Boring weekend

Jim had a fantastic skiing trip last weekend, but unfortunately came back with no pictures due to a slight technical malfunction involving losing the camera somewhere in the snow, somewhere on some mountain in the Alps. So, I am forced to blog about our not super exciting weekend here in London instead.

The first major accomplishment of the weekend is that we got me a new camera to replace the one that is still off skiing. Then we headed for a morning walk in Hampstead Heath. It was foggy!




After a long nap, Evie drooled all over Jim's ipod.


Then the real fun started because Jim and I had a DATE! We headed off to a restaurant called Dans le Noir? All of the wait staff at the restaurant were blind and we ate our meals in the dark with the idea that not being able to see would heighten our awareness of the food and our other senses. Our ears certainly were aware of the people who were seated next to us. Apparently not being able to see made them feel that they should compensate by screaming across the table. But once they left and we could hear each other again, it was fun to talk about the experiences we were having trying to eat our food (with our hands, a lot, and not with knives) and attempting to identify what exactly we were eating (mostly we got it completely wrong). It was a relief to find out that I still like to hang out with Jim, even when I can't see him! Here are a couple of pictures from before dinner, since obviously we couldn't take pictures in the dark room.



Another cold and dreary Sunday, but we dragged ourselves out onto the town for some window shopping and a visit to the National Portrait Gallery. Evie walked.

And then gazed longingly at the balloons in the local toyshop. We are aware that we're going to have to start walking on the other side of the street once she can vocalize her toy store desires.



We saw Mary when we were waiting for the tube and Evie got some hugs:


She was very grown up and walked along without her buggy while we waited for the train. AND she was very responsible and held my hand without any protests or theatrics. She has been known to sit down in protest in the past, but I think she knows when I mean business about the hand holding.
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Riding on the tube in her own seat would have been exciting if she hadn't seen a friend eating a snack across from her. So, that distracted her a little from the experience and we had to pull out the emergency granola bar.



On Tottenham Court Road, we perused the electronics stores in search of a replacement cable for our external hard drive (they don't make them anymore) and then for a new external hard drive (TOO EXPENSIVE!). We wandered towards Regents Street for some window shopping. En route, we stumbled into Liberty, which is a famous London Department store I had heard of in my sewing class, but never visited. They are known for their prints and lots of seamstresses go there to get beautiful fabric for dress making and beyond. Besides that, they have beautiful designer bags, clothing, jewelry and fun gifts (most very out of our price range, but fun to look at) and the building, with its wood floors, exposed beams, large windows and nice lighting was a pleasure in itself. We enjoyed wandering around.



Back at home, we decided to do some headstands.





Impressive, I know. We're thinking of starting a circus once we have Finchley trained. Hopefully we'll have an early spring because I need some better blog material in the form of country walks or sunny days in warmer climates!

Swimming in Letters

Metamorphosis

In the past year, Evie has gone from being a baby to being a toddler. Jim and I have moved on from freewheeling, carefree coupledom to doting parents. I spend my days slouching around in food covered jeans and tee-shirts. Our Friday nights are dominated by take out foods and, these days, watching Big Love on DVD. We are happier than we have ever been.

On Saturday, Evie had her first taste of independence when we let her walk up the high street with us. She was so proud and so happy, stopping to look into every store window and causing everyone who passed us to exclaim over her cuteness.


Even the Gap was a whole lot more interesting when Evie was out of her stroller. Her usual reaction to going to the Gap or any other store is to put on a look of pure boredom and, after approximately five minutes, to start yelling so that everyone knows just how bored she actually is.


Jim was one proud Daddy.


Ducking through a Hampstead alley. You probably had to be there to really appreciate how monumental this event was. We all had a blast! If we are this proud when Evie just walks up the street, what's going to happen when she gets through all of her other life accomplishments!?


On Saturday night we were invited to a birthday party for our friend and former neighbor Phil. Phil, Julie, Maddy and Joe have been great friends since we all lived next door to each other in our first London flat, so we were excited to go and celebrate with them. Perhaps you don't recognize the woman in this picture. Believe it or not, it's the same one who was walking up the high street in her puffy jacket and ponytailed hair. When given the opportunity, I still clean up pretty well. Jim spends most of his time looking respectable since he has a job. From Mom and Dad to Party People....we headed out!


