I will start off with more pictures of the girls in their uniforms. I still cannot get over how stinkin' cute they are in them! Above left is Georgia in her hockey uniform. She had a late game, so I picked her up and brought her home in her uniform. Usually, they change in and out of their uniforms at school, and they come home wearing their full school uniforms.
Check her out! Before the half term break, the school had a half term assembly and several awards were given out. This cute little girl won the French Cup for how hard she has been working to learn French. The cups are really cool, and they are returned to the school to be awarded again. Such tradition!
It was a banner day for our Olivia. Valentine's Day customs here are a bit different than in the U.S. In America, most school children give Valentine cards and treats to everyone in their classes. That isn't done here at all. It is more traditional to give one special Valentine to one special person. And, it is a bonus to keep it a secret surprise, so the recipient has to guess who the Valentine came from. (What if you guessed wrong???!!!) Well, sweet Olivia received a Valentine from a special friend in her class :)
It is funny that I cannot recall seeing all that many rainbows in my lifetime. Like, one a year, or less, maybe. I have been here for a couple months now (can it really be that long??) and I have seen two. Two! Two really striking and amazingly beautiful rainbows, that pictures just cannot capture accurately. I know the picture above is particularly awful, but I was walking into the closet (the closet has a window, but sadly it doesn't open so I had to take the picture through the really dirty glass) when I spotted it. The dirty window reminds me of another story I haven't shared with you yet. We got a letter pushed under our door a few weeks ago that the window washers would be washing our windows in the next few days. We didn't think much of it until it was 6am on Sunday morning and we could hear the window washers taking loudly outside our window! 6am. On a SUNDAY! Really? We are on the 6th floor, and although we do get a good bit of city noises - sirens, car traffic, the occasional drunk person being disorderly outside… we never hear voices speaking excitedly to one another outside our window at 6am on a Sunday. Chris and I turned to each other with looks like, "Really?? What is THAT about?". Turns out that Sophia was awake in her room next to ours, and she heard the noises of the window washers equipment. So, she thought she would open up her curtains and wave hello. Can you imagine how startled the window washers were when that cute little freckle-faced pixie peeked out and waved at them! At 6am, on a Sunday??!! Chris and I still laugh about how those window washers were probably lucky not to have fallen off the apparatus altogether!
I snapped a picture of this on Valentine's Day (obviously) on the street down from Georgia's school. I sent it to Chris and his response - typical - something about that guy ruining it for everyone else! ;)
I met a new friend (introduced by an old friend - Jennifer Brown in California - thank you!) for lunch the other day. She is also an American transplant from Southern California and met me for lunch and a we had a great visit. It was nice to meet her and we had a nice lunch. We met up in front of The Ritz, and walked to a nearby restaurant.
I spotted this place with the most delicious looking desserts on view in the front window. It was a little more delicious looking than usual, I imagine, because of the upcoming Valentine holiday.
We took the train out to Richmond on a recent Sunday and strolled along the Thames before stopping for lunch.
The restaurant we chose.
A new hairstyle for Valentine's Day (thank you, Pinterest). It was super easy and totally cute!
Make a ponytail and then you flip it (don't put the ponytail holder in too tightly, so that you are able to tuck the hair under itself and pull it out the top. The ponytail will sort of flip itself apart on its own, pull it into two parts and braid each and then bind with one ponytail at the end. I know I probably didn't do a great job of explaining it - but give it a try - it is really easy!
Loved the name of this mobile coffee cart - Bean About Town
How do you like your Orange Juice - bits or no bits?
We put tires on our cars in the U.S. - In the U.K., they put tyres on their cars.
