My Bridget Jones Diary Moment

If my roommate had been walking on the other side of the road last night on her way home she would missed have the sign that read premiere of "Then She Found Me" following a special Q&A with Colin Firth tonight... few tickets left. Lucky for she was in the right place at the right time,k so she snapped up two tickets for her and I and the next thing I know I'm sitting in a theatre with Colin Firth standing in the front row. You would have thought the Beatles had been on stage. What is about this man that just makes girls swoon? Including myself! Before the film began he told us a little about the making of the movie, the fact that he did not get paid for it, it was Helen Hunt's dream project that she had been working on for 10 years. The women wrote the screenplay, directed the film, and starred in it. It was a pretty all star cast; Matthew Broderick, Bette Milder, to a name a few. The movie was really good, I highly recommend it!

After the film was over we all got gift bags full of makeup, hair products, DVD's, basically all girlie things. I guess they knew their target audience :) Colin then re appeared for a Q&A with the audience. Peoples questions were the kind we are all dying to ask but don't dare: Are you married? Do you like playing the gay guy? What did you think of Pierce's singing in Mamma Mia? He was really eloquent and very funny!

Afterwards all the girls made a mad rush to get his autograph and picture. Sima and I stood in the corner both trying to work up the nerve to talk to him. We didn't have to wait long, because he ended up walking right by us and smiled and I knew it was now or never. I reached out my hand and said, "Hi, it's so nice to meet you. I loved the movie and really enjoy all your films." What I really wanted to say was, "Mr. Darcy I presume." I'm pretty sure that would have me sound like an obssessed fan not to mention a retard. I then asked if we could take a photo with him, and he said YES!!! He was so nice and tall!!!

Definitely one of my top three star sightings!

Best Week Ever!

This past week, while exhausting, was also the best week I've spent since living in this city. Most of the time I recognize that London has so much to offer but I'm not so good about taking advantage of it. What made this week so great and so memorable was experiencing the different aspects of the city, which just happens to be right outside my doorstep.

Saturday - The O2

Two Americans and one Brit attending the first qualifying match in basketball for the 2012 Olympics. It was Great Britain vs. the Czesk Republic. Not only did I get to see some great basketball but I got to see the sight of where the 2012 Olympics will be held. The O2 arena is amazing. Quite vast, glitzy, and in a great part of the city called Greenwich. Taking an English person to a US sporting event was quite comical. My friend Jane kept asking where all the big foam fingers were, why the uniforms were so shiny, and in particular why the shorts were so long. She didn't fancy the shorts at all!

Sunday- Viewing of Buckingham Palace

Most people, including myself, have had the opportunity to see the outside of Buckingham Palace. Not everyone however, gets the chance to go inside. My friend Suzanne bought us tickets for the whole dog and pony show and we spent the entire day Sunday touring the castle, the mews, and the galleries. In word it was STUNNING! It's hard to believe that someone actually lives in the palace. The palace was so grand and so elegant. I couldn't get over the grandeur of all the different rooms. The state rooms were so beautifully decorated, the banquet hall where the queen hosts here dinners with all the dignitaries was out of this world, I even got to see her throne. Unfortunately, she didn't swing by to say hi, I was so offended :). You weren't allowed to take any photos inside the palace, so the only pics I got were the backyard and the mews. So the mews, which is basically her servant quarters and where she keeps her ride, or should I say rides was quite the spectacle! The women has a million carriages and limousines. It was unreal.




Monday Evening- Wine Tasting at the London Wall

One of my suppliers invited me to go wine tasting a couple months ago since we both shared a passion for wine. He belongs to a wine society that holds tastings about once a month and had suggested we wait until September to attend an event. I know understand why we waited so long! The night's theme was Chilean wines and we tried 24 different varieties of wine from Chile. The wine was great but what was even better was the setting. We were inside a building called the London Wall. For you non history buffs, the London wall was a defensive wall built by the Romans made entirely of stone. Remnants of the wall still remain and there I was sipping my Chilean red in this historic site.

