Royalty and Pub Quizzing

I know I've mentioned this before, but I am among the obsessed with the British Monarchy (mainly Kate and Wills). It is just so refreshing to have these royals that are not old and farty, but rather fresh and inspirational figures for young people. Anyhow, as you may know, Kate Middleton's infamous wedding dress designed by Sarah Burton, head creative director at Alexander McQueen, has been on display at Buckingham Palace. The show ends next week and I HAD to catch a glimpse before it was gone. Along with a tour of the State Rooms, where the official wedding photos were taken, the dress was so beautifully on display with a video of Sarah Burton explaining every detail of the dress. I know it is boring to most, but I was excited to be in the same rooms as Kate and Wills and all the royal family were back on April 29th. Can you imagine being invited to that wedding?! Would be so cool.

 
 Ok moving on from my silly obsession...last night I went to my old stomping grounds from back in the study abroad days. We used to hang out at a bar called The Westbury all the time. Now that the Drew University kids are living in our flats they have made The Westbury their hangout. They invited me to Pub Quiz night. We were in a team of five and dominated! We were required to paint the face of one of our teammates like a demonic clown while competing in a paper airplane flying contest and answering trivia all at the same time. We won everything from fake mustaches for the team, a giant clown tie, and two rounds of shots for winning different competitions. There was 500 pounds at stake as well but we didn't win that. It was a fun time hanging out with friends, playing a little competitive sport and walking down memory lane.

And to finish off the post I would like to discuss the weather. Living in London one would expect some dismal weather with frequently rainy days. Unbelievably it has felt and looked like summer. As you can see in the photos it has been gorgeous with not a single cloud in the sky. Am I really living in London right now? Remember when I discussed the difficulty of packing? Well, to save space I didn't pack any summer clothes. I only have winter items here and it is proving difficult to put together outfits that fit these unusual temperatures. But I will not complain, as Matt and I made a chicken dinner last night and dragged our dinner table onto the balcony and had dinner. It just makes me so excited for the Spring and Summer to host parties out there. Another point for our flat!

I suppose I will end the post with my favorite part of our apartment: our balcony and the view. Until next time!

English Tele

Here's the problem....I have my favorite US shows along with all the new pilots that have just come out that I have to keep up with while I'm over here. At the same time, Matt has already gotten me into a couple shows over here. I'm not one hundred percent sure how I am going to manage all of these shows on top of school work and work. I'm already addicted with X-Factor UK and I love that they have Kelly Rowland representing the US as a judge. There is some serious talent in there and I'm excited to see what happens. Most importantly one of the girls looks like my friend Emily so I'm cheering for her and her group strictly on the fact that she looks like Emily. I keep you all updated on her status on the show. They are also showing The X Factor US, so I've been watching that one as well.

There is this show here called THE ONLY WAY IS ESSEX. It's basically like MTV's THE HILLS or LAGUNA BEACH with a little JERSEYLISCIOUS mixed in...lots of boob jobs, fake tans, hair extensions, white teeth, fast cars and big parties. It has all the same relationship drama as well while supposedly being "real" it has got to be scripted. It's pretty crazy how much less censorship they have on local television after 9pm here. There's a lot of F Bombs and nudity galore. It's not like I'm a prude but it still shocks me every time. I suppose I'll get used to it in time. America is so censored it's unreal.

Tonight we went down to Power League (Matt's work) to watch Matt and his friends play in a 5-aside football league. Met Matt's friends and got to see the lovely Ben Lewis. Ben, this is your shout out in tonight's blog! I know you follow. They played two matches. Won the first and nearly won the second. So proud!

Tomorrow I have the lovely opportunity to see a show called DECADE being put on by the National Theatre about the 10 years since 9/11. My professor and friends from Drew U are here this semester and had an extra ticket. Thanks guys! Can't wait to see all of them for the first time since being in London...and since I graduated. Not to mention, seeing this show is going to be so exciting.

Until next time!

Feeling Green

The past couple of days Matt and I have been interior designers. Our specialty is in the color green. Our flat is only a short bus ride to Ikea and we spent three days in a row trying to design our living room. The huge challenge was to make our two sofas that do not match, work in the same room. We also had to figure out how to set them up and maximize the space. We went with a green and white theme. At the moment we are debating the green. We are hoping we didn't go to overkill. Check out the most recent pictures (we have yet to add wall decor but it will come soon):

We are still waiting on some more pillows and as I said, the wall decor. The bedroom will be done in a couple days...not much, just some pillows and wall decor. We're both very happy with the way the living room turned out!

