Pink Lily in Lala Land

Too Many Goodbyes

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 12:03:58 -0400

What a couple of weeks it’s been. Well I should say months since I have been terrible about blogging, but that is going to change! I am going to get back into the weekly blogging and might even have two a week so I can catch up on some of the adventures I’ve been having.

March flew by with anticipation of the Mountbatten March intake leaving. It seems like I was just sitting in the back seat of a yellow cab staring out the back window with tears streaming down my face as the NYC skyline disappeared behind me. I still wonder what that cabbie thought was happening, because I was pretty legitimately crying. One of the hardest aspects of this whole year has been the goodbyes. I may or may not be one of the most emotional people when it comes to change, I agonize over it for weeks leading up, wonder what it will feel like, if I will be miserable for a while, but then it just happens. You move, they move, you can’t stop it and you just have to put a smile on your face.

Coming into the program, I didn’t even know that I would meet any of the March intake, but low and behold, some of the Marchies became my best friends. I was dreading saying goodbye to them with many tears in the weeks leading up to there departure (that had nothing to do with the amount of leaving drinks). It’s still weird to not have all of them here, but it’s comforting to know that they’re all only a Whatsapp, Facebook post, Viber call, FaceTime or Skype away.

A few weeks ago my previous roommates and I (who are all March intake) had a flat dinner. I’ve been trying to get better about cooking, especially since I now have a normal sized kitchen. We cooked up some delicious food (pictures below) and enjoyed hanging out.

To all my favorite Marchies, I miss you dearly and can’t wait to see you again soon!

The Nachos Jess and I tried to recreate from Amsterdam…replacing the salsa with sweet and sour sauce!

The stuffed mushrooms I made (I asked Sarah what to do at every step, but they came out great)

Jess and Andre’s delicious stuffed peppers!

The full plate!

Land of Fire and Ice

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 10:05:00 -0500

{The crew in front of one of the volcanoes}

This past weekend I went to Iceland! I can honestly say that Iceland was not somewhere I expected to visit. My friend Amanda’s birthday is next this week, so she wanted to take a birthday trip there, and it was fantastic! The only downer being that I got terribly sick last week and wasn’t feeling great throughout the weekend. We left bright and early on Friday morning starting the trip off right with birthday shots (liquor tasters in the duty free area - poor people problems). We had a long day of travel because our flight was over-booked so our flight was switched to one with a layover in Copenhagen (bright-side = we all get a full refund).

We got to the Kex Hostel (p.s. cutest hostel ever) at around 5 p.m. checked in and got some food in the restaurant at the hostel, which was actually quite good! I had delicious cream of cauliflower soup (so good that I had it twice). When we checked in, the front desk let us know that our Northern Lights tour was cancelled that night because of poor conditions, so after dinner we left the hostel to go see some of Reykjavik. As you can imagine it’s quite compact as there are only around 320,000 people living in all of Iceland. It’s a very cute city though that is right on the water. Most of the shops closed pretty early, so after getting some souvenirs we headed back. When we got back to the hostel we all relaxed for a while and then started getting ready to go out in what is known as a pretty crazy party town. However, I was feeling terrible and decided to call it a night and passed out when the rest of the girls left.

The next morning we were up at 7 a.m. for our Golden Circle tour. This was definitely a great tour to take and I highly recommend it. The bus takes you to pretty much everything you would want to see including the spectacular Geysir, the waterfall Gulfoss, volcanoes and the national park Thingvellir (where the Vikings Parliament is and where the North American and Eurasia tectonic plates meet). Our bus driver (who we were obsessed with) also stopped to let us feed some horses along the way! It was a great day of site seeing and we learned a lot as well! For example, Iceland is actually not located on any continent! You’re welcome for that fun fact! :)

When we got back to Reykjavik at around 4:30 a few of the girls and I walked around the city for a little while to try and take advantage of the last bit of light. We then all went to one of the cities famous hot dog stands (apparently Iceland is famous for their hot dogs). We ended up taking it easy the rest of the night taking a nap, grabbing some dinner and crashing out for the rest of the night.

On Sunday we finished the trip with the Blue Lagoon, which was AWESOME! We got there first thing in the morning when it opened and stayed until we had to head to the airport at 2:15. It was so relaxing and nice! We put the volcanic rock face mask on and were all definitely glowing! It was an excellent finale to an excellent trip!

All my love from LaLaLand! (and now London) :)

{Birthday shots at Gatwick}

{First dinner in Iceland}

{Amanda, Maggie and I in front of the Salmon river}

{Feeding the horses}

{The big Geyser}

{Rainbow over the waterfall}

{The amazing Blue Lagoon!}

London Winter Wonderland and Surprise Visitors

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 17:59:43 -0500

{Winter Wonderland!}

After traveling for over two weeks, I was very happy to come back home to London! The past couple of weeks have been great, despite work being a little mental while preparing for our Sales leaders Conference coming up next week and 18 Annual Sales Meetings throughout February and March. However, despite that I have been able to have some fun! My first weekend back was filled with delicious food, starting with Hibachi with Brendan in Camden and followed by back to back brunches at The Breakfast Club…DELISH! This past weekend I started my global business class. It was a bit of a bummer to be in class all weekend, but I have to say we had a stunning snowy weekend. I swear it snowed for 3 days straight and made London look like a magical snow globe / winter wonderland. I couldn’t help but snap some pics!

Another fun surprise this past weekend was seeing not one, but TWO friends from high school. I always love seeing old friends and catching up on each others lives, and even more so now when I’m so far from home. It was such a wonderful surprise to get to hang out with them.

More posts to come on my fantastic winter trips, but for now…

All my love from LaLaLand (and now London) :)

{Iconic London phone booth all covered in snow}

{Adorable old couple walking in the snow…creepy that I took this pic?}

{Watching the Atlanta Falcons with Jon and Alan - shout out to AC BBYO :)}

{The chef at Hibachi, who started the show by saying “do i make you hungry babyyyyy” in an Austin Power voice…he had the right audience!}

{Just one of the delicious brunches at The Breakfast Club}

Here's to a Happy Holiday and a Sweet New Year!

