I'm enjoying my new Londres world so much; I can hardly believe I've been here for (gulp) seven months already. Whew...
Let's see...How can I sum up the past 3-1/2 months in a nutshell?
Steve left for New Zealand in February. The night before his departure we had the most lovely night in the world. He treated me to a fab dinner at Quaglino's and then on to see The 39 Steps at The Criterion, which I'd wanted to see since I'd heard it was here. It was fab...He's an awesome beau!
Steve goes to NZ...
He left the next morning. I was sad. His uber-fun mom, Charmian, invited me to her house that Sunday for a roast dinner and some chat time. We giggled all throughout the afternoon, even forgetting that we'd left the crackling in the oven. Darn -- that's one of the best parts of a roast din (save for my fave Yorkshire puddings, of course!).
At about 3 p.m. that aft, Steve's dad, Greg, came by. It was time to go to celebrate Granny Cust's 88th birthday with tea and cakes at this gorgeous place right near them, Langshott Manor. It was a beautiful, 16th century manor with amazing stained glass windows and the most English of gardens. Wow.It was so incredibly kind of them to invite me and his cousin, Imogen, even said, 'Are you now replacing Steve at family gatherings? I like that...' hehe...
Nonetheless, it was still very hard to be apart for three weeks and Steve cut his trip short to return back on Valentine's Day...He'd arranged for wine and flowers to be delivered to me at work for the holiday, but he was the best present I could've gotten. Aww.
Valentine's Day
Funny story: Steve had sent me wine and flowers to work. He knows I detest roses (for reasons I won't go into here...suffice it to say, my ol' Premier coworkers sure know why). When the girls yelled for me to come into the hall, I saw a vase filled with a dozen red roses. I was absolutely floored. 'Why the heck would he send me roses? He knows I hate roses!'
A moment later, the flower guy came back with another arrangement of wild flowers with a bottle of wine -- addressed to my coworker, Vicky. 'No, no!' I yelled. 'Those are mine. I'm sure of it! They just mixed up the cards.' hehe...Yup. She did have to check with her hubby, but yup...I was right. (winks)
Anywho, we won't bother with any more about cutting the trip short...
Field trip to Horsham!
On a grey-ish, rainy-ish Saturday (I know, I know -- hard to believe in England) Steve and I hopped the train up to Horsham for a field trip with his mom. Charmian had grown up there and I'd been there once before. It's a really charming town, very English and just...super quaint. At
the risk of sounding like a total Yank girl for saying that, it truly was.We wandered 'round the village, stopping into a kitchen-y/cook shop, a cheapy shop (I love those), a few other places and of course the village pub for a coffee. Some things still just floor me...There was a place I suppose akin to a Home Depot design center only teeny-tiny and selling just pricey stoves. These Aga stoves...er, cookers are 'cast-iron, gas-fueled, enamel-glazed cooking stove that uses non-drying radiant heat to gently cook food.' These guys start at about £5k. Whoa. Seriously? Upon further inspection, it appears one can buy them in the States -- in Charlotte, in fact. Have I been missing out on these all my life?
Steve's aunt and uncle have one in their house. It was the coolest thing to see at Christmastime when I was there. Talk about feeling ol' skool English. All I needed was Tiny Tim in the corner spouting out a 'God bless us, every one!'
Anywho, we had a fab time together. Steve even was able to pick up 'sticks' for the red vase he'd bought for his kitchen. I love that: sticks. I'd say 'decorative twigs' but y'know...que sera, sera...hehe...Steve also picked up a [reallllly heavy-what's-it-made-of-iron?!] bowl to be filled with pinecones and the like.
We three giggled our way around a craft shop, too. Char thought she'd make up some picture frame/art for Steve's place like we'd seen in a mall that day. We started playing with ribbons and wires and could barely keep Steve away from the model airplane section. hehe...
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Maz's birthday
Although I'm going in non-chronological order (ahh, seems the story of my life...hehe), I must include some fun from Maz's birthday celebration 30 January.Maz had sent 'round an e-mail asking all of us for input on restaurant preferences. We all agreed that an English place, Tryst, sounded nice and was in walking distance of Maz and Jon's house.
