7 A Liberty Christmas

Having a big move right before the holidays isn't easy, although I'm hard-pressed to pick a time of year that would be "easy" to move your entire lives- two humans, two dogs, one cat-dog, five checked bags, four carryons, one anthropomorphized Element named Watson, 10.5 crates of junk crap necessary items (luckily Paul doesn't come around these blog-parts often!- across the ocean.
Anyway, all that was just to say that it's a good thing we're not super-holiday people. We're more likely to take advantage of some days off to either do a bit of traveling or to just have some nice relaxation at home. Paul does enjoy a real Christmas tree, though, so when we first got married I began slowly collecting ornaments. Most of them are souvenirs from trips we've taken, but there are a few other, more traditional ones, that I got at after-Christmas sales. It's made a task I would normally see as a pain- a couple hours' work and some money spent on a mostly disposable thing that requires a lot of clean up- to be a fun time to reminisce and think about our trips and see all these bits that I've hand-selected for us to enjoy.  When we were at Lowe's a few weeks ago, I walked through the Christmas trees all lined up and thought "hmm... Paul's gonna want one this year!" despite his having denied it previously (due to the whole lack of funds thing from the first paragraph. See? It all ties in eventually.). Sure enough, as we were picking out our herb seeds we went there for, he commented that smelling the Douglas firs sure was nice...
So this weekend we're getting a Christmas tree. It'll be a smaller one, and if our stored-for-three-years lights don't work, we won't be purchasing new ones yet, (that said, we didn't bother buying new strings of lights in England and I liked it better...) but we will have a bit of Christmas in our house- even though our Christmas "presents" won't fit under a tree!!

Since December starts tomorrow and in honor of Christmas arriving at our house this weekend, I decided it's a good time to post my pictures (taken October 2) from Liberty's Christmas Shop. After enjoying Bloggers' Afternoon Tea, Selena, Becky, and I strolled over to Liberty- where we ran into several of the other ladies who were at the tea! We all wandered around the building, drooling dreaming over gorgeous fabrics, planning clever crafts, and devising just the right place in our homes for each item.

Displays of ornaments were in every nook and corner.

Despite their being lined up in rows, each one seemed delicately crafted- obviously meant to last for years and years as a cherished decoration.

Of course, Christmas crackers lined some displays!

They're just so lovely all on their own- I'd have a hard time pulling them!

These brightly colored jingle balls were tempting- but thinking of the 2AM "fun" Mia would have with them prompted me to leave with only a picture of them!

I lean towards the more natural ornaments, so these caught my eye.

Colour-schemed tabletops displayed ornaments and baubles like treats and delicacies.

I'm definitely drawn to blue ornaments, and these turquoise ones had just the sparkle!

Next week I'll show you the two ornaments I did pick up as last-minute souvenirs of our time in England, as well as some of my other favorites as I pull them out to decorate our tree!

Have you started your holiday festivities already, or is this weekend the big kick-off for your house as well?

Edit: Selena posted her pictures from Liberty today as well! Check them out here.

0 Sketch: The Mad Hatter + 60s Mod + Jack Skellington = A Really Cool Place

I've already shown you The Glade Room at Sketch, where we had our Bloggers' Afternoon Tea. We were given a short tour of a few of the other rooms as well. 

This is The Gallery, and it's very banquet-y feeling, but in a hip way. It was being re-set for another event  when we came through, but it feels dark and cosy despite being well-lit and wide open. I imagine it feels even more so when stuffed with furniture!

 The ceiling. I like to pretend that's a giant spinning projector.

A clever glass-flower pendant light.

 This mod bench led us to another room that had all of our jaws on the floor. I'll let you see a couple of images before I tell you what you're seeing.

 These are loos. Not space eggs, not Austin Powers travel pods, but toilets.  I want the ceiling, though- I kept thinking the lights would start blinking and dancing up and down their columns!

Meanwhile, there was another toilet that most of us had been to, returning and promptly telling the next lady she had to go check it out.

(Sidenote: Americans say "restroom" or "bathroom". Brits say "loo" or, particularly in the North, "toilet". I've adapted to using "toilet" after being correct many times in my early days. Not until being at Sketch have I asked for the "toilet" and been answered with "Oh, the bathroom?"

Wait, what??!!)

 The men's is on the left; ladies on the right.

Duh.

 In a stall. What you can't see is the loo roll (toilet paper), which hung from two chains of these fake crystals, as if on it's own very posh swing. 

