Hello from TEXAS!

Well, after nearly 24 hours of travel time, we finally made it back home to Texas. Our last week in London was wonderful! The highlights include a picnic in regent's park with nikki and kyla, buckingham palace, dinner and West Side Story with Nisa and Ayumi, our last festival performances, lunch at Chutney's (our favorite Indian restaurant) one last time, and a final trip to Young's pub. We had a wonderful summer, but it is nice to get to be home and relax for a little while.

Like many of you know, we came home to a new house today! We love it and are a little upset we really won't ever get to actually live in it for more than a few weeks at a time. That is, unless Mom and Dad are looking to hire a full time housekeeper/cook with a bachelor's degree in arts management come may 2009...but I doubt it! If anyone is ever in Sherman, be sure and stop by 2615 Silverado Trail! Until next time, y'all!


Cassie and Sally

Last London Weekend

Our days left in London are already in the single digits- 5! Our flat mates start leaving tomorrow. It is so weird that everyone is starting to pack up and head out in all different directions. Aviva will fly home to Montreal tomorrow, Sarah back to Brooklyn, and Kayla to Paris with her parents. Nikki is here until Thursday and then off to Turkey, then we leave Friday, followed by Kyla heading home to Indiana and Ayumi off to Barcelona next weekend. Goodbyes are never fun!

Today we all went to tea together at the Orangery in Kensington Gardens and then walked around Hyde Park. The highest temperatures here have still only been in the 80s since we have been here, but you really notice the complete lack of air conditioning everywhere in these temperatures, especially on the cram-packed tube or when you are trying to go to sleep at night! Texas may be hot, but we do have air-conditioning at least.

Leaving here is bittersweet. Sall and I both agreed that if we didn't have exciting things like living in our brand new house (that we haven't seen completed, yet!) or getting to see all of our friends and family, we would be much more sad about leaving. We still have 5 more festival performances to get through though! On Tuesday, Buckingham Palace opens for tours, so we are heading there after work, and then meeting Ayumi and our boss Nisa for dinner and then going to see West Side Story as a final goodbye. On Friday, we have to bring all of our luggage to work (we take the overground though, so it won't be too difficult despite the amount stuff we have with us) will set up for our final festival performance, and then Mark and David Hannah (the same guy that picked us up at the airport) are taking us to Paddington station to get on the Heathrow Express. After an almost 9 hour overnight layover at JFK in New York, we will be back in Dallas by 11am this Saturday, fingers crossed. See y'all there, right??

Things we are looking forward to about being back in the USA:

- unlimited refills of diet coke and iced tea with plenty of ice
- air conditioning
- being able to understand everyone's accents (and everyone being able to understand ours!)
- seeing our new house (and grandma's)
- seeing our friends and family and phoebe (our dog!)
- SNOW CONES, cool whip, and normal peanut butter
- text messaging, phone calls; means of communication other than skype and email, basically!
- target

Well, I will post again to let everyone know we made it safe and sound back home, but until then- CHEERS!

A HOT day in London...

Today is the first day that it has been "hot" here. And when I say "hot", I mean about 75 degrees Fahrenheit. These people think THAT is hot. We got off work early today because Mark wanted to go see some water buffalo that was in Cumberland Square a couple of blocks away, and Sally and I went to the park earlier than we normally do. The grassy areas were full of sun bathers taking advantage of the "heat wave". We did manage to get a little bit of sun being outside all day at the festival, and hopefully the little bit of exposure will prevent us from having heat strokes when we get back to the 100 temperatures of Texas! On our way to the park though, a Irish man stopped to tell us that we looked alike (we've noticed!) and then that we also looked like the Bush twins (which oddly enough my dental hygienist told me 3 days before we left to come here). That got us talking about Texas, and then his time spent in Ireland, Virgina, and London. We chatted for a little bit before we had to part directions, but we have determined that we really just love the Irish. Every Irish man that we have encountered so far this summer has been just lovely; they are much friendlier than the typical Brit.

Today was a great day for the festival- we had a crowd of over 300! Latin Tribe is a group of Brazilian dancers that perform samba and lambada (think nearly naked girls with huge feather headdresses, sky high heels, and lots of tassels, sequins, and bedazzling) and they always bring a big crowd! The capoiera group and salsa dancers were amazing, too, and the weather was perfect for an outdoor performance. Tonight we are headed to the National Gallery for the last time to make sure we have seen everything we want to see. We have been there twice already, but still aren't done, so we are taking advantage of the fact it is open until 9:00 on Wednesdays!

Scots, Thieves, and a Trip to the Ocean

The plaza where we hold the festival everyday is surrounded by several skyscraper office buildings owned by British Land/Broadgate Estates, the sponsors of the festival. They have security 24/7 and to get anywhere you need ID access. Friday at work, I needed to get down into the underground control room to check out a key to the room where we keep the sound system for the festival, so I made friends with a security guard with an ID to get me onto the service elevator. As I was saying thanks and waving bye, he stopped me and the following exchange occurred:

Me: Thanks so much for your help, see you later!
Him: No problem, you're welcome. You are from Scotland, yeah?
Me: Uh, no. I am from the United States, actually.
Him: America?? Are you sure??
Me: Positive, actually. I'm from Texas!
Him: Texas, and not Scotland? Really?
Me: Yes sir! See you later!

The poor guy was so confused. Never thought I would be mistaken for Scottish over here!

Today Sall and I, along with Kayla, Aviva, and Kyla took the train to Brighton for the day. It was a lovely sea side town. We had lunch on the waterfront, walked to the pier, wandered around all of the shopping district and had just sat down with our afternoon tea when Aviva realize her wallet had been stolen. Since it was a nice day, the streets were packed with people, and she didn't even notice it was missing until she went to buy her tea. That kind of put a damper on the afternoon, and we left a little earlier than we thought we would, but still enjoyed what time we did spend there. It reminded me of summer trips to Galveston with the Gundersheimers or Corpus Christi with our family!

