i'm only writing this post because we have a 1000 page views now.

and all of us feel a little something like this:

except with a whole lot of dancing.

don't worry-update coming soon.

for ze muzzer

well, dear goodness.

eet haz been tuu long since i haz posteed on ere and mi muzzer *throat nosie* haz noteeced.

(I think that was a rather successful mix of accents, mostly french).
 Technically, I have all sorts to blog about...Germany, Michael being here, Christmas-time, going to France tomorrow,  grandparents being here.... But I just can't find it in me to make a post that sounds like a family post.  So, sometime after we get back from France (or during), I will make a wonderfully informative post that doesn't put you to sleep and includes lots of pictures.

In the meantime, if you're just absolutely dyyyyinnngg to know what's going on, visit these three blogs.  They're side blogs for the three sisters in the lohnerlicious familia and many times, are unrelated to things that are actually happening in real life.  But at least you'll get a sense of what's going on in our heads.

my(corinne's)blog

leetleseester'sblog(chandler)

ashlie's

a trip home

I cannot even tell you how stinking excited I am that Mom decided to post about France and Italy because now,  I can post about Texas.  Not that I was more excited to be in Texas than France and Italy.  That's certainly not what I'm trying to say....

Moving forward.  We got there late on Wednesday night two weeks ago.  Immediately, we took a side trip to Kingcaids (BEST HAMBURGER PLACE IN TEXAS).  Not a single person in this family has had a nice, greasy, half-fast-food hamburger or delicious french fries or a soda with free refills in three and a half months.  It was SO GOOD!  We can pretend like we're adapting to the London ways and all...but really? Let's face it, I'm American.
Then, we went inside to our house.  I swear, that place has either expanded or I've shrunk because it feels HUGE compared to our house in London.  I could even go upstairs and not hear people talking downstairs.  It felt so nice.
The next order of business was, of course, to go to Target.  We got loads of American crap food (i.e. goldfish, chips, salsa, fruit by the foots, lucky charms), and we also managed to do some clothes shopping.  By then, we've been awake for over 24 hours and Mom said that she was "going to fall over dead."  So we headed back to aforementioned mansion.  BUT WAIT!  Mom saw something of mass importance and we made an emergency stop despite our extreme fatigue. It looked a little something like this....a little.

In the next couple of days, The Pregnant Lady arrived (refer to David if confused as to who this is) as well as BOTH big brahs.  And a happy reunion ensued!

tiny dancer? I THINK SO.

 

Note: This photo may or may not be allowed on this site by subject.  He only said no facebook so let's all band together and NOT TELL HIM IT'S HERE.

We did lots and lots and lots of shopping and eating.  Then, our fake Thanksgiving (Sunday) rolled around in which we saw Matt, Liz, Caleb, Will, Jameson, Brooks, and unnamed male fetus.  It was so so so so happy.  We got to prance around with this little fellow--all of us in our underwear.  Or maybe just him.

 more dancing pregnant photos.

And when REAL Thanksgiving rolled around, we took pictures with crocheted mustaches! (courtesy of Ashlie).

Meanwhile, Chandler and I had a friends reunion spectacular. 

And it's true, we're back in London.  Tiny roads, organic food, and rain.  Not sure how
I feel about that.

love,
a texan.

Grandma and grandpa Pearson spent a few glorious days with us in London.  It was really good therapy for us!  We really needed to give them hugs and see their faces.  We had a great time showing them a bit of our lives here:  Covent Garden, Pineapple, Richmond Park and Santa's reindeer.

Corinne giving grandpa kisses...a rare occasion!

Richmond Park

We also went to Blenheim Palace, which is the birth place of Winston Churchill and right up grandpa's alley.  He spent some serious time pouring over Churchill's history.  The girls, grandma and I loved the palace (gorgeous), the gardens (immaculate) and Winston Churchill's velour siren suit and matching slippers!  Nice!  We also drove through a bit of the Cotswolds and Oxford.

Paris is one of the most unbelievable places!  It is so elegant and gorgeous!  Wish we could've stayed indefinitely.

