I'm a painter! And a cook!

Although I may have spent part of this morning with my hands completely covered in purple paint, I think I'm doing an ok job. Who knew the third paint I used would be the NON-water soluble one? I didn't! But I found out rather quickly when trying to clean off the brush. I was envisioning having to walk to the nearest hardware store with purple sticky hands and ask for their help, but luckily I had one clean pinky, access to the internet and olive oil in the house. PHEW. All is well and my Ikea furniture is transforming into SASSY furniture.

This whole learning to cook thing is going well too thanks to my slow cooker/crock pot and Sarah Wild's tutelage. I have chopped several onions, observed how to fry an egg, and helped in the preparation of chili, several soups, a lamb shoulder, baking a whole chicken, and I made Jefferson's Broccoli-Quinoa-Goat Cheese recipe all by myself. I've been informed of the proper tea etiquette but I don't quite get it myself and I'm positive I'm doing it wrong so once I know more I'll report back. Speaking of that chili. Maybe, perhaps, Jefferson and I thought that the "chili powder" that Ruth and Sarah Wild had was regular, American flavor - but instead it turns out it was intense, Indian, crushed flaming hot pepper and MAYBE the recipe called for 2.5 tablespoons of it and MAYBE we all wanted to die while eating it. Maybe.

Me and the neighborhood boys.

My feet are constantly cold because all I brought with me are my slip-on chucks, but that's about to change since (1) we get our shipment tomorrow so all of my lovely, lovely shoes will be mine once again and (2) it's supposed to get warmer next week (up to the 50's!).

In an attempt to do more and try new things I showed up randomly to a volleyball league last night that I was not signed up for and they let me sub on a team. It was fun and a good level of play but MAN do I miss my team from Chicago. And bacon. I miss bacon. Real, Amurican bacon. Chicago volleyball and bacon go hand in hand, see.

Jefferson and I took the river boat to a coworker's Portuguese themed party the other night and it was a really great ride that I highly recommend. You get to see all of the London bridges and tons of sights (big ben, the london eye, etc.). Plus the party was fun and had great food. I am, perhaps, consuming too much cheese. But is there really such a thing as too much cheese? I think probably not.

I'll post pics of the apartment as soon as the paint is dried and our shipment is all put in it's place. Ta ta for now, meine watermelons.

Happy New Year from London!

New Years Eve!

Oh hellooooooooo! We made it and have had terrible colds since we got here - which is why we're delayed in sending any sort of update to anyone. But we're on the mend and if you've been interested in how we're doing and what we've been up to then please do read on...

On New Years Eve we did what I assume all Londoners do to prep for the coming New Year - we went to Costco and Ikea. Aw yeah. You can't stop us from buying in bulk - we're Amurican! Jefferson drove a little truck thing to and from the stores a few times (stick shift, wrong side of the road, no rearview mirror) - and did a great job (even with all of my stressed out fidgeting and noise making).

Then we had a super fun New Years celebration at Ruth and Sarah Wild's place with a bunch of people from here and from the States. They got us all AMAZING ugly Christmas sweaters for the par-tay and Rocko sent us a bunch of Fireball swag - we look goooooood (but the Fireball lip balm was toxic). We played a game called Exploding Kittens which was weird and confusing but had some of the best art and strange sayings I've ever heard. I also enjoyed being told I was "fresh off the boat" several times that evening. Heh.

After that we started to settle into the apartment - which is crazy that we already have one to set up - woo! Thank goodness for Ruth and Sarah Wild. I have no idea what we would have done without them! The view of the Thames river from our place is cool and there are TWO BATHROOMS, people. Also two bedrooms so please start booking your flights to come visit. We'll create a calendar of some sort so we can schedule all visits appropriately. Come any ol' time - we're ready when you are.

Cooking!

Sarah Wild and I spent a day (with Alfred) setting up most of the Ikea furniture we bought so I'll send pics once all of that is done so you can see the place. We three have also been practicing COOKING. Yeah, I said that. I helped COOK. I even did our dishes one day. It's like a whole new world. We'll see how long it lasts.

I have so many questions that Sarah Wild and Ruth have been helpful in answering: How does the heater in our apartment work? Why do they have King beds but not Queens? What does cream tea mean? Why can nobody seem to understand me when I speak? Tat = junk, Tit = idiot, Apartment = flat, Sausage = Bangers, Bill = Note, Excellent performance = Blinder, Bloody = non-offensive explanative, Sneakers = trainers, Cilantro = Coriander, Thanks = Cheers, Doctor's office = surgery, Shopping cart (or just cart) = trolley.

It has rained every single day we've been here, but not all day and not a ton or a downpour - and yes, we've seen the sun! A few times! I'm excited for the shipment of the rest of our stuff to come so I can put on better shoes for this weather but other than that it's been awesome. More to come as we explore our little area and the rest of London town...