Dinner was lovely. They sat us in the front window 'round a large table. As we inspected the menu, a few of us wrinkled our foreheads in confusion. 'Um...hon?' I whispered to Steve, 'Is "monkey gland sauce" an English thing?'
Rest assured, it's neither an English thing nor a monkey thing...heck, nor even a gland thing for that matter. It's a South African curry/spicy barbeque-like sauce for steaks. Whew. Thank goodness!
I learned a few more things that night, as I always tend to do in this country. First, that I'm um...'severely handicapped' for not liking seafood...(giggle -- thanks, Greg! hehe). Second, I learned the phrase 'suffer fools gladly,' which I must admit I've heard before...likely in a novel in my British novels 1870-1920 class in college; I don't think I've ever actually heard someone use the phrase. I like it, though... I think it's one we must bring back to our lil' everyday expressions. I think the same thing about the word 'cepaceous' too, but...
After our scrumptious dinner and vino, we went to the nearby pub to for some later-laughs, pool, and chat. Steve played both of his 'rents in billiards (his mom was thisclose to winning!). It was such a lovely time, and again, I felt so lucky to be invited...Aww. They're too kind!
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My birthday
Aww...So with my Steve back in London with me, I had a fab birthday. He, with the help of Greg, arranged for a fun-fun eve in Tooting at The Tramshed. I have to say: I have some of the most kindest, wonderfulest friends in this town ev-ah.
Kerry-Ann, although ill that night (poor lil' thing!) had sent Greg in with a yummy gift for me -- American cupcakes. Truth be told, I'm not sure what the distinction is exactly, but these were the kind with that cream cheese-y frosting rather than the sugar frosting. They were beautiful and I shared, even though I wanted to eat 'em all for myself! hehe...Mel-Jen and Chris were there, too. Mel-Jen looked positively model-esque, having had her hair all done that day. Talk about dolled-up. I think Chris hardly blinked all eve. hehe...
Maz and Jon were kind enough to make the long trip to Tooting, even though they'd just arrived home from NZ but a day or so prior...same with Tree and Sean.
Anton and Rob were there, adding to the laughs, too. We even had a few Tup regulars join, just out of coincidence. Interesting times, these are.
In any case, I felt like a lil' princess...Steve had picked up a pink balloon and a super-sweet card. Awww. It was a wonderful, wonderful birthday...until, that is, I came home and found that Star had had her own party --in the garbage. Argh.
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Trip to York
My darling Steve took me to York for my birthday. The pics probably tell the story better than I could...The pics are posted on Facebook...(giggle -- and thanks, Beth! I'm sure Steve will love that comment that he's hot. hehe...He is, isn't he? Awww... //blushes)
However, I do have to include the YouTube vid that I took. I do love how Steve and I can act like we're absolute boneheads. Whilst walking through the city, there was this awesome street band. With a rather large crowd. All around.
I talked Steve into doing a jig in the middle of the circle. Love it...
Although it's only seconds long (it was on my 2006-era camera), it kills me every time I watch it...
Watch the video.
Chartwell: Winston's home
Steve and I popped on up to hang with Char on another Saturday. She'd planned for us to go to Chartwell, the private home of Winston Churchill. It was a sunny day (albeit a bit muddy!) and the grounds were really nice.Now here are some things I never knew about Mr. Churchill:
1.) He was Prime Minister not once, but twice. Really? Who knew?
2.) He possessed a keen talent in painting, and took lessons from accomplished artists. It was his way of chillaxin'. Rock on. His canvases were really cool.
3.) That he was part of the Blenheim Palace family. I've been there. Talk about having some scratch...er, pound-a-roonies...
The house was really interesting, filled with books and art of the era. The breakfast room really took my breath away for some reason. It was filled with sunshine and opened up to a lawn. Wow. I'd liked to have dance-dance-danced across the yard after a croquet game in that place. Yeah, I suppose I got a bit carried away with my imagination.
Super funny: There was a guy near us at one point talking about the peculiarities of Americans...specifically, he'd mentioned Texans and NYers. Char and I giggled over that one...hehe...I'll just leave it at that... (winks)
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