Rollin' Rollin' Rollin' - Wedding Part II

So our bride & groom are happily married. The cheese has been unveiled & the guests enjoy mulled wine while the bridal party takes pictures.

sigh.

Wedding pictures can be painful. They can be uncomfortable and awkward with people yelling at you and you try to look happy and ignore the fact that your face hurts from smiling so much. It was cold out and I was enjoying my mulled wine. I didn't want to leave the reception to go smile for an indefinite period of time.

And then I stepped outside and saw the chaos.

These pictures? So. Much. Fun. If this photographer didn't live in another country, I would so hire him. We could not stop laughing. But, when we could stop laughing, we'd get some fetching photos.

Me & Elizabeth & Todd
The second of my 3 favorite pictures as two of my favorite people who happen to not live in the same state as me, are all in the same place, same picture.

Here we have the "American Group" along with the groom:

Todd, me, groom, bride, father-of-the-bride, mother-of-the-bride, boyfriend-of-the-mother-of-the-bride & sister-of-the-bride.

Here's the last of my favorite three:

Aren't we all cute? I just love this picture. Love, love, love. I think more American weddings should do this. Apparently, I was told, this shot is standard at British weddings.

Well, I was going to actually talk about the wedding, but I can do that tomorrow. Lets see some more of what we in America call wacky and what those in the UK call normal

FYI, it is normal to attend a wedding in your country's traditional garb. This tradition is rad beyond words.

Here we have Scotland and Austria represented. And, in case you like to play where's Waldo when looking in pictures, yes, in the Scotland picture, that is the bride & groom dealing with one of the bride's straps popping off thanks to a delightful bear hug delivered to the bride.

And here, if you're asking yourself, why isn't that nice picture of the traditional garb of Norway in better focus? I'd really like to get a better look at those fabulous socks. Yeah, here's what the photographer looked like:

Now, a sane person would have handed the camera to her boyfriend who was holding nothing at the time. Or, she might have even handed over the flowers, the wedding program and/or the purse. But, we're talking about a member of the bridal party so really, sanity doesn't enter the picture until after the wedding festivities are over. Yeah, that's in the bridal party handbook.

But, here is a tradition I will happily bring to American weddings. Those of you who know me well are scared right now. And you know what? You should be.

Behold!

Funny hats & fascinators!

Part III, coming soon....

Back in the saddle again

The wedding saddle that is.

And no, I'm not getting married. I'm the girl who's been in eight weddings and also assisted in countless others. So, in honor of weddings and people I love, I present you with the last wedding I was in. Unfortunately work and holidays hit so I wasn't able to bore, er, tell you about it before.

This one wins for furthest travelled. That title was previously held by a wedding in Maine but that wedding has now been dethroned.

If you're new to my blog, I'll give you a hint to where I was:

Yup, you guessed it, Tahiti. Oops, sorry, that's where I want to go, not where I was. Yes, we traveled across the pond.

Now, you might think to yourself, well, a British wedding would be easy. I mean, its a country where English is spoken and we've all seen "Four Weddings and a Funeral." That looks like great fun. And it was, but everything was different.

Actually, could you go watch that movie before you read any more? It sure would help the story. I'm sure you have the DVD. I can wait.

....

The language is different, the dress code is different, the bridal responsibilities are different...everything is well, different.

Lets start at the reheral, shall we? See that nice father daughter couple walking towards the house where both the rehearsal dinner and wedding reception were held? That's the bride and the father of the bride. Can you see that she's wearing a suit? (Click on the picture if you need more detail.)

At the rehearsal, Elizabeth was wearing pants (those pants you see right there) and when the vicar asked how long her dress was (to know if kneeling would be an issue) I said it was the same length as her PANTS. Yeah, everyone had a good laugh at that one, except for the 5 Americans who didn't know why they were laughing.

Britain 1, Maid of Honor 0

And, by the way, I was a Chief (and only) Bridesmaid, not the Maid of Honor.

Britain 2, Maid of Honor 0

The day of the wedding, there were a few traditional issues that we won't go into on the interwebs. But I will tell you this.

