Guys, I'm so looking forward to this weekend - I'm going to Brighton! But I'm slightly fearful of how I'm getting there: The Irishman and I are participating in the London-Brighton bike ride.
70 miles. On my bike. Which is sort of falling apart. Eeps!
If you have any tips of things to do in Brighton once (if) I make it there, let me know!
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Get thee to the Barbican
I had a special treat on Friday when one of my colleagues took me and my team to The Barbican for lunch. For non-Londoners, The Barbican is a 1960s-era housing complex in between Clerkenwell and The City. It's regarded as one of the UK's most successful urban communities, and a testament to poured concrete architecture, but it's also damn ugly. I've walked, run, rode, driven past it thousands of times and vaguely thought about how there is a cinema and theatre inside, but ended up reestablishing just how cold and forbidding it looks. So when a colleague suggested our team head over there to get lunch and see an exhibit, I was curious as to what just lay inside the imposing towers.
Well! The Barbican is totally worth the inevitability that you will get lost while wandering through its lanes. It is a massive housing complex that has a cultural center inside, with art galleries, cinema, theatre, restaurants, bars, and just really cool spaces. There is a man-made lake with a terrace where you can sit and gaze on St Giles church. The whole experience reminded me of the old Tomorrow Land in Disney World, but with a much better end result.
And the exhibit? Totally awesome. John Bock is mental - I loved his creation of pod living spaces and a transportable home that takes the Clampetts overburdened vehicle to the next imaginary level. His attention to detail in decorating his living spaces and fashioning living basics made the whole exhibit more of anthropological extrapolation than a work of art, though he apparently enters his pods at certain points in the day and interacts with the audience which I would love to see.
So if you find yourself in The City and fancy a cup of coffee and some culture, wander to the Barbican. I guarantee that you'll find it both amazing and (literally) impossible to escape.
Well! The Barbican is totally worth the inevitability that you will get lost while wandering through its lanes. It is a massive housing complex that has a cultural center inside, with art galleries, cinema, theatre, restaurants, bars, and just really cool spaces. There is a man-made lake with a terrace where you can sit and gaze on St Giles church. The whole experience reminded me of the old Tomorrow Land in Disney World, but with a much better end result.
And the exhibit? Totally awesome. John Bock is mental - I loved his creation of pod living spaces and a transportable home that takes the Clampetts overburdened vehicle to the next imaginary level. His attention to detail in decorating his living spaces and fashioning living basics made the whole exhibit more of anthropological extrapolation than a work of art, though he apparently enters his pods at certain points in the day and interacts with the audience which I would love to see.
So if you find yourself in The City and fancy a cup of coffee and some culture, wander to the Barbican. I guarantee that you'll find it both amazing and (literally) impossible to escape.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
London to live, New York to love - BloodyBrill on Little London Observationist
If you fancy, hop on over to Little London Observationist. Stephanie's got a great thing going, reviewing and commenting on London life and its lovely quirks. She also interviews a Londoner weekly, and your truly is that Londoner this week! Check out my interview on her blog, and give her a read - you won't be sorry.
World Cup Fever
I've surfaced from a week of absolute insanity at work (my timesheet recorded 71 hours of work since last Sunday... and a standard work week is 37.5... ouch!) to quelle excitement! The World Cup has begun - my office looks like the a mini version of the United Nations, as colleagues hang their home country flags above their desks!
I sort of love the World Cup. As an American, I hadn't really known about it until my summer abroad in Italy when the entire country shut down for every Italian match. That was 2002, when the US beat Germany unexpectedly to advance to the quarter finals. In 2006, my Dutch friend and I slipped out of the office to watch the Netherlands games in NYC dive bars at odd hours - like 10am - and this year I've downloaded a World Cup app for my iPhone and I will be watching all of the American matches proudly.
I watched Uruguay v France in the pub last night, and I am gearing up for the big mama of games - England v USA at 19:30 GMT tonight. It will be the game to end all games, setting the tone for the rest of the tournament if we can beat England at their favourite sport. Apparently we did it the last time we met 60 years ago. I'll be wearing my Michelle Obama earrings for extra good luck!
