It was the worst of times.

I've been meaning to work on this post for ages, but you know how life goes and it seems that the more I have to blog about, the less time I have to do it... so it goes. Bonus points to the person who can name the book that the title of this blog bastardizes (without looking on "the" google.) In interest of keeping things interesting and probably because I have had a lot of coffee and tea this morning in preparation for a long day of studying I am going to regal you with the story of how my bike fell of the free way from the end of the story to the beginning...I uploaded the pictures in that order and I am going to just roll with it... :-) The story ends that my bike is now fully functional thanks to the nice people at Mike's Bike's in Berkeley. I highly recommend them, not only are they a competent bunch of folks when it comes to bike mechanics, but also pretty nice people in general.
And finally, the best part was that the magical unicorn bus that was following us on the freeway that day also pulled into the same rest stop. I am not sure what the occupation or destination of these people might be, but my educated guess is that they were likely headed to burning man. Erik and I were really pleased to make face to face contact with the people responsible for bringing so much joy to our highway driving by virtue of their colourful vehicle, which he and I had passed a few times that day.

This is my face after we took the wheel off my bike. I can't believe that it happened, but after swearing a bit, including dropping a few f-bombs I looked on the bright side that it was just the wheel! The frame was completely fine and no one else was hurt.
So while I was bemoaning the loss of a wheel and thus my literal wheels (as the kids say) once arriving in California, Erik strapped my bike to the car secure as can be where it would ride safely all the way to Berkeley.

While cruising down I-5 my eagle eyed brother said to me "that bike is moving too much" and pulled over immediately. Looks like we hit a bump and the bike rack shook and the back wheel bounced on the free way at close to 70 mph.... ouch. I am so glad that Erik saw it that quickly, because it could have been much worse. When I brought the bike in to have it repaired and looked at the shop worker told me that it was the most messed up wheel he had ever seen!
This is my bike safely strapped to the back of Erik's car with the new hat I gave the seat so that it would be safe in the rain! Also I wanted to get a photo of the giant mushrooms on the top of Oregon Gifts. God bless you Oregon, bunch of nutters.
After a few hours of driving, Erik and I stopped in Portland to have coffee with our friend and my old housemate, Mike. Mike and Phoenix lived with me and others in Tacoma and it was great to stop in and see them! Erik is giving a thumbs up because I was a little worried that my bike would be stolen whilst we were drinking our conversation cup of coffee... it wasn't.
Ready to go!! Outside my parent's house before the long drive down to California! Rock and roll!

Berkeley or Bust

After a few whirlwind days with my family, my lovely brother, Erik, and I set off for the sunny south. We left early Saturday morning. I highly recommend this as it makes for much less traffic and then by the time we got to Oregon a few hours later it was time for a coffee break!

Our coffee break plans were with my old housemates Mike and Phoenix. Mike and Phoenix were getting married the following weekend. I was unable to attend the wedding, so Erik and I made a point to stop and catch up. It had been since the preceding November that that we were able to hang out, after all. Plus Mike had taught Pheo a few more tricks, that alone was worth the Portland stop!

Mike's place is full of wedding presents. One of them is a cupcake making kit that includes this apron. Mike refused to model it for the camera, but I reckon that is just because he already wears the apron so much and he doesn't want his fiance, Mandy, to know that it is his favorite gift! Congratulations to Mike and Mandy! :)

Erik got really excited about this motorcycle. I like the colour and am impressed with the fact he is wearing a backpack whilst riding the bike down I-5. cool factor? 100.

en route... we had great weather and a great mix of music for sing along; artists including but not limited to: Pearl Jam, Regina Spektor, Dispatch and Chicago.

We had to stop here. Mostly because of the super sized American Flag but also because of the only slightly less large psychedelic mushrooms on the roof of the Oregon Gift Shop. wow.

I bought these. I actually was in the gas station and I said to myself: "You know what sounds good? Hostess Snowball cakes." REALLY? Readjusting to American culture by fire!

Good bye Oregon! See you soon!