We are less than two weeks away from heading home, but still have so much to do before we leave- it is going to be a busy two weeks. See y'all soon!

It has been a busy week! Mom, Dad, and Molly left yesterday morning, and we had a lovely time with them. They got to see most everything they wanted to see, minus a festival performance at the Diorama- we had to end early on a few days due to bad weather. Highlights of their London trip include: Kensington Palace, Tower of London, Dad's man purse, seeing Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat again!, pub dinners, a visit to flat 6, and plenty of shopping!

Yesterday morning we meet them for coffee and then went our separate ways at the tube station. Mom and Dad, we have not heard from you since then, but hopefully the trip home was ok! After running some errands after we left them, we headed back to flat- it had felt like weeks since we had been there because of all of the visitors we have had! Last night we had dinner in Covent Garden with Kyla and Kayla and then went to see a West End show none of us had heard of until we got here called Into the Hoods. It is a hip-hop take off of the musical Into the Woods. The story was told almost entirely through dance and some sporadic narration and had a soundtrack by Jay-Z, MC Hammer, Jackson 5, Prince, you get the picture- needless to say, we all loved it. Today we are getting ready to go to several different Sunday markets around town. We have already been here for over 2 months, and have less than 3 weeks here, now. Where did summer go?!

5 Americans in Paris

Well isn't Kyla just precious! Most of what she relayed to y'all about our lives here is true. I did somehow manage to pull tendons in both ankles causing them to swell and bruise for almost two weeks, but after following the doctor's orders (at least what I could understand of the doctor's orders- her accent was nearly impossible to comprehend) and wearing a wrap called the "tuber" they are doing much better. Sally already finished eat, pray, love and if you haven't read it, you must, and we are still so excited about our friend Justin's new job! Anyways, here is what has been going on since I last updated...

We had an amazing time last week with Laura Beth and Donna Bevill. They were only here until Thursday morning, but managed to fit all the important stuff in, including a pub visit and West End show- Phantom of the Opera! Our tickets were great, and we all loved it. We all especially loved the actor playing Raoul- as Sally put it "He was the most beautiful man I have ever seen." We were sad for them to leave, but so glad they got to visit!

Friday, Mom, Dad, and Molly got to London. We headed to Paris for the weekend on the Eurostar. Dad and I fell asleep during part of the journey and spent the rest of it trying to figure out if we were in England or France because we slept through the Chunnel portion of the ride. Dad also insisted on wearing his raincoat tied around his waist the entire weekend and carrying a black man purse that was given to him by, you guessed it, Betty "Grandma" Harper. Thanks for that, Grand! We only had two days, but managed to fit in almost everything- the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Seine River Cruise, Night Bus Tour, Musee de Orangerie, the Obelisk, Champs Elysee, Arc de Triumph, Pantheon, Saint Sulpice, Luxemborg Gardens, Versailles, Notre Dame etc, etc. We had a lovely time, but I was ready to get back to London! Sally made an itinerary for the rest of their trip, and we are just going to meet up with them when we get finished with the festival in the afternoons. Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July!!

Hello from the girls' roommate!

Greetings, Tulsa and Texas, from the Hubbert sisters' roomie Kyla! Cassie let me use her computer for a bit and didn't log out...so now I'M taking advantage of that.

The girls have a big week coming up- Some special, family time in Paris and London. We are going to be so blessed to meet Momma and Poppa Hubbert and the elusive third sister, Molly. Just buildin' memories, as Nana King would say. Sorry Sam, maybe next summer.

In Cassie news, her ankles are sprained. Both of them. Well, at least I think they are. And I once broke my finger, so that makes me qualified to make a medical diagnosis. Anyway, she seems to want a opinion that's a little more 'valid,' and so she's going to the clinic tomorrow. Until then, we've had to hide the meds that she's been popping like candy.

In Sally news, she is starting the book 'Eat, Pray, Love.' It's really all you need, you see, to eat, to pray, and to love. It's a great book and we're all hoping she'll really enjoy it. And hurry, so the rest of us can read it.

In other news, the girls were very excited that their dear, dear friend Justin got a job back at Tulsa this coming semester. However, they are disappointed because it will put certain restraints on their social agenda, what with him now being a faculty member. Regardless, Justin, the girls of apartment 6 wish you the best of luck in your coming professional endeavors. We've never met you, but we're sure you'll make the admissions department proud.

Also, the mystery of the Great London Pantie Snatcher has not been solved. The doors were never fixed, and so we have moved all valuable...undergarments...out of arm's reach from the door. The silly burglar sure has a skewed idea of what's valuable and what's not.

Well, that's all from London. Thank you all for sharing the girls with us. They sure are a lot of fun!

My first experience eating crayfish, and other tales from London

On Saturday, Sally, Ayumi, Wesam, and I went to Portobello Road in Notting Hill for their amazing market. There were food stalls, antiques, new goods, anything and everything imaginable, including magnificent crepe stands. We tried one with sugar and lemon, and it was delicious. After being there most of the day, Sall and I headed to Covent Garden and walked around there and then decided to walk the trek to Victoria Station to pick up Laura Beth because it was such a beautiful day. We greeted the birthday girl (Laura Beth turned 21 that day!) at the station and promptly pinned on a huge button proclaiming that she was 21 so all in London would know. (Note: Sally did not want me to buy this button. I'm still very glad I did.) LB was coming from Spain were she has been studying, and had been traveling for over 20 hours, so we skipped out on sightseeing and went back to the flat. We met up with our roommates for dinner at Nando's to celebrate both Aviva and LB's birthdays, and then went out around Covent Garden and Picadilly Circus. With LB's huge birthday button and Aviva's birthday girl sash, we were quite the scene.

