Cool eyelashes

On a car!

More updates on London so far later, but in the meantime check out the cool stylin' on this car we walked by yesterday !

Last thought on NYC

Am now in London!!! It is wet! Before I launch into my week of cold wet fun here in London I will share one last NYC experience - Doughnut Plant in the Lower East Side. Drrooool.

And don't say New Yorkers are mean and unfriendly because my preggers friend Karen was standing there watching them pack her box of doughnuts which she had already paid for when she offhandedly lamented that she meant to get a pistachio one and had forgotten. The girl packing said do you want a pistachio? I can get one for you! And Karen said oh thank you, is it the same price as any of the others I chose so you can just replace it? And the girl said no I will just give you the pistachio one for free as a pregnancy present. Nice! Milk that pregnancy! I told her we must go into every shop after that and try that trick.

Washington DC

Lost track of what day it is. Vacations are great that way aren't they? Until you lose track so badly you don't realise you have to go back to work. But no matter! Nowhere near that yet, one more city to get to first, one more country to hop to!

In the meantime, the good folks at Amtrak are providing me free wifi to blog from while I ride the 3.5 hour train from Washington DC back to New York. What were we doing in Washington DC? Well this whole trip is mini reunion of ex-London KPMG friends, all of whom transferred from around the world to London KPMG in September 2005. I am not sure when we gathered in that fateful training in Basingstoke (was not impressed. Really not impressed) that we even fathomed that we would stay in touch for 7 years. We all thought we would be in London for about 2 years, and indeed, over time, many have departed London on schedule, and so we have started spreading ourselves all over the world. Of the 6 of us that met up again this week, we came from Toronto, Vancouver, Atlanta, NYC, and Sydney. Now, years later, between us there are 3 new Masters degrees (and three new non accounting careers) and three of my friends have not returned home but instead done stints in South Sudan, Michigan, Washington DC, Ottawa, finally settling for the next while in DC and NYC. So when I left London to return to my roots in May and Emma left London to return to Sydney last week, we decided a party in DC/NYC was necessary to mark the occasion.

I didn't see too much in DC in the last two days but that was absolutely fine by me given I know I will be back again sometime because Keith is a geek and there's no way he would want to miss DC altogether. But we did spend 3.5 hours in the American History Museum and I now know more about American presidency facts than I do about the Canadian Prime Ministers (not a difficult bar set there). Uncultured me found the First Ladies dresses one of the best exhibits, and also Julia Child's kitchen. Oh and the Star Spangled Banner, the original one that flew over the fort in Baltimore when the Americans defended it from British invasion in the late 1810's. Raggedy. It inspired the song that is the American national anthem today. I must admit I like that song. Very emotion welling. (Also always reminds me of the fictional Ramona Quimby of the children's books by Beverly Cleary who thought the words were "dawnzer lee light", concluded a dawnzer must be a lamp, and then embarrassingly asked her dad to please turn the dawnzer on. Oh the things that stay in your brain sometimes)

Today we went for a lovely brunch then attempted to walk around but it was too hot so managed to see the White House, the Washington monument, but not really the Lincoln memorial. It did inspire Emma to recommend that I read Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter which I promptly downloaded , sounds like a good airplane read for Friday!!

Signing off with a few photos - the Julia Child kitchen, me at the White House (where I kept recommending to Sara as if, as the American of the group, it is up to her to make such improvements that they should fly the flag only when Obama is in residence like they do with the Queen), a plaque commemorating the friendship between America and Canada and as symbolized by Sara and I, and a DC metro station which I think is quite purty.

Big Apple Day 2

Today was most successful in the fast shopping and not vomiting departments. I have been SO LUCKY so far in NYC. It has been fair weather but overcast meaning it is not sweltering - a comfortable 25 or 26 degrees max. Meaning we can meander around on the streets as we please.

In the quick shopping department, Emma, Karen and I made our way into the Macy's cosmetic department, split off immediately to our respective counters (Karen to Lancôme, Emma to Clinique, me to Yves Saint Laurent) and met back up in the middle less than 10 minutes later having all made our purchases. I, being completely unknowledgeable in the make up department, of course only even made it to a counter because I was buying something that Emma recommended for my dark eye circles.

I also enjoyed one of my fav shopping experiences today, traversing a shoe sale in Lord and Taylor's, I tried on some wedge sandals that I thought were $54 when Karen pointed out to me the further sale label for $40. Score, I thought, love it when something is cheaper than I thought. Double that pleasure when I go to pay for them and am told it is $30. Double score.

Before the shopping we went to Eataly, a giant Italian food store with eating stations throughout. While waiting for our table we had a couple of glasses of prosecco and some olives.

Then after shopping dinner was at momofuku where I had the pork belly ramen, and a creamsicle slushee with orange, ice cream and shoju (a Korean rice liquor) which was delicious and yummy and u couldn't even taste the alcohol!! Managed to keep that one down!!

