London blitz

 O town of townes, patron and not compare,
London, thou art the flower of Cities all.

~William Dunbar

Oh, London.

Hello! London was quite brilliant, really.

(And now there's a little British-accented voice in my head that dictates I write with a British tilt. Sorry. Cheers.)

I didn't take my computer with me and my phone only had very occasional coverage. Hence, no posts. Hence, the (soon, you'll see) barrage of photos and posts. We're in the middle of re-entry: unpacking and laundry and paying the piper for being gone a week. In the meantime, here are a few moments from our first day+, jet lag and all...

More soon, ready or not.

It's a jolly holiday

A bit ago the stars aligned (well, the stars and our wanderlust and an airline sale and our last spring break all together and a--knock on wood--nice tax return) and we rather spontaneously decided to go on an adventure next week over spring break. Not just any old adventure but the Queen of All Adventures. A royal adventure. I can hardly stand it, I AM SO EXCITED. If I were a cool, been-there-done-that kind of blogger I would wait and tell you once we already landed (oh by the way, we're abroad this week). But (clearly) international woman of mystery I am not.*

London, here we come! I've been waiting 20+ years to share my favorite city with my kids. It gives me happy chills just thinking about it.

Yesterday I was checking into tickets at the Globe Theatre (eep!) and, as I filled out the information form here were the choices for "title":

• Mr
• Mrs
• Miss
• Ms
• Dr
• Sir 
• Lord
• Lady
• Dame
• Prof
• Air Commodore
• Baroness
• Brigadier
• Canon 
• Capt
• Cmdr
• Colonel
• Count
• Countess
• Judge
• Lt
• Madame
• Marquess
• Prince
• Princess
• Rev
• Bishop
• Duke
• Viscount
• Viscountess

All of the above, please? Not in Kansas any more, I guess! I'm no fan of insults and put-downs but perhaps a little Shakespearean insult training (e.g., Thou spleeny rough-hewn dewberry!) wouldn't hurt in the name of cultural understanding and Hamlet prep?

. . .

*I am so lacking in mystery that a quick glance back through the last few posts reveal mentions of: Upstairs Downstairs (British), a quote by Winston Churchill (ditto), a letter to BBC's Blue Peter (yes, again), and a clip of Les Mis (yup).

Holi again

For those of you who wondered about it, here's a video of the Holi Festival of Colors where Lauren had such a blast last weekend.  Oh, and incidentally, my cool cousin Aaron did the music for this clip. 

Doesn't that look amazing? I love the moments when the colors are thrown. So brilliant.

I need more color in my life. (There's an April Fools Day snowstorm predicted around here tomorrow. Boo.)

Colors.

Wow, that was such a quick trip. My apologies to all those we didn't see this time around (everyone). Lauren was running the show and she definitely had us running! 

I did get to see the Carl Bloch exhibit (thanks for the tip, Allysha), which was lovely. Actually, I had a TON of time to myself since Lauren had no lack of nice friends to show her around and, let's be honest, moms kind of get in the way of those kinds of things.  At least that's what I'm led to believe. 

And I also believe that Lauren is infinitely closer to making a decision. I think we both kind of felt the vibes at one particular place. She's still weighing options but it was definitely a well-taken trip because it changed a lot of her perceptions and feelings about the schools--not a blinking arrow but close enough.

At the end, she caught up with some of her friends from last summer's Tonga trip. As luck had it, it was the weekend of Holi, a Hindu festival of colors celebrating spring. What a blast she had! She also got to catch up with her cute friend Jared before he left on his mission for Mississippi.

. . .

Okay, speaking of colors, as I mentioned a little earlier today, I am in the throes of trying to select a paint color for our master bedroom and bathroom.  Here's my plea for a little audience participation today:

What's your favorite paint color that's a neutral but still a color?

Pretty please?