weekend, and got to hang out with them in between their sight-seeing trips. Saturday consisted of an attempt at the Circle Line pub crawl, which comes in at about 27 stops. The weather was gorgeous, so I dressed in summer clothes and regretted it as soon as the sun went down. We tried for half the stations, gave up after 7 pubs once we realized we wouldn't make it in time, bought a couple bottles of cheap wine, and drank them on the tube, stopping at every planned stop along the way to take a picture, thereby proving we'd been there and (in our minds), proving we'd completed the actual crawl. And then of course, back to the Camden tube for the requisite Saturday night drunk cheeseburger and chips. (I've been in there sober as well, I swear). The guys know me now - it makes me really happy. :P Heavily-edited pictures forthcoming. :)
Gin flies in tonight, and then we're spending the next two days on a whirlwind (free) tour around London, hitting up all the famous sites and best shopping areas, naturally. And then off to Florence on Sunday! I can't wait to go to Italy - let's just see how my college Italian holds up... :
Happy Easter!!
P.S. T-minus 3 days until I can eat chocolate...counting the hours...
Mar 25, 2005
Mar 17, 2005
60 Degrees and Sunny...
...yesterday, today, tomorrow, and Saturday.
Suckas!
= :)
P.S. Also, Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone. Try not to freeze to death...
Suckas!
= :)
P.S. Also, Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone. Try not to freeze to death...
Mar 16, 2005
oops...
...forgot to mention beans on toast. Which sounds gross but is really yummy - and for breakfast. mmmmmmmm beans on toast. what a weird country...
= :)
= :)
Long-Lost Crushes and Beans on Toast
Hi -
As I've got a break at work, I figured it would be a good time to update the blog.
So, Friday. Archie (a co-worker) and I got tickets to see one of my professors from school speak at an exhibition he curated in London. Now this isn't just any professor. This is the blue-eyed, fabulously Scottish-accented Professor Roxburgh, who I had a giant crush on at school. So I was more than a little excited to go. And nothing much has changed since college, really...I still fought to keep my eyes open as soon as the lights in the room went down and the slide machine started up, and still prayed desperately that Professor Roxburgh couldn't see my head nodding from where he was standing. But it was all worth it afterwards - I figured I couldn;t go to the lecture without saying hi, and when I did, he remembered me! Woohoo! And then he said I looked grown up, which of course made me start babbling like an idiot. I love my professor. So, yeah, that made my night. :P Also, the exhibition was really amazing - it had a lot of illuminated manuscripts and Korans, as well as gorgeous pottery, textiles, and woodcarvings.
Saturday was a lazy day - woke up at noon, headed off to the fruit market, stayed in watching football with Liam, as well as attempting to understand the rules of rugby (generally unsuccessful). Then went out to the tapas restaurant around the corner with the housemates, which was incredibly delicious, as usual. Plus, Jenny and I got dressed up just for the hell of it, which was great. Jenny's got the best wardrobe and is ridiculously generous with it - going into her room, with its closet, clothes rack, and two sets of drawers, is like going into a candy store. Or, more appropriately, really, a clothes store. But whatever. :) I wore this absolutely fab green A-line dress from the 60s (pictures forthcoming), and I plan on hitting up the charity shops with Jenny, who obviously knows where to shop. I miss my clothes... :(
Sunday = lazy again...slept late, watched the OC, lounged around and had a really good dinner - pinapple chicken stir fry...yummy. In the beginning I felt like I couldn't waste one weekend and had to travel all over the place, but lately, I think I'm ok with just sticking around - I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing...
Monday night entailed of a really good dinner of pate (who knew?), hummous, french bread, and soup...mmmm. Then Haagen Dazs and falling asleep in front of the TV (A Clockwork Orange, which I actually wanted to watch). Hm...don't think the London diet is working quite the same way for me as it did for Eric...
Last night was pretty quiet..had to clean up for guests (Denis and Raquel) coming this weekend (arriving tonight, actually). Tonight is the double feature of Rushmore and Napoleon Dynamite (for £5.50, woohoo).
Tomorrow's St. Patrick's Day, so that should be a lot of fun. No specific plans as of yet, but I have a sneaking suspicion they may include drinking...hmmmm....
