I can't believe it! Today is my last day here! I am leaving work at 4, going home and starting some laundry, taking a bath and then watching It's a Wonderful Life.

I will see most of you sometime in the next two weeks. For everyone else, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!! I'll write again on January 5th!!!

Wow! 2 days, 5 hours and 50 minutes til I leave. Can you tell that I am a little anxious? I am getting worried though, there are people starting to get sick here in the office..... I DO NOT WANT TO BE SICK!!!! I refuse to get sick!

The movie night went well. Because everyone is getting sick only Stephan and Suraj came over but that was great as I didn't have to sit on the floor. It also upped the odds of people liking the movie. They both loved it!! They said they expected a kids movie and were surprised at how much they liked it. I think Suraj almost started crying at the end from laughing so hard at the part where they are in the Chinese restaraunt.... "Fa Ra Ra Ra Ra, Ra Ra Ra Ra!!!"

Well I finally remembered to bring in the note that I wrote at KampaPark Restaraunt in Prague on Saturday night. (By the way, it snowed on Monday there! Can you believe we missed it by one day!!!)

----So very content. Nice & warm after freezing my a** off all day! Sitting in the KampaPark restaraunt on the river. The main restaraunt is on the street and the area we are in is down a flight of stairs (with candles on the sides, very pretty) at the front of the restaraunt are pics of famous people eating here including Bono and Dave Gahan. Just so happy right now. Must tell Sossi that I know how lucky I am & am going to take full advantage. Tell grandma that I closed my eyes with Dido playing in the restaraunt and "savoured the moment" Could I be any happier? Only if Jamie were here with me. Truly is so lovely here even though very cold. Christmas markets, firepits, singing, castle..... So happy.....-----

Good morning!!! 3 days and 5 hours and 15 minutes til I leave!!!!! I can't wait to see you all!!

A special hello to Katherine's mom! (There is at least one person who doesn't know me but is enjoying my blog! I should at least say hi!)

I just found out that we are going to Barcelona in January to go skiing!! Well not actually in the city but in the mountains. How exciting!! Isn't it amazing that for £100 I can be in Spain in 2 hours? Fantastic!

I hope you enjoyed the Prague pictures. It seems one of the most popular ones is me with the hot chocolate!!! It must be cold in California! I know I said yesterday that I would bring in that note that I wrote in Prague but of course I forgot it so hopefully I will tomorrow.....

Tonight is my annual viewing of "A Christmas Story" I made my mom, grandma, grandpa and uncle Tom watch it last year (well Tom walked out half way through) but mom, grandma and grandpa seemed to like it! So I am showing it here to anyone that wants to come see. So far it looks like 4-10 people... for the couple of you that have seen my flat, you know I will be stuck sitting on the floor!! Oh well, anything to spread the joy of Christmas and that is what "A Christmas Story" is all about. if you have never seen it, you absolutely MUST GO TO BLOCKBUSTER NOW!!!! If it is already checked out (which it should be since it is the best Christmas movie ever) then suck it up and go buy it. You won't regret it!!!

So if anyone finds themselves in East Croydon tonight around 8pm, you are welcome to stop by flat 23 and have a few laughs and get in the Christmas spirit!!!

As you can see, I have changed the name. I think The Surreal Life is a bit more appropriate. I had to keep reminding myself that this weekend was not a dream. Just amazing.



On Saturday night I wrote down some thoughts that I was going to put up here but I left the note at home so I will put it up tomorrow. For now here are the photos of Prague. There are 179 of them but I think they are all worth it. Here is my favorite of them all and probably one of the best pictures I think I have ever taken.



And before you ask if it was cold.....



I put Prague in the top 5 places I have ever been. Let's see if that changes in the next year....

Well for those of you that know Toni, just want to let you know that she got in safe and sound to my flat last night and by the time you read this she will be over the ocean on her way home!! Also, by the time you read this.. I will be on my way to Heathrow to fly to Prague!!

Just one more week!!

Marcio's Farewell party was good. (Marcio's Farewell2 )These things are nice because you get to know people outside of work. He did a little speech and commented on what an opportunity it is to work with so many people from so many places. I think everyone agrees that is the best part of being here. With so many people leaving though, I am afraid it will whittle down to just me and the locals!!

DIANA IS OFFICIALLY USEFUL!!!!!

Yes! A whole week and a half early! I guess MS Access is not that big here so no one really knows much about it, but someone was trying to put something together using it and asked for my help. So yesterday, I put together some queries and tables and it did exactly what they wanted. They were so pleased that they are going to show it to some other groups to see if they can use it too!! (I almost felt like I was home working on Access.....) Also yesterday, I finally got to start using that program that I went to Vevey to learn about. I am really enjoying it and getting alot accomplished. So I finally feel like I am doing some work and contributing to the GLOBE project here over the pond. I am earning my rent!!! It feels so good!

Tonight is a farewell party for Marcio. Marcio is the Brazilian that went with us to Strasbourg. He is fantastic and I will miss him.....:( He lives in my building and the party is in his flat so I only have to go up one flight of stairs to his place. (I love a party like that where I get to be sooooooo lazy!!) Hopefully I will get some good pics for tomorrow.

Update on my cat..... she won't stop followiing Jamie around!! She sits next to his feet while he is cooking dinner then jumps on his lap as soon as he sits down and doesn't move until bedtime! It sounds like she has made his place home!