Yesterday, we met Donna B (Laura Beth's mom) at the hotel they are staying at this week- she had just flown in from Arkansas! We hung around the Strand and their hotel for the afternoon, and then got afternoon tea at an amazing tea shop in Notting Hill. They had a fifteen page menu specifically for the tea! We all chose exotic varieties like passionfruit mango orange tree, or something like that, and then had scones and cakes, too. Tea is a long process, and by the time we made it back to the hotel, Donna B went up to go to sleep and the three of us found a sports bar nearby to watch the Euro Cup (this is soccer, for those of you that are unaware like I was until last night). Spain won, so all were happy- at least most of the people around us were!

Today was the first day of the festival! Things went very well, and the performers were great. We had a great crowd, too. So 1 performance down, 24 more to go! Tonight we are having a opening celebration dinner, as Mark and Nisa call it, with all of the people involved with Diorama or the other sponsors.

And as for my crayfish experience...I got salad from Pret today for lunch. It said it was crayfish and avocado on greens, but for some reason I thought crayfish was what British people call shrimp. I was wrong. Shrimp are actually called prawns. Anyways, the little guys don't taste too awfully bad, but for some reason I can't bring myself to eat them. I have some sort of mental block that probably stems from calling the things crawdads and tying a piece of raw bacon to a string trying to catch them in the drainage ditch at Mamaw's house when we were younger. Luckily, I got a cup of miso soup with my salad, but Ayumi just informed me that it is soup with seaweed and tofu, and I just don't know if I can handle that, either. I'm trying to be adventurous, but tomorrow I am just going back to my apple and tuna sandwich.

999 at Flat #6

What an eventful past couple of days we have had! We worked up until Thursday evening, when the drama begins...

Last night, we had plans with all of our flatmates (minus Sarah, who works like she is getting paid for her internship) to go to some karaoke bar, made by the flat #6 social chair, Nikki. We had all just gotten back from work and were hanging out on the second floor of our flat, when the door bell starts ringing. Aviva goes to answer the door, and some good samaritan is there saying he had just seen a man in a hoodie holding a bottle of some sort and jumping from our balcony to the street below. He had followed him until the hooded man realized he was doing so, and then lost him.

Our flat isn't in the nicest neighborhood, but not the worst, either. We have a gate to get into our courtyard, but if you can scale the concrete wall fencing in our patio and balcony, like said hooded man, then that is where the trouble starts. All of us are freaking out, of course, and go downstairs to see if he had actually gotten into the bottom floor. The lock on the patio door is busted off, the metal grate behind it that locks twice for even more protection has one of its locks off, and the bathroom window lock is busted, but metal bars intact. So, he had attempted to get in(and could at least reach into the room) but was scared off, or unable to get in quickly enough. (Although Kyla is missing her favorite pair of underwear). We called Anglo American and they sent staff over to check out the situation, and they called the police, who said they were on their way. Our plans for singing awful Whitney Houston songs with British men at some karaoke bar off Farringdon were shot. The guys in the flat across from us were supposed to go out with us, but instead came over to our flat to wait on the police with us. Fast forward to midnight, and they still haven't arrived!! So all that time spent sitting around, for nothing, other than the bottom floor of our flat was still un-lockable and it would have been stupid to leave.

Well, the police did end up coming, but not until this morning. Sally, Ayumi, Nikki and I were the only ones here. I went downstairs to talk to the policeman (he had a funny name, but I can't remember it) as he took notes on a little tablet as I talked, while his detective partner dusted for fingerprints. It was legit. We talked for 15 minutes, and that was that. Now we are waiting on all the locks to be replaced, and Kyla has moved into our room, because who would want to sleep in the room that had been broken into??! So the moral of the story is...I don't actually know. Don't trust policemen to be timely? Avoid hooded men carrying bottles? Don't leave your favorite pair of underwear next to a door that might be broken into? Only time will tell.

After my chat with the police, we headed to Kew Royal Botanical Gardens for the day. It was lovely, Mark and Lawry brought a picnic, and we spent the whole day there. After a slight mistake with me and directions (once again) we got on the right train, going the right direction, and were home by 6:10. Ayumi's boyfriend Wesam got to London today, and when we got home, the four of us decided last minute to go see Les Mis. We changed clothes, and were back out the door by 6:25. And let me tell you, that $45 for the ticket was the best money I have spent the whole trip. The show was unbelievable. Stunning, breathtaking, awe-inspiring, you get the point.

Tomorrow, our friend Laura Beth from Tulsa gets into town, and will be here until Thursday, and then Mom, Dad, and Molly will be here a week from today! It's going to be a fun couple of weeks.

It's almost festival time!

We saw the three legged dog again today at the park! He is so precious. Makes me miss Phoebe at home, and she doesn't even like me that much. Since I last blogged, we've been busy with work- the festival starts next week!

Sunday, we went to the West End Live show in Leicester Square with Kyla, Kayla, and Ayumi. Essentially, it was a huge outdoor festival with a mainstage featuring numbers from the West End musicals that are currently playing. We missed all of the good acts since they were spread out over Saturday and Sunday, but it was still fun. We then headed to Nando's for lunch, it a Portuguese restaurant that specializes in chicken, and then went to Covent Garden to the shops and market there. After that we did Little Venice, which is basically just canals in a pretty neighborhood, but it was a beautiful day and was fun to just wander around there.

