My "wicked" weekend

We finally went to our first show in the city. Originally, we have thought of waiting for our family and/or friends to come so that we can all go together. However, the Apollo Victoria (where the show is being played) is right in front of our tube station. In fact, every time we passed by, we were tempted to just go and see the musical. So, when I went to the gym on Friday, I detoured to Leicester Square (pronounced Lester, as in the Adams Family) to get some half-price tickets for the Saturday night show. It was wonderful. What a fantastic musical! It’s coming to Houston on April, so we really encourage our friends to attend. I’ll tell more details about our visit to the show in a little bit. First, I need to tell you about the second stop I made after the gym on Friday.

I decided to get one of those marvelous chocolate cakes from “Paul” (a French pastaierie) as a gift to our next-door neighbors. We had tried that cake before and knew how delicious it was. Our neighbors are a family of expats from Brazil. I have promised to give them our emails and phone numbers so that we can get to know each other better. Then, I thought it would be nice to write this information on a fancy card and drop it by their door with a chocolate cake to enjoy over the weekend. The plan was perfect. I bought the cake, brought it home, and added the card. I was so excited about it, and couldn’t wait to see their faces when they receive it! Well… I didn’t count on a little detail: they were at not home! I waited a couple of hours to visit again and, nothing! Tried later on… nothing! I was so scared they might have been gone for the whole weekend. The cake would have been ruined if it’s not eaten by Sunday. Ted told me to put it on the refrigerator and wait until they come. The next day, around 4 pm… I couldn’t wait any longer. It was evident that they had gone out of town and wouldn’t be back until Sunday. The cake was going to lose its freshness by that time. Guess what we did? Yes. You’re right… WE ATE IT… one big piece for Ted and one big piece for me. Uhmmmm… it was so yummy! Then, guess what happened after 15 minutes we ate the cake??? We heard our neighbors coming back! It was so funny. I wish you could have seen our faces… our guilty faces ☺

I guess they'll never know what they missed. (unless they read this blog)



Anyway, back to the story of the musical. Once we finished eating the neighbors’ cake, we decided to watch a movie at home until almost time for the show. Our proximity to the venue allows us to get there in less than 10 minutes. So, we got to the Theater, and realized that neither of us has brought our eyeglasses. Picture it, there we were, a pair of nearsighted people occupying not exactly what you would call “the best seats in the house”. There was no time to go back home… at least we didn’t forget the tickets!



During intermission, guess what Ted did? Yes. Once more, you are right! Ted ran home and got my glasses so that I can appreciate better the wicked witch of the west… look! She is green!



By the way, pictures are not allowed during the show… but, nobody said anything about curtain call.

Last weekend's update

I know it's so wrong to post the description of a weekend that happened almost a week ago... I know... shame on me. However, it is still better than nothing. My friend Romy in Quito told me my blog was going to become a "quinceañera diary." Meaning I will write a lot at the beginning, but eventually forget all about it. Sadly to say, it is turning out to be quite a prophecy. So, here I am, trying to make this blog thing survive a little longer. I am not a quinceañera anymore! (even though Ted might think I behave like one from time to time)

What have we been up to?

We are settled, with phones, computers, and all sorts of gadgets. On March 22nd. we celebrated our first month living in our new flat. We love it! It feels like home. It's our home in London...yey! To celebrate the ocasion, we threw a little house warming dinner the other night. Our friends Richard, Taha, Maria and Payal came over and we watched some SCRUBS together. It was so much fun. Maria made this wonderful salad with vermicelli and nuts.. yummy! Richard gave us a beautiful flower pot that looks great decorating my new dining table.





Last Saturday, we met with friends who we knew from Houston. Joaquin and his wife Tracey moved to London more than a year ago. They are such a nice couple. I'm so glad we keep finding great people around us. Here is a picture of us eating Indian food in the Covent Garden area.



Then, on Sunday, we met Richand and his friend Liz who came over from San Fransisco. We all had Dim Sum brunch at the "Royal China." Afterwards, we checked out the Saint Patrick's Day celebrations at Trafalgar square. Richard and I had some Irish spirit written on our jackets. What a great way to finish our weekend!

I'm bringing pictures back... yeah!

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As I promised, here are some pictures of our apartment in London. It's certainly not a fancy place, but it is our home and we like it. Many have already expressed their concern about the fact that it only has one bedroom. What they don't know is that we have a super duper air matress ready to suit the needs of anyone who desires to visit us.

If you ever wonder why do I take forever to post stuff in the blog, let me remind you that I am still a baby blogger. This slideshow took me a whole afternoon! Besides, as I mentioned in my last post, our sea shipment arrived last week with 44 boxes. Yes, forty four!!!! What where we thinking? We knew that London flats came already furnished, so we didn't bring furniture. Why in the world did we end up with so much stuff? I don't know. All I can say now is that our flat used to be spacious BEFORE last week's delivery.

do you want to see more? here it goes:

There is no place like home. We are very thankful for ours.

What a month!

Fellow readers, I’m sorry I’ve abandoned my blogging duties for a while. After a short post to announce we were moving, almost a two-week silence. I had planned on writing the blog as soon as we had internet, but there was too much to do with technology and settlement that I didn’t have much room left for creative writing.

But, hey, we now are the proud residents of a one-bedroom flat in London. We have our home computer and a broadband connection, so, hopefully, you’ll get to read more and more of us in the future. I also want to let you know that we finally set up our US phone line with Vonage (voice over IP), which allows us to call people in Houston, and it turns out to be a local call. Since most of all cell phone plans in the US now go nationwide, it becomes a local call to our family and friends in other states too. The coolest part is that we managed to keep the same number I used to have. Isn’t that something?

So, for those of you who know my cell phone number with Houston area code, just “give me a ring” (as the British say). We guarantee it won’t cost you any more than a regular phone call to a line in Houston (I should be paid by Vonage for the ad). And, for those of you who have already erased my number from your cell phones, shame on you! I told you it was not going to be easy to get rid of us so easily. Just send us an email, and we’ll tell you the number. The only warning clause is to mind the 6-hour difference between us. So, please make your phone calls no later than 4 pm CST.

On March 3rd, we realized it has been already one month since we moved across this side of the pond. We were happy to celebrate it at our new home, with home made food, with broadband internet, a UK home phone line, a US phone line and our favorite shows on Tivo being brought by Slingbox. Setting up all these components was a task that took planning, plus lots of time and patience. It would have been easier to connect all this with Ted at home, but he was working all day, so I had to play with the boxes trying to figure things out. Calling customer service was not fun. I have yet to hear of customer service that offers a 24x7 support. Actually, I do not believe the concept exists here at all. Our families have also participated in the technology adventure by setting up their web cams with Skype on their computers. Yesterday was a milestone when we were able to “see” each other again. Technology rocks!

Anyway, I know I owe pictures of the new crib. I’m waiting for our sea shipment that comes home this Thursday, so that I get “before and after” shots. In the meantime, stay tuned!