There was so much rain that we had to drop the speed down to 30mph in an 70mph zone. Holy sudden flash floods batman. But I think Erik and I both agree that north of Redding and into southern Oregon is some of the most beautiful scenery on the drive.

I never though I would be back to California. I actually said many times that I would never live here again, but I have to give it to you Cali... you do make some of the most gorgeous sunsets. Thanks for having me back :)

Repatriation August 2010 Style

Kelly, Beatrice and I walked down to Victor's for coffee and a cinnamon roll! DELICIOUS! One thing that I miss about the USA and I noticed now that I am back is cake-for-breakfast. It is a little too sweet and oh-so-tasty. If you are in the Redmond area, give Victor's a go, they have rice milk! Below is Kelly making me and Beatrice smile. :-) What a good mom!

Kelly, Beatrice and I also made a trip to IKEA and it seems that Beatrice's favorite toy that day was the empty box of elderflower juice. Can't blame a girl for having good taste! :)

Beatrice and I hanging out in the McPherson kitchen. Beatrice was wanting to stay away, but her body was wanting her to fall asleep. Eventually she slept, but not after drooling all over me. Though I may not say this for all babies (or adults for that matter) Beatrice is welcome to drool on me anytime, look at that face. :)

Have I mentioned yet how cute my niece is? Very. Very, very cute. She liked it when I blew air in her face and then stuck out my tongue. This is her copying me. :)

What a beautiful baby, and so tolerant of having flowers in her hair and hats on her head.

This was maybe my favorite part of family pictures; watching Erik and Kelly jump around in order to encourage a tired Beatrice to smile for the camera. :)

The folks and Beatrice. I like Beatrice's expression, especially if you not the picture directly above this which kind of captures what she is watching.

hmmm... seriously, my mom makes the best pie.

Eryn and I in my folks backyard during the lovely shindig that my folks coordinated. I am really grateful to have such a loving family.

Brother.

How did I forget about redvines!? They are so delicious, I love every red dye number 1 through 100 that they might have in them. I am glad that my parents have the 5.5lb bucket! Welcome back to the US of A. Next stop? California.

Iceland: not just volcanos and good music

Just a short blog to say that if you are ever in Iceland, or have a stop over in Reykjavik with Iceland Air, I highly recommend that you give this yogurt like treat a go. Skyr is delicious. I mean the way they spell blueberry/bilberries, bláber, just sounds fun to eat.

Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2010

Edinburgh alone would have been enough. It is high on the list of favorite places visited in the UK, it made me want to be a wee Scottish too. Next time I am back I will have to remember to purchase one of those kilt towels, the classic souvenir for the real cultural enthusiast!

In addition to being in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, I had the good fortune to visit the Fringe festival 2010. One of the most incredible collection of ideas, performances, art, music, dance, theatre and comedy in UK. The energy was tangible and a city that is already beautiful buzzes with the art infusion. As you can see from the photo of the Royal Mile above, the Fringe is not short of followers.

In order to prep for being inundated by tourists (and being part of the crowd!) I took a walk up Aurthur's Seat; a nice hill in the middle of the city with allegedly great views if it is not overcast, though I thought that the cloudy views were pretty lovely as well. It seems that there are over 100 different ways to get to the top of Aurthur's Seat; I chose to climb the steep stairs that end in a rock face and scramble my way up. I wouldn't not recommend it, but there are more comfortable routes that stick to main paths that might be slightly less strenuous. :)

Above is a picture out of the window of Chocolate Soup, a cozy coffee shop off the high street. I recommend their mocha if you are in the mood for a hit of real chocolate with a splash of coffee.

Harry Potter! Yes, I have read the books, but I did not eat at this cafe. Seemed a bit overpriced and was certainly over crowded. Instead my friend, Amy, and I snagged a couple of jacket potatoes from a cafe up the street. My first jacket potato on the go!

