J'adore Paramore

Last weekend one of my favorite bands came to the O2 arena in London – Paramore!

I have been dying to see Paramore for years but their tours never include Austin. Oh well… A few weeks after we moved to London they headlined Reading Festival (England’s version of ACL) but tickets were sold out so we went to Bath and Stonehenge instead.

Soon after that, I heard they were coming back to London and immediately wanted to buy tickets. The venue’s site had sold out of floor tickets, but we were able to snag a couple from a reseller! I just like the floor so much more. You can dance around and you’re so much closer to the stage. When David and I saw U2 last year for my birthday, floor was also sold out so we sat in normal seats and no one around us even stood or really moved around during the concert. That’s no fun!

It took a while to get out to Greenwich to the O2 arena, formerly known as the Millenium Dome, a huge event center built specifically for the millennium’s New Year’s Eve party. The tubes weren’t running well on Saturday night so we had to get off and take a bus across the river. When we got to the bus stop, the place was swarming with teenagers in their punk rock gear. We felt old… David and I were also both feeling some déjà vue because the last concert we went to was Boys Like Girls at the Austin rodeo. It seemed like everyone there was a preteen screaming girl. We felt even worse when we noticed the row of girls in front of us was wearing “Class of 2014” T-shirts. 2014?! We both graduated more than a DECADE before those kids.

The nice thing about being older, though, is our disposal income and the fact that we could afford to pay for a taxi and not wait for the bus. Ha! Take that, British teens with limited allowances!

Thank goodness we decided not to wait for the bus because we got to the O2 just before BOB came on to open for Paramore. WE LOVE BOB!

And this was perfect, because it meant we got to hear “Airplanes” with Hayley and BOB together!

During “Satellite” David could not stop laughing at the backup singers’ robot dance:

Sorry the sound quality's so bad, it was REALLY loud!

Then Paramore came on! They opened with “Ignorance,” had a ton of energy playing their other hits, settled it down for a few acoustic songs, and then did the inevitable “let’s pretend we’re done but then come back out and play some more!” They ended the concert with their first-ever single, “Misery Business,” which was AWESOME! They were really grateful to all of the fans and told us this was the biggest concert they’ve done so far. And the crazy thing is, since it was so popular, they did a second show on Monday night too!  It was a great concert and we had a ton of fun!

My Best Friend's Wedding

Once upon a time in a land far, far away away I met a girl named Katie.

We had so much in common – we were born just two days apart, freshmen at UT living in Dobie, study buddies at the business school, and pledge brothers in Alpha Kappa Psi.

After four years of school, it was time to graduate and enter the real world.

But before the fun was over, we made one last girl’s trip to Cozumel!  During the entire trip, Katie was the only one to know that David would propose to me when we got home… 

She kept the secret and was a huge help planning our wedding!  She came to Vegas for my bachelorette party.

She hosted my lingerie shower in Houston.

And she was a bridesmaid on the big day! 

Even living hundreds of miles apart, we still managed to see each other at least every couple of months.  Last year for our birthdays, we celebrated at the happiest place on Earth – Disneyworld!

A few months before our trip to Florida, Katie’s boyfriend, Dave, had popped the question!

So in October I flew back to Texas to host Katie's bachelorette party, a wine tour through the Texas hill country and a fun night out in Austin!

And last weekend David and I flew to Houston to be a part of the wedding! 

I was a maid of honor and David was a groomsman.

We saw all of our old friends we don’t get to see as often as we used to.  We danced the night away!  We toasted the lovebirds and they lived happily ever after!

The End!   

Fall Fun

The weather has turned cooler. The leaves have started to change colors. Pumpkins have been carved. Fall is here!

Back in September, on one of the first cold (well “cold” for our standards as Texans) days of the year, David and I got tickets to a “Royal Day Out.” The day out included a tour of the Royal Mews, the Queen’s Gallery, and Buckingham Palace. Buckingham Palace is only open during the summer months, so we made sure to snatch up these tickets before the palace was closed to visitors.

I had no idea what the Royal Mews were until we showed up that morning for our tour. As I found out, the Mews are home to the carriages, horses, and vehicles that transport the royal family. The biggest attractions at the Mews are the working horses, the carriage that carried Princess Di to St. Paul’s on her wedding day, and the enormous Gold State Coach, which was last used in 2002 for the Queen’s Jubilee. The next Jubilee is expected in 2012 during the Olympics, so this carriage will stay locked away for another two years. In fact, the carriage is so large that the room it is housed in basically has to be taken apart to get the carriage out into the street.

