Stop and smell the roses...

Last Sunday (yes, I am nearly caught up with the blog!!) Chris and I headed to the southeast corner of Hyde Park for a walk through the rose garden. The weather was once again beautiful; mid 70's, a slight cool breeze, bright sunshine, perfectly blue skies and big white fluffy clouds... it doesn't get much better than this!!! I find it difficult on days like this to believe/remember that London could ever have bad weather... London is always quick to remind me as it was raining in buckets and hailing on Monday afternoon as I was walking home!!!

Enough about the fickle London weather!!! Last week, during the Underground strike, I had a training in Victoria. I took the bus in the morning... which was a nightmare to say the least. There were hundreds of people at almost every bus stop, the roads were packed with buses, cars, bikes, and walkers, and the journey that should have taken 20 minutes at most took over and hour! I was squished into the bus with a short, dirty man who was oozing the smell of cheap liquor holding onto the railing with his face about 3 inches from my chest!!! Not the experience you want at 8 am with only one cup of coffee under your belt!!! So, when the training wrapped up I headed to the sidewalk (along with another lady from the class) to walk home. It took about 45 minutes and we walked past the back of Buckingham Palace into Hyde Park and along the Serpentine. Along the walk, I discovered the Hyde Park Rose Gardens and instantly wished I had my camera! Come Sunday and the sunny weather, I grabbed Chris and the camera and headed back to the gardens! Lucky Chris!!!

I know this one is not a rose... but I liked the picture so... my blog, my rules ;-)

Too bad I can't attach the smell along with the pictures! With so many roses in bloom, we could smell the scent before we could even see the flowers! I think I was about a week late as many of the plants were starting to drop their petals. I have marked my calendar to return next year about 3 weeks earlier... just in case there a chance it could be even more magical!

Tomorrow Chris and I are heading to the Taste of London. I hope to get some yummy pictures so come back soon!

Until then!!

~Kisses~

Happy Birthday to Me!

During our senior year of college Chris surprised me with a birthday celebration in the Spring. Considering my actual birthday is in December it was quite the surprise. He took me to see BB King and then out for dinner... there may have also been a party at our place before everything was said and done. It was one of the best non-birthday birthday celebration of all time! There is nothing better than stretching out the fun as long as possible.

This year I managed to one up the non-birthday birthday by stretching it out til the end of May! Essentially, I was able to celebrate the Big 3-0 without actually having to turn 30 again! How awesome is that?!?

Back in December, Chris gave me a gift certificate for an hour long private horse back riding session in Hyde Park. We were holding out for perfect weather and a few weeks ago perfection was achieved!

I booked the first ride of the day in hopes that we could avoid most of the tourists in the park. We were up at 7 am, walked the few blocks to the stables and by 8:45 on a beautiful Saturday morning we were saddled up and ready to go!

Here I am on my pony... for the life of me, I can not remember his name. It was something very human... Edward, Richard, Thomas... something along those lines. And he was not actually a pony. However, next to Chris's horse he looked like one!

Chris rode the largest horse at the stables, Baron. Seeing Chris climb up on this giant horse made me giggle like a 3 year old. Considering he has only been riding a handful of times in his life, he was amazingly calm and in control... until we started to trot, at which time he nearly bounced himself out of the saddle! Not that I did much better... I was flopping around like a sack of potatoes! I was initially worried that an hour would go by too fast but my legs and lower back were relieved as we rounded the corner back to the stables.

Although an hour was long enough for the ride, we couldn't bring ourselves to head back inside. So we headed to our usual spot in the sun for an afternoon picnic... of course, no picnic in Kensington Gardens is complete without a trip to Whole Foods!

Chris celebrated the successful ride, brilliant weather and yummy picnic with a good ole fashion cartwheel!

The birthday girl and with the Albert Memorial in the back ground.

I wish all my birthdays could be in May!

Until next time... XOXO

I <3 Sunshine!!!

I have a good excuse for neglecting the blog over the last week or so... I have been outside!!! Sunshine, temperatures in the high 50's and low 60's, flowers, birds chirping...seriously... can you blame me?!? And although the blog has been out of sight, it has not been out of mind because I have been schlepping the Nikon around the park! Lucky you ;-)

Do you remember this area from a few short months ago? It is hard to believe it was 8 inches deep in snow!

Flowers are popping up everywhere. Every time I go for a walk I spot something new. Beautiful for the eyes but not so good for the allergies! I don't think I will ever escape pollen!!

There was a breeze and the flower petals were falling like snow. I considered making a flower petal snow angel...

Yes, I am out withOUT a coat!!!

The Cherry Blossoms don't compare to D.C but they are still pretty!

We woke up late on Saturday morning to a perfectly blue sky without a single cloud! We had no plans for the day so we grabbed some essential items and headed to the park.

The essentials...

Not pictured is the Portable Bose i-Pod Sound Dock... Mike was right ;-) It was a perfect compliment to our picnic in the park! We spent the afternoon listening to Bob Marley, reading and relaxing as we soaked up the sun. Do Saturdays get any better?

Back in the Saddle

The only way to end a cooking hiatus... lamb chops with mint-mustard sauce. The reason for the hiatus is simple... between visitors, traveling and just plain laziness; I had not been to the grocery store in almost 3 weeks! So I grabbed my shopping bags and headed through the park to Whole Foods for a pantry stocking, shopping extravaganza with free delivery!

The best part of the day; a free show in the park! By pure chance (and a little left over luck of the Irish,) I happened upon a man... dancing with a tree! It was actually 2 trees to be precise. He was really getting down and seemed to be keeping time to the song playing on my i-pod! I couldn't help by stop and stare... and at that exact moment he did a pirouette and then kind-of skipped over to the next tree! Once he had finished the maneuver he glance my way and did a little booty shake... it took every ounce of energy I had to not release the roar of laughter in my belly! If I am treated to performances like this every time I go shopping, I might just go more often!

I followed the same route home but he was gone... only to be replaced by a throng of tourists fresh off the buses! Spring in London...

Back to the pan seared lamb chops... I think they may have secured my marriage for another few months ;-) Tonight's menu; Roasted red bell pepper soup to start and a Roasted chicken with pan fries to finish... That should get me well in to 2010!

Until next time!
XOXO

He's back...

Gnoah has been resting lately... kickin' back and takin' it easy. To hear him tell it, I forgot to take him along to Oxford and Holland Park but that simply isn't the case. He has been looking pale and I just thought he needed to rest. Regardless, when he saw our pictures from Hyde Park Gnoah insisted on playing in the snow all morning...

Despite the sun being out and the temperature rising, Hyde Park still has a pretty good covering of snow. However, I had to wear my hood as the snow in the trees is melting and I got nailed in the head with some giant wet globs of cold water... not fun. Gnoah laughed... not nice or gnomely.

Gnoah insisted that he could make a better snow angel that me. Ha! I scoffed at him and laughed the whole time he was wiggling about in the snow... Seriously, I am the snow angel master!

And then I saw this... not sure how he did it but Gnoah rocked the snow angel!

After the snow angels, we made a snow man... Gnoah made me do most of the work. Something about not being able to get his arms around the giant balls of snow? I think he is just lazy.

I suggested a snowball fight but Gnoah refused to put down his flowers. I swear, this silly Gnome should have been born in the 60s! He is such a flower child...

All in all we had a nice morning in the park.

We are looking forward to the next snow...in 18 years!

It NEVER snows in London...

I beg to differ! As a matter of fact, as I sit on my couch in warm pajamas writing this... it is snowing! We went in to the BBQ restaurant to watch the super bowl around 10 pm last night and when I left around 1:30 am... there were 5+ inches of snow on the ground. As I walked home I was laughing and giggling like a school girl. It was snowing so hard that I had to shield my eyes! Even though it was 1:30 in the morning, there were people out everywhere playing in the snow. There was a group of about 10 people have a snowball fight across Queensway! I past 4 cars (on a normally busy road) and they were all struggling. I suddenly became very grateful that I don't own a car or have a need to drive anywhere!

When Chris woke up this morning to go to work, he took one look out the window and got back in bed! We have about a foot of snow... maybe more... and it isn't done yet! All the buses are suspended, half the tube lines are closed, over ground rail services are suspended, several roads are closed due to accidents, all flights into London are closed... what I am trying to say is that the city has come to stand still! I haven't checked yet but if London is anything like Atlanta, there will be not bottled water, bread or milk at any of the markets!

Chris and I took the slippery walk to Hyde Park and played in the snow. Enjoy the pictures...

Queens Gardens

Bikes at the end of our street... don't think anyone is going out for a ride today!

Our first glimpse of Hyde Park... now this is what I call a Winter Wonderland!

I think most of London had the same idea we had about playing in the snow in Hyde Park. Lucky for us we found some fresh powder...

and I fulfilled a long standing dream!

SNOW ANGEL!!!

The best snow angel, EVER. However, I may be slightly biased ; )




Chris was charting unknown territory... making his own tracks. Too bad you can't see his face because he was grinning from ear to ear at this point in our adventure!

Remember the Italian Fountains?

Looked a little different this morning... I think I may have pictures of the fountains in all 4 seasons at this point!

Woo Hoo!!! Snow!!!

We are standing at the south end of the Italian Fountains with the Serpentine behind us.

Italian Fountains

One of the places I can remember vividly from our honeymoon are the Italian Fountains in Hyde Park. We visited them right around sunset in 2004 and it was one of the few days of sunshine from our entire honeymoon. There were swans swimming in the pools and the sky was a brilliant pink. It was one of the reasons I feel in love with London... and now we live about 5 blocks from them!

I run past the fountains pretty much every time I run in the park and there are always people enjoying them. Yesterday the sun was so bright and the sky was so blue... it almost felt like summer. I put Jack Johnson on my iPod and pretended that it was 89 degrees out! It is days like these that make me feel lucky to be in London. Enjoy the pictures...

A Walk in the Park

When I got up yesterday the sun was shining and there was not a raindrop in sight. Naturally, I decided it was a time for a walk through Hyde Park with the Nikon. Say hello to nature, London style...

The squirrels in Hyde Park are so accustom to people enticing them with food for a picture that when you stop and assume the photo taking stance, the squirrels literally attack you. While I was taking this little guys pictures his buddies were stalking from behind and before I knew it I was surrounded! I walked away and they followed me for about 15 yards! I have never wished for a handful of acorns before but the next time I take pictures of squirrels I will have some sort of goodies to distract them as I run away!

As I was heading back to the flat I met this guy feeding peanuts to the birds. He was a cute little quintessentially British man... with terrible teeth, a mumbling accent and a terrible gambling problem. I talked to him for a good 20 minutes... so I am a little lonely when Chris is at work ; ) Anyways, my British friend told me all about all the birds and how he feeds them on Mondays, Wednesdays and sometimes on Saturdays when there are no horse races worth betting on!

This is a robin. He sat there staring at the peanuts and would occasionally swoop down but never actually got close enough to get any.

This is a yellow tit... yes, that is the name of it so stop snickering... There was also a blue tit but he was too quick for me to snap a picture. There were about 15 of these little guys hovering about in the trees waiting for their turn to land on this guys hand and snack on a little piece of peanut. I like my new friend and feel a little bad that I only took pictures of his hand and never even asked his name! I guess I will go see him tomorrow... after I check the horse races!


It is hard to believe the all 3 of the ducks above are the same... sort of... the guys with the green heads are male mallards and the 3rd one is a female mallard. As you can see, once these duckies determined I had no food for them, they swam away.

That is about it for London Wildlife with Florida Girl...

Until next time.

XOXO

A lovely Sunday...

Chris and I had planned an early morning run in the park but awoke at 8 am to pouring rain. We both rolled over and returned to our slumber with Moe snuggled between us. Chris was the 1st to get up and then Moe... I followed feeling guilty that even the cat was awake and I was not! When we got around to looking at the clock it was noon! So much for the early morning run... luckily by now the rain was over and the sky was blue!

Chris went running and I walked through the park. It was a brilliant walk, the air was very cool and crisp but the sun was bright and the sky was clear. I walked past the same field where Chris and I had enjoyed an afternoon in the sun during our July scouting trip. This morning it was still drenched in sun. It was also covered in sparkling rain drops and a flock of geese were grazing and enjoying their own afternoon in the sun! Despite the 30 degree weather, I had a sudden feeling of warmth.

Speaking of weather and temperature... it is freezing in this city! They were forecasting snow last night and it is possible that outlying areas got just that... we just got the a fore mentioned rain. Sun would be nice to see for a few minutes but I think it would get old very quickly seeing as how we walk everywhere! I have been in 3 cars since arriving in October, the van from the airport, a black cab on the evening of the election party and the van we used to move to the flat. Other than that it has been the tube and the feet! It is rather nice most of the time. After a big meal it feels good to walk a few blocks home or in the morning when the sun is bright and the kids are walking to school in their uniforms... I will have to take some pictures of this! However, when it is cold and raining sideways...I wish I had a car! On these days, I heed Nana's advice and pop open my new umbrella and repeat over and over in my head: " I love freeze cold sideways ran!"

The plan for the week: continue my job search, take delivery of the stuff we shipped, go see The Graham Norton Show, and enjoy Thanksgiving dinner with some friends at the Chesterfield Hotel in Mayfair.

Until next time!

~Hugs and Kisses

Chris is home!!!

Chris got home around 7 am this morning... and he brought a terrible cold with him! I am finally getting better and now he feels bad... The good news is that he brought the sun with him! Yeah!!! I was able to wear my sunglasses for the 1st time since we arrived. We took the day off from important stuff and relaxed. I took Chris to our new flat and showed him around... he likes it! We walked to Hyde Park and enjoyed the sunshine. We sat by the The Serpentine at Lido Restaurant and enjoyed a cup of hot tea... very English!

Afterwards, we hopped on the tube to Covent Gardens and enjoyed a quite lunch (and pint ; ) at The Punch and Judy Pub. We finished the day by watching the street performers and shopping around the market. It was nice to relax and stroll around the city. Soon it will be back to work for Chris and back to setting up home for me.