Heartbreakers

Y'all know I'm not a tearful person, but this progress report and slide show on Vick's dogs has me reaching for the tissues.

Year-end lessons learned

How I love the end-of-year (btw I'll be shocked if many of those links still work) wrap-up lists. This year does not disappoint:

• Fashion lessons from celebrities
• Best jazz albums of the year
• Top mug shots
• And finally, a list of top lists (from London's Times)

Holiday no-no's for kitties and pups

Watch your furry babies carefully during the holidays - they react badly to just about everything that isn't pet food.

...but at least I can laugh at myself

And at this great review of the movie. As Manohla Dargis so appropriately notes, "Cue the shrieking virgins." Heh.

Explaining my shame

Yes, I read them all. Yes, I'm going to see the movie. Dammit. Stupid Twilight books.

Save those stories!

Something to put on your Thanksgiving agenda, courtesy of my friend Elaine:

Hi everyone,

All of you know about my work at StoryCorps, and I wanted to let you know about a new initiative we are all working hard to promote this holiday season - the National Day of Listening. StoryCorps is asking the whole country to set aside one hour on Friday, November 28th, to record a conversation with a friend or loved one. Taking the time to sit down and listen to a loved one - no distractions, no interruptions, just quality time together learning more about someone you care about and letting them know how much they mean to you - is the best gift you can give.

We've got a new website with lots of tools and resources to help you record a Do-It-Yourself interview: http://www.nationaldayoflistening.org. Check out the video (produced by my friend Vanara!), which helps instruct you on how to do your own recording. It's also got special sections for teachers and librarians. I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and hope you get the chance to honor someone you love by recording and preserving their memories and stories. And please pass on the message!

Feeding my addiction

Product reviews, coupon codes, news, new items... Afficionada, indeed.

Winter pretties

Most everyone I know is already aware of my love for the textile arts, but this felt jewelry is some of the most exquisite I've seen. Get here soon, January!

A rarity

It's not often that I have more than one interesting thing to put up here in a single day, but these cute little corruptions of my childhood could not be ignored.

It's good for you, I swear

The health benefits of ginger are very compelling, so it's only natural that ginger candy would be sort of like health food. Right? RIGHT? I thought so.

Saturday in the park

If you're in Atlanta and looking for something to do on Saturday 18 October, come on down to our 'hood for the 2008 ParkToberFest (links to a MySpace page with music). $25 gets you all you can eat & drink (check out the sponsors), music, games and screaming children. Woo hoo!

Those are CROCS?

Yes, they are.

The hubby's visit, part 2...and home

Catching up...

After a week with me in London, J and I took the Eurostar (I hate air travel forever now) to Paris to be serious tourists for a second week (and nearly miss our train home after running through the Musee d'Orsay the morning before we left). Since he took the vast majority of the pictures on his camera and posted them on his Picasa Web page, I'll just link to the albums here:

• The Louvre
• Versailles
• The Eiffel Tower at Night
• Musee Rodin & Notre Dame
• Musee d'Orsay

I got a few good shots in as well, including some of the amazing hydrangeas at Musee Rodin:



And a sort of spooky fountain there (that's someone's museum guide at the bottom):



After J went home, I pretty much just worked until my last day, when Ruby planned one more truly English activity...the Traditional English Breakfast, at a bar called The Cock down by Smithfield Market, still home to the best butchers in London:



I think I ate about a third of that and I was stuffed until about 8pm that night....when several people from our London office were celebrating their move to new jobs, so naturally we went out for a last hurrah:



But with all that, it's good to be home. Know why? 'Cuz I have the best. friends. EVAR.



Who just happen to enjoy Georgia Tech football:



Europe was awesome, but home is best.

Party supplies

• Disposable dishes
• Interesting cocktails
• Pretty decorations

The hubby's visit, part 1

Jarrett has just headed back to the States after joining me for two weeks to be tourists. The first week, he was here in London "working" and seeing the sights.

That first weekend, we were proper tourists, with two cameras between us (Jarrett's pics are on his Picasa Web page). Since it's just around the corner from the apartment, we took Saturday to return to Regent's Park to enjoy what passes for a beautiful day in London. This time, we also had some refreshments, though the "glass" was a little off...


Yeah, that's a mug.

Also, we encountered a statue of a friggin' mermaid. I mean merman! Merman!


We then walked to the South Bank to ride the London Eye. Jarrett took lots of pictures with my camera, but this one is my favorite:


On to Sunday! My co-worker Ruby and her husband Philip were our tourguides as we drove up the Thames valley. First stop, Hampton Court Palace. Jarrett again has some excellent photos, including one of the hedge maze we completed. For my part, I was fascinated by the sheer amount of mistletoe in the surrounding trees:



The next stop was a lunchtime picnic on the banks of the Thames. The weather cleared up just in time and the water further upstream was much prettier than the brown sludge of London. Then we were off to the highlight of the trip (for me), the Thames River and Rowing Museum. Highlights of Jarrett's pics include me trying to steal an oar from a statue. Heh. Our last stop was Windsor Castle, though it was so late the castle was closed so I got some lovely pics of the outside, including the ornate light posts. That's a tiny red crown on the top:
Oh, and I finally tried a trend that I find a little icky here - cider over ice. It's advertised all over tv so I thought I'd give it a go. Probably won't do that again.


Next up will be our trip to Paris...woo hoo!

