Primark

If you go to London, you will undoubtedly walk by a huge building with bright blue lettering called Primark. You might be curious to check it out, but before you do, here is my experience with it. It ain't for everyone.

What is Primark? Imagine the dingiest Ross in Tijuana, and then combine that with Walmart the day after Thanksgiving, and add 3,000 foreigners all dragging rolly carts literally packed full with random things like 13 pairs of baby shoes, 4 sets of sheets, and enough underwear to keep a small country commando-free, and you have Primark. I hate myself and everyone in it when I go, but it is dirt cheap. Bra's for £4! Shoes for £6! Dresses for £10! The two big Primarks are along Oxford street and it's inexpensive goods might be a welcomed surprise after walking through Selfridge's and Liberty.You just have to handle staying in line for 40 minutes and dodging obstacles, like women trying on clothes in the middle of the aisles or screaming children running through clothes racks.

I've successfully been twice. The first time, I bought a bra, hangers, coco butter, gummy bears, and a £24 puffer jacket. Last week, I bought another bra, towels, and pink wedge sandals that I at first thought were cute, but then later on realized they screamed "Made in a sweat shop by a 4 year old in China", so I took them back. When I took them back, I attempted to try on clothes for the first time. HA, that was fun! I nearly ripped the paper thin fabric of the first dress I tried on, and I kind of felt like I was getting closer to catching a rare but serious disease with every new garment I tried on. I nearly bought this as a joke, but then came to the realization that no amount of bleach could kill the bacteria living in it, so I passed it up.

I say, if you're curious, poke your head in, but don't waste more than 30 minutes there (which you will if you plan on buying anything. I swear I've waited longer in line at Primark than at Disney World). Going to Primark twice this past week has given me a new profound appreciation for Target. 

A Day on Regent Street

I am a very, very lucky wife. My husband buys me little gifts all of the time, and I usually don't brag about him, but I have to today! I wish I was as thoughtful as he is...he can just go on a whim and get somebody an awesome gift. Me, on the other hand...I just over think it too much. 

For no good reason other than being the sweetest guy ever, Daniel booked me a really fancy spa day at the Langham Hotel on Regent Street. It's a 5 star hotel, and I felt like I stuck out like a sore thumb in my tights and H&M sweater! However, the staff were all very friendly and I ended up having such a wonderful morning.

 I've only had a handful of massages, but this one was by far the fanciest! Upon arrival, the staff gave me a robe, slippers, and sparkling mineral water. I got to sit in the "relaxation room" where I filled out a questionnaire about "the harmony of the elements" in my body (a little bit of a quack, but whatever!).

Next, I got to pick out which oil they used (I picked lavendar and chamomile, but my other choices were basil/ lemon and orange/ something or other) and then enjoyed a relaxing massage. It was my first time to not have a deep tissue massage. Although I prefer the deep tissue, I will say this one was WAY less painful and I was able to relax more. Afterwards, I had some organic loose leafed tea and fruit, then used their salt sauna and hot tub. Fearful that I would fall asleep and drown/ sweat to death, I had to leave after a couple of hours. Perfect morning!

 Since I was in one of the main shopping areas in London, I decided to try and tackle some last minute Christmas shopping...bad idea!

 Everything was SO overcrowded with tourists and other last minute shoppers. Plus, shopping just really sucks in London when you are used to American prices. For example, Daniel loves Brooks Brothers so I went in, hoping to get him something. The prices were the SAME in pounds as they are in dollars...which means it is nearly double the price as it would be in America! UK brands aren't any better, either!

 I ended up going to Selfridges, Liberty, Fortnum & Mason, and some other small shops...and bought NOTHING! It was too crowded to even think straight, let alone browse without a specific list in mind.

 At Selfridges, they sell American foods. I almost bought these Oreos for Daniel...before seeing the price! Y'all, that is equivalent to about $12...for 1 pack of Oreos!

 Even though I didn't buy anything and became frustrated with the hordes of people, I do love seeing London at Christmas time! All of the store windows are decorated over the top and the displays entice you to buy things you never thought you needed. Thankfully, I am very frugal and have excellent self-control, or we would have had to eat nothing but cereal for the next 5 weeks!

I am going to be a complete lunatic tomorrow and go to Harrods right when it opens. I can't even fathom how crazy it will be on the Saturday before Christmas, but tis the season!

Brown Warrior in London

I don't have time for a long post....here's what's been happening with Justin and Brandee in London! 

In front of Abbey Road Studios

First day- exploring South Bank

Pub by our flat...called The Warrington. Used to be a brothel! It is on Randolph Street....supposedly, the term "randy" (think Austin Powers: "Are you randy, baby?" originated at this pub!

Borough Market

Us waiting for the legendary grilled cheese!

Look at all of those wheels of cheese...

So good.

I poured my own olive oil...I can go back and refill my canister for 5 pounds!

Wine at the market...my new favorite thing. We also got some mulled wine and the man gave me a free shot of whiskey in it!

Church by the market

Tower Bridge in the background...NOT London Bridge

 

Poe's in London

Some random, captioned pictures to broadcast what we did in London with my mom and sister. 

 

Street art we found while walking along Regent's Canal. I wrote to live everyday with joy, Mom wrote to live life with no regrets, and Madeline wrote to adopt a British accent. Ha!

Regent's Park. So lovely. We walked through it before leaving for Paris on my family's first morning in Europe.

There are people in London who have the very important job of sweeping leaves EVERYDAY. They get slippery after awhile!

Buckingham Palace. Not to impressive, compared to Parisian architecture!