Well good morning all, nothing exciting to report. The big news today is about the parade yesterday celebrating England's win of the rugby world cup (I guess that is some big accomplishment or something...) Goodness, you would think they were the Lakers or something!!!

(Just kidding Richard!!)

Good morning everyone!!!! I finally saw a mouse in the subway system! Can you believe I have been here for 2 months and not seen any? And then I see 3 all at once. They were so cute running around. Here I got a pic of one of them.

Another important picture....

Pacifico! The best Mexican food in London! We had seen this place on Wednesday night, it is next door to where we had our Christmas Party. We went there on Saturday and it was so good that we went back again for dinner last night!!

Friday night was a big night out. A group of us went to a club called Full Tilt. It is run by a guy that runs most of the clubs I used to frequent back in Hollywood. I had a much better time than I expected. The dance floor was huge, so I never had to deal with sweaty guys accidentally knocking into me and the bathrooms had 10 stalls so I never had to wait in line! Those 2 things together make any night out a good one! Dawn and I stayed until 2 am, but with all the time it takes to get a bus (the tube is closed after 12) and take the bus to the train and then take the train home, I didn't get home until 3:45!!! The bus dropped us at the train station at 2:56 and our train left at 3, the next one wasn't until 4am so we had to run full speed to catch our train. I was wearing my boots with the 4 inch heels and just couldn't make it, so I stopped and took them off and then ran through the train station in my socks!!! We did make the train and it left about 20 seconds after we got on it. The train itself was an awful experience. I think Dawn and I were the only sober people on it.... I don't intend to do that again any time soon..

Saturday I went into London with Mike and did some more Chistmas shopping. Unfortunately I forgot my camera!!! It was beautiful out but extremely crowded, but at least I am now about 90% done shopping!

Sunday, we went back into London (to have mexican food again) then went and saw the movie Elf with Will Farrell. It was actually a bit funny but.... Then we went to Trafalgar square to see the big Christmas tree.

As you can see, there was also a lovely nativity set up as well. I am now officially in the Christmas spirit and can't wait to come home! (I think I may have mentioned that before....)

YAY!!! I just got a note from Katherine that she has her dates set to come visit!!! How exciting!! YAY!!

More exciting news.... for those of you that saw the pictures of Reed Edwards at the RDCC Christmas party and thought he looked way too happy... well you were right!! He has just announced that he and his wife are expecting a baby in June. Just in time for them to return to the US!! Congratulations Reed!!!

My last weekend in London this year.....wow, time has already gone so fast. A group of 5-6 of us are going to a club in Camden Town called Full Tilt tonight. It is run by the same guy that runs all of the clubs I used to go to in Hollywood way back when.. should be interesting. Tomorrow and Sunday I plan on just hanging out in London, finishing up some shopping and seeing the Christmas decorations. Have a great weekend!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA!!!!!

Today he is 87 years young! I wish I could be there with you, but I will see you in 2 weeks!

So we had our RDCC Christmas Party last night at a place called The Langley Restaraunt in London. Great food, fantastic company and fun all around. By the time we caught the tube to the train station, train to Croydon and then walked home it was about 1pm, but it was worth it. I had a great time.

Christmas Story passed on from Carolyn Lush....

Several weekends ago, I was rushing around trying to do some
shopping. I was stressed out and not thinking very fondly of the
weather right then. It was dark, unseasonably cold, and wet in the
parking lot.

As I was loading my car up, I noticed that I was missing a receipt
that I might need later. So, mumbling under my breath, I retraced
my steps to the mall entrance.

As I was searching the wet pavement for the lost receipt, I heard
a quiet sobbing. The crying was coming from a poorly dressed boy of about
12 years old. He was short and thin. He had no coat. He was just wearing
a ragged flannel shirt to protect him from the cold night's chill. Oddly
enough, he was holding a hundred-dollar bill in his hand.

Thinking that he had gotten lost from his parents, I asked him what was
wrong. He told me his sad story. He said that he came from a large
family. He had three brothers and four sisters. His father had died when
he was nine years old. His mother was poorly educated and worked two
full-time jobs, She made very little to support her large family.

Nevertheless, she had managed to skimp and save two hundred dollars to
buy her children some presents (since she didn't manage to get them
a nything on their birthdays). His mother had dropped off the young boy
o n the way to her second job. He was to use the money to buy presents
for all his siblings and save just enough to take the bus home.

He had not even entered the mall, when an older boy grabbed one of the
hundred dollar bills and disappeared into the night.

"Why didn't you scream for help?" I asked.

The boy said, "I did."

"And nobody came to help you?" I queried.

The boy stared at the sidewalk and sadly shook his head.

"How loud did you scream?" I inquired.

The soft-spoken boy looked up and meekly whispered, "Help me!"

I realized that absolutely no one could have heard that poor boy cry for
help.

So I grabbed his other hundred and ran to my car.

Sincerely,

Martha Stewart

It is so foggy this morning that I could not even see the building across the street from my apartment. As I walked to work I could feel the mist in my throat as I was breathing. This is London Fog!!

I saw Love Actually last night and it was wonderful! I recommend it to everyone! The opening scene is at Heathrow and it is people arriving and running up and hugging people. Moms and daughters, husbands and wives, etc.... I was thinking YAY I get to do that in 2.5 weeks!! It really is a good movie and it is set in London at Christmas time so you can see what it looks like here.

