london picks

for my friends who are going abroad (or already are) - these are my recommends for londontown. there's an overwhelming amount to do and this is in no way an exhaustive list (nor am i the best resource- i only spent four months there but i feel like a lifetime wouldn't be enough to cover everything london has to offer) but it's my favorite spots and places i think my amigos would enjoy. so go! play! get an oystercard and don't stop exploring! check timeout for upcoming events! say yes to everything! except drugs and jack the ripper! and pirates of the caribbean 4!

Sir John Soane Museum
Where: 13 Lincoln's Inn Fields
Tube Stop: Holborn
What: Old museum in a dude’s house, full of neat-o Roman and Grecian architecture stuff. Arranged to appeal to the aesthetic senses, not to inform. Glorious.
Why: Go the first Tuesday of the month for the candlelight tour. That’s how visitors originally saw the place and it’s insanely cool. It starts at 6 and the line gets pretty long (they only let a certain amount of people in at a time) so get there early to grab a spot!
Web: http://www.soane.org/

Hootananny
Where: 95 Effra Road
Hood: Brixton
What: Laid-back party venue with excellent live music and a non-pretentious vibe.
Why: Because most London clubs seem stuck up, but this place is chill. Also because of the taco stand parked in the courtyard out front. Bangin’ tacos.
Web: http://www.hootanannybrixton.co.uk/

Hummingbird Bakery
Where: All over the place, but I frequented the one at 47 Old Brompton Road
Tube Stop: South Kensington (right near the Natural History Museum and the V&A!)
What: CUPCAKES
Why: Exotic flavors, decent prices, cute atmosphere, near sweet-ass museums, and also because they’re CUPCCAKKKEEESSSS. I tried a lot of different cupcake spots in London and this was the one I kept going back to.
Web: http://hummingbirdbakery.com/

A PERFECT NIGHT IN ANGEL
Screen on the Green
Step One: Byron Burger
Where: 341 Upper Street (though there are several locations all over London)
Tube: Angel
What: Awesome burgers and shakes.
Why: Because we’re American and we need burgers and shakes to survive. There’s a ton of great places to eat in Angel so this is just a suggestion. You can also try a place further down Upper Street (away from the Angel tube stop) that’s name has something to do with the circus. Or maybe it just reminds me of the circus. Either way, that place is good too.
Web: http://www.byronhamburgers.com

Step Two: Visiting Cute Little Shops
Where: Around the Upper Street Area directly off the Angel tube stop.
Tube: Angel
What: A bajillion adorable antiques shops and vendors surrounded by a trillion cute knick-knackaries.
Why: Because browsing is fun and you need to walk off that burger.

Step Three: Screen at the Green
Where: 83 Upper Street
Tube: Angel
What: Kickass movie theater.
Why: Because you can get awesome snacks and a pint of Guinness to nom on while you watch kick back in chairs way comfier than the shit you’re used to placing your buttocks on. There’s only one screen and it’s super cozy, though a tad overpriced. Suck it up. It’s worth the experience. They do a lot of special screenings and I highly recommend going to one of those. I saw The Godfather there and it kicked ass. You also kick ass. Transitively . . . you need to go there.
Web: http://www.everymancinema.com/cinemas/screen-on-the-green/tomorrow/whats-on

Showstopper
Where: Wherever the website says it is!
Tube: Also dependent on website info.
What: A completely original improvised musical- totally different every single time.
Why: I interned with the guy who runs this group and sat through their performances twice a week. MIND-BLOWING. So incredibly genius and hilarious. I laughed harder than any paying guest in that tiny pub theater. Which brings me to my next point: it’s pub theater! You can get your drink on and experienced a more relaxed experience quintessential to the London theater scene. CULTURE POINTS!
Side note: it may be in a totally different venue now, it which case you lose the British pub-theater culture points but you probably gain some sort of other points.
Web: http://www.showstopperthemusical.com/

Globe Theater
Where: 21 New Globe Walk
Tube: Mansion House or Southwark
What: A recreation of Billy Shakes old digs.
Why: Because your old English teacher would want you to. Go see a show and stand for the whole thing- so incredible and an entirely different theatrical experience. Then go on the tour because there are a BAJILION fun facts and the tour guides are super interesting and it’s so good and it’s HISTORY dummies!
Web: http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/

War Horse
Where: The New London Theater - 166 Drury Lane
Tube: Covent Garden or Holborn
What: Incredible play with mechanical horses.
Why: It reminds you of the incredible capabilities of theater. It’s beautiful.
Web: http://warhorselondon.nationaltheatre.org.uk/