Places we visited:

The Eiffel Tower--all the way to the top
Notre Dame--saw part of a Sunday service and Quasimodo's bell :)
Saint-Chappelle--went to Vivaldi's Four Seasons concert here, absolutely fabulous!
The Louvre'-- FIVE glorious hours of awesomeness
Musee d'Orsay--one of the most incredible collections of impressionistic art ever!
Monmart
Pantheon
Hotel Des Invalides
The Pompidou
Arc de Triomphe
Champs Elysees
Jardin des Tuileries
and the list goes on....

We left Paris with only a small token from Notre Dame in our pockets, but we saw as much as we could possibly see in four days!  Brilliant!

Italy and beyond!

Five days in Italy for my birthday?  Amazing!  Mike definitely wins "best husband" award for taking us to the Amalfi coast for the weekend!  We stayed in Sorrento, which was a perfect place with wonderful little streets full of shops selling leather, inlaid wood (all of the furniture in our hotel room was inlaid wood), and anything lemon--candy, candles, soaps and they are famous for their lemoncello, a lemon flavored liquor.  In the center of the city there is a lemon orchard.  And there are tons of lemon orchards in the surrounding countryside.  We saw lemons as big as canteloupes!

We also visited Capri, Ravello, Amalfi, and Positano.  Capri island--a small island about a 20 minute boat ride away.  Gorgeous, clean, and full of designer shops.  Ravello is a charming city high up on the mountainside known for being a city of music and ceramiche'-handmade ceramics.  We ordered hot chocolate in the square (because we were freezing to death), which was like drinking liquid chocolate.   Divine!   Our driver, who was born in and lived in Amalfi, told us he had to wait TWO years to be married in the cathedral.

My personal favorite was Positano, a gorgeous little city with colorfully painted homes and cathedrals that literally climb up the mountainside.  There was a wedding at the main cathedral in the center of the city as well.

paradise!

Positano is a gorgeous little city that has colorfully painted homes and buildings that literally climb up the mountainside.  It's unbelievable how people were able to build these cities and streets into an extremely steep slope.  There was a pretty good beach there where we watched a group of tanned men (and two adorable little boys) set up a dock by pushing pieces of the dock across two wooden boards, which had to be moved over and over again to get everything down to the ocean.  It was mind boggling how long it took, how many men, and how "old school".  They could've done it in a few minutes with the proper machinery!  There were people setting up for an Italian wedding at the local cathedral.  As we admired the paintings and tombs, a little man was putting together flower arrangements around the church.  Positano was in the movie "Under the Tuscan Sun", and for good reason.  It is paradise!  And one of my favorites.

parmigiano reggiano...divine

Amalfi was the last little city we visited.  The city consists of one square and one main street, with a zillion little alleyways that twist up and around in mazes, hidden behind the stores and restaurants of the main street.  The cathedral is really pretty--there was a wedding here too.  There are steep steps that lead to the main doors of the cathedral---and  flower petals were sprinkled all the way up the steps.   Our driver, who was born in and lived in Amalfi, told us he had to wait TWO years to be married in the cathedral.  Even though it is tiny, Amalfi is my other favorite of the area.  We found the best gelato here!  And the gentelmen serving up the cones were super generous, which made it taste even better!  

We had our fill of gelato and pizza over the weekend--just to make sure we didn't have any regrets!!  After weeks of practicing his driving on the crazy and very crowded streets of London, Mike was amazing on the tiny little jagged streets that literally followed the coast line. We felt like our tires were hanging off the edge of the road as we wove up and down the little streets of the Amalfi coast.  The entire weekend was brilliant!  We had a blast! 

rows and rows of pasta

the hotel key...huge and awesome

i have decided to take initiative...

 ....and copy and paste Chandler's post on her blog.
note: as she said, photos and information on Italy will soon arrive.
note number two: said city in paragraph two is Brighton.

