Flying from London to Chicago this morning!
Flying from London to Chicago this morning!
Fun reads and pics this week:
A roundup of great food options in London.
Oh, Canada.
One of the fews news stories this week that made me really, really happy.
I think this idea from Spoonflower/Hello Beautiful for making tea towels out of handwritten recipes is brilliant. I’m hoping to snag a few of my grandmother’s recipe cards when I’m home in May so that I can try it myself.
A couple weeks ago, I wrote a post that described a bit of my current homesickness. Well, time has not helped. Nor have the many photos of baseball games that friends have been posting on facebook. The good news is that I’ll be in Chicago two weeks from today! In the meantime, I’m listing to stuff like this:
Earlier this week Triddles published an incredible piece on maintaining long distance friendships. Unlike, Triddles, I do not live across an ocean from the majority of my friends and family. However, I do live across the country, and even that can be incredibly challenging. I personally have benefited from several of the strategies Triddles uses to maintain her long distrance friendships. I love a good Skype date and I agree that gChat is an invaluable tool for keeping up on your long distance friends’ every day minutia.
Having spent the last 9 years in a different time-zone than most of my closest friends and family I have a few additional long distance friendship survival tips.
Recently, I read this and this, both discussing the trials and tribulations of making new friends as an adult. Two years ago, I moved from New York (lots of friends!) to London (only a few!) and then last year, I moved again, to Edinburgh (again, a few established friendships at the start). And I’ve gotta agree, making new friends is hard. That said, I don’t regret the moves and I think the challenges that went with them were all good for me. In the process of acclimating to life in Britain, I’ve learned some things about friendship but the most critical, by far, is the importance of staying in as close touch as possible with my family and friends in the U.S.
AnnaMaria is absolutely right, there’s nothing better to fight loneliness than hearing from an old friend. With that in mind, I thought I’d lay out some of the things I do to make sure I don’t lose touch with my friends and family. Honestly, it’s not easy. I’m busy and they’re busy, but technology helps a lot.
Happy Friday! This song has been playing on repeat in my apartment since a cover of it was featured on Nashville Wednesday night. I dare you to listen to it more than once and not sing along.
Over the long Easter weekend, the boyfriend and I packed up a rental car and drove to the Lake District in northern England. We met up with friends who live in London and rented a cute Airbnb flat near Keswick.
The weekend was great. The lakes and mountains of the region are stunning and we spent two great afternoons hiking and enjoying views like this one.
Crummock Water near Buttermere
Our group only had one real complaint: the food. Like many heavily touristed areas, we ended up wandering into a number of not-cheap places offering not-great food. Luckily, we also found a couple of really great spots and, in the interest of helping future hikers, these were the best.
Grange Cafe — Grange Cafe is located just down the road from Keswick on the River Derwent. We stopped in after a hike with great views of Derwent Water. Sadly, we found a parking spot around the corner from the cafe and had lunch at its main competition, a truly lackluster cafe called Grange Brigde Cottage Tea Shop. We then walked over to Grange Cafe and found a cozy cafe featuring the best gingerbread cake I’ve ever had (Grandma’s recipe, according to the owner). The homemade soups and other cafe fare being served around us also looked delightful.
Bridge Hotel – Midway through a hike around Crummock Water, we stopped for lunch at the Bridge Hotel in the village of Buttermere. The hotel’s pub served the best food we found all weekend. Highlights included a savory steak and ale pie, handcut and expertly fried chips, and a delicious sticky toffee pudding.
In years past, it seemed like heels had all the fun. Living in NYC where walking is often my primary mode of transportation, I was very excited when pretty flats started to make a comeback. I love how a sassy pair can spice up any outfit, even something as simple as jeans and a t-shirt. I adore these sparkly flats from J.Crew. Often I find J.Crew’s shoes a little hard to break in, but these are comfortable on day 1. Combine glitter and comfort and you have pretty much created my perfect shoe.
For more Well-Heeled Wednesday fun check out our friend at Cashmere & Wit!
This is one of my favorite days of the year. In fact, I love April Fools Day SO much that my friends have decided that if I ever rule my own country April Fools Day will be the official national holiday. I am naturally naughty, or ornery as my Grandpa used to say, and I can’t resist a day all about tricking people, all in good fun of course!
I have to say, I’ve played some pretty good tricks over the years, but one of my favorites was leaving my husband a message that he needed to immediately call a Michael Lion about our car insurance. The number that I gave him was actually the number for the Bronx zoo. Run of the mill tricks don’t generally work with him, so I was happy that I was able to pull off a sneakier stunt. That same year I was able to trick my incredibly suspicious good friend with a similar prank. I had her secretary call her and tell her there was a problem with her apartment and that she needed to immediately call Mr. Fox. As soon as the Central Park Zoo picked up she hung up and called me laughing hysterically. I still smile thinking about her reaction.
What about you? Do you like April Fools Day? Are you easily fooled? What are your favorite tricks?