Museum Mondays - Part 2

On Monday we continued the tradition of Museum Mondays - the tradition that started last week - and went to Tate Britain. This was my first time at Tate Britain, and because of that I was quite motivated to go and see the museum on our Museum Monday.

Our primary reason for going to the Tate was to take advantage of the free tours they offer during the day. We joined a "Turner and the Romantics" tour, but it was one of four (I think) on offer on Monday, at various times throughout the day. Our tour guide was this stylish older woman who did a great job. She didn't just read off the informational cards, she actually threw in other info and facts about Turner and the Romantics. Before the tour I knew NOTHING about no romantics or about who this supposed Turner was. Every so often the guide would say "well, as you know, Turner liked to...blah blah blah" and I would stand there looking serious and nodding my head, while thinking "um, no." The tour lasted about 50 minutes (it was a quick 50 minutes, I was surprised to see it took that long) and covered what I suppose are the highlights of Turner's work, coupled with his involvement in the Romantic era. It was just enough to tell me something about the guy and his work.

I would definitely go back to take advantage of more of the Tate's tours. We contemplated doing the next tour, I believe of more modern work (our guide really talked up the next guide), but we ended up going to the cafe instead. Because Museum Mondays are not about shoving as much culture down our throats as possible, they are about enjoying the art, and the coffee and gossip too.

By the way, the Tate Britain is really easy to get to. Since it was my first time I had no clue where it was distance wise in relation to the tube. It's about a 5 minute walk from Pimlico Station (Victoria Line). Easy peasy.

Riley's Next Purchase

How awesome is this? Riley would love this (assuming she had a yard. And a fence), since she is so nosey and always has to know what's going on in the 'hood.

But I do have a few questions.

1. Does it get all steamy? Would I have to sit next to her to periodically wipe it down so she could see out of it again?

2. Would it have to be cleaned every few days due to all the...doggie slobber? I don't think Riley does chores so cleaning duty would fall to me.

3. If she barked with her face pressed up to the plastic would the sound reverberate back and scare the crap out of her? Actually that would be hilarious.

This awesome contraption is called the Dog Peek and can be found here. Riley has one on backorder.

Happy February 15th Day

Riley made her valentine late in the day so she didn't get to post it. She can be so lazy.

Our Valentine's day was very nice, but very low key. I'm not really a V-day kind of girl truth be told. I told Dave "do NOT get me flowers" because I find it offensive that the flower stand outside Gloucester Road tube station was selling a bunch of roses for 50 pounds, yes FIFTY pounds, that today probably cost 20. I'm no sucker, that's for sure.

I made him dinner, although poor Riley couldn't have any so she was mad. My mom did send her some treats, heart shaped ones, so that made her sort of happy. I made Marta's Classic Meatballs (what is it about Valentine's Day that makes meatballs seem appropriate? It's kind of...weird) and her Basic Red Sauce. Both were really good. I also made a dessert recipe I found on her site, but it's actually from Gale Gand. It is a Chocolate-Almond Upside-Down Cake. It was good, easy to make, and I am stuck with about 3/4 of it left so I have been picking at it all day. I sent Dave an email this morning telling him I am mad he left me alone with a chocolate cake, so much for any nice and lovey feelings left over from yesterday. I asked him to take the leftover cake to work, but he didn't so I am eating it. I have no willpower. And I have leftover ice cream so you know I am having some of that AND some cake for dessert tonight. Good times.

Here's some cake porn if you are interested. The cake top (bottom) is slightly roasted almonds, butter, brown sugar and honey. So you have a topping of slightly caramelized, toffee-like almonds on chocolate cake. If you like nuts and chocolate then this porn's for you. (And please note, I am in no way claiming to be a food photographer, I just like playing around with my new camera...)

Awww, hearts. My (slight) nod to Valentine's Day.

Museum Mondays

A subset of my book club has decided to try and take advantage of all the museums in London by actually going out and seeing them. I know, novel idea right? Last Friday (the unofficial start of the Museum Monday series) we went to the National Portrait Gallery to see the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize exhibition. Unfortunately the exhibit ended this weekend, otherwise I would highly suggest going to see it, it was quite interesting. (Although we all disagreed with the winning entries, so there was that.) On Monday we went to the Imperial War Museum to see Shaped by War: Photographs by Don McCullin.

This too was a really interesting exhibit. Over the course of his career Don McCullin photographed wars and conflict in Vietnam, Cambodia and Berlin amongst other places. In recent years he has been photographing still lifes and landscapes, and doing some humanitarian-like photography such as of the AIDS epidemic, all of which are greatly contrasted to the many photos he took that highlight the horrors of war. I would recommend this exhibit to anyone interested in photography, if only to see the impressive work he was able to do while under such extreme pressure and in such dangerous situations. One of the informational plaques stated that during the Vietnam war, while embedded with troops, he had to deal with the technical aspects of photography while also coming under fire. I think "technical aspects" is putting it mildly considering the circumstances.

We did not walk through the rest of the museum, but it seemed interesting enough to warrant another visit, so there's that too. But I do think that the Don McCullin exhibit is reason enough to hike down to the Lambeth/Elephant and Castle area to check out the Imperial War Museum. Museum Monday  #1 - success.

Christmas Presents Sorted (Finally)

I bought Dave three posters for Christmas. This past Christmas. And yes, I realize Christmas was well over a month ago. It's just that I finally got them framed. Yeah for him! I suppose buying Dave posters means I bought myself posters as well, since I'm obviously looking at them everyday too. So yeah for me!