We've had a pretty exhausting couple of days designing and decided to go out for dinner and a movie. Matt took me out on our first date since I've moved here. We went to Fine Burger Co. We had some really tasty onion rings and chips (fries). Matt also got a delicious milk shake from which I kept stealing sips. My burger tasted strange. Even Matt agreed it was pretty hard. Very different from my favorite American burgers....Shake Shack and Five Guys. We then saw Friends With Benefits, starring Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake. I never had the opportunity to see it when it was in the states but most movies come out about a month later here. It was a cute rom com. It didn't blow our minds but we enjoyed it


Today we conquered a couple markets. We started at Borough Market, jut south of the Thames. It is a huge food market with a fresh and local food stalls. Even though it is on the opposite side of London from where we live, we both love it and it is definitely worth the trip now and again. I had a cheese and artichoke sandwich while Matt had a pork belly roll...yuck :-p  Sorry something about that name grosses me out. We both had fresh squeezed lemonade... 2 pounds each!!! Lemonade is not the same over here and this expensive lemonade was very much like American fresh squeezed lemonade. Here lemonade is either "lemonade" aka Sprite or "cloudy lemonade" aka flat and the closest thing to an American lemonade/lemon juice. We also both got homemade desserts...yummmm!

After Borough Market we stopped by Portobello Road Market. We couldn't even get through the entire market it was so huge. It just kept going and going. It has everything from antiques and jewelry to new goods and produce. Even better than the stalls were the little shops and boutiques along the road. I will definitely return and will bring friends who come to visit.

Tonight I will introduce you to the first "British term" in a series of learning the real English language. Today's term comes from watching The X-Factor UK and watching all of those kids get kicked off. In all the interviews, the kids kept saying how "gutted" they were. So today's term is: GUTTED. It basically means "DEVASTATED." Before I met Matt and all of his friends, this word was completely foreign to me. I've even heard on the news that in something like 80 years, the British and the Americans will not be able to understand each other anymore due to all of the slang we have both created. So for all of my American friends, there is your first into to British terminology.

Tonight I am introducing Matt to Talladega Nights. For a guy whose favorite movie is Step Brothers...I cannot believe he has never seen this movie! Alright all....goodnight!!!

Woke up in London Yesterday...

Greetings from Londontown!

Flight was good. Just under 6 hours. Lucky to even get both bags onto the plain. Both weighed 2 lbs over the 50 lb limit. Oops! The ticket lady was nice to let it go. I even slept on the plane! I never sleep on planes so that was successful. After waiting almost 3 hours in line at border control, I finally got to see Matt! It took us 2 trains and a bus to get to the flat. Imagine us rolling three suitcases through London but  one with a busted wheel so really we were rolling two and dragging one creating skid marks down the sidewalk. Great. Finally got to the flat and I absolutely love it! I am attaching pictures below. It is very sparse at the moment however we spent our day at Ikea getting inspiration. Sadly all we got were our Ikea hotdogs for 50p each. We left empty handed but discussed our decor ideas based on what we saw and will be returning tomorrow to purchase it all. We also did a little rearranging of furniture. I think after today it can be confirmed that Matt and I have different taste in decor. We are learning to compromise and I think we've come to a happy medium. Decorated flat pictures to come later!

This is our kitchen that includes a hidden dishwasher, refrigerator, and washing machine. 

It is in a cute little corner off of the living room.

 This is our dining area and living room. Again, this is just after Matt moved in and we've moved furniture and added things since.

 

And our bathroom:

Our bed:

 The only thing missing in the pictures is the wrap around balcony that we plan to decorate in the warmer season. More pictures to come as soon as we decorate! Hopefully in the next few days. As for the rest of my day, I will spend it getting settled with stupid things like setting up a bank account and getting my cell phone situation sorted. Can't wait to show you pictures in the coming days!

Last night on this continent!

Hey Ya'll!