Tonight is the RDCC (that is our little group) Christmas Party at a place called the Langley in Covent Garden. It should be good as it is the only Christmas party I am going to. The Nestlé corporate party is next Friday night but I will be on a plane for Prague so I can't go. (I would rather be on the plane!) I hope you are all enjoying your Christmas parties!!

Well good news!! My goddaughters have a new brother! Kolbe Davison Weatherford was born on Saturday at 5:53 PM. He weighed 7lb 4 oz and was 19 inches long. Although he wasn't due until Christmas, he decided to come out early!! Congratulations to Chad, Michele, Ashley, Brittany and Kaylee!!



I accomplished a major milestone last night in the world of fitness. Luke would be so proud!! I am working towards a goal of being able to run for a full 30 minutes. I got from a runners magazine a plan to work my way up to that and it takes 10 weeks to do. This week is week 3 and I am to walk for 2.5 minutes then run for 5 and repeat this 4 times. Well I did it!!! This may not seem like much to some but when you have used athsma as an excuse from doing any sort of activity since you were young.. then you would understand how much of a mental breakthrough this is. The first time I finished the 5 minutes, I was already exhausted but elated, by the end, with only 2 minutes to go, I wanted to quit so bad!!! But I imagined Luke standing next to me telling me to just do it and stop whining about it. That was such an amazing feeling when I was done!! I will do it 3 more times this week and then next week I am to go up to running for 7 minutes!! I'll let you know how that goes.

Good morning! I hope you all got your Christmas shopping done over your 4 day weekend! I had a good weekend! Saw Master and Commander on Friday, went to Phantom of the Opera (matinee) on Saturday at "Her Majesty's Theatre" and wandered around with Yasu, Mike and Marcio. Let me just say that I preferred the LA performace better.... We also went to Christmas in Leicester Square and Covent Garden. In Leicester Square there was a small carnival going on with rides and games. Marcio looked like he had never seen a game before!!

And for Sossi here is a picture of me (she said I don't put enough of me up...)


On Sunday we drove down to Portsmouth to the outlets. Gen I like our outlets better. I didn't end up buying anything at these because it was all shops like the Gap etc.. and I fugured if I was going to buy someone a Gap shirt for Christmas, I might as well buy it at home! We did have a very good lunch though at a place called Santa Fe. The restaraunt over looked the harbour so that made the trip all worthwhile.... well that and as we drove down we actually saw some hills!!! Wow!

Anyway, all in all it was a very good weekend! I am looking forward to Toni coming on Saturday and then Prague the following weekend and then home!!

P.S. Here is a pic of Nancy at the Hard Rock in Mexico! Glad to know she is having a good time!

Well hello to the 3 people who are not shopping today and are reading my blog. Maybe 3 is even a bit high. Anyway here are the pics from Vevey.



I was walking home from the train station last night freezing because it was 2 degrees outside (that's about 34) and thinking "oh, grandma is basting the turkey right now..." I started thinking about the turkey and gravy and cranberry sauce and was getting sad. Not in a sad, wanna cry sort of way, but a pathetic, I want Turkey sort of way. I got my mail and went to my flat. I flipped on the TV and sorted through my mail. One envelope was from Nestlé so I opened it right away. Here is what was inside:



I almost cried. These made me laugh and made my day. Thank you Sossi, Katherine and Carolyn. These are now hanging on my wall. I also have a wall for all the cards I received here and I hung the one that I got from mom yesterday too. These things mean so much! :)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!

I hope you are all thinking of me as you eat your turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy and pie!! I will get back to my flat around 8PM, open a can of soup and curl up with my Carolyn blanket and watch some Little House on the Prairie. Thanksgiving has never been my favorite holiday so it isn't that big of a deal to not be home but it is the feeling that I CAN'T be home that makes it a bit harder. What helps is knowing that I will be home 3 weeks from tomorrow!!

Just a little Thanksgiving note.. a bit personal but I am sure you can relate. Living far away from your family and friends makes the feelings you have for them even stronger. You appreciate even more who you have (not what you have since most of it is in storage) in your life and those who were in your life in the past. Thanksgiving is the day that I take to recognize two very important people in my life. Since my father's mother died on Thanksgiving, I remember her and my grandfather by going to Forest lawn and laying flowers for them. Since I cannot do that, I will ask you all to take a moment and do something special for those around your Thanksgiving table. When you do, you can think of my Grandma Joanne and Grandpa Walden and that will be my flowers to them.

To Jamie, my mom, grandma, grandpa, Tom, Sue, Mike, Renee, Megan, Derrick, and anyone else I might normally see on Thanksgiving, along with all of the rest of my family and friends, I miss you all very much and wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving with all the trimmings!!!!

Good morning from Vevey, Switzerland!! Sorry I didn't write yesterday, had problems getting on a computer. Not much to tell though. It was very overcast yesterday so I didn't take any pics but I was able to take on this morning out my hotel window which overlooks the lake... for those of you familiar with Vevey, I am staying at the Hotel du Lac. It is a beautiful hotel and the room is very large. The only downside is that I think the bed is as old as the hotel!!!! On Monday night I did not sleep well at all!! So last night I looked around and found an extra duvet. I slept on top of that and that made all the difference in the world! I had gone to a pizza restaurant and used my handy translation manual and ordered in half french, half english. But at least I tried!! I was able to ask for the check in french and say the meal was very good! Let me tell you, I am really learning to appreciate people not knowing a language. It used to annoy me a bit in LA, but now, I will only try to be helpful as I can relate!! I am hoping to get some nice pictures today as it seems a lot clearer. Should be about 60 or so and tomorrow looks like it will be about 40 so I better get the pics today!!

