Well, the stay-cation is over but it was fun while it lasted. We went to two dinner parties on the weekend, took long naps every day, ordered pizza and ate out, and watched movies every night. We went to Ikea, which was good but not awesome. The last time we got some nice bowls for 25p each (!), which we're both still really stoked about, and some great, cheap shelves for the conservatory, but this time we found that they don't have any smaller bowls at similar prices, or the ideal wicker laundry hamper, or very interesting shower curtains. However, I did get a set of two very adorable bowls for my morning cereal and some cookies, so it wasn't a total wash.
On Tuesday, we went Tate Modern to see the Cy Twombly exhibit. Matthew was not impressed. I had only seen the four paintings in the Tate permanent collection, which I kinda like, but I must say I was not impressed either. We agreed that it's a cliche, but his work looked like it was done by a 3 year old. Or a chimpanzee, as there were several with suspiciously "scatological" looking smears.
The next day we went to the London Transport Museum, which was completely awesome. It was pretty loud, but that's to be expected with so much going on in a 3 level open plan building. There were lots of old Tube carriages and buses that you could get into and try to imagine what it was like to be on the Underground in 1905 or whenever. (There are still a few Routemaster buses on "Heritage" routes that run along the Strand; when we lived in the West End and I worked in the City I took then whenever I could and I always ended up humming "A Day in the Life" because of the part in the middle where he says "grabbed my coat and found my hat, made the bus in seconds flat...") They have a great shop, but I only got a couple of presents for my friends Brandy and Jason who used to live in London but are now in Edmonton, where I'm sure they don't see as much TfL tat. Though, come to think of it, I bought my Tube map tea cozy in Lawrence, Kansas...
I also went to the V&A (not bad, but I enjoyed the shop more than the exhibits) and trekked up Camden High Street visiting about 6 different charity shops (all rubbish) and got a haircut. Actually, I got two haircuts, because the first one was frankly untenable and I had to go back and get it fixed. On Wednesday, I went to a new place, not too far from our flat and had a nice chat to the girl about what I wanted. I even showed her a picture of Michelle Williams. But then I had to take my glasses off while she was cutting my hair, and when I put them back on, the damage was done. It wasn't what I wanted - all choppy and too short - but I thought I'd try it. However, it just didn't work. In fact, the bad hair might have been what ruined my V&A visit and thrift-shopping. On Friday I went back and got her to fix it. Unfortunately, she'd chopped it so much that there was nowhere to go but up, so my hair is now really, really short.
It's actually not that bad, but it's been a while since I had short hair and I felt suddenly exposed as looking quite old and pudgy. However, I've been getting really enthusiastic positive reactions. People at work say they love it and think it really suits me and when my yoga instructor saw me, she gasped and said, "Your hair is beautiful!" The evil, self-defeating part of my brain interprets this to mean that I must have already looked old and pudgy, even with longer hair. The sassier part of my brain says, old and pudgy, whatever - I've obviously got a very cute haircut, so yay for me!
Last weekend we dressed up and went to see a Club Whoopee performance at the Thames Festival with our friends Sean and Michelle. It was really crowded, so we got some dinner from the foods stalls (Caribbean fried fish and a crepe for me, curry for Matthew) and hung out behind the amphitheatre. At the end of the performance, they invited everyone down to the performance area for a waltz and then played some more music so it was like a disco by Tower Bridge. Sean was in 1930s-ish tweeds and bow-tie and Michelle looked like Marlena Dietrich in a black suit and red satin shirt. I wore a little black dress with red, white and purple hearts all over it, which I think of as slightly Minnie Mouse-ish. Matthew got the most attention, though - he was in full cowboy regalia: black cowboy boots, jeans, Western shirt embroidered with guitars on the front and a Cadillac on the back, and white cowboy hat. A hipster in skinny jeans and a trilby hat literally stared open-mouthed at him on the Tube. It was great. The next night we went to see Snake Bone, a retro rockabilly band fronted by the guy who plays guitar in our friend Paul's band Number 9. They had two guest vocalists, a girl in western gear and braids and Lady Kamikazi, a Japanese girl who also DJ's rockabilly and swing music. They were both, er, not very good. The girl in the braids actually caused us both to wince involuntarily. When Lady Kamikazi sang "Summertime," I said to Matthew, "I actually know the words to this song, not to mention the melody, and I've got no idea what's going on." Later we ran into Sean and Michelle, who were out with their heavily pregnant friend Liz and her husband. We skipped the fireworks and went to dinner with them, then caught the last Tube home.
Then next morning I got up and rejoined the world of work, but only for a short while longer. Next week is my last week at the company where I've been all summer and then I'll be back in student mode. I've got two of my numerous textbooks already - and haven't made it past the 2nd page of the introduction in either one. Yay for graduate school!
Oh, and if you really must have some political content, Garrison Keillor is giving me the feeling that he probably won't vote Republican over at Salon.
