I'm HOME!

Two things I've found out about myself this year...One:I love to write and find myself writing entries in my head all the time...Two: I am way too busy and never have time to ever write these down...

Ok sorry that was a side note from the brain of Kat...

So I'm home...London is now an Isle far across the world to me...no more riding the tube or walking home through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park...no more going to GAP around the corner from my house (my dad is extremely saddened by that one I'm sure...)no more Notting Hill or Coronet Theatre (the one Hugh Grant goes to in Notting Hill...they have half price student Mondays where movies are 3.50 and popcorn 1.50...and I am really going to miss getting to pick sweet or salty popcorn)...no more Oxford St. crowds to run through when I'm late for a presentation...no more working for a Princess, no more Hillsong...or connect group :(...no more cultured people (sigh), no more incredible fish and chips with my beloved mushy peas, NO MORE PRIMARK....... Nope instead I get Idaho...with its no public transportation (do you know how much safer the world was when I had public transportation), lots of sweat pants (yuck I felt sick walking around campus and seeing what people were wearing when I went and visited U of I last week), now I get Jo-Anns and Hancocks instead of the Silk society and incredible hidden trim shops, the pluses are I mean I do get my parents 24/7 (well when my mom is not busy replacing me with her dog...) and of course my friends, and trees/nature..but outside of that i can't think of much else...

I woke up last week thinking I was riding the tube and couldn't figure out where I was when I opened my eyes to see the disaster of a room I was sleeping in instead...I call it the Room of Doom. I did finish unpacking today! Amanda is coming over tonight to help me organize my life and downsize...I felt sick this morning trying to find places to fit all my clothes...and I have a huge closet and lots of drawer space...not to mention Lindsay's closet that I have over taken...sickening I know...it's all going to Africa and China tomorrow...

So what has been helping me avoid the room of doom? Well I went to Moscow and saw my friends and got to celebrate Jordan's 21st b-day with her. I went to the Corner Club for the 1st time (now that I am old...) with Keren and Spud. It was quite the experience...I don't think anyone has ever played go fish at the Club before so that was a first for it (hope I didn't damage Spud's reputation too much)...and can I just say ick. That is the Club everyone raves about? It is a dump and so not classy...where did my cute little English pub's go?? But it was nice to have my cousin back and my BFF keren :).

Also I have been working at Hands to Art whenever Kim needs me. Which is a blast...I like getting paid to have fun...:) And I am apply at a place downtown as well which would be a lot of fun.

So any who...
Recap on London since I last wrote...

Ok so I finished classes and my internship. All went well except I didn't finish my bag..oops...It's finished now with the help of my dad, his hammer, and a few extra grommets later (good thing the guy convinced me to to buy extra...). I got asked to present my photography and internship presentations at Graduation which was exciting. So graduation went well except the morning of when I went to do a final edit on my presentations my disk got stuck in the computer and deleted half of it's contents...so 30mins late I strolled in fashionably late to it and was only able to give my photography presentation but no internship one since it had been deleted...grrr computers...This is why I need my own Macbook pro with Photoshop and Illustrator (hint hint dad). At graduation the teacher's pick students to talk on and they submit a few words about the student to Basia our advisor to read. My Photography teacher said I have the best and most creative project and received an A star (what they call a +) :) So that made up for my bag...lol

Aunt Corrine arrived right after the graduation finished. So now my other adventure starts....

We spent the first few days in London shopping and exploring and having a great time. She then rented a car and we started our adventure of road tripping England and Scotland. She only drove on the wrong side a few times...and only managed one parking ticket...oops! I was the navigator and I was extremely impressed with my skills we only had to keep going around a roundabout for 5 mins until I found which exit once...:) Do you know that England doesn't believe in stop lights and over passes but instead only round abouts...big roundabouts, huge round abouts, little roundabouts....but not intersections...