Also I have looked around the staff shop. It is bigger than the one in Glendale and much nicer but since everything is in french, I don't know what to buy because I don't know if it has nuts or not!! So yesterday I bought a KitKat.

WOW! We had such a fantastic time this weekend. The only way it could have been better is if Jamie could have been with me :(

Yasu had reserved a car so we were able to drive to our hotel and check in. It was early in the evening but already very dark and all the shops were closed. We wandered around for quite a while then settled on a small German restaraunt (all of the food seemed much more German than French.) The food was alright, nothing very exciting, but the place was very charming and the owner was very friendly. When Mike didn't finish his soup, the owner came up behind him and force fed the rest to him!! After dessert, Yaso had not finished his so the owner went and got a straw and tried to force feed him that too!! It was a memorable experience. We had sucha a wonderful time looking around and I was so excited to see it all in the daytime!

The next day we did all the required tourist in Strasbourg stuff like shopping (I bought a scarf, a necklace and a birthday gift for Gen.. HAPPY BIRTHDAY GEN!) We climbed to the top of the cathedral and saw the astronomical clock do its thing. I had a cheese crepe.. yummy and then we had lunch. I don't know how else to describe the lunch than to say it was probably one of the worst meals we had ever had (we all agreed on this) The service was terrible, took forever and the food was just plain BAD. On top of all that, it was very overpriced! I had ordered a steak with mushroom sauce. What I got was steak with some slimy mushrooms on it. The steak itself didn't taste awful but it had a strange taste to it. Mike tried it and agreed, then he ate one of the mushrooms and said it tasted like fish!! So Marcio and Yasu tried the mushrooms too and agreed, Yasu said it tasted like sardines!!! Nasty! Mike and Yasu had ordered sausages and what they got was to Oscar Meyer hot dogs and some frend fries. Marcio had ordered turkey and he got deep fried chicken. The whole meal cost us about $100!!! When the waitress came we told her about the fishy mushrooms and said she shoudl tell the cook, she said she didn't know. (Marcio knows both French and German and he even explained to her and she just kept saying she didn't know.) We asked her if she had tried the food adn she gave us a funny look and said " I don't eat here!" So after that we decided not to eat in Strasbourg any more.

So that night we drove to Baden-Baden, Germany!!!! Can you imagine driving to Germany just for dinner! We even were on the autobahn! Baden-Baden was absolutely beautiful. All the shops were closed (which was propbably good!!) But looking in the windows, you could tell it was a very upper class area. It seemed like the Beverly Hills of Germany. We found a pub type place and I had sausages, sourkraut, mashed potatoes and german beer called Bitteburger. Everything was excellant! Probably one of the best meals I have had since moving here! The we had dessert... ice cream with a hot raspberry sauce and an order of sliced apples that were deep fried and served with cream poured over them.... oh wow.... heavenly. I would definately like to go back there sometime (during the day of course)

The next day we drove to Colmar (still in France) It is known as one of the best preserved towns in this part of Europe. Alot of the buildings are from the 1500's and it is the town where the guy who designed the Statue of Liberty was born. I guess the Germans never bombed it because it was too close to Germany and no one else did because it wasn't in Germany. Anyway it was beautiful. We were fortunate enough to be there during the Christmas Markets so it was pretty much decorated like a European Christmas Disneyland. I had a lovely eclaire and a tarte flambee... it was just wonderful all around and I couldn't wipe the smile from my face!!

The last place was Haut - Koenigsbourg Castle This was a very nice castle and very interesting too.

So that was my first official trip!!! I hope all the rest will be just as good.

I found out on Friday that I will be going to Vevey today! I am going to learn a program called LoadRunner. This should be good as it will be very nice to be responsible for something. I will be the only person here that will know the program (they assume since I was the last person to get here, I will be here longer than most people!!) So I am looking forward to it and to my first trip to Vevey!

Only 26 more days til I fly home!

It's still dark and cold outside and is a bit wet, but who cares! I am going to France today!! Since I have my camera with me, I took a few pictures!

Left to right: Suraj, Mark, Reed, Mike, Mikhael, Marcio


Left to right: Mikhael, Mike, me, Suraj, Reed, Mark


Left to right: Mark, Charlotte (my boss) and Mike


Left to right: Tien, Stephan and Suraj


Left to right: Dawn and Miriam

There, now you have seen my office and some of the people who work here. This was quite a challenge to get them to pose!!!

Well it is dark and cold today and looks like rain.... I guess it is more of what I expected London to be like. I have been so fortunate with blue skies that I almost got used to them!!! We checked the weather for Strasbourg for the weekend and it looks like it will be pouring rain on us the whole weekend!!! I am sure it will be wonderful though, rain here, rain there, the only difference is we are somewhere new. Still very strange to think that I will be in France this weekend.... because I LIVE in England and can fly there in less than an hour..... very odd....

Istanbul is (or was?) on my list of places to go....so awful...so sad.....

So it appears President Bush has arrived safely and is now having breakfast with the Queen. The big news here is all of the protests going on, but the news also points out that the people who support Bush being here don't really have a way to show it. They can't really organize a march like the protesters here. They took a poll and more British support him being here than those against it, it's just that those against him are more vocal. That's pretty much the case with everything though.