A cool thing about the Fringe Festival is that there is much free entertainment to absorb just by walking down the street. These guys were an a capella group promoting their later performance. The program for the Fringe rivals many university text books, so I advise to leave plenty of time to map out your visit. One could literally be at a performance or show from 9AM until 5AM the next day. The venues can be pretty spaced out so plan carefully and you can see a ton! Or do what I did and plan hardly at all and still see a ton!
This is Black Friar's Bobby. The dog statue commemorates a pet that apparently guarded his owner's grave for over 14 years... I mostly am noticing in the photo how much work I need to do on my "can I have a treat? begging puppy" face.
I had a wander through Princess Gardens and stumbled upon (metaphorically) these lovely roses. Though roses in a bouquet fail to impress me much, roses on a bush rarely disappoint.

I thought this scene was interesting as there are two families picnicking and playing amongst this circle of willows and in the center of the scene is a grave; life continues.
This is Jill. Jill is from Glasgow and is a friend from church in Chester. She is all shades of lovely, generous and kind. We had the good fortune of ending up in Edinburgh at the same time and took advantage of the opportunity to explore the city together and see some shows. For Jill, visiting Edinburgh was a kind of homecoming, and it was nice to be shown the city by someone who knows it so well and loves it so much. For dinner one night, Jill and I went to have a curry at the Edinburgh Central Mosque. The Mosque developed a food ministry that I think would be great to put into practice at more places of worship. They have cheap, delicious food and created a covered area in the back of their property where people from the community can come and eat and have fellowship. It is a pretty effective program of building relationships in the community and I think it is a model that would be great to put into place in more churches.

This is Jill and I about to watch Hamlet the Musical. A six person cast, an on-stage band and an hour and a half well spent! The humorous adaptation of the Shakespeare classic went down a storm and had the audience rolling. Highly recommend this particular show and the Fringe Festival.

London Town

One last hurrah! Fiona and I traveled down to London last weekend to visit Maddy and Matt in their new flat. Before I go on about what a great time we all had together, or at least I had with them! I will say that elephant and castle is the worst tube stop in the London Underground. First of all there is no way to get out of the tube stop save by lift/elevator. When Fiona and I arrived, not being privy to this information, we walked around in circles looking for the stairs of the escalator so commonly found in most tube stations. Once we did finally emerge victorious from our underground prison there was a maze of subway tunnels to navigate to actually reach out friend that was waiting on the other side of the roundabout. It starting to feel like we were gophers popping up and looking for Maddy and then back underground, Maddy would appear at yet another place and Fiona and I would be where she was just previous, etc. Eventually we did manage to connect, but man... if you can avoid elephant and castle I think it is the way forward.

Maddy and I were protected from the rain in polka dot bliss. <3>
This is a great stop next time you are in London. I had been to Borough Market once before, and it was just as good this time as the last. One aspect of London I really enjoy is that there are myriad markets around the city, fruit stands, local wine shops, etc. It makes it possible for people to buy locally more easily. The market is great because whilst it is not the cheapest place to purchase items, if you look carefully it is possible to get good deals on fruit and veg... and oh the cakes are delicious. :)

Wondering down the left bank with the obligatory stop in front of Shakespeare's Globe... we did not end up going to the Globe to see a play this weekend. However, I think we did quite well procuring tickets to see As You Like It at the Old Vic. The performance was a joint effort by both American and British actors. The best part was that our ten pound limit leg room seats were upgraded to 5 row orchestra! Yes please! Great view, great price, great evening :)

In addition to trying on my first fashionable playsuit. (blog entry regarding this issue to follow) on Portobello Road we came across a cheese with my name. :)

we had a great weekend with theatre, pubs, late night scrabble, delicious food (Maddy made the most lovely marinade for a halloumi vegetable kebabs!) and lots of laughter. I will miss my friends and look forward to visiting soon. :)

It is hard to believe that I will be leaving England soon, it doesn't really feel like I am moving, but just leaving for a little while. Perhaps that is because I do travel quite a bit that going to the states is nothing new for me. I had had a few discussions with people about the fact that even though I am moving back to the states, it still feels like I am "going away to university"... because though a mere 14 hour drive from my childhood home, Berekeley, CA is going to be a new place entirely for me. Going away to university, I just can't seem to sort from where I am leaving?