Portobello Market
Where: Portobello Road, near Notting Hill
Tube: Notting Hill Gate
What: Market that goes on for miles.
Why: Awesome people watching, great antiques to sift through, food vendors in the middle. Go early; go alone or with a small handful of people because it gets packed. Walk the whole length because it’s impressive how long it stretches on.
Web: http://www.portobellomarket.org/

Monster Supply Store
Where: 159 Hoxton Street,
Tube: Hoxton
What: Cute ‘monster supply’ store in the front of a tutoring center.
Why: It’s a quirky – but extremely tiny – storefront. The back is a tutoring center aligned with 826 Valencia (Dave Eggers project) and the people who volunteer at the shop/tutoring place are really friendly. Not worth making a separate trip for but if you’re in the hood, stop by!
Web: http://www.ministryofstories.org/

Breakfast Club
Where: 2-4 Rufus Street
Tube: Old Street
What: Delicious ‘American’ food! Great for breakfast!
Why: Huge portions! Awesome if you’re craving a home-style breakfast in a cute, kitschy environment. I remember the staff being really awesome too. There are a couple locations (including one in Islington!) but this is a good way to see another neighborhood and it’s one of the more spacious spots. Good for hangover breakfast too.
Web: http://www.thebreakfastclubcafes.com/

Petticoat Lane Market
Where: Middlesex Street
Tube: Liverpool Street
What: A MARKET!
Why: I would be lying if I said I actually went to this market. BUT! On my last day in London, after a delicious meal at the Breakfast Club, I walked towards it and damn. You should go just for the walk there. There’s a bazillion cute shops and antiques and an incredible old-time glamour beauty salon that you should TOTALLY go to because I wanted to and didn’t get a chance to and now I shall live vicariously through you. Super cute area, and I’m imaging that the market follows suit.
Web: http://www.alondonguide.com/petticoatlane.html

Burrough Market
Where: 8 Southwark Street
Tube: London Bridge
What: Food Market
Why: Total foodie paradise. You will want to eat everything. Go for lunch, stay for second lunch, pick up some cheeses and dips to take home to yo’ flat. Sit near the church in the grass to eat! Watch people!
Web: http://www.boroughmarket.org.uk/

Churchill Arms
Where: 119 Kensington Church St.
Tube: Notting Hill Gate
What: Pub with a secret
Why: Cute, traditional pub full of Winston Churchill memorabilia. The outside is overflowing with flowers and the inside has a Weasley Burrow-feel. The real surprise is in the back- because past the British pride there’s a delicious, reasonably - priced Thai restaurant in the back! Major boo-ya! Best kind of surprise!
Web: http://www.pubs.com/main_site/pub_details.php?pub_id=43#map

Bea’s of Bloomsbury
Where: 83 Watling Street
Tube: St. Paul’s
What: Perfect cream tea
Why: Because you’re in London and you need to get your tea on. Go with the full cream tea- it comes on an adorable tray with an assortment of awesome pastries, scones and clotted cream, and your own pot of tea. Totally delicious in a cute atmosphere. There’s another location near the Holborn tube stop, but it gets pretty crowded- see if you can call ahead to reserve!
Web: http://www.beasofbloomsbury.com/

The Drunken Monkey
Where: 221-222 Shoreditch High Street
Tube: Shoreditch High Street
What: Dim sum and beer.
Why: The only thing hotter than the bartenders are the dumplings. I’m officially 40. (Other reasons? Tons of special events like movies and DJ’s along with a huge selection of beers and a hip atmosphere.)
Web: http://www.thedrunkenmonkey.co.uk/

The Parlour at Sketch
Where: 9 Conduit Street
Tube: Oxford Circus
What: Mad Hatter’s Tea Party
Why: This place is lush. The decorating is insanely awesome- most notably the trippy-ass bathrooms. It’s on the pricey side but they have some good afternoon tea deals and it would be worth the splurge.
Web: http://www.sketch.uk.com/

Betsey Smith
Where: 77 Kilburn High Road
Tube: Kilburn High Road
What: Mad Hatter’s Drunk Tea Party
Why: Scratch’n’Sniff wallpaper! Chairs on the ceiling! Flamingos and gnomes everywhere! Booze served in teapots! Savory drinks garnished with cheese! The list goes on for days! Be sure to bring a pocketful of pounds though.
Web: http://www.thebetsysmith.co.uk/