So in 7 days we went 1700 miles and we went to (ready for it...)Windsor, Stonehenge, Bath, the Slaughter (amazing...go), the Cotswold's, Stratford-upon-avon, Warwick, then all the way up to Edinburgh, up to Pitlockry and Mulin, then up to Moy (Macintosh Clan Seat), to Inverness, down Lochness, over to the Isle of Sky, back to Edinburgh, down to Burwick-upon-tweed, Scarborough (our castle is AWESOME and HUGE and BEAUTIFUL...right on a cliff between two bays), then over to York and back to London...We are now world travelers....well England and Scotland travelers...:) It was a lot of fun and we saw a lot. We stayed in Hostels which is definitely the way to go: cheap, easy, and you meet the neatest people. We ate the suitcase full of snacks Aunt Corrine brought which saved us a ton of money and I got really good at taking pictures out the window. (I'll post pics soon when I have a faster Internet connection...) :)

Oh and did i mention I got tested and am Dyslexic? Yup it is official... The lady that tested me was explaining dyslexia and said it means that your working memory functions differently and your processing speed is at a different speed than others...she said...sometimes your memory stick just gets too full! :) and then used another example that I can't explain without drawing but what I concluded was that normal people take the interstate to get somewhere and dyslexics take the scenic route...but we all get to the same place in the end:) I'd say that was about right with me....lol Oh and that Dyslexics are always average or above an never below...so I'm average or above....:) lol

Well I hope you have enjoyed reading this past year. I can't believe it is finally over but it is :(....Life goes too fast; my advice to you is to cherish each moment b/c it will be over before you know it. Keep checking back to Kat's Crazy Life...when something crazy happens I'll be sure to post and let you know...but I am in Idaho so who knows what will happen..I might make friends with a cow or potato...I'll also come and give a summery and reflect on this past year after I have time to realize that I really am back for good....oh and look for my book coming in a few years...this blog has inspired me............................:D


XX Lost of Love (unfortunately not from London anymore...)

The One and Only Kat Swick.

signing off...

How many times can I title a post worst blogger ever??

Ok so sorry fans...

See how am I every going to be famous if I neglect my fans now? What am I going to do when my fans consist more than just my mom, dad, and my grandparents?! lol jk :)

Ok so what has Kat Swick been up to lately? Well a cute guy just opened the door for me into my apt. complex :)...so that was exciting...ummm let me think...

I had my last Photography class/final presentation last night. It went alright. I decided to do minimal photoshop (none on most) b/c I think it defeats the art of true photography...anyone can take a picture and make it look glamorous in photoshop, but to be able to capture really amazing glamorous pictures on the spot is more of an art I believe. BUT when you go into a presentation when everyone has photoshoped the crap (am I allowed to say that word on here?) out of their photos so the original is unrecognizable...well it makes your photos look not so glamorous anymore...but they did turn out nice I thought...Hopefully they will upload and you can see them...

Ok So I have my last accessories class on THursday and I am freaking out a little due to the fact I think I won't finish but can't go into the lab b/c we don't have permission...next time I come...I'm coming as a real student...(even though I am paying three times as much as their normal students...lol). And then I give my internship powerpoint on Monday and turn in my essay. Then I have my last draping class on Wednesday and graduation on Thursday! And then I'm done! It has gone by soooooooo fast. Last semester seemed so much longer it's really strange.

Ok and now what you've all been waiting for....SCOTLAND! yay!

Well It was incredible....and I want to move there and never leave...what I am finding is travel and new places become addictive...I just want to go every where now! Please send funds to kat's travel funds @hotmail.com...Just kidding :)

Well how we got to Scotland was quite entertaining...It was Amanda, Christy, Melissa, and I (M & C are go to LAMDA with Amanda) and we boarded a train at 11:30 PM headed for Doncaster...where we had a 5 hour layover...only to have the ticket checker man on the train tell us that the Doncaster station closes after the train arrives and doesn't open till our train at 6:30am...aka we would be wondering the streets of Doncaster from 1:30-6:30am...but luckily he was nice and let us ride the train one more stop to Leeds were we were able to sit in a glass box on the platform till 5:30am where we could then take a train back to Doncaster and change to our train....We then arrived in Scotland at 9:30am...it was the longest night of my life...I tried sleeping in every position possible on those metal chair in Leeds...but who ever invented the fixed arm rest has obviously never had to sleep in a train station...