Bye!
= :)
As I've got a break at work, I figured it would be a good time to update the blog.
So, Friday. Archie (a co-worker) and I got tickets to see one of my professors from school speak at an exhibition he curated in London. Now this isn't just any professor. This is the blue-eyed, fabulously Scottish-accented Professor Roxburgh, who I had a giant crush on at school. So I was more than a little excited to go. And nothing much has changed since college, really...I still fought to keep my eyes open as soon as the lights in the room went down and the slide machine started up, and still prayed desperately that Professor Roxburgh couldn't see my head nodding from where he was standing. But it was all worth it afterwards - I figured I couldn;t go to the lecture without saying hi, and when I did, he remembered me! Woohoo! And then he said I looked grown up, which of course made me start babbling like an idiot. I love my professor. So, yeah, that made my night. :P Also, the exhibition was really amazing - it had a lot of illuminated manuscripts and Korans, as well as gorgeous pottery, textiles, and woodcarvings.
Saturday was a lazy day - woke up at noon, headed off to the fruit market, stayed in watching football with Liam, as well as attempting to understand the rules of rugby (generally unsuccessful). Then went out to the tapas restaurant around the corner with the housemates, which was incredibly delicious, as usual. Plus, Jenny and I got dressed up just for the hell of it, which was great. Jenny's got the best wardrobe and is ridiculously generous with it - going into her room, with its closet, clothes rack, and two sets of drawers, is like going into a candy store. Or, more appropriately, really, a clothes store. But whatever. :) I wore this absolutely fab green A-line dress from the 60s (pictures forthcoming), and I plan on hitting up the charity shops with Jenny, who obviously knows where to shop. I miss my clothes... :(
Sunday = lazy again...slept late, watched the OC, lounged around and had a really good dinner - pinapple chicken stir fry...yummy. In the beginning I felt like I couldn't waste one weekend and had to travel all over the place, but lately, I think I'm ok with just sticking around - I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing...
Monday night entailed of a really good dinner of pate (who knew?), hummous, french bread, and soup...mmmm. Then Haagen Dazs and falling asleep in front of the TV (A Clockwork Orange, which I actually wanted to watch). Hm...don't think the London diet is working quite the same way for me as it did for Eric...
Last night was pretty quiet..had to clean up for guests (Denis and Raquel) coming this weekend (arriving tonight, actually). Tonight is the double feature of Rushmore and Napoleon Dynamite (for £5.50, woohoo).
Tomorrow's St. Patrick's Day, so that should be a lot of fun. No specific plans as of yet, but I have a sneaking suspicion they may include drinking...hmmmm....
Bye!
= :)
Mar 11, 2005
In which I get fired, but not really...
Hey everyone -
Haven't really updated in a while...being a sheer combination of laziness, sporadic bursts of activity at work, and the fact that the Internet access at the University is less than good. But it's Friday, and I'm bored, so here's the update.
I've found that I tend to do more on weeknights than on weekends, just because things tend to be less expensive. Good for my wallet, bad for my sleep habits. Unfortunately, I still act like I'm in college and stay up until at least midnight every night. I can't help it - it just seems weird to turn in early.
Monday is £1 night at the Prince Charles Cinema, this second-run theater in Leicester Square, so I went to go see Bad Education with some of the housemates. The acting was really good, but I'm on the fence about the film itself. Afterwards, Alana suggested we go to Haagen Dazs, which was a fabulous idea because they have a Haagen Dazs RESTAURANT in Leicester Square, complete with doorman, wait staff, and large comfy couches. mmmmm...all I had to do was try not to remind myself that my sundae was the equivalent of $12 - ouch.
Tuesday was an off-day, which was kinda nice. Made really good bolognese (kind of) sauce and had a fabulously large helping of pasta.
Wednesday was nice because both my bosses were off work (same for Thursday) and I could goof off a bit during the day (not like I had much to do, anyway). That meant I got to book my accommodation for Florence - I'm so excited it's coming up so soon! That night I went to the Australian Film Festival with my friend Joanna from work and we saw Somersault. It had an okay story, but was just a gorgeous film (and also had a beautiful soundtrack).
