maybe my kitchen herbs will stay alive if I put them in cute little twinings tea tins?

I figure it's worth a shot anyways.

plus, it's an excuse to buy lots and lots more twinings tea tins.

which always makes me happy.

[via]

YES!!!!!


USA RULES!!!!!

in the last (extra time) minute!!

GOAL!

[and I totally called it. halfway through the second half when nothing was happening, I turned to my friend Katie and said "america is just lulling algeria into a false sense of security. they are going to wait until 90 seconds left, then score where there is no chance of rebuttal." I am so good. the team should take me on tour so they always win.]

so now the US and England (who also won their game against slovania) advance to the next stage!

this world cup just keeps getting better and better!

.

so we come to the end of the fellowship (practically).

technically, I believe it goes to the end of the month, but last week was the last masterclass, and this afternoon is the last of the fellow (from this year) presentations.

there are a couple foundation/prince's charities events over the coming weeks, but they are not specifically graduate fellowship related.

think I will write further and in more detail about the impact (good or bad) this experience has had on me and my life/career/etc ambitions and goals (if I am going to discuss this, might as well go full hog, right?) at a later date, just wanted to say it's strange that this huge life change that was so exciting and terrifying all at the same time is practically over. it has led (almost seamlessly) into another adventure (grad school! woot!), but for seeming so huge at the beginning, it is going out almost without a sound.

it is a strange feeling.

but enough of the deep contemplation.

the main reason for this post was to convey the following awesomeness:

as previously mentioned, this afternoon is the last installment of the fellow presentations.
initially the schedule was to start at 2 pm, have roughly 45 minutes for each fellow to present their research and have a discussion about it with the group.

we all received an email from matthew (fellow advisor) yesterday morning stating an update in the schedule.
we would be starting at 1:30 instead of 2 and ending an hour later.

not to give each fellow more time to present and discuss the topics they have devoted months of their time to, as you might think.

but to take a break from 3 to 5 to watch the england - slovenia world cup match.
that will be projected on the large screen in the gallery so the whole foundation can watch.

I freakin' love this country and their obsession with sports (even if they are all convinced it is a lost cause, their team is an utter disappointment and there is not a snowball's chance in hell they will advance to the next stage. co-worker's words, not mine.)

either way, pretty awesome.

(the only downside is the usa - algeria match is on at the same time, so I won't get to watch that. to catch up all those who have not been watching, slovenia is leading the group, so they are most likely going onto the next stage. england and the US are in the running to be the other team from the group to advance. but england has to win. if both teams draw, the US will advance based on the goal differential, seeing as england failed to score any goals what-so-ever in their match against algeria last week. to sum up, the only way for england to go on to the quarter-finals is for them to win. on the other hand, the US will advance if they win no matter how england does, if they draw and and england either draws or loses. so the odds seem to be in the US's favour on this one.)

so I suppose all that is left to say is GO USA!

WOOHOO!

.

these things hurt like a b*%!^ when you caught the wrong end of them. but damn, if they didn't fly far.

the brother had one of these. it had real water sprays and everything! you know, back when that was a huge selling point of a toy...

best books ever?
best books ever.

[via]

the brits have a distinct knack of decorating small spaces to look positively kick-ass.

I hope to absorb some of that talent while over here.

cause you can develop a talent just by standing next to said talented person, right?


{cricket}


right?


[via + via]
.

WOO HOO USA!

coming back from 0-2 to draw it against Slovenia!

(though it should have been 3-2...stupid ref. THERE WAS NO FOUL THERE! YOU KILLED OUR FANTASTIC FREE KICK!)

now on to Algeria next week!

and we'll see how England and Algeria play tonight, as Slovenia is ahead in the group, and if England takes Algeria tonight, it'll be a LOT harder for the US to get into the top two...

if that happens, that ref is going down.

afternoon courier errand observations:

1. the american embassy is not a welcoming building.
brutalist architecture.
many many armed guards. like, seriously armed.

tall fences.



but perhaps necessary due to our country's high profile?
who knows...


2. there is an architecture office set up in the windows at selfridges.
http://thehospitalclub.com/cir/houseofjonn/2010/06/08/welcome-to-your-city/

trendy hipsters in slimline black glasses working on macbooks.
typical.

but looks kinda neat never the less.


3. with the world cup going in full force, and england playing their second game tonight, you are surrounded by football the second you step outside. there are games playing in electronic shop fronts, with crowds of people standing around on the pavement outside watching the matches, the commentary is playing on the radio of almost every idling taxi and car, there are more england flags that you could shake a stick at and the games are currently streaming online in our office.

and it is wonderful.

lurve sports.

oh, and GO USA! BEAT SOLVANIA!
[though you're not off to a great start...it's ok, you can bounce back after the half...maybe.]
.

dude! we totally had this growing up! I had COMPLETELY forgotten about it...

NOT Guts.

in case you were wondering.

[there was a long involved conversation about those two shows the other day...]

I had a ton of these in middle school.

from selling magazine subscriptions I believe.

