London Pictures!

Summer fun begins

Its been approximately 95 degrees in Atlanta every day since I got back from London, so I think its pretty safe to say that summer is upon us. My friend Jenn created the most amazing summer to-do list complete with fun stuff like eating popsicles, going to Braves games and generally enjoying life. I can't wait to mooch off her list and try some new things (restaurants, crafting, baking...yes, please).

So, to start the summer off really right, I'm heading to Raleigh this weekend and the beach next weekend! I'm equally excited about both--especially Raleigh because I have all of this stuff to look forward to:

-Beach music tonight with Erin (people in Georgia do not love/appreciate beach music like Carolinians do...I miss it)
-Bridesmaid dress shopping with Sara
-Engagement soiree for Sara and Eric on Saturday!
-Lots of other shopping, seeing best friends and hanging out with my family

I hope y'all have something fun to look forward to this weekend! London pictures to come, I promise!

Oh, to be back in London..

I would do just about anything to be able to visit this exhibit. Once in my life, I hope to go to London in the middle of the summer to be able to go on the Buckingham Palace tour! One day.

Speaking of London, the trip was fantastic. More than fantastic...we had such a good time. I would go back right now if possible. There's so much that we did and saw and ate, so I won't bore you with tens of pages of my ramblings, but here is a short list of some of the things we did on vacation:

Sunday--Arrived in London, found the hotel (right across from Hyde Park), wandered through the park looking at Kensington Palace, the Diana fountain and the Peter Pan statue. Went to bed insanely early.
Monday--St. Paul's Cathedral, Buckingham Palace/Changing of the Guard, Queen's Gallery, purchased copious amounts of Royal Wedding merchandise, saw Billy Elliot in London's West End.
Tuesday--Tried to go to Westminster Abbey, but the Obamas were there and it was closed for the day, went to the Churchill Museum and War Rooms instead (amazing), rode the London Eye, saw Mousetrap (the longest running play ever), ate at the original Hard Rock Cafe, purchased many more Royal Wedding merchandise.
Wednesday--Double Decker Bus tour, river cruise of the Thames, Westminster Abbey, Parliament, Harrods. Again with the Royal merch.
Thursday--Day trip to Windsor, Stonehenge and Bath. So much fun.
Friday--British Museum, National Gallery of Art, Selfridges shopping, Wicked!

I'm sure there's more I can't remember right now, but we did so much! Fabulous trip. Pictures still need to be posted, but I promise to put a best-of on the blog very soon!

What have you all been up to? I'm still playing catch up after being gone!

Weekend festivities

Lots of fun to look forward to this weekend (beginning today!):

-Food Truck Thursday in Atlanta. This is my new favorite thing...lots of yummy food trucks line up right across the street from my office every Thursday at 11am. If you're in the Atlanta area, I highly reccommend you get yourself to Midtown at this time. Today I'm hoping for some BBQ and a King of Pops popsicle. Yum!
-Massage tomorrow morning. I missed mine last Saturday because of my dead car battery (the joys of adulthood...). Obviously I need it desperately this time.
-Lunch with John, froyo with Lauren and dinner with Graper tomorrow. So much food and so many friends packed into one day.
-Small birthday party for John on Saturday night!
-Finally (hopefully) getting my Comcast phone fixed on Saturday. This will be appointment #3 at my new home. They will be hearing from me via phone very soon to credit my bill. A lot.

Anyone else have fun plans this weekend? I can't imagine anything much more fun than what I've already got planned...

London Calling

Every afternoon when work is almost over I cannot wait to get back to my house. I'm in love! I used to almost dread going home to my apartment, I felt like it was sort of sucking the life out of me. It was so dark, and 2.5 years spent in a one bedroom apartment was about 6 months too long. I just adore my new place so much--its bigger, more homey, prettier and much friendlier than my old place. The fact that it's two levels make a huge difference, and I've already met 4 or 5 of my neighbors. I met one neighbor in the 2.5 years I lived in the apartment--just one! So far everything is better, and I can't wait for more friends to come for a visit and hang out with me there, since I may never leave!

Unfortunately, I'm going out of town for work next week (boo), and then Mom and I are finally leaving on our trip to London! I am so excited for this trip. I really haven't even taken much time to think about it or get excited for it because so, so much has been going on. But as of yesterday, I'm in full trip planning mode. I've been to London twice before, so I feel pretty comfortable making my way around and knowing what is important for me to see and do. Do any of you have any suggestions for me, though? I'd love to hear if you do!

I think Mom and I have a lot of the standard tourist attractions on our list again, along with purchasing plenty of royal wedding souvenirs, seeing Mousetrap and taking a day trip to Stonehenge. So. Excited.

I'm a homeowner!

Somewhere in the middle of all the excitement of the wedding and moving and general life craziness, I actually bought a house! Well, the bank bought a house and I get to pay them back for it. It was so exciting! The actual day didn't go nearly as planned--but really, does moving ever go as planned? I had gotten up at 5 to watch the wedding, and then got myself ready for closing at 10 am. By the time 1:30 pm rolled around, I was just beginning to sign documents, had a pounding headache and was literally eating bites of sandwich in between signing my life away.

Luckily, dad and I had left mom at the apartment to finish up the packing. The movers ended up showing up before we were finished at the lawyer's office, and has already packed up half my house before we even arrived! I guess it ended up being a good thing, and everything went really well from that point on--it just would've been nice for the bank to get their act together.

Mom and dad and I moved all my personal items ourselves, and were finished moving the very last box by lunchtime on Saturday. It felt so fantastic to turn in my apartment key! No going back now.

So in the meantime, I have not had any cable/internet/phone since Friday, which has been torturous for me. Its forced me to do a lot of unpacking of boxes which is good, and a lot of reading in my special Royal Wedding collector's edition of People Magazine (even better). I adore the new place, and already feel so much happier there. I've gone on neighborhood walks, I walked to meet Jenn for dinner and met Erica at our favorite Mexican place too. I can definitely see my life being a lot more enjoyable and full at this place, instead of my life-sucking apartment. I also have a lot more motivation to clean and fix things up and actually change them to be exactly how I'd like because it's actually my own place! I can't wait for all my friends to come visit and enjoy it with me.

Pictures to come soon once most everything is looking pretty!

News

So obviously there was just a little bit more going on in the world than just the royal wedding this past weekend, and I feel the need to at least acknowledge the capture and killing of Osama Bin Laden. Although it is yet another death, and no death should ever really be celebrated, I will leave you with this quote I've seen a few times over and a politcal cartoon from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that sum up my feelings, and the feelings of a lot of Amercians:


I’ve never wished a man dead, but I’ve read some obituaries with great pleasure. -Mark Twain