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Give a girl a BREAK!
Seriously, guys, I need a break. I have no clean underwear, I have no cotton balls with which to remove the chipping nail polish from my manicure, my eyebrows are looking caterpillary (after my post about English beauty habits, I'm not exactly holding up my own American standards), and I'm just really pooped. Even though I enjoyed and relaxed during the long Bank Holiday weekend that just passed, now I'm trying to get five long days of work done in four. I haven't seen the Irishman in a while, and next week his MOTHER is coming for a visit "just to hang out". Can someone just put life on pause, please?
I'm also recovering from having an American friend visit for the last week-and-a-half. While on the one hand it's awesome having people over from the homeland, it's quite another when the visitor conjures up a spectre of who you used to be and you have no time to reconcile it all. Friend J. came to stay for a while, and it was lovely to catch up with him and find out all of the gossip from home. But hearing all the news and spending time with him was also disconcerting; I didn't realize just how much I had built a life here, a new life separate from the one I had in the US, until I was confronted with the evidence of that old life in the form of my friend. It was really strange - almost like I had to bridge a gap to the past to relate to him. It's not an indictment on my friend, but more of a revelation for myself of just how much I've changed and grown up.
So while I enjoyed having J. visit, now I have so much to consider - when I find the time (and energy). I'll let you know what I come up with!
I'm also recovering from having an American friend visit for the last week-and-a-half. While on the one hand it's awesome having people over from the homeland, it's quite another when the visitor conjures up a spectre of who you used to be and you have no time to reconcile it all. Friend J. came to stay for a while, and it was lovely to catch up with him and find out all of the gossip from home. But hearing all the news and spending time with him was also disconcerting; I didn't realize just how much I had built a life here, a new life separate from the one I had in the US, until I was confronted with the evidence of that old life in the form of my friend. It was really strange - almost like I had to bridge a gap to the past to relate to him. It's not an indictment on my friend, but more of a revelation for myself of just how much I've changed and grown up.
So while I enjoyed having J. visit, now I have so much to consider - when I find the time (and energy). I'll let you know what I come up with!
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Clerkenwell is the place to be
This week has been Clerkenwell Design Week, three days of open studios, events, lectures, and even live music in Clerkenwell Green! For those of you who missed last weekend's Craft Central Open House, the designers and crafters have set up tents in St John's Square selling some of their fabulous wares.
I work in Clerkenwell and consider it my home away from home. I highly recommend everyone wander its hidden alleyways and enjoy its pubs and cafes. Definitely check out the Three Kings for a really good pint, and J+A Cafe for some amazing food. And as, literally, the creative heart of London, you'll see tons of fabulous fashions and cool kids loping around.
Clerkenwell Design Week is on through tomorrow, Thursday 27 May 2010.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Global what?
There was an article published yesterday in the New York Times claiming that the UK has become a nation of non-believers when it comes to climate change. It cites some statistics regarding how critical Britons believe the global warming crisis is, and how David Cameron was strangely silent on the issue during the election. But I offer you, dear readers, another theory: the UK is having a life crisis, and the environment is only one part of it.
We've got Europe dissolving into chaos over both economic and political instability, a volcano we can't control, a flag carrier at war with its cabin crew, and one of the country's biggest company is blamed for the US's biggest environmental catastrophe. To make matters worse, the British youth are lonely. And you want the country to keep worrying about global warming?!
I'm not a global climate change doubter; I think it does exist and I think we're all just putting our heads in the collective sand, trying not to deal with it, and I think that the global economic crisis has given us all a good reason to ignore it. Singling out the British public as having changed their minds about climate change is shortsighted - they haven't changed their minds, just their priorities. Unfortunately for the Earth, there is always another calamity that strikes when we least expect it, and unless the environment is made the priority issue by a group of politicians in charge, nothing will ever change.
We've got Europe dissolving into chaos over both economic and political instability, a volcano we can't control, a flag carrier at war with its cabin crew, and one of the country's biggest company is blamed for the US's biggest environmental catastrophe. To make matters worse, the British youth are lonely. And you want the country to keep worrying about global warming?!