Monday and today we worked from 9-6 with just a short break for lunch. Things are really busy with the festival coming up- we are trying to coordinate 25 performance days, each with multiple artists/groups, and the task isn't easy. The fact that no one can understand our accents over the phone doesn't help the situation either! We are getting close to being done though, and should have everything wrapped up by Thursday. Today, I spent all day on photoshop trying to finish up the last set of posters to get them to the printer. Who knew that my photoshop experience from Mary Hensler's studio art class at SHS would come in handy one day? My eyes are still a little fuzzy from staring at a computer for so many consecutive hours. We get our last day off for the summer on Friday, and we are meeting Mark and Lawry at Kew Gardens for a picnic. It normally costs about 12 quid to get in, but they have guest passes for us! That is all for now, I am off to go make my evening cup of tea...how British of me, right?!

The English Countryside

So I realize that I updated recently, but today we did so much that I think I may forget it all unless I get it down in writing! We started out with Lawry and Mark picking the three of us up from the Diorama at 9:30am and then set out for the English countryside west of London. We drove through several small villages on our way to Roche Court, the home of Lady Bessborough, which is just east of Salisbury. She started a sculpture gallery in the gardens and grounds of her beautiful home, and was hosting about 100 people at the gallery opening for two new exhibitions today. We wandered around the grounds and artist residence (living space for guest artists) before introductions of the artists, hostess, and speaker were made, and then were treated to a very British lunch. There was quiche and greens, cheeses, and pickled whole walnuts. Like, outer shell and all. Sounds (and looks) gross, but they were actually pretty tasty. After tea and dessert, we headed out to explore the country side. We drove through Salisbury, Marlborough and probably half a dozen other tiny villages. The scenery was gorgeous, and the towns so quaint and peaceful. After stopping shortly at Figsbury Ring (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figsbury_Ring), we eventually made our way to Stonehenge around 3:30pm. This morning, over 30,000 visitors had come to watch the sunrise for the summer solstice and the site had just reopened at 3:00. We walked around for a bit, but it was rainy so didn't stay long.

We got back on the rode, and made it to Avebury http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-avebury/ which is a smaller version of Stonehenge, and stopped for afternoon tea (I had a scone, Mom!), and to walk around the small village of about 200 people. The town was full to the brim of hippie, dred-locked, guitar-playing earth worshipers (and I mean that in a nice way, they were delightful!) that were camped out at this monument for the summer solstice. It was an interesting, fun day to visit!! We then hit up several more small villages, and drove around looking for the prehistoric white horse carvings present on many of the hills in Wiltshire http://www.wiltshirewhitehorses.org.uk/. We got to see two before it was time to head back to London. Traffic was awful, and we made it back close to 9pm. We stopped at this haunted pub on the Thames in Hammersmith, where we had some of the best food and service we have had this entire trip. It was in a beautiful, quiet part of London, and we definitely would like to go back. Ya'll can read about the ghost here: http://www.pubs.com/pub_details.cfm?ID=155. Anyways, Mark and Lawry just dropped us off about half and hour ago at 11pm, so we have had a long day, much of it with 5 of us crammed into a very small (manual) European car, that doesn't necessarily provide the most comfortable trip through windy country roads. We had such a great time though, and are grateful for Mark and Lawry taking such great care of us while we are here. And they have invited us to visit Kew Gardens with them on Friday, which should be fun as well. We have plans with the flatmates tomorrow, though, so I am off to bed for now!

Betwixt and Hampton Court Palace

This week hasn't been too eventful, but here is the update.

We worked all this week. Getting close to the festival start date, so things are getting a little busier around the Diorama. Wednesday, we met all of our flatmates and another friend Shivam for dinner at Tortilla, which is London's equivalent of Free Birds/Chipotle/Qdoba. It was delish. After that we headed to see a new musical at the theatre our roommate Sarah works at. It was called Betwixt and was really great. The theatre is small, just 120 seats, but many famous actors have gotten their start there (Alan Rickman!) and lots of their productions go on to the West End, Broadway, or to tour. Our tickets would normally have cost 20 quid, but Sarah got all 8 of us in for free! It was a fun night.

Today, Sally and I had the day off work. We woke up this morning and while we were getting ready the housekeepers came in. Shortly after two people from the Anglo American staff showed up, apparently to fire the housekeepers! It was really awkward, so we hurried on out of the flat to Waterloo station, where we bought tickets to Hampton Court Palace, which is in a town about 40 minutes south of London. Ascot is this weekend, and the station was overrun with men in top hats and women in fancy dresses and hats all waiting for their trains out to the races. It was fun to just people watch as we waited for the train. We got to Hampton Court Palace and spent about 3 hours touring the huge compound and gardens. It was really interesting and a good way to spend the day off. We headed back to London and stopped by Covent Garden for a little shopping before we headed back to the flat. Now we are just hanging out here with our flatmates, who are all so much fun.

Tomorrow, Mark and Lawry are taking Sally, Ayumi, and me to a gallery opening at Roche Court that they were invited to. It is about two hours away from here, and we are stopping at Stonehenge on the way home. Tomorrow is the summer solstice, and people come to worship there at sunset or something like that, I'm not sure what religion it is, but it I will have to google it before we go tomorrow. Hope all is well back in the US!!

Super Noodles

Well, Sally and I just enjoyed a nutritious dinner of Super Noodles. Britain's version of Ramen Noodles, except more expensive. I really love Super Noodles though, so I'm not complaining.