Name dropping is really not my style, but Phil is in the music industry and is good friends with none other than Bryan Adams, who, to everyone's surprise didn't just attend the party, but also got up to jam with the band. To his right is our friend Dave, another great musician, and the Dad of Evie's friends Marilyn and Christina. Everyone was having a great time and we were all a little star struck by Bryan Adams, I think. (Jim and I were at least)


Joe was busy learning important life skills from the bartender. Here he makes a delicious and nutritious mojito.


Claire, Claire (Christina and Marilyn's mom) and Maddy, who was very embarrassed by our dancing. And Joe said my dancing looked like I was about to go streaking. HAH! Nothing like teenage honesty to make you feel old and uncoordinated. I warned them that when Evie is a teenager, she's going to think that they are big dorks, too. What goes around comes around!


Phil was serenaded by Bryan and the jumped in and played/sang some of his own songs. He has several well known songs and a few recent number one hits here in the UK. It was fun to hear him singing them instead of the usual pop starlets.



Birthday cupcake extravaganza. YUM.


The lovely Julie was serenaded as well, as being "just too good to be true." Very sweet. Unfortunately the pictures that Jim took are ones that I know would not have Julie's approval, but I can vouch for the fact that she looked beautiful in a purple dress and was the picture of a glowing hostess. She planned a great party!

Cool times with Joe:

Learning to dance like a club kid. This is some karate chop move. We also learned 'milk the cow' and 'milk the bull' (use your imagination). I demonstrated my best 'cabbage patch kid,' 'stir the soup' and 'sprinkler.'


Oh what a fun night it was! And how painful was the next day, as we morphed back into Jim and Claire, parents, starting at 6:30 am. But it was worth it.

The right way to celebrate

I firmly believe that one should begin celebrating one's birthday as early as possible (at the very least you should start a week early!) and continue the celebrations as long as you possibly can. In that spirit, we continued to celebrate Evie's first birthday after her fabulous birthday party at Talacre ended.

We kicked things off again on Evie's birthday-eve, by having an extended hang out with her friend Oliver, which ended with a fun bath. Oliver's bathtub is much bigger than Evie's and his bath toys rocked. There was much splashing to be done and then Evie headed home to get some beauty sleep before her big day.



We woke up on Evie's birthday morning to fresh snow. Finchley wasn't the only one excited about this!


Jim stayed home for part of the morning so that we could open presents and eat breakfast together.

Then Evie and I went for a walk in the fresh snow in Hampstead Heath. Turning 1 has increased her confidence in the 'snow walking' department and she toddled along at great speed.

Another highlight was a ladybug balloon, which she still is carrying around with her everywhere she goes.

And we had some cake and steamed milk before we went home. A couple of hours later, the cake kicked in and Evie spent the last hour of her birthday in Tasmanian Devil mode. Live and learn.


The celebrations didn't end there! On Saturday we had a celebration at home. There were colorful cupcakes:


Delicious pizza:

Dancing beauties:

Tender moments--Marilyn (aged 5 months) was chewing on Evie's head and Evie was happy to share (her head):

General confusion on Evie's part regarding the birthday candle and what to do with it:

A moment under the table:

And lots of great presents, including these warm and ruffly pjs:

It was a happy day and a happy way to end a week of celebrating our new favorite day of the year! Happy Birthday Evie!

Sledding/Sledging

After much bickering, I finally agreed to let Jim use one of my storage bins (which was holding half of my workout clothes) as a sled. This morning we met with our friends Victoria and Eddie for brunch and then sloshed up to Parliament Hill to try it out.

Eddie and Jim joined the masses, who were using all manner of things to get down the hill. I saw people using plastic bags, recycle bin tops, some sort of formica thing,which looked like a piece of something from Ikea and there were actually some old fashioned and modern sleds. Jim had major sled envy when we passed a kid on a sled with a steering wheel.


I'm not sure that the experience was as thrilling as Jim had hoped. I thought my storage bin would fly down the hill because it had wheels, but I think the wheels may have dug into the melting snow and slowed down his movement. There definitely was not fire burning behind him as he made his way down the hill. He did, though, get snow down his pants (in the British sense of the word).


Although he was embarrassed to be seen with such a ghetto sled, Eddie agreed to give it a shot. He didn't have much luck either.


Meanwhile, Victoria and I were freezing in the wind at the top of the hill. Evie was bundled up like an Eskimo and enclosed in her super sonic stroller bubble and asleep, so she missed out on all the fun (and the wind).


As we made our way out of the park, Jim decided to give it one more go. It was this fatal last sled which broke my storage container and left my workout clothes homeless. I think it was only fair to say "I told you so." I am waiting for my replacement...