"Since I went on several trips recently and my sister won't write on her blog so I can't just copy and paste what she wrote, I am forced to inform everyone about Italy and such. I honestly didn't take any photos and since I am just feeling way too lazy to go upstairs and get my dad's camera to put all of his pictures on the computer, I will just wait until a later date.

"Two weeks ago on Wednesday we went to a city by the coast of England of which I forgot the name of where it was freezing cold, windy, and rainy. (a very unfortunate combo) We went because dad had a stella and dot event and mom thought it would be fun to go and check out the are. We went for one day (a day that consisted of shopping, going to starbucks, getting our names painted in watercolor by an adorable old man, and checking out their really amazing library, and then thinking about how we should complain to the city of southlake because our library stinks and has more movies than books) and at the end of the day, we got fish and chips, checked out of our hotel, and drove home. This particular drive was really uncomfortable and it started out with me laying down on dad's bag and corinne laying on top of me. Corinne fell asleep and I got a really bad cramp in my neck where her head was and roughly shoved her aside because I was tired and wasn't thinking straight causing my compassion level to be very low. But then when I tried to fall asleep on top of her, I realized that it was much more comfortable than her laying on top of me and tried to move her so she was on top of me again. This was still unsuccessful and I got down from underneath her and decided that maybe the best idea was to just stay awake for the ride. Corinne never once woke up.

"On Friday, dad woke us up at 3 o'clock in the morning and we all left at 3:30 to go to the airport. We got to the car park, took a bus to the airport, checked our bags, got some food, and then took another bus to our plane. In Italy, we stayed at the Almalfi Coast, had gelato every day for both lunch and dinner, and we shopped A LOT. Sunday was mom's birthday and we got her wonderful presents. Corinne and I made a video for her birthday and dressed up.

"I would say it was a very successful and wonderful birthday. And then Monday night we flew home.

"Now I bet you are wondering why in the world I spent more time talking about sleeping in a car than Italy. It is because of the whole picture ordeal. I promise once I stop being lazy I will get my dad's camera and write a long blog full of wonderful pictures.

"And once we got home from Italy on monday, nothing exciting or funny happened.

"you are now up to date."

I have a dream.....

*had

The other night I had this crazy ridiculous dream.  Actually, this one isn't so bad.  Pretty normal comparatively but it's relevant to our family so I'll tell you about it.

Our whole family went to Palo Alto to visit Ashlie because the due date for her tiny dancer to come out had passed by a whole week and we didn't want to miss it--understandably.  When we got there, Ashlie turned off the lights and sat down in a chair that had a spotlight on it. (I think my mind didn't want to try to figure out what Ashlie's new apartment looked like...)  She looked extremely grave.  She told us she had an announcement.  We waited.  And whilst we were waiting, I noticed something odd.  She was wearing Doctor Seuss boxers and a girl's camp T-shirt BUT these items were both Chandler's.  Because she was pregnant this made the shirt more than a little tight and half of her belly.  Only,  the belly didn't look like a pregnant lady's belly.  It looked EXACTLY- MOLE FOR MOLE-like Michael's.  I was confused.  I guess my subconscious tried to explain this discovery by Ashlie saying,  "Family.  I have to admit something.  I'm not actually pregnant.  I've just gained a lot of weight and was embarrassed so I lied." 

UMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM OKAY.  Naturally, following this announcement, panic ensued.  I immediately started sobbing my guts out and Chandler started punching Ashlie's belly (made of fat at this point) without mercy.  Mom started flipping out and repeatedly yelled at Chandler,  "DON'T HURT THE BABY!!"  Then Dad was telling Ashlie that she was grounded from David for an eternity.   I'm not quite sure where David was or whether this would've been news to him or if he was in on the secret.   I woke up.

Upon reflection,  I am pretty darn psyched for this baby!

As for what happened this weekend,  we went to Camden Town and bought some stuff.  Dad made us go off sweets for 5 days of the week and workout 5 days as well.  For a long time.  This really should be easy (the working out part is) but the whole sweet thing is HARD.  One day, I'll be healthy....

i have toy story plasters on my toes.

