I'm sick! Not okay! I am not going to Morocco with a cold! When I finally decided to leave the house today I went for a walk around my neighborhood to take pictures of my day-to-day things. i.e. Tesco, ICCo, Boots, Goodge Street Station, BT Tower, Foundling Museum, and others. Spent the rest of the day taking care of stuff around the house and trying to rest and get better!

I had a one day job with Lewis Craig corporate real estate agents. I spent the whole day doing whatever I wanted while I answered the phone for these 4 guys who were all really nice! The office building was actually this really nice and cute house in the Marylebone area of Central London. After work I picked-up my package from Mom, which had my much needed clothes for Morocco! Tonight I was surprising Chris with a ride on the London Eye! He had been held in suspense all weekend. He had no idea where we were going or what we were doing! I think I prefer the London Eye at nigh because you only see the famous and pretty things that are lit up. Also it's really fun to go on it after you've lived in London a while because you can see all the things that are important to you. He was very appreciative of his present. Sometime I surprise myself with how good of a friend I can really be.

We (Keith, Mandy, Jimmy, Amy, and myself) just went to Primrose Hill, which boasts a beautiful view of all of London, and had a picnic. It included chicken bites, bread, Brie, onion & garlic dip, clementines, and red wine. Granted it was about 30 degrees and gail force winds, but it was worth it! We are such the Londoners! We also got to watch American Idol tonight which is only days behind the US. We really like Elliot, Chris and Ace. Ace's version of Father Figure was amazing! Good day and very Londony.

I decided to be productive today so I went for a little walk... I went past the following: Karl Marx's House, Windmill Theatre, Pall Mall, St. James Square, Eisenhower's WWII Headquarters, Charles de Gaulle's House, Piccadilly Arcade, Burlington Arcade, Albany, New Bond Street, Jimi Hendrix's House next door to George Frederick Handel's House, Grosvner Square, American Embassy, Baker Street, John Lennon's House, Madame Tussaud's, Sherlock Holmes Museum, Marylebone, Little Venice, Regent's Canal, Regent's Park, Primrose Hill (fabulous view over all of London,) Camden Lock Market, and home again. All in all it was a 10.5 mile walk, whoops! When I got back all exhausted, tired, and freezing/wind burned, people were watching Sex and the City and had been all day! My friend from St. John's was in town this weekend so he came over and drank with us before we headed to Archway for a house party. It turned out to be more of a British House Rave, not my seen so we were out of there in less than 30 min.! I got John on the bus back to South Kensington and stayed up until 3:30.

Work was work and I got to walk past Big Ben for the last time in awhile on the way home this afternoon. I'm going to miss walking past him twice a day everyday! Tonight we're going out in Soho so shower and pre-gaming were in order. It's scary how much this place is like college sometimes! The shear amounts of alcohol that past through here in a night/weekend are not good. We ended up at this new place called Sphere which was really cool inside and the drinks were reasonable. When we got there we were having a really good time and dancing a lot as always with us. The music was alright at first and then turned hip-hop real quick. Almost as quick as the Eurotrash moved in and starting trying to get with the girls. Not an okay situation! We were out of there relatively early (around 1) and headed to Subway to get some delicious food!

Big Ben likes to mock people! Trust me it's not fun to walk past it at 8 AM when it's chiming the full chime plus the gongs for the hour when you're not awake yet and still feeling the effects of the night before! Probably the best/worse walk of shame ever! Let's not forget that it snowed the entire way to work and rained the entire way back home! After work I stayed in bed all night because I had food poisoning because of my allergy to mayo. Note to self: still allergic to mayo, have not out grown it! Tonight was karoke across the street and I guess Chris sang Rock DJ by Robbie Williams and destroyed it; it was horribly fabulous! He and the rest of us know that he doesn't sing that well, but he tried that's all that counts!