Last night, we headed over to to the home of our boss, Mark Ross, and his wife, Lawry, for dinner. They spend about 4 months out of the year at their home in Tulsa, and the rest of the time here and traveling abroad. They just arrived into town last week, so Lawry invited Sally, Ayumi, and I over for dinner this weekend since they are back in town. They are lovely people, and have a beautiful home in Hackney. It is four stories, which may seem huge, but the houses here are rather narrow, too. Lawry cooked us a feast. We had bean salad, carrot salad, green salad, tabbouleh, chicken, and potatoes, with fruit and yogurt for dessert. Last week we told her how we missed iced tea and pretzels, and so she had that for us, too! We ended up staying until past 10pm just talking with the two of them, and then they drove us home instead of having to navigate on the bus system out of East London. Mark drove by Prince Charles home at Regent's Park near where we live on the way home, but we couldn't get up the street- it was blocked off because President Bush was visiting. Over 2,000 police officers are on duty for his visit here, and there was an enormous anti-war protest on Parliament Square yesterday to coincide with his arrival. As Lawry put it "If he hadn't been such a bad boy, then maybe we would be happier to have him here!" She is originally from London, a retired school teacher (but going back to get her Ph D), and a lot of fun to be around. Mark is, too!

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23494613-details/Security%20for%20Bush%20will%20shut%20centre%20of%20London/article.do?expand=true#StartComments

Today we went into work, and right after lunch, the power went out in our building. I don't think I have fully described our work situation, but the Diorama is currently in between locations. A new space complete with cafe, theatre, studio and gallery space will be completed in August of 2009, but until then the offices are scattered about London. We are currently operating out of the Bovis Project Space, which is where all of the architects for the complex where the new Diorama will be work. We are the only 4 women (Nisa included) in the building, and things definitely get rowdy in there sometimes. The power went off twice today and each time the British and Scottish architects in the building just yelled and cried and cursed at their computer screens. It was an entertaining afternoon. That is all for now, we are off to the park!

The least anticipated event of the Summer- Harvey Leaving

Good morning, everyone! Sally and I are actually awake this morning because Harvey was off to the airport at 7:30am. The past month with her has been amazing, and we were all very sad to have to part ways again. But, the last few days have been fun, so here is the update.

Wednesday, we didn't do a whole lot of anything other than come home from work and make dinner when Harv got into town. Thursday we went to work, then met up with Harv at our flat that afternoon. We tried to catch a Thames River cruise, but the Circle line was delayed like always, and we missed the last cruise time. Friday, we worked again and then met up with Harvey at Hummus Bros. for dinner and headed to see Jersey Boys. It was just unbelievable. Kell and Molly- Glenn Carter from Jesus Christ Superstar was in it!!! It was a really great show.

Yesterday, we went out to Hampstead Heath which is this 800 acre park in North London. It was a nice day, so we just wandered around the park for a while. There were stables, a zoo, flower gardens, and plenty of walking trails. After that we wandered around Hampstead for awhile, before heading back to the City. We got dinner, and actually made it to the Thames river cruise this time! We got dropped off at Tower Bridge, and wandered for a little more before heading back to Kilburn. Last night we just hung out at the flat with our roommates and one of Kyla's friends that is visiting.

Harvey, we have had so much fun with you this past month and hope you have a safe trip home! Skype us soon, girl- and see you in two months!!

what a JOYful birthday!

Yesterday was great. We came into work and Ayumi had snuck into the office the night before and left gifts on our desks for each of us- flowers and japanese hand mirrors! We went to lunch with her at Pret right across the plaza and then came back to work and finished out the day, and then headed back to the apartment to meet up with the flatmates.

For dinner, we decided to go to the Texas Embassy, after AJ (that is Auntie Jinger who is MJ's {miss joy} sister and our bestie Kelley's aunt for those of you that don't know them) suggested that we try it out. They got the atmosphere and music just right, and it was definitely the closest thing we have encountered to Texas so far. The only music they played was country, so we heard Shania, LeAnn, Garth, Reba, Brooks & Dunn, Dolly...it was perfect! The food was far superior to our first encounter with European Tex-Mex at Chiquitos, but we are still looking forward to the real thing when we get home! Thanks for the recommendation, Auntie Jinger!! After dinner we wandered around London for a while, and then headed to TigerTiger where Kyla and Nikki showed us all up with their amazing dance skills. Since it was a Tuesday the club was pretty tame (except for some Swedish girls and a large number of 40 year old creepers), and all of us had to work, so we left by 12:30 thinking the tube would still be running. We were wrong. So after asking at least 6 different people for directions, we made it back to the flat in about 1.5 hours by walking and taking the night bus. It would have been a 15 minute tube ride, but oh well, it was an adventure.

So anyways, we had a great birthday, but missed celebrating it with all of our friends and family! There will plenty of time for that when we get back though. Thanks for everyone's emails, phone calls, facebook messages, and to Justin (margherio- our friend from Tulsa) for sending us hilarious snail mail birthday cards- we loved them all!! We miss y'all!

Birthday Eve!

Well, things are significantly less exciting today than they have been for the past several days spent with Greg, Ken, Dave, Jason, and Harvey.  We are back to work again, trying to work out the last few details for the festival.  But here is the update for the rest of the weekend...

We loved Avenue Q!!  We quoted lines and lyrics from the show all weekend.  Definitely worth seeing, even if you have to lean over a balcony to see the stage!  Sunday we woke up and went to the Imperial War Museum, had a picnic lunch in the adjacent park, and then headed to London Bridge.  We walked up and back down the Thames, and then headed to the Tate Modern and the Globe.  We tried to get tickets for the Merry Wives of Windsor, but unfortunately it was sold out.  But that was fine, and we enjoyed another leisurely walk down the Thames stopping to take pictures and watch street performers.  We ended the night with a lovely pub dinner near Trafalgar Square before heading back to Kilburn.  Our friends left this morning when we went to work- the guys back to the US and Harvey back to Canterbury for her last final.  

Tomorrow is the big 21st birthday, but it isn't really as significant here in the UK as it is back home.  We are just planning on going out to dinner with our flatmates, I think.  All of us have to work everyday this week though, so the celebration will not get too rowdy!  We also got our last roommate on Friday- Kyla from Indiana.  We really like her, too, and the apartment is a loud, busy place when we are all around in the evenings.  Well, our lunch break is almost over, so it is back to work for me!