It's true.  I have toy story band-aids on my toes.  In my opinion,  band-aids sounds infinitely more appealing than plasters....

Today,  I just want to write about a bunch of random stuff like plasters vs. bandaids debate and maybe post Chandler's pj pictures.  BUT, since this is a family blog, and people read it to hear about our happy London experiences,  I will restrain myself.  I really think I ought to get my own blog, but it's too overwhelming to write on TWO DIFFERENT BLOGS.  Seriously.  See Chandler's and Ashlie's blogs for example.

Yesterday, I went to a advanced lyrical jazz class.  And here is the conclusion I've come to:
If you are a dance teacher,  you should be able to dance the dance you're telling your less experienced/ worse students to do.  Unless your old.  Then it's okay.  But please don't tell me to do the impossible in an eight-count. 

Then, we got home and skyped with Michael McKay.  Boy, do I miss that kid.  Since he is not on blogspot,  I'll tell you a little about his life in Utah:
 He started his job yesterday! YAY.  He finally has one!  Also,  he bought two ginormous Gumby and Pokey dog toys and a pack of Gumby characters.  It's his reward for following a certain diet of sorts.  You may laugh (I did), but upon seeing said Gumby characters,  I'm pretty jealous.   Um...that's all I know.

Today is Friday. (just reminding you.)  And there is ALWAYS supposed to be seminary on Friday mornings.  So at 5:15 this morning,  I dragged myself out of my warm, comfy bed into the frigid air to get completely ready for the day.  I looked GREAT.  I woke up Dad and we drove 15 minutes to the church.  BUT, upon our arrival, the gates were closed, the church was dark, there were no cars.  Do you know what a person feels like upon discovering they woke up two hours earlier than they needed to?  BAM. BAM. BAM.  Like that.  (If I had shouted that in your face, it would've had a greater effect.)  I complained very thoroughly to Dad.  But then I decided that the reason I didn't know there was seminary today was probably because I wasn't listening, so I stopped.  And then we got home,  and I put on leggings and a sweatshirt, and got back into bed, and slept for three more hours (HA!) I'm sleeping so much these days,  I should be the pregnant one, not Ashlie.  Though actually,  I don't know if pregnant women sleep more than a normal person.  I guess I just assumed because I certainly will be.  

^that was quite a rambling paragraph....

P.S.  Do you guys know what moniker means? Ashlie did, and it was very impressive. 

One month down

It's hard to believe that we have been in London for an entire month already!

Mike, the girls and I just got back from the land of the Chesire cat.  Yesiree, we sure did.  Fortunately, there was a lot more to it than that.  One of our best discoveries was the Cheshire Ice Cream Farm.  The flavors were fantastic and the ice cream delicious!  It's hard to admit, but it is definitely better than Blue Bell, which is the best ice cream in the country.  Well, that's what their song says, but we're pretty sure it's only sold in Texas.  Cheshire Farm raises their own chickens for the eggs and cows for milking, all to make the tastiest ice cream ever.  Our favorite flavor so far is Banoffi, which stems from a popular english dessert.  A couple of other good ones are sticky toffee pudding (also a popular english dessert) and licorice & black current.  Grandpa Dick would've gone crazy trying out all of the red ones!

  For some reason, we were really popular with the cows!

Beeston Castle--Mike is so gung-ho about these castles that we have become official members of the National Trust.  I know.  Pretty impressive.  The amazing thing about the Brits is that they are undeterred by an sort of weather.  While we were hiking it started raining (shocking).  Mike, the girls and I immediately put up umbrellas and started hoofing it back down the mountain at a quick pace.  As we hustled to safety (which in this case meant the protection of a roof and a dry warm building), we passed all sorts of people just meandering up the slope without a care in the world.

We definitely need to get used to all of the rain! 

Beeston Castle, Cheshire

The city of Chester was fun to explore.  It is famous for it's Roman ruins, which I have to admit were pretty few and far between, and the "Rows", which are charming buildings full of all sorts of fun shops....they are layered and go on forever.  But the city itself was charming and we loved our tiny....and by tiny I mean miniscule...little flat which was smushed between Henry Harbinger's Sandwich shop and Ye Old Custom House Pub!