Everyone that came into work today was really nice to me! I also got good leftovers for lunch since they got the nice sandwiches today. Still freezing outside! Surprise of surprises, Melissa Thompson moved into the hostel today! I knew she was in London in BUNAC, but I had no clue she was moving in for the last few weeks of her visa. It was good to see someone from home even though we've had our differences in the past. Tonight was Potluck Night at the hostel. I haven't been this full in so long! The food was all really amazing! We had enchiladas, chicken bake, potatoes, and about a half-dozen other really good things! Seriously, I was OCB full! I had gotten a bottle of pear wine/cider at the store to have with dinner, but I ended up finishing it. My responsibility was to do the dished for dinner, so off I went. After that I went to go sit down in the lounge only to discover that the Charlotte Church concert/show Chris and I had been to a few weeks later was on tv and you could totally see us! We were too wired and slightly tipsy so we decided to go out. We ended up at Trash Palace since everywhere else wanted to charge a cover and we are too poor for that. We got some amazing music there: Hung Up, You Spin Me Round, Filthy/Gorgeous, and many other great songs! Chris pulled me up to dance a few times, man I love that kid!

I really like this job just making tea & coffee but it can get boring! The walk home today was absolutely freezing! Seriously, I thought I had moved to Chicago it was so windy and cold! I stopped at the National Portrait Gallery on the way home to warm-up! I must have been in a really good mood because I did all the hostel dishes! I spent the rest of the night watching Jenn bake these really good checker square dessert things! There was a rather intense game of African Pick-Up Sticks going on in Virginia's room that was very entertaining to watch.

I had the day off so Sophia, her friend, and I walked down to St. James Park and then around the sights of London so her friend could take pictures. There are signs of flowers in the parks, which is good and welcome sight of spring coming. We saw some real punks down by Waterloo Bridge. Usually you see them in Camden, but not in Central London in the tourist areas. After work today Chris went and bought his perfect pair of jeans which he had spent the weekend searching for. He was so excited about them that he mad me get out of the shower to show me! That's true friendship. Granted, I'm not going to let me forget this incident. We ended up at College Arms having a pint or two since Walkabout had a cover charge. After College Arms we watched some downloaded episodes of Grey's Anatomy from the States, since they don't have it over here!

Quiet day for me today. I actually spent most of the day with Chris or taking care of business around the house. It started off by having one of our chats, that are getting harder because of lack of privacy and he's leaving London soon. I'm going to miss him, how much it's a comfort to have him around, and how close we've become in the short time that we've known each other! In the afternoon we went for McFlurries at McDonald's. We both have ice cream as a comfort from home. We started going for them awhile ago when we both we feeling homesick. It's just another thing that has become one of our things. After dinner he text me saying he wanted to play cribbage. We are the only 2 that know how to play in the entire hostel of 32! We started playing and eating Nerds candy and got absolutely silly. We spent most of the time doubled over rolling on the ground in laughter! The entire floor must have thought we were crazy or something, we were so wired on sugar and had a bad case of the giggles!

First warm day in London where I haven't needed to wear a coat! My friend Lindsey came over and we headed to Borough Market under London Bridge in Southwark. It's this glorious food market! After we walked around, had lunch, and caught up with one another, we popped into the Tate Modern, just to get it out off 'The List.' Everyone here has their London List of things they need to and should do before leaving. Mine is getting ever shorter which is good considering I will have spent almost a year here in the past two! More Olympics during the afternoon, which is interesting to watch outside of the USA. Tonight we were going out to 333 on Old Street for Melissa's last night in London. She'd been here for her 6 months and is close to a bunch of us still in the hostel. It was an indie night at this place and as usual we started the dance floor. We stayed as long as we could before one of the DJs really killed the atmosphere and we headed home around 2 am.

Good news, I have work for next week! They want be back at this week's job. I ran errands today for them to get more tea & coffee supplies, namely biscuits! They take their tea very seriously here! Tonight was Slumber Party night at the hostel. Which entailed us lounging around in our pjs, watching Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, and eating all sorts of junk food. Later in the evening, Michael, myself, Chris, and Chad sat in the hall and talked forever. Even later, I called Kristen and got the all important updates on her wedding plans for September! Good day, quiet night in, but all in all a good day! Oh, I saw snipers out in Whitehall on the way home, slightly disconcerting...