And last night was the Camden Crawl, an all-night concert crawl (in my fabulous neighborhood, which is unfortunately getting trendified as we speak) with 9 venues and about 40 bands. It was a lot of fun - only Alana and I went (we were the only two to secure tickets). Basically, we just walked up and down the high street and stopped in at random venues along the way. In addition to seeing some cool bands, we also got to check out a lot of live music venues in the area, from the former Camden Palais (now the named-after-a-gorilla Camden Koko), this big, grand old theater to the Electric Ballroom, this cavernous underground music venue. We saw the London Towers, Magic Numbers, the Buzzcocks, and some little Irish (we think) band that I've forgotten the name of already. Also, we got the BEST BURGERS EVER at midnight and the really friendly guy there recognized me, which excited me to no end. AND I got a free CD out of the deal. AND a gold wristband. Rock.
Oh, and the almost getting fired thing. So my boss calls me over on Tuesday and tells me he wants to tell me something before I get a note from HR and get alarmed. He goes on to tell me that the woman I'm doing the maternity cover for is suddenly returning at the end of the month. So I'm thinking I'm out of a job until my boss tells me they like me (whew) and they want to keep me on as a research assistant. So I get to do the interesting (market research) part of my job without all the crappy photocopying and admin part. Awesome. I rule. And I'm not jobless, homeless, and starving in the streets, so I think I came out of this quite well.
Indeed. Okay, that's all for now. I'll update if I remember something interesting...but you guys can feel free to comment all you'd like. Go ahead. Really. Pay some attention to me!!
Okay, bye.
= :)
Haven't really updated in a while...being a sheer combination of laziness, sporadic bursts of activity at work, and the fact that the Internet access at the University is less than good. But it's Friday, and I'm bored, so here's the update.
I've found that I tend to do more on weeknights than on weekends, just because things tend to be less expensive. Good for my wallet, bad for my sleep habits. Unfortunately, I still act like I'm in college and stay up until at least midnight every night. I can't help it - it just seems weird to turn in early.
Monday is £1 night at the Prince Charles Cinema, this second-run theater in Leicester Square, so I went to go see Bad Education with some of the housemates. The acting was really good, but I'm on the fence about the film itself. Afterwards, Alana suggested we go to Haagen Dazs, which was a fabulous idea because they have a Haagen Dazs RESTAURANT in Leicester Square, complete with doorman, wait staff, and large comfy couches. mmmmm...all I had to do was try not to remind myself that my sundae was the equivalent of $12 - ouch.
Tuesday was an off-day, which was kinda nice. Made really good bolognese (kind of) sauce and had a fabulously large helping of pasta.
Wednesday was nice because both my bosses were off work (same for Thursday) and I could goof off a bit during the day (not like I had much to do, anyway). That meant I got to book my accommodation for Florence - I'm so excited it's coming up so soon! That night I went to the Australian Film Festival with my friend Joanna from work and we saw Somersault. It had an okay story, but was just a gorgeous film (and also had a beautiful soundtrack).
And last night was the Camden Crawl, an all-night concert crawl (in my fabulous neighborhood, which is unfortunately getting trendified as we speak) with 9 venues and about 40 bands. It was a lot of fun - only Alana and I went (we were the only two to secure tickets). Basically, we just walked up and down the high street and stopped in at random venues along the way. In addition to seeing some cool bands, we also got to check out a lot of live music venues in the area, from the former Camden Palais (now the named-after-a-gorilla Camden Koko), this big, grand old theater to the Electric Ballroom, this cavernous underground music venue. We saw the London Towers, Magic Numbers, the Buzzcocks, and some little Irish (we think) band that I've forgotten the name of already. Also, we got the BEST BURGERS EVER at midnight and the really friendly guy there recognized me, which excited me to no end. AND I got a free CD out of the deal. AND a gold wristband. Rock.