Tuesday Evening - Blind Date

Ok so every night can't be perfect but it can at least be adventurous. I was set up by a friend of mine who in all fairness did not know much about the guy I had agreed to go on a date with. All she told me was that he was a doctor, was Indian, and was single. Trying to be the open minded person I am (yeah right, just making sure you're all paying attention) I decided to give it a shot, even without seeing a photograph. Big mistake!! This guy was such a tool. Sorry to be so judgemental, but the guy drank his beer like he was holding a sippie cup, stil lived at home where his mom cooked his every meal, and the second sentence out of his mouth was that he fancied infectious diseases thus his decision to become an STD doctor. Can we say conversation killer? Needless to say I will not be going out with this guy again.

Wednesday Evening - Dinner at Christopher's in Covent Garden

Covent Garden is one of the coolest areas in London, at least I think it is... It's mini Italy basically, with a piazza, fabulous restaurants, street performers, cobble stone streets, and great shopping. I had the pleasure of attending a work dinner at an amazing restaurant called Christopher's, where we got to dine in the private dining room underneath the main part of the venue. The food was delicious, the wine even better, and the company was a blast. I have finally gotten to a place where I feel so at ease with my co-workers and really enjoy their company. It was all around a good night in a fantastic area of London.

Now Thursday could have been the culmination of a great week had I decided to go see Madonna in concert. I was offered tickets at the last minute but choose instead to spend a quiet evening at home. I know many of you are reading this cursing me, but turns out I made the right choice. The next day I found out her concert was fraught with issues. The speakers blew out at one point so the sound sucked, she came on an hour late therefore when the show finished all the public transportation had shut down by the time everyone left the stadium, leaving tons of people stranded. My boss (who I gave my ticket too) ended up getting home well after 1 am. Oops. She was still thrilled to have gone though, cause Madonna is her all time favorite artist, so I scored some major brownie points with her.

So as you can see, it was quite the week! A week that made me fall in love with this city and all it has to offer. A week that I won't forget for awhile and will motivate me to have many more just like it.

Full Circle

Today, I landed in London after a great visit home. The irony is a year ago I landed in London this very same day for the first time. I can't believe a year has passed since I moved. Crazy! So much has changed, so much has happened...

As I look back on the last year I have some great memories and a couple of not so good ones :) I remember arriving here and thinking people looked so European, how the city was so big, how the food was so different, it was all so new. Everything was novel, and so British. I thought the fashion was so strange, and now I've started to adopt it. I went from being scared to take the subway to not even giving it a second thought. I know many of you didn't think I had an accent but the scary thing is I kind of do. It comes out here and there. I've made some really great friends, including my Trishna, Leona, Jane, Jen, and my great roomie Sima.

Most importantly, I have learned so much about me. One of the main reasons I made this move was for personal growth. I really think I've begun to accomplish that, but I still have a way to go. I feel comfortable with who I am, I know what I like, what I don't. I'm learning how to be happy, independent and do it all without worrying about my career for the first time in my life.

My biggest concern living so far away from home was being so far from my friends. I was worried I would lose touch with them and they would become part of my past rather than my present. Luckily, that hasn't really happened. I still feel close to most of my friends (thank god for facebook and skype) and in fact, I have become even closer to some. I appreciate my friendships so much more than I did before. I guess absence does make the heart grow fonder. There are a few people who I am no longer close with but I think that comes with the territory. It makes me sad but I hope when I move back home things will go back to normal.

I am so excited to see what the next year has in store for me. I hope it's filled with lots of travel, fun, and who knows maybe a boy :)

Flower Power

Although it wasn't the nicest day today Sima and I decided to do something outdoors. One of the world's largest botanical gardens is right here in England. Who knew? It's a place called Kew Gardens, in the town of Kew. Lucky for me I have a friend who lives in Kew, Leona, so we meet her outside the tube station and she took us on a tour of the gardens. Girlfriend has a year pass so she knew her way around this garden. They weren't kidding about it being big, it was massive. We walked around for hours and saw the most beautiful flora, lakes, birds (yikes!) and greenhouses. We even listened to trees and climbed on top of some. Here are some of my favorite photos from today.

Wimbledon Baby!