Tonight is my last night before jet-setting off to London! My emotions are everywhere. I am such a huge traveler and homebody all at the same time. I always get nervous about leaving, but I am more than excited to get over there and settle in. For those of you who don't know, I haven't seen my boyfriend in three months, so that's something to look forward to. Sort of like Christmas Eve! It's always exciting walking through those airport doors from customs into the family and friends greeting area. If you've ever watched the opening of "Love Actually" they talk about that part of Heathrow Airport. I always think about it every time I walk through those doors or wait for Matt on the other side. It's a great place to sit and just people watch. To see all the love in that room is so heart warming. Family, friends, couples....it's a beautiful sight. So that is my next 24 hours. I am even checking into my flight online as I type this. (Multitasking...a specialty of mine). It is becoming so real. It's too bad I still have to unpack and repack everything in both bags. Both bags are still 5 lbs. over the 50 lb. limit. UGH! Talk about last minute packing.

THE EMMY'S

Tonight I celebrated my bon voyage with a yummy white cake covered in coconut, whip cream and strawberries. Soooo good! I also watched the Emmy's and realized how much of a TV-aholic I truly am. I know WAY too much about tv shows, the people in them and those who create it. Maybe that's why I would love to get into the business one day. Working as an assistant on the casting of a new show SMASH coming out this January was an amazing experience and got me hooked. Like my mother, I also have an obsession with many TV series out there and follow them devoutly. I happen to also enjoy "Saturday Night Live." I re acclaimed my love for SNL Digital Shorts (if you're familiar with SNL you will know what I'm talking about), tonight as they did an incredible live performance medley of famous songs created through the digital shorts. For those unfamiliar, Andy Samberg (an SNL cast member) started doing these shorts when he joined the cast. They are pre-recorded musical skits and usually involve celebrity guest appearance: Justin Timberlake, Michael Bolton, Jessica Alba, Blake Lively, Natalie Portman, Susan Sarandon, Lady Gaga Akon...to name a few. They are usually ridiculous yet hilarious. A lot become famous by going viral on the internet after airing on SNL. Those include "Dick in a Box"and Natalie Portman;s "The Chronic-What-Cles of Narnia." YouTube them if you are interested. I included some recent favorites of mine. WARNING these are immature and inappropriate. If you don't think you can handle the humor...close your computers NOW. I have an immature sense of humor. SORRY...NOT SORRY. I also have a problem with obsessively finding those "funny" viral youtube videos. I apologize if you do not find them funny...I torture friends and family by making them watch them. Let me know if you like it! Please comment below because I will add more "funny" videos if it's something you enjoy. If not, you have the OPTION of watching or not watching and I won't even know to get offended. Look, we all win! Enjoy! Check out my BON VOYAGE blog tomorrow!

1) Captain Jack Sparrow; Starring Michael Bolton
2) 3-Way; Starring Justin Timberlake and Lady Gaga; featuring Susan Sarandon
3) I Just Had Sex; Starring Akon, Jessica Alba and Blake Lively

A Little Change

The two things that have me completely stressed out about this move to London are the packing and the money (or lack thereof). Packing has been so difficult. Having to pick and choose and fit my entire life into two suitcases is nearly impossible. I have already packed and repacked three times. The problem is in the shoes! I think I need to get rid of a few pairs. I think seven may be too much. Oops! Luckily some of my best buddies have been helping me pack!

Oh hey Huckleberry!

Oliverrrrr!!!!

 

As for the money...well, I've been scraping! I'm banking on my security deposit from New York City to be returned to me to put towards my London rent. I also have birthday money and a little money I earned by working the few days I did at my dad's store these past two weeks. But here's my numero uno shameless money saving trick:

SAVE THAT CHANGE

A couple years ago, one of my bosses was telling me how she and her fiance would save their change (instead of throwing it in the tip jar) and put it in their own "tip" jar at the end of each day. After one year of consistently doing this, they would cash in the change and use it for a vacation. When she gave me this idea, I started my own tip jar. I'm not so great at keeping consistent with things like that, but I did a decent job and found it just sitting in my closet. I added a few more coins to the jar and then started counting and rolling. After only saving a couple months of coins, it came to a total of $104! Not bad...It will turn into 60 pounds in London, but whatever.

Yes that is Ollie's butt in the picture

A QUICK THANK YOU

I just wanted to thank everyone who has been following my blog. A lot of you have told me that you've been following. This makes me so happy! I really appreciate it and hope that you tell your friends. I promise I will add more fun things to this blog about everything British. I promise it won't be just me blabbing on and on. Thanks again everyone! Only 5 more days!