Oh, and the almost getting fired thing. So my boss calls me over on Tuesday and tells me he wants to tell me something before I get a note from HR and get alarmed. He goes on to tell me that the woman I'm doing the maternity cover for is suddenly returning at the end of the month. So I'm thinking I'm out of a job until my boss tells me they like me (whew) and they want to keep me on as a research assistant. So I get to do the interesting (market research) part of my job without all the crappy photocopying and admin part. Awesome. I rule. And I'm not jobless, homeless, and starving in the streets, so I think I came out of this quite well.
Indeed. Okay, that's all for now. I'll update if I remember something interesting...but you guys can feel free to comment all you'd like. Go ahead. Really. Pay some attention to me!!
Okay, bye.
= :)
Mar 7, 2005
Cambridge and New Pics!!
Hi -
Am spending the weekend in Cambridge - hence the internet access. Yesterday Denis took me on a tour of the colleges, until we got pelted with a combination of rain and snow - I love England. Then we met up with Fred and had a delicious dinner of Indian food...mmmm, I love Indian food. Then a couple games of pool, which were a lot of fun...ah, college. Today was lazy and watched Desperado and Once Upon a Time in Mexico, and decided that Antonio Banderas is my favorite cheesy actor of all time. Also, have been eating the entire weekend (I love you, Nutella) and need to head home before I stuff myself some more. Am possibly meeting up with Dominic before the train ride home so that I visit every single person I know at Cambridge. Probably would have done more this weekend if the weather wasn't so absolutely frigid - what with the wind and below-freezing temps, it feels more like the Cambridge back in Massachusetts than the one over here. But it's a really gorgeous town - all the buildings are incredibly old and the streets are narrow and winding. And I got to see the inside of most of the colleges here, which was also great - I think I have to agree - Cambridge seems prettier than Oxford, even with the crap weather. I have to come back when it's warm to go punting down the river that weaves through town - it seems quite nice.
And as for the pictures - most of them are from Friday, when, after an always-entertaining trip to IKEA (mmm Swedish meatballs and affordable furniture), my flatmates and I headed out on a pirate pub crawl up the main street in Camden. Yes, a pirate pub crawl. Like a pub crawl while dressed as pirates. Inspired. I think we made it as far as 6 pubs before heading back...not quite sure, actually. :) And the pirate thing went over remarkably well - all the bartenders got into the spirit and started "aarrrg"-ing as well...I love pirates. hehehe...that's about all for this weekend. Click below for the pictures. I'll update soon!
http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?c=u54fr1b.42u4yorn&x=0&y=-dgl5oe
= :)
Am spending the weekend in Cambridge - hence the internet access. Yesterday Denis took me on a tour of the colleges, until we got pelted with a combination of rain and snow - I love England. Then we met up with Fred and had a delicious dinner of Indian food...mmmm, I love Indian food. Then a couple games of pool, which were a lot of fun...ah, college. Today was lazy and watched Desperado and Once Upon a Time in Mexico, and decided that Antonio Banderas is my favorite cheesy actor of all time. Also, have been eating the entire weekend (I love you, Nutella) and need to head home before I stuff myself some more. Am possibly meeting up with Dominic before the train ride home so that I visit every single person I know at Cambridge. Probably would have done more this weekend if the weather wasn't so absolutely frigid - what with the wind and below-freezing temps, it feels more like the Cambridge back in Massachusetts than the one over here. But it's a really gorgeous town - all the buildings are incredibly old and the streets are narrow and winding. And I got to see the inside of most of the colleges here, which was also great - I think I have to agree - Cambridge seems prettier than Oxford, even with the crap weather. I have to come back when it's warm to go punting down the river that weaves through town - it seems quite nice.
And as for the pictures - most of them are from Friday, when, after an always-entertaining trip to IKEA (mmm Swedish meatballs and affordable furniture), my flatmates and I headed out on a pirate pub crawl up the main street in Camden. Yes, a pirate pub crawl. Like a pub crawl while dressed as pirates. Inspired. I think we made it as far as 6 pubs before heading back...not quite sure, actually. :) And the pirate thing went over remarkably well - all the bartenders got into the spirit and started "aarrrg"-ing as well...I love pirates. hehehe...that's about all for this weekend. Click below for the pictures. I'll update soon!
http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?c=u54fr1b.42u4yorn&x=0&y=-dgl5oe
= :)
Mar 1, 2005
Adventures of a Secretary
Because that is my job. As much as I try to tart it up (calling it "Administrator"), it remains a stark truth - I am a secretary. And not the best one, either. I swear, I'll never look at secretaries the same way again. They're expected to know every single little thing going on in the office and in the lives of their bosses, while at the same time keeping tabs on every single development, project, and procedure in the department. I'm beginning to think I'm not really cut out for the job.