After the Royal Mews, we visited the Queen’s Gallery. The current exhibition at the Gallery is “Victoria and Albert: Art and Love.” I recently saw “The Young Victoria” and LOVED it so I was excited to see some of Victoria and Albert’s prized possessions in-person.

Finally, we ended our day at Buckingham Palace, where we saw the state rooms filled with artwork and sculptures. We walked through Buckingham Palace’s gardens on the way out. I didn’t realize that there is so much green, open space hidden away in the middle of the city. David and I were fortunate to be able to tour the palace, since it is closed for the majority of the year.

On October 17, London Chocolate Week concluded. Throughout the week, different chocolate festivities took place. For example, restaurants around the city featured special chocolate menus, the world’s largest truffle was produced and then broken up into small, bite-size pieces to be sold for charity, and Divine chocolate bars created a signature chocolate cocktail for area restaurant and hotel bars.

On the last day of chocolate week, David, Karen, Jeff, and I decided to have lunch at Borough Market, a huge outdoor food market near London Bridge, and then head down the street to the wrap-up of chocolate week at the Vinopolis convention center. Bad planning on my part led to no lunch because Borough market is closed on Sundays. So we ate lots and lots of chocolate for lunch instead!

As you entered Vinopolis, you paid an admission fee and were asked to sign your name on the wall of chocolate. Just as the name described, this was literally a huge wall made out of chocolate. The pens were simply pointy plastic knives. We all signed our names, and then proceeded into a corridor displaying the history of chocolate.

Then came the good stuff!

The chocolate hall was filled with different vendors from around London giving out samples of their brownies, crepes, bars, spreads, and truffles. Our favorites were the brownies, chocolate crepes with peanut butter spread, truffles filled with sea salt caramel, and a make-your-own chocolate bar. This company was really cool! You go online to the company’s website, select which kind of chocolate bar you want (white, dark, milk, or a combination), and then for a few pence, you start to add ingredients to the bar. I made a dark/milk chocolate bar with sugared lilac and rose petals. David chose gummy bears, and Jeff chose pretzels. The company will inscribe your name at the top of the bar, and then ship the bars to anywhere in the UK or US. Coolest company EVER!

At the back of the room was a separate area displaying chocolate sculptures:

Chocolate Shoes

Chocolate Train with tracks made out of Twix, gravel made from Raisenets, and boulders made out of crumbled chocolate-chip cookies

King Kong Chocolate Cake

Eventually we all started feeling a little ill. We weren’t hungry, but we felt like we all needed some savory MEAT so we headed to Chipotle, Jeff’s favorite new restaurant in London.

Last week, I was in Slovakia again for work. In the fall in Eastern Europe, it is tradition for groups of people to get together and eat goose. So Tuesday night the entire European audit team drove to a small village outside Bratislava to a restaurant known for serving the best goose in that area of Slovakia. And probably also known for having the most dead creatures nailed to its walls.

I didn’t ask for a special meal because I was willing to try the goose. I was not willing to eat the foie gras, though. The meal started with pickles, pickled peppers, saukeraut, and rye bread. Then came the foie gras. Giant goose liver? No thanks. Then the main course was brought out. For our group, we ordered three geese. These came with red cabbage and potato pancakes, which looked more like thin tortillas. I was tempted to make a goose taco, but I resisted.

The goose was really delicious. It tasted like the dark meat of a turkey. For dessert, we each had different strudels. There was a poppy seed cherry strudel, cheese and cherry strudel, and walnut strudel. I chose the cheese and cherry strudel. It was a really fun night out with the team and I was glad to try a new tradition.

I’m typing this blog now as trick-or-treater after trick-or-treater is ringing our bell for candy. Who knew there were so many kids in England that celebrated Halloween? When David lived here, his family basically stopped celebrating Halloween. He never got the chance to trick-or-treat again after he turned 11. It must be different in our neighborhood or the British are catching onto this great holiday because we are quickly running out of candy. I’ve had to resort to giving away my precious Mozart balls (nooooo!!!!) and David has made a mad dash down to the corner store for more sweets! We love passing out candy to all the cute kids in their lil costumes (and they're extra adorable this year with their accents) and David loves terrorizing them in his big bad wolf costume! As one less-than-scared kid put it, "Wow!  You proper dressed up!" 

Happy Halloween everyone!

Vienna

This week I needed to be in Bratislava for work and since I fly into Vienna and then take a taxi across the Austria/Slovakia border, I asked David if he could take a day off and come to Vienna early with me. Since he hadn’t taken any vacation days since we moved in July, that was an easy “yes!"