Also, it's rather unnerving to pee (wee for Brits) surrounded by so many mirrors.

I completely neglected to take a picture of Sketch's sign outside, as I was distracted by this faceless dog. His story intrigues me. 

After tea, many of us headed over to Liberty to wander- I've got pictures (of course!) that I'll share with you next week!

Moving update: Today Paul finalized his last bits and pieces at work, we had a going-away lunch at The Welly (I am going to miss their food so desperately!), we walked three miles round-trip across Harrogate city centre to our vet with both dogs and Mia in my L.L.Bean tote, as it's smaller than her airline kennel for their fit-to-fly health certificates (and kudos to Mia, she didn't pee in my bag despite being a bit anxious from the street noise), and then we went to York for a ghost tour with some close friends for a last hurrah.  The final goodbyes have started...

Two full days in Harrogate left. 

9 Bloggers' Afternoon Tea at Sketch

 Laura, of Happy Homemaker UK, put up a post for an afternoon tea she was organizing in London. I was interested, but not sure how I would fit in going down to London one week before our flight out.  I began (gently!) harassing Becky to go with me, so that I wouldn't be walking into a room of total strangers- and when she agreed (which only took a small nudge!), I bought a train ticket and RSVPed. Since our temporary apartment let is in town, I walked over to Harrogate rail station at 7:30AM and caught the train down to London. While this is the first time I've gone to London just for the day, I realized how much I'm going to miss train service and the ability to go to one of the world's greatest cities on a whim. Watching the rolling hills of recently cut hay, seeing church spires, rail  car yards, and seeing livestock grazing in the fields, I fought back tears- but did my best to just soak it all up one last time. 

Anyway- back to the fun! Becky and I walked over to Sketch, located next to East India Company with a rather unassuming and deceptively simple entrance.  Our group was in the Glade room, which provided us with ample conversation to break the ice!

Despite being entirely walled, it had the feel of a screened in porch, which delighted my Southern heart! The sunlight ceiling added to the tamed-jungle feel of the room.

 The wallpaper was fascinating!

The room was dotted with cozy areas set perfectly for conversation.

The bar, adding a modern twist to the outdoor themed room.

Top left: Liz, Sarah Jane, Becky; Top right: Sarah, Sophie, Belinda;
Bottom left: Belinda, Selena, and Robynne; Bottom right: Charlotte and Laura
(see bottom picture for links to these fabulous blogs!)

The afternoon flew by as we discussed blogging, our personal lives, and, of course, our favorite bits of England! Blogs represented cover home decor, gardening, travel, and everyday English life- from English, American, and Australian perspectives!

 The table when we came in. The champagne helped us get over any nerves!

 Delicious fruit scones.

We had several tea trays, in fact, so much that we all had a good lunch and there were leftovers!

The food was just as tasty as it looked!

The ladies:

Clockwise, from top left: Charlotte, Sarah Jane, Becky, me, Sarah, Selena, Robynne, Laura, Liz, and Belinda

not pictured, as she had to get back to work: Louise

I had the best time meeting these other women and finding further connections to keep England alive in my daily life- not to mention seeing Sketch, which was a clever find on Laura's part!!

We were given a quick tour of some of the other rooms, so come back tomorrow to see them!

0 December London Break is posted!

There are three posts for your enjoyment, including the best of

the Tower of London, 

Christmas window displays, 

Trafalgar Square in the early morning, 

how to get into a sold-out National Gallery exhibit,

a West End review, 

and a tale of a missed train.

Again, sorry for the delay- 

now I'm going back to Barcelona!

(well, pictorially, at least!)

0 London Break: Trafalgar Square, A Couple of Reviews, and a Missed Train

One of our main goals during our short stop in London was to see the National Gallery's temporary exhibit of some of Leonardo da Vinci's work from his time in Milan.   Despite having known about both the exhibit and our trip for months prior, I put off purchasing tickets to the exhibit until it was sold out.  After I got over my initial wave of disappointment I saw that 500 same-day tickets would be sold each day.  On Sunday we got to the Gallery just before 10AM, the opening time.  The line was already well-formed, and the attendant outside told us that we would most likely be issued tickets for 4:30PM.  This wasn't an option, as I'd already purchased 3:00PM matinee tickets to the West End production of The Wizard of Oz (review at the bottom of the post).  