OTHER THINGS TO DO:
- Go to Brick Lane! It’s literally all vintage shops and Indian food. And please, for the love of God, stay away from Piccadilly Circus at night- it’s ridiculously touristy and not worth a pence- Brick Lane is where it’s at! Much nicer/cooler crowds, more live music, AND (drum roll)- a bunch of the Brick Lane clubs have barbeque pits in their courtyard. So you can get your dance on AND your grill on. Beautiful. After you stumble out of the club, stumble directly into a “beigel” shop- they’re everywhere and insanely cheap. Like thirty-five pence cheap. Eat ten.
- Drink Snakebites! Half beer, half cider, topped with a dash of black currant juice. They are purple and delicious and you should drink them on the reg.
- Go to museums alone. And go to all of them. There are so many good free ones. Going by yourself allows you to move at your own pace and really explore and think and watch people and reflect. It’s a really enriching experience. The V&A is a classic but there are also a bunch of really interesting British war museums and tiny spots catering to niche interests. If you need more specific recommendations, let me know.
- Ride the double-decker bus on the top, front seat. It’s the best. Especially at night. Do it as often as you can.

professional tailgaters

i am not, by any stretch of the imagination, a sports fan. the extent of my sports knowledge ends at Mighty Ducks. not even the sequels. just the first one.

i am, however, a huge fan of hype. i love me some bandwagon. any opportunity to dress is specific colors and yell in a crowd- i'm all about that. so naturally, i love tailgating. it's like all the best part of sports without the actual sports. i get to dress up, drink and eat, chant things with strangers, and not have to watch a second of any game other than bean bag toss. (or as some of my friends call it, 'cornhole'. i refuse to call it that.)

my dear friend doug is leaving this week (today actually!) to work in nicaragua, so we decided a good ol' fashioned phillies game would be a good american send-off. we organized a group to go together and arranged to bring the appropriate supplies. it wasn't until we got there, that we realized that none of us had purchased tickets. we all assumed some other portion of the party would be going to the game, therefore validating our tailgating, but in the end, we were all too cheap to actually shell out seventeen bucks for standing room. we instead, put that money towards parking and beverages, and had a grand ol' time listening to the game in the parking lot and goofing off. eventually, everyone went into the game because most people who tailgate are actual ticketholders, but we stayed out there dancing and hanging well into the seventh inning. immense success of all parts.

ridin' derby

saturday FINALLY felt like summer weather. we've been having this miserable seattle-sky crap for the past week that has been seriously messing with my mood and general motivation. but saturday- redemption for summer 2011! it was sunny and hot and i applied sunscreen generously and we biked and we sweat profusely and we refused to stay inside for more than a half hour stretch of time. it was perfection.

the first part of my saturday involved biking with tim and beth to fishtown for the kinetic sculpture derby. it's a fancy-pants trendy-times part of town and there's a big festival with lots of overpriced/delicious food and vendors selling kitschy art stuff. right up my ally. i ate a pulled pork sandwich (ballin'/smallin'. i could have consumed ten more if daddy warbucks was footin' the bill) and two exotic ice creams from the new ice cream tricycle in town- birch beer vanilla bean and peanut butter maple tarragon. both were out of this world, though i could have done with a little more tarragon. i've been feeling adventurous with my flavor choices.

of course the real draw for the event is the awesome/wacktastic bike sculptures. there's a whole parade showing them all off followed by the mud pit to test their strength/stay-together-ability. the pizza brigade was my favorite this year. roommate keiran always talks about getting a tattoo of a pizza on a skateboard (jokingly? i hope? maybe?) and i actually saw one in real life! overall assessment: food, unreal blue skies, costumed bikers = happy camper.

goings ons

it's a big ol' picture dump! a visual representation of the past few weeks of my life! or at least the parts i remembered to document! let's do this thing list still, shall we?

1. boyfriend mikeyaz came to visit! we got tacos from a truck on campus and ate on the 'beach' (not a real beach, despite it's name.) with some comrades.

2. i made chocolate cupcakes and attempted to top them with my mom's incredible peanut butter icing. but i got to the part in the recipe that called for a box of vanilla pudding and had a total forehead slapping moment. didn't have any vanilla pudding. i did, however, have some butterscotch pudding a friend randomly brought to my house once (it was wine and cheese night and that was his contribution- box of pudding. nice.). i figured butterscotch pudding was better than no pudding and damn. What an incredible mistake. So delicious. So many flavors happening all up in my mouth. I'll be forgetting the vanilla pudding more often.

