Old Fabulous London Town

I'm home now. Have been for a while now, which is why I've sort of neglected A2A in order to spend some much-needed time with the fam. Listening to Dad's old records while eating Mom's delicious home cooking always reminds me of when I was little. Tonight it was chicken marsala and Tony Bennett. Tony's My Love Went to London took me back to a couple of weeks ago, made me miss London, & jogged my memory of these photos in particular...

an abundance of hanging baskets makes a corner

British pub absolutely beautiful

going to church @ St. Paul's: my response to the

"What was your favorite moment in London?" question

I found what appeared to be Fifi & a bunch of her friends

hanging out near Spittalfield's Mkt in LondonTown

Paris is beautiful in July!

...had to get at least one touristy picture

back to my City tomorrow ...more BigAppleBlogging to come;)

xoxo

Emily

food & places

My time in London has come and gone way too fast. 5 weeks, 2 suitcases, and 4 pounds later, I am headed home. Yes, despite walking all over London & Paris, the camembert, scones, & chocolate teacakes took their toll. Last night I packed for my return with Julie & Julia playing on my laptop, a glass (make that bottle) of French red, a bowl of olives and, of course, a couple of chocolate teacakes. Watch the movie if you haven’t already (it's sweet & has beautiful takes of Pari & YUMMY food in it ...basically, the chickest flick ever) and, besides the food and the French architecture, pay attention to what’s hanging above the bed in Julie’s apartment. They are framed antique handkerchiefs of different states & I am longing for them to be framed in my apartment …the North Carolina & New York ones, that is. One question: why is it that the Iowa hanky is only $30 and North Carolina has to be $80?

cheers to London!

& see you tonight, America!

xo, em

i bought a book

and today I finally read it. It's just a travel book, no in depth novel or anything, but if you're in need of a guide to any major city you could possibly want to travel to, then I've found what you need! It's called the Wallpaper*City Guide.

I have a sentimental connection with windows (yeah, I'm hokey) so as I read my travel book on this drizzly British afternoon while sitting at Album, a cafe in London's upscale-but-low-key Chelsea area (a far cry from my artsy Chelsea back in NYC), I can't help but take a mental picture of my view from this window. The raindrops on the window pane, the cobblestone street, the old bridal shop across the way housed in an even older building, the green window baskets cascading down ...oh & I have a plate of hummus, pita & olives and a glass of pinot grigio... okay, you get the vibe?! It's just all so, well, European.

Oh yeah, back to my little book... published by Phaidon, these tiny travelers may be small in size, but they pack in a lot of good stuff, including beautiful color photographs. The tabs of the book include:

Landmarks -the shape of the city skyline

Hotels -where to stay & which rooms to book

24 Hours -see the best of the city in just one day

Urban Life -cafes, restaurants, bars, & nightlife

Architour -a guide to the city's iconic buildings

Shopping -the best retail therapy & what to buy

Sports -work out, chill out, or just watch

Escapes -where to go if you want to leave town

You can get um for a "fiver" here in London, but back in the States they are still well worth the $10 price tag. Apparently there is also now a Wallpaper*City Guide iPhone app for all you tech-savvy people. Bonus: they come in a rainbow of cute colors *see top picture* & will even fit inside a clutch (speaking from experience, obviously:)

happy travels (or @least travel reading!)

xo em

i c e c r e a m

i've had the same tired phone for 2.5 years now & have never lost him. except for last Friday. i searched, drove the roommate crazy having her call it, and even looked through my laundry hamper ...whenever i lose anything, 9 times out of 10 it's in there. seriously. it wasn't.

PINKBERRY! i screamed. youscreamiscreamweallscreamforICECREAM I ran downstairs, out the door, & around the corner to our neighborhood pinkberry. 'oh yeah gurl, we gots yo phone' said the teenage fro-yo bartender. on the counter, somewhere between the massive line of people & the toppings counter, a kind soul had found my blackberry @ pinkberry & turned it in.

now, this story wouldn't warrant a blog post had the same thing not happened at the gelato place near Parsons a couple months ago when my Student ID went missing for a tragic 2 days

...lesson learned: when in doubt, check the ice cream shop!

thoughts about things on a thursday

1) There's no such thing as a free lunch.

For tax day, Energy Kitchen was giving away free lunch.

Woohoo, right?

Well, yes, if you found time to stand in a line out the door:

...which I somehow did, and it paid off...

...all that for free! (go ahead, call me frugal ...I prefer "savvy")

sidenote: I think it's weird when people take pictures of their food & put it on the internet.

2) Question:

Who is Jane Wood? And why does my street have her name on it?!

3) Springtime in Manhattan...

I do believe Park Avenue got her hair-and-makeup done.

Loookin' goood!

4) YAY

Chelsea Anthropologie grand opening is tomorrow

read The New York Times article here

paper bag prediction

the bag i brought my dinner home in last night came with this message...

...the bag wasn't really that big ;)

confession

It is true, I have an extremely unhealthy relationship with nutella. It is a pantry staple at our apartment. I eat it on everything, fruit, crackers, a spoon. Tonight I was comforted to hear that I am not alone. Apparently there is a Facebook page dedicated solely to nutella and it happens to be the 3rd most popular page on the entire website ...trailing closely behind Coca-Cola and Barack Obama ..who knew?!