Just after we moved, we celebrated The Wife's birthday! She very much enjoyed turning 23*. Again, she wrote about this over at her blog too, which you can read here, but I wanted to document it a little at least too.
So Julie had a birthday! And it was fun, despite all of my apparently natural inability to throw any kind of successful party. After a completely and miserably failed attempt at getting a bunch of friends and family to join us for a viewing of The Avengers after we finished moving (Her similar plan
was such an awesome post-birthday surprise for me, I thought it would be a
fun bit of turnabout, and even though it was a couple weeks early for her
actual birthday, think of how big a surprise it would have been! Alas,
'twasn't meant to be), we thought we would end up just spending her actual birthday alone together, as it were. This kind of defeat always requires a little bit of recovery time, but then after we had settled in and her actual birthday approached, we decided to risk another failure and throw a sort of birthday/housewarming event. So we did! And it turned out to be a success! Although the pictures we ended up taking don't indicate such, there were quite a few people present, and we were so glad to have some company to introduce to our new place, and to have a bunch of people with whom to share Julie's latest confectionary masterpiece:
WHAT.
Hi, Halle! Thanks for representing the guests present at this event.
Let the record show that I did offer to make her birthday cake for her, but as she has grown rather fond of (not to mention quite adept at) making cakes, she wanted to take the opportunity to try a recent discovery, the epic Chocolate Quake Cake.
As for the birthday girl and the actual day itself, I tried my hardest to lavish her with gifts and cash prizes throughout the day, but unfortunately, due in part to her birthday falling on a Sunday, and due in larger part to my own procrastination, but due in (maybe) largest part to Amazon's lackadaisical attitude toward shipping my items, her party was spread out over a few days and even a week. It didn't help that she didn't have much clear idea what she wanted for her birthday this year, which I could understand. Sometimes it's just hard to know what you want! But I tried to be creative, and I even tried to string my present ideas together with some kind of theme like The Wife did for mine in March, and it ended up being, um, things that are rectangular. Or something. HA! Works for me. A few of them were these:
This is one I came up with on my own! It was even available in pink. I'm so glad she liked it, and now doing her Pilates will be much more comfy.
This is something she hinted at strongly a few weeks earlier, and then I think she kind of forgot about it. Score another surprise for me!
So wonderful! This came as a set with a voucher for a pre-ordered copy of the DVD as well, since for some hideous reason it doesn't come out until the end of June. CDs are only slightly rectangular (in cases at least).
In the end, she seemed to have a nice birthday, and I vowed to plan a little more carefully for parties and presents and such in the future. And then we also took a fun trip to cap off the birthday weekend/week, which is coming up here on the blog as the next Thing. Happy birthday, Wife!
Now that that nasty business is out of the way, how about we bump it down with the much more pleasant news I had been writing before being interrupted? All righty then:
Last weekend we finally had our official two-year anniversary weekend celebration. It was just splendid and so nice to get away from everything for a couple of days. I tried to keep as much of it as possible a surprise from Julie, and it was a real delight to see her reactions to all the unexpected elements as the weekend went by.
We started on Friday night by recreating as best we could our one-year anniversary excursion to the Lake District in England. The Great Salt Lake is hardly Lake Windermere, but we worked with what we had! (In fact, there were several lesser substitutions throughout the weekend, but it was fun to see how we could replicate our favorite London activities somehow at least.) This started with, after a quick stop at IKEA (which is rather European, right?), grabbing some Indian take-away and taking it to The Anniversary Inn. We've been wanting to visit this lovely location for a while now, and when I saw the rooms they had available, I knew exactly which one we needed:
Roses on the bed and rose petals scattered all over the room!
A delightful dining nook on the other side of the fireplace.
Imagine her surpreeze! We stayed up late watching About a Boy and eating the nice treats the hotel provided, as well as a couple of really big surprises for The Wife (acquired by me):
Pumpkin Juice! Straight from The Wizarding World of Harry Potter! She was just amazed to see it appear in the ice bucket! Thank you, online Universal Store!
The next morning we slept in and had our delightful breakfast in bed, provided by the hotel as well (I don't know why I didn't expect a fairly fancy Bed & Breakfast to actually include breakfast in the deal, but anyway, that was a great surprise).
Ham and cheese croissant and bagel with cream cheese! 'Twere delish.
Um, good morning, bed head. It was such a wonderful arrangement that we felt it just had to be documented.
