This morning has been eventful. I got bored at about 5am, so I decided to attack the blinds in my parents' bedroom. Usually I attack my Dad's bottom, but he was facing the wrong way this morning, so I had to settle for the blinds. For some reason, my parents don't really like when I do that, so I got kicked out. In protest, I meowed outside of their door for the next two hours.
Finally, my mom let me in and I took over her side of the bed and tickled my dad with my wiskers until he woke up: Then I gave him a Swedish massage:
After a hearty breakfast, I sat next to the window and made forlorn noises. Lately my parents have been opening the window and letting me sit on the windowsill. But this morning I had a stroke of luck! The window key is mysteriously not where it's supposed to be (my mom blames my Dad. They'll never figure out that I strategically hid it so they would be forced to take more drastic action for my happiness.)Anyway, because I looked so sad at the window and because I have been systematically shredding one of the chairs in the living room, my mom let me go out in the yard all by myself and I've been out there now for a couple of hours! At first, I just sniffed around our yard a little nervously. Spike came along and tried to scare me, but I'm not really scared of other cats and just keep walking towards them. Spike ran away.
I sniffed around the next door neighbor's yard and then got cornered there by a neighbor cat named Leon. He's fluffy like me and was trying to be tough, but I wasn't really scared. We ended up chillin in my crib:
On Friday, Jim and I met at Westminster and walked around for a while. At first I couldn't find Jim. We were supposed to meet at Big Ben, but I couldn't see Big Ben anywhere. It turns out that I was standing directly beneath Big Ben, but it's so BIG that I didn't look up enough. I felt like an idiot, but it's a perfect example of life as me.
Here are a few pictures (all of me, because Jim had the camera).
With Westminster Abbey and the London Eye behind me:
Walking along the Thames:
We went to a really cool wine bar, which was in a basement area and was almost like being in a cave, then we wandered through the Leicester Square area and visited the Photographer's gallery, where there was a great/disturbing photography exhibit (I would like to take this opportunity to express how awesome it is that in London you can go to museums for free. It's such a nice thing to be able to wander in and out of museums and galleries whenever you get the whim and regardless of cost.) After that we headed to Soho, where we accidentally had dinner at a vegan restaurant. Jim took it like a champ and we enjoyed our vegan meal, although Jim made sure to eat lots of meat yesterday to make up for it. Everyone in the restaurant looked very healthy and fit and were riding their bikes and knew each other. We felt a little like imposters and like we were oozing dairy products and meat toxins through our skin.
Finally, we randomly stopped into a vintage clothing store, where I bought some vintage cowboy boots, which I LOVE and got lots of compliments on when I wore them out last night. Jim also tried on some really cool vintage cowboy boots, but they were too small, alas. I think it's funny that now that we aren't living in Texas, we want cowboy boots. They are more interesting when everyone else isn't wearing them.
Of course our weekend wouldn't be complete without spending some time with Meg and Dan (what will we do if they leave!? We can't think about it.) Last night we gathered up Aurelie as well and all headed out for Margaritas and Mexican food, which really was tasty and really was like Mexican food! I forgot to take pictures of the actual meal, but did get some good ones of everyone holding everyone else in Chinese (or I guess, Mexican) handcuffs after dinner.
Aurelie had Jim in a tight grip: Handcuff war: Vladamir stopped by for a little while. He looked like he was a little stressed. But then Dan returned and all was well and everyone was happy. Good times!
Sadly, the day after the wig party I had to work and, as I mentioned previously, Jim was suffering from post-wig party syndrome, but by SUnday we managed to muster enough energy to take a walk in Hampstead Heath. The best part was that we ran into Meg and Dan on our way. Unfortunately, they were going in the opposite direction and to another part of London, but it was still fun to run into our dear friends.
Hampstead Heath was muddy because it's been raining a lot lately. JIm was concerned about the condition his pants would be in so he took some extra precautions. Nice socks! It was a typical grey and rainy day in London, so we came home and got into comfy mode. FInchley was in his fort: Jim was in his Texas A&M sweatshirt: And there is no photographic evidence of my existence that day, so you'll have to take my word for it.
I have been slacking a lot on keeping the blog up, so I'm a little behind on our life happenings. Last weekend we went to a WIG PARTY, hosted by our friend Richard (also my co-worker). It was our first truly English party (as in we were the only Americans there and we knew no one except for Richard and everyone kept saying things like, "Nice American accent.") and we had a blast.