I've wanted an Ork San Francisco poster for a few years now. I meant to buy one, but being in the UK meant shipping was expensive or even non-existent (unless we used the USPS - US Penny Service - aka my mom named Penny who mails us stuff. Hee hee). Since we were going home for Christmas I realized I had my opportunity to buy it, and be able to ship it to my parents, and be able to bring it back to London with us. And then I excitedly discovered that Ork came out with a London version this past December, so I bought that too.

I also found prints of metro/subway systems from a few different cities, SF and London included. Dave is a subway geek so I thought he'd like that. Since SF has such a relatively small BART system the graphic was sort of paltry looking compared to London, so I bought London only. What's unique about the subway map is that all the stations are spelled out along the lines.

Here are some other ideas I've spotted, mostly to do with San Francisco, but I've also thrown in one Wheaten for good measure:

Perhaps those are for future Christmases? 
 
Everything can be found at these various links:
1. San Francisco Cable Car print - Fleet Street Scandal 
2. I Heart SF (can be customized with any city) - Circle Prints
3. Layered cut out of SF Bay - Crafterall
4. Mod Wheaten Print (also customizable with various other breeds) - ModDog Shop

Ork posters
TRNSPRTNATION London Tube Map

Eleven About Me

You know how the blogosphere works. You read one blog, they link to a blog so you start reading that one, then that one mentions another, you read the new one too, and suddenly you are in the blog rabbit hole, chasing one blog after another. I have started reading a few new blogs, especially ones from London for obvious reasons, and one in particular had a challenge to write 11 fun facts about yourself and then answer 11 questions. I decided to play along, albeit a few days late.

"Fun" facts about me (I'll let you be the judge as to whether they are fun):

1. It was tradition in my high school for the seniors to streak. The day we did it (about 15 girls) the whole school knew and everyone had cameras ready and crowded the courtyard to watch us. It was still worth it.

2. I grew up and went to college in the same town. I lived there for the first 22 years of my life. And when I graduated I moved about 13 miles away, to San Francisco.

3. I almost went to the University of Wisconsin, and seeing how hard it is for me to survive a London winter I don't know if I would have lasted in Wisconsin.

4. My goal is to one day be fluent in at least one foreign language. I am not working towards that, but it's a nice idea. I took about six years of French so maybe I should just stick with that.

5. I'd also like to one day sell things I make. Not sure what (jewelry, purses, art...) but again, nice idea.

6. When I was about five I fell off our swing set and broke my collarbone, while my parents and I were having a Taco Bell picnic in the backyard. Classy!

7. I majored in Mass Communications (I know, what?), worked in both advertising and corporate communications (for an investment bank), went to law school, passed the California Bar, and still don't know what I want to do when I grow up.

8. Speaking of advertising, when I worked in it right out of college, I worked as a Media Planner on the national Taco Bell account. And mind you, this was when they had the Chihuahua ads, the ne plus ultra of Taco Bell advertising in my opinion. There are about 4 mini stuffed talking Chihuahuas lying around my parents' house. And isn't that symbolic considering Taco Bell was partially responsible for my broken collarbone.

9. Dave and I met when we were sophomores in college. I lived above him and he basically ignored me for the first six months. See where that got him?! Maybe that's not such a fun fact as it makes me feel incredibly old!

10. I spent a summer in Florence after my sophomore year of college, and to this day it remains one of my favorite cities in part due to the fond memories I have.

11. I had a hard time coming up with fun facts about myself. So maybe one "fun" fact is that I am not so fun after all!

Bonus 12. This year I am going to make it my mission to figure out why Blogger spell check won't recognize the word "blog."

Assigned questions:

1. If I could have a theme song playing while I walked down the street it would be...maybe the Mission Impossible theme song then I could hide behind buildings and cars and pretend I was a spy.

2. If I could watch one TV show for the rest of my life it would probably be Seinfeld. I still love that show and can watch the reruns over and over again. Oh, or maybe Arrested Development. Now I can't decide.

3. I like my french fries skinny and slightly crispy. Dave loves them triple fried to within an inch of their life, I like them with a little more give.

4. My guilty pleasure outfit is probably a t-shirt, jeans and converse. Lazy, I know.

5. I like fountain sodas, but the ones from the hand held hoses (like what bars use). We call them hose cokes and they have the best carbonation.

6. My favorite thing to do at the gym is to skip the gym!

7. If I could live anywhere it would be either in Paris, on the beach or home in San Francisco. Preferably all three? I love Paris, it's beautiful, I miss the ocean and love sun, and well San Francisco is just the best.

8. My first animal was a lizard, I think. Not sure why my parents got me a lizard, did I want one? I don't remember it's name, only that my neighbor smushed him (it?) in front of me. My sister also had a cat named Rosie that hated me and left a scar on my face.

9. I always carry chap stick with me, even when I don't bring a purse. In London I would also add my Oyster Card, as that's a necessity.

10. My most embarrassing habit is that I...well I can maybe sometimes put my foot in my mouth, but I try not to make a habit of it.

11. I'm not sure which bloggers I would meet. I guess any and all! Bring 'em!

A Nice Idea...

It's cold outside, so Riley went back to bed. What a rough life she lives.

Scenes from a Snowy Sunday

We took Riley to Battersea on Sunday morning. We wanted to let her play in the snow, but truthfully WE wanted to play in the snow. After about an hour Riley had had enough, her paws were covered with little ice balls, and she wanted to go back to bed. I was ready to go back too, seeing as how my boots were soaked through. Thanks, J. Crew. Here are some pictures. By the way, how pretty is London in the snow?

 

 I built a mini-snowman. He's a bit hard to see considering he's white snow on white snow.

 Riley then promptly knocked him down. 

My wet boots:

Battersea Park:

Hyde Park: