"Just" a housewife

Sunday with the Queen!

On Sunday, Jen and I went to Windsor to see the Queen. In fact we went to visit Windsor Castle and as it happens she was home. The special flag was flying to indicate she was in residence and we queued up to get in to the tour of the Castle itself.

It was very ellaborate and very beautiful with thousands of paintings and  someone even asked, 'Are they originals or prints?' Gosh wash their mouth out with soap and water!

However, I couldn't help wondering though why such an elaborate place wasn't used more often - its just used for state dinners. It almost seems a waste, yet I can appreciate that we want to preserve all this wonderful history and not have tourists and the average job schmo trampling all over the furniture!

Early evening on Sunday we went to see 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith' at the movies and it was good entertainment. The weekend ended by reading the Sunday papers. A lovely weekend.

While I won't be doing that next Sunday (I'll be in San Francisco!!!!!!!!!!!!!) I know for sure that I'll be happy :-)

American Tourist in London!

What a week! I've been sick with a bad cold since Boston and this week after 10 days it wasn't getting any better. I hadn't been running and I wasn't getting any better. On Tuesday night it all came to a head with some family issues and then on Wednesday I just felt out of sorts. I felt dizzy, I hadn't eaten much all day...with a short dinner with David's friend Ali on Wednesday night I was glad when I flopped in to bed.

So Thursday I stayed home sick. With a bad headache and a new business call on Thursday afternoon that I was worried about it turned into a migraine. A mid-afternoon sleep didn't make it much better, but the call went ahead without much pain.

On Friday I still didn't feel 100% so I stayed home again, until I had to pick up my friend Jennifer from the airport. Jen was coming in for the weekend from California. David had gone to Glastonbury (Biggest English music festival of the year!) on Thursday afternoon and with the torrential weather that descended on the area in the early hours on Friday morning I was glad I wasn't there.

Jen and I managed to get tickets for 'Guys & Dolls' on Friday night at the Piccadilly Theatre staring Euan McGregor. We'd gone at 6 p.m. on the off chance of return tickets and with the rain pouring down we were lucky that some couldn't make it and we got in. It was fantastic. One of the best shows I've ever seen. And the cast recieved a standing ovation.

So today, Saturday, we went to Borough Market (wonderful!) and the London Eye. It was amazing. A wonderful view of all of London. Jen and I had a great day. With a lovely dinner in Chiswick ending the day, the weekend was definately making up for the terrible week...

Bloody Hot!

Yes that's the temperature in London today (and my boyfriend!) but it made Lauren and my visit to London Zoo a bit tough. Lauren was excited to see Giraffe's, tigers, lions, monkeys and elephants, but despite 2 + hours there we didn't see any elephants. I didn't mention this and didn't think she would, but on exiting Lauren said in a sad voice, 'Auntie Emma, we didn't see Elephants!'

Apparently, there's only elephants at Wipsnade Zoo, so guess where Lauren wants to go now!

We came back and went to a craft store and painted a mug for Lauren's daddy for Fathers Day.

David and I went out for a lovely meal last night with his ex-girlfriend (of 10 yrs ago) and her boyfriend. It was nice, nice to experience a new restaurant and to experience London West End life on a Friday, but I was tired and not feeling that great. Also I couldn't help admitting it was funny meeting up with his ex!

David's had a good but tiring day in Holland with his grand-father. Lauren and I are off to the Aquarium tomorrow...lets hope there's every fish she's ever heard of in there!

I can't wait!

London Zoo, the Aquarium, Dora, a craft store and exhaustion await me this weekend as I am looking after Lauren over night. I get her from 10:30 a.m. on Saturday until Sunday afternoon.

I may give her back on Sunday!

I'll upload more pictures today from the end of April and also I got some lovely black and white ones developed today, so they'll be up soon.

4 Glasses of Chardonnay and 2 cans of Pimms

What a day. What a 48 hrs. Most of which I can't go into to protect the innocent (just think opposite of Michael Jackson!) but the bits I can go in to can be summed up with these words, 'wank English customer service.'

So today I was to accompany a very senior executive from Verisign in the US to a conference in London. I booked him a very nice room at a hotel in London, a suite no less, and made sure it had internet access. I also booked a cab from there to Earls Court, less than half a mile away, but with the local Chiswick firm that I had come to love and trust.

When I arrived at the hotel I found out that my Verisign exec had checked in but to a twin room with beds that barely reached 5' 9" in length. Not good enough.

Then the taxi due at 8:20 wouldn't arrive until 8:50 due to traffic! Like that was my fault - we had a meeting to get to.

Then this afternoon, despite being promised to be moved to a double suite, my executive was still in a twin room. And he was in the lobby connecting to the Internet because there was no broadband in the room!

So what did I leatn today?

1) England customer service sucks

2) Don't rely on ANY taxi service

3) Harrington Hall Hotel in South Kensington sucks (and costs 200 pds a night)

4) If you want an extremely nice room you better state you want a double suite and not expect a suite is anything but a twin room

5) And when you request internet - you better ask for broadband

6) Basically you'll be treated like a demanding little f**ker from America that asks far too much...

So there - I better get back to America before England hates me and I hate England. W*nk customer service...

But besides that I had a lovely evening in Richmond with my friend Taryn and shared a bottle of Chardonnay, another glass of wine and when I got home, two cans of Pimms!

44 Hours in Boston!

On Friday I flew out to Boston for Andrew & Paige’s wedding. I’d hired Andrew to the Palo Alto office 4 years ago as an Intern and now he was getting married! I landed early at 12:30 (thank god as the wedding was at 4:15 p.m.) and I was at my hotel at 1:10 p.m.!  

The wedding was lovely. A nice ceremony followed and then a reception on the 33^rd floor of a Boston high rise building with amazing views over the city. David and I also managed to slip in a quick drink with our friends Kevin & Emily back at our hotel before the ceremony. You see that was all part of my plan…get drunk enough to not worry that I’d been up 22 hrs and prevent jet lag kicking in. I drank just enough, to be merry enough to dance to my hearts content, but not get too sleepy. Thankfully though around 11:00 p.m. as I asked for another white wine, David appropriately told me it was about time we left. Apparently I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Paige looked stunning and Andrew looked very handsome. They even managed a very rehearsed first dance which was executed flawlessly. But then again what do I know about dancing? You see this is the opinionated bit in the blog. I’ve been to a fair few weddings now and about 50/50 of them the couple has done a rehearsed dance. I’m not sure I agree. I mean it looks good, but as Paige said she couldn’t drink until it was over, obviously because she had to remember it. I’ve known people before get worked up; my friend Anna once had to give a speech at her 18^th birthday party. She was so nervous she looked horrendously pale throughout and I don’t think she enjoyed it at all. Shouldn’t these events and weddings in particular really just be about you and your husband having fun?

So…Saturday was a trip around Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox with the wedding party. I had a horrendous headache (a great combination of alcohol, heat and jet lag) and the Boston humidity got to me. Then in the afternoon, despite wanting to run around the beautiful city of Boston, a run in that humidity was never going to happen. So I ran 92 minutes on the treadmill in the hotel, 8 miles, and had nothing but a dull game of soccer between Columbus Crew and Colorado Rapids to keep me entertained. It was hard going, but I was glad I did it.

The weekend ended with a lovely dinner with Matt Lloyd and his wife Melanie in Cambridge, MA. So there you have it 44 hours in Boston.

Efficient Boston Logan Airport…I even managed to nip into the Boston office for 10 minutes to say hi.

Another weekend and another trip!

Last weekend Dover, this weekend Boston! Yes I'm off to join David in Boston for our friend Andrew Williams' wedding. I fly tomorrow morning and we're back on Sunday. And within that 48 hours I need to cram in a 10 mile run!

Speaking of my runs, on Tuesday night I got home from work and went straight out again for an 8+ mile run. I am determined to give the marathon a damn good go and I need to increase my distances in these next 7 weeks of training. So...on Tuesday I decided to do a run of about 90 minutes.

I ran from Chiswick High Street over Kew Bridge, and along the Thames River footpath to Hammersmith Bridge and back down to Chiswick. I passed tennis courts, people playing on a bowling green, rowers on the river, numerous pubs and even Morris Dancers!

Yes - on the same run that I pass one of the busiest round-a-bouts in the world (Hogarth) I passed a lovely pub with loads of people outside enjoying the summer weather (finally!) and watching a Morris Dance! Imagine all this on a Tuesday night in Hammersmith.

My run ended up being 1 hour and 40 minutes. It was quite slow but a good long run. I really enjoyed seeing this other side of London. It almost made me thing about staying...not quite!

Last night I experienced the horror of London. I went to see my friends Tim and Tanya and their baby Jasmine. It took an hour on the hot, sweaty packed tube and after I stayed over last night it was another 1 hour plus to get into work. No seats, busy, rushed...I'm looking forward to my 15 minute cycle to work on July 5.

I guess its good sometimes!

Tonight David is away in Boston, MA (not lincolnshire, England!) and after work I went to interview a lady who is moving to the US and wants to work for Text 100 in the US.

Then I got home, made some pasta and sat down to watch an hour long episode of Coronation Street and after that its Celebrity Love Island for another hour! I'm also drinking a Pimms! You see you can't get much better than that on a Monday night. Of course I'm missing David terribly (;-)) but what a great night in!

Now you Americans will just have to Google those TV programs as I don't do links...even though that's the point of blogs!

Anyway, Saturday was David's birthday so I bought him two 3 ft high balloons - number 3's. So we slept all weekend with '33' tied to the end of our bed! I also bought him a 'I am 33' badge which I insisted he wear as we went down to Dover to see his parents. We went walking on Dover cliffs for 4 hours! All the way to the light house. We got a guided tour around the redundant lighthouse and it was great. However, the walk back was a little painful as it poured with rain and I realised my 'waterproof' jacket wasn't so waterproof!

On Sunday I reluctantly got my ass out of bed and ran about 6 miles. The first 20 minutes were painful as hell, then the route David had told me to take was up to the Castle and it included about 100 steps - I certainly gave the cars in line to pay the Castle entrance fee a laugh as I reached the top. One lady was laughing as I was panting so hard!

Friday we'd gone to the theatre and saw David Schwimmer in 'Some Girls.' It was ok. David thought it was great, which was the main thing, but I thought David Schwimmer was only average. His character was too much like Ross from Friends.

So after a quick trip to see my sister, Grant and Lauren that was the weekend! Anyway, back to my Celebrity Love Island and Pimms!

Running again...

I'm back running again. Unfortunately I only ran once the week after Bolivia. If you recall the psychological toll of running for 50 minutes wondering if I was going to get mugged got a bit much for me.

On Monday, after driving back from my parents in Bournemouth and having driven 450 miles in 2-3 days I was itching to get out there. Despite getting back to London at 7:30 p.m. we were driving close to Richmond Park. Rather than drive by this beautiful park, David and I pulled over and I put on my running gear in the car and ran for an hour. I ran along the lakes, saw swans, squirrels and even deers. (David did some work on a park bench!)

Then tonight I gave up the chance to go with the office to the pub and after a brief hair appointment (you've got to look beautiful when you run!!!) I ran along the Thames tow path. Its my usual morning 'scary mugging' route, but at 8 p.m. at night its remarkably bright and there are many more runners out.

Jill - I might make the San Francisco July marathon yet!

Coming to America!

Last night I took my Dad to a Neil Diamond concert at Earls Court! I grew up listening to Neil Diamond songs and watching the Jazz Singer. However, last night I only remembered 5 songs.

It was good listening to those 5 songs, but the other 15 were a little...mmm...how shall we say...not as interesting. My mum and dad had a great time though so it was worth it.