A Few Favorites

I haven't traveled anywhere new this week but with Javi less than 3 days from being here my travels are about to pick up again and I may not have time to update for a while. So, to make sure you all don't miss me too much I thought I'd share with you a few of my favorite blogs that I read constantly throughout my weeks. More so than ever as I have currently deactivated my facebook for a few days/weeks...we'll see how long it lasts.

The first blog I want to tell you about, POSTSECRET is my absolute favorite and I have been checking it religiously every Sunday for years and years. Alex and I first discovered the books around my sophomore (her freshman) year of high school when we were wandering around Barnes and Noble. (Quick side note: every Friday we would go to Desert Ridge and when there were no good movies to see we would wander from store to store until our last stop at B&N where we would spend aaages searching books to buy for that week. We would take turns every week buying a new book or two and then trading! It was a pretty sweet deal we had worked out. Hey Grapejuice, why don't we do that anymore?!) Anyways. So on one night we were actually looking in the music section for some reason I can't recall right now and we stumbled upon a Postsecret book that was tucked into the wrong shelf. We were immediately addicted and anxiously awaited each book to come out.
Postsecret was started by Frank Warren who was interested in learning about other people's secrets. He self addressed/stamped hundreds (a thousand?) postcards with instructions for people to write a secret of theirs on it and return it to him. Before he knew it thousands upon thousands of secrets were/are being mailed to him and the books were then born. As the books became more and more popular he started a blog and every Sunday (at midnight exactly- I know, because I often refresh my browser at 12:00 on the dot  to see the new secrets) he posts 15ish new secrets that he particularly enjoyed from that week. If it's near a holiday he will post a lot about people's holiday secrets/traditions etc... Anyways. I am so happy that Frank Warren came up with this experiment so many years ago and I'm happy to say I have been following it from essentially, the very beginning. The project is now 7 1/2 years old and going strong! I encourage you to check out the site and watch the most recent video about his project which went up last week. As of today over half a million secrets have been shared with Frank, making him one of the most trusted men in the world if you ask me!

The second blog I want to tell you about is MAKES ME THINK and I'm warning you now, it will make you tear up. The blog is for those who want to tell about events that happen in their lives that quite literally, make them think. Click on the link above and you'll understand what I mean. They are often touching, heartfelt, sincere and most importantly, they make others think as well. I can't tell you how many times a week I look at this blog and think "wow, my problems are so trivial" or  "that person has a good point." So many of them are about losing loved ones, a kind word from a stranger, or something embarrassing which made others laugh at them and each one reminds you that we are not alone. Everyone has day to day trials which make us think and when we share them with each other they help us feel not so alone.

The third blog I am obsessed with is DEAR PHOTOGRAPH and it is a blog that started off as someone posting six photographs from their past held up in their original setting. I can't remember how I came across this blog but I sure am glad I did! This is another one that often makes me tear up because pictures hold more sentimental value than we give them credit for. In this technology age we live in it's a miracle if pictures even get printed any more. I personally print hundreds of pictures a year but you all know how camera crazy I am. (plus, after my hard drive crashed and I lost, literally, thousands of pictures, I am happy to say that at least I have a few hundred of them in "hard" copy.) Scroll through this blog and you'll see how touching it can be as you imagine the feelings these pictures evoke from their owners and the happiness in sharing it with the world wide web.

I have a lot of time to myself over here in London and sometimes that makes me feel like I'm going crazy. Reading blogs like these three not only make me feel like I'm not the only one who struggles with certain problems or fears irrational things or has weird OCD habits but it is also enjoyable to get an idea of what goes on in other peoples' minds! It's fascinating and makes me wish I had more actively pursued psychology in my undergrad. Buuuut that's a whole other discussion for another time.
I know we're all really busy with school/work/life but I hope you have time to look through these three blogs at some point and enjoy them as much as I do! It's a much better time waster than Facebook or even Pinterest (AAHHH I can't stop pinteresting! I need help! haha)
Ready, Set, ENJOY!

Love From London,
Kristin

If April Showers Bring May Flowers....

