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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Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop - October 9, 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.

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London - Day 5

Today I'm continuing our recaps from our recent trip to London.  We are on Day 5!  I took an embarrassing number of photos on Day 5, so I'll try to narrow them down to just a few.  If you've missed the other posts, you can find them here ~

Day 1 and 2          Day 3          Day 4

Day 5 of our London trip started bright and early at Westminster Abbey.  This was a location I had really been looking forward to visiting, so it wasn’t hard to get up and out of the apartment early!  We had walked past the Abbey several times since we arrived in London, but today we were going inside! 

 

Westminster Abbey has held royal weddings, coronations, and burials.  The stained glass alone made the visit worthwhile to me!  You can stand in one place and take in so much beauty around you.  And all the little features were beautiful.

 

Over 3,000 people are buried at Westminster Abbey.  We didn’t stop to spend time gazing at all of them, but we did pay special attention to Mary Queen of Scots, Elizabeth I and Henry III.  

The Poets’ Corner was also part of the Abbey that we sought out.  Some of the poets I didn’t recognize, but William Shakespeare and Jane Austin were two I wanted to find.  Luckily for me they were right next to each other! 

 

The Coronation Chair is also on display here.  This chair was produced in 1300-1301 under the orders of King Edward 1.  Seeing something that old always amazes me!  Speaking of the Coronation, Prince Charles was the 40^th monarch to be crowned at the Abbey. 

 

After exploring Westminster Abbey, we met up with Ian and walked over to the London Eye, which was included in our City Pass. If it hadn't been, I'm not sure we would have made the time or spent the money for the ride. However, it turned out to be quite fun seeing the city from such a high vantage point. Just a tip: reservations are required, so plan ahead if you're considering it. We boarded right at our reserved time, and the entire experience lasted a little over 30 minutes. It was a fun detour, and I'm glad we managed to fit it in.

 

From the London Eye, we caught a train to Watford Junction Railway Station for our afternoon reservations at the Harry Potter Warner Bros. Studio Tour.  It takes about an hour from London to get there.  Ian was super excited to go and we were thinking we would tag along.  We aren’t huge Harry Potter fans, but we quickly got sucked into the experience!  If you’re a Harry Potter fan at all, do this tour!  Make your reservations in advance because it does sell out.  Also, we arrived earlier than our ticketed time and they let us in with no questions asked.  If you do arrive early, you will have access to the Food Hall, Hub Café, and Studio Shop.

When we got off the train, it was a short wait for the next shuttle bus to take us to the Warner Bros. location.

 

While here, we got to see authentic sets and many behind-the-scenes secrets of the Harry Potter film series.  My favorites were the Great Hall, Diagon Alley and the train.

Even the snacks are adorably Harry Potter themed!

We stayed at the studio until nearly closing time, then made our way back to the city. Though we weren’t overly hungry, we felt like having a small bite. Whitebait had been on our list to try, so we found a nearby spot, the Blue Boar Pub, just a short walk from our apartment. Curious about whitebait? It's a dish of tiny fish, often herring, eaten whole—head, fins, bones, and all. Spoiler alert: none of the three of us were fans.

And that’s a wrap on Day 5 of our trip!  I’ll be back soon to share our sixth and final day in London.