The best part of our weekend:  CONWY CASTLE, WALES

Absolutely gorgeous, stunning, breathtaking!

BEFORE READING THIS POST: do a little dance of happiness

On this day, the 20th of September, I hereby announce this blog as read by Michael D. Lohner. Marcee P. Lohner and Chandler E. Lohner also have seen fit to post on this blog (Mom has yet to publish). Are you as excited as I am? It took quite a bit of convincing and pleading, ladies and gentlemen, but this blog is henceforth a family effort! Suprised? ME TOO.

So, the downside of all this is that I don't really have anything to add...but I shall do my best to make this interesting for you(:

A couple of random pictures:

there is faaaarrrr too much twilight in this world. but HEY. i might buy these....hahah

 this is amazing. just saying. (you can't really see it, but the action figure on the right is shooting the jacket on the left.)

gotta love instagram.

 does anybody else think this is genius? cause I DO.

 i want that hat....

 maybe i watch pirates too much.

i think ma's gonna post some more pictures of the cool stuff- like castles and villages.  also, the one's where we're smiling.  there was a lot of grumbling involved(:

The green monster made me write this.

Corinne keeps on asking me to write on the blog because she is a lazy bum, and I have decided that no one reads my blog except my friends from school and Ashlie. Because of these two things there is a lot of glory for Corinne going on which is not cool. So my jealousy has overpowered my calm "I don't care" excuse and here I am.

funny-o experienco numero uno: (when in doubt of how to say it in Spanish just put a lot of o's at the end.)-i know you probably think i got that from corinne, but i really just got it from my head (and maybe a little help from ashlie)

I was sitting on the tube quietly and thoughtfully and all of the sudden I tune in to Corinne and Mom arguing. Mom pulls me over to Corinne, and Corinne puts her arms up next to each other and asks me if I  notice anything different about the two of them... I didn't. Then Mom does her "I told you so" and Corinne ignores her. Turns out Corinne had tried to shorten her arm hairs with scissors and accidentally cut them SUPER short. So short, it looked like she just took a razor and shaved one section off. After she told me, I couldn't stop staring and laughing...

funny-o experienco numero dos:

We went to Cheshire, England the other day for a stella & dot thing. At this event we saw them:

Aren't they wonderful? I sure think so. You can probably tell, but the first picture I took very sneakily by acting like I was taking a picture of corinne and really I just zoomed in to take a picture of Mr. crazy hair.

I would like for everyone to know that my posting on this blog will be very limited. Unfortunately Corinne is a little blunt for my taste and says things about what I write that I do not care for. Second- I really don't like having to use correct grammar when I am writing on my blog, which I fell obligated to do on Lohnerlicious because family reads it. Who knows? This might be the only one I ever write.

Enjoy it.

el tubo.

This post is dedicated to experiences on the tube. (A.K.A. subway, underground, etc.) Just in case you have a very limited knowledge of the spanish language, el tubo is not the proper word for tube. Or maybe it is. I'm not quite sure.

1) Two days ago, we rode the tube home from Covent Garden. Actually, we do this every day for dance but two days ago, we rode the tube home from Covent Garden with Dad. First of all, this resulted in a lot of "ARE YOU SURE, HONEY??"s and "YOU'RE TOO NICE MARCEE, YOU JUST GOTTA PUSH YOUR WAY THROUGH PEOPLE!"

Second, when we got on the district line (the one we take to go directly home), no one was talking. No one was even muttering (except Chandler, mom, and I). Before I continue, you have to understand that on the tube, you don't talk to people. You don't smile at people. You don't even look at people! But lo and behold, Dad shouts, "HONEY, WHAT'S THE DISTRICT LINE? I MEAN, WHY IS IT CALLED THAT?" Mom and I made some weak guesses but mostly ignored his unnecessary shouting. But he wasn't about to let it drop. "REALLY, SOMEONE'S GOT TO EXPLAIN TO ME WHY IT'S CALLED THE DISTRICT LINE!"