What wasn’t so easy was waking up at 3 AM on Friday morning to catch our 6 AM flight to Vienna. We kept telling ourselves we’d have the whole day in the city if we got there early, but it was so difficult to get out of bed and finish packing in the middle of the night. I slept the entire flight, but David was wired after his coffee and read the paper. We landed at 9 AM, ready to tour the town!

Vienna was beautiful, despite the cloudy, cold weather. Every building is stunning and the city is filled with so much history. We didn’t know a lot about the Austrian Empire before our trip, which meant we learned a ton! These are our top five highlights:

1) During the Roman Empire, Vienna was one of the centers of Germania known as Vindobona. For those movie buffs out there who love "Gladiator" as much as David and me, you’ll remember that the beginning of the movie features a battle in Vindobona against the Barbarians (aka Germans). So Vienna is where that battle took place, and shortly after, where Emperor Marcus Aurelius died (in the movie and in real life). While touring the city on Friday afternoon, we stumbled across the Roman ruins in Michaelerplatz.

It’s amazing that there are cities beneath cities around the world like this. How do major buildings get buried? The windows of the ruins are now filled with dirt beneath the street. It’s hard to imagine that a couple thousand years ago those windows faced open sky. Looking around us in Vienna, I couldn’t comprehend how the grand opera houses or palaces might one day be excavated hundreds of feet below where we stood. I don’t get it…

2) The delicious Sacher torte was invented at the Hotel Sacher in Vienna across from the State Opera House. After we landed on Friday morning and dropped our bags at the hotel, we headed to Café Frauenhuber for a traditional Austrian breakfast of rolls with different spreads and hot chocolate! This café is famous for being the oldest café in town and can also boast that both Mozart and Beethoven performed here. After our meal, we walked around the city for a few hours, and decided to skip lunch and opt for some sweets instead! Hotel Sacher, I have to admit, is a tourist trap (and infamous as being known as a discreet hotel for adulterers), but it’s worth it to taste the torte!

3) There is actually a patron saint of the plague, Saint Charles Borromeo. During the plague epidemic in 1713, Emperor Karl VI vowed to build a church dedicated to St. Borromeo once the city was healed. Karlskirche is the result of this promise. It is the tallest Baroque church in Vienna at 236 feet. We visited the church on Saturday morning after deciding to skip Vienna’s flea market and sleep in. Visitors have the option to view the artwork of the dome close-up by taking a terrifying elevator ride to the top, and then finish walking the last few feet up an even scarier scaffold to see the painted dove directly underneath the dome. Well of course we had to do this! I didn’t think it would be that frightening, but the scaffold was so rickety! My legs must have been tensed the entire way up to the dome because they were sore days later! I learned to appreciate the work of the artists hundreds of years ago so much more standing directly beneath the dome and watching other church-goers over 200 feet below me. They really couldn’t be afraid of heights at all to have such a steady hand to paint those beautiful images.

Karlskirche

4) Cocaine injections were commonly used as painkillers and antidepressants for women going through menopause or PMS a hundred years ago. On Sunday afternoon, David and I toured the old royal apartments.

Michaelertor, home to the royal apartments and Spanish Riding School

The first floor exhibit featured all of the royal china and silver. The first few rooms were interesting, but there was so much china that after about 20 minutes, David and I gave up listening to the audio guide and practically jogged through the remaining exhibit. Seriously, how much china does the royal family need? There seemed to be a different set for each day of the year. The second floor of the apartments was called the Sisi Museum. We had no idea what that meant, but when we walked inside, our audio guide explained that this tour would explore Empress Elisabeth’s fascinating life and all of the rumors surrounding her. Sisi was Elisabeth’s nickname, hence the name of the museum. She was promised to Emperor Josef when she was 16, married and had her first child by the age of 18. Obsessed with her appearance, her ankle-length hair took 3 hours to do every day. She was 5’8 and only weighed about 95 pounds because she regularly fasted or drank meat juice. She wasn’t content with her life in the Austrian court and travelled abroad often. In one of her medicinal travel kits, there was a syringe her doctors used to inject her with cocaine. Empress Elisabeth became more and more depressed the older she got. Her son, the Crown Prince Rudolph committed suicide at his hunting lodge after he murdered his 17 year-old mistress. After that, she fell into a deeper depression and was eventually assassinated during one her visits to Switzerland.