So after our 9 hour journey...we arrived and lugged our luggage around until we found a sign that said Full Traditional Scottish Breakfast. And that was the first time I ate blood...and intestines...let's just say the Scottish don't like to waste any of part of the animal...and so they invented "black pudding" and Haggis. It really just tasted like sausage. But I won't be eating it every morning for breakfast. :)

We then had to figure out where our Hostels were (we had to say at different ones b/c there was a huge rugby game going on and they were full which turned out to be good b/c there were then lots of men in kilts supporting their teams!...I'm not going to talk about the gust of wind that came by right as I walked behind one...let's just say they don't wear much underneath...). Of course though our hostels were up an insanely steep hill...not joking...I could like reach out and touch the road. Try being tired and thinking why in the world did I pack all this? But we made it! and Amanda and I arrived at Castle Rock Hostel sweating...:) But it was worth it, because we were also standing right next to Edinburgh castle! It was literally across the road! And it was rated Scotland's #1 Hostel for 2008 so it was really nice and a fun environment. We took a 30 minute power nap and then set out for the day! WE explored around where we lived and went to the National gallery and then we met up with the other girls (they took a 2 hour nap...:) ) We went out and explored and ate dinner then went and got ready for a Saturday night out! It was a lot of fun. We went to a bar that played music turned Irish (in honor of St. Patty's day). It was hilarious...I'm kept thinking I never noticed this song had an Irish jig in the background...

Sunday was the best day. We went to the Castle :) and invested in some Princess crowns :). Which we wore all day! Well I did...the other girls bought hats later and traded in their crowns...

After we went to the castle we went to this really yummy baked potato place, to fuel up for our next adventure...and trust me we'd need that fuel by the end of it. We titled the journey "Thank you potato" half way through it. We decided to climb Hollywod Mor (I can't exactly remember how to spell it...but it was close to Hollywood). We walked toward the huge rock/hill/mountain until we ended up at the base of it...we then could see a path about 200 ft straight up, but we couldn't figure out how to get up to the path (where it started down below) so Christy had this brilliant idea that we should just climb up to it...now to Christy that didn't seem dangerous at all...but she hangs out with Navy Seals back home... So up Christy starts to climb and she gets a 1/4 way up and Amanda and Melissa decide that if she could get that far then they could do it...now remember this is literally straight up and a giant rock that has been covered in grass where someone before has made foot holds and hand holds into the dirt/grass 200 feet up....I stay standing on the road until they start yelling at me to come up. So up I start to climb. Christy was worried about me so she told Melissa to go behind me...little did they know of my rock climbing skills... So even without my glitzed/bedazzled blue and orange super cute rock climbing shoes...I ended up passing then and doing some pretty nifty foot work if I do say so myself in my pink converse. Zev would have been proud... Then Christy announces half way up that she is afraid of heights and can't move. So I climb back down a little and Melissa talks her into keep going and I let them ahead of me. Amanda pops up over the edge as a man/boy walks by and I think she scared him a little...and I think his manhood was hurt a little as well b/c his comment to her was "Nice short cut." I wish it would have been me that popped up first...I climbed this entire thing in my crown AND in a skirt! (Now that is talent.) Can you imagine walking along a cliff and a girl in a crown and skirt just popping up over the edge out of nowhere saying in my voice..."which way to King Aurthur's seat?" It would have been quite comical. lol So up and over the edge we all came and started to walk along the path only to come to realize that this path goes down...so we climbed all the way up to go back down...we climbed the wrong rock...the one we wanted...was the one behind ours. So we walked down and then up millions of rock steps to get back up to the top and on King Authur's seat...so 4 hours later we made it! Just before dusk :)It was gorgeous! We could see the sea and all of Edinburgh. It was totally worth it and SOOOO much fun. I really enjoyed it and think I might have to get into hiking now...lol who would have thought?! My dad would have been speechless at my performance. I then preceded to run/skip down the other side of the mountain it was an absolutely brilliant adventure in my eyes. It was also incredible to stand at the same place King Aurthur stood...pretty cool. By the time we made it back to downtown it was dark about 8 and we were ravenous. We decided on Tequila Joe's for Mexican food and two for one Margarita night! We ended up being the only ones in the restaurant and ended up making friends with Alexis, we called him Lexi, the bar tender/waiter and the cook Matt. They ended talking us into moving over to the bar from our table and staying for 5 hours! It was hilarious and we ended up only paying for a 1/4 of our drinks. lol We then said our farewells to our new friends and headed back up the giant hill to our hostel...but by this time it seemed more like a bump in the road than a giant hill when compared to our rock climbing adventure...lol