10 years later

Today is September 11th, 2011. Ten years ago today our country was attacked by terrorists and we lost over 3,000 innocent victims in a horrific tragedy. We all remember where we were and what we were doing. I was 13 years old and in the 8th grade. I remember finding out at an all-school morning meeting. I remember leaving the meeting and going to class and having a moment with our teacher to ask questions. I can't say that I fully absorbed what had happened that day or even years after. It wasn't until I became an adult who had experienced life and death and just had more experience in general that I could even begin to comprehend. Last year, only days before I moved to New York City myself, I watched endless documentaries with so much footage and personal stories from that day. It finally made sense. It finally felt real and the tragedy struck at a deeper level. One year later, after living in the city and becoming an honorary New Yorker, the emotions are even stronger.

I returned to the city this weekend for my a going away party/ birthday bash after moving out a week ago. With all of the terror alerts on high, I was strongly recommended by family and friends to avoid the city. I considered not going, but after my year in this city, I felt so connected and wanted to be there for the anniversary. I can now say how happy I am that I had the opportunity to be a part of it. I somehow came across the FDNY Memorial Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral. There were hundreds and hundreds of firefighters from all over the world in full uniform there to celebrate and memorialize their fallen brothers. Of course it was not open to the public but we were able to watch outside on a jumbo-tron and so much actually happened outside of the cathedral as well. 343 uniformed firefighters marched into the church holding American flags to represent each individual firefighter lost that fateful day. Other uniformed firefighters lined 5th avenue, single file, saluting the flags as they entered the church.  The mass included a speech by Mayor Bloomberg and by a nine year old boy who was born 6 weeks after his father passed away. He spoke as if he was speaking to his father, telling him about how he has become a baseball player just like him. That was the one that got me. At the end of the mass, the flagged firefighters exited the church. They then marched down 5th avenue guided by a group of bagpipers and drummers and followed by endless amounts firefighters marching in honor of their fallen brothers. It was beyond moving and I am so happy I had the opportunity to experience it. Ten years ago, I think I was protected by my innocence and ignorance. Now that I can grasp what happened, I am baffled by what happened that day. You don't think something like that can even happen in a country like ours that feels so strong and protected, but we were brought to our knees. They hit us and they hit us hard. They got us when we least expected it and we lost so much including thousands of innocent lives. But we weren't knocked down to stay down. We got back up and we showed our strength and ability to come together and rebuild. I have to say that the World Trade Center memorial is absolutely beautiful and I cannot wait to have the opportunity to pay my respects there when I return. I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to live in such a strong city with an amazing history of strength and hope. Never forget. Please watch the film I put together from that memorial mass at the bottom of the blog. If you can't see it here, please visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7G4Myj-IPRo

Help! I need a wardrobe makeover!

This day has been quite the stressful one and it is all because I'm trying to get myself organized for London. Before I go through the stress of packing a year's worth of clothes and belongings into two suitcases, I need unpack my year's worth of clothes and belongings from New York City. I truly believe this unpacking is the more difficult of the two tasks. The greatest task of all...organizing and fitting all of my clothes into a single, average-sized walk-in closet. Sounds easy, right? WRONG! I know I have been complaining about all of the crap and clothes I own...but today has been the true realization. I wish I could just purge everything and restart with a completely fresh wardrobe. Somehow over time I have collected a ridiculous, disgusting amount of clothing. I blame it fully on stores like Forever 21, H&M, Marshalls and TJ Maxx. I would say about 60% of my wardrobe comes from these stores. The great low prices and huge variety is the problem. It is so easy to buy a lot of clothes for a decent price...hence the pile up of more and more articles of clothing and now the jam packed closet. Many of you are probably thinking, "you just need to get tough and throw things out or give them away." Believe me, I have gotten rid of a lot and have been pretty ruthless about it. I have two huge 40 gallon trash bags full of clothes to bring to goodwill. Here is one of the trash bags and here is a pile of purged clothing from the other trash bag.
So what now? I am still left with a closet filled to the brim with clothing. And what do you do with clothes that have sentimental meaning? Like that t-shirt you got at your first concert? Or the clothes that you know you can fix...like the good pair of Lucky Jeans (handed down from my mom) that fit perfectly but are missing a button. The funny thing is, they are not really in style anymore. Ugh so why are they in my closet!!! I may or may not have some hoarding tendencies. HELP!

My dream would be to have a OCD organized, monochromatic walk-in closet that felt like I was walking into a small boutique, ready to pick out my outfit for the day. These would be some of my fantasy closets.