Britain 2, Maid of Honor 14,986

We all made it to the church on time, though a few of us might have been walking quickly due issues alluded to above. But, it gives me a good excuse to show you one of my three favorite pictures from the wedding (note Elizabeth is holding her wedding shoes so they don't get dirty on the walk to the church.

Don't we just love her dress? Off the rack ladies. Yes, you can find a dress for a reasonable amount of money. I bet someone really cool bought that. And yes we're going to ignore that the bride is gorgeous and completely in shape and could have worn a paper sack and looked fabulous and instead we'll focus on the fabulous dress, off the rack.

Britain 2, Maid of Honor 14,987

As luck would have it, the church they were married in is right next door to her now father-in-law's house. Again, you see this in "Four Weddings and a Funeral." Everyone walking from a fantastic old church to an equally fantastic old house for the reception. Fabulous, right?

Britain 3, Maid of Honor 14,987

Although this wedding has many British traits to it, the bride and groom did put their own spin on the most important element of the entire day.

Cheese.

Oh, you don't believe me?

That's cheese. That's cheese from France. That's cheese from France picked up by two friends of the bride & groom. (Only one person was sent but he invited a friend for the adventure.)

Seriously.

Of all the preparations for the wedding, this was the one single element that was key to the success of the event.

Now I think you fully understand the crazy of my friends and why I adore them so very, very much.

Part II coming tomorrow.

So I didn't give up, exactly...

I started the England recap and then the economy fell apart and all sorts of other real-life drama and I just felt weird blogging about my trip to the UK. But there is some good information you all need....like where I bought yarn. This is important.

On the L.A. Stitch & Bitch board there are posts weekly asking advice about where to find good yarn shops when visiting (fill in the city here). As we're all L.A. based knitters, I felt a little odd doing this. I asked the google instead.

Now, the google had lots to say and many suggestions, but the best site belonged, oddly enough, to the London Stitch & Bitch. Not only does it have a list of the shops, but the address, hours, websites and most importantly, maps.

Oh maps, how I do love you, especially in London. If you want the best map of London, you want an A to Z (pronounced "A to Zed"). I found mine at a used bookstore in Pittsburgh but you can get them EVERYWHERE in London (drug stores, book stores, newsstands) and they're 5.50 pounds, so not expensive. You can find anything in London with this, even random yarn shops.

First stop was All the Fun of the Fair. I chatted about this shop in my previous London post but since this is a knit shop round-up, it still deserves a mention. It is the size of the closet with the merchandise of an entire craft fair. You have yarn, needles, notions, gifts...this is seriously one stop shopping. Its a great little shop with fantastic staff.

As you can tell, we're not on ground level. There's this fantastic open-air mall just off Carnaby Street. Though, don't even try to find this place without a map. As with all of the charming yarn shops of London, they are not jumping out in front of you.

Next up, I Knit. We went there after we hit the Tower. I'll admit, I was a little freaked out that we were going underwater to get there. (The shop is super close to the Waterloo Tube Station and to take the tube to that station, you guessed it; you go underwater.) But, once I got over that, super cool.

The people who work at this shop know and love their merchandise. And, they know and love their knits. They were stocking the shop and showing each other stuff on Ravelry when we walked in. I felt so comfortable. After Todd started working on his Blackberry while I looked at the yarn and they told him he HAD to sit down and relax while I shopped, I absolutely knew these were my people.

At this shop I picked up some lovely natural locally grown, sheered, spun, loved, tended to yarn in a gorgeous dark natural brow. The most difficult thing about shopping here was trying to limit myself on what to buy. As I did on every yarn stop, I asked the staff what could I not find in the U.S. Since these guys are proud to carry tons of locally grown, spun, dyed, etc... types of yarn, there was a ton to choose from. They could even tell me the exact part of the UK the sheep my yarn came from live.

Third and final stop was the most famous of the bunch, say it with me now, Loop.