Also-- Happy Birthday Molly!!!  We are sad we won't be celebrating together, but make Mom and Dad take you out to Cellarmans or something!!!!

The 1631 does London

Well these have been an eventful couple of days. Since I last posted, four of our friends from Tulsa arrived to stay with us in London for a few days. Ken, Dave, and Greg have been traveling for the past couple of weeks all around Europe, and Jason joined them for the last leg of their journey- London. We met up with them on Wednesday after we got finished with work, and after trying to get somewhat reasonable tickets to see Wicked, returned to our neighborhood and had a picnic in the park. Thursday, we woke up and went to the National Gallery, ate lunch on the steps of Trafalgar Square, and then headed towards Parliament Square. We decided to get in line to go see the House of Lords debate, which would have been about a 45 minute wait. As soon as we got passed security and into the building, we got lucky, because MP Colin Burgon from Leeds noticed our group on his way in and whisked us away on our very own personal tour of Parliament. So while everyone else waited in line to watch a debate from the balcony, Colin escorted us throughout the building and into the restricted access areas as well, with one of our stops being the members only patio looking out onto the Thames river. He entertained us for about an hour, and we decided a personal tour from a member of parliament couldn't really be topped and skipped seeing the debate.

After that we moved on see Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Knightsbridge and Harrods, and the Natural History Museum. It was a full day! After we got back to the apartment and had dinner, we went next door to Young's because it was Kassy's last night in London. We had fun with her, and were sad to see her go. Yesterday we woke up and hit up the Science Museum before hopping on a bus to Canterbury to visit Harvey! It was a lovely little town and a beautiful campus. After Harvey and Jason made breakfast this morning, we decided to walk into town to catch our 11:45 bus back to London. Jason, Greg, and I headed up the front, with Sally and Dave in the middle and Ken and Harv bringing in the tail. The three of us made it to the stop with a couple minutes to spare, so we figured the other two groups would be shortly behind us. So when a few minutes later Ken and Harv showed up, we began to wonder where Sall and Dave were. Well, turns out they took a wrong turn and were a little lost. So the two of them missed the bus, which was fine because they were able to make it on the next one. Just a fun little adventure. The boys went exploring in London this afternoon while Harv and I waited on Sally and Dave to get in, and now all of us are back at the flat, getting ready to go see Avenue Q! Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend.

a rainy day in London town.

It is a rainy Tuesday morning in London. The weather here is really the only thing I don't like about this city. But we are starting to get used to it, and are learning to keep our umbrellas on us at all times!

Yesterday, we got off work early, so Sally, Ayumi and I went to Notting Hill and Portebello Market, and then Oxford Street for the afternoon. We were all starting to get hungry, so we stopped in at Hummus Brothers to get take away for us to eat with our flat mate Kassy, who finished up her last final yesterday. When we got home, we had four new roommates! They live in the two double bedrooms on the top floor. One is from Montreal (but originally Israel) and doing an internship with a designer, one is from Brooklyn and doing a technical theatre internship, another is from Madison, Wisconsin and doing a child psychology internship, and the last is from LA and doing some sort of fashion marketing internship. Kassy moves out on Friday, and someone else will be moving into her room that same day. Things are a little crazy at the flat right now! Everyone seems really great though, it is a just a big change from the way we have been living these past couple of weeks. We will keep you updated though.

Sally and I have also found a really great park just a few minutes away from our flat, and we have been using the trail there in the evenings. It is technically called Paddington Recreation Grounds, but they have gardens, dog runs, soccer fields, a gym, cafe, track, trail, tennis courts, and lots of open green space. Some parts are sort of secluded and sketchy, but we go before dark and stay together for the most part, so don't worry, Mom! Last night we saw a three legged dog hopping around...you would be surprised at how well he could get around for having only three legs!! And no one keeps their dogs on leashes here, but all that we have seen have been very well behaved, too. Well I should get to work, but below is a link about a hot topic in London right now, the banning of drinking on public transportation. Child gang violence (think kids as young as 10 or 11) is also a very real problem here, and is always on the news- there have been 16 deaths since January. Apparently the police are trying to crack down on gang crime, but efforts haven't been very successful thus far. Maybe the lack of sunshine here just gives people year round seasonal affective disorder.

http://news.scotsman.com/uk/-An-Underground-party.4140341.jp

OK, back to work for real now.

Another Update

Well, we haven't done anything too incredibly exciting since my last post, but here is the update.

We worked full days Tuesday-Friday this week. Wednesday was extra late because of the move, which went well. Thursday after work Sally and I went to see the Museum of London, which was interesting- it was basically just a history of London since prehistoric times. Yesterday after work, we met Harvey at Leicester Square to try and get tickets to see Jersey Boys, but it was pretty close to sold out except for the restricted view tickets. So we tried to get tickets to see the Sex & the City which was sold out for all of the shows at almost all of the Odeon Cinemas in London. And there were about 25 minute tube delays on three of the underground lines. So we made the best of the situation and got dinner at Wagamama, which is an Asian restaurant, and by the time we were finished, the underground was back on schedule. After that we just came back to the independent cinema about a 20 minute walk down the street from our flat and saw the movie there.