[via]

so I have been reading this blog lately.

and it's really driving it home how drabby I tend to dress.
this is based mostly on me not being a morning person, usually sleeping in too late to give too much consideration to the clothes I throw on before running out the door and generally just being lazy vis a vis my wardrobe.
(not having a huge budget for clothes and shoes doesn't help either.)

but I am trying.
and I think getting better.
(least ben tells me I have been looking good lately.)
(though maybe he is just trying to garner good points...)

but just look how stylish these people look! (click for larger image)

I have style envy.

and this leads to the question: do bikes automatically make you stylish? or do only stylish people ride bikes?

discuss amongst yourselves.

either way, these photos are making me consider getting over my embedded fear of being flattened by a double decker bus while cycling the streets of london and get a bike.

[almost]

I would be fashionable!

[maybe]
.

 

 it's "button type".

it's kinda sorta really cool.

so find yourselves some 9-holed buttons and spell things out!

[via]

 


I want these like you wouldn't believe.

slipper socks!

with polka dots!

this is not the best thing to first see in the morning.

I've had lunch, and I am still hungry for these...

cuuuupcaaaaakessssss.

[via]
.

adobe photoshop.

literally.

hee!

[thanks Jen!]

[via]
.

 

this.

I want this.
.

well, the honeymoon (read: glad to be in any job that was not my previous one) period is over.

the excitement of a new job.
the prospect of once again enjoying what I do.
the knowledge that I was never ever going to have to step foot again through one particular door in bloomsbury again.

seems to have worn off.

and now I am right back to where I started, inexplicably stuck in a world I had absolutely no intention of ever joining in the first place.

over the course of this fellowship and working with the foundation I have been surrounded by traditionalist architects, which was never anything I was particularly drawn to. I came over here for the urbanism. which was fabulous for the first year. while working at the foundation I got to work on quite a few fascinating urban projects and was thoroughly enjoying myself.
but when it came to our second year, the placement year, there were no urban firms hiring. (or the foundation was unwilling to look beyond their close circle of traditional architecture practitioners. prolly a bit of both.) so I found myself in a traditional architecture practice. and a pretty horrible one at that. after fighting with it for over 8 months, I found myself another job. which was fabulous. the only thing was it still needed to be approved by the foundation, as I was still under the duration of the fellowship. so, inevitably, I was moving to another traditional architecture practice.

granted, this one is not as hard-core (has that term ever been applied to traditional architecture before?) as the last, they do a lot of modern interiors. but it still is what it is.

and granted the atmosphere is a vast improvement on the previous office. and I actually get to be involved in the projects I am working on. attending meetings, meeting clients, going on site visits. I even have my own little project, a flat renovation, to work on.

but as of mid last week, I realized that all that really happened is I have transplanted my sidetracked ambitions to a slightly greener field.

I am still stuck in the proverbial mud.

however, last week I also received the news that I got into the graduate program I am quite keen on at University College London. the one that will (hopefully) propel me into the world of humanitarian architecture and design. the one that will point me in the direction I would like my life to go in.
so there is a light at the end of the tunnel!

but I wasn't able to get my finances in order to be able to start the program this september. FAFSA in very difficult to work with if you are not currently residing in the US. so I am going to see if I can defer my admission for a year (another friend of mine is also doing this, for the same program, so we will be in the same year! which is fabulous), which will give me time to work with FAFSA and apply to all the scholarships whose application deadlines had already passed by the time I decided to apply to the course a few months ago.

I am wicked excited about all this, but it also means finding a job to allow us to stay in the UK for next year until my student visa can kick in, as my (our) current visa(s) expire end of august. and what's the easiest way to find somebody to sponsor my work visa? appeal to the network of contacts I already have and know. which are almost exclusively from the foundation. who are almost exclusively traditional architects. Which means one more year of this wandering through purgatory, meta-intellectually/career-ically speaking.

but if that's what I need to do, that's what I need to do. Ben and I both want to stay on in the UK (preferably London, but other locations are being looked at), and while I will look into other employment options, the economy is still in a state over here and neither one of us can afford to be that picky. non-EU immigrants can't be choosers, so to speak.

but the fact that there is a concrete end in sight makes this all a hell of a lot easier.
.

went to a fabulous gig last night in east london.


it was awesome. hadn't been out for live music in far too long, and I have found that some of the best comes out of random gigs that friends know of. that's how I discovered my love for the dirty skirts. tagged along with my friend sarah to a gig of theirs on brick lane a couple of years ago. they're a south african band, she's south african and her husband was do some tech for the show. they have been a fixture on my ipod ever since.

my friend katie played in the band we saw last night when she lived in philly (the violin, and I think a few other instruments. I don't think there is an instrument that girl can't play). when she heard they were doing a european tour, kicking off in london, katie being katie, managed to set up the gig for them by talking to a friend of a friend of a friend who owns a bar/club/flexible artistic space that just opened up in east london by london fields. this guys listened to the band's (gemini wolf) music, picked a couple other bands he thought had a similar sound, and set the whole thing up for them.

so we got to see three local/independent music groups last night, all for free. for the opening act, it was their first ever live gig! it was great. grabbed some drinks, lounged on the sofas, met some really cool new people from peru, hung out with good friends and listened to some pretty fabulous music.

the only downside? it was a thursday night. I didn't get home till one in the morning (and only that by sprinting up kingsland high street to catch the 243. it was a close call). work today. there has been a constant stream of tea/caffeine into my body since 8:30 this morning.

but it was totally worth it.


