one short day in the emerald city...

i walk slow. well sometimes, other times I walk really fast, but sometimes i love to meander and look at the world around me, this is especially while in london. however, when you wake up late and need to get to the National Theater for a tour, walking fast is a must.


now when i say waking up late, i mean on time but not early. cali was wonderful and did my hair in a braid again today. it makes getting ready a lot easier. so for that i thank her. breakfast was on the run again today- well i actually grabbed something instead of normally forgetting and then realizing im starving an hour later. and breakfast was literally on the run- because cami and elly can walk sooo fast!

this was my view the whole time- cali and i would run ahead and then let them catch up except she would always catch up way fast. she said we gave her motivation to walk even faster. cali and i counted this as our run today. i didnt wake up to the alarm (that i remember). cali told me i grunted and rolled over.

before the tour of the royal theater tour, waiting outside. we thought it would be way cold so i wore a fleece. nope. it was actually quite warm and after being on the crowded tube and running to catch ellie, it was very warm. The rest of the day it just stayed draped over my bag. ps can i just say how much i love that bag, it is the best for anti pick pocketing because of the zippers, and it holds everything. the only bad thing is it is huge and therefore it is sometimes hard to find what you are looking for.

cali, cami, elly, and ellie (i love the similarities in our names and that we are often together) outside the national

 we made it to our destination with time to spare. and were able to play outside and then explore the gift shop. There was a picture book about how to get things done that i flipped through and really liked, except i wasnt a fan of the illustrations so i wasnt tempted to get it. how awful is that?


the tour was amazing though. our tour guide did a wonderful job of being spunky and entertaining while giving good information. the theater was amazing and we got to see the sets of two shows that we are seeing there which was fun and exciting, we also got to see backstage where they make the sets and props which was so cool! and we got to see one of the horse puppets from war horse (a musical about the horses of ww II) and it was amazing how intricate it was.


on the way home from the theater we stopped by to buy tickets to go to wicked tonight. Cali's family was in town today and they were going to wicked and we didnt want to go to another show and leave her out so we decided to go to wicked as well. it only made sense. their box office is nice though because they will allow you to buy student tickets at 10 am instead of just an hour before the show.


after that home we went. but as we were walking back from the high street kensignton stop katie saw whole foods and wanted to see if they had any sugar free chocolate, so we went in, however cami and cali were a few paces in front and didnt hear me say we were going in. but the store was amazing! three stories of wonderful, expensive, organic food. but katie is the most inspiring eater ever, talking to her about food i found out she eats super healthy, and hasnt had sugar in about five years. one day i will become a health nut. not today, but someday.

while looking at the chocolate i saw this and it reminded me of my dad. he LOVES dark chocolate,, but the really really dark stuff. happy 85 percent

there was a whole room of cheese! it was refrigerated in there...but seriously who knew there were so many kinds of cheese!

oh brother and their desserts! amazing! they were all beautiful and looked so scrumptious. luckily im cheap and they were all pricey.

they had these mats you could buy to lay on if you are stressed or need to relax your muscles, but they were sooo pokey. it did look comfortable in the slightest but i was really tempted to lay it on the ground in the store and try it out. unfortunately there was a security camera right above us and i was scared of getting in trouble.

but while we were looking around the store i was having a major dilemma because i could picture cali at home wondering where i went, but i didnt want to leave katie, and i was enjoying getting to know her, but i was worried. so we got home and i ran into our room to apologize to cali and she was sitting on her bed telling me how she had been having such a hard time focusing because she was so worried, but then elly told her not to worry and she felt very calm and knew i was okay. it is amazing how well we know each other though. she is wonderful. it is nice to know i have someone here who would notice if i went missing.

once home i skyped and then had dinner, which was disappointing once again. i had this black bean mexican soup that looked way good, but i was expecting it to be more spicy but it was more sweet. but you never know if something is good or not until you try it, right? and then it was off to the show.

The show was amazing, and we had such a fun night. i just adore the people on the study abroad, they are all wonderful. i am always surprised at how much i love wicked, even if it was the fourth time seeing it. It is just such a fun, high energy show. It wasn't my favorite time seeing it, but i like how elphaba, in this production, took a more reserved position and wasnt as forthright. she was wonderful. glinda's voice was a little operatic at times which i wasnt a huge fan of, but she sounded amazing on the high notes.

the group of us before the show

cali was "green" with envy she wasnt sitting with us. actually that was a lie because she was so excited to see and sit with her family but the lights in the lobby made everyone look green. it was splendid.

trying to recreate the poster. didnt we do an amazing job?

also we had wonderful seats. when we sat down i was worried because the theater wasnt very slanted, and as my dad puts it, i am under tall, meaning if anyone was to sit in front of us it would block our view. but we were the luckiest because no one sat in the row right in front of us. it was amazing. we had been joking about how we needed a family of muchkins or children to sit in front of us, but no one was definitely better than we imagined.

Preston with the girls.

at intermission elly was the sweetest and shared a chocolate bar she had gotten with us. however it had been in my purse which was on my lap and had melted. but did that stop us. no sir. we had a fun adventure with the melted chocolate.

after the show we were wired. i am sure anyone seeing us would have thought we were intoxicated, but we headed to sainsbury to get more of the amazing deal cadbury eggs. but sad day. they were sold out. so instead cali and i got a chocolate cake and milk to share, and i got the book i have been wanting. we came home to indulge and of course sing abnoxiously loud to all the songs from wicked. it was a wonderful girls night- plus preston. oh brother. best line of the night was katie at the show when she said preston was being marinated in estrogen this trip. it was hysterical. i thought i was going to die.

The chocolate was so melty but so delicious. elly licked the plastic wrapper to get all the chocolate off, and i was so tempted to rub it all over her face, but i decided that wouldnt be very nice.

at sainsbury's- preston got stuff to have a tea party, british style

yay for chocolate and cake, and the book i have wanted. it was buy two for 7 pounds so i got two, that way i can read it twice. joke. cali and i are going to have a book club after london when we "have time" to read. aka when she is in school and im at efy...at some point we will find time to read it together and it will be the most wonderful thing ever

funniest moment of our girls night. cali went to pour the milk, but oh wait there was a seal. we were both very confused for a second. also we have decided that london is a six week long bachelorette party. it is the bestest.

i also had a very entertaining bed time story curtosey of nate which told the story of kangaroo races down in Australia. it was grand. the best part were the two main kangaroos were named this and that. and when telling a story where the names are this and that it gets pretty confusing. it reminded me a little bit of the whos on first story. but the best part is when he was telling about this getting injured and it was confusing and i started laughing and he said "this isnt funny" my cleaver response... "you are right, this (the kangaroo) is sad" moral of the story. we laughed a lot. sorry that made no sense, it is more for me to remember. but yay for a wonderful night.