day 354

Good morning world. We have arrived in the lovely city of York. Other than a missing bag, things are going great over here. We didn’t have much on our agenda today, so we mostly explored. Here are a few thoughts about the day: 

1. Starbucks is like the LDS church- it’s the same everywhere you go. I love that. 

2. To add my two cents to the stereotype that England really does have the worst food, let me tell you a little story. Its name is “this-chicken-was-cooked-three-years-ago-but-if-we-paint-it-orange-and-mix-it-with-some-decent-chicken-this-tourist-will-never-know.” Now, as we’ve established, I’m not a tourist. England is my true homeland, thus this ridiculous restaurant called Russell’s couldn’t fool me. I have never experienced something so grotesque in a dining experience. My chicken Caesar salad was filled with ROCK HARD, old, nasty, orange-brown chicken. I was too tired to demonstrate to the waiter that it had in fact become petrified, but I did take a piece back to the hotel to make a video and demonstrate how bad it was. Unfortunately, my pregnancy gag reflex came in full force when I unwrapped the nasty thing, so I had to throw it away. At least you have a visual.

3. One of the oldest (and most charming) streets in York is Shambles Street. Tons of cool stores! The only bummer is that EVERYTHING (literally) in the UK closes at 5 pm on the dot. So, we did a lot of window shopping. It reminds me a lot of San Luis Obispo or other small towns with novelty shops and the sort. 

4. As mentioned earlier, my bag is STILL missing. Since Brooke’s showed up the evening we arrived in London, I assumed mine would be right behind hers. No such luck. So, I am continuing to wear my pyjamas, Brooke’s undies, and my mom’s sweater. Hopefully all of my pictures don’t show me in this one outfit, so cross your fingers that it shows up soon. 

5. England has these delicious cookies called Hobknobs. I think I’m going to buy 50 packs of them for when I get home. 

6. I love how diverse this country is! It reminds me a lot of Sacramento (not the scary part of Sacramento) and how we’ve got white, black, Asian, Hispanic, Jews, Muslims, Christians, crazies, smelly people, nice people, etc. So great. 

Alright, I’m sure I’ll have much more to report on tomorrow with all the amazing things we’ve got planned, so until then...

day 353

well, i guess it's technically day 354 here in london. either way, 'ello from the best city in the WORLD. it is currently 5:15 am and i am wide awake. here is a recap of our first day in london...

1. flew from san francisco to toronto where i paid $3 for 3 pringles. yum. baby zoe was SCREECHING at me to eat more, but i couldn't bring myself to eat a pre-made roast beef wrap that was probably made a month ago and frozen to "keep" it's freshness. 

2. SPRINTED through the toronto airport (which is 35 miles wide, i might add) to make it to our next flight. i thought i would pee myself our collapse from exhaustion. happily i made it and still got to pee before boarding. 

3. now, here's a question: is there anyone in this entire universe that has ever been able to sleep (not close your eyes and fall forward on and off) on a plane? real life sleep? cos i think the ONLY time i've actually slept was when i flew business class. so, naturally, i was having a heart attack for 7 hours as we flew to london and it was 5 hours past my normal bedtime. 

4. arrived at the wonderful heathrow airport where i got my fancy stamp in my passoprt and then found out i had no luggage to collect. i thought it might have been deemed to have contained contraband since i brought the whole grocery store with me, but luckily the little man at the counter said his computer shows it to be alive and well, just late. so, as i write this, i am still waiting for them to deliver it to me at our hotel. i hope it's soon, cos i smell and would really like some clean clothes to put on after my shower. 

5. we finallllly met up with my aunt and beak and got to paddington station. i swear, as soon as i walked down there, it was like i was living there again. just charging through the station directing us where to go, remembering all the different trains and where they go. LOVED IT!!!!! my mum was like, "you're back with your people!" 

yes, yes i am. 

