Adventures in London: Issue 10

I am in the middle of watching a movie so I am going make this quick.Wanted to send a proper email from the office, but as luck would haveit we were having internet issues. This is not an invitation tomention that I live in a second rate country that cannot afford asolid web infrastructure...

I am still working on getting internet sorted I the flat. Finally gotthe phone people to come in and fix the line. Maybe in the next 6months I will have cable and internet. Am desperate for TV as my cableconnection broke. Don't know the technical name for it, but the needlepiece broke. C'est la vie.

So in more exciting news!!! I have settled in - or at least I haveunpacked. This week I was a good girl and unpacked my belongings. Mustadmit, I realised that I shipped way too many things over here - i.e.all my runner world magazines from the past 4 years. Also realisedthat for the first time in 28 years my closet will be filled withsomething other than button down shirts. Don't get too excited, I onlyhave room for my coats and suits. I know I am going to sound like atool, but it felt really nice to organise my closet and alphabetize my DVDs!

For the major event of this week! I had (have) my first visitor. Myroommate from university is in town from Germany. Must admit, it niceto be living with someone. Friday night we cooked dinner at sat at thedinner table. The idea that I' ve settled in was on Saturday mornng myroommate and I woke up and made breakfast of coffee and crumpetswithout skipping a beat.

Saturday marked my event in London. To keep up the tradition of theAmerican's crew in the office, I hosted a pub crawl of myneighbourhood. The notion was to give me a chance to learn the hood aswell as although the others to see a new part of town. We started mymy flat with a party keg and a cheese and fruit platter. Then the 11of us were off to the pubs of clapham north, clapham common and old town. It was a brilliant night of laughter, tasty beverages and grand memories.

I am sure there is more that I could share, but I want to watch themovie now. Has taken me nearly an hour to type this on my BB. I hopeyou are well. How is the fall weather treating you? Speaking of,here's the big question of the issue, what is your favorite part aboutfall? Am keen to read your responses.

Miss you all. With every step I take here, I carry you all in my heart.

Xxx

T

Adventures in London: Issue 9

Is that right...is it really issue 9!!! Remember writing Issue 1 like it was yesterday

I should mention that I have decided to move the date of the updates from Sunday to Monday. Once I get my internet sorted out, I will switch the back to Sunday. It is much easier to type on a keyboard than on a BlackBerry - plus I can send the photo of the week this way.

So back to the update. This week has been an adventure!!!

The week started in NYC with all my family and friends (It just dawned upon me that it was only a week ago that I was home. Feels like I came back ages ago. Guess a lot truly has happened this week). On Tuesday morning (very early morning) I flew back to London town only to get on a train Wednesday morning for a day trip to Manchester for a client meeting.

Thursday was supposed to be a low-key night of cleaning and unpacking, but it turned into a night of partying and dancing. Every Thursday before pay day is free bar at the Mindshare bar. I had every intention of going home early to get some rest, but the group I was chatting with were going out dancing and we all know that I cannot pass up a chance to dancing. I went along, figuring it would be a good way to meet new people and boy was it. I met some lovely people from my floor that evening and am now known on the floor for my fabulous dance moves - and I didn't even have postcards on my trousers.

Friday afterwork I went to Brighton to meet up with a friend of mine and his wife for wine tasting. It was a lovely and educational night of wine exploration through the regions of France. I truly learned a lot that night about the different regions of wines, how to taste them and what makes each wine different. I am going to try to find a place in Clapham that does wine tasting. I spent the night there on Friday. Saturday morning I went for a run with my friend's wife and then we all went to Chili Fest where we tasted the world's hottest curry. Boy that stuff was that insane - it was something out of a cartoon...fire gushing out of our mouths and smoke pouring from our ears. There were some interesting dishes there - chili chocolate, chocolate covered chilis, chili jam, chili beer ..you name it and it had chilis in it. From there is was off to a dear friend's 30th birthday, which was a night of laughter, dancing and karaoke! Who doesn't love a night of karaoke?!?! Met some lovely folks at the shin-dig - even another Shania fan. Who would have thought that I would have found a mate here that knows the Shania facts as much as i do...he even knew facts that I didn't know.

I am hoping that this week is NOT as adventerous as this past one. This coming week I need to focus on training for the 2009 NYC Marathon. Have over a year, but I reckon I am going to require all the time I can get. Given that this is my first marathon, I need to make sure that I do not injure myself, cause we all know how easy it is for me. I also need to do plenty of cleaning and unpacking as I will have my first visitor!!! My roomate from university is coming on Friday for the weekend all the way from Germany. Funny what I am about to say, but I believe that we will see more of each other on this side of the pond than we did when she was in NJ and I was in NYC.

Well that is all for me. I hope you all look forward to these updates as much as I do. I just wish that these conversations could be in person over an ice cream or a coffee or something. As a reminder, if you would like to be removed from this list, please let me know. If not, please look forward to Issue 10 :-)

I got this quote from my uncle this week and it got me thinking.