Ok, for a shop this famous, it was tiny! Not, All the Fun of the Fair tiny, but considering everything I had heard about it, I was surprised. Now, that isn't to say that they didn't have a ton of stuff, knowledgeable staff and a class full of people downstairs...it was just smaller than I expected. But, as evidenced by my bag, size did not stop me. There was lovely fair-trade African bamboo yarn not available in the states as well as a skein of orange cashmere spun on an island that I needed.

One thing I will say about Loop is that it resides in my new favorite area of London. We got off the tube to walk over to the shop and we never wanted to leave. For lack of a better word, it was just lovely....shops and restaurants and people walking dogs. When I win the lottery, I'm renting a place here for a month.

I had a great experience at all three shops. The staff was friendly, the merchandise was well-priced (you can't blame a shop for the exchange rate!) and the shops were just so fantastically charming. And, with all three, when you think you've walked too far, you're almost there. (See map notes above.)

Alright, to Tuesday....

Now that we've all voted to change the world and make it a better place, we can now return to blog posting about mostly nothing at all...like trips we've taken!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008 - We head off to London on the 9:15 train. Our cab driver to the airport described London as a mistress. She's beautiful, and expensive, very interesting, but not somewhere you can afford or handle forever. I agree. I adore London but can only afford her in small doses. One thing the cab driver didn't mention was that affairs often cause high drama. And, without getting into too many sad details, on our train into London, we had a two hour delay due to some drama. But in true British fashion, they were efficient, quick, and got us on our way as quickly as they could.

Once in London, we took the tube towards St. James Park. On our way to the park and to my favorite attraction in Britain, we walked by the Royal Mews. Not the sort to walk by horses, we did the self-guided tour.

In all honesty, I don't know if I'd recommend this. I say that because of one thing:

These are the only horses we saw.

When you say mews, I think of a place where horses live. So, Todd and I were just a little sad when these were all the horses we were going to meet. We did see and hear about the amazing carriages that carry and have been gifted to royalty over the generations. We learned that many of the people who care for the horses actually live in the Mews with their families. And, when you look up above where the horses live, you can see the apartments with flowers on the window sills. Seeing a glimpse into royal life and those who care for the entirety of that life was cool.

We also met this guy, who is an obvious resident.

Pressing on, we gawked at Buckingham...

That annoying black bar in the picture is part of the gate that goes around the palace. To take pictures you have to go through the bars. (I would have edited it out but picnik isn't behaving. )

Its mildly amusing to see hundreds of tourists leaning through bars to take pictures. Of course, it might have been more amusing to them to see one tourist taking this picture....

From Buckingham, we walked through St. James park.

See the London Eye in the background? It didn't move the entire time we were there.

From St. James, we embarked into the Cabinet War Rooms. I adore the Cabinet War Rooms. Why? Well, thank you so much for asking...

I really didn't enjoy history. Memorizing dates and royal lines and all of that stuff isn't fun. And, I'm not good at it. Staring at note cards, being quizzed by mom really didn't help my appreciation for those who came before me.

But, humanities...putting all the pieces of a culture together, art, music, politics, literature, fashion, etc... that's what I love. That's when history comes alive. And that's what the Cabinet War Rooms do. After the end of the war, everyone just left. And the map room, it is exactly as it was all those years ago, down to the sugar some dude was hoarding since there was rationing. To me, that's history.

Now, of course, some of the museum had to be recreated, like the bedrooms and such whatnot. But to see how the war was dealt with, below ground, to see how staff lived and worked...that's just amazing.

As we came out of the War Rooms....
It sort of sums up London for me: light, dark, still, moving, old, new, simple and complicated.

That was deep...anywho...

From St. James, we walked down Pall Mall so I could meet my London co-workers and see the London office.

From there we walked to Fortnum & Mason, also known as the Queen's grocer. The food is spectacular and, during my last visit, I saw the Edge in a fabulous green top hat and tails escorting an appropriately aged, dressed, and quite attractive woman to some sort of an event there.

We walked Bond Street to SoHo where we ventured to All the Fun of the Fair. This marked my first knit shop in London. The shop is tiny but incredibly bright and easy to navigate. They have not only yarn and notions but all sorts of hand knit treats like cupcakes and tea cosies and bunnies and bears for sale. I really enjoyed my time there. Now, my only rule of yarn buying on this trip was to buy only what I cannot get here at home. For some reason shopkeepers were amused & delighted by his request. After being introduced to all of the yarn that fit my description, I bought two large skeins of organic undyed wool and two normal sized skeins of bamboo sock yarn.

