city traffic puzzle.

last week i got a little visitor called rondi. aka my sister. i had a week off school and she decided to come hang out!


We had a blast. I played tour guide barbie and tried to show her all the good sights of London. We walked through every room of the national gallery, went to the imperial war museum and tate modern. we saw jersey boys and les mis. we went to paris. we ate lots of yummy food. we dealt with a series of internet issues. we stayed in a small but comfortable hotel room. and just had a good time!


it was fun to have some family over here but i definitely missed everyone else! 


peace.love.london.

cross me off your list.

today i was going through my blog and found a few old posts that i had composed but never published. see my problem is this: i love lists. i make lists every day about any sort of thing. lists are my thing. my issue with lists is that they are never finished. they are always open for more thing to be added to them. so i write these blogs but can't seem to post them because i feel like i could add more. 

but enough with that. here are some old random list blogs. and a little part of my brain.

enjoy.

the hardest part.

i saw this snail the other day and it reminded me of home. ((i promise thats not weird if you've ever walked up my front steps.)) so i thought i would take some time to talk about the things i miss from home. even though i live in a dream land, provo just has something nowhere else has. and it isn't just a bunch of mormons.


diet dew. the barely carbonated diet coke here just doesn't quite quench my thirst. somebody send me a big gulp.


making treats. chocolate chip cookies, raspberry cakemix bars, no bakes, hash, muddy buddies...i haven't used an oven or stove in months.


provo canyon in the fall. hikes up bridal view, bon fires, drives to park city. anything and everything dealing with the colorful, crunchy leaves of my hometown.


a good provo dance. i know right? when you have at least three of these every weekend they get old, but when you live thousands of miles away you crave a little 80's or neon or any other random bash they usually put on. shake it.


couches. we just don't have any couches here and you know, you need a little couch time every now and then. call me a couch potato.


television. okay i know, call me a couch potato again, but i love my shows. gossip girl, one tree hill, desperate housewives and grey's anatomy are the best things. waiting them to stream on the internet for hours just doesn't cut it for me. i love sunday, monday and thursday night rituals. and i don't care how pathetic that makes me sound.


a desk. unfortunately my bed just doesn't quite cut it for a studying space. i could use some drawers, i don't know, maybe a hard surface to do my homework on. 


i love ptown. and i love london town. good thing i get to live both places.

uppers aren't necessary.

i love this picture of my sister, niece and I. i was looking at the the other day and noticed how happy we all look. it got me thinking about what makes me happy. so here is a little list. sure, i'm a little list obsessive. but it happens. so deal.

I LOVE....
my nieces and nephews. nothing beats a good squeeze and snuggle from those little kids. and i really mean nothing. i miss them more than anything when they are far away.

hugs. someone once told me you need to be hugged 7 times a day to be healthy. pretty sure i need 70.

clean laundry. when i look around my room and realize that the only dirty clothes i own are the ones on my back. even if it takes me a few days to do all the loads.

long talks on long drives or long walks. if you are interesting i could talk to you and listen all day if we had the time.

reunions. goodbyes are my greatest weakness, nothing like its counter part to light up my days.

letters. nothing like that little envelope with your name on it to make your day. especially if it is someone far away. 


fall. crunchy leaves beneath your feet, sweaters, boots, scarves, fires, halloween, provo canyon and all the colors. i love fall.


the feeling right after you get done brushing your teeth. super clean and minty fresh. yummy.


singing and dancing around my house with my sisters. completely obnoxious but absolutely entertaining.


that point late at night when you can't stop laughing and you don't know why. 


hope you enjoyed this cheese fest.


my favorite's gouda.
:)

long ago and far away.

top ten semi-embarrassing facts about my childhood.

1. i used to have a pet taquito. aka an old wrapping paper roll tied to a string. and sometimes it even had kids (toilet paper rolls obviously)

2. ella bella and kuja were my imaginary friends. kuja lived in the orthodontists office and ella bella was killed by playing tackle volleyball. they had a good life and they were the best friends around.

3. sometimes when i was really mad at my brother or parents i would climb out my window and run away to the gazebo in my backyard. i always liked the idea of running away but never had anywhere else to go.

4. i was a total collector of all things girly. ty pets, melanie's mall, polly pockets (the old really small kind), barbies, the american girl doll molly, and all the accessories to go with each of these things. however, i totally loved my brothers G.I. Joe men and toy cars. and i always wanted one of those nascar tracks.

5. i sometimes faked sick because i was afraid the school would catch on fire.

6. at one time i was completely and utterly in love with justin timberlake, jc chazez, nick carter, and brian littrell. okay, lets be real...i still am.

7. i loved watching disney channel cartoons in the mornings even when i was much older than socially acceptable. and you know, i still enjoy me some wizards, hannah, and suite life on deck. don't judge me.

8. my one true dream was the build a snow fort and play in it like the one on the movie snow day. it never seemed to snow enough to quite fulfill my wish.

9. i could have played crash bandicoot all night every night and been happy about it. and okay, sometimes i did.