6. we got to our hotel in this darling neighborhood (SO CUTE!) and i collapsed on the bed where i remained for about an hour until we got dinner and explored the shopping centre around us. sigh. i love being here. i've taken exactly zero pictures though, so i'll have to post some of beak's when i blog again tomorrow. 

cheerio, my wonderful american friends. 

day 352

hello world. it is i, courtney roskelley. just hangin' out at SFO waiting to hop a flight to toronto and on to london. can i just say how much i LOVE airports? i love them. i think i already mentioned this in a previous post, but i can never say it enough. minus the horrificly overpriced food items and the long layovers, being at the airport is pure fun. 

i'm hoping that i'll have internet in most of our hotels so i can blog while abroad and entertain the 1 person that reads this blog (yikes, that's me) with pictures of castles, cool british people, scary french people with tasty food, wonders of the world, etc, etc. fun fun.

day 343

today is a lovely day. why you ask? well, i'll tell you. 

1. i'm watching the FABULOUS music video for coldplay's "every teardrop is a waterfall." it's just so bright and happy and energetic. it makes me want to dance and paint my house with crazy colours and run through deserted alleys or something. please watch it. i'm sure you'll want to do the same. 

2. i'm packing for england. i LOVE packing for trips. it makes me excited knowing that soon i will be in another land, whether that land is 100 miles from my house or 4000 miles. and england is truly my favourite place on this amazing earth. i seriously think i may have been born in the wrong country. only 9 more days...   :)

3. i just ate frosted flakes and they tasted GRRRRRRREAT! 

4. i've been mentoring this foster girl and tonight is our first night seeing each other in over a month and we finally get to have an adventure outside of her home. i'm thinking pizza, i'm thinking "cars 2," perhaps some ice cream afterwards... yes please!

5. i only have 3 dishes in my sink. three. it's truly a christmas miracle. 

day 339

i love when random strangers change my opinion of "society these days" for just a moment. 

blake was out of town this weekend and i just DID NOT want to cook. so i didn't. i hung out at my mum's house, ate panera bread, went to in n out, etc. last night, i craved pizza, but trying to to be the thrifty, i decide to get papa murphy's and use a coupon. 

i drive to papa murphy's and realize i forgot my coupon. they don't keep coupons at their store, but there was a guy behind me who had some coupons left. i went to ask him if i could borrow (i guess "have...") one, but the lady next to him (who also was having coupon issues) had already taken the one i needed. i thought, "no biggie, i'll pay the extra $3 bucks." she's like, "hey let's split it!" i'm like, "no, really, it's cool." i probably said that 20 times, but she just wouldn't hear of it. she gave me $1.50 and said, "there! now we both benefit from the coupon!" 

i left thinking, "wow. WOW. i love people like you." i know, it's only $1.50, but it made me think, "i need to be like that." i probably would have just done nothing or maybe i would have given her the coupon, i don't know. either way, melissa with the broken printer who split a coupon with me: you made my day.

day 334

i have a problem. i like food more than i like exercise. this could become a very bad situation for me. not only do i like food (well, "love" is a more accurate word), but i like GOOD food. i'm talking creamy, flavourful, spicy, delectable food. although i am in no way professing to be a good cook by any standard, i do try and i am getting better. tonight i made some FABULOUS and super easy shrimp. many thanks to the lovely beth who gave me the recipe, and even more thanks to my friend miss emily gibson for giving beth the recipe. i'm including it for those of you who like easy, REALLY GOOD, recipes for dinner when you realize dinner is in 15 minutes and you haven't made anything...

2 lbs large shrimp

1/2 c. EVOO

2 tsp. chopped garlic

2 TB fresh parsley (if you don't have fresh, dried worked fine for me)

1/8 tsp. red pepper flakes

1/2 tsp. crushed oregano

2 TB bread crumbs 

salt & pepper

1. preaheat broiler to high

2. split shrimp down back side and de-vein. rinse. dry. leave tail. 

3. put shrimp in bowl with ingredients

4. line baking dish with foil

5. broil shrimp 3-4 inches from heat for 5-6 minutes. 

6. baste shrimp with oil mixture in dish. 

it tastes FABULOUS! i've made it with the smaller frozen shrimp i get from costco and it tastes almost as good as the big fat juicy shrimp, so if that's all you have on hand, it works great. 

p.s. how was everyone else's 4th of july celebration? i took exactly ZERO pictures of my weekend in tahoe, so i'm going to wait until tomorrow to post how my celebration went after i swipe some pics from my sister-in-law...