After we checked out we took a nice long while touring the other rooms in the place during their open house hours, and it's just amazing. I had to dub it the Disneyland of hotels (not to be confused with The Disneyland Hotel, though The Anniversary Inn actually had some cooler theming in some of its rooms than I've seen in certain Disney resorts). We even took advantage of their great bounce-back deal, good for any room, any night, and it never expires. Maybe we'll use it for our 20th anniversary. Or maybe we'll use it like in January or something.
I think it's so interesting that this great old building used to be a jail.
For the rest of the day we did our best to do as close to London-ish things we could find in Utah. We went to the British shop and bought some English chocolates and souvenirs, we shared a pasty and strawberry tart for lunch, we spent a few minutes in the Cathedral of the Madeleine (it's not St. Paul's or Westminster, but hey), and we went to the Utah Museum of Fine Arts (neither is this the National Gallery, but again, hey). We had a really nice, relaxing day, and even found our beloved Chow Truck outside the museum for a snack--if you haven't found the Chow Truck yet, FIND IT.
They're moving soon! It's a shame, this is just the perfect little shop, and such a great location.
Almost as good as the ones you buy in the Tube stations.
... Almost.
There was a Quinceañera going on there. It was a very fancy affair.
Their foods are little, but they are delicious.
We mostly go for the root chips, though their main features really good too.
And they did have nice big bottles of clear, cool water, shown here by Beautiful Wife.
We made short work of those foods.
We sat in the shade reading and writing a little until it was time for our delicious tapas dinner at Meditrina (a place we visited when we went to see The Lion King last year, again thanks to LivingSocial), and ended up the evening by seeing Mary Poppins at Capitol Theatre. Review in brief: It was a really fun show, a little closer to the book, somewhat different from the movie (but with a lot of the same songs). The cast was really good, and the spectacle was fantastic, and all in all I'm glad we caught it as it was touring here. One more checked off on my list of Disney stage musicals! Will I ever see Tarzan or The Little Mermaid?... Erm, probably not.
Practically perfect in every way. The lady in the back is probably pretty neat too.
We were really sad to have to come home that very night, but ward choir obligations loomed (though the traffic home loomed even higher--grrrr). Hopefully, SUREly, we'll be able to visit our beloved London again, but in the meantime, it's nice to know we can relive some of the memories wherever we are, especially since the best part of being in London was being in London together. Toodle pip!
We are over halfway through our Florida trip! It is sad. But we are making the most of every single day! There will be a lot of exciting pictures and thrilling bulleted lists of highlights in just a few days, but for now, here are a few teasers:
So just about two weeks ago, we finally packed up our things for the last time, and left our last London dwelling place and headed to the airport. Unfortunately the last few days were marked by noteworthy head-colds, first me over the weekend, and then The Wife for a couple days after just as I was getting better. It put a sort of damper on our final plans, but we still managed to see a few new museums and a kind of boring 3D IMAX movie. Highlights also included climbing approximately 528 stairs to the top of St. Paul's Cathedral (and an equal number of steps down). We couldn't quite figure out the Whispering Gallery, but the view from the top of the dome was glorious. Exploring St. Paul's may even have been in my top 3 activities of the entire trip.
But-but-but... The song! It said!
We had a quick look at Notting Hill Carnival, but saw nothing really for us there, and the next day we stood for two-plus hours in the yard at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre to see an actual Shakespearean play, The Comedy of Errors. It was another high point, it just felt like a scene out of Shakespeare in Love.
The theatre!!!
Oh, the drama!
Tickets to the standing-only Yard area were only 5 pounds! Of course then we had to deal with some vulgar German teeny-boppers who chatted the whole time, but I guess that's what happens sometimes when you stand in the commoners' section.
After Julie's last day of wrapping up her work in perfect time, we had one last dinner out with co-worker Caity and saw Abbey Road (which, to my great surprise, was within easy walking distance from our previous residence).
Love: All you need is it.
Then we had some issues with online check-in for our flight the next morning. Evidently when they switched our connecting flight back in July from Chicago to Denver, they canceled my returning flight. So, with the stress of packing and making sure our bags weren't too heavy, wondering if I was actually going to get on the flight, we felt ready to go home, but still were always aware in the back of our minds that we were actually leaving the UK. It didn't take long at check-in for them to sort out the mix-up with my ticket, and they even managed to get us seats next to each other for both flights. I read a lot of Tolkien and Julie read a little Rowling, and after a day and a night of time-traveling, we said hello to the mountains of Salt Lake City (after a minor security kerfuffle at O'Hare... bleh), had no trouble getting through customs, and just like that, we were on the other side of this London experience.