I was a little boring and got a standard light purple wig, but Jim went out on a limb a little bit and went for the 80's frosted tipped look:
Richard wore a mullet in the style of Elvis crossed with REO Speedwagon:
Goldielocks, David Bowie, post electric socket, and Marge Simpson were there:
My looks are greatly improved when there is pink hair covering my face (I'm sure some of the bloggers out there who hate me would agree, but I have set the blog so they can't leave their nasty comments. MUHAH HAH HAH HAH! And yes, I'm still bitter.)
Jim wasn't feeling so great after the party. I blame this.
It's always more fun to call a cab when you have a wig to dance with.
ANd it doesn't matter if it's raining when you have a chance to pose as an 80's pop star.
This weekend, Jim and I went on a nice walk in the SUNSHINE (rare lately) and in the country! We took the train to a place called Amberley and then walked about ten miles to the next town, Arundel, where we spent the night in an old hotel next to a castle.
WARNING: My hair is going through a very, very bad time right now. It's really not a mullet, but it does look like one sometimes.
The walk started out with a lot of hay, a huge pile of manure, and some peaceful cows.
We also spent some time watching some gliders being taken up and then let go to sail across the sky above the fields and hills, which Jim thought was very exciting and cool and I thought was frightening.
We could see the sea on the horizon and the sunshine was wonderful. The clouds made patterns on the hills and the colors were incredible.We still haven't gotten used to how green England always is. Even the birds were feeling extra chirpy. When Jim asked me what kinds of birds they were, I replied, "Twittering birds!" at which point he began this interpretive dance. Sadly, I held the camera sideways and because I have it set on low res for easier blog posting, the quality isn't the greatest, but you can see his passion...sideways.
After the dance, we made our way to a small village called Burpham, where we continued our most mature behaviour: It was the quintessential "quaint village" with thatched roofs and red phone boxes.... and a gastropub, which provided us with more opportunities for immature behaviour:
The unfortunately named dessert, Spotted Dick, is actually a sponge cake with raisins in it. We didn't get that, but we did get the Sticky pudding with toffee which was PURE EVIL. It was seriously delicious.
Here I am upon feasting my eyes on the sticky pudding. ANd JIm, post pudding consumption:
Despite our immaturity, we had a great conversation with two very nice English ladies who were delighted that we love England so much.
And the walk wasn't all about stuffing our faces.
After our large lunch, we made it to a river, which we followed all the way to Arundel: It was at this point that my hair started doing really strange things.
It was pretty marshy and there were lots of swans hanging out in a field. The Arundel castle loomed large in the distance!
Arundel was lined with boats: Jim in the morning in our hotel room, which was in an old building that is an abutment to the castle: Outside of the castle: And a really old and cool little cottage: We took a walk around the Castle's lake, which was full of everpresent seagulls, but also some very cute coots (also everpresent, but not as offensive) and some sweet ducks. The trail didn't seem like England. Eventually we had to go back home, so we headed to the trainstation, where we had to wait for half an hour in the cold. At least the sun was shining and I had something to read! They were doing "planned engineering" on our route back home, so we were diverted to the town of Crawley--home of ROBERT SMITH and the rest of the original CURE. Jim was very excited. Crawley is the pits from what we can tell. On the train, I used my downtime to turn Jim blue.... ...green.... And black and white except for his red sleeves. It was a fruitful trip home.
Another fun weekend is coming to a close. I'm still in my PJs and it's noon on a Sunday...wishing that by denying that the day is going past, it might actually make the weekend longer. Here are the highlights from this weekend:
Finchley got to sit in the window overlooking our garden. This was so exciting that he trembled with antici......PATION. Plus there was a squirrel hanging around.
Jim ran up to the top of Primrose Hill--not an easy feat!
Then he posed next to a Banksy in Camden:
We bought wigs for a wig party and then later we headed over to Meg and Dan's house for a gourmet style dinner and good times.
Meg is such a good cook! She made shrimp rissoto and yummy salad. I made dessert--a questionable apple upside down cake, which was OK but not that great. I chucked the leftovers as soon as we got home. The guys provided entertainment:
Meg, Dan and the pepper:
Happy, happy...
Dan washing dishes:
Jim...the blur:
And then after dinner....we played GUITAR HERO! Meg is not such a big fan:
Jim and Dan have all the right moves:
I'm not very good, but it was a lot of fun!
We might have to get one of those....although judging from the video below (which I finally figured out how to post!) I'll need a lot of practice. All the wrong notes are me.