The next morning we work up early and went for breakfast and picked up a few last souvenirs before we headed for our train. We passed out for the majority of our only 4 hour train ride back to London...yes...only 4 hours this time...not 9...:)

And were back in reality...

Well I'm off to work on my presentation! Hope you enjoyed catching up on my life...I wish I had time to write more!

Lots of Love,

KL

PS the picture of me climbing does not do me justice AT ALL...the angle it is at does not show the steepness of the mountain...but if you look at my hair...you can see where gravity is pulling it...STRAIGHT DOWN....:) xx

Literally Kat's Crazy Life...

Sorry it's been so long! But I'm here and breathing! This last month has flown by! I've been so busy and my fam was here! So much to tell. This is me trying to be concise...

Ok so the Family was here and we had so much! I really needed to see them, but it was a bit of a shock when they they left b/c Amanda was gone on a trip for school and I was all alone! But it gave me time to recoup and get homework done and put in some extra time at my internship. But is was a tad miserable...London can be very lonely...

So they were in London for 5 days which was quite hysterical. They are pretty entertaining to watch ride the tube. Or even plan a journey...actually even read the map! :) Thank goodness they had me! We had lots of fun. Things included eating fish and chips, Kat getting hit on in front of her entire family by the guy working in the tube on V-day (my dad thought it was sooooooooooooooo funny...and loved to remind me how red I got...), riding the bus and the tube, and going and seeing Big Ben and parliament the first day. Sunday we went to the V and A, and then to the night service at Hillsong, and then out to dinner! Actually you can read all about our day to day outings on my mom's blog berninaclubcda.blogspot.com...I'll just tell you the high lights...

Highlights:

1. Seeing my dad walk off the plane in his golf/cowboy hat and then wearing it everyday after...

2. My sister and my mom informing me that my style is now boring and I wear too much black. They apparently like my old bright color style...but if I remember correctly the phrase most used during that part of my life was, "Are you really going to wear that?"

3. The amazing construction orange patten leather heels my mom bought me...I've now been inspired to be a traffic cone for Halloween! I'm going to be soooooo cute!

4. My dad attempting to say Merci to the automated walk up call in Paris...it sounded like mer-say....priceless...he had us all saying it by the end of the week

5. All the palaces...I realized why I've never quite fit in anywhere...it was b/c I was meant to be a princess duh! I felt right at home...and I already wear a crown great we all know so...now I'm just waiting for my Prince. :)

6. Sac de Coeur....So incredible...I want to live there! All the winding streets and artists everywhere...so amazing...the fact that it is on the top of a hill you have to hike up...not so amazing...good thing I had my dad to push me.

7. Seeing Marine and her family and exchange student. It was so fun they are hilarious and so sweet. We all just pretended to know what everyone was saying...it was great...I attempted to say a few things in French to them but failed miserably. But it definitely inspired me to learn it again! (for the third time...) :)

8. Seeing my sister wear skinny jeans...she complained the first few days and announced I could have them...but when she left I was jeanless....I mentioned that they looked cute one day and as soon as the words were out of my mouth I thought "Crap! what am I thinking! I'm ruining my chance for free cute pants!"...so it was true...my endeavor was ruined...