Also, since we didn't actually take a single picture of all four of us when Kent and Eliza were in town, here's one that Eliza sent me taken on her camera from our ill-fated, but ultimately successful outing to The Phantom of the Opera:
Great friends, great times!
I'm sure Julie is planning to write a little blogpost wrapping up the experience too, but here ends my "weekly" report. It was amazing! Thanks, Julie's work! (Even though they never did get us the paperwork we needed to leave the country... Disneyland Paris, one day we will visit you! I promise!)
We were amazed at the start of last week to realize that we were down to single-digit numbers of days before we left London for home. Time has been going fast, but we're making the most of our time here. Julie has done a wonderful job of summarizing all of the events of this past week, but I'm going to share one highlight here, which incidentally revolves again around the theatre.
As much as I love musical theater, there are a lot of sort of standard shows that I still just haven't seen for whatever reason. Sometimes it's just because, while I really like the show and/or the music, it's just sort of trendy at the time, and I'm not willing to stand in line for hours or pay hundreds of dollars or travel thousands of miles just to see it. So, when I discovered Wicked was playing here, I figured it would be the perfect time to see it in a permanent venue (as opposed to a touring production), and probably at much less cost and time commitment than if it were to come back through Salt Lake City. I found a really good deal on tickets online for a day that was perfect, and took great comfort in knowing that, rain or shine, the show would go on. Sure enough, it was raining as we walked into the beautifully-decorated and green-lit lobby of the Apollo Victoria Theatre.
Though I have long loved the music and the Oz origin story concept, I was fully prepared to find Wicked satisfactory at best, as most contemporary shows are a lot of hype and, ultimately, fluff. Well, Wicked was a little fluffy in parts, but I also found it thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish! Julie, who isn't quite as into any and all musicals as I am, endured this very poppy, perky musical like a champ, and we agreed that its spectacle and flash of effects and design make Phantom and Les Mis look even more dated than we had already determined. I'm not going to gush ad nauseam about the show, but I will say the following:
• The cast was excellent, and I think Rachel Tucker should have been the featured actress for Elphaba on the recording. She had me asking myself, "Idina who now?" (Fiyero struggled in parts and his voice even cracked in the love duet. Wups.)
• For some reason seeing it with an English cast made it seem a little more authentic.
• The orchestra and chorus were spot-on (and much more in tune than on the recording).
• The expected and oft-hyped effects delivered, and the unexpected effects were great illusions. I liked the dragon puppetry and Glinda traveling by bubble.
But the funniest part about the whole affair was the process of getting the tickets. So I bought them online, like I said, but due to a few negative reviews about the ticket company, I was a little anxious we would have legit tickets, so I was already a little on edge as we approached the booth in Piccadilly Circus to retrieve them. It should also be stated that I forgot to take note of my booking reference number beforehand, but I had ID aplenty. We walked up to the desk and the ever-not-so-cheerful girl behind the desk (who we had encountered before in looking for tickets to other shows) was her usual irritated self. She asked for my reference number, I explained I didn't have it, and then she asked for my ID. What followed was a series of her snottily asking me for further forms of ID (just showing it would never do, I had to take it out of my wallet and hand it to her), and signing a receipt confirming that I had picked up the tickets. She compared my signature to my two or three forms of ID in hand, then asked me to sign again (and compared again). She asked if I had another form of ID with that signature on it, and I showed her that I have my old BYU student ID, even my bloomin' Social Security Card (which has an even older signature). I mean, I could even have shown her my temple recommend if that would have satisfied her! I told her I don't know what else I could show her, I have four or five or six forms of ID here and I'm obviously me, and my signature is what it is, and really, who signs their name the same way every single time?? Also, I think my signature is actually pretty consistent. When I showed the slightest bit of resistance she finally relented and gave us the tickets, citing as her reasoning for such intense scrutiny the fact that I might have a twin who is trying to pick up the tickets.
...
Yes, really.
So, (as Julie said) just in case my Wicked-loving evil twin happened to be trying to swipe my tickets before I had a chance to collect them, she was being especially picky about verifying my identity. I guess I should thank her. Like she said, if evil-Drew were to beat me to picking up the tickets, I might have been quite upset and she would have been "the first to hear about it." Though really, if I did have a twin, I think it would be rather convenient to be able to send him ahead with my wallet to pick things up for me. If only.
