Winter Warmers

In this weather we need something warm. Am I calling attention to the fact that I am a native Californian by complaining about how darn COLD it is in London this week? I must say I am a native NORTHERN Californian, which is vastly superior (did I just say that?) and different to being from Southern California. I'm not used to 80+ degree year round temps, but I am also not used to sub 32 degree weather either. Therefore, these cold gray days are getting hard. Even Riley is sick of wearing her jacket while out and about.

This is an old picture, I just wanted to show you what Riley looks like in her jacket.

This is my third winter in London, and I think the English winter weather is finally getting to me. We lived in Chicago for about 18 months, including one winter, and since "winter" was so foreign to me at that time, I actually kind of enjoyed it. I mean sure, snow and really, really cold weather gets to you after 5 months, but there is undeniable fun in the first serious snowfall of the season. Dave and I went out and wrote our names in the snow covered cars, and made foot prints on our empty street. Yes, we are mature. Since London hasn't had any snow this year winter is much less fun. I am so over the continuously gray days and heavy feeling that the drab winter leaves you with. We had a few really sunny days and I loved them. At one point I actually got annoyed (am I ever happy?) because it was almost TOO sunny while I was riding the bus home. My sun starved eyes couldn't handle the glare. I find it much harder to get up in the morning this year, mostly because with sunrise coming at 7:40am (or even later in December) it's hard to leave the bed while it's still dark out. And since we only have about 8 hours of light, when they are all gray hours it's hard to appreciate them. I am hoping that spring comes early. It felt like it was close a few days ago, I even saw a few daffodils starting to sprout, but this week, not so much. Therefore, I felt the need to find a few ways to cheer up the place.

One example - Daffodils! I noticed both Marks and Spencer and Waitrose selling daffies this week. M&S is cheaper though, FYI. I bought two bunches and am enjoying the immediate cheer that opened daffodils provide. They are just so sunny! You cannot be mad at a daffodil, it's a scientific fact. And they remind me of spring, and how we will soon see daffodils all over the place. Yeah!

Another example - wearing bright nail polish. I know, that's sort of stupid, but I can't help feeling a bit more "beachy" when I am wearing a coral nail polish (I'm wearing the exact shade above). I tend to paint my toes such a color if we go on beach vacations, so having coral hands is a nice reminder of beaches and sand and sun and warmth. I need to paint my toes as well, if I could only manage to take my warm socks off.

One more solution - just get under the covers, like Riley did. Dave actually wrapped her up, but she didn't seem to mind, and sat like that for a little while. I must admit, some days that seems like the best option!

Finally, you can always plan an upcoming vacation somewhere. We're currently looking into Easter possibilities. Must take advantage of the four day weekend; thank you, Good Friday and Easter Monday in Europe! I think we'll be off on a beach for a while, finally soaking up some vitamin D. Just imagining it makes the winter seem shorter. And Easter is actually sort of early this year, sort of, it's just about two months away. Maybe by then London will be sunny and warm too. Sure...

She's So Vain

Here's Riley checking out her new web presence. She always has to make sure she looks good. Her image is very important to her.

P.S. - I think she approves.

In Wednesday's News...

I almost wrote that as "In Thursday's News." I guess the first piece of news should be that I was able to figure out what day it is.

Second item is that I got Dave to eat a brussel sprout! A little one, but that's still progress. He hated it, so that's not progress at all. But I'll keep trying.

Thirdly, you can never be too vigilant.

We first spotted this teensy tiny locked up bike while taking Riley for a walk on Saturday. It's still in place as of today. See? Bike locks can and do work! I'm guessing the owner of this sweet ride is currently out on his Harley and will retrieve his flaming red speedster soon. I'd like to see the kid roll up, unlock his bike and zoom off. Or I guess slowly push his way down the street as I just noticed it doesn't have pedals. It does have a kickstand at least.

Finally, as I was fluffing up my tulips this morning I noticed that one of the leaves is striving to become a petal. I guess it wasn't happy just being green. Sad. Yet pretty.

And the final finally, since I just uploaded some pictures, is Riley, for your viewing pleasure.

If you ask me, it's not one of her better pictures. 

