Christmas Eve London Style

Christmas Eve 2010, I headed off from work and took a bus down Oxford Street. It was pretty calm (things actually close down around here - no such thing as midnight shopping), and gorgeous with the lights all down the street.

I couldn't help but stare out the bus window, beaming while desperately trying to savor the ride and the soak up the moment.

And then I arrived at the Royal Albert Hall for a festive Christmas Eve concert. Our tickets were perfect, in the chorus seats so we could see the stage and the entire audience. We listened to lots of Christmas music, and sang lots of carols, rounding out the evening with a powerful rendition of Hark the Harold Angels Sing.

'Twas the night before Christmas. A night to remember.

It snowed in London

And the timing was impeccable: the day my bosom buddy Monica moved out (Dec 18), the sky was shedding tears. More like dandruff flakes.

And while it did cause some chaos, it was absolutely beautiful. Got to her new place down south and it was really coming down hard (yet soft...) It's strange seeing a place you're so familiar with transformed by being covered in a blanket of snow. Absolutely magical. The city felt quiet and peaceful. And I loved it.

This shot is of my street a couple days later. Yes, a but slushier, and dirtier, but still lovely in its own way.

Thanks for the treat mother nature!

When I grow up and have teenagers

They will drive this van to school as punishment.

Driver's side:
Passenger's side. There is no hiding from this embarrassment.
Although I will secretly think it is awesome and drive them everywhere in it anyway.

Cambridge: 5 Stars

December 11, 2010. A day to remember. It was a celebration for my day of birth twenty something years ago.

We went to Cambridge. While it was chilly, it was sunny and beautiful. We walked around the town, went into King's college chapel, had a lovely pub lunch (with delicious sticky toffee pudding for dessert), then walked about some more and stumbled across a lovely family Christmas service in one of the other chapels where we lit candles and sang carols.

Overall, a lovely day. Sorry in advance for the many many photos, but I liked too many :)

King's college chapel

Emma and Morgan

Monica and Erika

Me and Monica making our "happy" faces

This is the definition of a quaint pub: one with historic and relevant pictures like this on the wall.

Monica. This picture would have been complete if she'd been wearing a wedding dress. Alas, that may have been weird as well.

Erika. This little lady is such a gem!

Engagement photo #1 of the day

Dave's iphone photo, just lovely

I love this hallway. I love the lighting.

Of course, we took jumping pictures.

Monica's awkward hand #1

Monica's awkward hand #2

The carols by candlelight

Blissful Weekend

I went back to my friend's parents house in Lyon, France. Remember this place? Yea, it's pretty sweet.

There was a nice group of us, and Morgan (photographer extraordinaire) was there thankfully to capture some amazing shots from the weekend. I feel like we belonged in some sort of amazing magazine shoot. I heart this place.

The pictures below are all from my camera. But you should REALLY take a minute to enjoy Morgan's. He's got some mad skills. Check out his flicker site:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lost_boy/sets/72157625856129924


A view of the valley


Karen, she's from Canada.


Karen also speaks French. She didn't let that fact be known but enjoyed listening to people (aka Dave) trying to order our late night dinner from a drive-thru.


Dave and Erika. Having fun playing tag. Or else they were trying to reenact a blender in our kitchen appliance game.

Me. Strutting my stuff.

Senior Dave.


Mike. Two guesses what he was doing up there on the hill top...


Erika and Morgan. Morgan chopped wood and Morgan liked it.


Dave playing tag


The hill side at dusk.


The moon.

I moved

And in case you're wondering, I did not hire a man with a van.

I left my joyous flat in Finsbury and moved up in the world to Abbey Road in the St John's Wood neighborhood. This might look familiar:

And this is what I see everyday.

Loving Live Concerts

On December 9, 2010 my good friends Monica, Dave, Erika and I went to see Angus & Julia Stone perform at the Southbank Centre.

They're a very talented, folk, brother-sister duo. Between the two of them, they played at least 10 instruments and are both great singers. Somehow they transformed a large performance hall into an intimate, living-room gig. Julia even gave their dad in Australia a call on stage we all joined in to sing him Happy Birthday.

My favorite song: Big Jet Plane. The official music video is absolutely lovely. Please follow the link and enjoy :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFTvbcNhEgc