Christmas Cocoon in Camden

Christmas 2010 was my first spent away with family. And even though I missed them, I had a good time with my surrogate family here in London. A mixture of Americans, Canadians, Aussies and a Brit too :)

We had some spiritual stuff (chats, carols), some silly stuff (truth or dare, email of death) and some typically awesome holiday stuff (eating TONS of great food, sitting in pajamas and not leaving the house for 3 days...literally).

All these pictures are thanks to Zinta and Morgan. Thanks for documenting this weekend guys!

Zinta made a Gingerbread house.

And we destroyed and ate it. When all was said a done, there was maybe one tiny piece of rock hard frosting left. Yummy!

We lit some candles.

We had a fantastic feast. Everyone made 2-3 dishes, and there were 7 of us = lots of gooood food.

Our dinner table on Christmas Eve.

Erika spiked our punch with beer. Ginger beer.

Me and Mo.

The beginning of our photo session. Don't ask me what I was doing, because I have nooo idea. It was that Ginger Beer.*

Toothless smile picture. Classic.

Front row: Erika Mitchell, Monica Hubrich, Me

Back row: Joff King, Karen Campbell, Zinta Jaunitis, Morgan Habedank

Group goofy shot

Girls photo. Check out Monica's face ;)

Joff made a joke right before this picture. Even though it was unplanned, it's my fav shot of the night.

*Please note Ginger Beer is actually not an alcoholic beverage.

Bothie: Unique experience with an upper case "U"

I really worked on my Halloween costume last year. I was going for the "no shower in 2 days, weary camper" look. And let me tell you, I NAILed it. It did take a couples days of camping to perfect, but I got it down.

Way back when (October 29 - 31, 2010) I went up to Scotland with a few friends and hiked to a Bothie. In case you don't know what a bothie is - I didn't either - it's a shelter made of stone. It may or may not have a fireplace, and maybe a counter for cooking and possibly some benches. And that's about it.

Let me tell you: hiking 3 hours to a remote Bothie in the POURing rain making the trail a river, in the pitch black to be greeted by a freezing cold stone home to sleep in was awesome. No, it really was. It was absolutely beautiful up there and I had an amazing experience!!! Thanks to Dave for organizing it all and doing all that driving :) And thanks the whole gang who went for the fun time!

The "Grand Hotel" in the town just before we went really remote. Yes, very grand indeed. With all those boarded up windows and doors. So welcoming.

View on the drive. Difficult, nay, impossible to capture well in a picture.

View from the Bothie. Besides the first night hiking in, it didn't rain the rest of our trip!

The Bothie. Stunning backdrop. Night 1 it was just us 5, second night there were about 30 people sharing the bothie.

The boys found and chopped the wood. Sunsets were beautiful!!
Group shot. L to R: Erika Mitchell, Me, Mike Robinson, Dave Robinson, Anders Aabo
Erika and I. yes, the hair was windswept. Like on magazine covers! Ok...looks a little different than a magazine cover.
Drive home. One way was like 12 hours, so a lot of our Friday afternoon to Sunday night trip was spent in the car. But it was gorgeous.


Dave drove the whole way there and back. What a trooper!

What else would you expect to see on the side of a remote rode in Scotland?

Erika doing a jig. We were trying to raise funds for all the petrol for the car. (Yes, bag piper was taking a break and we used his step).

Pet Spa

Have I mentioned I live in a bit of a rich area? Ok. It's a very rich area. With lots of Ex-pats since there's an American school nearby.

Anyway. I wish I was kidding when I say I got a Pet Spa pamphlet from Harrods in the mail the other week. The proof is below. If I ever hear of anyone I know actually using this place, I will personally write them a letter listing the 99,463,235 more useful and beneficial ways that money could have been spent.

In case you can't read it well, here are some of the highlights with my commentary in blue:

• "...this unique 3,000-square-foot pet-pampering haven offers the world's most exclusive selection of bespoke pet-grooming services and indulgent spa treatments..." Seriously? 3,000 sq feet? That's worth like $40 million in London (note - yes, I completely made that amount up)
• "...specially designed to to provide a calm, relaxing and safe retreat in which pets can be groomed, preened and indulged and revitalised." I'm pretty sure that a dog can relax just fine on a carpet at home.
• "Treatments offered include: physiotherapy, luxury canine massage, animal communication & reiki healing, behavioural support consultation, one-to-one puppy or kitten consultation" How much do you think those "animal communication & reiki healing" consultants get paid? 'Cause I'm pretty sure if I were them, I'd tell the pet - 'Don't tell your owner, but let's both just have a nap. Wink wink. Oh wait, you can't talk. I'm taking a nap now.' Then I'd laugh my way to the bank.
• Spa treatments include "blueberry & vanilla facial, thalassotherapy mud bath, John Paul pet full body groom" Blueberry & vanilla facial? I'm pretty sure they wouldn't be able to tell that from a 'stinky sock' facial. And knowing my old dog, she'd prefer the stinky socks. Also, a mud bath. You could get that for free going to a park in the rain.
• A nutrition and fitness suite including "personal fitness training session, the old age pensioner Club" I wonder if the pensioner club plays bingo. Oh wait, it's poker. That's where that ghetto portrait of dogs playing poker and smoking comes from. The Harrod's Pet Spa Pensioners Club.

The Harrod's Pet Spa Pensioners Club.
Pamphlet Front
Pamphlet Inside
Pamphlet Back

Creative ways to deal with the cold

Even though it's warming up here in London (finally), I've nearly forgotten how chilly it could get in the sometimes dreary months of November - February.