So... Monday morning we got up early to get in line at the Gallery.  Paul had already purchased our home-journey train tickets for 1PM, so we needed to get tickets that would allow us to get to our train on time.   We arrived at the Gallery at 7:30AM and joined the already forming line.  

As we waited and tried not to notice the morning cold, I decided to walk over to a coffee shop and get some hot chocolate.  As I walked though Trafalgar Square I realized how rare it is to see the famous Square so empty, so I took a few pictures.  They're a bit redundant in subject matter, but there are only three, so after the Christmas window post it should be a relief!

The National Gallery and the 2012 Olympic countdown clock.

One of the lions watching the commuter traffic.

We did make it into the exhibit, with 11:30 tickets (and managed to get in about 10 minutes early).  While we waited for our timeslot we walked down to Chipotle, and Paul was very excited to eat some of his favorite American food.  The exhibit was wonderful, showing several of Leonardo's final pieces alongside sketches made as studies for the final images. The highlight of the exhibit featured his preparatory notes and sketches for The Lord's Supper.  While Leonardo's painting is still in place in Milan, the best-known copy done by one of his students a mere forty years after the original was on display at the National Gallery.  Many consider this copy to be more true to Leonardo's original work than the current state of the Milan fresco, as the original deteriorated severely and was damaged on multiple occasions before being repainted several times.

The last bit of story from this trip involves those pre-purchased 1PM train tickets.  We finished in the exhibit at about 12:15 (which seemed enough time, as the gallery was crowded enough to force movement through) and raced to the tube.  We stopped at the Tower station and Paul ran to pick up our bags (he's faster!) and when he returned we waited for the next tube.  It seemed to be taking a while, so Paul found another route option to King's Cross on the map- we ran to it, hopped on, and raced through the doors as soon as they opened at St. Pancras.  We then RAN to King's Cross and checked the boards for the platform number of our train.  The boards (and the woman Paul asked) said platform 0- so we ran over and got on that train.  We were immediately asked by crew what we were doing, as that train was being cleaned and had just arrived at the station.  We got off and asked another attendant- the Leeds-bound train had just pulled out of platform 2.  We then went over to the ticket desk and shelled out an additional £150 for the train to York leaving 1/2 an hour later.  

It sucks to miss a train, but, given the amount of public transportation we've dealt with since moving over, it was bound to happen sooner or later.

At least the exhibit was worth it!

Wizard of Oz review:
It was good, not great.  Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's music was amazing, and the show wasn't as twee as the original movie (which I appreciated)- for instance, the munchkins were all of average height, and, while all dressed in blue, they weren't as cutesy/grating as the movie.  The children in the munchkin community were noticeably good- they were consistent in singing and dancing, and the children with individual lines were flawless and natural.  The sets were fantastic, and the way the stage production treated the movie's famous black-and-white Kansas and color Oz was well-crafted and delightful.
 Michael Crawford, while as talented and aurally pleasing as ever, seemed cast for his star-power, as his roles of the wizard/traveling salesman were stretched thin to allow him stage time.  Danielle Hope, who earned the role of Dorothy through a reality-show competition, had a pleasant singing voice and a convincing midwestern American accent, but acted in a way suggesting a few too many viewings of the Judy Garland film.
I'll be honest; I've never been a big fan of the movie, and the musical's lion, tin woodsman, and scarecrow were well acted and believable enough to make me prefer them over their movie counterparts.  Overall, though, the musical seemed more like a stage version of the movie rather than a stand-alone adaptation or interpretation of L. Frank Baum's classic story. 

0 London Break: Christmas Window Displays

Since our timing put us in one of the world's greatest cities at Christmastime, I thought we should see some of the Christmas displays at a few of London's best shops and department stores.

We also went to Hyde Park's Christmas Market- it was absolutely packed with people and only one booth offered any seasonal wares.  Very disappointing, especially after Budapest's fun and festive markets.

Leadenhall Market.

Carnaby Street.

Hamley's Toy Shop's Lego display.

Regent Street.

I think Guess?

Fortnum and Mason, for the next eleven images.

When the clock struck the top of the hour these two figurines came out- they're hard to see here, but it was a treat in person!

Piccadilly Arcade.

 The doorman and entry of The Ritz.

This and the three following images are from Harvey Nichols' windows.

Where would any London-retail post be without a mention of Harrods?  This is actually the first time Paul and I have been to Harrods- and it was closed, so we still haven't been in!