Olympic Sunday

On Sunday I dragged Dave out to the Olympic Park. I was curious to see the area since I had only seen it from the DLR (Docklands Light Railway) once, about a year ago. We took the Central Line out to Stratford then took the DLR to Pudding Mill Lane (one of the better names on the London Transport network) to go to the Viewing Tube. It's a really short walk from the Pud Mill Lane station to the Viewing Tube; a few twist and turns in the construction area, and you are in front of the bright green box. The area affords a great view of the stadium and the big red steel tower thingy. Off to the right is the Aquatics Center (Centre) and in the distance you can just make out the Basketball Arena and a slight bit of the Velodrome.

The area is still obviously under construction, not only in the Olympic Park but the neighborhood as a whole. A few buildings are going up, the new Westfield has just opened and cranes are visible in the sky. There is much talk about the rebirth of East London and being over there you get the sense the area has truly been undergoing a transformation.

I got tickets to one of the test events leading up the Olympics, the diving event taking place the week of February 20-26. We're going on that Wednesday night, to the new Aquatics Center/re, and will see the men's 3m springboard final and the women's synchronized 10m platform final. I'm really excited to see the new venue and since we weren't too successful with our Olympic ticket bid, it will be like going to the real thing. In February. Without the excitement of the real thing and the real medals and the real competition. Without any other events going on. Without the huge crowds. But I'm still excited. I've always wanted to see diving in person and Dave and I will be on the lookout for too much splash because too much splash is not a good thing. Trust me.

When Dave got home last night he asked if I had posted anything on the blog and I told him I still had to write about our Olympics outing. He replied "that will be interesting."*   I hope I met his expectations.**

*Sarcasm
**Sarcasm

Le Premier Voyage de L'Annee 2012

Last weekend we went to Paris. My camera went on its first trip! I knew Dave was a bit envious when I went to Paris without him in December (it was the comments such as "...well you went to Paris without me..." that led me to that conclusion). Almost as soon as we got back from California he started mentioning going to Paris, and after about 15 seconds spent trying to convince me to go again, I agreed. So off we went, a mere six weeks after my last visit. Luckily I love Paris, so I am happy to go back anytime!

We stayed at the Mon Hotel this time, thanks to a pretty good rate courtesy of a Voyage Prive sale. It was our first time staying in the 16th, above the Arc de Triomphe, as we normally stay in the 6th. The Mon Hotel is right around the corner from the Argentine metro station which is the 1 line, a handy line that runs through many of the main sights, but can also be very crowded. Yet, fun fact! The 1 line is starting to run new driverless trains (with fancy pants rainbow seats), and we took one such train once, but only went two stops. The train actually skipped the first stop so maybe those driverless trains aren't such a good idea after all. Overall we enjoyed the Mon Hotel and would stay there again. The sale rate included an "upgrade" to the next room category, which meant our room and bathroom were spacious for Paris. We didn't see a basic room, so for all I know those rooms are tiny as most Parisian hotel rooms seem to be.

We did some of the same Paris things we do every trip, such as walking around the Eiffel Tower, along the Seine, around the Tuileries and Louvre, walking in the Marais and the St. Germain area, eating fallafels, going to Eric Kayser, you know, the usual.

This time we also walked in two new to us areas. The first was the Canal St. Martin area, in the 10th. It was rather nice, with quite a few bridges and locks, and people out enjoying the sunny day. Apparently the area is popular at night, with bars and restaurants, including a few recommended by friends. On Sunday the street running along side the canal (Quai de Valmy) is closed to cars and therefore easy to walk and/or bicycle. 

We also walked on the Parisian version of the High Line. The Promenade Plantee, in the 12th just east of Bastille, was opened in 1993 and runs above a former railroad viaduct. Underneath the park are stores within the viaduct arches. The Promenade Plantee was actually a model for the NY High Line. Since we went in the winter the park was a little sparse, flower-wise. It is narrower than the High Line, with one sidewalk running the length of the area we walked. From what I have read, the eastern portion of the park is open to both bicyclists and pedestrians, but we only walked on the western, pedestrian only section. I must admit that while I was interested to see the park, as I only learned about it right before this trip, it had nothing on the High Line! The High Line is fantastic and well worth a visit in New York. The Promenade Plantee, not so much. It would be nice in the summer and warmer weather, but is not a destination in and of itself as is the High Line.

Once we got back to London on Sunday night we were transferring to the District/Circle lines at Victoria and were going up the steps to the platform when we saw two youngish girls, maybe late teens/early 20's coming down the stairs. They were dressed in the typical going out style of micro minis, too much makeup and hair that to the wearer looks "bedhead sexy" but to the outside observer looks unbrushed and ratty. Fortunately I wasn't lower on the steps because one girl's skirt was so, so, so short I could have gotten a view only certified medical professionals should be privy to. It was such a typical London scene, after a nice weekend in Paris, and it told us we were home. It made us miss Paris right then and there.

