London - Day 7

Hello and welcome to Thinking Out Loud Thursday! This is where I share what's on my mind and invite you to join in by linking up and sharing your thoughts too. Today, I'll be wrapping up our trip to London with a recap of Day 7, our final full day of vacation.  If you're missed the other recaps, you can find them here ~

Day 1 and 2          Day 3          Day 4          Day 5          Day 6

Our son, Ian, left a day before we did, so Friday morning we went to breakfast for the last time as a party of three in London.  After breakfast, we walked him to the train station and bid him farewell.  We walked back to the apartment and got ourselves organized for our busy day ahead!  
 
We had booked a Changing of the Guard tour, and I’m so glad we did!  If I had done this on my own, I would have planted myself in front of Buckingham Palace and waited for the show.  Well, come to find out very little of the pomp and circumstance happens in front of the Palace!  On the way to our meeting point, we came across some beautiful spots to capture in photos.

We met our guide several blocks away from the Palace by the Equestrian statue of Edward VII.  

From there, the guide positioned us in the perfect spot for each part of the ceremony.  The company we used was Get Your Guide and I would definitely recommend them for the Changing of the Guard tour. 

The ceremony spans three locations:  St. James’s Palace, Buckingham Palace and Wellington Barracks.  You can see the Changing of the Guard on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  

Our guide did an excellent job explaining every aspect of the ceremony, while also sharing plenty of fascinating stories about the Royal Family.

 

As soon as the Changing of the Guard concluded, we hopped on the tube for a visit to Harrod’s.  

This shopping center is like nothing I’ve ever seen before!  So fancy!  We spent some time meandering through all the departments, oohing and aahing our way around.  The Christmas decorations had recently been put up so we got our first taste of the holiday season.  

All their departments were fantastic, but their food area was quite impressive.  Wish our local mall had something like this!

We knew we wanted to do high tea in London.  After a lot of research, we picked The Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon at Fordham and Mason in Piccadilly.  What sealed the deal for me was the Queen herself had had tea at this location with the then Duchess of Cornwall (Camilla) and the Duchess of Cambridge (Kate)!   It was a wonderful place for afternoon tea!

For our final night in London, we had booked tickets to see Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre.  I love Wicked and the performance was spectacular!  It was the perfect ending to our trip!

Saturday morning we were flying back home and leaving our London flat behind.  The memories we made will last a lifetime and we were so glad our son could join us!  Until next time London!

Now it's your turn.  What are you thinking out loud about today?  Link up and share!

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Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop - October 16, 2024

 

Welcome to the Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop!  We are so glad that you stopped by.

Here you will find inspiration from dozens of bloggers including recipes, home DIY, gardening, decor, family fun, traveling, fitness, and so much more.

A friendly reminder to our guests that as a courtesy to the hosts, we ask that you follow every host on at least one social media channel.

If you are a blogger, then be sure to link up below. You may be our next feature! 

Before we get this party started, let’s meet the hosts and check out this week’s featured favorites.

MEET THE HOSTS

1. Bev – ECLECTIC RED BARN | FB | IG | PINTEREST
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5. Denise – THIS IS MY EVERYBODY | FB | IG | PINTEREST | X | YOUTUBE

TOP VIEWED

Crochet Pumpkin

VERY POPULAR

BOO-tiful Brunch Buffet

EDITOR'S CHOICE

Hot Frothy Butterscotch Drink

A Monocromatic Styling for Thanksgiving Cornucopia 

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London - Day 6

Today I'm recapping Day 6 of our London trip.  Only one more day after today!  If you missed the earlier days, you can find them here ~

Day 1 and 2          Day 3          Day 4          Day 5

We had a leisurely morning to start Day 6 of our London trip.  The Borough Market was our first activity of the day and we decided to walk there.  On our way, we noticed King Charles was home!  How did we know?  The British flag flies on top of Buckingham Palace when the King is away.  The Royal flag flies when he’s in residence. 

 

We decided to walk to Borough Market, hoping to see some interesting sights along the way, but looking back, taking the train might have been a better choice. After covering the three miles on foot, we arrived at one of the most impressive food markets I've ever encountered! It's easy to see why it's hailed as London’s top food market.

 

One food booth after another drew us deeper into the maze of vendors.  If you visit, go hungry!  There were so many things I wanted to try!  We settled on sausage rolls, chocolate-covered strawberries, and mushroom risotto.  

We also nibbled on cheese, bread, and tea samples.  I bought some tea to bring home from a shop that The King had visited and cheese to take back to our apartment to snack on.  If I lived in London, I would frequent this location often!

 

From the market, we went to the King’s Cross train station to get a picture of Platform 9-3/4.  They had a Platform 9-3/4 at the Harry Potter Warner Bros. Studio, but the one at the train station was a bit more fancy.  They have each house’s scarves available to wear in the picture and even a Warner Bros. employee standing just outside the camera’s view to toss the scarf in the air as you snapped the photo.  Of course, there was also a gift shop!

The British Library is very close to the King’s Cross station and we went there next.  Inside you can see the Magna Carta and a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation, along with tons of other historical items.  The library is free to get in and worth the stop.

After the library, Eric and I split off from Ian.  I really wanted to go to the Notting Hill Bookshop.  It was a short train ride away.  I totally geeked out over the bookstore made famous from the Julia Roberts / Hugh Grant movie Notting Hill.  

The store was absolutely charming! It had an amazing selection of books and delightful items. If you're feeling adventurous, they offer "blind date" books—you can pick one wrapped in paper and discover the surprise book inside when you get home.

We even saw the blue door William Thacker (Hugh Grant’s character) lived behind!

