found art

New York Artist, Jacob Hashimoto. After seeing this on Colectiva, I realized he was the artist I swooned over at the Saatchi Gallery.

shoes in london

there were a few things that i found in london that fought hard to get into my luggage. i decided to take their pictures instead, hoping to see them in the future. first, i'm loving these kawasaki shoes. perfect street shoes with tons of color, i'm not convinced they are available in the states yet. adidas boating shoes - yummmmmm. again, i'm having a hard time finding these online, but i give it a couple months (or i can stick marques on shoe duty).

my last day abroad

saturday night in london was a ton of fun. we went out dancing & found ourselves on crowded dance floors celebrating the music of michael jackson. on our trip home we grabbed tall boys of stella & donner kebabs - ohhhhh late night london. the next day we headed out on foot to hamstead heath (a great spot for panoramic views of london without the $40 price), stopping at chewie's bakery & deli on the way. i'll tell you, i was pooped on my last night in london & spent the night packing, napping & watching to boob tube.

i went into total body shutdown (tbs) the minute i arrived in michigan. i meant to post about my last day in london when i got home, but i've had a hard time even getting out of my pajamas. it's been chilly & rainy here in fife lake, but it's nice to be with my family, cozed up playing cards, baking & lounging around.

days five & six in london

the last couple of days in london have been great. i spent yesterday at the camden market & stables & notting hill before meeting up with marques & friends for drinks in covent garden. the market was both overwhelming & underwhelming. it's amazing to me how many stalls carry the same goods & the amount of people that are willing to buy some of the junk. it was still a great experience & the revamped stables were impressive with large sculptures & chandeliers. after that i strolled through notting hill. i loved walking down the streets with the fragrant plantings, bright blue front doors & rows of antiques. after that we spent the evening getting after work drinks in covent garden, i cashed in a bit early. we also kept today low key with a nice late morning, 3 mile run around regent park & a casual walk around shoreditch & hackney.

it just started pouring rail & hail - i'm at home watching how i met your mother, getting geared to order in dinner then go out once the storm passes. for all of my london pics so far click here.

days three & four in london

i'm writing this while watching bbc reports of michael jackson's death. i can hardly believe it.

i took my first bike ride in london wednesday morning, heading into to work in covent garden with marques. i tell you, it's a different story here. after that i spent some time shopping around there, grabbed lunch from kaster & ovens (a fantastic take away spot with the best salads & baked goods), then headed off to the soho area. my afternoon was overwhelmingly filled with a visit to the v&a museum & saatchi gallery. i spent most of my time in the fashion exhibit at the v&a, so fantastic. i enjoyed the student exhibits as much as the historic pieces. after that was the saatchi gallery, reopened in sloane square (used to sit near the london eye) in october 08, tit has a fantastic collection of contemporary art. the current exhibit titled abstract america. the day was full, but doesn't end there. marques & i took a bike ride to tower bridge, up brick lane through shoreditch, then further east to london fields. london fields was a really young, hip neighborhood bursting with energy - i'm hoping to spend a big more time there before i leave.

today i decided to walk the south bank with end destinations of the tate modern & borough market. i saw some fantastic pieces at the tate modern, but have really come to terms with the fact that some genres & forms of modern art can be quickly passed by for me. the borough market was wonderful, i wish that i could have picked up everything i needed for a big dinner. why couldn't i? oh yes, at the request of my father & encouragement from marques, i became the first deotte to queue for wimbeldon 09. yup, 1.5 hours & there we were, at the all england lawns tennis club. we got to see pieces of some singles & doubles matches, then watched a mixed double on the terrace.

all in all, another great couple of days in london. i have so much more that i'd love to do, but will hope to hit the camden market tomorrow with an afternoon in notting hill.

two days in london

i got into london (camden town) monday morning feeling pooped, totally pooped. i laid around for a bit then decided to run some errands - groceries, cash & sim card (& a walk through part of the camden market) - before taking a nap in regents park. i met up with marques & friends at inamo in soho, followed by drinks at the spanish bar (a place i'd like to hit up again - killer jukebox, tiny space).

today was the geffrye museum (thanks to paola from mirror mirror - great suggestion) & the shoreditch neighborhood, alongside brick lane & redchurch road. the geffrye was such a fun experience with its front lawn, period gardens, english interior displays (from the 17th century to the 20th) & special exhibit by mark cowper. as much as i enjoyed the collections & exhibits, i also liked watching all of the kids there & how interactive the organizations is - having kids think about design & draw their favorite item. after an hour plus there i set out on foot, exploring & snapping pics. i stumbled upon idea generation where they were showing a photo exhibit of john hopkins that had me smiling & covered in goosebumps. marques mentioned the white cube gallery in hoxton square, featuring a show by raqid shaw - so i ate lunch in the square then went to see that (beautiful, vibrant & disturbing all at once). from there on my day consisted of stopping into great vintage shops, jewelry boutiques & more before setting back to make dinner.

i'm loving london, but having a hard time prioritizing the things i want to see & do. on the list - tate modern, borough market & a south bank walk; saatchi, v&a museum; a day taking in notting hill, bike rides, wimbledon, westminster & tower bridge, more covent gardens & soho - the days are too short!