I'm not a global climate change doubter; I think it does exist and I think we're all just putting our heads in the collective sand, trying not to deal with it, and I think that the global economic crisis has given us all a good reason to ignore it. Singling out the British public as having changed their minds about climate change is shortsighted - they haven't changed their minds, just their priorities. Unfortunately for the Earth, there is always another calamity that strikes when we least expect it, and unless the environment is made the priority issue by a group of politicians in charge, nothing will ever change.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
SUMMER IS HERE (NSFM)
People, it is edging to 80°F today and its amazing. I'm about to head out for the first mani-pedi of the year and I can't wait. British women seem to think it's okay to wander about the streets of London in flipflops and sandals sans painted toenails, and frankly it's been weirding me out. I'm by no means disgusted by feet - actually, I think they are really interesting as shapes and I used to draw my own feet a lot in art school - but in the summer, when you've got rad new sandals on, you need to paint your toenails. At least file them, and get rid of the nasty bits around them.
This is symptomatic of a great English/American divide in beauty treatments and maintenance. I'm probably going to get a lot of comments about this, probably of the not so pleasant kind, but it's been my observation that women in the UK tend to not be as fastidious about general beauty maintenance. Which is not really a bad thing - and it's much more suited to my style and wallet. But definitely there isn't as much regular waxing, nail painting, facialing, etc. Girls here do a lot more DIY (leg waxing in particular, which stymies me), and definitely finger nail polishing, and trendy girls will always be on top of the style and beauty treatments. But older women especially just sort of go au naturel.
I can't decide how I feel about this, whether I think good for them that they don't buy into the whole "must spend a lot to look good to feel good" routine - the beauty-industrial complex - or whether these ladies are just a bit more relaxed when it comes to standards of beauty. English women are seen sometimes as the frumpier amongst Europeans, lacking the style and poise and general elegance of their Continental sisters. But there is a bit of the salt-of-the-earth, Blitz-spirit, stubborn grace about British women that is beautiful in its own right. British women aren't manufactured or plastic like the way American women can sometimes look, and it's actually sort of nice to see errant eyebrows every so often.
While I admire the way British beauty is often fresh and natural, I am still American and frankly resistant to change. I might go a bit longer between waxings here than I did in NYC, but I still moisturize everything every day and I cannot abide by summer toes showing unpolished. So excuse me, but there is an Asian nail parlor waiting for me.
PS: NSFM = Not Safe For Men.
This is symptomatic of a great English/American divide in beauty treatments and maintenance. I'm probably going to get a lot of comments about this, probably of the not so pleasant kind, but it's been my observation that women in the UK tend to not be as fastidious about general beauty maintenance. Which is not really a bad thing - and it's much more suited to my style and wallet. But definitely there isn't as much regular waxing, nail painting, facialing, etc. Girls here do a lot more DIY (leg waxing in particular, which stymies me), and definitely finger nail polishing, and trendy girls will always be on top of the style and beauty treatments. But older women especially just sort of go au naturel.
I can't decide how I feel about this, whether I think good for them that they don't buy into the whole "must spend a lot to look good to feel good" routine - the beauty-industrial complex - or whether these ladies are just a bit more relaxed when it comes to standards of beauty. English women are seen sometimes as the frumpier amongst Europeans, lacking the style and poise and general elegance of their Continental sisters. But there is a bit of the salt-of-the-earth, Blitz-spirit, stubborn grace about British women that is beautiful in its own right. British women aren't manufactured or plastic like the way American women can sometimes look, and it's actually sort of nice to see errant eyebrows every so often.
While I admire the way British beauty is often fresh and natural, I am still American and frankly resistant to change. I might go a bit longer between waxings here than I did in NYC, but I still moisturize everything every day and I cannot abide by summer toes showing unpolished. So excuse me, but there is an Asian nail parlor waiting for me.
PS: NSFM = Not Safe For Men.
Friday, May 21, 2010
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