My London Bucket List

1. National Gallery
2. Churchill War Rooms
3. Wallace Collection
4. Portobello Market
5. Oxford
6. Brighton
7. Eat, Shop, Do: sweet cafe where you can drink/ knit/ craft/ play Scrabble
8. Tate
9. Clubbing in South Kensington- Boujis, Wahiki...
   
10. ideas???
    

Things I'm loving this week

the show Happy Endings- surprisingly hilarious despite the Friends-y premise.
being able to stay inside and do jackshit when it's raining and London gross outside.
planning a trip to Istanbul and Bodrum!
reading xojane.com
my broken kindle- which gave me an excuse to buy a real life paperback book for the first time in a long time.
the pile of American magazines in our flat. A LOT has happened. wtf Scarlett and Sean?
amazing Mexican food- in Berlin.
outlets and vintage stores in random corners of London.
my haircut that makes me look like a real person again.
the realization that I can officially go back to the US whenever the hell I want now. omfg.

My favorite new bodywash and a shout out to a special friend going to Greece (finally)

One of my great life regrets is not stocking up on Korres products while I was in Greece last summer. Yes, that may be beyond a white girl problem, but let the record show that I stand by my statement, because Korres stuff is awesome and obscenely cheap in Greece. Their stuff is natural and smells gorgeous and comes in cute packaging and is a win any way you cut it. They also have some adorable backstory about a mom and pop apothecary or something but I can't be bothered to google it. However I recently 'invested' in this body wash because I needed a pick me up, and even though it's only sold at department stores here it's still less than half the price of any other body wash there. And this scent- Mint tea- is tdf. (To die for. obvi. ysfkt) I think it's supposed to be a unisex scent, in that it smells like a very fresh and sexy boy, and I love it so much. So I'm excited that my friend who is going on her seriously delayed honeymoon to Greece can STOCK UP on Korres products because they are the bomb. Plus, you're supporting the Greek economy. Win win guys.

Sometimes I'm a debbie downer

The weird thing about living somewhere 'cool' like London is dealing with other peoples' expectations for your life. I find that it makes it a million times worse when you're not having an awesome time, because then you're the downer who isn't living out other peoples' fantasies. I understand that living in London can seem glamorous for someone working an office job in the US. I know this because that's half the reason I'm here. (The other half may have to do with actually wanting to get an education in this field, but who can say at this point).

But while there are some awesome things, unfortunately (or fortunately) sometimes the place has little to do with how your life is- it's more about the people you surround yourself with, the work/school you're doing, and the million other things going on. So while there are definitely perks to being in London instead of Atlanta/DC/NYC- like randomly wandering into boutiques footsteps from my house filled to the brim with brands that would be a little too outre for ATL (even if I can't afford them), or having a multitude of awesome pho places and bars and hipster coffeeshops all within walking distance, or taking a double decker bus to school, it's still life. There's still shitty weather, and exams, and exorbitant exchange rates that don't care that you're a student whose money comes in the form of dollars, and the still-dismal media job market looming the background, and family and friends that are way too far away. Of course it's a once in a lifetime experience, but sometimes I wish this experience was in the past and I could just be at home, with my friends, going to happy hour and eating Chik-fil-a and nursing my hangovers without papers looming over my head.

I've moved around so much in the past few years, to a bunch of interesting places that have never felt quite right. Although in hindsight they always look way better than how they felt at the time. I'm pretty sure I shouldn't feel nostalgic for beer pong with my kickball team while I'm in one of the greatest cities in the world, but there you go. What the hell am I trying to say? I think it has something to do with the fact that while I have had decent reasons for moving and I don't think I'll ever regret having tried out a bunch of different cities, I also need to not use moving to a new, exciting city as an escape for the crap in my life- because the cliched "Wherever you go, there you are?" Well, I'm definitely here.

London doesn't love me as much as it probably should

Sometimes you go to Malta for the weekend and it's the best escape from London ever. And it's sunny and beautiful and you don't see any Libyan refugees (although you'd be really nice to them if you did) and you eat lots of gelato and risotto because it's kind of like Italy. And you get a sun burn which might turn into a tan or it might turn into melanoma. Who can say for sure. But you're happy.





And then some days you get in a fight with your roommate over the appropriate number of guests to have squatting during reading period (do I live in a hostel?) and the best thing going is the beet juice that the very nice, non-British cash register man gave you at the organic grocery store.

I mean it was good juice.

le writer's block

I can't believe it's been nearly three months. I'm pretty sure I made a resolution to blog more, but you know what they say about resolutions. I'm not sure if this blogging thing is really going to work for me, since I'm terrified of becoming an angsty 14 year old with a Xanga, and there aren't so many cool things going on in my life to share that aren't boring school/ life things. Well, I kind of take that back. I went to Bordeaux and San Sebastian last week, and they were "cool." I escaped the London rain which was crucial, and I'm doing it again next week. Hallelujah. Classes finished and everyone is freaking the fuck out about all of our papers and exams that are due at the beginning of May while we're also technically supposed to be doing dissertation nonsense. I'm boring myself so I am officially done with school talk. All I have to say is that thank sweet baby Jesus that I didn't go to law school, because there is enough competitiveness and peer-induced mania to last me a while.

I've been picking my classes for school next year in California and zomg they look cool, but as one friend described it course registration feels like a bloody Ponzi scheme where half the classes that are supposedly available don't really exist. Or have some other complication involving wait lists and petitioning. But let's be real if it's a course on tween media it's basically meant for me so the effort is probably worth it. Once again I have fallen into horrifying school talk, so instead let's look at some of the wonderful things I might make my parents bring me from AMERICA when they come to visit. Because in some areas this country is seriously lacking and I've heard the U S of A is a lovely place.


The irony of getting Liberty-print flats imported is not lost on me, but how freaking cute are these? J. Crew flats are just the best.

Ditto, but these can be used as self-defense. What up.

This shit gets the job done, and by job I mean putting some color into my lifeless pale as a corpse face.

This necklace is technically from J Crew's Crewcuts line, but I swear I'm not a pedophile for looking at that section of the website. It's no Limited Too but this stuff is just really freaking cute and I can only fit into the jewelry and that's the only justification I need, mkay?

If you think about it everyone needs a snake cuff in their lives, and Alkemie saves the world or the babies or something with their jewelry, which is a plus.

2010

A lot's happened in a year.
I started 2010 in DC, and I loved being in DC with all of my pals.
I got to explore the city,
experience a Snowpocalypse,
celebrate a good friend's wedding,
see some sweet concerts,
go to Israel and Greece and Turkey,
see my peeps in NYC and the Hamptons,
make some decisions,
and suddenly I was moving out of DC.

Mad packing and mayhem led to Atlanta,
and family time and a bit of work for a certain brand of pantyhose.
Then I packed up again and moved to London for the whole grad school thing.
I'm glad I took the leap.

Hope this year is the best yet for all of my loyal followers,
and maybe I'll even resolve to post a bit more in 20-11.

Happy New Year.