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 12:42:41 -0500

{The TR ladies all looking beautiful for the official holiday party}

The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of holiday celebrations! It all kicked off the week after my trip to Amsterdam. We had the official company holiday party on Thursday, which was pretty fabulous. The whole party was themed in 1800s Christmas cheer. With tons of food (I never got any), magicians, men doing acrobatics, and Rock-e-oke (where you would have found my friends and I ALL night). Then over the weekend I had more holiday celebratory fun. Saturday some friends and I started the day with our holiday sweaters (mine has a snowman on it) at the Chocolate Festival at South Bank (a.k.a HEAVEN). Then we moved to Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park, which was quite simply magical. We went to the beer garden and had some Steins (the big German mugs that hold a liter of beer). On Sunday the holiday cheer continued as my roommates and I decorated our flat and had a Christmakkah dinner. I made latkes for the first time and happy to say they were a success! Although as my roommates pointed out many times they wouldn’t have known any different. The weekend was capped off with a secret santa with August Mountbatten intake friends. The holiday celebration didn’t stop there! The next week on Tuesday we had our unofficial Thomson Reuters holiday party and a white elephant gift exchange with friends from work.

Now I am just SO excited to leave for my AMAZING holiday! I am off tonight for the French Alps to go skiing through Christmas, then heading to Berlin to meet my Momma and Daddy, where we’ll be for a couple of days and then head to Prague, Vienna for New Years and finish in Budapest. I am one lucky girl! 2012 has been one of the most amazing years, full of many changes, but all ones that I am so incredibly appreciative for! I’m not sure if any year could top this one, but here’s to an even more incredible 2013 full of joy, adventure, friends, family and lot of love. Happy holidays and New Year to you all!

{Having a blast at the party}

{Matt and I}

{The acrobatic men picked me up!}

{Me and the ladies rocking out to “Don’t Stop Believing” at Rock-e-oke”}

{HEAVEN!}

{NOM NOM NOM}

{Magical!}

{VERY large beers with Christian, Mike and Maggie}

{So pretty at night leaving Winter Wonderland}

{Cute pic with my flatmates after our Christmakkah dinner :)}

A weekend in Amsterdam

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 16:41:00 -0500

{Iamsterdam sign with the Rijksmuseum in the background}

Amsterdam has been on my list of places to visit as long as I can remember, and I’m happy to say it did not disappoint. Jess (my roommate) and I arrived tired in Amsterdam after waking up at 4:30, taking an hour train to the Southend airport - apparently not the most convenient - and a 40 minute flight. We walked straight to find our hostel / bed & breakfast. Within just a few minutes I already saw why the red light district got it’s name, and it was surprisingly close to where we were staying…like next door. Apparently we were staying somewhat in the new red light district. Anyways, after settling in and getting a brief intro-to-Amsterdam chat from the owner of our B&B, we headed out to explore the city and meet our other flatmate Andre, who decided last minute to go to Amsterdam the same weekend (unfortunately, we wouldn’t actually find him until Sunday night). Although a bit cold and overcast, the city was beautiful! We stopped for a quick lunch at the most adorable little restaurant, called Het Houten Huis, where we got our first taste of Dutch frits! We then walked over through the flower market, which I must say the flowers were stunning, and then through the outdoor market. Just after mentioning that even though it was a little cold “at least it’s not pouring,” the heavens opened up, and shockingly it started to pour. We tried to escape by going to one of the museums nearby, but there was a long line to wait in the rain, so instead we went to a bar on the corner and got hot chocolate and Bailey’s, YUM! After the quick stop we decided to go ahead and get back to the B&B while the rain had slowed. On the way we stopped at an old book store (bc I was on a hunt to add a new one to my collection). After asking the shop owner if he had an old history of Amsterdam book and he pointed to a VERY large book that was probably quite expensive, I picked up a small book that seemed more reasonable and asked him what is was about. He said it was a book about Jewish antiquities. I thought was pretty amazing that out of all the books, I picked that one, so I bought it. We took a nice nap, had some dinner and then got ready to head out. We met a couple of nice American girls at the B&B who were studying abroad in Spain and hung out with them. The highlight of the night was when they played “All I want for Christmas” at the bar and passed around sparklers. It was magical!

On Sunday we slept in a bit, which worked out because it was hailing in the morning! Despite my apprehension, we got bikes to ride for the day. I hadn’t ridden a bike in a very long time so I was a little concerned about how well this would go. I’m pleased to say that we managed to get around the city quite well, and it wasn’t until we got back to the bike shop at the end of the day that I sort of slipped off of the bike :). Truthfully, the bike riding was my favorite part of the trip! We went to see the Iamsterdam sign and the Rijksmuseum, rode through Vondelpark, over the bridge where Van Gogh used to paint and to a quaint Cafe called Cafe Het Paleis. It was the perfect pit stop, where I got the most delicious mint and ginger tea and Jess and I shared some of the best nachos I have ever had! (instead of salsa they used a really yummy sweet chili sauce) After returning our bikes walked through the Nine streets. An adorable area with high-end shopping and restaurants. We capped off our day by going to the Anne Frank House. One of the best museums I have ever been to. They did a really nice job with it, and it was just so strange to actually stand in the rooms where they lived in hiding. I’m very glad that I saw it.

We finally met Andre, our long lost flatmate, after the tour and went for dinner at a traditional dutch restaurant that our B&B owner recommended called, Haesje Claus. The dinner was a great end to a wonderful day. Unfortunately the next day our flight was delayed 3 hours, leaving us a bit exhausted!