"There is a cost for action and there is a cost for inaction. You decide what is more expensive"
- Donald Trump

You never know what life is going to throw your way and rathter than being the person that sits back, I am going to get involved. Find something that you can get involved in. If I may suggest a cause...try doing something for the National MS Society (http://www.nationalmssociety.org/about-multiple-sclerosis/index.aspx). They hold a number of bike rides throughout the US. This cause has just recently become one very close to my heart. If you know anyone biking for MS then sponsor them or better yet do the event yourself (http://www.bikems.org/)!!!

Best of wishes to you all! Miss you and love you dearly!

xoxo
T

PS: the picture that I have attached is from Tuesday morning while my plane was flying over NYC. Hard to tell, but the land mass below me is manhathan.

Adventures in London: Issue 8

How is everyone?! I hope you are well. I have wonderful news to share with you all. I have officially qualified for the 2009 NYC ING Marathon! I ran my 9 races and this past weekend fulfilled my volunteer requirement, so now I can start training for my first marathon!!! Who knows...maybe I will give Paula Radcliffe and Deena Kastor a run for their money in 2012 - hahahaha.

So let's see what else. Well as the subject suggest, I am writing you this email from NYC. Should have written it last night, but I was too tired to write a proper update. I flew back home on Thursday night and I fly to London Tuesday morning. When I was on the flight over I kept thinking 6 nights was a substantial trip and sufficient enough to spend time with family and friends. Now that it is Monday, I cannot help but feel like it was nothing. This trip has been a blur - probably because my body was on NYC time in the evening and London time in the morning.

It has been a good trip. I have truly loved spending time with my family. Realized that although I pay rent in London, my home will always be 10 Park (I hope by saying that I don't have to start contributing to the mortgage - jk). I thought I would miss having an apartment here, but I have truly enjoyed staying with my brother (and friends when required). Seeing Kadin has been nothing less than amazing. I was a bit sadden that his first reaction when he saw me was to scream bloody murder, but after a couple of days he has finally warmed up to me :-)

If there is one thing that I wish I could take back to London, it would NOT be BBQ, Mac N Cheese, crispy bacon, mexican food, candy, American TV shows...it would be my brother (well knowing that wherever he goes Jamila and Kadin are not too far behind).

It has been nice catching up with friends. This trip has definitely proven that despite being 4000 miles away, we will always remain the closest and dearest of friends. Miss you all with all my heart. Thank you for a lovely couple of evenings.

Well I am off to explore NYC and be the tourist that I am!

Keep in touch!

xoxo

T

PS: The attached photo is from last week's football tournament! I have no downloaded photos from this week.

Adventures in London: Issue 7

Week 2 without internet, so you this is another BB update. I am in themiddle of cooking chicken with a red Thai curry sauce, so this may need to be brief.

What a week! It's been filled with some highs and sadly some lows.Where shall I start... Will start with the high.

Today I went to Battersea park to play football (soccer) for an IAAtournament. Let me say I was at quite the disadvantage for 2 reasons.1 - I have not played it over 15 years, 2 - I call the sport soccer. Istruggled with the first game, but by game 6 I was enjoying myself. Itwas nice to be playing a team sport. I reckon however that I will beslightly sore tomorrow.

Saturday I had an American evening. There is a restaurant/pub herethat shows American sports, so the Americans went to watch somecollege football and eat BBQ! The experience was no where close towatching in the US and having nachos and wings, but it was worth it.Strange moment was discovering that a friend that I met here went toBU during my time and lived around the corner from me in NYC.Ironically, she lived in the building that I was originally going tolive in befor my sister-in-law and brother saw the apartment on park.While talking with her, I realized that I was pleased to bring cominghome this week!

Thursday was the best! Monday marked the series premiere of gossipgirl. Being the obsessive and geeky person that I am, I made it mymission to find a way to watch it in London. I am happy to report thatI succeeded. Thankfully I am not the only gossip girl geek! This isgoing to be an exciting season!

So onto the unfortunate events of this week. My shipment arrived onFriday. Although all my boxes arrived, some of the contents weremissing. Sadly that was the one box that I was looking forward tohaving. Box #19 containing all my frames, photos and paintings. Yup,all gone. I have had time to deal with situation, but I am stillannoyed and disappointed by the matter. It is not the money attachedto the items - in fact money wise it was not that big of a deal toreplace the items. The sentimental value attached to those itemshowever, that is another thing. Had a photo of my brother and I inIndia, a family photo in front of the taj mahal, a photo of my dadthat my godfather gave us, the first print I bought in SoHo, thepainting that Mike gave me for Christmas, among others. Trying to bepositive about the situation and that the contents will be found.

Well on that note, I am going to sign off. Dinner is prepared! Hopeyou all are well. Drop me a line and let me know how things are - howwere the last summer travels, what did you do for labour day, how iss chool going....

Xoxo

T