3. went on the harrisburg house tour! my parents go every year and i was finally old enough to partake in the festivities! mikeyaz and j.carr joined me as we toured insanely gorgeous houses in the italian lake neighborhood of harrisburg. each house has beer and food (catered by a different harrisburg restaurant!) and you can talk to the home owner about their decorating, blah blah. everything was pretty top notch. the houses were older so there were tons of weird nooks and crannies and insane detailing. one guy had a total rock house complete with framed set lists in the bathroom, an elvis bust, and a killer basement setup. another house was a brady bunch dream. i was dying. so good. afterwards, there's a big picnic on the front lawn of this mansion on front street. we ate burgers by the river and danced around and drank our fill of the beer truck. baby eric showed up too! my parents and their friends? total party people. if i didn't believe it after st. patrick's day, i'm totally sure by now. those people know how to have a good time.

THAT'S ALL FO' NOW, BROWN COW.

More-drobe Maturday

this is actually what i wore to work on friday. NO RULES ON THIS BLOG! or if there are rules, I'm breaking all of them.

i also got my make-up done by the lovely miss fogarty. considering how rarely i apply make-up (and what my defintion of 'make-up' is (mascara and lipgloss i've had since tenth grade)), i always feel like a totally different person when it's on my face. annie is super legit- has a whole sweet setup and all the brushes and palettes- the whole nine yards. she's in a class right now and needed to practice on people and my face had no plans for last night so i signed up. totally awesome. really fun. good stuff, good stuff. and considering i have no idea how to take make-up off, i'll pretty much be rocking this look all weekend. lookin' fly.

shirt: goodwill
skirt: the limited, courtesy of Helen "Mama" Weigel
necklace: forever21
unseen awesome peep-toe leopard shoes: target
fancy face fixing: annie fogarty

things that happened in the sunny past

because the weather here has not been that good in a while. it's been weird and cloudy and always threatening rain. i haven't had a chance to ride my bike or sit in parks or worry about sunburn. it's like i secretly moved to seattle. it's the pits.

but these are photos of happier times! times when we saw a woman on stilts dressed as a fern doing weird plant tricks! times when we ate sandwiches in the park and played word games! times when it was sunny and the lighting made everyone look like little lit up angels! times when we went to karaoke and got our diva on!

hopefully there are more of these times in the near future. step one: less gray, more sun.

TEMPLE SMASH!

the sketch show i'm involved with (as a writer, director, and occasional actor) on campus has our eighth episode online now! everyone involved in temple smash works absurdly hard to get the show together. it's such a wonderful, collaborative process and, though it gets stressful at times, it's really rewarding to be a part of. so watch it! do it! it's funny! and you're trying to procrastinate anyway.

More-drobe Monday

and a surprise switch to larger photos! muh outfits all up in yo' face!

i'm pretty proud of my ability to google search 'make pictures bigger' and follow a tutorial on resizing blogger (which i keep typing as 'blooger', an interesting combination of blog and booger). and yet, i'm still unable to work a camera timer or pose like a normal individual and not someone who awkwardly attempts to corall their own arms is if they were oddly shaped pets i just recently acquired and not part of my body. someday; someday.

i'm sporting a whole lot of blue and a whole lot of pattern. rocking the nude fishnets as well, which i think are classy as all get up. i'm like a sophisticated smurf who's just moved away from the village to pursue an office career.

shirt: originally new york & company, but homiegirl got it at salvation army
skirt: salvation army
belt: salvation army
shoes: salvation army
fishnets: kohls, courtesy of santa or birthday santa.
sweet rug under my feet: doctor grandpa.

to my beautiful mother

happy mother's day helrin. thank you for being such a beautiful, funny, caring mother. i am consistently in awe of how lucky i am to have you in my life. thanks for packing me amazing lunches all the way through my senior year. thanks for bringing my birthday dinner and easter meal to me in philly complete with wine. thanks for always thinking of me and spoiling me and drew with your constant kindness. thanks for teaching me to be independent and value hard work. thanks for being goofy with me in kohls and dress barn. thanks for always encouraging me to set goals and have high expectations for myself and those around me. thanks for giving me my blue eyes and love of candy. thanks for having the best dance moves and mind-blowing baking skills. thanks for giving me a wonderful example of what womanhood should be. you are the ultimate role model- someone who manages succeed in her career, in her social life, in her role as mother and wife, and as an individual. i love you a stupid amount.