All my love from LaLaLand! (And now London)

{The adorable day-one lunch spot}

{Gorgeous flowers in the market}

{Bikes galore in Amsterdam}

{Blurry picture of the sparklers during “All I want for Christmas”}

{The beautiful canals of Amsterdam}

{Jess riding her bike like a pro}

{Pretty Bridge}

{Shutters that I loved}

{Couldn’t take enough pictures to capture the beauty!}

Return to London Town

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 08:09:18 -0500

{Robin, Charlene and I out dancing}

After a week of sunshine and relaxation in SoFlo it was back to London town for this girl! I must say being away made me miss my new home and all of the friends I’ve made here. But even more exciting was that my fabulous friend Charlene was visiting the weekend I returned (quick shout out to her for being such a rock star in putting together the Refinery 29 Tinseltown). From the second I stepped of the plane it was a non-stop weekend of fun, although I did have to work the second half of Friday. We met Charlene’s other Atlanta Londoner, Robin, in Angel to walk and find a place for dinner. We decided on a Thai restaurant called XOXO. I had some delicious Pad See Ew, my favorite Thai dish that I haven’t had in months. After, we went out in Shoreditch to a bar called The Hoxton Pony and danced our little butts off. Saturday we slept in and then went over to explore Portebello Market. We first stopped to get some food, which was an interesting experience. We saw a cute place that had a covered outdoor area that looked over the market area. From downstairs it looked like it was a traditional British restaurant based on the menu on the door. However, when we got upstairs it was a thai restaurant…Yes, we were just as thrown. Then when we asked for the breakfast menu and tried to order scrambled eggs and toast with an add-on of cheese they told us we could only order the full English breakfast. Mind you we are still at the Thai place. So, long story short, Char and I split the full English breakfast, but I wasn’t happy about it. Moving on, after walking through the market, we headed to an event that my roommate, Michael, new of at the Somerset House in London. I had never been over there and it was absolutely beautiful! There is an ice skating rink out and it’s all decked out for the holidays, I loved it!

Topping off the night we had my third and final Thanksgiving meal for the week at my friend Justyna’s from work. Everyone came with a dish in tow and I have to say, I was really impressed with the food! Especially Justyna’s 15 lb turkey! It was a lovely night and weekend bringing together new and old friends. One of the strangest things about moving to a new country or place is that you create a whole new life that despite countless emails, phone calls, texts, or video chat dates, your friends and family back home don’t really know. It was really nice to have a friend from home come and see my life first hand. I can’t wait for more friends and family to come and visit!

All my love from LaLaLand (and now London) :)

{Andre (Roomie) and I}

{Chandalier at the restaurant at Portebello Market - only think I liked :(}

{Beautiful Somerset House}

{Phenomenal table arranged by the lovely Justyna - the best hostess!}

Things to be thankful for and a fabulous wedding!

Thu, 22 Nov 2012 15:40:13 -0500

{The cousins and our new addition!}

Happy Thanksgiving!! What a few months it has been! This past week has been wonderful celebrating my cousin’s wedding with my family. I have to say, while I haven’t been to many weddings, this one was definitely spectacular, but I would expect no less from the new Mr. and Mrs. Bennett. From the beautiful ceremony on the water, to the Polaroid picture signing book, to the surprise (and unplanned) fireworks over the water, to Patron shots with our Family, dancing the night away and finally the pizza and beer after party. The weekend couldn’t have been any better!!

I certainly have a lot to be thankful for, so here is my Thankful list 2012:

Firstly, I’m thankful for having the chance to live in London for a year, make amazing friends and visit incredible places all over Europe
My incredible friends in the states who I miss and love
And finally, my wonderful family who I love spending time with and am so happy to be with for a yummy Thanksgiving meal

Wishing everyone the happiest of Thanksgivings!

All my love from LaLa Land! (and now London :))

{The Bride and her maids before the rehearsal dinner}

{With our fabulous new workout gear!}

{With my sister and Broder}

{Grandma and I}

{The happy and glowing bride :)}

{Pretty ladies getting ready}

{Me and my beautiful sister}

{Gorgeous Bride!}

{All ready to go and looking pretty shnazzy!}

{We love our cousin!}

{Momma and her girls}

{Let the marriage ceremony begin}

{Mr. and Mrs. Bennett’s first dance}

The Past Few Weeks of Fun

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 10:33:29 -0500

{Ladies at happy hour for Kerry’s birthday}

Wow it has been WAY too long since my last post. The past couple of weeks have been a blast and much more chill. The first weekend in November was my friend Kerry’s birthday so we had a weekend of festivities to celebrate. The weekend started with happy hour after work on Friday right in Canary Wharf. Saturday I pretty much relaxed in the morning and had a delicious breakfast with my roommates. Then we went over to Greenwich Market to meet Kerry and walk around. We got some yummy food and did a little shopping. Then that night we all went out in Clapham, which was super fun!!! On Monday some friends and I went to go see fire works for Guy Fawkes Night, a.k.a. Bon Fire Night, a.k.a. Fire Works Night. Weirdly, while it’s call a night it actually is celebrated all weekend, but it’s a British tradition remembering the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, when a Catholic (Guy Fawkes) tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament and King James I. The Brits stopped him and they celebrate it every year with bon fires and fire works. The rest of the week was pretty relaxed, but we did have another bar quiz with work. Gotta love those! Now I am back in the states for my cousin’s wedding! It was such a fun and beautiful weekend! In a weird way being back makes everything that’s happened in London feel like a dream or something. I am definitely missing all of my favorite Londoners. I can’t wait for some delicious Thanksgiving meals this week and to see the fabulous Charlene this weekend!

All my love from LaLa Land :)

{Cheers to Kez!}

{Jacki and I}

{The whole gang}

{Fire Works for Guy Fawkes Day}

{The amazing girl walking a dog sculpture that Kez and I made out of pipe cleaners…I know Impressive}

A British Halloween = Scary Costumes

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 14:28:07 -0400

Cruella Deville in the flesh!

First of all, I want to send my love to all of my friends and family in New York who were impacted by Hurricane Sandy. Luckily everyone is safe and that’s all that matters, but seeing the images of Manhattan under water was heartbreaking. I hope for a speedy recovery to all of the cities that were affected!

Second, HAPPY HALLOWEEN! This week has been a blast! Over the weekend I had a Halloween party at my friend Justyna’s house. She is definitely the hostess with the mostest and went all out with creepy decorations, music and snacks. I ended up going as Cruella Deville, as you can see above and below. But it took up until a few days before to finally decide on a costume. Apart from my typical indecisiveness, the difficulty came about when it became clear that apparently Londoners believe you should ONLY dress as something scary on Halloween. Now clearly Americans feel differently (insert Mean Girls quote). I had planned to go as Audrey Hepburn, but that wasn’t scary. And I didn’t want to go as a dead Audrey, which was the most popular suggestion.

