a little london interruption

in desperately trying to keep up with my euroblobs, i've left out quite a bit about what i've been up to lately. thought i might fill ya'll in!

finally done with my classes last monday, i've spent the last 8 days with my glorious flatmates. look below for my oh-so-professional photojournalism...

tuesday: we embarked on the monopoly pub crawl. we had high ambitions, with 26 pubs to hit in one day. i became a bit apprehensive after it took us 40 minutes to find the first pub, worried that we wouldn't finish. turns out i was right, haha. elle, chris, and i only managed 10 pubs in 8 hours. the transport was the hardest part, it was really time-consuming. but at least we had a good time! i began my drinkathon with a shared pint of guinness, at 11am. oh me, oh my. the headache that came later in the afternoon told me that maybe it wasn't such a good idea after all.

figuring out the bus. this picture pretty much sums up the day

the lord nelson. first drinks, 11am.

the blind beggar. any pub that lets the cat sit on the counter is all right with me!

elle and i dropped off after being unable to find the pub close to hyde park. i snapped this touristy photo as we made our way back o the tube. i dunno what this monument thing is.

wednesday: chris, elle, and i moseyed over to notting hill, and explored the famed portobello road. unfortunately, precious few of the market stalls were set up, but we got to look at the cool vintage boutiques and funky antique shops.

then, spur of the moment, elle decided to get another tattoo. none of the places in notting hill had openings, so we bused it to camden town, where the tatoo parlors abound. we found a clean-looking place, and chris and i walked around while elle got her wings done. finally fully inked, elle proudly ran out from the tatting room to show us her tat...but the blood pouch pretty much obscured our vision. yummy!

thursday: elle and i went to westfield (i hadn't been back since january!), and had a nice afternoon shopping. elle got some stuff, but i was content to window shop. in the middle of the brand-spanking-new mall, they had all these tables with t-shirts set up. we read a little sign, and that afternoon they were going to break the guinness world record of "amount of people folding t-shirts at the same time." needless to say, elle and i didn't stick around to watch what promised to be the most exciting record-break of the 21st century.

the tables

the posh part of the mall. it's really beauteous

on our way back home, we stopped at waitrose, a very chichi supermarket. i've been on a mission to find that nutella cereal i had in nice, and figured waitrose of all places would have it.

...EUREKA!! the cereal is called "swiss choco-bits," and i was completely giddy after buying it. i polished off the box a few days ago.

friday: my lovely flatties threw a little early-birthday party for me in the kitchen, balloons and all! i made a cake using the all-american funfetti icing and cake mix my mother sent me, and all in all it was a smashing success!

saturday: chris was leaving to go home, so in the morning we all woke up early to send him off. he's now working in an amusement park for the summer, which i definitely find amusing...since the fools in charge are trusting him with the lives of chillen. little do they know of his sadist tendencies.

saturday night, we girls were hankerin' for some american food, so we went to a diner place in shoreditch for milkshakes and burgers. then and only then, we headed to alex's friend dominic's flat, had a few drinks, and went out on the town!

we went to a club called "the star," and it was a really good time--we danced the night away! of course, i had to have a celebratory drink at midnight!

the girly-cakes. dang, i look horrible! hahaha

sunday: my actual birthday! it was made extra-special by the birthday box my parentals sent me, and letters/emails from relatives, along with the calls from friends. so thanks to you all! i had a wonderful birthday weekend.

that night, since i'm forever craving la comida mexicana, a group of us headed to "cafe pacifico," in covent garden. the food and margaritas were pretty good, but the poor british were slightly confused about what "carnitas" are. they seemed to think that they are beef. something must have gotten lost in translation when crossing the atlantic! haha, it was alright though, my beef tacos were tasty, despite the lack of authenticity. sorry to be a mexican snob.

nick illegally drinking in the tube station. elle harrassing him.

pretending to be mopey

girlies!

monday (yesterday): alex, lizzie, elle and i went to bethnal green park to romp around on the crazy jungle gyms and play a bit of tennis. of course, i'm ridiculously bad at tennis, but it was still fun! eventually, alex and lizzie headed off to oxford street, and i went to explore the nearby v&a museum of childhood.

monkeying around

the museum was quite small (i suppose since it's meant for children), but there were some really neat things inside. there were puppet theatres from the 17th century, gorgeous doll houses, 19th century bicycles, 1970s video games, etc etc. here are some of my favorite/not so favorite things

mechanical monkey musicians. i thought this was really, really creepy. made in france.

magnetic hair! you could give the beatles hairstyles/moustaches. 1960s.

beatrix potter peter rabbit teaset! i used to have that!!!

weirdest/coolest thing ever. they made earrings out of hummingbird heads! mom, want one?

much to my delight, the museum also had a new exhibit...of roald dahl/quentin blake proportions (it was called snozzcumbers and frobscottle)! i kept grinning as i looked at the various original drawings, reading the accompanying excepts from my favorites: the witches, the twits, the enormous crocodile, the fantastic mr. fox, matilda, james and the giant peach, charlie and the chocolate factory, etc etc etc. it was a pretty small exhibit, but very cool to see the original artwork from the books. good job, england.

funny side note: as i wandered around, i passed a section of the museum where some construction men were doing renovation. it was right next to the children's play area, and there were some young kids hanging around. i could only laugh as i heard the construction men repeatedly yelling hair-curling swears to each other, within earshot of unconcerned mothers and their youngins. haha, in america those construction guys would've gotten a bludgeoning.

anyways, after an afternoon of childhood throwbacks, last night alex & elle & walter & i meandered around soho for the night. we began at a japanese restaurant, then went to a place called "ku bar," which had good music and lots of dancing. then, at around 1am i was feeling pretty tired (because i'm an old lady), so i bused it back home while the rest of the lot stayed out. i was happy to get into bed!

anywho, that's the (not-so-little, i've realized) recap of the past week or so. hope you feel up to date oen my oh-so-exciting life, haha. much love to all, dear readers!

with only 17 days left in this beautiful country,
lilly