No, actually, it's not that bad - there are just some days when I feel like I'm meant to understand what's going on, and I simply have no idea. Like apparently I'm supposed to know how to induct a new employee, put through purchase orders, and make a good cup of coffee. Also, my boss called me a "silly girl" yesterday with not the smallest hint of disdain in her voice. hm.
Anyway, work isn't incredibly busy, as is obvious from the fact that I'm writing this post during work hours. Hm, so updates. Spent a relatively quiet weekend at home...watched a bunch of DVDs and got to bed early. All the housemates were out and about or going to bed earlier than me, which is incredibly weird, since everyone is usually up until about 4am on the weekends, but it made for a bit of a relaxing change - I'll just make sure I have weekend plans in the future.
It was ridiculously cold all weekend (30 degrees is cold for London, trust me), but I managed to venture out of the house to go shopping and visit the Imperial War Museum. The museum is really amazing - it just has a huge amount of good exhibits, as well as a special one on POW escapes, which was a lot of fun. I actually got to go in for free b/c of a chance meeting with a museum guard when the zipper pull on my purse broke at the entrance. He offered to get me pliers, we got into a 20min. conversation about how he started working for the museum, and then I got to go into the exhibit for free as his guest, where he gave an awesome insider tour. Very nice guy - both his father and his Grandfather had fought in WWI and WW2, and he had a lot of interesting info on the museum and war in general. But before you go thinking anything, remember the kind of man I attract (anyone remember 60-year-old John from the ballet) and keep in mind that John (the museum guard) is around the same age, with much fewer teeth. :P Awesome.
Shopping-wise, I went to Portobello Road and had to restrain myself from buying any clothes - the skirts were so pretty!! And £5 earrings! And bags!! And vintage prom dresses!! Ahhhhh! Someone stop me before I blow all my money.
Ok, boss just walked in - must start the day. Bye!
= :)
No, actually, it's not that bad - there are just some days when I feel like I'm meant to understand what's going on, and I simply have no idea. Like apparently I'm supposed to know how to induct a new employee, put through purchase orders, and make a good cup of coffee. Also, my boss called me a "silly girl" yesterday with not the smallest hint of disdain in her voice. hm.
Anyway, work isn't incredibly busy, as is obvious from the fact that I'm writing this post during work hours. Hm, so updates. Spent a relatively quiet weekend at home...watched a bunch of DVDs and got to bed early. All the housemates were out and about or going to bed earlier than me, which is incredibly weird, since everyone is usually up until about 4am on the weekends, but it made for a bit of a relaxing change - I'll just make sure I have weekend plans in the future.
It was ridiculously cold all weekend (30 degrees is cold for London, trust me), but I managed to venture out of the house to go shopping and visit the Imperial War Museum. The museum is really amazing - it just has a huge amount of good exhibits, as well as a special one on POW escapes, which was a lot of fun. I actually got to go in for free b/c of a chance meeting with a museum guard when the zipper pull on my purse broke at the entrance. He offered to get me pliers, we got into a 20min. conversation about how he started working for the museum, and then I got to go into the exhibit for free as his guest, where he gave an awesome insider tour. Very nice guy - both his father and his Grandfather had fought in WWI and WW2, and he had a lot of interesting info on the museum and war in general. But before you go thinking anything, remember the kind of man I attract (anyone remember 60-year-old John from the ballet) and keep in mind that John (the museum guard) is around the same age, with much fewer teeth. :P Awesome.
Shopping-wise, I went to Portobello Road and had to restrain myself from buying any clothes - the skirts were so pretty!! And £5 earrings! And bags!! And vintage prom dresses!! Ahhhhh! Someone stop me before I blow all my money.
Ok, boss just walked in - must start the day. Bye!
= :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)