Oh and forgot to say that yesterday in Chelsea market we spotted a stall selling wine pops: Popsicles with nectarine, peach, and Sauvignon Blanc! Had to try one of course but had forgotten my wallet so Emma had to buy me one. Hilariously they asked for ID and hilariously instead of just showing them hers Emma goes but May you forgot your wallet!!! So it was looking like I wasn't gonna get to sample this ingenious concoction until Greg stepped in and just bought it for me and gave it to me oh so subtly once we had flown the scene. I felt like a trashy teenager hanging out in the liquor store parking lot coaxing creepy old dudes to buy me alcohol. Yes I am calling Greg a creepy old dude and no I never did that as a teenager.

By the way the wine pop tasted of zero alcohol but it was a delicious and refreshing treat!

Big Apple Day 1

How am I spending my time in one of the most exciting cities in the world, you ask? Why I'll tell you, in a efficient checklist:

Brunch - check
A stroll on the High Line* in the Meat Packing district - check
A mosey through the Chelsea market - check
Coffee in Central Park - check
Frozen margarita at dinner - check
Vomit at 9:30pm - checkity check

I might have forgotten that margaritas were made from tequila and that may not be the best hard liquor to re-introduce to my mostly alcohol free body. Oops

Whoa, vomit!

Countdown

Hours to boarding the flight to NYC - 12
Hours to mini KPMG London reunion - 19
Days to Washington DC - 4
Days to London - 7
Days to brother in law's wedding - 8
Days to meeting baby Paige Selvon - 9
Days to Grandma's 90th bday party - 10
Days to drinks with our London "family" - 12
Days to drinks with my Sky peeps - 13

Hours until end of work-day - 5.5 (TOO MANY!)

Found a Nest

Sorry for the lack of updates over the week, but I do believe I have found our first Vancouver nest! We are just going to rent for a year so that we can be nice and central, 15 minute walk to work, 10 minute walk to the beach!

There is a Nando's on the ground floor of the building though, and you all know how much I rant about Nando's not being a proper restaurant!!! I will continue to boycott!

It's been a nice summer so far!

The view from the skytrain tonight on the way home, mountain and blue sky, still new enough to me that I appreciate it!

Pasta

Because of the old diet, I haven't had a big old plate of pasta in ages!

So when Stef asked if I wanted to try an Italian restaurant that her friend had recommended, I jumped at the excuse for some yummy Italian (what? Just being social!)

So I counted my lunch time calories meticulously yesterday, going to my go to for healthy but filling solution, the tuna pita at Extreme Pita. It seems I am the only one who orders that so the three employees that seem to work everyday (poor kiddies) recognize me now and start my order before I even tell them. They also always remember now to override the price and not overcharge me the $1 difference between the price on the menu and what they've programmed into the till (they even explicitly told me they keep forgetting to fix the till cuz so few people order the tuna pita. But it's only 235 calories! One can't go wrong!)

Anyways boring lunch over we headed down to the restaurant after work. It wasn't a huge menu but we took our time choosing two pastas to share and even had a starter - the burrata cheese. Never heard of it before but it is like mozzarella but even softer - spreadable on the little crostinis it came with. Yum!

After that it was the spaghetti carbornara daily special and some pulled pork ragu. I've had a lot of pulled pork in unlikely combos lately!

Mmmm delicious. Stef preferred the pulled pork ragu but I was torn between the carbonara and it. Thumbs up and will revisit!!

This meal did totally blow my diet out of the water and Keith refuses to allow me to count going down 34 flights of stairs in the fire drill on Friday as exercise. To which my sad limp noodle calves doth protest as 5 days later one of them is still a bit sore. Wowzers I am out of shape. But who is surprised by that?

*silence*

Anniversary Update

So just to give credit where it's due, I'm not the better spouse after all.  These arrived at my house today:

Covering all the bases, there are lilies, roses, daises, and carnations (I don't like carnations but they are Keith's fav. Lilies are my favourite). And that unidentified dark purple flower in the middle. I'm not very good with flowers. Thanks Keith! That's the first time you've sent me flowers! Aw!

And arriving with impeccable timing, a card from my mother and father in law, who are always thoughtful and so sweet. And look how they've properly addressed the card:

Can't wait to see all the Baileys in 18 days!

Happy Anniversary

It's a long weekend over here in most of Canada (BC day, and I did try to look up its significance so I could share it with you, but there evidently is none). So on Monday Keith and I were able to chat in his pm and my afternoon rather than our usual 10:30pm Vanc / 6:30am London time. Whenever we get to do this we try to give Keith a chance to have a lie in the next day and skip the chat for the day. We both agreed to this when we hung up in the afternoon... But then I realized when I got home from a movie, that the day we had decided to skip our daily chat is... our second wedding anniversary.

Hmm... So I splurged on a €0.01 per minute Skype call to his office so that I could say happy anniversary. Note the occasion was still not worthy of a €0.25 per minute Skype call to his cell phone.