Anyways, I think the Cruella costume worked out really well and I plan to rock it again tonight at the Mountbatten Halloween party. After all, if she doesn’t scare you than nobody will! :)

All my Love from LaLaLand (and now London)!

My Devilish roommate Michael and I

The array of spooky snacks at the party

Cruella, Evil Nurse and Dead Doll (a.k.a. me, Sapna and Kerry)

Mermaid and the Fantastic Mr. Fox rockin it out! (a.k.a. Lynnie and Hugh)

Justyna looking terrifying and getting ready for a game of flip cup!

Cruella and Edward Cullen looking scary (a.k.a. me and David)

Officially British

Fri, 26 Oct 2012 15:38:03 -0400

{Working on my skills}

Last weekend was super fun! It started with a cooking class with work at The Brigade. My coworkers won a bar quiz (a.k.a. trivia), and the cooking class was the prize. I didn’t actually participate in the bar quiz when we won (I participated when we lost…whoops), but they had extra spots so they offered it up to a few of us. Before we got started they told us a little bit about The Brigade and their Beyond Food Foundation, where they offer apprenticeship opportunities for people who have either been at risk or experienced homelessness. It’s sounds like a really terrific program!

We then heard from our chef that we’d be making filet and potatoes. He broke us up into teams (I was on team potatoes). Those who know me know that I do not do well with raw meat. So a group of the other girls were on team meat. Team potatoes did good, but I think I was the weak link because I had the bad peeler and pealed like two potatoes in the time that my colleague did the other 8, oh well.

The meal turned out fantastic! It was delicious and we were all impressed that we (with some help) made it ourselves!

Saturday, I officially became a Brit by partaking in the long-time tradition of high (afternoon) tea. Some friends and i got a Groupon for one and it was very fabulous and posh. Apparently, high tea started with Anne, the 7th Duchess of Bedford and lady in waiting to Queen Victoria because dinner was so late and she needed a snack. Clearly I can relate to that. We had a delicious array of tea sandwiches, scones, and dessert treats.

After tea, we met some other friends in Camden and went out at a place called Lock 17 and had a fun girls night just dancing our little tushies off! :)

Sunday was recovery day from all the fun and I watched about four episodes of Homeland, which I am now addicted to and need to catch up to the second season!

All my love from LaLaLand (and now London)!

{The meat team massaging our filet - excellent job ladies}

{The finished product - not bad right!}

{The high tea spread of deliciousness}

{Cute girly pic with Justyna and Lynnie}

The Start of Class...

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 14:47:57 -0400

{Cool TR ice sculpture at the event}

I’ve been in ignorant bliss for the past two months. Getting settled at work, aquatinted with London, taking weekend trips whenever I want. But, oh wait, part of my program is also school. After three years being out of the classroom, I am officially a (part-time) student again, syllabus and all. I had my first weekend of class, and I have to say, I anticipated it being much worse. Obviously, I would rather have been outside enjoying the good London weather Saturday and Sunday, but overall it wasn’t terrible. We are currently taking Organizational Behavior, which while many things are slightly obvious observations, I did find a lot of the discussion about individual personalities and how people interact interesting. We’ll see if I am saying the same thing when I’m writing my papers. For now, I will say so far so good.

But last week / weekend wasn’t all class, although I did have class Wednesday night as well! On Monday night my friend from work on the events team asked me to help with registration at a company event for London Metals Exchange Week. I was expecting this to be like a conference, but I was clearly a bit off. Basically, myself and three other lovely ladies about my size played bouncer. It was quite entertaining and while most of the night was spent working registration, after closing the door we were able to go downstairs have some wine take a few photo booth pics and dance.

It was a fun but tiring start to the week, which was luckily otherwise pretty low key!

All my love from LaLaLand (and now London)!

{Champagne to end a successful night w/ Kez!}

{Semi-successful photo booth picture with Carla}

A Scottish Weekend

Wed, 17 Oct 2012 10:53:12 -0400

{Me on the Royal Mile}

I’m so behind, so this blog is for the weekend before last, and it was absolutely phenomenal! I took my first trip outside of England and went to Edinburgh, Scotland for the weekend. It was such a great trip! A ton of people from the Mountbatten program went that weekend. I headed over on Saturday with two girlfriends, Amanda and Nichole. After an early wake up call and a 4+ hour train ride, we arrived in Edinburgh. We walked straight to our hostel, which was in an incredible location right next to the castle. Once we put our things down we started exploring the city. We went up towards the castle and walked around there for a bit and then headed down the Royal Mile to meet friends. We spent much of the day wandering around the streets in the main part of town admiring the architecture and city sites. Edinburgh is truly beautiful.

While walking along the Royal Mile we stumbled upon a street performer, Scott the Scottish performer he called himself. All was going well until my friend called me and I answered. Scott then proceeded to call me out in front of the crowd. I was kind of oblivious until he asked where I was from and then proceeded to make a comment about loud, rude Americans. I may be loud, but I hardly think I’m rude! Anyways, I digress.

One of Amanda’s friends recommended that we go to the Green Market. As we were walking we stopped at a crepe stand (I know, wrong country). While waiting for my friend’s crepe, I casually said to the crepe man, “we’re heading to the Green Market do you know what they have there.” His response: “You’re in it.” I would just like to say that basically the Green Market is an area with cute stores and restaurants, and having lived in London for a couple months I was expecting something that looked a bit more market-like. I then proceeded to ask what was in Irn Bru, which my roommate said I should try. Irn Bru is apparently a soft drink - but I forgot that detail, and the crepe man again looked at me funny and said, I’m not sure, but you can read the label. Yes, I made a fantastic impression on this guy. So, we got our crepes and ate them in the sun. We then headed to some of the shops in the area and found a great old book store where I purchased an old history book and decided that I would try to collect an old book from each city I go to. (Yes, this will be a heavy collection and difficult to transport back to the states, but I have committed).

We then went back to change for the evening. A group of the girls went to dinner at a nice restaurant called Whiski Rooms. All of the girls tried haggis in the form of an egg roll. I obviously did not. I am not quite sure what is in it, but from everyone’s response to just eat it when you asked what it is, I don’t think it would be my type of food. If you’re interested, Google it. After dinner we went on a ghost tour, which I was very apprehensive about as I don’t like scary things, but it was fun and was mostly stories about the weird, and usually gross, things Scottish people used to do to one another back in the day.