What's a trip to London without checking out Harrods? We scoped out the food sections and had a pot of tea there.

Westminster is only a couple of tube exits south of ours. You get off and literally run in to Parliament, Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey. PLUS, we got to tour the abbey for free because I live in the Westminster borough.

Walking around Soho with our Starbucks. Pic at Liberty!



Christmas in London :-)

Our rations after Borough Market. Bread, pasta, olives, quiche, jam, and wine straight from the barrel! I can take that bottle and refill it for only 5 pounds!

We did so many other things and I can't believe none of us took pictures! Along with everything I wrote about that we did for my birthday, We...

- Took the bus to Oxford Circus and had a lil shoppin' trip

- Saw Book of Mormon and died laughing! And then proceeded to sing the only line from each song we remembered for the rest of the week (I wanna Baptizeee herrr...It's a spooky Mormon Hell Dream!...Just turn it off! )

- Walked along South Bank and through the Christmas Market, where my mom bought herself a new purse!

-Walked along Abbey Road and pubbed it up at some of our favorite neighborhood joints

-Admired the works of Picasso, Dali, and Monet at the Tate Modern

I loveedddddd having my mom and sister visiting and I was so not ready for them to leave! I enjoyed showing them around London and was very proud of myself for never getting us lost (thank GOD for GPS on phones). We laughed so much through out the trip and made lots of memories! I was depressed the whole day that they left, but I am thankful that we will see them again in a few weeks for Christmas!

Emerald and Aqua

I'll never forget the conversation I had with my close friend, Anneke, when we first became roommates at UT. I think it went something like this...

Anneke (totally out of nowhere while we were sitting in the kitchen): I associate numbers with colors.
Me: That's weird. What's 3?
Anneke: Red
Me:1
Anneke: Blue
Me: 25
Anneke: It only goes up to 10.

But really, I have never met anyone that has such a passion and understanding of colors. Because of Anneke, I can never wear turquoise and feel like I'm not stealing "her" color.

It comes to no surprise that Anneke is a fantastic artist. I am totally missing the arty farsty gene, so I couldn't understand how Anneke could just seemingly add a dash of color here and a different "swoosh" of her brush there and totally transform her work.

 These are some of my favorites of hers, from her etsy site:





Obsessed! Really, I just love ALL of her paintings of flowers in aqua jars. They would look beautiful standing alone or in a trio. It has that shabby chic, vintage and girly feel...would look gorgeous in a sunlit living room or bathroom.



UGH, I just love this one. Would look perfect in a kitchen. This makes me literally crave an icy, sweet cup of lemonade.



How cute would this be in a girl's bedroom? And how hungry does it make you for a decadent, rich cupcake? Would be dangerous if it was hung anywhere near food.

To check out more of her paintings, to commission her to create something unique, or to find out more about the lessons she can give to your kiddos and their friends, check out her site Emerald & Aqua or her Facebook page.

Weekend Funnsies!

Hello, and I hope you all had a great weekend and will have a week that is equally as enjoyable...I know my week will be, as my mom and sister arrive on Thursday!

 

Last blog left off with my riding my bike clear across London on Friday. I arrived home when it was already pitch black outside, so Daniel and I did nothing else! I made some Goulash soup, after being inspired in Budapest. 

 

I got to use the paprika that we bought while in Hungary, but the soup wasn't nearly as good as it was in Budapest. And that bread bowl? It's a laugh! No body here even knew what a "bread bowl" was, so I just bought 2 loafs of sourdough and made it in to a bread bowl...a ridiculously huge one. 

But it saved the soup from being unremarkable!

 



 On Saturday morning, I picked up some free furniture from a friend of a friend who's moving. I rode my new bike there and hired a van to bring it back to my place. This is the new hutch in our kitchen. We had only 5.5 cabinets in our kitchen, 3 drawers, and no pantry. This now gives us some much needed storage! I also brought home a nice baker's rack and put it outside in our cement garden to display some flowers. Right now, it is a home to the house plants that I have killed and have put outside, hoping that they will miraculously have a second life. I'll post pics after I buy some more plants for it!

 

 After the furniture delivery, I was itchin' to do some shopping (I mean, I got furniture for free. I practically earned it). I rode the bus to Oxford Street and scoffed when I noticed that everything has been Christmasfied! Since there is no Thanksgiving here, Christmas decorations have been up since Nov. 1! I scored a sweater from H&M and a new puffy jacket from Primark for 22 pounds! Primark is like an even cheaper Old Navy.

We love gypsies. So many of our jokes center around them, I have no idea why they give us such a laugh

 On Sunday, we met up with Daniel's boss and his lovely family in Greenwich. We got there early, so I got my first red Starbucks cup of the season, sportin' an eggnog latte extra shot.

I knew my teeth had been coffiefied, so I didn't want them photographed. BTW- new jacket! Super warm and will be great during the colder months!

We explored the Painted Hall in the Maritime College... parts of Thor 2 were shot here! 



Other movies that had been shot on these grounds: Les Mis (barricade scene), Dark Knight Rises (final cafe scene), The King's Speech, Mummy Returns, and Lara Croft. Cool!

A lovely chapel. I learned that (at least) the dome roof of it was designed by the same architect whom designed St. Paul's! This was a "trial run" for him before building the cathedral.


We went to another museum that used to be the Queen's house. Henry VIII was born here!

We had a great and somewhat restful weekend. It is crazy...even though it is only mid November, we literally have every weekend planned out until 2014! It's going to be wild. In the next 6 weeks, we are going to Paris, Scotland, Paris again, then HOUSTON!!!