London...Day 2

London day two started out with a bang. Since Non and I were the only one's who had been to London, we wanted to do all we could...the next five days we were essentially tourists on crack, trying to see everything...with our grandmother in tow.

We started with our breakfast at the hotel which I soon began to view as my "carb loading" for the day. Our driver, Ray picked us up early-ish and we were off to see the sights. Ray has been a driver/tour guide for ...well ever, I think. He is a jolly ole chap in his 60's and could not be nicer...but loves to talk...A LOT. We loved Ray and he was so great that we booked him for the next three days right then and there. It was so great to have a driver, as Nonnie is in her eighties so, as she put it, sometimes she has a "hitch in her get-along."

We were a little late getting started due to our travels the day before...and let's face it, we are five women. Since we had a lunch reservation, Ray gave us a driving tour of the sights. I swear he knew the date and time each of the buildings/roads were built/paved, the guy (and his backstory) who laid the brick and or pavement. It was very interesting, but I would laugh because I could see different people mentally check out at different times when it wasn't something they were totally into. We saw Buckingham Palace, Margaret Thatcher's house, Richard Branson's house,  and lots of stuff that is really beautiful but didn't make it into my memory.

That is one thing Nonnie is really big on...meals and reservations. Literally there is no "grabbing something on the go" with her. It became a bit of a joke between us that with a driver and no walking then having to stop and eat every 45 minutes we literally forgot what it felt like to be hungry. 

We had lunch at The Ivy London and it was as you would expect, fabulous. We did get in trouble for taking pictures because apparently, that is not done at The Ivy....oops. Stupid Americans.

Our stop after lunch was the Tower of London to see the Crown Jewels. We were lucky enough that while we were there they were doing a dress rehearsal for some 'super posh' function that was going to be that night....a concert of sorts, dinner and a private viewing of the jewels. All for the bargain price of  £1,000.

We saw the jewels, got a 'tourist on speed' version of all the history from Ray instead of having to listen to the headphones. I learned all sorts of interesting things and Ray even sang us the jingle he learned in school to remember all the Kings and Queens in order. Basically, not super hard since most of them were named George, Victoria or Mary.

After the ToL we went back to the hotel to get ready as we had tickets to the theatre. We saw Legally Blonde at the Savoy Theatre in the West End which is neat because it's really small. Nonnie loves the theatre so we had awesome seats. Legally Blonde was cute, pretty funny and comical to see how they portray American sororities. Nonnie loved it, so that was great.

Dinner was following the theatre a J Sheekey. I read about it somewhere as one of the celeb favorites in London so naturally, I wanted to go. The food was amazing and we sat right next to Whitney Port and Kelly Cutrone from MTV shows The Hills and The City. They were there for fashion week. Not A-listers but, celebs none the less.

Funny story, I was going to the bathroom which was down a steep flight of wooden stairs with a sharp turn about halfway down. I also had on really tall shoes that are super cute but I can't seem to get the hang of walking in. I was almost to the turn when a person came at me from the other direction. I was startled because I didn't see them coming then even more so when I looked up and it was Whitney. This causing me to lose my balance and almost flatten her. Awesome Linds, always one to keep it smooth. I caught myself or she caught me, I don't really remember and then basically weirdly smiled, tried to play it off and kept going when she asked if I was okay. Why couldn't I just say "Hi!" and that be it? Nope, I had to almost lay the poor girl out...

Until tomorrow...

Nope, not falling down...

Bets, Non and I at Tower of London...I was freezing and super windy.

New friends

"This is the highlight of my day."

 "I'm sure that's what you say to all the girls."

LOVED these bright blue doors

Hal and I in the American Bar at our hotel before the theatre

self portrait at Legally Blonde....shortly after we were told (once again) no photos please...oops

London...Day 1

Cheerio! We are back! I am going to break up my blogging about London because I didn't get a chance to journal our adventures while we were there so I am using the blog as a travel journal of sorts. So bear with. Nonnie took all her granddaughters (Me, Betsy, Sarah Jane and Hallie) on a fabulous trip to London for a week and we just got back yesterday. It was the BEST trip ever. We had SO much fun.

We left last Monday night around 9:00 pm and flew overnight. Thanks to my wonderful father we were upgraded to first class and well...it was so great! Sarah Jane and I got to sit next to each other and basically it was laughs from the get go. It was The Beverly Hillbillies Get Upgraded.