This morning we woke up and went on tour of the Freemason's Hall/United Grand Lodge of England, which is headquarters for all of the Masonic lodges in London. We were the only people under the age of 40 there, and I'm pretty sure the only group that did not have a mason with us. I'll admit to this being a nerdy think to wake up at 8am on a Saturday morning to do, but it was both enlightening and interesting! After the tour of the temple, shrine, and some of the various lodge rooms, we went to the library/museum they have their and wandered around for awhile. By the time we were done it was lunch time, so we headed to Bourough Market across the Thames. It is the largest farmer's market in the UK, and was super crowded, too. We stopped for lunch at one of the little vendors on the side of the street, but stuck to more traditional hot pork or turkey sandwiches...there were other options like ostrich or venison burgers though! There were flower stands, fish markets, all kinds of meat, wine, produce, nuts, breads, cookies, truffles, and pretty much any other sweet you could imagine. We came home with all kinds of fruits, vegetables, and plenty of other things, too. Sally and Harvey are making a fruit salad in the kitchen right now!

After the market, we searched for an antique market we thought was close by, only to discover it is only open on Fridays. So here we are, back at the flat! I'm just sitting at the table typing on my computer, and Sally and Harvey are just slaving away in the kitchen. I'm going to get up and help in a minute, though! All of the windows are open, because it is actually a somewhat nice day today, and we are brewing iced tea in celebration. We didn't actually have a pitcher here though, so we just washed out a huge flower vase to use instead. Well, that is all I have for now! Happy Saturday.

Bank Holiday in London

Yesterday was a Bank Holiday in the UK. And it seemed like every resident of the country decided to spend the day in London. It is just coincidence that it fell on Memorial Day, but the freezing cold winds and constant downpour we experienced here were probably far from the barbeques and lake days many of you were having back in the US!

Even though it was raining, we decided to get out and take advantage of our day off. We started off at the Mind, Body, and Spirit Festival. Nisa, a Diorama employee, is also a masseuse and yoga instructor and she got us in with her exhibitor pass so we wouldn't have to pay the 14 quid fee! There were exhibitor booths set up all over- tarot card readers, herbal remedy stores, psychics, spiritual healers, astrologists, life coaches- almost every form of alternative medicine and healing had some sort of representation. It was eye-opening, and had everything not been so insanely expensive we may have purchased more than just organic smoothies. Who knows when a color photograph of my aura would have come in handy?!

After the festival we headed to the Museum of Natural History. It was enormous, but we only stayed an hour because it was exploding with children in strollers, screaming children, running children, children on leashes, children that should have been on leashes, and their exasperated parents. Apparently schools observe the bank holiday, too! We will definitely be back when we can actually get into exhibits without waiting in line for 45 minutes. The Victoria and Albert Museum was right across the street, so we stopped there before we went home. It was an amazing and diverse collection that, once again, we will be back to visit when it isn't so crowded!

For dinner, Sally and I met up with our friend Brett who is a law student at TU and his friend Wes, who are in London for the week. We went to Chiqitos, which is the only real Mexican food restaurant they have here. Let me tell you, it was an abysmal imitation of what we call Mexican food back in Texas. Word of advice: Don't eat Mexican food in London. But you live and you learn, right? Afterwards, we went to a comedy/improv show on Leicester Square, which turned out to be pretty entertaining. The comedian took advantage of the fact that the four of us were Americans sitting in the front row, but that was to be expected...at least he didn't call us Yanks! It was nice to see familiar faces and spend time with people that don't laugh at you for saying y'all!

Today was a long day at work, and tomorrow we are moving completely out of the old Diorama building, and it will probably be another long day. That means I am off to bed! And for those of you that have requested our address it is:

Westburn Place, 2b Kilburn Park Road
Maida Vale
London
NW6 5UY

Goodnight!!

To Wales and Back

We made it to Wales and back alive, which at times seemed doubtful for the three of us (Harv, Sally, and I).

Friday we went to Hummus Brothers for dinner in Soho after our friend Thomas, who studied here last summer, recommended that we give it a try. Harvey and I tried aloe vera juice, which definitely was life changing, as was the hummus.

Saturday we woke up at 6:30 to get ready and make the trek to Victoria Station for our coach ride to Wales. We made it right on time at 8:00am and then slept for a majority of the way. Cardiff was our destination, and is also the capital of Wales. As we were driving into town we noticed that there were hundreds of people dressed in red rugby jerseys...apparently, the European Rugby Finals were taking place in Cardiff yesterday. We soon discovered that the red team was Munster from Ireland, and the other team was Toulouse from France. The crowd, which seemed to expand exponentially as the day went on, was in strong support of Munster, and took every possible moment to chant, yell, and scream it for all to hear. They even closed down the city streets to accommodate for the growing, and increasingly intoxicated, crowd. One Irish supporter stopped us to ask for directions to the stadium, and when we responded that we weren't really sure but gave him a general idea of where it was, he started laughing and said something to the effect of "how did I pick the only 3 yanks in this city today to ask for directions??" Yanks are what Americans are commonly called over here, and I'm sure it is one of the only times that our Texas/Kentucky accents will be mistaken for that of "yanks". He was kind enough to explain all about the match and the teams, and wished us a great stay in Wales.

We took one of those cheesy double decker bus tours around the city, and our poor guide Robert could barely speak over the rowdy bus full of rugby supporters, but it was still enjoyable. We also toured a castle that was near the city center, and visited the National Museum of Wales before a little shopping and then running after our bus. We had a hard time finding where the bus was supposed to load, because it was in a completely different place than where we were dropped off, but ran up to the curb right as the 509 to London pulled up. The drive home was beautiful- the countryside between London and Cardiff was breathtaking.

Today has been a lazy day, just working more on the stuff we brought home to do for the Diorama. Talk to you all soon!

Cooking Abroad

Yesterday, Sall and I tried to cook pasta, something that seems fairly difficult to mess up. Somehow, we managed to create a mess of noodles and spices that would have been inedible except for the fact the only other items to eat in our flat were nutella, diet coke, and biscuits. We went to Hackney this morning, and now I am back at the flat about to get started on some work for the Diorama that we brought home. We are off to Soho tonight, and then Cardiff, Wales tomorrow morning, so I'll update later this weekend!

