i have a new housemate.

His name is Floyd and he's a hilarious little rascal. Kari's a bit jealous.

so this is where i stayed in Bali...

This picture really doesn't do it justice. Absolutely incredible.

good day.

Obama marks end of Iraq war at Fort Bragg

so get dancing.

Parkinson's patients to dance for Islington study

some interesting new findings.

Cardiff University new Parkinson's therapy hope

because we're psycho.

Why do Americans keep dangerous pets?

cool.

Girls equal in British throne succession

i dare you not to laugh.

We Work at Jeffrey's

hey. that's right near my daddy's office.

Filming for The Dark Knight Rises in Los Angeles

adorable.

I really love this dance. And they're both pretty amazing dancers.

Here's another one.

ted's not gonna design a murder house.

This still makes me laugh. If you haven't seen "How I Met Your Mother," you should check it out. And embark on the journeys of Ted the crazy architect as he tells his children how he met their mother.

awkward annie. by kate rusby.

I saw her play this song at Greenbelt. I'm quite fond of it. Awkward Annie... yep, that's me.

meet me in the land of hope and dreams.

Just reminiscing one of the best nights of my life. Yes. I was there. (Thanks for passing on the lifelong obsession padre.)

nordic bakery near piccadilly circus.

Representing the homeland. I recommend it.

pure awesomeness.

Nike is making the shoes from Back to the Future available to buy for the first time. The money is going to the Michael J. Fox Foundation. Genius idea. Just genius.

michael j. fox on letterman.

Awesome interview with one of my idols. He talks a lot about what the Michael J. Fox Foundation is doing for Parkinson's Disease, which I'm quite passionate about, for obvious reasons. Check it out.

voldemort as prospero.

Ralph Fiennes, one of my favorite actors, in The Tempest, my favorite Shakespeare play, viewed from the front row, pretty much my favorite seat in the house. What an amazing experience.

highlight of my weekend.

I saw this band called Gentleman's Dub Club this weekend at this Christian festival I went to called Greenbelt. Mavis Staples, Kate Rusby, Idlewild and many others were there, and they were amazing, but these guys were definitely the best. Enjoy.

my wall of notes. thanks for all the love.

i don't want it to end.

"Harry Potter was the gateway drug to books for a generation."
- Emerson Spartz (founder of MuggleNet, the site for Potter freaks like me)

That pretty much sums up my childhood. I'm (unsurprisingly) emotional about the final film coming out this week. At least when the final book came out there was a few more films left to look forward to. Now what? I've had something Harry Potter-related lingering in the distant future since I was 11. Thank goodness for Pottermore. Well-timed on that introduction, Jo.

happy (late) fourth.

some of my brother's greatest hits.

AFTER MY 21ST BIRTHDAY:
"The problem with having a 21 year old sister is how do I know she won't come home drunk with a shotgun?!"

AFTER SEEING A GAME OF LACROSSE:
"It's always been my dream to hit somebody with a stick."

WHILE WASHING MY CAR:
"Don't worry, I'm trained."

UPON SEEING A COOKING TOOL CALLED 'THE SMOKING GUN':
"That must be smoking good."

ON HOW LONDON IS BETTER THAN BORING THOUSAND OAKS:
"If we were in London it'd be like Disneyland, instead of being an 80-year-old at a boring amusement park for little kids. "

DOING RESEARCH FOR HIS BENJAMIN FRANKLIN PROJECT:
" There's no good pictures of lightning rods on the computer."

WHEN MY MOTHER ONCE REMARKED HE WAS EATING A LOT:
"Well, sorry my small intestine must be fast at digesting. It takes 12 to 24 hours to finish digesting food. Depending on how big it is and how good other digesting things are working, like your saliva. So in 12 hours I might have to poop."

WHEN I ASKED IF HE WOULD COME VISIT ME IN LONDON:
"Like heck!"

it was really hot today.

So I laid in some grass and watched the clouds.

And slept and wrote and read and people-watched.

And accidentally took this picture that I quite strangely like.

now this is an awesomely modern dance video.

i saw this.

Lauren Cuthbertson and Edward Watson in Romeo & Juliet.

shakespeare done right.

social anxiety is a taxing thing.

"We can either re-channel our anxieties into something positive like James Blake did...or we can take the Virginia Woolf route..."
- Breanna

still on my mind.

Clarence Clemons, Springsteen saxophone player, dies

something i miss.

 

 

the cover of a 1940's magazine hanging in a coffee shop in brick lane.

Oh! Ma-Ma!
I Love to Whistle
     An Old Straw Hat
     Sweet as a Song
 You're a Sweetheart
'Tis Better to Have Loved and Lost
Moonlight, Hawaii and You
    I Can Dream, Can't I?
          Ti-Pi-Tin

the closest i've gotten to bruce in england.

bit scary.

Living Simply for 2012

A PRAYER BY BLAISE PASCAL

I ask you neither for health nor for sickness, for life nor for death; but that you may dispose of my health and my sickness, my life and my death, for your glory... You alone know what is expedient for me; you are the sovereign master; do with me according to your will. Give to me, or take away from me, only conform my will to Yours. I know but one thing, Lord, that it is good to follow you, and bad to offend you. Apart from that, I know not what is good or bad in anything. I know not which is most profitable to me, health or sickness, wealth or poverty, nor anything else in the world. That discernment is beyond the power of men or angels, and is hidden among the secrets of your Providence, which I adore, but do not seek to fathom.

self-explanatory.

ask me about our ghostly encounter sometime.

lovely day for a wedding.

So anyone who is reading this is likely already aware, but Friday was the much anticipated Royal Wedding. I'm quite looking forward to being able to say I was in London for it, just for the sake of being able to say it. I watched the wedding from a pub, where Kat (another Westmonter and Time for 2012 volunteer) and myself had an excellent view, an enjoyable group of people to watch it with, and a delicious breakfast with a glass of celebratory champagne. I thought the ceremony was lovely (though I kept being reminded of Maria and Captain von Trapp's wedding in The Sound of Music), and Kate and Wills look very happy. I hope they stay together.

settling in.

It's unbelievable to realize I've been living in London for just over a month already. It doesn't feel like I've been here forever or barely at all. It feels like I'm living in an alternative universe, some sort of dream state I'm going to wake up from, or some other person's life altogether that I just suddenly woke up into one day and started living. I feel like I'm constantly reminding myself that I'm here, in London, and then I start smiling to myself like some loony. Aside from those odd behavioral moments, I feel like I'm adjusting to life here quite easily. Perhaps I'm just reaffirming what I've always known about how much I adore London. I heard this quote once from Gertrude Stein that has always resonated with me: "America is my country, but Paris is my hometown." That sums up pretty much exactly how I feel about London, ever more so in the few weeks that I've been here.

And it's always the very random little things that seem to remind me I'm not in California anymore. The week before Easter I went away with the parish I'm volunteering with on a holiday to the seaside (a whole adventure in itself for a later blog entry). It was quite an odd feeling upon returning to think I was on my way home... to  London. It was like returning from one vacation right back into another...except, I'm not on vacation, I live here. The truth of that is still sinking in.