His colleague picked up and my mutt accent immediately gave me away, but shockingly we are just so awful with sentiment that when Keith was told maybe his wife had called that he still did not put 2 and 2 together!!! I called him back after 15 mins and now we are no longer abnormal emotionless husband and wife who cannot be bothered to send each other cards for their anniversary (wait that part still stands). I think the fact that I remembered first makes me the better spouse.

And if our shocking lack of thoughtfulness makes you concerned for our marriage, well be reassured! Because...

KEITH'S CANADIAN IMMIGRATION HAS BEEN APPROVED! Go London Canadian Immigration Office, you exceeded expectations by processing our paperwork 5 months earlier than your online estimates. So we will soon be reunited and I shall not have to risk forgetting Keith's 30th birthday in October! Whew!

Freebie Five List

Did Friends invent the freebie five list or just make it a really well known concept???

Well either way I am really padding out my freebie five list with some Olympians... I had always struggled to put anyone on the list (you know, cuz its such a genuine concern not to have the list ready for the overabundance of chances where one might need to put it into action) because I am fickle and no one really genuinely gets my blood running enough to constantly want on my freebie list. Maybe Brad Pitt at his peak (the Meet Joe Black era) but that's so cliche. And def not anymore now he's aging so badly. Ooh and Vigo Mortensen as Aragorn... But only as Aragorn? So yes, no constants except for Keanu Reeves (don't judge me) and Trevor Linden. But recently I have added a couple more and Olympics watching has totally padded out my list! Here it is:

1) Keanu Reeves (prefer with hair not crew cut)
2) Trevor Linden (who IS aging well))
3) Ryan Gosling (please watch Crazy Stupid Love if you don't understand this)
4) tennis player Juan Martin Del Potro
5) swimmer Nathan Adrian

To be honest I will probably never see Nathan Adrian in anything ever again so I am sure the fangirling for him will wane, (But man what a waste of screen time when they keep focusing on Phelps or Lochte and not him!) at which point he is going to be replaced by Joseph Gordon Levitt (I want to watch Inception again)

BBC Olympic Promos

Continuing our obsession with all things Olympics, today Keith and I were discussing the BBC Olympic promos, which go a long way to get you hyped up and excited for two weeks, if only because of the fact that they play constantly and the Beeb is probably your sole source of Olympic coverage if you're in the UK (unlike here, where I am splitting my viewing between CTV, Sportsnet, TSN, and sometimes, when I can control my gag reflex against the over-patriotism of American coverage, NBC). BBC do an amazing job of it too - they use the red button interactive function to dedicate a handful (around 5, maybe?) separate channel feeds to the Olympics, allowing you to choose between five different sports at a time, meaning you rarely miss out on anything live just because they choose to broadcast a more popular sport on the main BBC1 channel. If there aren't that many live events going on at the same time, then they show taped coverage from earlier on in the day from a loop. So there is no need to go trying to PVR anything, or plan ahead, etc etc.

There have been 3 Olympics, counting summer and winter, while I was in the UK (yes I am counting the current one because I am pretending I am still there). The BBC promos try to incorporate images of the sports with images from each particular city. They are quite good so I'm attaching the youtube videos:

1) Beijing 2008

May's critique
PROS
- uses a Chinese myth (Journey to the West, or Suen Ng Hung in bad pinyin) that I like
- incorporates the sports throughout the monkey's adventures in an imaginative way
- a good blend of sports promotion with culture promotion
CONS
- hate the music
- monkey is ugly
- pig is ugly
- monsters are ugly
- why'd they draw everything so ugly? Pigs and monkeys are my favourite cartoon animals for their cuteness and they are not cute here

2) Vancouver 2010
 

May's critique
PROS
- love the music
- love the incorporation of sports. Really smooth transitions.
- love the bear
- love how it captures Vancouver with its emphasis on nature, wilderness, and First Nations
- love it ends with curling!!! does any country that doesn't have a curling contender even know what curling is???
CONS
- none i love this one it got me super hyped everytime i saw it

(although slightly annoyed by the inuksuks still, there just weren't ANY in Vancouver before it was chosen as an Olympic logo and now gimmicky-ly there are random ones pretending to be historical all over the place and tons of tat in gift shops. I believe the Olympic Committee's defense was that these aren't just Vancouver's games, they are CANADA's)

3) London 2012

May's critique
CONS
- not as creative, is it? almost kinda boring? and it's even the longest one? so you made the longest one the most boring one?
- the backdrops of London make it look kinda ugly (which it is)
PROS
- the backdrops of London make it look kinda ugly (which it is)
- the backdrops of the countryside make it look kinda pretty (which it is), while still addressing that some of the places, like the docks, and the buildings with cranes on them look really industrial (which it is)
- includes a train! I don't think anything is more London to me than the predominance of TRAINS in our lives.
- tons of iconic buildings in London featured, without resorting to shots of Big Ben and Tower Bridge. Especially like the gymnastics girl going over Millenium Bridge in front of Tate Modern.

Overwhelming favourite: the Vancouver one! woooooo!!!