All Caught Up

To get you completely caught up on my time here in London we'll need to rewind a couple of weeks.  Let's go back to the weekend where Danny proceeded to work some highlight magic on my hair.  Did I mention how amazing he was?  I still can't get over how much better life is as a blonde.  My Aunt Bailey taught me early in life that it's better to err on the side of too blonde than not blonde enough, and boy have I taken that sentiment to heart, especially after being stuck in the dregs of almost blonde the last few months.  Make all the blonde jokes you want, I'll just keep on smiling and having more fun.  As Dolly Parton said, "I'm not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know I'm not dumb, and I also know I'm not blonde."  I personally like to contest that last little bit, but I digress. 

  

You'd think starting the week on such a high note might lead to a tad bit of disappointment, but I can happily report that things only continued to get better here in West Kensington.  Ann and I got a new washing machine, our Internet was FINALLY connected, we had a lazy Saturday morning shopping session, and we had a fun girls' night out, which I'll tell y'all all about later.  Oh, and I celebrated my one-month anniversary of moving to London.  Sounds like a pretty successful week to me.

While I did spend the majority of the week at work (what can I say, life isn't all roses), I did get to enjoy spending time outside the office with some of my coworkers and friends.  Since we don't get to spend the day gabbing, it's sometimes nice to get everyone together after work for a quick drink to catch-up and decompress a little.  We have several pubs around our office that we like to frequent.  There is Ye Olde Chesire Cheese, affectionately known as The Cheese, which, besides being in close proximity to the office, also happens to be one of the oldest pubs in London.  Opened in 1538, The Cheese managed to survive the Great Fire, allowing it to play host to literary greats such as Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, Lord Alfred Tennyson, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, to name a few.  We also make regular visits to several other local pubs, but none quite as famous or as interesting as The Cheese.

Besides having a drink or two with friends at the pub after work, I also try to make time to run and stay active.  I get so fidgety and restless after being stuck at my desk all day that not much sounds better than taking a nice, long run after getting home from work.  Running has given me the opportunity to explore more of our neighborhood and several nearby parks the last couple of weeks.  I'm not looking forward to the weather getting colder; I'll have to join a gym and find other ways to channel all of my extra energy.  Cooped up Caitlin is not the most magical being one can encounter.

The last few weeks I've also gotten to play in a couple of indoor softball games.  Two friends from work helped form a team before I arrived in London and invited me to play with them.  It's been a great opportunity to get back into team sports and meet some new people. 

Now, back to that girls' night I mentioned earlier.  After spending Saturday morning decompressing, Ann and I were able to get out and have a little fun!  We went to Bistro Benito, the great little Italian place I told you about last blog, for dinner.  We met two Australian women, a mother and daughter, who we happened to be seated next to.  They overheard us talking, and curious about our accents and food choices, they struck up a conversation.  As it happens our southern accents tricked them into thinking we might be Australian too.  They didn't think we were from the US because we didn't have the nasally accent of those people from up north!  I, for one, was flattered, especially since I usually get asked if I'm Canadian.  If the British assume you're from anywhere in North America they guess that you're Canadian first because apparently the Canadians get offended if you accuse them of being American.  I typically laugh rather than get offended when they ask if I'm Canadian, so clearly their little guessing game is working.  

Anyway, after we finished eating our delicious dinner and chatting with our new friends, we rushed off to our next destination: the Kelly Clarkson concert!  I've always loved singing along to Kelly Clarkson's songs, but I've never really considered myself to be a big Kelly Clarkson fan.  She wasn't someone I ever thought of paying to see, but when Ann asked if I'd like to go it sounded like a fun night out.  I'm so glad I bought a ticket because it just so happens that she puts on one hell of a show.  She has this incredibly raw talent that doesn't require constant auto-tune or a huge production.  Instead of keeping the audience interested in her show by constantly changing sets and costumes, she kept us interested by belting out all of her biggest hits.  It was great getting to enjoy all of our favorite songs and spend the night singing and dancing along!  I forgot just how long she has been in the music business (she won American Idol ten years ago!) and how many great songs she has released over the years!

This past weekend was a little less interesting.  My immune system decided it wanted to play games this week so I ended up spending most of the weekend in bed trying to recuperate.  I blame public transportation, constant human contact, and an immune system that seems to enjoy keeping me in bed for my illness, but thanks to a lot of OJ, a warm, cozy bed, and a round of antibiotics I'm already on my way to feeling better.  There is too much fun to be had and places to be explored for me to spend any more time than is absolutely necessary sick in bed!

Just a quick aside before I wrap this up.  If you're looking for a good movie to see I highly recommend The Perks of Being a Wallflower.  I fell in love with the book in high school and was excited/nervous to see it translated to the big screen.   Sometimes books you love have a habit of becoming films you hate, but in this instance that was decidedly not the case.  The author of the book, Stephen Chbosky, wrote the screenplay and directed the film, so I felt pretty assured that I was in good hands, and he did not disappoint!  The story was just as touching on screen and possibly more impactful than the novel I first read almost ten years ago (I can't believe I'm old enough to date stuff like that now).  Along that same vein, if you have any film or book suggestions please send them my way.  And, if you're looking for a good book I recently finished The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, which I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend, and I am currently reading A Game of Thrones, the first book in the A Song of Fire and Ice series by George R. R. Martin, which has been a great addition to my morning and evening commute.

I think that about covers all of the big events leading up to now.  They say the older you get the faster time moves, but this is just getting ridiculous.  Time must be moving at warp speed because I feel like I've been here for a week or two at the most.  If I didn't have a lot of fun to show for the last five or six weeks I might be pretty upset, but luckily for myself, and all of you, I've been pretty busy since I got to town.  I have a pretty busy concert/travel schedule for the next little bit, so I hope to have more subject matter to delve into over the next few weeks!  Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings; I hope you enjoy reading about my adventures as much as I enjoy writing about them!

Caitlin