We then went out that night and had SUCH a fun night out at a couple of bars/clubs in Edinburgh. We met many a Scottish gentleman and had fun dancing the night away until the club closed at around 3:30 a.m. I almost forgot, we found some awesome pink mustaches during the day and decided to wear them that evening, somehow it doesn’t sound as funny here as it was then.

The next morning we all got up and went for breakfast, and then started walking over to Calton Hill. Before we started walking up we saw our friend Julia run in the 10K that was happening that weekend. Major props to her! I would have died (my CKers who ran the JP Morgan Corp Challenge 5K with me can back that up). We then walked up the hill and enjoyed the beautiful view! After the hill the girls went to take on the hike to Arthur’s seat. Unfortunately we started hiking up the wrong hill. We figured it out pretty quickly, after about 10 minutes, when we realized there was another hill that was much higher. I stand by my reaction that there should be a sign pointing to the right path! Once we got on the right path we very quickly got pretty winded. After about 30 minutes we got to the top and again took in the gorgeous view of the city. We really lucked out with fantastic weather all weekend!!

Before leaving we tried to go to the art museum, but since it was Sunday it was closing right as we arrived at 5 p.m. We wandered for a minute and then just sat out outside enjoying the last few minutes in Edinburgh. I left exhausted, but excited for all the traveling I’ll have this year. It’s going to be unbelievable!

All my love from LaLaLand (and now London)!

{View of the Castle from outside our hostel}

{Scott the Scottish street performer who called me out!}

{Pretty architecture in Edinburgh}

{Movember came early this year}

{Some of the Scottish friends we made}

{Mini bag piper!}

{Julia, the rock star runner!}

{The ladies on Calton Hill}

{Chris and I jumping for joy on Calton Hill}

{Making the climb to Arthur’s Seat}

{We made it!}

{Mash up of some of the city sites}

{I decided to take pictures of the doors I see around Europe - here are some of the ones I liked in Edinburgh}

Tourist at Home

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 15:57:47 -0400

{Kensington Palace}

While living in NY I had far too few “tourist at home” days, as I like to call them, but so far there have been many more in London. This past weekend was definitely one of those. Before I left for London, my wonderful coworker, Leslie, gave me a London book and city walk guides that have 50 cards of walking tours for different areas of London. My friend Maggie and I decided on a few that we thought sounded good, starting with Kensington Gardens. I’ll let you know now that we didn’t end up making it to the last few places.

We got to Kensington Gardens and just started walking. It was an absolutely beautiful day and it was so nice to just stroll through the park. We saw Princess Diana’s memorial, which was really nice! We then eventually made our way to Kensington Palace and decided to buy the entry to tour around and actually see the inside. I must say they’ve done a nice job painting a picture of a few select members of the royal family’s lives who have lived there. The best was definitely Queen Victoria’s wing. It showed a really interesting view of her life. After wandering throughout the palace we went to see the palace gardens, which were lovely as well. By that time it was around 5 p.m. and we were exhausted, so we started making our way to the Notting Hill tube stop. We made a quick stop at Whole Foods, which made me feel at home, except the salad bar was (if possible) more expensive than in the states. That night friend from work and I went to see Shreck the musical, which was ADORABLE! Super cute show and definitely recommend it.

On Sunday, we woke up and decided to go Greenwich again (we love it!). Instead of just doing the market we took the walking tour card for Greenwich and went to see the Prime Meridian. It was pretty cool to see in person and we paid about 5 pounds to take a picture straddling the hemispheres, but hey, now I can always say that I’ve done it. Afterwards we walked around and stumbled upon an antique market and I got a cute necklace for 5 pounds. Overall, it was a lovely Sunday.

One of the most exciting parts of the week was booking an impromptu trip to Edinburgh, Scotland on Tuesday for this weekend! I am leaving tomorrow and can’t wait for my first trip outside of England!

All my love from LaLaLand (and now London)!

{Wallpaper in the Diana wing - I was amazed by it}

{Just one of the many beautiful dresses worn by Diana that were showcased}

{Maggie and I wrote a postcard to Queen Victoria - I was confused b/c she’s clearly dead, but we did it anyways :)}

{Sitting where Queen Victoria sat in her first official meeting - I know, I look like I was meant for royalty}

{One of my favorite rooms was the one dedicated to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s love story - this was her wedding dress}

{Maggie and I outside Kensington Palace / Gardens}

{At the Prime Meridian - Woah we’re straddling two hemispheres!}

Parties and Praying

Sun, 30 Sep 2012 15:25:00 -0400

{Drinks with the girls - cute Jackie in the background}

I’m a little late to my blog post for the week, but it’s been a busy one with Yom Kippur falling right in the middle of it on Wednesday. Yom Kippur, as it should, always makes me reflect on the past year; think of the good things and the bad, the kind of person I am, and the kind of person I want to be. I find it to be one of the most cleansing holidays, and I found this year to be very fulfilling.

But before we get to the holiday, there was a weekend of fun parties, which started with a coworkers house party in Shoreditch. Then me and a few of the girls from work went and had some wine at a nearby bar. It was nice to have some girl time. The next morning we had our academic orientation. It was a bit of a struggle in the morning for many reasons. It started with a very strange egg and cheese sandwich, where the guy started putting sliced hard-boiled egg on bread. Halfway through making it he looked up and said “wait did you want an omelet style?” I said yes, and he proceeded to just add an omelet egg onto the hard-boiled egg and add cheese. We clearly had some miscommunication and it took forever to make. However, it was amazing, but I think anything would have been at that point. We then got lost on the way to class, and showed up 30 minutes late. Not the best start, but luckily we got out of class a little early and attempted to go see Charles Dickens house, but apparently it’s closed for restoration until December. So we will have to attempt to go see it again in another few months. Saturday night a bunch of people from our program went out in SoHo (yes, London has a Soho too!). Sunday was a very rainy day, but to be honest it was amazing because I didn’t feel guilty about staying in my flat all day and just relaxing!