So the tickets were fine, and the view was awesome, and the show was great.
This was a busy and interesting week! A couple highlights include the following:
As The Wife had never before seen Les Miserables, we were determined to see it at some point during our trip, especially considering it's currently celebrating its 25th year in production. We found a pretty good deal on tickets, and enjoyed our balcony view of (almost) the entire stage. The cool thing about seeing shows in London, as opposed to a touring cast, is that you a lot of times will see names and faces you recognize from other cast recordings (I recognized Valjean as the original Chris from Miss Saigon and Javert as the original King Triton from The Little Mermaid as well as a couple other shows). We both enjoyed it, but I think we both decided that it has its flaws. It's a little bit too much information and so many characters squeezed into three hours, which leads to less character/relationship development, especially in the second half. It also seems like if you've seen Les Mis once, you've seen it a hundred times--it's exactly how you picture it every time, and no matter where, you see it. Still, it has some very good music, and I still felt chills all over during the finale of Act II. It was also great to catch some local pho at the Vietnamese restaurant across the street.
"One." (as in "Day More")
We also had a great time over the weekend exploring Westminster Abbey (Poets' Corner!) and Oxford. We have also moved into another (our fourth and last) dwelling place. It's so deluxe! It's spacious enough to be comfortable, but small enough that we can get around and find what we need when we're on the go. And the internet connection is glorious, fast and consistent! It's very convenient for my work situation.
Dinner in our new place!
John Locke! In the Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford!
At the Bridge of Sighs. Get it? I kiss her and she sighs.
As ever, see Julie's blog for more details and facebook for plenty of pictures.
More fun things planned for our final weeks! Stay tuned!
Okay, so we did have plans to find an actual 5K for August to continue our at-least-one-5K-a-month goal for this year, but I was kind of afraid that our Saturdays are going to be rather full for the next little while, and I didn't do enough looking around, so we just decided to organize a little 5K of our own. There is still the chance that we could find one, but just in case...
We took a nice course I had mapped out and run a few mornings around nearby Regent's Park, with great views of the ZSL London Zoo and some of the park's gardens, fountains, ponds and surrounding estates. With only two participants, we were both sure to rank pretty high overall, or at least in our age groups. As it happened, Julie ended up placing first overall, with me right behind her (time approx. 30:45). It was a great outing, and we sealed the deal by having hole-in-the-bread and a bowl of cereal at home after.
(But seriously, the really funny thing here was that as we started our run, we actually did see a big group of runners in the park wearing number bibs, apparently running some kind of organized race. I kind of kicked myself the whole time that I hadn't checked around more, but then it might have been kind of expensive or maybe not even a 5K or whatever. Maybe I should have done a little more research, hmm?)
It's crazy to think that we'll be home in plenty of time for our September race!
It's Sunday afternoon, which means it's time for another blog report. As last week, The Wife has posted a more thorough report, which photos, on her blog at Hinkypunk Station. She's been going to great lengths to make sure our trip is documented regularly with photos and information for all the inquiring minds at home, and it's good to know people are reading and enjoying it (and more photos are posted on facebook as well).
This first part of this week involved a lot of moving, which led to the slightest bit of stress and lugging our impedimenta all about London, but we are now settled nicely in a semi-permanent type of temporary residence situation, house-sitting for a family we met at church last week while they are in American for three weeks (I am telling you, this is a worldwide Church... Find your local leaders wherever you are, and the Lord will provide). We are glad to have a stable situation with an excellent internet connection for work, and a great location for the girls' commute. We even have had a couple quietish evenings at home and caught up on our reading or watched tragic films (The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas... oh my).
The event I will highlight on this blog will be this:
I fed the birds.
If you look you can see me recognizing the splendour of St. Paul's in the lower left of this photo.
(See below for a better view of my reaction.)
The Little Old Bird Woman wasn't even there, and I had my tuppence and everything!
But we fed the birds anyway:
We just fed them our own crumbs from our Salt & Vinegar Twists instead. I don't know why this particular landmark seemed to have so much more of an effect on me than some others, but I really enjoyed seeing it and listening to the clock tower and having a little dinner on the steps. We didn't get to go in yet, but we'll be back again soon, I'm sure. It was also exciting to cross the nearby Millennium Bridge, as featured on the latest Harry Potter film. For more, visit The Wife's blog.
