24 hours

On Saturday, Jim was acting cagey. It turns out, he was plotting to surprise me with a night in a hotel BY MYSELF. He was listening very carefully when I complained that I just wanted to sleep through the night unconditionally.

On the way down to my surprise, we discovered that the Jubilee line was closed and the replacement buses were old school. Evie was psyched!


We were wandering around and suddenly came upon this vertical garden. It was planted up the building and the irrigation system is built into the wall. At this point, I still didn't really know what was going on. It turns out this was my hotel, which was located directly across from Green Park and very close to Hyde Park. I could see Buckingham Palace and hear Big Ben (which, even after 3 years in London, still excites me).


Evie was a huge fan of the mirrors in the room and did a few laps to check them all out. She is speed crawler extraordinaire and also has mastered pulling herself up.



As soon as Jim and Evie headed home, I took a really hot bath (not possible at our house anymore because our sole bathtub is attached to Evie's room) and put on my fluffy white robe (and took a picture to commemorate the occasion).


It was only about 6pm at that point and I didn't want to be totally lame and just go to bed, so I got dressed again and took a walk. It was a beautiful night and it's the height of tourist season, so I heard lots of languages and was surrounded by festive people. I saw ducklings racing and people dancing and everyone just seemed to be happy to be there.

Green Park:


Dusk at St. James Park:


A twilight birthday party at St. James Park:


The lights come on in Green Park:


When I got back to my room, someone had come to turn down my covers and had placed some slippers on a piece of linen next to my bed. That made me laugh, but it also motivated me to go to sleep. I slept for 11 hours without waking up. Bliss!

I like to sleep, but my favorite thing to do is be with Jim and Evie, so they came to meet me the next morning and we spent the day in Hyde Park.

A somber moment at the 7/7 memorial.


And a less somber moment upon discovering it was a lot warmer than I thought. Fortunately I had a bag of clothes with me, so I did a quick change into my skirt (over the jeans).


Then we settled down under a tree.

The Serpentine in Hyde Park was just getting busy. It's a great place to watch people and also the home of showboating rollerskaters/bladers.

Jim enjoys the sunny weather:


People walking along the Serpentine:


Paddle boats in Hyde Park. We can't figure out why we never went paddleboating before having Evie. I blame me:


Seriously skilled (and proudly hairy, Jim noted! Hairy guys unite!) roller blader. You can't tell, but those cones were very close together and he was zooming between them on one blade. We were impressed:


Sun seekers on a bench:


Random shirtless guy strolling along:


We made our way back home via Marble Arch, in front of which Jim posed. I would like to note that he almost had the arch to himself, but then that girl strolled into the picture. A few minutes later her mother chewed out a group of people for walking through the picture she was taking of her daughter in front of the arch. WHATEVER!! People are so strange and self-involved.


And then we waited for a bus off of Oxford Street. CROWDED. Evie is always watching her Daddy.



Our bus dropped us off in Camden, which made Oxford Street look vacant. Pushing the stroller through the masses was a challenge, so we rewarded ourselves by getting some ice cream. Jackie and Piotrek joined us. Jackie and Evie are fast friends now and Evie has embraced our family favorite flavor of ice cream--mint chocolate chip!


I think we all thoroughly enjoyed my 24 hours off. We should do it again sometime soon!

Bon Voyage, Aurelie!

Aurelie is headed to South America for six months, so she invited us to meet her on the Southbank for some drinks before she left.

As usual, Evie helped me get ready. She likes to moisturize my blush brush for me.


It was a beautiful night for taking pictures with the London skyline behind us. Having such a beautiful model doesn't hurt either!




When we came up from our failed attempt to take a nice picture of ourselves with our 10 second timer, a man approached us with a really nice picture HE took of us. We thought he was some weirdo wanting to sell us his picture, but he turned out to be a friendly Texan who has been living in London for 15 years. Supposedly he's going to send us that picture on email, but so far he hasn't. It's always nice to meet a friendly Texan in London, though!

Our hostess and guest of honor, Aurelie:


And her friend Olivier, who has a great enthusiasm for 8 lane highways and Georgia Tech basketball. Our highways frequently come up in conversation over here. They are most impressive, it seems.


Fun night. We can't wait to hear about Aurelie's travels!

Blog Revival

It's been so long since I last updated this blog, I can't even remember where we were. Regardless, important things have happened! Namely, Evie got her first introduction to my obsession with Billy Bob teeth.

She was very open minded. Mostly she wanted to touch them. Probably she would have put them in her mouth if I hadn't been wearing them.

Also, Finchley has gone on a diet. As you can see, he's looking super svelte these days.


It should also be noted that the sun has been out a lot and this summer, as compared to our previous summers in London, has been warm. So Evie has been spending a lot of time working on her ball skills in the playground.


Let the blog continue....

In the tub

...there are many friends.

A weekend with Nick and Molly

Whohoo! Nick and Molly came to visit! A little background information: Nick and I have been friends since we met in tennis lessons at the age of 12. He married the beautiful Molly, who we somehow had only managed to meet very briefly in a restaurant in Vicksburg. So this was an especially exciting visit, as it's taken a lot of years for us to reunite. In celebration, we went out and stayed out until midnight! Whohoo! Unfortunately we didn't remember to take pictures of this rare event, but we did take some of our wanderings around Hampstead today.

In the morning after mass consumption of delicious and buttery pastries:


On top of Parliament Hill:


Eskimo kisses with Nick at The Spaniard. The yellow jackets were out in full force and some of them met with death by changing mat. We also marveled over the ability of young women to wear Uggs even in warm weather.