5) Mozart was a freemason. On Sunday evening, David headed to the central train station to catch the “CAT” out to the airport. I walked with him so he wouldn’t get lost, as David is known for easily getting lost in both familiar and unknown cities. After our goodbyes, I walked back through Stadtpark, but then it started to drizzle and I had left my umbrella in the hotel room, so I hurried through the city centre to Mozart’s house. The house was fairly empty. In fact, the only other tourist inside was a fellow Texan wearing a Longhorn sweater. I was too depressed about Saturday’s game to say anything, plus we both had our audio guide headsets on, so I wasn’t even sure he’d hear me talking to him. It’s funny that on a random Sunday evening in Vienna, I can meet a fellow UT alumnus in Mozart’s house. It is a small world after all. I had toured Mozart’s Salzburg house with my family about 10 years ago on our big European vacation. This was very similar, except the apartment was much nicer. Mozart was a struggling artist in Salzburg and hit the big-time in Vienna. One of the things I either didn’t remember from my Mozart Salzburg tour, or learned on Sunday, was that Mozart was a freemason. As part of the exhibit, his admission certificate into a Masonic lodge was on display, as was an attendance form with his signature. I always associate the Masons with the US founding fathers and myths straight out of "National Treasure" or The Lost Symbol. But I guess this secret society has a lot more famous international members than I thought!

Mozart's Home

Here are some more highlights:

We had dinner at Figlmuller on Friday night.  This restaurant is known for its HUGE Wiener Schnitzels.  Even though David was hungry, we split this one!

St. Stephansdom is in the heart of Vienna.  It was almost destroyed during WWII but has been restored.  Its soaring spires are currently under construction.

On Sunday afternoon, David and I were lucky enough to score tickets to the Spanish Riding School.  Cameras are restricted during the performance because it distracts the horses, but this is the Winter Riding Hall where the entertainment took place.

The State Opera House

Hook 'Em Horns!

American football season has started.

How long do you think it would take to get ESPN America as part of our cable package? Keep in mind it took about 6 weeks to get our internet and cable set up in the first place, about 2 months for me to get a debit card (even though David and I have had a UK joint bank account since April), and we still don’t have cell phone plans. So naturally, with everything else taking forever here, I thought a change to our cable package would take at least a week or two.

I was wrong.

Before the first NFL game of the season a few weeks ago, David called Sky Cable to inquire about the ESPN sports package. And whatdayaknow? They were able to instantly grant him access to those channels and I couldn’t even argue the cost because it’s free for the first 3 months and only 8 pounds per month after that. Great!

So David set his alarm for 2 AM that night to wake up and watch the Saints/Vikings game. Fortunately he was really sleepy when he set his alarm and set it wrong. So he didn’t wake up. But he did record it correctly and rushed home from work that evening to watch the game. On Saturday, after a lovely theatre evening out with his sister and wife, David rushed home again to catch some college football. I think he came to bed that night around 3 AM. And the other night (or should I say morning) I woke up at 5 AM and noticed David wasn’t in bed next to me. Where did I find him? Asleep on the couch with ESPN on the TV. He swears he fell asleep around 1:00…

Football isn’t all bad though. I had never watched a football game in my life before I moved to Austin and became a Texas Longhorn. Since then I’ve watched almost every Longhorn game, either in-person or on TV, for the past 7 years. With football season approaching, David signed us up for the Texas Exes United Kingdom chapter hoping there would be game-watching parties. And there are!

UT alumni living in London get together every weekend at Bodeans, a BBQ joint in the city. We usually either watch the games live on Saturday night (like this weekend’s Nebraska game) or we watch on Sundays if the time difference is too great. We have all sworn an oath that we will not watch the game ahead of time and do everything in our power NOT to learn the score. That means we are usually phone/internet/ESPN-free Saturday nights through Sunday afternoons.

The first weekend we headed into the city, we had to admit we felt a little ridiculous wearing our burnt orange jerseys on the Tube, but we’re used to the strange stares now. It’s definitely better, though, to meet up with others and head to Bodeans together. Then people seem to understand you’re part of a group going to an event instead of one of those couples that like to wear matching outfits.

Enjoying some good old fashioned American beer (and root beer for me) at the Texas-Texas Tech game.  Karen just HAD to wear her red Tech jersey, but it didn't bring the Raiders very much luck!

Even though the Longhorns have been sucking it up lately, we still like going to the games to socialize with other Americans and eat some decent BBQ. Hook ‘em horns!

Let's Get Physical

As I mentioned in our last blog, I finally joined a gym!

Before I could officially join the gym, I had to complete a tour of the facilities and equipment and take part in a “fitness assessment.” I wasn’t sure what to expect with the fitness assessment, so I showed up to the gym after work, scared to death they’d make me run a mile or something. Instead, the trainer hooked me up to a heart monitor and told me to lie down completely still on the couch for 5 minutes. Weird, but okay. It turns out he was measuring my resting heart rate. The results showed my heart beats an average of 65 times per minute, which apparently means I’m lazy. So on the scale of very poor, poor, fair, good, very good, and excellent, my fitness level is…

POOR!