10. i used to climb up the sides of my hallway so much the walls were dirty. oh to be that small and flexible again.

holiday from real.

It's been one year since i've seen most of these handsome faces. 

Here's a shout out to the best guy friends us girls could ask for. How many people can say their best friends are in Long Beach, Zimbabwe, the Marshall Islands, Kenya and Colombia? Okay fine, i guess a lot of mormons can...but whatever. 

love these boys. miss them. 

one more year!

rock my body.

Yesterday we went ventured out of the city to see our favorite rock stars.... stonehenge! i know, punny right? (thats okay, at the gift shop at the site every souvenir said "stonehenge rocks" on it. creative.) anyway, stonehenge. different than i thought it would be but still really awesome. stonehenge. this is what i think about when i think of england. i can't believe i live in the same country as this stuff. 


Then we drove a ways to Stourhead. This was a lovely estate and garden. Part of it (the temple of apollo and surrounding elements) was in the recent version of P&P. However, since it was under construction we didn't get to see it. the rest of the place was gorgeous though. i hate all these rich people and their lavish estates and a "backyard" everyone dreams of.


After that we went to Bath, my favorite place of the day. First we took a tour of the Roman Baths, the original day spa. Glad to see the conquerers were into beauty and pampering. I always knew I loved the Romans. If it weren't for the algae i might have plunged into Britain's finest hot pots. The town of bath was so wonderful. I loved the roman architecture. I'll be real though, that wasn't the only beautiful thing there. All in all, I haven't seen one attractive male in London besides Chris Martin on the stage in front of me. But in Bath, i was not disappointed. not at all. Not that I wanted to take off and date any of them or anything... But when you live with forty girls it is nice to see some attractive members of the opposite sex every now and then. so thank you bath.


all around we had a really great day trip. it's nice to take a break from the city.

cardigan weather.

i feel the need to give a shout out to london and the amazing weather it has given us so far. this tuesday a couple of the girls and i spent the afternoon in regent's park. it was a perfect day. the sun was shining, the sky was blue and the leaves were just starting to fall off the trees. talk about picturesque.

and of course to make this day even better megan and i stopped for cokes in queen mary's garden. they were so fancy they even have us our drinks in the classic coke bottles. 


sun is in the sky oh why oh why would i want to be anywhere else...

can't get it out of my head.

i'm realizing i haven't updated this baby enough in the past month and I apologize for the five of you that actually read this. But since most of you are my family and actually care about what i am doing in this city, i guess i should fill you in.

after ireland, we decided we needed to get straight back into london's true culture and went to a football game. true european ((f-u-t-b-o-l)). no pads, no helmets...just balls. or so says simple plan. we saw Fulham FC vs. FC Bersal. We cheered for our very own Fulham. however, i may or may not have had a crush on swiss midfielder (valentin stocker) and found myself internally rooting for the other team. in the end, my london side prevailed one-zero but i still found my heart in switzerland. overall it was a successful night and for the first time in a long time us girls were heavily outnumbered by men, and the usage of effwords.

a few days later we traveled to the hometown of a little poet called william shakespeare. stratford upon avon. we first happened upon his mother Mary Arden's farm. then we ventured to a farmhouse in shottery to see where anne hathaway lived in her youth... previous to her role in princess diaries. okay fine, wrong girl, same name. in reality she was Shakespeare's shotgun wife and bearer of his three children and her house was real small but lovely. then we went to the birthplace of the great poet. it began with an almost disneyland like attraction and ended with an almost accurate recitation of a sonnet. we ended our day in the town on the river by viewing winter's tale at the courtyard theater. 

when we got home from stratford upon avon, i found a letter addressed to me on my bed. as i opened it, i learned i was a witch and was enrolled in a school called hogwarts. good thing i was in london and just a short tube ride away from kings cross to take platform 9 & 3/4. after that all my dreams came true. seriously can i tell you again how much it pleases me to live in the birthplace of my favorite wizard.

after that we decided we needed a good snog. and so we went and got frozen yogurt. make sense? think spoon me meets britain. it was DELICIOUS! but definitely over priced. don't be surprised if i fill up a whole punch card while i am here though. yummy.


love you london.
xoxo

this is my home.

