Tower of London

I took Eb to the Tower of London while she was here.

And I think it was her favorite thing.

Australian's don't have old stuff,

so the fact that the tower dates back hundreds of years was pretty cool to her.

Oh and it was her first castle. 

All the King's horses.

The tiniest armor ever.  Next to the biggest armor ever.

If you must know, we made love to this guard with our eyes.

And no, he didn't reciprocate.

Better luck next time.

This guy, however, flashed his pearly whites and called himself,

"a thorn between two roses."

How charming.

The Tower of London is a tourist trap that is well worth getting trapped in.

And I can't say that about every tourist trap in London.

My favorite is the Queen's jewels - they have her crown there.

And oh man is that mature bird BLING.

I also like the torture rooms and the rooms where the prisoners were kept.

But I was too enthralled to take any pictures there.

Since We're On the Topic....

...Of doing ridiculous things to our dogs.

My darling husband

does not believe me when I tell him that we have

 A LOT of things that we NEVER use and for the sake of saving space, 

we should get rid of.

I came across this while unpacking.  

Proof we (he) are (is) hoarders.  

If you must know, it is a "Hound Dog" Elvis wig.

Pun Intended.

See the resemblance?

Yeah, me neither.

ps.  It was a gift.

Harrod's Pet Department - We Had A Furbulous Time!

After a night full of Long Island Iceteas (our drink of choice)

and bumping, grinding and making boys fall in love with us, 

Eb and I were feeling a little  LOT rough Sunday morning.

We didn't make it out of bed in time to see Krystal do her gorilla run (so sad),

but we did have just enough time to make it to Harrod's pet department.

I couldn't wait to share these pics with you, blogosphere.

What's a pet store without pets?!  

I accidentally broke the no photo rule to take a picture of these cute little Bichon Frises.  

They also had baby pekinese pups, and hamsters and gerbils, etc.

If you already have a pup,

for a mere £139 you can get him/her this pet hamper.  

Complete with "pupcorn" and various other doggie delights.

See the Pupcakes book in the back?  It's a dog cook book. 

Eb bought it for me... I mean for Heidi.

You betcha bottom dollar there will be dog food posts appearing on this blog in the future.

Paw-fiterolls at the Pet Cafe.

I'm not gonna lie, I'd eat these.

The Pet fashion department.

Does your furry little diva need a new party dress?

It's Geek Chic.... 

but it makes me feel kind of immature.

"I bone" Seriously?

Just in case you need to dress your doggie up as a the Very Hungry Caterpillar for Halloween.

Roberto Cavalli's line for pets.

If you loved your furbaby, you'd get him a puffer vest.

For only £250 your dog deserves this.

I think I spent too long in this store, 

because by the time we left I decided Heidi needed this collar from Mungo & Maud.

It would match her fur perfectly.

Yup, I've lost my mind.

Last but certainly not least,

the Michael Jackson Chihuahua.  

There are no words.

You don't have to thank me.

I know this made your day better.

You're welcome.

Cupcakes in Notting Hill

While Ebony was in London,
she got really excited about visiting places that were on the Monopoly board.

Apparently in Australia the squares are named after places in London.

Who knew?

One of her monopoly destinations was Notting Hill.

So of course I had to take her there.

And by "had to" I mean Notting Hill is my favorite neighborhood in London,

especially on a Market day, so this was pretty much a no brainer for me.

Seriously, if we ever move back to London, Notting Hill is where it's at.

It's the perfect spot for people watching,
and there is always something to eat (most importantly) see or do.

Eb isn't really into the whole antiques market scene,

so when we passed the famous Hummingbird Bakery,
 and I told her how I often lusted after their cupcakes,

but was far too impatient to stand in their very long line,
she convinced me that we HAD to do it.

So stand in line we did.

And continuing on with our dishevelled homeless theme for the weekend,

we plopped ourselved down on a side street, and devoured this cupcake goodness

while watching the vintage girls, the hipsters and the posh crowd stroll by.

The cupcake was definitely worth the wait.
(which honestly wasn't as long as I thought it would be)

The icing was delicious, cake was good, 

but just a little too far on the dry side of things  

to merit "perfection". 

Still excellent cupcakes though.

It was the ideal Saturday afternoon in London.
I wish you could've been there.

ps.  If you are too far away from Notting Hill to pick one of these up yourself,

Hummingbird Bakery has a cookbook that looks absolutely fabulous.

I think I'll buy it when we finally have a kitchen again.

pss. I know my sparkle blue nail polish is trashy, but I love it anyways.
So there.

An Australian in London

Hello Friends,

So sorry for my long blogging absence! 

I've been getting too busy to blog! 

 ...and then my computer broke (the horror)

The day after we moved in I headed straight to London to pick up my good friend,

Ebony, an ex housemate from Australia, who is on her way to Germany for study abroad.

I was so happy she made the pit stop in England to visit me!

Have I ever mentioned I LOVE guests?

Sorry we look a little rough (homeless?).

It was my first true hostel experience.

And I definitely did not come prepared.

Towel - I forgot.

Hair dryer - I forgot.

Showers - I didn't take many.

probably shouldn't be admitting this publicly.  

But had I known better,

The Walrus Waterloo Hostel treated us pretty good.

Below is the view at sunrise from the top bunk of our room.

I showed Eb all the sights. 

And I hope by the end of it she hearts London too.

Living in the country for the past six months, 

I kind of forgot how the city has a real buzz and energy to it.

I definitely needed the change of pace!

I have lots more of our London adventures to share with you,

but I'll save them for next time.

Just wondering, are you city people or country folk?