So you know how much I miss people and my cat, but I thought I would share with you a few THINGS that I miss. I desperately miss Mexican food!!! The first thing I want when I get home is a carne asada burrito and the second thing I want is a beef enchilada from Joselitos with rice and beans on the side.....oh I would pay £50 for a good Mexican meal right now! I would even pay £20 for Taco Bell!!!! I also miss Gatorade (yeah, surprised me too.) And Daphne's and Portos and even the EDC!!!! Shocking, I miss the EDC!!!!! Oh well, the 5 large jars of salsa my mom brought me are helping but... I miss going to the EDC on Friday afternoon and meeting with Carolyn and Katherine and talking about Survivor. I miss wasting half of the day sitting at Sossi's desk (well not half the day....) I miss my BBQ and sourdough bread. I miss Survivor, American Dreams, NYPD Blue and ER..... I miss walking outside and being warm!!! I miss my convertible.

You may be sitting there thinking I am miserable and that is not true at all!!!! There are things here that I am really enjoying and will eventually take the place of some of those things above (well probably not but maybe I will miss THEM when I go back home!) I love Doughmasters and Nandos! I love custard cookies (biscuits) from Safeway. I love being able to walk everywhere. I love taking the train into London and spending the day walking around and not having to mess with the 101 or the 405. I love wearing a scarf every day and going to the gym and getting all hot and then walking home in the cool, crisp air. I love sitting on the couch under my Carolyn blanket and watching Little House on the Prairie.

I remember at holidays, looking at all the people that flew home somewhere and thinking how neat that would be. That it would make Christmas even more special. So in conclusion, I love most of all looking forward to coming home in 4.5 weeks!!

WELCOME PRESIDENT BUSH!!!!!

Hello everyone! Sorry about the delay, I know you all hurry into work just to check my blog! As you may have seen in my email, we did not have access to the internet or any work related stuff except outlook all of yesterday and today. But as soon as everyone left, the internet came up!! So here I am at work instead of in a cold, dreary internet cafe! I have had a busy week and two very busy weekends.


But before I start talking about me, I have some wonderful news to share. I know this will break hearts at Nestlé but my trainer, Luke, has gotten engaged to his girlfriend Vicki!!! YAY for them! It was a very romantic proposal from what I heard and involved a very swell car as you can see in the picture. So congrats to Luke and Vicki!!!

Now back to me... The weekend before last I opened up my book of 25 London walks and chose one that looked nice. It ended up being in the area called Chelsea. I spent about 4 hours and followed the route. It was probably one of the best days I have had so far on my own. It was not full of tourists and a bit of an overcast day so I found myself on the streets alone most of the time. I was mainly walking through neighborhoods and just got to see some lovely streets. Here is my favorite picture of the area and the link to more pics.
Chelsea
I then saw the Matrix and called it a night. I spent Sunday wandering around Croydon and doing some shopping. The week of class was also pretty uneventful and I am sure you don't want me to go on about Business Warehouse so other than saying I am SO VERY GLAD I don't have to take 2 trains and a bus for 1.5 hours every morning and night I don't have much else to say about the week!!!

This past weekend was also very good! I was very daring on Saturday and made an appointment with a guy in SOHO to color my hair. I was very nervous and scared and thank goodness he did a good job. That was one of my biggest worries before I left!! What would I do about my hair?!?!? I then walked through an area called Carnaby street and made my day by finding these:

Oh you can only imagine how happy I was!!!! Wearing my new pink, flowered docs, I travelled back home with a smile on my face. :)
On Sunday I went to the famous Camden Town Market. It is basically a big hippie swap meet that is along the canal in Camden. Instead of being in a big field or a warehouse like a swapmeet though, it is in all these windy alley ways and buildings, so you just wander around like you are in a maze. You are completely surrounded by hippie clothes, silk-screened t-shirts and incense assaults your nose whenever you turn around. I wouldn't say it was my favorite place but I might like it better if I were with someone and could laugh at stuff with someone else. I decided to go a bit mor upscale and hopped back on the tube and made my way to Oxford Street.
Christmas in London
So I went from £2 t-shirts to £80 t-shirts at Selfridges!!!! I couldn't believe it! Once I saw a dress I liked and saw that it was £890, I decided I was way out of my league and stopped looking at price tags. Needless to say, the only thing I bought was a £1.50 7-up(lemonade).
Yesterday and today we spent our time betting on when the computers would come up and tossing around a balloon...It was actually very boring! But it looks like tomorrow will be back to normal!

6 weeks from now I am on a plane home!!!

Mom and grandma are in a taxi to the airport. Amazing that they leave at 12PM and will be in LA at 3PM, but then they have 6 hours of traffic to get home!!! It was a good week with them here and I think they enjoyed it too.

I am out of the office all next week at a training class for SAP BW near Heathrow airport so I won't have access to a computer. So my next Blog update will be Nov 17th. Have a good week everyone and go see the Matrix!

George is on the left and Big Snowman and Little Snowman are on the right. They came to say Happy Birthday to me! Thanks to everyone for your warm wishes on my birthday yesterday. I started to get a little sad but it helped tremendously having mom and grandma here, but it just wasn't the same without having plans with you to look forward to!!! Since I don't come back until Feb 2005, you will all just have to come out here (or Switzerland) for my birthday next year!