We walked around Carnaby Street down Regent Street and around Piccadilly Circus and then took the tube back to Kings Cross. The 19:15 Cambridge Express train brought us back to Cambridge for a late dinner, email and bridal mayhem.

So ends Tuesday.

I don't know about you but I'm tired. Just writing about it was exausting. Looking back, I don't know how I did all that walking.

Back to life

As I've been properly chastised by my favorite pharmacist for not taking any time off after my trip to the UK, I figure that means, I'm home and back in the swing of things.

Well, mostly.

Looks like I'll have to hit the hard stuff (herbal tea) in order to convince my body that sleeping 6 - 8 hours in a row is a good idea.

So yeah, here I am. The laundry has been done; the dogs have been walked; and the pictures are uploaded. I guess all that means is now I'm ready to start the England recap. I know, try to contain your excitement. It might be a bit much considering election day is tomorrow.

Nonetheless, let us begin at the beginning....

Saturday, October 18, 2008, I needed to get from Los Angeles to Heathrow carrying the following:

1. Wedding Dress

2. Work Laptop

3. Camera

4. Medications

5. Bridesmaid Dress

6. Purse

7. Jewelry

8. Knitting

9. Reading Material

10. Velvet wrap for above Bridesmaid dress

As you can imagine, this would, er, exceed the usual carry-on allowance. But shout "I'm carrying a wedding dress to England and its not mine!" gets you all sorts of sympathy and help from airline crews. All of that gear flying in both coach (from L.A. to Minneapolis) and first class (from Minneapolis to Heathrow) was accepted and stowed by the crews. I was shocked by how nice everyone was to me.

Sunday, October 19, 2008 - I'd be happy to tell you all about flying overseas in first class. But, when I've done that during conversation, I get the overwhelming sense they want to hit me when I describe the fully reclining chairs, the warm towels and such. So, we'll skip all that and get to England....We made it to London where the future bride was kind enough to meet us. Back at Barton House (seriously, that's how you address letters to their house), we were met by the welcoming committee.

After proper introductions, we we walked a bit, ate a bit, and the bride did her song & dance to try to keep us up as late as possible to aid in our time adjustment. She always does this for me, which is sweet, but by 8pm I was more than ready to snooze. If I was up at 4am the next day, so be it, but I needed sleep.

Monday, October 20, 2008 - As amazing as it was to fly 4,000 miles in first class, I will warn you of one thing that crosses coach/business/first class lines...drink lots and lots and lots and lots of water when you fly, especially if you're flying for a long time, like 8 or more hours. Really. Trust me on this. You want to drink HUGE amounts of water. I slept too much and did not drink lots and lots and lots of water and yeah, I had a bit of a rough start on Monday. But, I will tell you that Motilium 10 is the best stuff ever.

After my recovery from dehydration (ironic that you can't keep water down when you're dehydrated) and a croissant, we jumped onto a tour of Cambridge. If you're looking for a low impact way to see the city, this is a good way to go. You don't have to worry about your guide being good or crappy or funny or whatever...they hand you some headphones, you plug in, choose a language and off you go. Considering my rocky start and my guilt from keeping Todd from seeing the city, this worked quite well. And, we saw stuff that we wouldn't have on foot like the American WWII Memorial, and some of the colleges that are on the outskirts of town. (Did you know it takes 6 years to get a veterinary degree at Cambridge? Its the longest undergraduate degree program at the university.) I was also able to point out which school the bride went to (Churchill) as I wouldn't have been able to otherwise as it was on the opposite side of town from where we were staying.

We only hopped off the tour once, per Todd's request, to examine more closely one of the local attractions:

Yup, Staples. Though, sadly, the easy button did not have an accent. We were disappointed. Defeated, we jumped onto the next bus to enjoy the rest of the tour. Dinner followed by email brought Monday to a close.