Tuesday night was Kol Nidre and my friend from Mountbatten, Mark, found a wonderful Orthodox synagogue for us to attend services at. We met up right after work, downed as many glasses of water as possible, and I ate three fourths of a pizza (I know, that’s gross but I knew it was my last bit of food for the next 24 hours). We walked in and since we had to sit separately, I met some very nice women. One was Israeli, who’s lived in London for almost 40 years and her daughter was in town who now lives in DC, but lived in New York for a few years. We bonded over our love for the city. The other were two very sweet older ladies, who I like to call Bubby 1 and Bubby 2. They reminded me of my Grandma and Aunt Joanne (I’m actually not even sure if they were sisters), but one had red hair! Anyways, Bubby 1 and Bubby 2 proceeded to ask me when I was getting married, if the boy I came to services with was my boyfriend and what Jews in Atlanta think of Obama. I used my PR skills on that last one and simply said, “It’s impossible to generalize the entire Jewish community of Atlanta’s opinion.” :)

The next morning we went back to services and I met a very nice Jewish mom from Vienna. She was so sweet and introduced me to some people and invited me to her home for Shabbat Friday dinner / Saturday brunch. Really I was just making friends like crazy!!

The services were very nice and led by the Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, which was a treat since he is apparently the chief rabbi of the entire commonwealth! To break fast Mark and I made bagels with cream cheese, lox, tomato and cucumber. Actually Mark was amazing and made them while I passed out on the couch (I ate it in .5 seconds). Then we met up with our dodgeball team to dominate!

Overall, it was lovely to spend the Yom Kippur holiday here. It was an easy fast, and I was able to get a glimpse into the very welcoming London Jewish community.

All my love from LaLaLand (and now London)!

{Passed by the house that John Lennon apparently lived in 1968 on the way to services}

{Dodgeball - Pond Hoppin’ and Gold Medal Droppin’ team dominating}

{Thomson Reuters team dominating at the bar quiz (a.k.a. trivia) - well we tied for third with the other Reuters team}

Days and Days of Transport

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 14:30:00 -0400

{Beautiful Brenscombe in Dorset}

This has been a fun but very interesting week / weekend full of never-ending transport, but we’ll get to that in a minute! On Friday morning half of the Mountbatten August 2012 intake left for our team building trip to Dorset (the other half went the weekend before). I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but my roommates and other previous Mountbattens said that it was one of their favorite weekends. After about a 4 hour bus drive we arrived at the most beautiful former pig farm I have ever seen. The actual place we stayed was called Brenscombe, which provides interactive team building activities for adults and kids alike. When we arrived there were about 20 6 year olds running around…

Anyways, my team started with team tasks where we learned how to work as a team. We did well at some tasks and could have done better at others, but by the end we were communicating like crazy!! After we finished our tasks the program leader suggested we take a quick hike up the hill to see the view. A few people from our group went for it, and it was unbelievable! So peaceful, with a stunning view of miles and miles of green. We just sat and talked and soaked it all in for a while before heading to dinner. After dinner then entire group gathered our things and started on a sunset hike to an old semi-destroyed castle and the local town. It was a beautiful hike, although we were dodging massive piles of cow poop - a bit less scenic! The night in town was fabulous. We had sing-alongs outside, danced on tables, danced to some live music played a wicked game of connect four, and had a bon fire when we got back to the camp.

On Saturday we woke up had breakfast and then were off to the high ropes course. I’ve never really had a fear of heights or ropes courses, but I give major props to our group because every single person did all of the activities and they were not easy! Some of the courses included: climbing really high and walking across a round log then walking to the middle crouching down and hanging like a monkey, climbing up a really high log standing up on it and jumping to a trapeze (I complained that it was a lot further for short people), four people climbing up really high onto a seasaw and balancing it out then doing the can-can and then pushing each other off (seriously felt like I was in hunger games fighting tot he death), and finally climbing up really really high and just jumping off (*see picture below to see how high). The best part about the last activity is that clover the really cute dog that lived on the farm would play a game called “catch the human” every time someone jumped off. It was ridiculously cute.

After lunch we headed to the coast where we hiked down to absail (repel in American terms) and rock climb. The view was stunning and I could have stayed there for days. First we repelled down the side of the cliff and then we took turns rock climbing. I haven’t rock climbed since I was a JIT (shout out to Camp Barney Medintz), and I would just like to say I dominated that rock! That might be an exaggeration but I did make it to the top of the hard section. Then a couple of the guys and I climbed the part we repelled before leaving. After and embarrassingly strenuous hike back, it was sadly time to head back to London. It was truly a fantastic weekend of fun activities and Mountbatten bonding!

Here is where the days and days of transport comes in. After a four hour drive to Dorset and a four hour drive back to London, my friend asked me if I wanted to go to Isle of White for a day trip on Sunday. Now my mindset for this year is to just say yes and be spontaneous. Well, unfortunately in this case that led to me having a less than relaxing Sunday.

Sunday night I had plans to go to a Rosh Hashanah dinner with my coworker. We said we’d meet in the afternoon in London to head up to his town. In my mind Isle of White was about an hour away. You have probably guessed by now that my mind was wrong. We left at around 8:30 took the tube to the train station (mind you the tubes were not working on good service, so that in itself was an adventure). Once on the train I found out that it wasn’t an hour long rideit was more like an hour and 40 minutes plus a 20 minute ferry ride to the island. At this point it’s like 10 a.m., so basically we get to the ferry and I decide I might as well see the freaking Isle. (On a side note, while waiting for the ferry I tried to get food and none of the restaurants there accepted a “swipy card” - they only would take one with a chip which is a European thing they have on there cards - so I was getting cranky just from being hungry). After being on the island for about an hour I ran (literally) back to the ferry, then back on the train and back to London. When I got to London I walked off the train and off the platform, realized I left my sunglasses, ran back and thank goodness was able to get them. I then rushed home, changed in 15 minutes and ran to the tube. Again, none of the tubes were working on good services, so after running up and down stairs twice to each side of the platform, based on strangers advice, I gave up on the tube and got in a taxi. I then met my coworker, David, who made my day 10 times better by taking me to platform 9 3/4 - if you don’t understand why that is awesome than I’m not sure why we’re friends.

