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!