The funny part is I can only bring about 1/10 of my wardrobe to London. The refreshing part is that it will teach me to live simply and to work with the best of the best from my wardrobe. I know this sounds crazy, but I am sick of having all these clothes. I just want a basic set of 20 classic pieces to mix and match that fit perfectly and I love. Then I could OCD organize those 20 pieces and make my life so much simpler. Only in a dream world I suppose. Maybe that dream world will be London. Time for a fresh start to my wardrobe. London is calling!

6 flights of stairs, one year older, some tennis and a giant cupcake

It’s been a while since I’ve updated and A LOT has happened! I moved out of New York City, turned 23 and even managed to fit some US Open tennis in the middle of it all! I’ve had a dead laptop for the past few days as I left my charger on Cape Cod. It’s ok though, just a little more excitement to jam pack into this post!

Moving

I’ve moved a lot in the past five years. In and out of school at least ten times, in and out of camp cabins four times, overseas and back for my study abroad semester. I’ve also moved back to my house multiple times in the interim. However, NOTHING compares to this move. This is the first time I’ve had my own furniture to move out as well as SIX flights of stairs to move EVERYTHING up and down. Thank God our dads came and helped us lug all our crap down and out. When we were finally done loading a normal size U-Haul chock full of our crap, I couldn’t function. FEEL THE BURN! My quads were on fire! Of course my roommate Hanna and I knew the perfect way to put up our feet after a long day…Mani/Pedis!!! Obviously we had just emptied our apartment and had to get rid of everything in the refrigerator. We couldn’t just toss the big bottle of vino in the fridge! As we had packed away all the glasses, we opened Hanna’s Nalgene and filled that sucker up, packed it in the bag and hopped on a bus to go get our nails done. It was a great way to end a exhausting day. I highly recommend it.

Like Just Yesterday

I spent my last night in the apartment alone on an air mattress in a barren apartment. Hanna had already moved into her new place so it was sort of sad and lonely. Have you ever had that feeling when you feel like it was just yesterday that you had done something that was actually over a year earlier? Like college? When I was graduating, it felt like it was just yesterday that I was at my orientation moving into my freshman dorm. It feels like just yesterday I was moving into my 6^th floor walk-up Harlem apartment with a year of adventure ahead of me. I was about to start the coolest internship at a major casting company and really didn’t know what else the year would bring, which was the most exciting of all. I met some amazing people that have become lifelong friends. I’ve had some incredible experiences and opportunities that I will never forget and have helped to shape my future and who I am. I learned more than I could have ever imagined. I learned a lot about myself and have grown up a lot. Thanks New York! Now let’s see what London has in store for me.

Celebrating 23 Years

Catching up with old friends

Yesterday, September 1^st, was my 23^rd birthday. It sounds so weird to say I’m 23. I know its young, but its still weird to say! I knew I wanted to celebrate my birthday in New York with my friends. My brother was planning on going to the US Open with friends from his tennis team, so we made a day of it, and we let my mom join. We spent the day watching some fun tennis and enjoying the exciting atmosphere. Here’s how I feel about tennis…I like it because I was forced to like it. I grew up in a tennis family. They tried to get me to play, but I was a theatre kid through and through. My brother continued on to play #1 in high school and on a really good Division III college team. For the longest time I boycotted tennis. It was shoved in my face non-stop so much that I rebelled and made sure everyone knew how much I disliked the sport. Sadly it was the sport that I knew the most about and knew the most players. I think over time I was able to realize that tennis was part of my upbringing and I became a really great tennis cheerleader. I couldn’t deny it. Sure enough, I had a great time at the Open yesterday.

That night, my mom, brother and I met up with a couple of my closest friends to do a small get together of drinks and appetizers. My best friend Corinne brought me a giant cupcake from Crumbs bakery. So delicious! I shoved my whole face into it…encouraged by my friends of course. Thinking about it today…stupid idea! We were even lucky enough to have an old friend of my family’s join us. Igal, a tennis pro from our summer days, was in town as he is coaching one of the tennis players at the Open. I love how everyone was from different friend groups of mine, but we were all able to have a good time with lots of laughs. It was a great day and I can always rely on Facebook to make me feel loved on my birthday. Gotta love that Facebook lets everyone know when it’s your birthday so you can get more birthday wishes than you ever had before Facebook was created. If I could, I would “LIKE” that feature.

Not a proud moment

The box the cupcake came in looked like it was a Build-A-Bear

So that’s it….it’s been a whirlwind couple of days, but just a huge step towards the most important move of all…LONDON!