Mom and Grandma had a fantastic time at Hampton Court yesterday, they even took the train there by themselves! They are really world travellers now! Today is Leeds Castle and tomorrow they fly back home. Please keep them and their flight in your prayers for tomorrow. Thanks!

Hello from London!! Can you imagine mom and grandma waving? Here they are near Buckingham Palace on Friday. This was before getting all worn out! We crammed a lot into Friday... Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Liecester Square, had dinner at All Bar One, went to a show "Wait Until Dark" then wen home. Whew!! Saturday was a bit more if you can believe it!! Grandma opted to stay home and recoop, so mom and I set off on our own; however, we didn't get to leave until 12 as they both slept in until 11am!!! Mom and I went to London Bridge station, then walked...... to Tower Bridge, Tower of London, the Monument (everyone keeps asking me what this is, it is a tall round monument that has gold flames at the top. It is 202 feet high and if you lay it on end, it will touch the place where the bakery was that started the Great London Fire. Anyway, you can climb all 311 steps to the top and then you have a wonderful view. I highly recommend this!)... we then took the tube to Covent Gardens. There was a huge food fair going on so we had a lot of fun trying all the different breads, cheeses, jams, etc... we were than just in time to catch the beginning of a street performers act. Mom and I then went to Picadilly Circus and then walked to Oxford Street. (On the way to Oxford street we accidentally took the long route and went through Soho and some rather unsavory alleys.....)

Sunday was all about St Pauls and Harrods, what else goes together like religion and shopping? Isn't shopping a form of religion?

Monday and Tuesday were Bath and they were wonderful. The weather tried very hard to be good for us and only really rained as we were driving home (Yay, my second time driving and still no deaths!!)

Anyways, here are all the pictures, I hope you enjoy them!

Bath
Stonehenge
London for Tourists

Last but not least, for those of you that know Vivian, here is a picture of her and the family at her birthday celebration :)

YAY! Mom and Grandma have arrived safely. Their flight went well and landed 30 minutes early. I had arranged a minicab to pick them up and it was there on time so everything was well. Unfortunately the cab broke down 3 times then finally gave up. The company sent another car and they finally arrived at my place around 6:30PM. We then went to dinner a block away and walked home in the rain. What a difference from LA! Grandma was even awake enough to go with me to the Halloween party. They were both in bed and asleep by 10 and slept pretty well through the night and woke up around 7 this morning. They should be pretty well adjusted to the time! I am leaving work at 12 and then we will go to the local Doughmasters for lunch and on to London!

Since we will eb out of town, I will not update the blog again until next Wednesday, so everyone have a Happy Halloween, get lots of candy and have a great weekend!

Talk soon, Diana

What a great day!!! I woke up to sunshine and it even seems a bit warmer out! My mom and grandma are on a flight right now. They are scheduled to arrive at 3:15 but right now it says they will be early at 2:24. I AM SO EXCITED!!! We will have a busy weekend, doing all the touristy stuff over the weekend, then Bath on Monday and Tuesday, then they will be on their own Weds and Thurs and then sadness when they leave on Friday :(

We here at the office (well those of us willing to venture out into the cold) are really starting to get some travel planned. I booked tickets to Strasbourg, France for the weekend of Nov 21-23. It is right on the border with Germany and looks like it will be beautiful. We are hoping to get plans all worked out for Berlin for Nov 28-30 by the end of the day. They will both be cold but should still be quite beautiful and hey, I am getting used to the cold! (Especially with my new warm blanket jacket!)

We are going to a Halloween party tonight (that is if mom and grandma are awake.) Someone here from work, Svarva, lives in my building and is throwing the party. Pretty handy that it is in my building so how could I not go? Alot of the UK people and from close parts of Europe go home on the weekends so it seems that whenever anyone plans something it is always on a Thursday. Halloween does not seem to be a big deal here. There are decorations but I am told that unless you live in a very high family area you won't really have kids come by. Actually that sounds alot like home!

I keep hearing fireworks, they are legal here and everyone is getting ready for the big holiday next week. My birthday! No, just kidding, November 5 is Guy Fawkes day and they celebrate it like the 4th of July with lots of fireworks and bonfires. They should be fun to go to as they burn an effigy of Guy Fawkes. We don't burn enough effigies of people back in LA do we?

After about 3 weeks of sun (cold and sun) the clouds have moved in. I awoke to a California type rain. Drizzly and grey, just in time for my mom and grandma! They leave in less than 24 hours and it looks like it will rain all weekend. I have pictures of the sun that I can show them.....

I went to the gym last night and ran 2 miles then walked home in the cold, it actually felt really good! The combination of hot and cold was really invigorating. Luke would be proud (well of yesterday that is...)

We are in the process of planning a trip to Prague, Berlin or Madrid in 3 weeks and whichever we don't go to, we will pick one for December. I'm voting for Madrid in December as the other two might just be unbearable by then. Any way it works out will be fantastic. It still amazes me that we can make plans for a 2 day weekend trip to any of those places. Fly out Friday night and come back Sunday evening, just like Vegas!

By the way, I would consider myself all better now, just a random sniffle every now and then but pretty much healthy!

I am so glad to not be inhaling all of the ashes and smoke you all are inhaling but I am so sorry to hear about all the devastation. I know some of you have family members and/or friends affected by the fires and my prayers are with you. I am reading about them on cnn.com.

I wore my new coat today, it feels like I am wrapped up in a big down comforter. I feel very puffy but at least I am warm! Now if only I could wrap a big comforter around my head......

