FWHA!

Hi friends!

Between recent travels and a mass of school projects due (oh happy semester end!), it's been a bit crazy in Rona-world as of late. And there's a lot to share with you: thoughts on and photos of Paris, Luxembourg, Brussels, and Florence, and an upcoming visit from a San Francisco girlfriend that I am very excited about. But since today is not that day, I thought I would at least come say hi. 

Hi.

This is how I'm gonna be dancing next week when everything's finished.

I hope you're doing well!

Big hugs,
Essss

p.s. On the title of the post: this is the noise I have been making today when stretching/leaving a thought process/getting up for a new cup of coffee/writing a spontaneous blog post/etc. It comes out like a vehement sigh and I think it is the sound of taking a break. FWHA.

Hugs again,
Essss

Life's a jolly holiday with Mary

Have you ever mixed up the date your taxes were due with the date of the Oklahoma City bombing and thought you had until the 19th to get them done? Yeah. Me, neither. Except maybe something similar to that just happened, so I didn't do my taxes last week because I thought I could do them this weekend. And then when I realized what happened, I shot out of bed in a blind panic (realizations like this can only happen at six a.m. on a Saturday), my heart racing, the old familiar self-reprimand of 'Sha-roooooo-NA!' going through my head. But when I went online to see if I could file an extension, I found out that due to some obscure Abe Lincoln holiday in Washington D.C. last Friday, I now have until Monday to turn it all in!! That's right. MONDAY! How lucky am I?? My hide has been saved by emancipation. As usual.

Today I'm going to put a pretty picture in my blog before any other picture because facebook only shows the first picture when my blog is posted, and when that picture is a mangy cat or a really tiny picture of San Francisco, it ends up looking a bit rough. So here's one to make my blog look warm and welcoming:

Doesn't this remind you of Bert's painting in Mary Poppins where they go skipping around on carousel horses? That Bert! These trees are all the rage in Engrand-town in the spring. They make me happy.

This weekend is a manic birthday weekend--but not mine, which is lame. Other people's. There's a birthday party tonight at a place that I keep calling The Golden Egg, but that's not really the name, it's just what I call it because I can't remember the real name. But calling it The Golden Egg makes me crave wontons and there probably won't be wontons there. I should just skip the party and go out for Chinese food. 

And then there's another one tomorrow. Again, not mine, and again, not involving Chinese food. Ridiculous, isn't it? People are so selfish.

But let's bring this back to my birthday, which I think we can all agree is what we really care about. My big 3-0 is coming up in June. D-Day, to be specific. I don't know what I'm going to do for it yet. I thought--five years ago, when I was living in SF--that I'd be doing this huge huge thing and it would be Super Magic Wonderful Good Times but now that I'm here in London, I'm at a bit of a loss. I should make this London thing work for me, and I don't know, maybe check on Wimbledon or horse racing dates or something. Then I can dress up and wear a big hat. That would be wonderful.

On a plus side, my friend Cassandra's 30th is in May and as a joint-celebration, she's flying out here! She'll already be gone by my birthday, but we'll have so many mini parties while she's here I'll have a nice stockpile to draw from.

And today, as a pre-birthday present to myself, I'm going to visit one of my favorite local shops and fondle all the silk flowers. You can never start celebrating too soon.

Big hugs and happy Saturday,
Esss

On mice warfare, stopping to smell the roses, and tell me what to do in Paris

"I have always believed, and I still believe, that whatever good or bad fortune may come our way we can always give it meaning and transform it into something of value." - Hermann Hesse

