terrifying.

this is the scariest thing ever. from winter wonderland in hyde park. you might cry watching it. and if you listen carefully at the end, you can hear me quietly screaming/making an uncomfortable noise.

best faces of the weekend

my friends are all models.

the time everyone came to my turf

geeze. louise. this was a crazy days week. by recent standards at least. i barely had any time to sit in my room and stalk people i went to high school with on facebook or watch four hours of television on my laptop. i was a regualar partay person this week.

grandpa, aunt karen, and baby brother got into londontown on monday. we hit up the v&a, fortnum&mason's, hummingbird bakery (though they weren't impressed with the cupcakes- too much icing apparently.), tower of london, the globe theater, showstopper (grandpa knew it was improv, but insisted that it was impossible to make up songs which leads me to believe that he doesn't know what improv is), saw war horse (i was geekin' out the whole time. so. good.), covent garden, fancy tea, bea's tea, jack the ripper tour- the list goes on and on and on and on. drew bought a sweet jacket in this punk store in camden and got £35 knocked off the price. i was such a proud sister. after we left he was excited because it was his "first time heckling." (he means haggling.) baby boy is growing up. we got a nice thanksgiving dinner in fulham and generally ate nice food all week- any weight i lost on my poor kid granola&eggs diet was all gained back this week. overall- lovely time with the fam.

midway through the week the TU romers rolled into town. we took them to portabello market, borough market, the museum of everything, camden, and winter wonderland. winter wonderland is this GIANNNTTT thing they set up in hyde park with rides and food and hot beverages and stalls selling ornaments/hats/plasticstuff/generaljunk. it's absolutely massive. we drank mulled wine and hot chocolate and walked around the park.

it was so nice to see familiar faces. even though i love all the people i'm here with it was good to see other homies. fresh folks if you will. it almost felt like a sneak preview of home. can't wait to get back there. wonderful week with wonderful people. huzzah huzzah.

stuff i'm thankful for

the shortlist:

• cheese
• family traditions
• the family that carries out those traditions
  
• murray, the best bike ever
• south philly breakfasts
• beth’s puns
• babies
• having the best parents in the world
  
• baked apples
• christine’s sleep talking
• cruise control
• all the smash and improv people
  
• sweater tights
• theater
• sharpie pens
• red wine
• the 717 and those who reside within it.
  
• naps in the grass
• positive encounters with strangers (however brief)
• libraries
• strong women
• the great place
• my family my family my family
• wednesdays at salvation army
  
• toothbrushes
• single camera style television shows
• everyone at temple university
  
• philadelphia and america
  
• my education
• harry potter
• colors
• neato. burrito.
  
• morethingsthanicouldpossiblyeverlist

i am so incredibly blessed. this doesn't even begin to cover all the things i'm grateful for in my life.

people i love wednesday

i know it's not technically wednesday anymore. but these three people (who i happen to love) have been keeping me out to all hours of the night. auntie karen, grandpa doctor jesse, and andrew 'boosie' weigel are here for the week. i've been doing my best to cart them all over london and show them the highlights but it really doesn't even matter where we end up. i just enjoy spending time with them. especially when grandpa is cracking up about condom machines and making crazy faces when food is too hot. or when aunt karen totally misses her mouth and gets sour cream all over her face. or when drew and i make the worst jokes of all time and get punny. them's good people.

adventures in eating

it's pretty inevitable at this point. you guys know me. i'm not even going to front on this one.

if you call me and ask about how london is, i will tell you about what i ate that weekend. if you skype me to talk about how bad my friday was, i'll just describe the butternut squash curry suckfest i stirfried. should we cross paths via g-chat, i'll eventually tell you i have to go, implying that i have some very important errand to run. it will probably be food-related.

and it is important. to me at least.

so this was last weekend/this week. in pictures. of food. from top to bottom:
1. went to a club in brixton last friday. arrived late, spent over an hour eating a bacon cheese burger in the courtyard while talking to some british dudes about big lebowski and american peanut butter. was only inside the actual club for 45 minutes.
2. after the club, i got a bagel (spelled 'beigel'. weird) stuffed with bacon. just bacon.
3. the next night, keiran and i got dinner at the rootmaster- an old double-decker bus converted into a restaurant. the kitchen is on the first floor and the diners sit above. it's vegan so we got pumpkin and walnut puree tart with creamy sage sauce, maple glazed carrots, and apple stuffing balls. delicious, though not the most filling meal. i got a BALLER chocolate/caramel dessert though that really took the cake (heh heh.)
4. sunday morning, keiran and i headed to hummingbird bakery until to discover their christmas cupcakes that we had read about/been drooling over haven't come out yet! we consoled ourselves with more cupcakes. i got root beer. grade a stuff.
5. i went to candy cakes in covent garden on friday and picked up a banana toffee cupcake. all their flavors were very fruity and this one seemed to most not-insane. it had a weird gooey toffee center and i went back and forth from loving it to being sickened by it.
6. i attempted to make this recipe on friday with only half the ingredients. there was some improvising involved. but come on. really- as long as there's goat cheese and sweet potatoes involved i'm sold. you just bake the little potato discs, top it with some spring onions and balsamic vinegar then generously plop on some goat cheese. wahhhlaaaa. ghettofied smitten kitchen recipe.