I celebrated my 4th of July (yeah this post is a bit late) the British way; attending Wimbledon. It was so incredible. As a young girl I used to watch the matches with my family religiously. I was quite the tennis player back then, with dreams of playing on my high school team. Even though that dream didn't come true another one did! Never in a million years did I think I would get to attend a game in person. While most people que (that's British for stand in line) overnight for the best tickets Sima and I decided to go ghetto style. Our plan was to purchase return tickets, which are basically tickets that get returned at some point during the day by people that paid top dollar. Return tickets cost only 5 pounds and the proceeds go to charity. We first had to que to get into the grounds. We got to the grounds around 3ish. Forty five minutes and 15 pounds later we were inside. We then hiked up Henmann Hill (famous hill named after a player where people watch the games on a big screen TV), and got in line for return tickets. Five minutes later, Sima and I had tickets to court one. They were great seats! We really wanted centre court tickets but that que was way too long.

Henmann Hill

We got to watch a men's semi final doubles match. It was Britain vs. Netherlands. I had no idea who the players were but it didn't matter.

I was content watching the game and eating my strawberries and cream (the official food of Wimbeldon).

I feel so lucky to have gotten a chance to do this while in London, it's something I will never forgot!

Normal is Good

Where did the month of June go? I didn't realize I hadn't posted anything for so long but I guess it's because life has been normal, and by normal I mean good.. I now have a routine. I go to work, come home and have dinner and/or drinks with friends, yes friends, although there aren't a lot of them it's about quality not quantity, watch my shows, go to the gym. Essentially all the things I used to do at home. It's really nice, boring but nice :)

Oh, and I've found a roommate as of yesterday. She's a great girl from New York named Suzanne. She's quite spunky, really sweet, funny and we have a lot in common. She moved out to London about two months ago and is trying to figure out this great city, kind of like I was a year ago. I think she's going to be a great roomie and we're going to have fun together. I just need her to work on saying the word "precious" a little less. Every other word out of her mouth is precious.. right now it's cute but I could see it getting old. Ahh co-habitating, it's always an adventure.

My normal life will be getting a little more abnormal as I have some more exciting things coming up in the next week; Wimbledon, party in the park, 4th of July Texas style, and a music festival. Summer in this city rocks!

Seasons Change, Plans Change

I'll start with the good news first. The weather here in London has been amazing this last week. It is officially summertime. The temps are in the high 70's people are out and about in their flip flops and shorts. I spent this weekend getting my short sleeved shirts, skirts, and open toe shoes out of storage and swapping them with my sweaters, scarfs, and turtlenecks that have been in my closet for the last 9 months. I never realized how much I missed seeing color in my wardrobe! London is like an entirely different city in the summertime. If only it could be like this more often. I have definitely been taking advantage of the weather by enjoying all the beautiful parks and walking alongside the river. I used to take gorgeous weather like this for granted when I lived in California, but now that they're so far and few in between it's amazing how you make the most of it. Speaking of making the most of my days.. can you guess what time this photo was taken?

6 you say. Try 9:30 pm.!! The days lasting so long has got to be one of the oddest things I've experienced since arriving here. The sun comes up at 4:00am and it doesn't get dark until 10:30pm. The great thing is, I come home from work and it feels like I have all the time in world to go do things. The down side is, I am wide awake come 6:00 am because the sun is shining as bright as can be into my room. I'm thinking I might to need invest in some curtains, the sunshine cutting into my beauty sleep isn't going to fly.

Now the bad news, or maybe I should say challenging news. My friend Sima who I've referenced many a time in this blog as my future roomie is no longer going to be filling that position. She unfortunately has to return back to California to help out with her family business. She came back to London last week on her way to Italy for a 2 week tour, and dropped the news. Needless to say I was super bummed. We had all these grand plans to travel all of Europe together, take London by storm as two single girls on the prowl, explore other parts of the city, etc.. I was also really looking forward to living with someone. One of the things I've realized is that I prefer living with roommates instead of living alone. So now I'm debating whether I should to try and find someone else to live with or continue to live alone. There's advantages and disadvantages to both situations. If I do choose to live with someone else it would probably end up being a stranger since I would use the Internet to find them or send a note to friends at work who can pass along the message. I keep going back and forth.. on the one hand living with someone who I don't know very well could be a great way to make a new friend and meet their friends, hence creating a social network for myself. On the other hand, living with someone I don't know could end up being a nightmare because they turn out to be a freak. I'm not sure what to do??? Luckily, I don't have to make up my mind immediately. I'm going to give it some more thought this weekend and see how I feel on Monday.