Dave's Pizza in Bemidji, MN, made the Metro newspaper, which is the free newspaper that everyone in London reads. It was talking about how the skip of the US men's curling team had the coolest day job because he owned two pizza places. I have saved the article, so don't you worry! I took a really long walk after work through Pimlico, Battersea, Chelsea, and Victoria. So pretty and a great neighborhood! My friend Chelsea was named after this place and now I know why. On the King's Road in Chelsea I saw my 3rd celebrity, Craig David, the singer. When I got home I was exhausted! We watched Project Catwalk and the men's figure skating long program. After the Olympics we watched videos including my favorite, Push the Button!

After work today I went to the Imperial War Museum and went past Charlie Chaplin's house. I can't believe how much there is in the Imperial War Museum and it's nice to see things from the British perspective. It's a nice change especially for a history major. I reworked Jimmy's CV when I got home, since he wants help getting hired with agencies like me. Then I night in front of the tv.

Valentine's Day... First thing this morning Chris sent me a Happy Valentine's Day text, which put a smile on my face because I normally hate this day. At work I made my London To Do list which is suprisingly long since I've been in London for a total of 8 months so far. On the way home I went to the Tate Britain museum. It had a few pieces that I really liked, but I don't need to go back at all. Today in Parliament they passed the no smoking in bars and clubs law that is going into affect in March 2007. I ran into Keith in Trafalgar Square and we walked the rest of the way home together. When I got home Chad really made my day by giving my a pretty tulip! I went for another run, showered, had dinner, did laundry, and watched the men's figure skating short program. Perfect night at home alone with cookies and figure skating!

I had decided that I wasn't going to go into the office today, but they called me instead. They said my tea and coffee job from December needed someone for all week! Yeah for work! Off I went to Vauxhall. I decided to walk home which is along the river, Parliament, Whitehall, Trafalgar Square, and Covent Garden. Then I helped Chris put together a Valentine's Day suprise, I love sneaking around soundtimes.

Quiet day at home for me. I stayed in pjs all day 1) because I was tired 2) it was rainy and gross out. They were baking a 3-layer birthday cake for the 5 people who had birthdays within the week. We booked our flights back from Morocco/Spain. Then it was time for the birthday party. Katie, Tricia, Jimmy, Alison, and Sophia all had birthdays this week so we had cake and ice cream for them. 20 people in a kitchen just doesn't work. Before bed Chris and I had a heart-to-heart conversation that was very over-due, difficult, but necessary and good.

When I rolled out of bed we watched an episode of Grey's Anatomy which I miss so much since it's not on here! That totally made my day. Then Chad, Chris, and I lounged around watching the Olympics all afternoon. Then the 3 of us and Sarah decided to go on the London Eye, but when we got there they didn't do 2 for 1 anymore so we just came home instead. Tonight was PJ Night at G-A-Y, so we all got ready and into our pajamas and headed out for Jimmy's birthday. It was really funny because none of us had pockets so we were stuffing IDs and money into socks and other creative things. They really need to make PJ pants with pockets. They were playing great music and we got in for free since we were dressed up. We brought the party since we were some of the only ones dressed up! They also had brought in some beds which we preceded to start jumping on. By the end of the night my foot went through the board and then Leeanne jumped in the same place and broke it more. We were having so much fun that we broke the bed! When we got home we all lined up on the couch, ate toast, and watched Olympics.

We got our own room at work today so we brought in a radio and newspapers and did nothing all day. Before that Taz and I had to put flyers under all the doors of the recruiters which involved walking down every corridor of all 8 floors of the hotel. For dinner we went out to Wagamama and then went to The O Bar to party since it was Katie and Tricia's birthdays today. We had a good time but when we left Chris and Chad were outside protesting. Sarah and I decided to stay with them until the club closed which was a good hour plus later. They had been kicked out for no reason so we were keeping people for going into the club. The protesting after the club was almost more fun than the club itself. While we were out there we saw another celebrity, Faria from Celebrity Big Brother! We were so hyper when we got home that we didn't go to bed until around 4!