9. Taking my mom shopping and pretending to know where we were going...I knew we were in the right area ok! Plus nothing was open yet so it was a nice excuse for a pleasant walk and some mother daughter bonding that consisted of..."Kat where are we going? I thought this was just down the street...are we there yet?...where are you taking me?...we are lost aren't we...you have no idea where we are do you." But I totally got us there! And I even found us a Starbucks...ok my mom found it...
But she got a very cute porcelain cow milk dish out of it from Liberty!:)

10. I think the moments I enjoyed best were doing it all with my family. Even though we argued over which train to take, why Lindsay got cheek bones and I didn't, and why no one was on time, we still did it together and I am starting to realize how few moments I will have left to spend with my family. I'm growing up. I'm 21 in 13 days...Lindsay will be 24. We are getting to that point in our lives where we are away from home and not together often. I will always cherish this trip and remember all the laughter, memories, ups and downs...and hope to one day take kids of my own on the same trip and be able to say Grandpa pushed my up on those Lions in Trafalgar Square but Aunt Lindsay was too scared...you should have seen me coming down...I had to crawl on Grandpas shoulders...:) But hopefully that day will not be for a long long long long long long long long long long long long long time :D...

11.and my favorite...my mom embarrassing me in front of my entire apt building by yelling "KAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTT...KKKKKKKAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!" through my mail slot thinking I could hear her all the way up three flights of stairs and through three doorways....and pushing all the call buttons asking for me...I had to inform her that the signs are true...Flat 24 doesn't have a buzzer...:)and I'm not going to even mentioned how my really cute neighbor followed me down the stairs and witnessed it all...probably to meet the cops and report a crazy lady disturbing the peace outside his apt building... And to think I got choked up when I but them on the plane and exported them back to America...:)

So that was our trip....if I think of anything else I'll write them in another post. :)oh I almost forgot...waiting with my sister in line to go to the summit of the Eiffel Tower...the really cute boys in front of us that we kept getting caught staring at...and then I saw the cutest one a few days later in Notting Hill Gate Station in London! NOT JOKING! It was crazy and definitely him. oh and I also forgot my journey to attempt to attend Hillsong Paris on Sunday! I went by myself...got off at the wrong metro stop...prayed...asked a lady directions...she spoke a little english and took me around Paris for 40 mins till we found it. She was sooooo sweet and though we didn't know what the other was saying half the time we laughed and laughed and I've never had so much fun being lost before. But we finally found it and she dropped me off and continued to the market to get her groceries! She was my angel that day and so sweet. People just don't do that anymore...then after church these two girls came up to me and started apologizing for not helping me find it. I realized the lady and I had asked for directions from them and they said they didn't know the street. They had been coming for so long that they didn't realize it was the address of Hillsong. :) They were really kind and so sweet and they walked me to the metro and made sure I got on the right train and made sure I knew what stop. We talked all about Twilight are now friends on facebook :). So God was definitely looking out for me navigation wise that day! :)

Sorry I can't upload picture for some reason, but if you'd like to see pictures please contact my family and I'm sure they would love to show you some of the 800+ photos they took...(they all had their own cameras...that's another story...you should hear the commentary between my parents when one is taking the picture...priceless...)

So fast forwarding...This last Sunday I went to Brighton and it was incredible! The seaside was beautiful and I went and toured the Royal Pavilion, King George IV's seaside palace that he built to spend time with his mistresses at...

Amanda and I took a bus there at 7am and had a bus back at 9pm...what were we thinking?? At least that is what we thought as we were leaving...but actually it was perfect! We got to see the seaside and pier when it was gorgeous out and at night! It rained in the middle of the day so that is when I went and toured the Pavilion. It ended up being a wonderful day. We started it by getting splashed with sea water (very salty...my open mouth can contest) and ended with fish n' chips and rain!.

This weekend we are heading to Scotland and I can't wait! It is going to be amazing. And our first time in a Hostel...my mom isn't so keen on that :), but like Amanda said we are just going to sleep with our passports and valuables...

Well au revoir! I'm off to finish homework and go see a movie with my connect group. Oh Amanda and I went and saw The Young Victoria on Student 1/2 off night at the Theater across the street...so good...you should all see it! and we got popcorn or a drink for 1.50! Who knew they sold alcohol at the cinema...xx

Lots of Love,
KAT

Classes and my Crazy life....but what's new...

