Birthday Weekend Continues . . .

So, following our quesadillas we went out dancing for a bit before I came home and literally crashed after a 4a.m. skype convo with the familia.  

Saturday morning = sleep, glorious sleep.  While I did have to get up to personally inform Santi and Carly of the goings (due to a minuteless phone), I spent a good amount of time on Saturday just jogging and cleaning the flat with sunshine streaming through the windows and the songs of birds mixing with my rather ecclectic itunes library as I scrubbed and straightened away.  

Mid clean Patrick surprised me with some lovely pink roses.  He then sat himself down in the sunlight and absorbed my frenzied activity and rapid-fire speech with a patronizing smile on his face.  I finally finished just in time to receive a call from Santi and Javs asking about meeting for dinner.  So off to Trafalgar it was.  

After a bit of conferencing it was decided I would take Santi, Javs and Maeve to see the South Bank of the Thames while the rest of the ladies headed back to Kamen-Minerva for some dinner.  

I love the south bank.  It's a touristy place but in a perfectly charming way.  Mimes, street musicians, an old fashioned book market, a merry go round, blue and white sparkling lights (which Javier apparently dislikes) and plenty of quaint eateries where one can stop to get a bite to eat.  

We wandered through the delightful sights, sounds and smells of the Thames before ducking into a small market area to play on some of the most brilliant hand-carved rocking horses (or cars/ducks/random other animals) one has ever seen.  While rocking away on our "transport" of choice, our eyes lit upon a pleasant little restaurant tucked in a corner of the small square we were in.  Our stomachs suddenly remembered how hungry we were and we quickly abandoned our play in search of some supper.  

And there (at a restaurant I can't recall the name of) Maeve, Javs, Santi and I found some fantastic fare indeed.  Though it is possible my steak was made infinitely more delicious by the friendly, familiar chatter of my long-lost friends that accompanied its consumption. Mmmm Mmm good!  With our bellies full and our wallets a bit lighter we meandered along the bank to the globe, over the Millenium bridge, past St. Paul's, through the financial district back to Farringdon just in time to catch everyone else headed out to Three Kings.  

Out to three kings it was with a lively group of fifteen or so.  Turns out Three King's was hosting a private party downstairs so, after a large group of us stood in the middle of the private party looking REALLY confused for at least a minute, we realized the stairs leading to the second floor were hidden in the corner and hurriedly scurried up them to the safety of our own private room of sorts.  There I greatly enjoyed my "Coke with Lemon" to our own selection of songs from the jukebox and the ridiculous banter of my lovely friends.  When the pub closed we headed back to our hang out, Minerva Eight, the cream of the crop as far as views are concerned.   

I was close to dosing off and Javs kept demanding sweet food and hinting that they should probably head out, much to the chagrin of everyone else who knew that my darling girlfriends were putting the finishing touches on some surprise cake!  MMMMM homemade buttercream frosting with fresh strawberries on a dark chocolate cake.  Sigh.  Heaven.  I was definitely surprised.  Almost as surprised as Javier :) 

Once the bowl licking had stopped the ladies planned out a picnic in hyde park for the next afternoon and I headed off to bed already quite content with the way my birthday had progressed.

like i said, Saturday I said I'm sorry . . .

Actually, I haven't even finished Friday from this epic weekend.  So, Friday it is.  

The "uncool people" headed off to the British Museum (which is actually a very cool place) and the sophisticated ones among us headed to Camden Markets.  I bet you can't guess where I spent my afternoon :)

Camden Markets! 

I've not seen an eclectic mix of wonderfully brilliant items in quite a while.  Anything from old books, to wellies (rain boots), to a fantastic vintage shop called funky town full of outfits perfect for the fisher funk.  Life size horses in the passages, "The best shop in the world," a store with "death bands" (as Santiago calls leather bracelets with metal studs), goth clothing galore.  My senses were awash in wondrous sights, sounds and smells as we explored racks full of nineties jogging suits and rooms of carved wood.  What a unique place.  So unique and intriguing in fact that it managed to entertain four boys and myself for over an hour or so until we were forced to head back to the tube station.  With nothing in our hands, but heads full of frivolities seen in the past hour or so.