The mice are still a problem. No solutions (that I have the stomach for) are working--the mice don't enter the catch-and-release traps and they aren't touching the poison, either, no matter what goodies I mix in with it. And even though I've long since mouse-proofed every item of food in the kitchen (for all intents and purposes, you may imagine it locked into safes suspended from the ceiling), they still insist on holding squeaky family reunions behind the fridge and using the countertops as one long, joyous chamberpot. I don't know why they're still here. I suspect it's just for the pleasure of witnessing my descent into madness at their capable paws. My hands permanently smell of bleach these days, as does every surface I think they may have touched. I wield my cleaning products like heavy artillery and have a box of matches the size of a bread bin that I'm fully prepared to use to set the kitchen on fire. They appear oblivious to the wild glint in my eye, the desperate hoovering, and the frantic disinfecting, as they cavalierly chatter on, throw parties, and wreak general havoc. But I refuse to give in, to give them the satisfaction of pushing me over the edge. I'm now pulling out the big guns in this war: professional pest control, my own personal mercenaries. At the very least, I'd be thrilled if these experts can plug up all the openings that are allowing the mice in, although I do hope they have some success in mouse-extraction, as well.

I hope they come with a terrifying cat.

In other news, last weekend in Pretty Little Seaside Hastings was chock full of one of my favorite things: Old People Looking in Windows.

I love the way they just get right IN there. Like a shop front is actually an exhibit that calls for full attention and study and conversation. (And really, isn't it?) I can't remember the last time I stopped at a window front and had a nice, long perusal of the wares on display. And yet there's an entire generation that goes nose-against-the-glass, examining the contents. I love it.

I actually went into this shop and got a tea plate and a handful of rusty forks, just because I could. All for a pound! Oh, man. It was great.

Okay, so this one wasn't * technically * taken in Hastings last weekend, but I can't resist putting  it up because it totally fits. 

Now back to my spring break research...if you have any tips about what Aya and I should do/see in Paris, Luxembourg, or Brussels, please let me know! We're totally winging it here. And anything awesome you recommend I promise to photo to death and then post on here, giving you all the blame. I mean, thanks.

Big hugs and love,
Essss

A quiet one

I have an unanticipated free evening: a project was completed today and Friday's assignment can easily be done tomorrow, so for the first time in a long time, I'm finished with my work before 8 p.m. I feel positively buoyant at this gift of time, so rarely untainted by a niggling deadline. There's still light in the sky thanks to last weekend's time change, which serves to make the day feel earlier, the time more expansive. The world is my oyster! Should I take a bath and read? Watch an Audrey Hepburn movie? Watch an Audrey Hepburn movie while taking a bath and reading? I think I'll sit on the roof terrace for a while and be quiet and still while dusk approaches and then decide...

On a new blog feature, bowling, and Edinburgh Castle

So this morning I helped a friend of mine install some widgets and plug-ins and other such funtimes on her blog and while skipping around internet tutorials, I discovered that I could install a third-party commenting platform to my blog which would enable me to respond in-line to comments! (I know--I just revealed how behind I am in the blogging world. Don't judge me. And wordpressers and typepadders, don't you dare gloat.)  I scoped out review after review and finally decided to try one called Disqus. So if you go to leave a comment today, you'll see that it's a little different now, and I hope that's okay. If you find it difficult to use, please let me know; I'm happy to switch back to blogger's basic commenting system if that's the majority preference. Oh! And if you post as a 'guest' (versus, say, using your facebook profile), don't be alarmed when it asks you for your email; the information isn't displayed. I know, because I tested the new system by personally posting a dozen different comments with a dozen different log-ins, just to see what they all looked like. 

Because I apparently have loads of time like that.

Did you know right now at the Barbican there's this exhibit called Beat the Champ involving bowling video games? Ranging in history from the 70's Atari to the most current playstation/x-box/whatever, this guy created a loop on each machine to make it play a recurring gutter ball on a giant screen. It's awesome. It's also crazy how different each one is--from the sounds to the graphics to the varying degrees of the 'you are a FAILURE!' message. Check it out:

She was really good. Even though she got a gutter ball.

And now one last thing before I go tackle my laser-cutting homework. Which of the two below do you like better? Both are of Edinburgh Castle and I can't decide if I like the building in it or out:

Although this one is the clear winner:

Big hugs, and I hope your day was as productive as mine,
Essss