Top Ten

Welp, I'm homeward bound for Christmas in less than 36 hours (assuming Heathrow decides to open again after being completely closed for 2 days from snow). Over the past 4 months, the list of "reasons why America is amazing" has been growing. So in honor of my first trip home since coming here in August, I thought I'd memorialize the top ten things I'm looking forward to experiencing over Christmas break.

10. Chick Fil-A. My dad sent me this a few weeks ago to make me jealous... I have a very unhealthy obsession with this place. The closest locations to our hotel in Florida have been googled and I'll be eating there every day for lunch if I have it my way!

9. Customer service. Although lovely, the visit-tables-twice-max policy adopted by all waiters/waitresses over here will not be missed. I can't wait to have the bill brought to the table without having to spend 20 minutes flagging someone down. Or better yet, to have someone ask me how the food is?!

8. McDonald's iced coffee. No further explanation needed.

7. Being able to text my friends...

6. Wearing tank tops and rainbows again... dressing like this every day is getting ooooooooooooold! It's so hard to be cute when all anyone sees is your coat and scarf.

5. Driving a car for the first time in 4 months! Public transportation, oh how we hate you!!!

4. Doing laundry. Yep, that's right, I can NOT wait to do laundry... in a proper dryer (that is separate from the washer) that has a lint catcher and takes less than 2 and a half hours to dry one load.

3. Resurrection of my favorite accessories - sunglasses!!!!!!

2. A visit to my hair stylist, who is nice enough to come all the way to Florida to cut my hair. Kates, you're the best. And I apologise upfront for how badly I've let myself go!!

1. Getting to spend 10 days with my favorite people in the world.

And now, a parting picture from today's Christmas concert at Royal Albert Hall. Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!!!!!

Winter Wonderland...

Here are a few pictures from our breakfast outing this morning... happy Saturday everyone!

They are shovelling with a BROOM!! LOL!!!

The bus is stuck!

Getting lazy...

So, I've started slacking on the picture taking. So much about life here just seems normal now, so busting out the camera doesn't cross my mind as much anymore. But here are some random pictures from the last few weeks, in no particular order.

Thanksgiving! Weird eating Thanksgiving dinner in work clothes, but had a fabulous meal with a bunch of Americans AND Brits... bummed I didn't get a pic of the whole group but here's me and Kat (thanks for slaving all day on the food Kat - it was delish)!

Day trip to Amsterdam for business... got stuck in this airport because of snow in London. Misery.

Scones & tea at the National Gallery... just love an afternoon break here in the city!!

This is from our Christmas shopping weekend extravaganza. We knocked out all of our Christmas shopping in 2 days. This is me fueling up for the afternoon on day 1 at the mall.

Day 1 loot.

Day 2, in the city...

Our fuel up break on Day 2 in Fortnum & Mason's ice cream parlor (of course... can't have a blog post without an ice cream pic). F&M is our new favorite place on earth!!! It's like Harrods but more intimate and not as crazy. Perfect place to find any gift you could possibly ever need.

Took this on Tuesday night walking across the bridge to the Royal Festival Hall (the building with blue lights on the very right) for a London Philharmonic concert, compliments of Sally Cohen. Such a fun mid-week event!

Not excited about spending Saturday morning on the phone dealing with banking & utilities issues.

So, not sure if I've mentioned that we are watching the whole Alias series. But we are (Thanks Dad!!!). And now we've gotten into puzzles, so we spend our weeknights working on puzzles with the fireplace blazing drinking hot tea and Alias on the background. Oh, it's heavenly. And for those of you thinking "what a lame way to spend an evening" - you clearly haven't tried it yet.

This one was a gift from Perfect Mom.... and only took us two days.

Oh, I loved this one.

More Christmas events/parties coming up this week... pictures to follow soon!!

Weekend around town...

Here are a few shots from my long weekend with Victoria... one of my best friends from college who is visiting from Orange County. I took off Thursday and Friday and we spent the entire long weekend hanging around town... our first day included Harrods, scones and tea at the National Gallery, shopping in Covent Garden and dinner at a new Thai place off Fulham road.

We failed day one at taking pictures... here's the only one... in front of the National Gallery.

Breakfast day 2... mochas and full english breakfasts. What else?

Ran an errand by my work... this is the street I commute along every day (Fleet St)

Shopping on Regent Street. Did some serious damage as evidenced by my bags in the next pic.

Cute little street with Christmas decorations...

Took a stroll through Green park... my favorite way to take a break in the city during a long day of shopping!

Saturday morning. Notting Hill. She found some antique treasures, I was just glad to get out of the crowds.

Perfect Saturday. Shopping before our afternoon tea

TEA AT BROWN'S!!!!!! De. Light. Ful.

Sorry for the blur... the waitress was having issues.

After tea we headed to St. Martin in the Fields for the Beethoven's 5th Symphony & Ode to Joy concert.

Perfect ending to the perfect day!