From our cultural immersion we attempted a post-parliamentary tour meeting, with those goofy British Museum kids, which managed to fail epically.  We therefore spent quite a while standing just below Big Ben (not a bad place to stand) waiting for them before meeting up with them near Westminster abbey and parting again, almost instantly.  Some of us (including santiago, daniel james, Katherine Schilling, Colleen Moran and Topo and I) headed to the grocery store and eventually back to the flats to some absolutely divine, homemade quesadillas.  Pause.  

My eyes are getting heavy, I must needs stop for some sleep!  More tomorrow!  Peace friends :)

Friday Night I Crashed Your Party, Saturday I said "I'm Sorry!" Sunday came and trashed it out again . . .

What a wonderful weekend! Friday found several friends from out of town in.  Santiago from Rome and Javs, Maeve and Dan Maloof in from Toledo.  Sadly, I had class Friday morning.  Good old Trafalgar square (we went to Covent Garden), so I missed out on the British Museum Tour but was elated that I could meet up with everyone in time for heart attack on a plate at Fryers Delight, home to "the best fish in chips in London" (yes, I know, every other pub makes this claim, but we at Kamen-Minerva have decided that Fryers Delight is the REAL deal).

With our bellies full and our arteries only partially clogged we set out from Fryer's Delight, past King's Cross and Platform 9 3/4 to the British Library.  There, accompanied by Maeve's beautiful reading of the infamous "Rick Steves," we saw an impressive collection of treasure including original writings such as Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Handel's Messiah, It's Been a Hard Day's Nigh and a play cowritten by Shakespeare.  Very impressive.  

Oh, and Topo and I were quite thrilled to see one of the earliest surviving Qur'an's.  We decided it was no wonder Muslim's sometimes argue over the meaning of certain Suras (or chapters), the writing was indecipherable and used no punctuation or vowels :) 

Following the biblioteca some people headed to the British Museum again while a contingent of us headed toward Camden markets.  However, that shall have to be a story for another time . . I'm off for a run, then headed to mass on this beautifully sunny day! 

Peace and prayers to all of you! :)

WARNING: Outbreaks of Susie Homemaker Disease on the rise!

There is definitely something wrong with me.  I've been quite clean and somewhat domestic all semester.  But this morning?  I took it to a whole new level.  A rather unhealthy, potentially perilous, level if you ask me.  How do I know?  Well, I suppose I can't be sure, but I'll list the presenting symptoms, and you can make your own diagnosis:

1. woke up early (9 or so on a day with no classes)

2. cleaned my room

3. ate breakfast and washed all the dishes in the sink

4. cleaned the kitchen 

5. sorted my laundry

6. cleaned the rest of the common area in my flat 

7. made cookie dough

8. Put the first batch of cookies in the oven 

9. put my laundry in the washing machine 

10. took out my first batch of cookies, prepared the second one and changed into running clothes

11. took my clothes out of the wash and put them in the dryer

12. put in a second batch of cookies and of course took them out

13. went grocery shopping

14. wiped down the refrigerator before i put my things back into it (it was filthy!)

15. checked emails and such

16. went for a jog

17. took my clothes out of the dryer

18. Put on my clean clothes in my clean room in my clean flat with the aroma of freshly baked cookies wafting through the air. 

Strange.  Even Stranger, I largely repeated the process on Saturday morning when I spent over two hours cleaning my flat and washing jeans and going for a jog etc.  No cookies on Saturday I suppose, so that's a slight improvement?  But I did wash a HECK of a lot more dishes!  

This could be an issue  .  .  .  any suggestions?

IS it a coincidence that you're all wearing Green today?

Saint Patrick's Day in London was brilliant.  Though apparently its a very American thing to dress up in crazy green outfits as several people found out when their teacher began class by making a comment similar to "Oh!  What a lovely coincidence that you all seem to bewearing green to day!  Did you all know it was Saint Patrick's Day!" and another friend had to explain to everyone at work why he had specifically worn his green shirt.  Crazy Brits! 