well it has been one full month since I moved to London. plus like eleven days. i can't even believe it. 
here are a few lessons i've learned so far....
1. blog stalking is trickier here. when you show up on someone's blog tracker as an ip address from the united kingdom it isn't too hard to guess who that is. hmm how many people do i know that live in the uk?? hard guess right? life was much better when it just said provo ut. 
2. i will never get over the awkwardness of people skyping right next to the toilets. every time i need to go to the bathroom i have to walk right over them. good thing their whole family/friends/boyfriends know what i am about to do. and as i exit they know what i've just done. umm hi i know we've never met but you have just gotten to know me quite quickly.
3. 40 girls equals a whole lot of hormones. way too much estrogen and no testosterone. bad news baby.
4. when they said there were mice...they meant it. we sure love our furry little roommates. yummy.
5. you can tell if someone is a native to london by the way they pass you on the street. you can also tell if someone is a native londoner by the way they act on the tube.
6. the internet never works properly when you want it to. which is always. so never. make sense? neither does british technology. thank goodness for mcdonald's and their free wifi. 
(number 6 part B) you can also tell what time of day it is by how well the internet is working.
7. The amount of food 40 girls consume in one day is kind of ridiculous. life is different without the men around. very different.
8. cockney rhyming slang just might be the best nonsense made up language on the planet. 
9. i feel perfectly fine about the fact that i may or may not be listening to christmas music at this very moment. its never too early. 
10. they don't mess around about the rain here. this is no drizzle. this is running through the sprinklers at nielsens grove, fully clothed, in the middle of winter, for the entire day. oh baby when it rains it pours. and that statement has never been more true.


london will steal your heart whether you like it or not. so watch out.

if i ever leave this world alive.

last week courtney, kristin and i decided to take off to ireland for a couple days. we didn't have school and tickets were cheap so we made the arrangements and we were off. we spent the first day in dublin. we visited trinity college, st. patricks cathedral and a whole bunch of other great places. After realizing that Dublin is the most fun if you are drunk, we decided to spend the next day in the country. 

We woke up early and headed to a small little town called Enniskerry. In Enniskerry is the estate and gardens of Powerscourt. If you have ever seen The Count of Monte Cristo you would recognize this as the place where he lands his hot air balloon. It was an amazing house and garden. We spent a lot of time just sitting in the gardens and enjoying the beautiful Irish scenery. Ireland is just as gorgeous as you always thought it was. 

Plus they LOVE me there...

greener with the scenery.

alright alright, its time to play catch up. lets start with my week long trip up to the north of England. warning: this is a long one.

Day One: Our first day was spent in York... home of the peppermint patty. okay maybe not. but regardless it was beautiful. we first visited the bronte home to see where charlotte, emily and anne wrote some masterpieces. among the literary treasures we happened upon some of the costuming for the upcoming wuthering heights film. hello, chuck bass will be wearing those clothes. yummy. then we went over to York Minster, which is a gothic cathedral for the church of england.

We also saw the place where the master in explosives himself guy fawkes was born. i'll always remember the fifth of november. and we saw this little road called shambles. shambles is a street with buildings dating back to the fourteenth century. the buildings overhang the street and it truly looks like it would have back then.

Day Two: After waking up in our hostel we headed back onto our coach and drove to the most beautiful place called Fountains Abbey. This was a gorgeous landscape with an old gothic cathedral ruin right in the middle. 

Day Three: And so begins the Lake District. Truth: this is the place Jane Austen's Elizabeth Bennett dreams of traveling to before she goes with her aunt and uncle. I don't blame her one bit. This place was gorgeous. We spent a lot of time driving through the country side with our lovely coach driver tony. truth be told, when the ride finally ended we all were about to throw up or urinate on tony. nevertheless, when our bladders were empty and the car sickness had gone away we were still glad to be in this beautiful place. even if we'd seen enough sheep and stone walls to last us a lifetime.

We also went to Beatrix Potter's house on this day. After taking a ferry across the lake and a bus up a big hill we made it. Thanks to Jaelyn and Papa Evans and their Mary Poppins bag full of treats we didn't starve. However, we may have froze to death. Special bonus: we got to see Peter Rabbit himself at Beatrix Potter's home. what a cutie. 

Day Four: The second to last day of our trip was a day full of church tours. We started off in Preston where our guide showed us various sites important to the first missionaries in Britain. We saw where they first taught the gospel and where the first baptisms took place. And we stepped around a very inebriated woman on the street. Then we headed to Chorley where we walked around the Preston Temple and the MTC and may or may not have accidentally broken in to the church next-door.

That night we learned just what the British movie ratings mean when we attempted watching our first movie in England. Lets just say 15A isn't "basically America's PG-13". We learned that the hard way. Thank you nude Dorian Gray. 

Day Five: None of us had a problem waking up in Liverpool and not just because it was our last day of traveling. We began the morning at Albert Docks. As we stood along the docks we talked about the nine million people that had immigrated to America from that very place. Among the nine million were very many latter day saints, and some of my relatives. As we remembered these brave people we sung "Come, Come Ye Saints." It was pretty special. 

Then we went to pay tribute to Liverpool's four favorite men... the Beatles. We went to the Beatles museum where we were told their story and saw many relics from their history. 

The last stop on our tour of the north was Chatsworth. Many of you may recognize this as Mr. Darcy's Pemberly in the most recent version of Pride and Prejudice, or as Georgina Cavendish's manor in The Dutchess (both are Keira Knightly films) This place is basically a huge gorgeous manor and gardens on some 30,000 acres. 

After Chatsworth, it was time to head home. We suffered through another looooong ride on the coach and were so pleased to be back at the TLC, BLC, PC...whatever you choose to call it...it is home. 

and it feels good to be back.