Days One and Two: Meeting Acquaintances

And just like that, folks, I was home again.

I had an incredible last weekend full of food, drink, friends, and delightful surprises. It makes leaving England really hard...alas soon enough I'll be back ;)

Straight from the (quite long and tediously cramped, but nonetheless exciting because of the destination) flight, Dad and I were off to my grandparents' house. Hugs and kisses abounded...it was a great night.

Nonna and I on our way to dinner...

After an early night, I was whisked off to the dentist and osteopath (where something was wrong on a cellular level, apparently) before reuniting with my mom. Here's her new downtown office...




We headed off to this vegan restaurant for some collard green wrap filled with green hummus and whatnot. It was different, I'll tell ya.



Coffee time with Mum






Mom brought me to Laura's parents house, where my bestie and her children were napping. Quite the exciting moments ensued :)

Eliana: the archer, Pre Bath. It's come down to this: my vacation is totally going to be governed by these children. I just could NOT get enough. Seeing them in 3D is pretty much the most amazing thing I've ever witnessed: I'm fairly sure this is going to be an amazing time.




Adeline and her Dear Auntie Lexi. Twas a good acquaintance.

Ellie!



Ah yes, the Tower looms in the distance. It totally kills me every single time. Love this city.







Crammed in the backseat with a bird's eye view of the bebes, I was pretty, pretty happy by nightfall. Pretty awesome second day back, if you ask me!

Wide Open Spaces

My house is empty and clean and just as pretty as it could possibly be for my house. Still, I wish I lived here today...

image courtesy of halifornia (swoon)

Ah...open spaces, how I've missed you.

See you in less than two days, Toronto.

Missed you too ;)

Cinema Verite

I just finished watching Cinema Verite. Thought you might want to know ;)

It was really good, by the way.

The Portable Party

The final work party of the year found us in quite a jovial mood. We were told that this was party: the one everyone attended; the one everyone enjoyed most; the one we'd love most. We were so in. The promise of fish and chips was a tad odd: would we dine in the same Styrofoam containers we did when we last ate the English fare fave in the cafeteria? Sounded a bit strange, but boy, were we up for it.

Hopping into a cab with Ryan and his visitors from Canada, we were giddy at the notion that we all thought this was a barbecue but we'd heard rumors of a disco. What kind of party could this be?

Turned out, it was one good lookin' party. Ha! I guess that's besides the point.

This is what we paid a mere ten pounds to witness: a portable decked out with a bar and the tackiest decorations one could throw up on walls and in door frames. God, I love a cheesy party.



I'll take it.

There were the obligatory grin-ny pics as we planned a summer away from the faces we had grown to know so well...

This is the whole lot of us, blurry and with a Brit hanging on to the glory that is a Canadian Picture. I guess we'll take that too.

Drinks were about £2 so it's accurate to say we had more than our fare share.

(Note: is this not the cutest picture? Yes, yes it is.)

Pete: more often than not, the Man of the Hour.

Emma, Emma, and myself.

Oh, but the love was flowing...

And, as usual, Jocelyn and I took our show on the road for some, shall we say, arty posing. Dear me.



For the last time as crew, we made it a great night.



Let it be said again, because it deserves to be said, you'll be missed immensely.

Right here, right now

My mantra keeps proving its merit, especially at times like these, on days like these: every single thing that has ever happened has brought me right here, right now. So no matter how crummy (sp?) something might seem when it happens, it will definitely bring me to a place of clarity at some point in my future. Things always happen for a reason: the reason is rarely clear, but becomes evident with time. Sometimes it's a small reason: this happened to simply bring you here, but other times the reasons are far more profound.

I'm digging this philosophy today.

If you forget, this was the mantra first discovered while floating in the ocean at Railay West Beach in Thailand. What an awesome discovery.

The last day of school was really sad for me and for my friends. It was really hard to say goodbye, to imagine Tuesday afternoons (a random day when I often thought of catching a weekend flight back to Toronto) without them, to picture Friday nights gathered around cheese plates not made by them. And when I need a rock, a shoulder, a sounding board, I'm going to have to find a new one, aren't I?

On the flipside, these girls are going home to an unsure future: being a teacher in Ontario isn't exactly the easiest market to break into. Kudos to them for having the courage to choose home over Dartford ;) I'm not yet brave enough to settle back on the other good side of the pond.

They're not fearless...



but they're strong.


Remember my staff party after my last day at Keun Myeong? hahahahaah...I do. Close to 30 of us crammed into my teeny tiny apartment. Oh lordy, life has been good to me. Pictures of our (fifteenth) staff party coming soon. I swear, it's the last ;)

Solitude

I've been staying up later and later because Every. Waking. Moment. for the last two weeks has been spent with another human being.

Sometime after about 11:45, however, it's nothing but solitude.

I admit it: I like it.

As much as I'll regret
not spending Every. Single. Second.
with my friends once our time is up
(just like I did last year),
sometimes I just need a quiet room,
a band that sings in falsetto,
and a cup of tea.

A chance to daydream...
a chance to fall into a dreamy slumber.
The quiet is such a gift.

G'Night.

Image is mine.

Defying Gravity

Wicked is advertised even in Dartford...eek. Taken just inside the train station.

Dani and I were quite surprised at Jocelyn's face. Why oh why are you so sour, ladybird? It was fairly hilarious and thus became the theme of the night: the two of us giddy-ing our way through the streets of London, while Jocelyn frowned her way down the streets. Odd, right? She's great....we love her anyway.



"Dani, get in the puddle."

"Um, okay." Steps in puddle...

England, you can KEEP your rain. We're going home to sunshine!

Subway shots at Embankment...

...on the subway...

...and crowded all together. Sweet, right?



Oh yeah, at long last, Jocelyn cracks a giggle. A chortle. A silly, bent-over grin. It's so on. This may be because we drank a bottle of wine on our way into the City and this was taken on our way to 2-for-1 cocktails. Nice one.

Perusing...deciding...agreeing

Let's all push together and take a picture. Or just the two of us can and a hole will be left where Jocelyn should be. Riiiight.

Ah, there she is

Wannabellini? Sure do!



Wanna go see Wicked? Sure do!

Right, so you recall how I felt about seeing Kelsey Grammer in the Birdcage last summer in NYC...I don't LOVE musicals long time (nor, as it turns out, does Jocelyn). BUT, Dani was keen...quite keen...and so we went along. Little did we know we'd love it so much (all kidding aside).

The Jumping Shots Commenced. We thought we'd try Defying Gravity ;)

First, the Good Witch...

Second, the Trying-to-be-Wicked Witch

Third, the Wacko Witch

Oh yes, we had a wicked time ;)