...then come May I don't know WHAT London is going to do with all the flowers it's bound to have from all the rain we've had for the last several days.
That's not to say the sun hasn't shown up for parts of the day but this picture here shows just one storm that has blown through here today! Anyways, I guess since I need to be forced indoors to focus on my school work it's not all bad to have this weather around and the sound of the rain is quite soothing. So all in all it's not bad for anything except my mood.
Yesterday, however, I was lucky enough to go on a tour of the Palace of Westminster.  The Palada is most commonly called Parliament around here and I was actually unaware of the fact that it was considered a palace and used to be used as a palace, until booking this tour! It was obviously a very historical tour so I was enthralled for all 75 of the very quickly spoken, nearly running to keep up with the guide, minutes of it! With the State Opening of Parliament coming up on May 9th we were walked the route that the Queen will be walking when she comes to give her speech. No, it is not written by her and it is apparently only 10-20 minutes long now (I'm sure much to the relief of most people in attendance) and it's not even guaranteed she'll know what she's saying but HEY! she is the QUEEN! Anyways. We walked through both the House of Commons and House of Lords though we were not allowed to sit down on the seats. That is a privilege you must earn and I'm glad that even the children respected that. I so badly we had been allowed to take pictures but...alas, respect for the age of the building and security and all that.
Did you know that for (insert long time period here) years no royalty has crossed the bar into the house of commons from the house of lords because that is a sacred space for "the people" and when the Queen wishes to speak with the Commons she must send someone to knock on the door (which is previously slammed in his face as he approaches) and say something along the lines of "The Queen demands your attendance..." I feel like she should ask more politely instead of demanding but hey, tradition is tradition and if something's been done for hundreds of years...well you don't mess with it.
There are so many more interesting facts that of course I just can't remember off the top of my head to share with you...darn I should have snuck in a recorder! Ah oh well.

Included in my tour I was also allowed to go see the Jewel Tower which was/is part of the palace though no longer connected to the palace building. There is not much to see but it used to be quite a big deal! It was where stones were weighed and measured and money was kept and it is one of the last remaining parts of the ORIGINAL palace built like a million years ago or sometime in that time frame.
These scales here were actual scales used in the tower when it was still in use. The tower was actually still used until around 1941 (whoa! how did I remember that?!) when it was finally deemed too small for the needs and purposes it was designed for. I can't tell you where everything was moved to now, probably somewhere inside the palace or somewhere important nearby.
On an exciting note as well I got a haircut yesterday! Now I haven't trusted someone to cut my bangs (fringe as they insist on calling it here...what am I a table cloth?!) but it was time as they had finally grown past my chin and were more like a silly looking layer than bangs. So I went to a place near one of the Starbucks I was doing work at the other day and the nice lady who cut my hair was very patient and understanding of the fact that I wanted to keep all the length on my hair and that she had to be VERY careful not to mess up my bangs. I left feeling VERY happy with how it turned out and for the first time in several hair cutting experiences I haven't left crying. I suppose that's the difference when you pay for a decent hair cut as opposed to walking in to a chop shop ;)

Love from London,
Kristin

Blessings

I woke up early this morning and couldn't actually believe that Easter was already here. Time is moving so quickly and I can't believe that it's over a week in to April and not only have I completed another term and turned in my essays for both classes but I have begun research for my dissertation. I'm starting to get excited about it because it will be on a topic I get to pick all on my own! On this Easter evening however I'd like to reflect and share with you all why I feel so blessed in life. (Warning: this could get sappy). 

In my life I have always been surrounded by a strong support system. My family always told me I could do whatever I put my mind to. Encouraging me to play sports I wasn't good at (ha!), helping me move to California to live near the beach and now helping me pursue my dream of living abroad and exploring new things on my own. I've always been a daredevil and I'm grateful that even when I scare them half to death they never try to hold me back. 

Then I have the most amazing friends I could ever ask for. From Arizona to California you all have been my cheerleaders and I feel so incredibly lucky that we manage to stay close no matter the distance that separates us. Encouraging emails, texts, and letters that make me laugh and able to carry on when I want to give up. 

Then of course I have been blessed with the most amazing boyfriend in the world who always takes care of me. From making sure I'm eating properly to taking my medicine when I'm sick to making me laugh when I've had an extra grumpy day of reading. He always loves me no matter my mood, no matter how un-put-together I seem to always be. 

