Jackie and Piotrek come to visit!

Last Christmas, Jim and I got on the plane to fly back to London and lo and behold there was our friend Jackie, who, it turns out, lives in Manchester (we had been out of touch, obviously). Since then we have talked about getting together and finally it happened! Jackie and her new fiancee, Piotrek came for a visit!

One of the first things we did was go to the Hampstead crepe stand and get many, many crepes. So excited were they about the crepes, that Jackie and Piotrek got TWO each: one sweet and one 'savoury' (that's how they refer to 'not sweet' here in England). They then challenged us to visit the crepe stand frequently, sample all the crepe variations, and let them know which ones were the very best. Great plan!

Here's Jackie with an abundance of crepes:

And everyone enjoying their crepes AND the beautiful weather we were having this weekend:


With full bellies, we headed up the high street and made our way to Hampstead Heath for a leisurely (VERY leisurely because we were feeling slightly heavier than we felt before) walk through the park.


This walk was right up Jim's alley because not only were we going at a leisurely pace, but we also stopped and lazed around in a vast field. While in the field, we also attracted about four dogs, which was kind of funny. We must have smelled nice or something because the dogs were drawn to us.


We swung by the Kenwood House. (Breakthrough! I know how to get there without getting hopelessly lost now!) And then we headed to the Spaniards Inn to have some afternoon refreshments:


After a rest and some more digesting, Piotrek and Jackie took us to South Kensington for our first experience of Polish food. It was very dense and my favorite part was dessert: Apple Streudle! (with ice cream) It was a very food filled day.

We love friends visiting!

Growth

That was then (July, 4 months):


This is now (October, 7 months):


Whoah. Nice hair.

This is not photoshopped

This weekend, our friends Jackie and Piotrek were here and Jackie is allergic to cats, so the kitties had to spend the weekend camped out in the conservatory. In the process, they appear to have bonded because, for the first time ever we found them like this:

Jim sings

This is why I love Jim so much. Not only does he wash the dishes, but he also provides ample entertainment while doing so.

OMD

On Tuesday night, Jim and I got our 80's on and went to the Roundhouse Theatre for OMD (Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark, for those of you not in the know). It was an experience!

First I have to describe the crowd: let's just say that Jim and I, at the not so young ages of 33 and 31 respectively (I'm the younger one, just in case anyone was wondering), were considerably younger than most of the people there. But, despite our 'youth' we were pretty lame compared to everyone else. People were dancing (80's style, of course) and singing and cheering and screaming and knew all the words to all the songs--true fans. There was a little bit of a fashion faux pas on stage (Men who are almost 50 and do not have the physique of Mick Jagger should stay far, far away from skinny jeans) but the lights were really cool, the band sounded just like the old days and the 80's dance moves were spectacular. Unfortunately we didn't do any video-taking and I can't describe in words what said moves looked like, but it was....so so 80's/robot/something. I would definitely go to OMD again! They're fun!

stowaway

Yes, more cat blogging, but it really is hard to avoid it when there are cute cats doing cute things all the time around here. Tonight Jim found Jack snuggled up in my backpack, ready to go to the gym (or wherever the pack may take him). Maybe he's wishing he was traveling around the world with his beloved Meg and Dan.

Horses

I woke up this morning, tired and groggy after the OMD concert last night (that's a whole other blog, which I'll wait to post until Jim sends me the pictures he took) and not feeling like going to work. But as I trudged down the hill, I heard the unmistakable sound of 35 horses coming up behind me and, for once, I was prepared with a camera to capture the moment. There is nothing like seeing a large number of horses, in formation, clopping down a busy London street and it always improves my spirits. The thing that's really special about it is that it doesn't seem to happen at the same time every week (although maybe it's me that doesn't happen at the same time every week), so it's always a magical and unexpected experience.