These 11 hour days are not fun! The whole day was having cultural exchange and comparison conversations, but it actually went by pretty quickly. I went running again after work. I've made some goals for myself. 1) Run around Regent's Park before I leave. 2) Run a 5K when I get home. 3) Twin Cities Half Marathon in October. 4) Maybe the Grandma's Marathon summer 2007.

For the next 3 days I am working as conference host for the Council of International Schools at their semi-annual conference in London. I pull files of candidates for the recruiters. The good news is that it is 33 hours in 3 days, they have tons of food for us to eat and pay us £5 for lunch expenses. I'm working with 2 Londoners, 1 Aussie, and 1 Kiwi and it's a great group of people who are all a bunch of fun, makes work that much easier! Tonight was Breakfast Night at the hostel. We had so much food! Here's a brief sampling of what there was: bread casserolel, hashbrown bake, eggs, sausage, bacon, french toast, grits, toast, and about a billion other things. We also had mimosas, which are a breakfast drink. Great food, I haven't been that full in ages!

Since I knew I was working the rest of the week I slept in! When I got up and ready I decided to do some walks around Holborn, Temple, and Bloomsbury since it was such a nice day out. The highlight of the trip was the Temple Church from the times of the Knights Templar which is also in The Da Vinci Code. When I got home I decided to go for a run! I don't know what came over me, but I wanted to do it. Off I went to Russell Square to give it a go. It was pretty back, but I think I can into something rather regular. Well, at least I hope so since I'm too poor to get a gym membership. Something was seriously off today because I felt the urge to bake again, so there I went baking another batch of chocolate chunk cookies. After that I got dragged out my Keith, Mandy, Katie, Chad, and Chris to a place near Chinatown called Trash Palace. A really cool bar/club with cheap drinks and great music. It was perfect for a early night out.

I had to work this week or I was going home! I got up and headed to one of my agencies office's hoping to get work. No luck for today but I did get a call from a different one for a job for Wednesday-Friday, so yeah for work! When I got home we watched Wizard of Oz during lunch. I quick trip to BUNAC to check mail and get more tax exemption forms. Then it was time for Love Actually, my favorite movie! I was so tired from the day before that I actually slept through a good chunk of it! That night we went to watch the House of Commons at Parliament. After a few round of security checks and signing in procedures we were in the Houses of Parliament completely unattended and left to wander around. We got ourselves into the public galleries and watched them debate for over an hour about raising council taxes, which affects everyone in Britain. They are really fun to watch, so polite while making fun of one another. On the way home we ran through Trafalgar Square, which was suprisingly fun even though it was night and there were no pigeons.

With almost everyone out of the hostel for the day I decided to make the most of my day and have a wander around London. I headed off towards the V&A Museum in South Kensington. Along the way I made a few pit-stops and detours. My first was Hamley's, "the finest toy store in the world." Here I rediscovered my childhood with pearler beads and the Where's Waldo? books! Then it was onto Carnaby Street which is the center of men's fashion in London, especially during the 60s and 70s. The football store from Bend it Like Beckham is here as well, which was really exciting for me, since that's one of my favorite movies! Onto the borough of Mayfair and New Bond Street where all the designer shops are including Vivienne Westwood, Jimmy Choo, Versace, Prada, Dolce & Gabana, etc. This is where all the celebrities shop, so I kept my eyes peeled, but no luck. Next was the American Embassy. It is the largest, most ugly building I have ever seen! It takes up an entire side of a very large square in Mayfair. Well at least I know where it is now. Grovsner Chapel was next, my History of the Church of England professor is the vicar here. Then I strolled through Hyde Park and around the Serpentine. In South Kensington I went past Imperial College London (my school from study abroad,) Science Museum, and Natural History Museum before arriving at the V&A. Then it was time to face my past. The St. John's Bible Project is on display right now. I almost interned with them twice and my professors worked closely with it as well. I was 4,000 miles away from home and there I was in one of the greatest museums in the world staring at my school and something I know so well. I nearly started crying!!! Then there was a video in the display as well which had one of my favorite professors on it, again nearly more tears. After that emotionally draining experience at my favorite museum I found my way home but not before a celebrity sighting. It was Alex who is a host of the UK version of TRL on MTV. It's only cool to Chris and me because we've been on British TRL before! The Superbowl was tonight so we got some good ol' McDonald's cheeseburgers and Big Macs which were all delicious, but that might have had something to do with the fact that it was 11:30 at night! I stayed up through half-time with the Rolling Stones.