We really wanted to make corned beef and hash for the special day, however, upon realizing we would have to arise early in the mornin' to first purchase and then prepare the corned beef we exnayed that.  We did however, decide while walking home to make a dinner full of potatoes and all things Irish.  

A stop at Sainsbury's in Angel (the only REAL sized grocery store that exists in London apparently) found us equipped with "Irish Top Flank Steak" (purposely not the British beef), 2 huge bags of potatoes, cabbage and carrots, Irish Soda Bread and some Bailey's and Ice Cream.   (We decided Ice Cream is an international delicacy that can adopt whatever nationality we decided to assign it).   Our collection of only the best Irish ingredients and the most determined amateur chefs turned into a feast fit for kings; mashed and fried potatoes, seasoned beef, boiled cabbage and carrots and simply heavenly soda bread eaten with jam and butter, all washed down with some tasty milkshakes.  MMMMM.  

A game or two of darts at the local exmouth finished the evening with a bang before all of us succumbed to our food comas and collapsed into our beads for a well-deserved sleep.  

Ironically, despite my failure to consume more than a sip or two of alcohol in the form of a bailey's milkshake the night before, I managed not to wake up on Wednesday morning for the first half of my psych class.  I asked Topo to inform the teacher I had woken up late, but had to laugh to myself that of all days to oversleep, I chose the day after St. Paddy's, making me look like a raging alcoholic who had too much of a hangover to wake up in time for class.  Oh dear.

:) Peace! 

So Apparently During the Gothic Period the cool thing to do was build castle ruins?

(Edinburgh Part 2)

Sunday Morning saw John Darnell, the oh so lovely Colleen, and myself waking up at 9/9:30 for mass.  The rest of our posse set out ahead of us for Rosslyn chapel and the countryside.  Mass was supposed to be at 10.  However, once we finally found the Church we also found a sign instructing us to go to a different Church at a different time for a mass of three churches combined.  Alright, no big deal.  Only thing is, we haven't the slightest idea where this other Church is.  And that is where our day began.  

Out from an effervescent could of shining white light stepped Hugh (insert last name I can't remember here), our (british) Sunday saviour (Javs, please note the lowercase s - I'm not equating Him to Jesus).  Hugh also walked up to the Church only to discover mass had been moved.  When he overheard ustalking he kindly informed us he was headed that way and would be happy to show us where this other Church was.  In the interim, we invited him to breakfast (I had a simply heavenly almond croissant) and learned all about his life at boarding school and his current enrollment at University of Edinburgh.  Once our stomachs were pleasantly full we set off for mass.  The services in Edinburgh seemed to be exclusively anglican (at least the one's we found), so it was interesting to experience an Anglican Service.  As it turns out they're quite similar to Catholicism.  Well, with the exception of the priest being a married woman and mother of three, everyone standing around a huge table and passing around the bread and wine for communion and an old woman who left about a five minute pause after each intention.

Afterward, Hugh introduced us to his pastor and helped us find directions to the bus stop for Rosslynn Chapel.  For those Dan Brown fans among you, you'll recognize the name of this chapel from DaVinci code.  The chapel itself is absolutely gorgeous, the interior is essentially painted with carvings, and no two carvings are alike.  The history behind the chapel was intriguing as well.  I shan't relate it here though, if you want to know.  Ask :)  Or, I suppose you could look it up as well.  Anyhoo, I digress, a long term preservation project accounted for some intense scaffolding circling the top of the chapel which we were allowed to climb.  The woman who spoke about the chapel apologized for it, but I haven't the slightest idea why, climbing the chapel scaffolding gives visitors a breathtaking view of the surrounding countryside including Rosslyn Grove (inspiration for many famed poets and writers of Romanticism and Gothic repute) and some of those crazy old castle ruins I mentioned earlier.  Apparently people thought that building castle ruins on their grounds made them look more beautiful and mysteriously Romantic?  Who knows, not I.  All I know is that between the breathtaking  countryside, awe-inspiring chapel and our entertainingly authentic British friend, Hugh, I was pleased as punch.  