 

Notting Hill also has a small market.  We browsed around for a while then headed back to the apartment.  Another fun day in London in the books!

Five on Friday - October 11, 2024

Hello! It's heartbreaking that we've faced another week of devastation from a hurricane. I hope you, your family, and your friends are all safe with minimal damage. The images and stories from Florida are deeply saddening, though the acts of heroism that have emerged are truly inspiring.

Here's my five for this week ~

1.  From Here to the Great Unknown:  A Memoir

I've always found the Presley family so fascinating, so this newly released book by Lisa Marie and Riley Keough is an immediate addition to my TBR list!  Oprah must think it's pretty good too because she just added it to her book club list.  Here's the summary ~

In 2022, Lisa Marie Presley asked her daughter to help finally finish her long-gestating memoir.

A month later, Lisa Marie was dead, and the world would never know her story in her own words, never know the passionate, joyful, caring, and complicated woman that Riley loved and now grieved.

Riley got the tapes that her mother had recorded for the book, lay in her bed, and listened as Lisa Marie told story after story about smashing golf carts together in the yards of Graceland, about the unconditional love she felt from her father, about being upstairs, just the two of them. About getting dragged screaming out of the bathroom as she ran toward his body on the floor. About living in Los Angeles with her mother, getting sent to school after school, always kicked out, always in trouble. About her singular, lifelong relationship with Danny Keough, about being married to Michael Jackson, what they had in common. About motherhood. About deep addiction. About ever-present grief. Riley knew she had to fulfill her mother’s wish to reveal these memories, incandescent and painful, to the world.

To make her mother known.

This extraordinary book is written in both Lisa Marie’s and Riley’s voices, a mother and daughter communicating—from this world to the one beyond—as they try to heal each other. Profoundly moving and deeply revealing, From Here to the Great Unknown is a book like no other—the last words of the only child of an American icon.

Available HERE

2.  Lonely Planet    

Netflix is releasing a new movie this week called Lonely Planet, starring Laura Dern and Liam Hemsworth. The story takes place while each of them is on a trip to Morocco, which has me excited—not only because I love Laura Dern, but also because I'm eager to see more of Morocco! The plot is fairly straightforward: "At a retreat in Morocco, a woman meets a young man, and their connection blossoms into a passionate, life-changing romance."  

3.  Apple Air Tags

A few years ago, we were given a set of Apple AirTags, and they’ve been fantastic for tracking luggage while traveling. Recently, I heard about another clever use for them: on Halloween, you can slip one into your child’s pocket to keep track of them if they wander out of sight.  How clever is that?!?  It would have given me great peace of mind if I'd had them when my son was little!

Available HERE

4.  Ghostbusters Doughnuts

Krispy Kreme has outdone themselves again with their adorable Ghostbusters-themed doughnuts! For a limited time, you can enjoy four new designs that perfectly capture the spooky season. How fun would it be to host a movie night, pairing these doughnuts with the Ghostbusters film!

5.  Hmmm...

Have a great weekend!  We are spending the weekend with a friend and I'm sure we will have a wonderful time.  Can't wait to wrap up the work day and start the weekend!  See you next week.

What We Did in September 2024

Welcome to Thinking Out Loud Thursday where I talk about something on my mind and invite you to link up and do the same.  Today I'm recapping what we did in September!

September was a month of non-stop fun for us!  The highlights were our vacation to London, attending the play Dial M for Murder, going to the Sting / Billy Joel concert, and hosting the second annual Putt Putt Golf Tournament.  During the month, I also shared a recipe for trending TikToc Cinnamon Rolls, what I read in August, and our fall mantel.

 

First up – our London vacation! It was amazing to share this experience with our son, Ian. He was able to join us for most of the days we were there, and we loved having him with us. We did miss his wife and hope she can join us next time. I've already shared Days 1 and 2, Day 3, Day 4, and Day 5. Days 6 and 7 are coming soon!

 

A group of friends and I have season tickets to the Repertory Theater in St. Louis. Our first play of the season, Dial M for Murder, was in September. We met for dinner before the show and then enjoyed the performance together. I can already tell I'm going to love having tickets with these ladies—it was such a fun night out!

Last January we purchased tickets to the outdoor Sting / Billy Joel concert for Friday, September 27.  Hurricane Helena decided to sweep through St. Louis and Friday was a raining, raining day.  The concert was moved to Sunday night.  Thankfully that day worked with our schedule!  The weather on Sunday was beautiful and it was a great evening to be outside listening to Sting and Billy sing their hits. 

That same weekend we hosted our 2^nd Annual Putt Putt Golf Tournament.  Our friends Logan and TW came in from Kansas City to join me, Eric, Ian, and Kayla for 4 rounds of putt-putt golf.  

We played three courses on Saturday and one on Sunday morning.  After each round, we crowned the winner for that course.  The winner of each round had to wear the medal through the next round.

TW made the coolest armband to hold the scorecard!  The clipboard was velcroed on the band so we weren't sitting it down and losing it.  He could easily pull it off to write down our scores.  Big improvement from last year!

Round 1 Winners were Eric and Kayla

Eric and Ian were the victors of Round 2

Logan pulled off the win in Round 3

Kayla returned to the winner's circle in Round 4

TW emerged as the big winner for 2024!  I finished dead last.  I have a lot of practicing to do if I want to do better next year!

Grand Champion of the 2nd Annual Putt Putt Golf Tournament - TW!

I think I should get a prize though for making the most adorable chocolate-covered Oreos!

September was an amazing month, filled with unforgettable memories! I’m so grateful to have such wonderful friends to share these experiences with!

Now it's your turn.  What are you thinking out loud about today?  Link up and share!

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