[just can't do that too often. I'm getting old...]
.

lunch break.

I'm back.

couldn't stop thinking about the 80's.

I wanted more.

needed more.

let's get right back to it.

we had TONS of these. unfortunately, I think they all went in a tag sale bout 10 years ago. booooo.

this was SO much more than your ordinary pencil case.

are these even around anymore?

never needed a pencil sharpener!

we had these too! also sadly probably now gone. 
I used to race them. and Red would always win. cause she was my favourite.

that bird was one of the best constructed lies EVER.

ahhh, those were the days.

ri ri ri ring pop!

don't know who ever thought this was a good idea, but I remember making hundreds upon hundreds of these.
. my poor mother was overwhelmed with poorly constructed pot holders with which you really couldn't hold anything hot. 
good times good times.

ahhh, novelty erasers. I used to have SO many. never actually used to erase things, naturally...

those were the days.

I was always fascinated with the way the candy was drawn in this book. always neatly packed in stackable containers. real candy never looked like that. one of the first disappointments of my early childhood.

I really wish I still had mine. I had the small yellow one on the left with the pink and purple ears. her (his? it's?) name was butterscotch. she (he/it) was freaking awesome.

I remember these!

ben and I still have conversations about this book.


dude! I remember watching this! vividly! like, I actually still think about it sometimes! and I'm in my late mid twenties! it has to have been around 20 or so years since I last saw that, but watching it now I remembered the whole damn thing. it must have really made an impression on me. I obviously made a deep and lasting connection with crayons during my childhood. life just got SO much better with video. 
also notice the awesome old school crayon boxes.

oh! I did this too! (I was kinda a dork.)

LOVED this candy.

and sadly, I've reached the end of the blog.

but I am riding on an 80's high.

and it is fantastic.

.

half the office is on holiday, one guy is working from home today to be with his newborn daughter, and the other guy's train was delayed at wimbledon (again).

so I have the office to myself for a bit.

and do I compile the notes from my meeting last night like I should?
nope!
I am currently walking down childhood memory lane, courtesy of I'm Remembering.
all those repressed 80's memories? oh yeah, they come rushing right back!

let's reminisce, shall we?

back when they provided proper high chairs instead of just booster seats.

 my mom swears everything I made tasted absolutely delicious.

I had a happy meal toy. he's riding a motorcycle.

they're raisins! AND they sing!

vhs sitting on my living room shelf right now?

vhs sitting on my living room shelf right now.

covertly attained chocolate treat of my youth.

I am pretty sure I had that exact set...

I am kinda ashamed now to acknowledge that I read this...twice.

these were way more fun than they had any right to be.

I was her for halloween one year. wish I still had the barrettes.

ah, the simplicity of the 80's.

best. game. ever!

scratch and sniff stickers. brilliant.

my school supplies all through middle school were yikes. the shapes! the colours!

what do you think ben and I were watching last weekend?

I always made the best popsicles.

and yes, I had the entire family.

this game cannot be contained by mere decade definitions. it is timeless.

the ratio of candy eaten to paper eaten was always alarmingly high...

I kinda want them to bring these back.

a LOT harder than it looked.

I HAVE THESE!! or at least did. all three. somewhere...

yup. has this.

a staple of elementary school recesses.

I ROCKED at this game. which is ironic considering how horrible my memory is.

had this too!

my brother stephen and I used to take bets at what colour the popcorn would come out as it was popping. don't even want to think about what kind of chemicals were in there...

that said, I want them to bring it back. the fun factor was amazingly high.

woo ooo!

yup, had this.

children's books were just better in the 80's. end of story.

I had a TON of these.

gateway magazine to cosmo.

damn game...scared the hell outta me every time it popped.

[troop beverly hills]

dear lord! I actually remember this! I must have really repressed it...

I have been introducing the wonder that is the Chipmucks Christmas Song to every french person I meet over here. for some reason the french REALLY like it.

I remember getting these at my brother's little league games. his eyes were gumballs! double treats!

I want this on dvd like you wouldn't believe. this and hey dude.

you know we had these for long car trips!

oh man, I hope mom saved all our disney books with cassette tapes.

I am dizzy thinking about it even now.

you can keep your fancy new realistic video games. this is SO much better.

oh god, the trapper keepers...

also on my living room shelf in vhs form.

coolest bike accessory ever.

I remember these!

further proof children's books were simply better back then.

see above.

HELL. TO. THE. YES!!

that's it. when ben and I have kids, they are only getting read books from our own childhoods.

ditto with tv shows.

see, when you turned the know, the red plastic popped up and the burner turned "on"!

I distinctly remember getting these as favours at birthday parties.

ok, I have to stop now, or my work will never actually get done. but this will be continued! because it is just too much fun. and I haven't even been including all the tv shows and music videos.

in the meantime, do yourselves a favor and check out the whole blog.

hours of guaranteed fun and amusement.

till we meet again in 80's nostalgia land!