After our countryside jaunt Hugh grabbed a bag of really interesting teriyaki flavored chips?  They have some real gems in terms of chip (aka crisps) flavors here (Fish and Chips, Prawn and cocktail, cajun squirrel, chili-chocolate, Worcester Sauce,  Onion Bhaji . . . yea, you get the idea, they don't really sporing for good old cheddar cheese and sour cream).  Also, the only kinds of snacks people in London eat are apparently "crisps" and cookies.  Real healthy people, eh?

I digress once again.  Finally, following a lengthy discussion of rugby rules, we re-entered the city limits of Edinburgh at which point Hugh took us to one of his favorite pubs in the city hidden up a winding staircase near the trainstation.  We sat with a nice Irish couple and discussed the SImpsons over some of THE most delicious bangers and mash (sausage and potatoes) I've ever had.  To wrap up the trip in serious style, John, Colleen and I bid a hasty goodbye to our friend, sprinted to the train station, bought a box of Scottish shortbread and then proceeded to consume all 40+cookies in the 5 hour ride home while watching a beautiful scottish sunset.  Sigh.  Sunsets, shortbread and silliness.  What more could a girl want.

I don't even want to talk about how much shortbread I ate.

I'm serious, John Darnell and I (with a little assistance from Colleen and our friendly neighbors across the aisle on the train) ate a MASSIVE box of shortbread cookies.  I should probably be dead right now.  BUT, once again, by the grace of God, I am not. Yay!  All you lucky people get to put up with me for a while longer.  

SO.  The reason I was eating shortbread.  I spent an absolutely fantastic weekend in Edinburgh.  Renee, Connor, John, John, Katie, Colleen and I all set off Friday afternoon on a five hour train ride to experience the magical lowlands of Scotland.  This was my first experience traveling by train.  I loved it!  The ambiance is so delightful (though I wasn't in car with a bunch of drunken scottish men and a very short gentleman dressed as a real life oompa loompa . . . odd? we thought so. . .)but yes, just so many people from so many walks of life all brought together for a little while.  Most of them chatting happily away as they prepare for a holiday in the countryside or a visit home for the weekend.  Amidst the chapter I somehow settled down for a good four to five hours of homework.  It was nice to start the weekend on a productive note for a change.  Especially since I wasn't sitting next to any of my ND friends anyway.  Five very productive hours later, I found myself stepping out onto a rather blustery platform ready to face a weekend of adventures in Edinburgh.  

Adventure number one?  Find the hostel.  After a brief discussion and a brief moment of confusion where we thought the lift sign meant bathroom, we headed off down princess street for a thirty minute walk to Belford Hostel.  Claim to fame?  (at least according to yours truly)  Old Church converted to a hostel by plopping several makeshift drywalls in the shape of rooms in the old church apse.  No cielings on the rooms.  Don't worry, there was a roof.  The church roof.  But no ceiling on the roof.  Pretty funny to walk into a 12 x 18 room with four bunk beds and no ceilings but a vaulted church roof and an oak choir loft above your head.  We wanted Connor to climb up and wave to our neighbors before scaling the choir loft in search of an organ.  Sadly he declined and we opted for dinner instead.  Dinner led us on a scenic tour till a turn chosen by Renee took us through a, um, interesting part of town, and eventually to haymarket where we grabbed some tasty food before heading off to find a live music place that I can't remember the name of right now. Failure.  Epic failure!  I digress.  We found the music place, but there was nowhere to sit, so we wandered on bumping into some fellow domers along the way and accompanying them to a place called the three sisters that was a sports bar, irish pub and dungeon in one?  There was a room with cool stars.  I'm not sure what that was supposed to be.  Ironically that was our favorite room.  I was quite excited there was no cover and even more ecstatic that my coca cola was only 85p.  Fantastique!  Or "brilliant" as the British say.

After Three sisters we wandered back to the live music place for a minute before heading back to hostel for some shut eye.  Saturday morning we woke up around 10 to get ready for our big day at "el castillo" (that was for my toledo stalkers :) my Spanish is pretty legit ;).  The castle, as is to be expected, is absolutely gorgeous.