I took 4 naps today! I woke-up around 12:30, had breakfast, watched tv but was nodding off so I went upstairs to sleep (1.) I couldn't get my brain to shut off long enough to really sleep well so I crawled into bed with Chris (2) because I knew he would make me feel better and more at peace. This is what best friends are for. I had been there for him a few weeks back. After my second nap we headed to Tesco since none of us had any food left. After a quiet afternoon of looking through grad school catalogues and cleaning-up my room, I took yet another nap before dinner (3.) After dinner I headed right back upstairs to lay down again to read or journal, but I ended up going back to sleep again (4!) I was woken 3 times from this nap though. First it was Chad seeing if I wanted to do laundry since he was done. Then it was Jenn wanting to see if I wanted to go out with her to get some dessert. Finally it was Chris who dragged me out of bed to go tonight! He knew I was having a horrible weekend and needed some hardcore cheering-up. We went to the 101 Bar down the street where we got a booth and some drinks. Singing with all the songs that we knew, mostly Chris and I, but whatever, we know more British songs than most of the rest of them anyways. Chris was being so sweet and was trying to keep me in a good mood and making sure that I was having a good time. At one point I was sitting down and a good song came on and he was like, "get up you're dancing!" Who can say no to that? We left together and got to talk on the way home. He's officially in a relationship now, yeah! Also he told me that I can't go home because I can't bail on him and Morocco! It was so sweet that he actually cared if I had to leave early, which was very much a possibility now because I wasn't working anymore. Then peanut butter and nutella toast before bed.

Today is my half-way point on my visa, boo! I can't believe I've been here for 3 months already! The day wasn't great either. I was shorted on my pay check because I was taxed when I'm suppose to have exemption. There goes Chris and my's plans to go to Portsmouth tomorrow. My temp agency called to tell me that I wasn't needed anymore because they had hired someone permanently for my position! So much for being set until the end of my visa! I was well pissed-off! I called Chris the second I was outside the building to tell him that we were going out tonight to get my mind off of my pending unemployment once again. So as I was cooking dinner and telling everyone about my getting laid-off I had to listen to the only thing that would cheer me up, Now 62 and Push the Button by the Sugababes. We opened our bottles of cider and got going on pre-gaming. Virginia did my make-up since I was so upset, which was really nice of her. Chris had gotten free entry flyers to this club in King's Cross called Popstarz, so off we went. We met one of Chris's co-workers, Anna - also from Essex, there and she's awesome! Once we got in there were 3 different floors all with different types of music. We found a home on the indy floor (alternative in America i.e. The Killers, Kaiser Chiefs, Franz Ferdinand, Modest Mouse, Scissor Sisters, etc.) When we finally decided to leave, Sarah, Virginia, and myself found a shopping cart on the sidewalk and decided to put Virginia in it! That wasn't one of our brighter ideas since she wiped out twice, whoops! I also walked home in my bare feet since me feet hurt so bad from my shoes! That's the 4th time I've had to do that in London, but I do watch were I'm walking, so no need to worry. I got the best hug ever from Chris before heading to bed around 3 or so I think.

I am the groundhog! It just was not my day! I was late for work, Lauren went home sick, and I had a meeting of 40 to prepare for with no one to cover reception (major stressor!) I am addicted to facebook! I spend all my free time at work on it, so not good. After a crazy day like mine I spent the evening at home reading and watching Project Catwalk.

I did absolutely nothing at work today! I researched grad schools instead. Sarah had left the hostel the day before I arrived here and had returned today. In celebration we went to The Gardening Club in Covent Garden for a drink. This really cool lounge bar with a great atmosphere. It's official, Chris's going to Ireland!