The day ended with a delicious and lovely Rosh Hashanah meal, celebrating a sweet new year. L’shana Tova to all of my friends and family! And to a year of slightly less travel mishaps! :)

All my love from LaLaLand (and now London)!

{First team task: Bring the treasure to the other side of the logs without touching the ground and while hooked to the rope}

{Second team task: Put all of the wood pieces together and then replicate it in under 60 seconds}

{Third team task: I’m still not sure how to describe this one…we struggled}

{Fourth and last team task: We rocked that puzzle and I love walkey talkeys}

{Gorgeous sunset hike}

{Fun night out listening and dancing to live music in the town}

{Jumping of the REALLY high platform - it was scary}

{Unbelievable rock climbing / repelling on the coast!!}

{All I saw of Isle of White…yes, it was overcast}

{It’s official! Hogwart’s class of 2012…I hope I’m in Griffindor!}

A Month in...WOAH!

Wed, 12 Sep 2012 11:15:29 -0400

That’s right my avid followers (a.k.a. friends and fam). I have officially hit the one month mark. I really can’t believe how quickly the time has gone by. In a typical mind boggling way it feels like I have been here forever and like I just moved here all at once.

The fun activities have not stopped! On Thursday night my big big boss, as I call him (yes, that may make me sound like I am still in a sorority), invited me and the other new Mountbatten intern to a black tie dinner for the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment. While this was very exciting and generous, he let two girls know that they were attending a black tie affair at 2 p.m. when the dinner was at 6:15 p.m. Needless to say we were a bit rushed. Luckily I had packed the dress I wore to Meryl’s rehearsal dinner in my bag for a holiday party or fancy occasion like this. Lynnie (the other intern) and I managed to beautify ourselves in time for the big dinner. It took place at Guildhall, which is a magnificently historic building that is absolutely gorgeous. After the dinner, we met up with Alex for his goodbye drinks, as Friday was his last day at work and he was heading back to University at Manchester. I hope to take a road trip with some coworkers to visit and go to a Manchester United football game!

On Saturday the weather was incredible! A group of my friends and I decided to take a walk to Greenwich park. While the park was closed due to the Paralympics, we were able to walk around the town (adorable!) and the market (yummy food!). We topped the night off with another adventure to the Gator bar to see the Gators give a proper welcome to the SEC to Texas A&M (by the way I think this is just the bar that shows all American sports - b/c the Texas A&M fans were there along with USC and Michigan).

On Sunday, a couple of my girlfriends and I ended up taking a day trip to Brighton to soak up some of the sun at the beach. Unfortunately by the time we got there the sun was being shadowed by clouds that eventually started raining on us, but not before we road the Crazy Mouse and the scrambler on the pier! I felt like a little kid again and it was phenomenal!

On a more serious note, yesterday was September 11th, and it’s the first time I haven’t been in the U.S. on this date since that fateful day in 2001. On the way to work, when there was a clear blue sky and the perfect breeze, I felt surprisingly emotional about that fact. Not that I haven’t felt this feeling before, but perhaps being so far from home brought the emotion of the day into clearer vision. I send my love and thoughts to those in the States and especially those in Manhattan, one of the greatest cities in the world that cannot be brought down by any measure of hate.

All my love from LaLaLand (and now London)!

{Thomson Reuters team at dinner}

{Alex and I at the rooftop bar in Canary Wharf}

{Adorable signs at Greenwich Market}

{Brighton Beach}

{View from the top of the roller coaster}

{One last one of my great former home}

Sports Days, Musical Nights and Unwanted Guests

Fri, 07 Sep 2012 16:05:00 -0400

{The Olympic Stadium!}

This has been an interesting week. Just when you think everything is going perfectly, something brings you back to reality. But before we get to that, let’s discuss the good moments of this week.

Most people’s reactions to me telling them that I was moving to London the middle of August was - Oh wow you’re missing the Olympics! While I do think it would have been amazing to be here during the Olympics, it would have been a bit crazy to move to a city that was immediately swarmed by people from all over the world. The good news is that the Paralympics started just a couple weeks after, and I was able to see a couple of games this past weekend. The first one I saw on Saturday with my awesome coworker David who had a ticket to table tennis and the second one was Basketball on Sunday with my friend Kyle who is part of my Mountbatten intake. He got day tickets to Olympic park and we were able to queue for seats at basketball. Both games were incredible to see! The athletes are truly remarkable people.

On Saturday night was the first Gator Game of the season and like the former Cicerone I am I recruited new Mountbatten and work friends to go watch the game at the London Gator bar and ended up with about 10 to 15 of us. We had a great time and the Brits were loving the American Football! We topped off the weekend with a Canary Family potluck dinner on Sunday night.

Monday night was equally fun but in a non-sporty way. My coworker suggested a bunch of us go to the BBC Proms at The Royal Albert Hall. For those who don’t know it’s a well known Orchestra concert series. The concert was fantastic! It brought me back to that one week in Kindergarten when I played the violin…I really should have stuck with that.

While this week was pretty spectacular, like I said, nothing is ever perfect and I found that out this week with a little bug infestation in my flat. It’s being taken care of, but it’s been truly a pain in the butt! Despite that, every week here gets better and better and I feel more and more at home.

All my love from LaLaLand (and now London)!

{David and I at the table tennis semi-finals}

{London Gators at the first game of the season}

{Kyle and I at the Basketball game}

{BBC Proms at Royal Alburt Hall

Getting Settled...Or Something Like That

Wed, 29 Aug 2012 03:00:58 -0400

{Gorgeous view of Bath and the English countryside!}

If possible this past week feels like more of a whirlwind than the first! Despite that, I am starting to feel settled in with all of my things tucked away in my new flat, a full week of work under my belt, and I officially took the tube all by myself and only had to ask for directions once. Mind you I totally fell into the tourist trap by walking up what I think was 10 flights of stairs at the Covent Garden tube station. Note to self - and all others traveling in London - if there is a long line for the lift there is most likely a reason for that.