Amanda and I's Amazing new Cath Kidston bags!!! We are slightly obsessed...

My new house...in Kensington Gardens...well maybe one day...

Amanda and I being cool like usual...with our new 98p sunglasses...

Making Art at the Tate Britain...this is the outfit that has been banished to the back of my closet...that was the day with all the hooting...being cornered...hit on by gangsters..etc....lol

I know I really am a horrible blogger...but if I can't remember my cell phone everyday how am I suppose to remember a blog that doesn't even beep at me!:) But today was a lucky day and it was in the front of my busy busy mind...

So why is my mind so busy?? Oh maybe b/c my schedule goes a little something like this...

Monday: Wake up 730 leave by 815 arrive at Internship at 9, work all day (I know who would have thought right?) get off at 415, go to photography from 5-9, arrive home at 930, do homework, talk to Amanda, 11-12 fall into bed...

Tuesday: Repeat from 730 but this time work at my internship till 7...head to davies st. to use Illustrator and Photoshop to do homework, arrive home at 9...see Amanda, go to bed

Wednesday: leave flat at 830 get to Draping class at 9...class till one, go run errands, go to the library...walk home around 5...sit for a minute...make dinner, see Amanda, go to bed by 9 :) and every other Wednesday I have photography from 5-9...

Thursday: Repeat of Monday from 730-4 but then go to accessories class all the way over by the Barbican (40 min tube ride) 5-8/815ish, jump on the tube, arrive late to connect group, leave connect group at 1130...arrive home at midnight...go to bed around one...

Friday: leave house at 820, arrive at class at 9...Digital Product Development from 9-530 (yes and 8.5 hour class) work on photoshop or go do research at the library till 7...come home...Amanda and I's hang out night...ex last night we went to the V and A till 10 and then went and got amazing pancakes and then walked home...

Saturday: Sleep in till 9 or 10, get up, clean...go spend the day at a museum.. go somewhere fun for dinner...do laundry...sleep

Sunday: Go to Hillsong Church 10:30 or 12:45 service...eat...go to a museum or do a London thing...go home prep for Monday all over again...

And try to feed the homeless in between...crazy life I tell you...

:) But I am enjoying it. My internship is at Marie-Chantal a children's wear company...they have their own shops in London, NY, Greece, Italy (I think), and LA (I think) then they sell to shops like Harrods...Let's just say at M-C we believe that every new born needs a cashmere sweater and pant set for almost 200 pounds (equal to $400)...lol it is a little ridiculous but there is a market and people buy it! The owner is Marie-Chantal...the princess of Greece...so I guess princesses do need to buy children's wear as well! :) It is nice though b/c we don't have very large budget constraints so we have really high quality clothing, wools from Scotland, exclusive Liberty prints, ect... So it has all been quite fascinating! And now I can say I met a Princess :) pretty cool I guess. :)

My classes are great as well. Digital Photography has been fascinating. I now know how to work my camera on Manual in all different lightings, have learned composition, lighting techniques, and we start on photoshop on Monday! so really quite interesting. :)

Advanced Draping is fun I have the same teacher, Carolyn, as last semester and she is just sooooooooo sweet. I absolutely adore her:). So I'm working on some garments for my photography final project shoot.

Accessories is amazing. Our final project is to make a full leather purse! So I learned how to use the skiving machine (used to thin edges of leather), armed sewing machines (they have a narrow arm and then nothing under it so you can have complete control of your bag while sewing). So I made a coaster and am working on a practice bag, which is made out of fabric but has leather straps and closures (with magnets). And my teacher Dave is hilarious and so much fun. When he was younger he use to make bags for the queen! Very skilled and talented.