Waaahhhh!!! But am I that surprised? No, not really. I haven’t worked out religiously since we got Wii Fit this past Spring. And before that, I ran with Kirby to get in shape for my wedding and honeymoon. But that was a while ago….

The trainer could tell I was disappointed and assured me that my fitness level would improve with some circuit training to strengthen my heart. My next test is in three months, so I have to stay motivated for at least the next 90 days.

The gym is restricted to Dell employees and paying gym members only, so I had to get special badge access to enter. As I was setting up the elliptical equipment, I asked the trainer when my badge would become gym-activated. “When you drop 20 pounds,” he replied.

WHAT?!

It wasn’t my weight that was poor, right? There was no way! 20 pounds is too much for me, unless I want to look like skeletore. I just stared at him thinking, “Are you an idiot? I’m not dropping 20 pounds! What kind of a trainer are you – putting your clients underweight?!” After a few awkward moments of my stare of death and his serious return stare, I realized he meant the 20 pound induction fee. And of course! Weight is calculated in kilograms over here!

Whew!

This is my third week as a gym-member. I’ve started off by training most days on the elliptical and treadmill at embarrassing low level settings. I may start taking classes during lunch once I build up some endurance. The instructor would probably kick my butt, though, and then wipe the floor with my lifeless body after I’ve passed out from exhaustion… so maybe not.

In the Jungle, the Concrete Jungle

David and I have not always been that great at giving gifts… especially when it came to shipping presents to his family in the UK. But now that we’re here, we’ve vowed to turn over a new leaf... and not fall into bad habits with my family back in the states!

As part of Laura’s graduation present, we invited her to come and stay with us for a couple of weeks while she completes an internship at a book publisher in Notting Hill. And it turns out I got a bit of a present myself – books on loan from the publisher’s library! Yay! I love books.

If Laura lived at home with her mom, the commute would be TERRIBLE (trust me, I know). So instead, she has moved in and now enjoys a 17 minute tube ride to Notting Hill Gate every morning… except early last week when the tube workers decided to go on strike for 2 days. Not cool. It amazes me how they can just strike and shut down the whole city. Is that really going to save their jobs?? Probably not. The problem is things are so automated now with card readers and ticket machines, that the Underground doesn’t need 18 workers per station anymore. It’s called efficiency. Sorry…. On second thought, I’m not really sorry because they’re planning on striking 3 more times before Christmas!

Anyway – don’t get me started. The other part of Laura’s graduation present was a night out on the town. She chose Cote for dinner and The Lion King. Cote is a chain of French bistros throughout London, and in the West End the restaurant offers a pre-theatre set menu. David ordered sardines as a starter, even though he’s never had them before. Risky! But he enjoyed them. Laura had salad and I had soup. For dinner, both David and Laura had the sea bass and I had steak with frites. Waiters have often mixed up my meals with David’s. He’ll order the grilled chicken and I’ll get a huge burger. Or he’ll pick a salad while I choose a steak. Saturday night was no different. David doesn’t have a sweet tooth, though, so he ate off of Laura’s crème caramel and my chocolate pot for dessert.

Well the good news (or bad news) is that I have finally decided to join a gym! I have never belonged to a gym before in my life but the Dell gym is only 2 pounds/month and all these lean Europeans in their damn skinny jeans and leggings are totally showing me up, so it’s time I started working off all the 3-course meals I’ve been enjoying. And I really need to start helping out my metabolism because it can’t possibly stay this high forever…

Back to the Lion King. It was gggrrrreat! The theatre was a bit smaller than the enormous Wicked theatre we were at during our last theatre night, but it was perfect because the cast really involved the audience. The animals walked through the aisles on their way up to the stage while the drummers and bird-handlers hung out in the balconies banging on their drums and flying their birds above our heads. The best part was the costumes! I loved the way the gazelles leapt across the stage and the giraffe singers were so coordinated on their stilts! I would’ve fallen over and broken all my legs and arms if I had to wear one of those giraffe suits! It was really entertaining and we all had a great time together.

Laura will leave this weekend and then Eric, one of David’s groomsmen and best friends from high school, is coming from Boston on Saturday to stay with us for a few days. This means it will no longer be two girls against one boy with the remote and I will be banished from the living room/study/dining room. The boys will take over the living room/study/dining room with their pizza and beer and football (more to come on that in an upcoming blog) while I take refuge in our bedroom trying to change the VPN of our laptop back to a US address to trick hulu.com into letting me catch up on the Amazing Race (this is the first season I’ve ever missed and I going through WITHDRAWALS) and True Blood.