So I don't forget, and so all you Americans out there remember to appreciate your effective central heating systems and double paned windows, here's a picture of my home-made attempt to keep the freezing air from our drafty window outside our room. Yes. That is my flimsy summer duvet draped over our curtain rod.

Note: Just in case you think I'm some pansy, whiney ex-Californian, I will say that a temperature gauge in my room would read 55 degrees; that was when the heat in the house was ON. That's chilly folks.

The Little Ones in My Family

In case you forgot that my niece/nephews are adorable (post here and here), these pictures below from my trip to California in February will give you more reminders.

The whole little crew.

Brothers Bobby and Billy.

Cambry

Brothers Dallin and Thad

Bienvenido a Miami

I went to Miami for work a couple months ago - it's a pretty nice place. Especially when you're coming from a dreary mid-winter London to shorts, sun, flip-flops, and an ocean side hotel where there are literally dolphins playing in the water below.

Thanks to the jet lag, I got to enjoy the sunrises on the water and they were be-a-u-ti-ful. (Maybe sunrises are always pretty. I'm not too sure - I really only see them when I'm jet lagged...)

My overall impressions can be summed up in a few phrases: Spanish language spoken by everyone, colors you'd only see in Disney movies, SUN and warmth.

Thankfully, I brought my camera. Here's a picture of me during one of our lunch breaks.

It's about another time for a graph

This doesn't have to do with the big, important things in life. But I do get a lot of awesome (at least I'd consider them to be awesome) ideas of ways to entertain myself / my friends in my spare time.

Unfortunately, most don't come to fruition because of the curse of "diminishing motivation" related to awesome ideas.

As per usual, a graph represents my thoughts sufficiently. You can click to enlarge if needed.

Any ideas on how to improve this curve?

Disneyland

I was back in California in February, this time for a real period of time to soak up some sun...and see the family too I suppose.

One day a few of us hit up Disneyland. We did all the fun kiddy rides, met the princesses and rode the tea cups a few times.

I swear we had fun, though you probably can't tell from our faces here...

A Sunny Weekend

So I never blogged about this trip because I didn't have a photo. Thanks to Dave for posting this one up on the book face.

Way back when, July 9-10th, 2010 to be exact, the four of us drove out to Walton on the Naze for a quick day trip. Wanting a weekend in the sun, we checked the weather and randomly selected this little beach town. What a find! We left Friday night, hit up a carvery for dinner, basked in the warm evening sun, and set up camp on a cliff overlooking the sea.

Other highlights included:
-Convincing the parking attendant that we were not staying overnight as we held our pillows, blankets and small tent in his car's headlights
-Late night chat under the stars, including some probing "true or dare" questions
-Waking to the sunrise over the ocean
-Spending the day on a white sandy beach in the sun
-Taking a dip in the sea; the water was actually warm enough to swim in. Who'd have thought?
-Finding a book about improving your memory for Dave at the little shop above the beach
-Walking down to the seaside town for a dinner of fish and chips on the pier
-Lots more chatting, relaxing, card playing and bonding

A shot before we embarked. Dave, Emma, me and Erika.

Iceland: Home of the Bell

Judge if you must, but I'll be honest and let you know that this was a big highlight in the trip to Iceland - Taco Bell.

This is how it went down.

Me: "Haha, guys I thought that sign ahead was for Taco Bell and I got really excited! That would be funny. A Taco Bell in Iceland......WAAAAAIT A MINUTE! It IS a sign for Taco Bell!!! We HAVE to EAT THERE!!! REMEMBER WHERE WE ARE FOLKS!"

A day later, we were at the Bell. I've documented the meal for posterity. Yes kids: your mom loved the Bell. Not that that will be a surprise, you kids will be definitely be exposed to this food if I'm in charge of feeding you...

Oh the excitement. Fake cheeeeese nachos and cinnamon twists....they can't be beat!

Feed the beast!
The sauce packet reads "Ahhh...we meet again." Well said sauce packet. Well said.

We scarfed this stuff down in nearly 3 minutes flat.Booyah! It was the cheapest and - dare I say it - the best meal of the trip. Ok not really. But it did beat our homemade sandwiches which consisted of some sort of flavored cheese spread, cheese slices and some form of sandwich meat.

Iceland. Aka Land of Ice.

It's finally here folks: my blog about ICELAND. I went back in November 2010 (4th - 7th) with my buddies Justin and Monica.

We had a fab time and Iceland is a really beautiful place. Key adjective: vast. I'll let the pictures do most of the talking. Warning - there are a lot of pictures to follow...

This was the sunrise: at about 10am (it'd set around 4pm)

This is what I'd probably look like if I were ever to get drunk

Monica = seductress

















This seemed like an appropriate place to practice Yoga. You know...being all close to nature and stuff.


Couldn't resist the temptation to reenact this sculpture. We weren't really sure what it was, but later found out it's ancient wrestling form...


At the Geyser. The original one. The one that gives all other Geyser's their generic name.

Iceland's favorite holiday drink!!! Those suckers probably cost like $5 each. Did I mention yet that Iceland is EXPENSIVE





Frozen ginormous waterfalls = cool. Literally.

Sunset around 4pm. It always felt like late afternoon when there was any light in the sky.

The lonesome road. Did I mention Iceland is vast? Yeah...it's super vast. And super empty. We saw very very few people around.



We hiked to these hot springs, and took a dip. It was cold outside, and moderately warm in the little stream.

Engagement shot!

We thought this was the famous Blue Lagoon. It was not. It's the power plant right next to it.

This is a portion of the Blue Lagoon. It was really blue. It was also very cold outside and moderately warm in the water.

All in all, a gorgeous place for a fun weekend. Check that country off my list :)