ages

As in "I haven't posted anything in ages".

I've been super busy at work until about two weeks ago when I left for vacation in London. It was so nice to be there and to spend time with so many people that are so near and dear to my heart. (that's such a cheesy phrase and I'm just jet-lagged enough to use it!) I saw Pete and Shirley, my childhood friend Pam (I grew up with her but we lost touch six or seven years ago, but it turns out she moved to London about 2 years ago and now when I visit I can see her too.), the incredibly beautiful Adele and the Steeles who I've known about 25 years and just moved to London a little over a year ago. And of course, my friend Janelle who is the initial reason I decided to go back to a seventh trip to London this vacation instead of Spain (which is where I've been trying to go 'next' for about 2 years now).

My first weekend there was spend with Pete and Shirley and was so nice. We ate loads of really great food, drank many a nice drink and did nice local things. We even squeezed in a half (and very rainy) day in Bath. After leaving Pete & Shirls I went into London and stayed a week with Janelle and her family and spent many late nights chatting with her and Angela, her sister. I truly feel as though I'm the third daughter in their family. I love spending time with them and the whole family takes such good care of me when I'm there. I was able to see the whole clan because Janelle and Angela's brother and sister-in-law had their baby dedication the weekend before I went home and the whole clan was there. It was really nice.

In spite of it taking over 25 hours to go from London doorstep to my apartment doorstep (good ol' American Airlines, eh?) I'm surviving the jet lag at two days back, and made it through my first day back, 1600+ emails and a two-hour meeting with reasonable sanity.

The highlights...

♥ Catching up with old friends
♥ Pub time with Pete & Shirley
♥ Running into Lorraine purely by happy accident
♥ Finally going to Bath and with people that like taking pix as much as I do
♥ Sipping cider while Pete stooped to fit into the little room in the pub
♥ Catching up with the girls - Shirley, Janelle, Angela, Adele, Sandy & Pamela
♥ Tea and girl-time at Fortnum & Mason
♥ Eating my way through central London with Pamela
♥ Shopping with Janelle
♥ Finally getting to the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Tate Modern
♥ Finding presents to take back to people at home

There's much more I could add, but I'll just wrap up this jet-lagged post with a few more pix.