london town

josh and i got to spend a morning in london. we arrived in heathrow to be interrogated by immigration. i didn't know that address of the b and b where we were staying. the officer was finally satisfied when i gave him bridget's cell phone number. we took the tube to buckingham palace, but since we were there so early, we only walked around the perimeter. we could see the back of it, and got the see the queen victora monument. we walked through hyde park, green park, and st james' park.

next we went to see big ben and parliment. we also went to see westminister abbey. then it was off to the tower of london to see the crown jewels and the prison towers of old. we had a beef eater (named so because they were able to eat meat unlike most of the population) he told us about the prisoners that lost their heads and their stinky moat problems. there were displays of armour (for men and horses) and weapons. but what i really wanted to see was the crown jewels. unfortunately, we couldn't take any pictures. there were less than i'd hoped, but is was unbelievable to see queen victoria's favorite diamond crown. bridget picked us up shortly after and we were off to bath!

our terrible journey

i just got back from my trip across the pond, and although the flight over there was uneventful, it seems that we were to be severely annoyed on the way back. first our plane arrived in ireland an hour late. then we were delayed forty-five minutes due to a passenger getting stuck in customs and immigration only for him to decide that he wasn't coming with us. and then they had to sort through the luggage to find his bag. we had a two hour layover, so i was hoping we would make up some time in the air.
then there was an old man that was dizzy, or fainted, or something. so when we finally landed in chicago, we had to wait for the EMTs to come and get him off the plane. and although we were told on the plane that there would be people waiting to tell us our new connections, that was not correct. all the flights to denver were cancelled due to weather. then we had to wait in line for an hour only to be met by this incredibly bitchy lady named suzanne. she told us that she could get us on a flight the next denver tomorrow at 8:45 pm! here's how the conversation went:
"i have to be in denver tomorrow morning, that won't work"
"i can have you connect in iowa, but you have to change air lines" (as though i wanted to fly anymore with american)
"fine, as long as we get there in the morning"
" i can't guarantee anything due to weather"
"what if i miss work?"
"you chose to fly today" (yes i did choose to fly today, and i don't want to fly tomorrow)
and then she said, "we can give you a deal on a hotel room" i was so mad and annoyed at this point i really wanted to punch her. as though that made up for mess we were in all because they can't get their planes in on time.

the following morning we got up at 3am to stand in line at american for 45 minutes to be told we'd have to stand in line at united for our second boarding passes. an hour later (there was one person checking in everyone) united told us to get the boarding passes in iowa.
in iowa, the plane we were getting on was delayed an hour because the crew got in late last night and were sleepy. finally we reached denver at 10 am and i had just enough time to take a shower and have lunch before work. what a stinky end to an otherwise good trip.

here comes peter cottontail, hopping down the bunny trail

although my easter basket arrived several days ago, i haven't eaten all of it. which is suprising since i got cadbury eggs, peeps, reece's pieces, runt speckeled eggs (my favorite!), sweet tart bunnies and chick (also a favorite), dove eggs, malted milk eggs, peppermint patties, silly putty, and lindt chocolate bugs, bunnies and lambs. yum yum. there were some pb eggs, but josh already ate those before the picture was taken.

the other day we were at sams, getting toilet paper, a leg of lamb and chicken. this sam's is always crowded and checking out usually takes longer than shopping. we chose a line that seemed to be moving, and there was an abandoned cart at the end. so we moved in front of the cart since there was a large gap between it and the next woman in line. a few minutes later, the owner of the cart returned with three gallons of milk. when another customer got in line behind her, she remarked "you can't even leave your cart in line without someone cutting in front of you." i thought about this for a second, and i really wanted to say something rude back, like "hey, we only have three items, and milk is not something that you should have forgotten. if you didn't want to lose your place in line, you shouldn't have left" but i didn't. she probably would have said something about how rude young people are. and that's why i always make josh go with me, so he can hold our place when i go back to get things.

it snowed again last night, and although one of the reasons i moved here was for the snow, i must say i am getting a bit tired of the white stuff. i think last year it had stopped by february, and yet the earth is getting hotter? i heard we are supposed to get even more snow next year. yikes!

why didn’t anyone tell me tasty things were so tasty?

wendy and alberto's reception was last night, and i volunteered to bake and decorate a wedding cake. i wasn't sure how long it would take me to decorate the cakes, so i baked them on wednesday. wendy said she wanted a tasty cake with pretty decorations. that didn't give me much to go off of, the bottom cake was white with raspberry jam; the middle chocolate with carmel frosting, and the top was strawberry with chocolate mousse. mamsis was nice enough to send me an icing recipe and a website to help me assemble it. the website said to use straws to support the tiers, but i used dowel rods instead. although i practiced my decorating technique, i can't do anything too complicated (even the simple drop flowers didn't look perfect every time). luckily josh agreed to help me out, so he did most of the decorating. we did drop flowers on the top and viney lines on the sides with flowers. i like doing the cake, even though it was a lot of work. and everyone at the party told me what a nice job i'd done. the party was a lot of fun. we had phillipino ice cream and spring rolls, and chinese, italian, and ethiopan dishes.