Beyond walking up a lot of steps, this past weekend was absolutely awesome, and I am currently experiencing sheer exhaustion to show for it! On Saturday some of the Mountbattens and I took a day trip to Bath, Salisbury and Stonehenge. We had to be up at 6:30 a.m. to make it to the bus. I truly wish someone had been there to film the absurdity of us all trying to find our way in the wee hours of the morning. Once we got to the bus and had a nice nap on the way out, the day was wonderful. It did rain a bit, but was timed perfectly for every time we had to get back on the bus. I would definitely like to go back to Bath. It was such a lovely town and we only had about an hour and a half to walk around, most of which I spent checking out the actual Roman Baths. Salisbury was great as well, where we saw the Cathedral and one of the original copies of the Magna Carta. However, it took a while to get a peek at because the person in front of us wanted one of the guides to basically translate the whole thing for him! Then we were off to Stonehenge. While it’s basically massive rocks, it is so bizarre to see these huge structures, parts of which were assembled 400 to 500 years apart and took 1,000 men to put upright. I have no idea what the intent was, but then again no one really does. It was a terrific day of site seeing and the drive was beautiful with sites of the English countryside.

Sunday we had gorgeous weather, so a few friends and I went to Primrose Hill to have a picnic and check out the view of the city. It was a truly spectacular view!! Definitely the perfect day with some much needed relaxation! Then that night, one of the guys from the program, Jian, who’s from China, made a bunch of us an authentic Chinese meal that was absolutely delicious!

This weekend was a bank holiday in London, so we were off of work on Monday. My friends and I had heard a lot about the Notting Hill Carnival. Some had good things to say, while others basically said watch your bag and your phone, and be careful…not exactly comforting, especially since I was expecting cotton candy and large stuffed animals that can be won by hitting empty bottles with a ball. In the end, we decided to see it for ourselves. It was absolutely insane! For those that aren’t familiar, the carnival is a Caribbean / reggae festival that is equivalent to Carnival in Rio. There were massive amounts of people many of which were dressed up and very intoxicated! It ended up being a fun day, and was definitely unlike anything I have ever experienced. But then again, I guess that’s what this year is all about!

I can’t wait to see what this next week will bring! (Hopefully some sleep!)

All my love from LaLaLand (a.k.a. London Town)!

{Christian and I checking out the Roman Bath}

{Salisbury Cathedral}

{Stonehenge}

{Just loungin’ Who said London has terrible weather?? :)}

{The delicious dinner Jian made us!}

{Sign in a window while walking to Notting Hill. Again, not very comforting}

{Me and one of the guys dressed up at the carnival}

Week One - Wins and Fails

Wed, 22 Aug 2012 17:22:43 -0400

{The sign says good luck - thought it was a good sign!}

This first week in London has been an incredible whirlwind. Already my tearful goodbye to New York and the flight to London feels like it was a lifetime ago!

I thought it might be best to present the first week here in a series of “wins” and “fails.” So here they are:

Win: Arriving in London in one piece without seriously injuring myself or those around me with my massive luggage (they were marked with orange warning labels…whoops).

Fail: Flight being delayed two hours, and then being lectured in Heathrow airport about talking too loudly by a European mean man (*note: he was not British). And I quote, “Shh, you don’t need to be so loud. You’re in Europe now. All you Americans are so loud, someday you’ll learn to be civilized.” My response: “Well I lived in New York City the passed three years, so I’m used to having to yell above the noise.” – also that is the natural volume of my voice. Almost cried but managed to keep it together and then met some of my awesome new Mountbatten friends, after the ‘Amazing Race-esque’ journey to meet them!

Win: Meeting amazing Brits who are SO nice and welcoming and love to go out and drink and have a good time!

Fail: People literally drink ALL the time here, and meals are not seen as nearly as important nor is water. For the first week, I think I consumed a total of five proper meals…all provided by the hotel.

Win: The weather has been AMAZING and unusually hot!

Fail: Moving in when it was like 27 degrees (apparently that’s really hot) and sweating like mad. Also, London doesn’t really believe in air conditioning, which made for an interesting first night in my flat…

Fail: No pandora…there is no win here just fail!

But seriously this been one of the most incredible weeks of my life and I know it’s only the beginning of an amazing year. Time is already starting to fly by and I hope I can manage to embrace every moment of it!

Enjoy the pics :)

All my love from LaLaLand (and now London)!

{First official drink in London - a Shandy (Lager and Lemonade = Delicious}

{The London Eye}

{Big Ben}

{Jada and I being tourists in our new home}

{Yes, that happened…}

{Buckingham Palace - It was crazy the Queen came and said hi…just kidding :)}

{Still haven’t hopped on the big red busses yet, but I’ve seen them}

The Start of Something New - London Calling

Sun, 12 Aug 2012 10:08:19 -0400

{Group picture at my surprise going away party!}

Almost exactly three years ago I came to New York City with 2 bags, a 2 month sublease and one job interview. A week later I was offered and accepted the job at CooperKatz (one of the best decisions I’ve made) and never looked back.

Then about a year ago I ran into a friend on third avenue who had just moved to Manhattan after a year living in London. I’ve always wanted to live abroad at some point and started talking her ear off and asking a million questions about the program she did. After about 45 minutes I was pretty sold. Much research and many months later…I AM MOVING TO LONDON!!! I know woah caps, but I think it’s appropriate in this instance. I leave tonight for a year long post-graduate international business program where I will be taking classes at St. Mary’s University and working in marketing at Thomson Reuters. I woke up this morning feeling excited, nervous, sad, happy but mostly just anxious for it to all begin.

I joked to my friend Traci (see her amazing blog here) last night that if you ever want to know how much you are loved than you should just move to another country. The past four weeks have been incredible and my friends, family, coworkers have been so supportive and made me feels so special and loved that it is making it that much harder to leave it all. I will miss many things about New York, but mostly I will miss the people in it (minus the bus driver who yelled at me yesterday).

To New York City, thank you for letting me call you home for the past three years. I never could have imagined when I moved up here how wonderful it would be. London has a lot to live up to, but I have no doubt the next year will be one of the best years of my life. I will be doing my best to keep this blog updated on my adventures in London and travels around Europe and I hope you will follow!

All my love from LaLaLand :)

{The spread was amazing with all of my favorite treats - I have wonderful friends!!}

{Dancing as always…that won’t change in London}

{My wonderful roommates}

{Two of my favorite coworkers at goodbye drinks}