A pint of milk

I went to the shop today just to buy this. I think that officially makes me a city person.

A super fun weekend

This past weekend, my friend Nikki from Manchester, England visited London for the first time in her 24 years, and stayed with me a couple nights. We had a great time together and with our friends as well.

Have a quick skim through my slideshow from the weekend if you feel like it. But no pressure.



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Slideshow instructions for my Grandmother and the other over-70s:
You can just watch it as it is and it will scroll through all the pictures. If you want to read the captions, click the 2nd button from the left (the speech bubble). If the pictures show up facing the wrong way, try refreshing your page and that should fix it.

If you'd like to see a bigger version, click on the slideshow box and it will take you to another page where you can look through them all.

Don't worry Mom, my teeth will be just fine in England

Walked past this swanky office the other day.

No, I'm not 98

I do, however, now own this fancy little contraption. Here's me in front of my local Tesco (grocery store, plus) with my latest concession to London life. I'm definitely a little embarrassed to wheel this thing around, but it sure does make shopping a lot easier and hopefully slightly less frequent. Actually I've seen so many people with them around that I thought I'd be a cool kid for having one. Except I was in a packed Tescos this morning and didn't see another soul who had one. Ahhh.

Had to take quick snaps of just a couple of the many, many things that are keeping me entertained as I adjust to life here.
(Click to see a bigger version).












Incidentally, these pictures were difficult to take without looking like what we here might call "a mentalist".

This will blow your mind

(Unless you're from the UK)



Check out the drive-thru. Logistics I'd never ever thought about before moving here.

Life in Lewisham

I live in the borough of Lewisham, in South London. It's ... ok. Actually I really love living here, but the charming picture of my street is a bit deceiving as you can't see the pile of garbage (which "we" call "rubbish") in front of my house, nor my sloped floors and the thus-slanted furniture, nor the fact that my landlords just had the carpet on the foyer stairs cleaned and vacuumed just up as high as you can see if you're standing at the front door (I live on the 3rd floor).

You might get a hint as to just how, shall we say, colorful this area is by the 2nd pic above. That's my bus stop, click it for a closer look at the super-classy furniture store on the street next to it.

But don't listen to any of that. I love it here, and I'm definitely considering staying in South London when I move in September .. I'm in a short-term rental now and will settle a bit more permanently at the next move. Oh, and here's me at my train station. It's super close to London Bridge, from which it's simple to get anywhere in Central London. Is it weird to feel attached to a train station? Because I do.

(I know I need to start taking the ipod earphones out in pictures. I just forget.
They're pretty much always in, so
at least it's authentic.)

31 in London

When I turned 30 last year, my one solace was in thinking that I'd be moving to London that year. Little did I know I would get here with just a week and a half to spare. So here's me on my birthday in Central London at one of my favorite spots, because it was one of the first places I ever went in London ever. Plus it's so darn pretty. Check me out holding my pocketbook, book, map, bottle of water, and umbrella. Not quite a real Londoner yet.

I live with the two cutest boys

I can't decide which one is more adorable. The human is Alessandro, my Italian Peruvian artist architect flatmate, and the canine is Paco. I've never lived with an animal, unless Joel's hamster counts, but I'm loving living with both these guys.

Cursed with curls

OK yes, it's me in London (that's Tower Bridge in the background) but more importantly, look at my hair. I can't keep it straight for the life of me. Remember Pig Pen from the Charlie Brown cartoons? He would take a shower and walk out of the house and ZAP! Immediately dirty again. I straighten my hair, walk out of the house, and immediately it rains on me. Wet hair equals curly hair for Mindy. Boooo

I do love walking along the Thames though, it almost makes this hair conundrum worth it.

Does this make me more like Jesus?

Here's what I took with me to London. It both is, and isn't, very much.

I did wonder if I'd be less materialistic and generally a better person now that I have so few possessions. I'm still waiting for the verdict, but it's not looking good.