Evie loves Nick and Molly...and her new French fish.


Old friends and new friends:


It's very hard to resist the lure of the English telephone booth, despite the overwhelming smell of urine and the wallpaper of porn.


It's also hard to resist the lure of the chocolate ice cream. It is especially exciting when you usually are eating something like rice cereal mixed with pureed vegetables.


Nick and Evie polish up their French. Evie also attempted to stow away in Nick's suitcase for adventures unknown!


Stay tuned for more adventures with Nick and Molly....

Going to America: Louisiana by Evie

It was pretty crowded at the Houston airport and I didn't want to sit around doing nothing, so I bided my time doing my best David Bowie in the Labyrinth imitation. I definitely think he should have put his crystal ball into his mouth. It's a very satisfying experience.


When we got to Jackson, I finally got to meet my Grandpa! Before this he had only been a talking head on Skype. He's definitely better in person.


My Lala was there, too (she used to be called Gram last time I saw her, but now she's Lala). We all had lunch and I threw my toys on the floor and then just got on the floor myself. Floors are my specialty.


We drove for a long time and finally we were in Tallulah. My Great-grandmother Virginia was waiting for me to arrive and I was excited to meet her, too. I rolled around on her bed and floor for a long time.


Before my parents moved to England, they had a dog and some other cats. The dog's name is Buster and he can't see or hear anymore, but when he smelled my Dad he got really excited. But mostly he loves my Lala.


Dogs are kind of a new experience for me. I met a lot of them when we were in Tallulah and I like them! My mom is definitely going to use my love of dogs to persuade my Dad to let us get one again some day. Here I am giving Buster a pet. He mostly liked me but was a little jealous when everyone was paying attention to me instead of him. He would get his toys out and throw them around in the middle of everything to divert the attention from me.


I didn't get to meet my Uncle Will, but he left me a pretty awesome keyboard, which I enjoyed playing the week I was in Tallulah. This is the publicity shot for my upcoming concert:


And this is the shot that corresponds with my hip hop track (which uses the handy dandy hip hop beats on the keyboard Uncle Will gave me. Word, Uncle Will.)


Lala and Grandpa have a pool, too. And some big dogs in the back yard. Contrary to how it looks, they were licking and not eating me.



Little did I know that the next day I was going to meet MORE RELATIVES! What a reception! First came Uncle Andy and he brought MORE DOGS!

Then I wowed my Super Shug and my Super Cousin Jimmy with my amazing egg box trick.


By the time my sexy Aunt Kate got to me, I was a little overwhelmed by all the attention. She, too was overwhelmed by the attention she got from truck drivers on her drive over from Atlanta. It's hard being beautiful like us.


Fortunately, we made up and went for a nature walk. Here we are enjoying our appetizers--cracker and leaf.


Dinner that night was festive. I missed all the festivities, though, because I had to go to bed. Jimmy rocked the bread in my absence.



During the next day, I decided to spend the morning at the pool in the nude. I swam and then I enjoyed a large piece of watermelon and a beer while engaging in a very exciting and interesting conversation with my Dad.


I was forced to be in some pretty ridiculous pictures. Apparently this is some kind of family tradition...


Obviously, the best part of the day was when Aunt Kate gave me my bottle. My Aunts sure to know how to make me happy!


Believe it or not, MORE RELATIVES came the next day. Here I am with my Great Aunt Sue. She and George drove up from New Orleans to meet me. Although I don't look happy, I really was only just hungry. After I had some supper, I was back to my cheery self.


Suzanne and Mike came, too, and showed us pictures from trips to Thailand and to North Carolina.


Grandpa made ribs. My mom doesn't eat ribs, but my Dad loves them with a carnivorous passion. SO probably when I'm old enough to eat them, I will like them, too. Only time and teeth will tell.


Sadly, my Super Shug had to leave after all the festivities. We raised the roof before she did.


A post-departure of Shug swim with Aunt Kate and Uncle Andy:


At this point, the whole 'I'm being licked by dogs' thing was getting a little old. Moose, though, was definitely the most sincere licker. I felt that he truly loved me and would have protected me from whatever threats might have come my way.


I was very excited to go with my Lala out to the garden, where she bravely picked tomatoes and a big cucumber, which she let me hold!



Don't ask:



Saying goodbye to Jimmy and hello to Earlene.


And, my very first crawl with Leslie in the Attic Gallery! Then I threw up on the $600 rug. Whoops!


It was non-stop action! I posed for a picture with Virginia before heading out for a coffee party in my honor. I love VIrginia!


I really turned on the charm at the coffee party!


Then I insisted that my parents and Aunt Kate take me to New Orleans. Unfortunately, they made me go to bed when we got there, but they went out with Meg and whooped it up somewhat. In the world of my parents, staying out until midnight is whooping it up.


I only hope that someone will someday convince me to take a picture as cool as this one of my Dad and Aunt Kate.


In New Orleans I finally got to meet Elly! I also met Vader and Yoda, who were the most enthusiastic lickers of all the dogs who licked me.



Other important things were being accomplished, too. My first visit to Johnny's po-boys, for instance:




Don't get between Aunt Kate and the fries.


It was a fun, but brief trip to NOLA with the extended but scenic version of the drive home at the end. Then it was back to Houston for a couple of more days before we headed back to London. One last meal with Aunt Mendy!


I love my family!