I Whip My Hair Back and ....

.... oh shit.

I have no hair to whip.   I cut it all off.  Actually a girl named Sarah cut it all off and gave me a chic British hair do.   You should have seen what a scene I caused in that salon.  Other ladies in the salon came up to me to tell me how brave they thought I was, as if I was donating a kidney.  All the stylists stopped what they were doing to watch.  It was actually a little embarrassing. 

Locks of Love is unheard of in England, so I found a place called Little Princess Trust to donate my pony tail to.

It was high time I got rid of that thing anyways.  It looked like a small marsupial was hanging out on my shoulder most of the time.

You nosy folks in blog land prolly want a sneak peak... so here it is....

 
My American friend Molly, and I had a girls night out afterwards.  And we decided to do ourselves up like girls from The Only Way is Essex.  Basically The Hills, but for England.  I'll never in my wildest dreams be tan enough to pass for a member of that cast, but we did wear fake eyelashes which is why my eyes look a lil droopy.  I've never worn them before so I think I need to master that skill.

Anyways thats all I have to report to you.  I miss my hair already.  I feel like a chubby version of Twiggy and I want it to grow back so I can at least put it into a bun again.  I didn't realize it was going to be this short.  But such is life, hair dressers always cut more than they say - don't you think?

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble

Riverford is such a great scheme.  We order a "box" and get to be surprised with fruits and veggies we would never really think to buy.  This week's super fun veggie (or is it a fruit?) was rhubarb.  I was pumped.  My great grandpa used to make a mean strawberry rhubarb pie, so I decided it would be great to reproduce it here and blog about it.  After much investigative work (two emails), it has been concluded that Papa's rhubarb pie recipe died when he did (at the ripe old age of 100!), and it is no longer to be found.  Or else my mom and aunt are just too busy to go hunting for these things and it will turn up somewhere one day... fingers crossed!

Until then, I needed a substitute, and I found one, over at Dessert for Breakfast.  I was totally blown away with her photos and thought, man if this girl is half as good at cooking as she is at food photography this recipe is not going to disappoint.... (seriously, go check out her pictures for some mouth watering food porno).

And woo hoo it sure didn't!  The crumble was sweet, but with just enough salt to contrast the sweetness of the fruit, and a bit of orange zest for extra complexity.

I called Nick on his way home from work (he had a very big, important day yesterday thats why I made this for him, really I swear... ) and I asked him to pick up some vanilla ice cream at the corner store where he gets off the bus... They were out of vanilla, so he got strawberry.  Works for me!!

This is seriously SO good.  I'm not going to post the recipe, because I followed it spot on and you can see it here.

Oh and that ice cream?  I am a little afraid to say this, but my dear Cincinnatians, it beats Graeters... It's from a Sheffield company called Our Cow Molly, and I have never tasted ice cream so delicious.  Apparently they make it with milk and cream from their own cows right on the farm.  Nick and I are planning to go there soon, so I'll keep you posted.  Until then, I will be hiding from my fellow Cincinnatians for saying such blaspheming things against Graeters....

Cirque Du Soleil and A Gutter

For my birthday the husband bought me tickets to go see Cirque Du Soleil's Varekai, which we went to see last night.  This isn't the first time he's done this - for my 21st birthday he flew us to Vegas and we saw Ka.  Yes, I know he's a winner.  I've been a huge fan of Cirque Du Soleil since my parents took us to see O in Vegas on a family vacation and last nights show certainly did not disappoint.

Since the set was designed for touring purposes, it was clearly not as elaborate as the sets done in Vegas - but I suppose that's to be expected.  However, the performers, the music, the lighting, the props, and the costumes were all at the top of their game.  Everything about Cirque Du Soleil is just so stunning, it leaves you feeling like a small child.  It's as if you are experiencing colors and sounds for the very first time.

If that isn't enough, the performers are breathtaking.  Simply watching them was giving me small jolts of adrenaline.  I particularly liked one scene where they did a take on that super fun childhood game, "The Airplane."  You know where someone much bigger than you lies on their back, feet straight in the air.  They place their feet on your belly and raise you into the air so you feel like your flying.  Well imagine that, with back flips and twists and a bunch of other indescribable craziness.

Oh how I love Cirque Du Soleil!

We had such a splendid time, and after the show on our way home we were strolling through Hyde Park, along the lake, talking about how perfect life was at that very moment.  Everything just seems to be coming together for us.

Now I like technology, I really do, but I don't like my husband's obsession with his GPS.  He requires it at all times.   And in the middle of our romantic walk through the park he decided he needed to know exactly where we were.  (We're in the park honey, duh).  So he reaches into his pocket, and fumbles for his cell phone... and he drops it.  We watched in slow motion as it bounces three times and slowly but surely rolls straight into a gutter...

 I thought this was hilarious.  Nick looked as if he'd just lost a loved one.  We could see it glowing under the sewage water.  It was so close yet so far...  Then Nick managed to open the gutter, and it seemed just out of reach.

It was emitting a dull glow and my husband thought it was calling out to him, "Please don't leave me here in the gutter! I've been a good phone.  Please..."  Ever the hero, Nick removes his watch, wedding ring, coat and suit jacket and reaches into the depths of our local sewage system in one last attempt to retrieve his beloved phone.

Ahh... but even his long skinny arms can't get to it.  So he puts his jacket and coat back on, and we walk away as the glow from his dear phone starts to fade and it reaches it's death drowning amidst sewage.

Amo-Ink Thank You Notes

Ah the day has finally come when I have completed all of our wedding thank you notes!  I'm so excited.  Sorry if these have been a bit delayed but I have a few good excuses.  Our move to England, the fact that so many of you are still in college and your addresses keep changing being the top two.  Anyways thanks everyone for getting us so many nice gifts.

I have to say that I absolutely loved the stationary designed for us by Amy Owens.  She is really great and helped us with all the wedding day stuff.  The invites were fantastic and she also did the programs, menus, table numbers, and our luggage tags / escort cards.

Unfortunately I don't have all the work she did with us here in London but here are the thank yous.  So pretty.  Thanks Amy!

Check out more of her beautiful stuff at Amo-Ink!

Also, I must say that when I asked a lot of people for their new address they would say I didn't need to send them a Thank You.  But come on people!  You know you like getting snail mail.  It's way more fun than emailing or facebooking for sure.  So in honor of snail mail and in a shameless attempt to see who is reading my little blog I will send the first 5 people who comment a postcard!  woo hoo!