Hampton Court
We went to Hampton Court this weekend! It was freezing as we walked around the extensive gardens and spent about 30 minutes trying to find our way through the maze but the rest of the time we were inside and it was quite good. It still amazes me how old things can be and that they can still be standing. This is especially interesting in that it was built hundreds of years ago and then added onto through the years. So as you walk through it you see the extremely different styles of architecture. Very cool. I had to go to check it out before I send my mom and grandma there next week!

On Friday, I saw "Secondhand Lions" which I highly recommend. It would be a great family movie but good for adults as well. Saturday night I went for Mexican food. The place is called Chiquito or something like that and looks like an Acapulco; however, after eating there I would almost say that in comparison, Acapulco is authentic Mexican food!!! I ordered a beef burrito and asked them to put rice in it, taco sauce and cheese on top (hoping for an enchilada) When I got it, it looked like and enchilade but when I ate it, I found that they use chili con carne complete with Kidney beans in their burritos. I laughed and then ate it, wishing for a local Taco Bell. The best part was that I asked if they had any hot sauce and they brought me cajun sauce from Louisiana!!! Well so much for Mexican food in England!

I spent Sunday shopping at the local mall and was able to get a very nice winter coat, hat, 2 sweaters and a cell phone. I then treated myself to a movie and saw "Calender Girls" which is absolutely hilarious. It is an English film about these over 50 yrs old ladies who do a nude calender to raise money for a local hospital. It is based on a true story. Well this is beginning to sound like a movie review site!

Anyway, enjoy the pics. I miss you all more than you could know. The shopping yesterday didn't help as much as I thought. If I keep shopping to help missing home, I will be bankrupt before I know it!! I hope all your homes and the homes of those you know and love are safe from the fires. By the way, jiggery pokery means to magically manipulate! Like if your computer isn't working, you jiggery pokery it until it does.

Love from me,
Diana

UK slang quiz: What does "Jiggery Pokery" mean?

Good news! I have been able to upload pics onto my computer, still working on having them show directly on this page but at least I can give you a link.

Leeds Castle
Paris
Croydon

Well we aren't going to Amsterdam this weekend. Instead we are probably going to Hever Castle tomorrow and then I can go shopping here in beautiful (hee hee) downtown Croydon.

Well enjoy your weekend!

So I did not make it to the gym last night, I just kept fading away as the afternoon went on. So I went to the market and bought some chicken noodle soup (it was Heinz because they don't have much Campbells here, it was pretty good though!) I got in my jammies, ate my soup, curled up under my Carolyn blanket and watched Little House on the Prairie (courtesy of Katherine and Sossi!) So all in all I started to feel much better!

Funny little side note on how words can mean different things.. I was reading the local Nestle news letter and it was saying thank you to everyone who helped on the latest charity drive. It said that the strip show was a big success! Strip show? So I asked around and found out that a strip is like a football jersey and so people got to wear them to work or something, but at least there isn't any actual stripping going on!

I am really starting (starting?) to get more and more excited about my mom and grandma coming!! I just hope it doesn't rain the whole time!

I am sure you are all dying to know how my cat is doing! She seems to be very happy at Casa Jamie. He has hardwood floors which I thought she would hate, but it turns out that she loves them! She likes running around on them and sliding. Jamie says she especially likes doing this at 3am. This proves to me that she is her same old self and very happy! :)

Getting sicker and sicker by the moment. I think the cold is getting to me. I woke up this morning and it was dark and the ground was wet. When I went to work it felt like it was 30! I could have frozen to death. I know you are not sympathetic out there in the heat but.... So I am sneezing and coughing and generally feeling like crap. I bought some over the counter stuff at lunch and it is not doing anything. I had a few people tell me they got sick when they first came, I guess it is the same bugs that killed off the indians a few hundred years ago (again, someone told me that.) When I went out at lunch, I experienced my first London rain. Same as home except a lot colder.

Good news though! I joined a gym last night My new gym It is very nice, much better than 24 hours. I was hoping to go again tonight but it looks like chicken soup and jammies for me....

Well since it is just Tuesday, not much has happened. I put away my shipment... oooh exciting!! It is still getting colder and colder... even the locals are starting to say it is cold! Thank you Carolyn for that blanket, it is amazing!

I have not figured out how to make a picture show on this page but I can give you links to Ofoto which will store pics. I still don't have the ability to load pics I have taken since getting here onto my computer (I should sometime this week) but for now here are some pics, courtesy of Linsey Watson from mine and Nancy's farewell. Farewell pics Click this hyperlink then click on view photos.

I added a new feature so now you can comment on my comments... ooohhh wow. This is called participation! Just click below on the comments hyperlink and you will get a popup box. You can enter your own comments and if anyone else has put some in you can read theirs. We will try this out and see if anyone uses it. We'll see how long it lasts!

There is talk of maybe driving to Amsterdam this weekend.....

Hey all, I hope you had a great weekend. Enjoy your warmth and sunshine! I now appreciate it and wish I had more of it!!!