My Digital Product Development class is AMAZING! FASCINATING! The first week we were 3D body scanned, which is where you go into this black box and in 15 secs it scans your entire body, in three seconds it produces over 200 measurements and in two seconds makes patterns that perfectly fit your body(but I must warn you it is quite horrifying to see yourself in 3D...and spinning your self around does not help!). You load them on a memory stick take them to the room next store...and out prints your slopers (basic patterns)! It is so amazing. They have a foot scanner as well, where you can scan your foot and design perfectly fit shoes and inserts. The second day we learned about rapid prototyping where you scan in or make a 3D object modify it how ever (they have this amazing machine where you can turn our object into clay and carve it with this electronic arm that has resistance and it feels as if you are carving clay but it's all digital) then you send it to a 3D printer (I'm not going to even try to explain) where using ink, water, and plaster (LCF's machine uses plaster but there are paper, metal, and rubber etc. ones as well). It glues together tinny layers and then after it is complete you go in with a brush, brush the access away and a a 3D model or life size product is in your hand...INCREDIBLE! I can't even warp my mind around it all. They had a piece of chain mail that they have printed. It came out pre-assembled and none of the links were stuck together...it was all freely moving! It was like I was holding real armor chains. And then yesterday we learned about digital printing. We designed digital prints and then next week we get to print them out on fabric (digitally...so cool) and then make swatches and then drop our designs into our shirt patterns we generated the first day and then print out out skirts with our fabric designs on fabric into miniature size skirts, then sew them and add them to our miniature figures of us that we will print out...SO COOL! This class just blows my mind...I can't even comprehend it...:)

Well that's my life in a nutshell. :) I love Hillsong...and never want to leave it...I went to a conference on Tuesday where Sy Rogers spoke...it was amazing. He use to be cross dresser and lived as a woman for 2 years and almost had a sex change but met God and is now a world renowned speaker/pastor and is married with a daughter who is now married. The most incredible speaker and really inspiring. You all should look him up! :) OR try and find a podcast on him!

Ok well I'm off to meet Amanda at the Wallace Collection! Miss you all! Have a wonderful week. xx

Love from London,
KL

Here are some pics of my apt...it actually looks quite large from them! :) I forgot the bathroom ones...those are the winners...I'll get them up soon...Notice apt. 23...we thought we lived next to Harry Potter...then two cute italian boys popped out...We want to ask if their apt is even smaller than ours since they live under the stairs...:)
xx

Sorry...I am alive and back in London :)

So I'm back! It's as if I never left...it's like I lead two secret lives...;) So I'll start at the beginning of the week and work forward...

Friday:
We left Idaho and had a long layover in Seattle that was spent hanging out with Lisa and Anders (my friends from Denmark) and Sherri (Lisa's Idaho mom from when she was on exchange). We rechecked our baggage and then went down to Pike St. and ate at Ivan's. Amanda almost had a heart attack and was hyperventilating b/c we were stuck in traffic on the way there...it felt like 30 mins but was only 7 mins when we checked the time...so on the way home we put her in the middle so she could see the clock and live to make it to London. :) So we made it back in plenty of time and snuggled in for the flight in front of us. We arrived in London Saturday afternoon and jumped on the tube with all our lugage....yuck...but luckily at all the stairs gentlemen magically appeared to take them up..well they usually appeared after I'd sweated up 1/2 the stair case. :) Then Jita was at the flat to meet us with tulips, sandwiches, juice, tarts, and of course some Percy pigs (my favorite...and now Amanda's!)

Sunday:
I went to church and then met Amanda and we went to locate her school and walked around the area.

Monday-Thursday:
Orientation started. I made a few new friends after the first few days, but it was a challenge due to not living at Landward with everyone like last semester. I had my preliminary interviews for my internship that went fabulously! yay! So hopefully by this week I will be at one with a company and handed a job! :)

Thursday:
Was Amanda's Birthday so I decorated the room after she went to sleep and then went and got her a cake whose name was Colin. The next day she wasn't done with class till 9pm so we decided to just go to a pizza place and get her her first US legal drink. :) We ended up sitting next to these Hilarious Iranian men that were pretty drunk who started out the convo by asking me what language we were speaking b/c he'd never heard it before...(it's the voice...) When we told him English he was shocked and then when he found out we were American he was even more shocked. He announced we looked European or Scandinavian and that he hated Americans...but within the next hour he was confessing his love and Amanda had a proposal and left loving Americans...America should pay us to be its PR agents...