On Tuesday, we went Tate Modern to see the Cy Twombly exhibit. Matthew was not impressed. I had only seen the four paintings in the Tate permanent collection, which I kinda like, but I must say I was not impressed either. We agreed that it's a cliche, but his work looked like it was done by a 3 year old. Or a chimpanzee, as there were several with suspiciously "scatological" looking smears.
The next day we went to the London Transport Museum, which was completely awesome. It was pretty loud, but that's to be expected with so much going on in a 3 level open plan building. There were lots of old Tube carriages and buses that you could get into and try to imagine what it was like to be on the Underground in 1905 or whenever. (There are still a few Routemaster buses on "Heritage" routes that run along the Strand; when we lived in the West End and I worked in the City I took then whenever I could and I always ended up humming "A Day in the Life" because of the part in the middle where he says "grabbed my coat and found my hat, made the bus in seconds flat...") They have a great shop, but I only got a couple of presents for my friends Brandy and Jason who used to live in London but are now in Edmonton, where I'm sure they don't see as much TfL tat. Though, come to think of it, I bought my Tube map tea cozy in Lawrence, Kansas...
I also went to the V&A (not bad, but I enjoyed the shop more than the exhibits) and trekked up Camden High Street visiting about 6 different charity shops (all rubbish) and got a haircut. Actually, I got two haircuts, because the first one was frankly untenable and I had to go back and get it fixed. On Wednesday, I went to a new place, not too far from our flat and had a nice chat to the girl about what I wanted. I even showed her a picture of Michelle Williams. But then I had to take my glasses off while she was cutting my hair, and when I put them back on, the damage was done. It wasn't what I wanted - all choppy and too short - but I thought I'd try it. However, it just didn't work. In fact, the bad hair might have been what ruined my V&A visit and thrift-shopping. On Friday I went back and got her to fix it. Unfortunately, she'd chopped it so much that there was nowhere to go but up, so my hair is now really, really short.
It's actually not that bad, but it's been a while since I had short hair and I felt suddenly exposed as looking quite old and pudgy. However, I've been getting really enthusiastic positive reactions. People at work say they love it and think it really suits me and when my yoga instructor saw me, she gasped and said, "Your hair is beautiful!" The evil, self-defeating part of my brain interprets this to mean that I must have already looked old and pudgy, even with longer hair. The sassier part of my brain says, old and pudgy, whatever - I've obviously got a very cute haircut, so yay for me!
Last weekend we dressed up and went to see a Club Whoopee performance at the Thames Festival with our friends Sean and Michelle. It was really crowded, so we got some dinner from the foods stalls (Caribbean fried fish and a crepe for me, curry for Matthew) and hung out behind the amphitheatre. At the end of the performance, they invited everyone down to the performance area for a waltz and then played some more music so it was like a disco by Tower Bridge. Sean was in 1930s-ish tweeds and bow-tie and Michelle looked like Marlena Dietrich in a black suit and red satin shirt. I wore a little black dress with red, white and purple hearts all over it, which I think of as slightly Minnie Mouse-ish. Matthew got the most attention, though - he was in full cowboy regalia: black cowboy boots, jeans, Western shirt embroidered with guitars on the front and a Cadillac on the back, and white cowboy hat. A hipster in skinny jeans and a trilby hat literally stared open-mouthed at him on the Tube. It was great. The next night we went to see Snake Bone, a retro rockabilly band fronted by the guy who plays guitar in our friend Paul's band Number 9. They had two guest vocalists, a girl in western gear and braids and Lady Kamikazi, a Japanese girl who also DJ's rockabilly and swing music. They were both, er, not very good. The girl in the braids actually caused us both to wince involuntarily. When Lady Kamikazi sang "Summertime," I said to Matthew, "I actually know the words to this song, not to mention the melody, and I've got no idea what's going on." Later we ran into Sean and Michelle, who were out with their heavily pregnant friend Liz and her husband. We skipped the fireworks and went to dinner with them, then caught the last Tube home.
Then next morning I got up and rejoined the world of work, but only for a short while longer. Next week is my last week at the company where I've been all summer and then I'll be back in student mode. I've got two of my numerous textbooks already - and haven't made it past the 2nd page of the introduction in either one. Yay for graduate school!
Oh, and if you really must have some political content, Garrison Keillor is giving me the feeling that he probably won't vote Republican over at Salon.
4 comments:
Your sister and her husband gave us tickets to see/hear Garrison K at Moody Col. next month!~~ma
I've had to stop reading his columns at work. If he's political, it gets me worked up; if he's sentimental (all Lake Woebegone-ish), I start to cry!
I'm hoping he'll be taking us to where the women are strong, the kids are all smart or whatever...
... and just a note from your old dad -- HOORAY for Matthew! Thank you, again, for giving my little girl her smile back.
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