indian summer

It's been 80 degrees and sunny the past few days and I am loving it! Although I have some businessy stuff I need to take care of, I have been trying to spend my spare moments outdoors. This has included running, picnicking, and my favorite taking- a stroll to St. Paul's and the Millennium Bridge. 

I sat and sketched St. Paul's for a while, but all of a sudden my leg fell terribly asleep- the worst I have ever experienced. When I tried to stand it felt like my foot was shaped like a ball and it was just rolling off the ground. It was weird and painful and needless to stay I didn't finish my sketch completely. But I did manage to catch some photos at sunset

i love the cranes

dan update

Dan has been busy getting ready for school to start. In case I didn't mention it before, the program he is in is a master's in sports management. His long term goal is to work for the MLS and increase soccer's popularity in the US. His goal after school though is to try and gain experience here for a UK club or European team. His program is only 20 people large, and they come from all over the world. So far he has made friends with people from Brazil, Greece, Italy, Cyprus, Germany, Canada, Jamaica, New Jersey, Finland, England, and China! Today Dan's dreams came true, his program got a tour of Arsenal stadium. Arsenal happens to Dan's favorite favorite team.

 

some other helpful friends and fun

Some other friends that have been incredibly helpful/kind to us are dear Kimber and Julian. Not only did they give us cell phones with minutes, let us stay in their place two nights, show us to church, and let me join her book club...they gave us two tickets to Open House London!  This is a weekend when many of the city's buildings are open to the public. An architecture student's dream, excuse me, graduated architecture student.

the tube

one thing i love about the tube is all the different stations and signage. here are two that caught my fancy.

we've had some fun too

At Liz's wedding we met a great lad named Christian. Christian is one of Philip's Norwegian friends who happens to be living in London. Christian has been so helpful in getting us settled thanks to his giant purple van. Christian has a giant purple van because he and his pals started a popcorn company called, "Loved Da Popcorn". Play around on their website; you will see how great they are. They sell their popcorn at a reoccurring event called, The Nomad. The Nomad is a traveling cinema that plays really great movies in really great/thoughtful locations.  For example, we saw Pan's Labyrinth in an old cemetery and Back to the Future at the Greenwich Observatory (Greenwich as in Greenwich Mean Time, as in giant clock, get it?!) and they brought a DeLorean to the showing. Anyway, we have helped Christian sell popcorn at some of these events in exchange for the honour of watching the shows.
 Pretty great huh!?

getting settled

Since our flat only came partially furnished, we have been really busy buying all the needed accoutrements. We have taken many a long bus/train ride to Ikea, Argos, Costco and Asda.

dan's sleepy

a double rainbow, though not noticeable from the photo

 On one of our visits to an electronic store in Hackney, we happened upon this amazing community garden!

 

So far this worst trips have been:
1)transporting a sofa-chair home from Ikea- we took the wrong bus and had to get off and transfer to the tube..at rush hour.
2) busing 45 minutes to a stop off the freeway, then walking a mile on the side of the freeway to Costco. Only to walk that mile back with a large case of soymilk, granola bars, olives, and knives and bus 45 minutes back.
3) returning a large mirror to Ikea via two buses

can you tell what's going on in this photo? that's me, holding the mirror so you can see behind me annnnnnd in front of me- wow.

the hunt for a flat...

Looking for a flat was such a headache. Firstly, the letting market is really dry right now due to the economy and time of year. Then there are the following criteria we wanted to meet: on a budget, close to school, close to transportation, safe, move in within a week, wood floors. I was actually 110% serious about that last one, more important to me than some of the other situpli (uhh, that's plural for stipulations).

We looked at some nice places, and some dumps

 Then ultimately settled here...

view down the street

 You may notice a photograph of the bedroom is missing. That's because when I took these photos we were still living out of suitcases. I will post more photos once we are all furnished.

Here's what we like about the place:

• within our price range
• wood floors
• close to Victoria line, Picadilly line, and Overground.
• 15 minutes to Dan's school
• next to a giant park with tennis courts, boating lake, cafe and running trails
• next to a 2 mile long nature path that is perfect for running
• quiet neighborhood
• newly refurbished

Here's what we don't like

• basement apartment
• low ceilings (actually I don't mind the low ceilings, but Dan of course does)
• poor cell reception

We really like it here and love our area (Crouch End/ Finsbury Park), I think we got pretty lucky.