Friday:
I stayed in bed till 6pm due to this awful cold I have and then got up and went with Amanda to a new years party for her school as her date :)....And guess who I danced next to? DUDDLY FROM HARRY POTTER!!! Except now he is all trim and fit and pretty darn cute! He goes to Amanda's school. The only down thing was I'm pretty sure he has at least 2 girlfriends already from what we observed....:) lol So that was my first real contact with a celeb....I made sure I accidentally "bumped" into him while I was dancing. :)

Saturday:
Amanda and I realized how we are definitely living the life...we wondered around the sweetest little square and had fish and chips for lunch, then headed over to the Tate Modern to look at art. Amanda and Kelsey went to the Rothko exhibition (I had already been), so I sat out and drew and doodled some ideas. Then we walked along the river and took pictures of the skyline...it was amazing...a picturesque day...:) And that is when we realized we definitely are not your average Janes...

Well and then there is the alternate story of Saturday...the day I found out my super cute outfit was banned to the back of my closet! I got hit on by two homeless people, three Italian men, a musician on the street, a musician in the tube, and two huge scary gangsters at the super market that attempted to follow us home...
OK so here are the high lighted stories of the day...the musician in the tube turned around and then wiggled his butt at me into a corner and some poor guy behind me. Amanda slipped by so I was his main victim and then as soon as I was free I took off running and he yells after me, "shake that booty girl"....it was horrifying...but a little funny. Then there were the gangster guys...I left Amanda for two minutes in line while I ran to grab something I come back and these guys were surrounding her talking to her. I jump in and we went up and payed...I asked, "making new friends?" lol we leave and they pop up out of know where. "So you guys going home? b/c you got all ur groceries, I take it your not going out tonight...""So do you live in the area?""Sorry to bother you but I just wanted to tell you how beautiful you are (as he stares at my butt the entire time)" Amanda looks at them and says, "NO!" I say, "no we're going to a friends house for dinner." He asks, "So do you guys come around here often (still staring at my butt)" Amanda "NO!" He looks at me and goes your probably going on a date huh? I say, "YUP! Well see you later!" (plus it never would have worked out...he asked if bags cost money at Tesco and I said no...and he asked why I wasn't using any then...no conscience for the environment that one...) So we took a few wrong turns ran into our apt and bolt-locked the door.... and put that outfit in the far back of my closet...:)

Sunday:
I went to Church and met a girl that goes to LCF and had coffee and a nice chat. Then I met up with Amanda and shopped a bit and then headed home! So know I'm prepping for the week and off to get inspired. :)

So hope everyone is doing well. Don't worry about me too much...I have my body guard aka Amanda so I should be safe. (you should see her in action...scary...she's really good at NO...:))

Love from London!
over and out...
-KL

ps sorry if there are millions of mistakes...I'm too tired to reread through it....:) xx

I'm heading back!

So I'm off on Friday! So excited, but I did have a lovely break and it was great to see my parents. I'm moving to a new apt. (thanks goodness) and going to live with my friend Amanda from high school, which will be a blast! She is studying Theatre and was studying abroad in London as well so we decided it would be fun to live together and take over Jita's lease in Notting Hill...yes we are living in Notting Hill! :) So hopefully I will have more fun London stories shortly! As for now I am debating when to start packing (:D no I have not started packing...Amanda said she would come pack me...she's packed me for college every year and unpacked me when I got home :) so why ruin the tradition??? Plus she's been packed for a month...she needs something to do this week :) ). Lisa has been here from Denmark with her boyfriend Anders so Estrella is picking them up in town today and we are going to have a sledding party! Tuesday I'm going to hands on Art to paint, Wednesday I am going to Schwitzer to go snowboarding with my cousin, Thursday to see a last few friends for coffee, and then some where in the middle of all that doing all my scholarships! :) I know I really have my priorities set! Luckily I have Estrella to keep me on task.

Ok well I'm off to clean and finish sewing Lisa's present before she gets here...(of course it isn't done...):) Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year! 2009! I'm getting so old! ahhhhhhh

XX
-KAT