Work, Work, Work

That subject line isn't exactly accurate. We started work Monday at the Diorama. So far it is fairly uneventful, and seems like it will be until the Diorama director returns to London in mid-June. Nisa is in charge until Mark gets back, and she is great. They are currently in the process of moving buildings, and are in a temporary (and tiny) space until the new building is completed in August. Right now we are just working 3-4 days a week, and those aren't really even full days. I know we will make up for lost time in July when the music festival starts.

So, we went to work Monday and got acquainted with everything. Nisa took us and Phil (he's working on a theatre project for the Diorama) out for Indian food again, which we are growing to like. Tuesday after work we decided to head across the river, stopping at St. James Cathedral to eat dinner on the steps with all the pigeons. We crossed Millenium Bridge to get to the Tate Modern after that. I have sort of negative feelings towards a lot of contemporary art, particularly surrealism, but they really do have an amazing collection. After that we wandered around, got some coffee, and then went to see A Midsummer Night's Dream at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. It tops my list on favorite things we've done so far. It was absolutely amazing, or brilliant as they say over here. Our seats weren't the greatest, but that's what you get for waiting until the day of the show.

Today we had off work, so Harvey came into town last night so we could get up to do more sightseeing today. But when you stay up until 4:00, it is just really hard to wake up before 11:00am, so we did get a little bit of a late start today. We made it to the Vanity Fair portrait exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery, got lunch, and then made it to the Strand for a matinee of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. This is one of those shows that I wish I had an excuse for loving so much, but I actually can't think of one. Once again, waiting until the day of the show to get tickets wasn't too smart, as all of the tickets were sold out except for mid-price restricted vision seats (there was a railing that divided the stage in two just in front of us) but it was still spectacular. Loud, showy, fun- everything that the 700 uniformed primary school children and tourist couples over the age of 60 that saw it with us wanted. Well, we wanted that too, I guess. Anyways, we all loved it, Harvey wept at the end, and everyone rose for a standing ovation. Then stopped by the portrait gallery again to see a couple more of the rooms showing their permanent collection, went to the grocery, and are now about to make dinner. Sally and Harv are acting like they are about to starve to death over here, so I guess this is it for now! Hope everyone is doing well!

First London Weekend

We arrived to our flat around 1pm London time on Friday, after driving around Regents Park to see where we will be working in Euston Square. We explored around the neighborhood for most of the afternoon, had orientation with our housing director, and after we were all settled we went to the pub next door to our townhouse for dinner. Turns out the bartender actually had just moved to London from Dallas after graduating from OU! After dinner we ran by Tesco’s to pick up some things we had forgotten at the grocery store earlier, and when we got back to our flat, our apartment mate was there. Her name is also Cassie, and she has been in London studying since January. She lives in the one bedroom on the first floor, the kitchen and living/dining space are on the second floor, and then Sally, Ayumi (the third TU intern) and I share a bedroom on the third floor. We have two bunkbeds and tons of dresser/closet space, and a nice sized bathroom too. On the fourth floor are two more double occupancy bedrooms that won’t be used until June.

Friday night, Harvey (Jessica is her first name- she is a friend from Tulsa who has been studying in Canterbury this semester for those of you that don't know!) came into town for the weekend. We hadn't seen her since we left for school in December, so I am sure we startled a few people walking around Kilburn as we ran towards each other on the sidewalk outside of the tube stop. If you have ever seen Harvey run, then you know what I am talking about. Harv, Sall, Ayumi, I pretty much spent all of Saturday and Sunday exploring. Saturday we went to Parliament Square, Big Ben, the Tate Britain museum, the National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, Evensong Service at Westminster Abbey (Sally and Ayumi both kept falling asleep, making it difficult for Harvey and I to contain ourselves), Leicester Square(the theatre district), and ate dinner in Chinatown with Jackie Teague who is also from Tulsa and just finished up her semester internship at the Diorama.

Today we slept in shamefully late, but not on purpose! It was just the jet lag kicking in. We did manage to get to the National Portrait Gallery, where the Vanity Fair exhibit we wanted see was sold out- apparently that has been the case every weekend since it opened, but we are going to try to get there sometime this week after work. We went up to Camden to the huge market they have there and then walked over to Regent's Park, which is absolutely beautiful. We walked to Euston Square too, and then took the tube to Picadilly Circus for dinner at a vegetarian Indian restaurant. None of us really knew what we were ordering, but it was definitely good! After that we befriended a Frenchman at a little pastry shop, where he gave us far more desserts than we needed, and then walked to Buckingham Palace to eat them and wait for the Queen to come out and join us. She did not. We then got lost looking for the hotel we stayed at the last time we visited London, but eventually found it, and then got on the wrong line to get home on the tube, but eventually made our way home.

So far, London is great. We have encountered plenty of friendly people willing to help show us around, including a Russian man that personally escorted the four of us to the Tate Britain; he just whistled and talked the entire way. It is really easy to get lost, but we are getting better. Tomorrow is our first day of work, so we will update more later this week!

We made it!

We are in London! The plane ride was long, but we arrived on schedule. Got settled into our flat and are going to go look for a grocery store! A longer update is to come, when we can find free internet...

Pre-Departure Countdown!!

Sally and I are flying out of DFW tomorrow night at 7:40pm! We will get to London Heathrow at 10:45am London time, 6am our time. I don't know when we will have access to internet or be able to talk to any of y'all, but we'll be sure to keep you updated about our European adventures this summer through this blog (which Sall says she will never post on, because she doesn't like writing. I will at least let you know if she is alive and well.) I cannot promise that it will be eloquent, properly punctuated, or grammatically correct, but hopefully it will be fun for everyone to read. Talk to y'all soon!