Shoe Envy

 Not me, silly. Riley has shoe envy. Actually it's a little game she plays for attention. She goes downstairs, gets one of Dave's shoes and brings it back upstairs where she parades it in front of us. Right now she is amassing quite a collection of his shoes, six at last count. Two alone came up this afternoon in the course of about 30 minutes. I guess she takes after me in her obsession with shoes, only I tend to go for slightly more feminine styles. And in case you are curious, I keep my shoes upstairs in the closet, a lesson Dave has not yet learned.

Thursday's Travails

Yesterday I accidentally kicked one of Riley's rawhide chew sticks under the couch. This morning she discovered that it was missing, that it's under the couch and that she can't reach it with her stumpy paws. So she decided to just sit by the couch with a sad face on in the hopes that I would retrieve it for her.

I didn't. At least not yet, but I have it on my to-do list and hope to get to it in the next few days. I have to go upstairs to get the flashlight first, and then figure out if we have a yard stick lying around the place. Or I guess here it would be a metre stick. Do you remember yard sticks? Hardware stores used to always give them out for free and their only real use was to fish something out from behind the couch. Good times.

This afternoon was spent finishing her furcut. I scheduled her in for a 3pm appointment but I was running late (read: lazy) and didn't get to her until after four. Overall it went well and she was relatively patient while I chopped away at her legs and stomach. It meant a lot of bending and crouching and reaching and lifting and poking and angling to get all the fur. But now that she's all nice and neat she can forget about having to go back to the groomers (i.e. upstairs to the bathroom) for about four months. My only problem is that over the course of two days I inhaled a LOT of fur and now will be coughing up furballs for the next two weeks. Yum!

Fur Fun

Yes, I am two parts strange to one part immature, with just a dash of hilarious.

Wednesday Woes

Poor Riley. Today started with a walk in the rain. Towards the end she looked at me like I was a crazy lady taking her out in the rain. It was almost as though she blamed me for going out at the heaviest point, as though I could predict that. I mean if the UK weather people can't predict the weather accurately, how can I? Well, actually, I or someone else with absolutely no meteorological experience could probably do a better job but I won't go there. When we got home she looked like this:

 And she gave me this:

Her back. That's serious. It means she is really upset, she can't face me/us at the moment, and she needs some time to herself to reflect on her emotions and calm down. 

Her day got even better when I gave her a furcut. I know that the first thing Dave will say when he walks in the door (after a dinner that I wasn't invited to...) is "what happened to her?" Well you know what? I happened. I got the scissors, and I started cutting and THAT happened. Yes, she now has a flat head. Yes, her legs are still bushy. Yes, her ears stick out. Yes to all of it. Even though my first attempt at dog grooming was absolutely stellar, my skills have gone precariously downhill since then. And to top it all off, I told Riley to come back tomorrow so I could finish it then. If a hairdresser told a client to come back the next day because the scissors were giving them a blister, and their fingers were tired and the motivation to finish just wasn't there, the client would walk out the door never to return, albeit with a really ugly haircut. But poor Riley has no choice. So tomorrow I will finish her legs and make adjustments that Dave deems necessary, which I am sure will be a lot. Her Thursday isn't shaping up to be much better than her Wednesday. 

2011 in Pictures

Since I started this blog in February of 2011 I didn't write about all the trips we took. That's actually a terrible excuse, since it had nothing to do with starting in February. Truthfully it had to do with the fact that I don't consistently blog because I'm a) lazy and b) often unable to come up with anything clever and entertaining to say. In order to make up for the omissions I decided to do a year in review photo tour, including some (many) photos previously published on here (again, the laziness...). OK, here goes:

January - Marrakesh

February - we didn't do a lot this month

March - ditto, although this month made it clear that Riley does NOT look good with a short furcut. Yikes. It's like living with a large rat.

 April - Home (California), Thailand and Berlin

May - Riley spent a lot of time not looking at us

 June - Bordeaux

July - Italy (Florence, Siena and Bologna) and Helsinki/Tallinn

 August - Copenhagen, Provence and Malaysia

September - Singapore and California

October - Milan

November

 December - Paris and California