I feel like I could go on forever about how blessed I am to have such amazing people in my life! The last 7 months of this journey here in London has not always been easy but I have been so blessed with people who are going to get me through it! Being here is a blessing in itself and I am fully aware of the fact that I need to take advantage of all the opportunities I have out here and trust me, when it comes to travel and exploring...I AM! I have loved all the new places I've seen and experienced and I'm so excited to continue all of that! 

I know this has been a scattered post but I guess the point is that I am BLESSED. The lent season passed quickly and in some ways I feel like I forgot about the season altogether. It's disappointing but at the same time I'm pretty excited that time seems to be moving. For anyone that was wondering about how I spent my Easter day I went to church at the Brompton Oratory (sorry I forgot my camera :(  so sad. But click on the link to look at pictures!) which is a beaaautiful church in South Kensington. I went with Caitlin, Mariel, and Pete so it was lovely being there with friends! We walked in right at the end of the Latin mass because it was running quite late so we waited to get good seats right up at the front. Then our mass started right after and let me tell you, the priest sped read through the readings and gospel and gave a 5 minute homily that would have made certain members of my family very happy. (cough cough daddy cough cough). There was also no music at this mass which saddened me a lot but within 45 quick minutes the mass was over and it was off  to breakfast with Caitlin where we got to catch up on the last few weeks of our lives. After losing track of time we said our goodbyes and I then came home, went for a run, worked out a bit in my living room since the gym is closed (everywhere shuts down here for Easter- Friday-Monday a lot of places are closed. I appreciate that this country celebrates and enforces religious holidays haha but I'm not used to it.) And then I got to skype with my loving family back home! After I finish this update I'm going to try and get a little school work done before I watch a movie and crawl in to bed. So I leave you with the Di Marco 2012 Easter photo! 

Easter Family Photo 2012

Love from London,

Kristin

Reflections

The rain outside tonight is reflecting my current mood as Lisa has officially taken off from London and it's back to reality for both of us. After some brief (okay not so brief) and embarrassing tears on my run and at the gym this afternoon I decided that tonight will be devoted to updating you all on the last couple days and getting as many pictures up as I can so that you can really follow our journey (if you have access to Facebook. If not...well, what century do you live in anyways?!) if you so desire. If I ramble or seem distracted I apologize. Just accept it and look at the pictures ;)

For the past 3 or 4 days Lisa and I have been making sure to hit all the last main touristy sites we may have missed before Spain. We were finally able to climb to the top of St Paul's Cathedral after our third attempt. First time the whole church was closed for a fancy event, second time we were informed the top two outside views did not open until April 2nd so we finally went Monday and loved it! It beats the view from the London Eye for SURE. Well maybe it doesn't beat it but it sure does compete with it. The climb up is over 500 stairs though and gets very narrow and very steep so we were dizzy and minorly scared for a bit there but it was more than worth it.
The picture above is where we went to tea! It was in a very pretty hotel next to Kensington Gardens and the movie Nottinghill was filmed in one of their gardens. I can't remember if I've seen that movie or not but I remember we used to own it because I remember the VHS cover! Silly, Silly. Anyways we got to eat little sandwiches, tarts, macaroons, and lots of other yummy sweets. It was so good and we each tried a different type of tea- mine was called silver arrow or something like that. Clearly I only picked based on the name but I don't actually know anything about teas.

This weekend we also went out dancing which was fun! We went to a club not too far away from my house called Ministry of Sound and it has a few different rooms with different types of music and it was nice to go out in London because it has been a long time since I have had time to enjoy a night out in London. School work seems to dominate my life which is probably good since I need to stay focused in between people's visits. We went out wiht our new Australian friend who taugh us Aussie slang hahhaha and also one of my roommates and we had such a great night out!

I'm exhausted and need to get to sleep here in a few minutes. I thought I would be excited to have my bed back to myself but really I know I'll need all 5 of my pillows tonight more than I have because I liked laughing as we fell asleep and fighting over sides of the bed and being ridiculous and silly with our stuffed animals.
Thanks, Lisa, for visiting me! It was such a wonderful trip and it truly has helped get me through small patches of homesickness. Miss you so much already!


Love from London,
Kristin