Jamie and I had a very adventurous Saturday. We picked up the rental car in the morning and spent about 1 hour trying to get to the IKEA that is about 10 minutes away. It was very unnerving driving but we did not kill anyone. After successfully completing my first roundabout I started to get a little more confident but thank goodness I had Jamie!!!! I could not have driven and tried to figure out how to get somewhere at the same time! It took all my concentration to stay on they left side of the road! I can't count how many times Jamie said with a quivering, frightened voice "uhhh, honey... uh... you are in the other lane...." It's funny but you have a tendancy to stray over to the left side when you are driving and end up covering 2 lanes without realizing it. I eventually got used to it and we went to IKEA and the big grocery store, Sainsburys, and I bought salsa! It is in this tiny little jar from El Paso and was in this tiny little Mexican section....hmmmmm.... definately need to buy salsa when I get home at Christmas!

We then went to Leeds castle, which is in Kent, not Leeds (thank goodness I found that out or we would have driven 6 hours looking for a castle that didn't exist!) The castle was on a very beautiful area and it even had a hedge maze. That was excellant! We then came home and had dinner at a pub called "The Spreadeagle" :)

Sunday was less exciting. I followed Jamie to the airport and said goodbye. Very heartwrenching, I won't go into details. I decided to cheer myself up by going shopping! I went into London and got off at Covent Garden. The first thing I wanted to do was go to the Doc Martins shop there, well low and behold..... it is no longer there. My day already sucked and now it was worse. So I wandered around and actually found ways to spend my money. I know hard to believe, but I was able to do it.

So this morning my shipment came!! It is at this moment strewn all about the flat waiting for me to go home and put it all away...so off I go!!!!

YEAH! Just got the call that they will be delivering my shipment on Monday! So very excited! I miss crushed red pepper and my gym clothes and my scale to see how fat I am getting (since I don't have the gym clothes...) So when you come visit me I will be less fat and happy with my red pepper!

I also just picked up the keys for my rental car for the weekend. I sat in the drivers seat and well anyway, let's just say that I hope I am able to write you on Monday. The plan is that Jamie and I are going to go about a mile away to IKEA and the BIG supermarket, then back to my flat to drop the stuff off then off we go to Leeds Castle. It doesn't sound like much but...

So I hope you all have a good weekend and think of me when you are driving!

I went out for my first drink last night! Well not my first drink ever but my first drink in a pub after moving here. It was a going away for someone on our team. She was from Russia and on assignment to Switzerland but temporarily (7 months) assigned here. So she is going back to Switzerland and then will go back to Russia in about 2 years. Her boss was giving a speech for her and since I don't know her well I was zoning out thinking of other things. I looked around me at the people who were there and noticed a Russian (obviously), and people from the following: Switzerland, France, Iceland, Spain, Japan, Canada, America, Ireland, England and Australia. I'm sure there were others but I don't know everyone yet. I was very overwhelmed by this and thought what an amazing opportunity (of course I have thought this many times but more on the level of travelling.) How often do you get to look around and see so many nationalities. It is an awesome feeling. If only everyone could experience that there might be less war (already getting more philosophical.....I promise that won't happen very often.) Well anyways, it was fun and I got to have a Strongbow (English Cider) which I haven't had since the Contiki tour in 2000.

On a blogger note, I am shocked at how many people responded to my email and said this was a good idea and that they would read it!!! WOW! Katherine, you had a great idea! But yes Linsey, I will continue to email people as well.... I still haven't figured out the picture thing but I will. I couldn't do much even if I did as I haven't gotten the software for my camera installed on the computer yet...

Tonight is another drinks night hosted by IBM, there is going to be food too so it sounds like it should be a huge turnout. I really LOVE that I live 2 blocks away from everything. I have heard some people talk about how they don't go to these things because it takes them too long to get home after but not me!! YEAH!

Trips, people and things to look forward to:
*I have reserved a spot to go to Carnival in February with a bunch of Nestlé people including Nancy Deters. It should be really fantastic since some of the people going are from Brazil so they will really know their way around.
*Also looking forward to my mom and grandma coming in 2 weeks! Yeah! We have booked a trip to Bath and will be staying in a converted castle.
*Toni Lamasa will be stopping by in early December. She is going to Ireland on a teacher exchange program and will be able to stop by London for some sightseeing before heading home.
*Definately coming home for 2 weeks at Christmas!
*Linsey Watson is coming at the end of January and the travelling through Scotland.

Well that's it for today!

So Katherine has asked me to become a blogger. She seems to think that I may have some interesting experiences over here and might want to document them. I figure I will humor her and try it out, perhaps my mom and grandma will look every now and then too....

I will try to figure out how to get pictures on here so that might make it a little interesting... not sure how often I will update it but definately not when I have just sat around watching tv....

To bring you all up to speed (all 2 of you reading this), I have arrived in London safe and sound and although I am freezing my little petootie off, it has not rained on me. It did rain on Jamie though, he was out buying a dvd player and some bathroom trashcans... he was hiking back to my flat (English Word (EW) for apartment) and it downpoured on him. As soon as he got into the apartment the rain stopped. They are not predicting rain anytime in the near future so...

We went to Paris last weekend (insert beautiful picture here....) and had a fantastic time. Had lunch when we arrived and the only word I recognized on the menu was hamburger so I ordered it. What arried was a hamburger patty with a fried egg on top. I wish I had thought of taking a pic of that! It actually was "very, very gooood" (I quote Isabella here with an Italian accent) We did some touristy stuff then went to the top of the Eiffel Tower and almost got blown off, but it was a clear night so a beautiful view and I did get my kiss :) Next day was Sunday and I was so excited to go shopping at Champs-Elysees but alas everything in Paris is closed on Sundays except for McDonalds....

So here I am back in Croydon, safe and sound. Thus begins my international travels....