 First we couldn't find out how to work our TV's...it was never our fault, so the quote soon became, "Mine's broken!" (it wasn't.) Next we couldn't find out where to plug our headphones in....the nice Arab man next to us had to tap me on the shoulder and point on his where the went...it still took us a few minutes to get it. (language barrier or stupidity I'm not sure) Once we got them in, we couldn't hear anything. They were the fancy Bose kind. We turned up the volume to no avail...."Mine's Broken!" No ladies, according to the nice steward...you have to turn them on...oops. We had champagne and dinner, never mind we had a full meal at the airport a whopping 45 minutes earlier....but we were in first class, we had to try the food! We got ice cream sundaes for dessert and then settled in for the night.

First Class provides blanket, pillow, socks, sleep mask and earplugs. Did we use all of these things?? But of course! I've never used a sleep mask before but I quite liked it. After dinner and a few inflight tv shows, we put all of our gear on and crashed.

We arrived in London around noon on Tuesday and were taken to our hotel The Stafford.  It was fabulous. It's more of a boutique hotel and in a prefect location right next to Buckingham Palace. The four girls had two jr suites that were adjoined by a stair case in the middle going down to each room. It was the perfect setup. Nonnie had a suite on the same floor, but wasn't attached.

After a quick freshen up, we headed to Harrods. Harrods is amazing. Literally there is everything you could imagine for sale. We sat down and had our first spot of Tea in one of the many places to eat inside. It was delish and accompanied by loads of goodies. After shopping at Harrods for a bit, one thing became abundantly clear... we could afford nothing in this country. The dollar worth about half as much as the pound so basically to calculate the price in dollars, we just doubled every price tag. So it was lots of browsing.

For dinner that night we went to the OXO Tower Restaurant on the top floor of Harvey Nichols. It was lovely but we were all so tired that we had a quick dinner and went back to the hotel to crash....

Headed out!

The Stafford London 

Hallie and Bets

Hallie, Bets and Nonnie

Hallie and I at the OXO Bar at Harvey Nichols

Sarah Jane and I

to be continued.....

C.L.E.A.N.

Clean you ask? Well, it is an amazing 21 day program/cleanse that I have plunged into. I am 11 days in and so far so good! I decided to blog about this 11 days in for two reasons. First, if I couldn't do it, then I didn't need all you fine people knowing that. Second, I now need all you fine people to know so I don't quit. Oh, the irony.

I was reading an article when I came across The Clean Program  developed by Cardiologist Dr. Alejandro Junger. When I went through the checklist to determine if I was "toxic" or not, I was amazed at just how toxic I might actually be. Here is an excerpt...


When our systems are overtaxed, they begin to break down in a multitude of ways. Allergies, headaches, depression, irritable bowel syndrome, fatigue, weight gain and insomnia are just a few of the symptoms that can result. The majority of these common ailments are the direct result of toxin build-up in our systems that has accumulated during the course of our daily lives.

I hadn't been feeling good for a while, was diagnosed with B12 deficiency as well as some random skin disease....all at the ripe old age of 28. This did not bode well for the rest of my years. Not to mention, I was ALWAYS tired. Not, I have a two year old tired but want to sleep ALL the time tired.

I found the Clean Program and thought what could it hurt? I wanted to do something so I wouldn't be the "tired, boring one" on my London trip with Nonnie and the cousins. I am currently on day 11 and I feel tons better! However, in full disclosure, this has NOT been a cake walk. Ahhh Cake! Focus..okay. The first three days I thought I was going to die. I had the worst headache of my entire life. Major withdrawals from caffeine and sugar. It took me about 5-7 days to not feel puny. I have read tons of reviews from people who had no issues and/or hunger. These people must be robots or liars. I'm on day 11 and I'm pretty consistently hungry. Not sure what that says about me.

However, I really have started to feel better. I have more energy. No, there is not a chorus of angles singing when I pop out of bed and sprint to the shower but I actually am able to GET out of bed. I have lots more energy especially in the evenings. The weight loss hasn't been as significant as I hoped but maybe I had unrealistic expectations. I can say I have done this to the best of my ability and knowledge while living a pseudo normal life. Yes, I could completely immerse myself in this and follow this to the letter but well, I have a kid and a husband...oh, and hunger pains.

I will update when I have completed the whole program...

Vail!

The night we got home from Park City, Slade surprised me with a trip to the Vail house with my fam! I didn't think we would be able to make it this year so I was THRILLED to postpone my re-entry to the heat. Slade stayed with us for the week and then I stayed on with the fam for a few days, while he went to have a mini reunion with his Tech Football buddies. It was SO much fun!

The flowers at the house were amazing. I didn't even realize how much I missed the grass being GREEN and FLOWERS!