Lots of stuff coming up

Yes, I'm still here and still alive...I have tons of pics of Jarrett's visit that I want to share but we've been tourists so I haven't had time yet. We just got back from Paris, which I have heard so much about from so many of my friends, and I have to say it was every bit as wonderful as their stories. I'll catch up in the coming days!

Until then, please enjoy Mighty Girl's collection of Flickr photos culled from the vast selection of those tagged with "stupid." And the kids' version. Yikes.

Around the office

Our building, Old Broad Street House, is in the financial district of the city of London and is a very boring, plain building. However, nearby are some widely varying architectural wonders. A few blocks away is Leadenhall Market, a beautifully restored lane of modern shops (including a yummy cheese shop and a pen store - yes, a pen store, we're in the financial district after all):



Just next to the market is the Lloyd's building - you can find a lot of amazing pictures of this building, which has all of its infrastructure (ductwork, stairs, etc.) on the exterior of the building, so I'll post only one of mine:




And around the corner is one of the newer, more recognizable buildings in London, nicknamed "The Gherkin," which sits a block in front of a beautiful old church:



I think it would have had a different name in the U.S., don't you?

Belgium, Holland and Woo!

This past weekend, I used a visit to our offices in Belgium as an excuse to head over to visit Rebecca, Dan, Miles and Amelia in Holland, by way of the Eurostar to Brussels. High-speed trains are The Way to Travel, seriously.

We took some fun strolls around their village:




We went to Antwerp, where we saw the Cathedral of our Lady, both far away and up close:



We also visited Hulst, where I bought some fabulous Belgian chocolates and where there are some very, um, large lions:



Thanks to Rebecca and Dan for being such lovely hosts - they even put flowers in my room!

Awwwww

Thought I'd share the first picture (IMG_0001.jpg) I took with my new camera while I'm waiting to take some new pics. Yeah, that's my awesome husband.

Forgetful

I let my camera battery die. Every plug in my office is embedded in the floor, where my converter won't reach. So I have to wait until I get to Rebecca's (in Kloosterzande - he he!) to charge it. Dang.

Being a real tourist

Finally took the opportunity to get some sight-seeing in, along with approximately 236 miles of walking this weekend. On Saturday, I spent a wonderful day at the Victoria & Albert Museum of art and design, which includes collections of jewelry, textile arts, ironworks, and at the moment the fashion history of The Supremes. Some of my favorite items:




This was part of a large display of historical biscuit tins:


This "chandelier" is hanging in the main entryway - it's composed of hundreds of black glass pieces suspended from the ceiling:


The giftshop may be the best museum shop I've ever seen, and they don't even force you to go through it in order to exit the building.

Sunday the weather was actually sunny(-ish) so I went to Regent's Park, which is a block from my hotel. It is more than 400 acres of the most beautiful public land I've ever seen. Seriously, it's HUGE:


There is a boating lake, athletic fields, an English garden, several small snack bars, multiple buildings, and more goose poo than you would ever believe. The flowers are the most amazing part to me:




There are even black swans on the small lake:


Lastly, I did my tourist duty and headed down to Picadilly Circus:


It was a real zoo, though, so I trekked further down to Trafalgar Square, where they'd set up a huge screen to watch the Olympics. I caught some women's field hockey - Great Britain vs. Germany:


In the square in front of the National Gallery, there were many artists (and their dogs) creating mostly amazing sidewalk chalk art:


More walking took me to the Royal Mews, where some guards and horses patiently put up with tourists and their cameras:


And then I went home. Whew.

Zach Morris, is that you under there?

Seriously, is there an '80s heartthrob under all that mess?

The office

Our office in London is set up very differently from the cubicle farm we have in Atlanta. In fact, it's got no cubes at all:



But that's not the biggest difference. Take a look at the break room:



Filtered water, hot water...notice anything missing? Like maybe a coffee machine? Oh they do have "coffee" - freeze-dried, mixed with hot water, and horrid.


Thankfully, there are shops selling actually brewed coffee nearby. However, most Starbucks here, for example, close before it even gets dark. Weird.

One week down...

After nearly a week, I finally got some time to put a post together. Kind of a "duh" statement but London is a really busy city. I arrived safe, sound and utterly exhausted at 6:50am last Thursday morning. Settled in at my home away from home. Worked for two days. Got a tour of the South Bank on Friday evening, including a lovely view of the London Eye:



It's bigger than it looks here - each car carries 20 people. And it's surrounded on the sidewalk by street performers, including about 25 different people painted like statues as well as this gentleman walking around with a bike balanced on his head:



Saturday, I took a stroll through the Portobello Road Market, three streets full of displays by seemingly every clothing 'recycler,' jewelry maker and hawker of second-hand stuff in all of London. It was incredibly crowded, no matter where you were in the sprawling stalls:



You could even buy a bike from a stall...though the van carrying the bikes to the market was a bit more interesting than the bikes themselves:



Interestingly, some of the original designers have created an online storefront for their wares as well.

On Sunday, my boss arrived for meetings this week and he decided we needed to 'see the sights.' So off we went to see, in no particular order, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre:



The Tower of London (and met the only female Beefeater, though I didn't get a picture):



And a pub on the Thames that was originally built in 1610 or something. I don't have a picture of the pub, but I do have a picture of my favorite part of it:



On the subject of food and drink, since my arrival, I've eaten pub food, Spanish, Lebanese, Moroccan and plain old sandwiches. My diet will probably get a bit more boring as soon as my boss leaves and I'm back on my own, though. And people aren't kidding when they say curry is the national dish here. You can get a bowl for next to nothing on just about every block.