more updates on the good eats of the past few days in the upcoming few days.

people i love wednesday

thanks to the alphabet gods, i had homeroom all four years at mcdevitt with thomas williams. we were on student council together and had all our english classes together and eventually, despite my initial wariness, we became good friends. he is by far, one of the most interesting people i know. he's a phenomenal writer and i had the privilege of reading some of his work in high school. he knows how to bust some wicked good moves, has an impressive dvd collection (don't even get him started about the criterion collection unless you want him to drool all over the place) (he also doesn't mind when i borrow his movies and don't return them for two years. sorry about that one t.wil.), dresses like a friggin' gentleman 24/7, speaks with some crazy posh accent despite having grown up in central pennsylvania, and is all around a class act.

the last text i recieved from him before coming to england said, "then upon your return good lady I will wine you a dinner fit for a Lost Generation expat come home!" this is what i'm talking about. so much love for this boy, who constantly keeps me entertained and is just generally a good friend.

sock it to me

soooooo my first venture into the world of sock knitting has been less than sucessful. it started out great- got a little cable detail going on, some nice gryffindor red yarn- it had potential. even working the heel wasn't hard- found a good tutorial, no dropped stitches, everything shaping up, etc. but the finished product? less than desirable. the foot part looks like a weird bag. maybe if my foot was shaped like a large potato these bad boys would work out, but as of right now, i'm not feeling it. it might be time for round two, new pattern.

harry potter world premiere freak out

so. the red carpet event/world premiere of harry potter went down this past thursday in london. and if you're just tuning in now, i'm currently living in london. and if you know me at all, you know i have a fanatical obsession with the boy who lived. combining these elements, i think you're reach a fairly obvious conclusion: i was not going to miss this event.

now, before you get your hopes up, i didn't actually see the movie/officially attend the event- what am i? a millionare? i just stood on the sides of the red carpet among the masses, craning my neck for a glimpse at the cast. we got there four hours early only to be greeted by a ridiculous crowd that had already gathered. we waited in the rain, complained about sore feet, yelled at people with umbrellas, until finally, finally, finally, the show got on the road. i saw rupert grint, emma watson, the back of j.k. rowling's head, the wesley twins, voldemort, bonnie wright, HELENA BONHAM FRIGGIN CARTER, peter pettigrew- just a whole butt load of people. no good pictures unfortunately- only shots of other people hands and heads (as seen above.)

overall: i'm very glad i went. it was nice to be a part of the hype and it was such a rare opportunity. the whole setup was so cool (giant posters! arches with the hallows symbol!) and it made my eleven-year-old wizard wanna be self so happy.

the only really disappointing thing about it was the crowd. not just people pushing and being annoying (hp is a big deal so i understand the excitement) but just the lack of hp fandom. people were more interested in the cast as celebrities and not for their wizarding counterparts. some girls behind me didn't know who lupin & tonks were. i had to explain the hallows symbol to another girl. some lady got super annoyed that we were talking about the seventh book because she was waiting for the movie to come out (i'm sorry, what? that's actually insane.) i just have so many super fans in my life, people who know how to make pumpkin pasties, have a regular hp costumes, and have considered getting harry potter tattoos (that hardcore), it was a bummer to spend this huge event surrounded by less than enthusiastic people. makes me miss my 717 crew.

and now the countdown commences for the actual viewing of the film! can you believe they don't do midnight showings in the UK? so bogus. can't wait for friday at 11pm. shits going down.

this is what my room looks like

in case you were wondering. this is my tiny box room. i share it with christine and keiran. i got the big kid bed and tried to hang some pictures on the wall the keep it festive. i've also started an extremely annoying bottle collection on the window. we knock them over all the time but they all have such pretty labels!

just wanted to show you a slice of my life in london. the boring side at least.