By now, we're feeling a tad embarrassed (or more). We're surrounded by smart, able, British businessmen and Dad is acting exactly as a typical American would. Finally, a nice man sitting beside me, took pity on our family and explained what the district line was and why it was called so. He did this so fully and so smart-sounding-ly that I decided that he was a nerd. This was proven true by the book in his hand. The title read, "Scientists of the DiscoWorld".

But oh, my friends. The story is not yet over. He proceeded to berate one of the gentlemen across from us for not telling him and laughing his super loud laugh. I think we entertained everyone on the train that night....

2) We're were on our way home from Covent Garden one day and for some reason, it was packed. In case your wondering, in London, people would rather stand absurdly close to you than wait for the next train. Mom was staring nose to nose with some random guy, Chandler was compressed between two men, and I had some super tall guy's knees stabbing me in the legs. NOT FUN. And also, it smelled of that BO aroma we talked about. (We think there was a soccer game...)

FIIINAAALLLLYYY, we got to our stop and we pushed our way out as fast as we possible could. We did a little dance of happiness because we had escaped. We were wrong. EVERYSINGLEPERSONONTHATTRAINFOLLOWEDUSOFF. And then started chanting. I lost my patience. hahaha.

3)Not too long ago, we were on a fairly empty tube. There were scattered empty seats and plenty of space to stand and the whole middle bar wasn't being touched. At one spot, a slightly plump, old man came in. He looked around, took in all the empty seats and space, and stood RIGHT NEXT to mom. I laughed. Then, he lifted his arm up to hold onto the overhead bar. This resulted in an chubby, aged man's armpit in mom's face. I laughed harder. For the remainder of our journey, Mom coughed, covered her nose, and tried to stop her eyes from watering. I laughed even harder.

4)Some people take animals on the tube. And when they're puke-colored cats with orange eyes who look just like they're owners, I feel like kicking them.

Maybe you all have a little better sense of what the tube is like now.

birthday suits

So here's the deal.

At Pineapple Studio of Dance, there is a locker room. Inside that room, there are naked woman. And not just an "I'm changing as fast as I can and I'm too lazy to go to the bathroom" kind of naked. It's an "ooohhhh let me put on lotion and pluck my eyebrows and air dry from the shower" type of naked. And it makes Chandler and I very uncomfortable. I think that one day, it all became a little too much for my dear sister and she came up with the following rhyme. It reads to the tune of Rain, Rain, Go Away.

Naked, naked, go away.
Don't come again another day.
If you do, I swear...
I'LL PULL UP YOUR UNDERWEAR.

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahha.
Now, she just has to work up the courage to sing that to the ladies....

the first few weeks....

O.k.  I am finally biting the bullet and contributing to the blog.  The girls can make fun of me all they want, but I actually have important things to do around here!  I understand that the blog is important.  Our connection to the world.  That's why I'm taking this very seriously and getting involved.  Here are the, as Corinne puts it, pages of stuff I have been writing.....

week one:

Well, we have been in England exactly a week now and we still haven't received our shipment with our clothes and things.  It's a little bit hard to get dressed every morning in a cold climate when all of our clothing is made for Texas heat!  We keep crossing our fingers that everything will come soon.

Our move started off with a bang!  We arrived in London to no shipments, which meant no bedding, clothing, dishes, etc, the ovens didn't work, Mike received a parking ticket (totally undeserved) and I had my wallet stolen--all credit cards, bank cards (US and UK) temple recommend, and drivers license.  After all of that, we sat down to a totally unhealthy fried dinner of fish and chips and just laughed.  There was nothing else we could do.  Mike informed us that no one had died and things could only get better, to which Chandler quipped, "ya never know dad, one of us might get hit by a double-decker bus tomorrow!".  

We took off and spent the weekend in the Cotswolds.  The Cotswolds are gorgeous!  It basically felt like we were frolicking in a fairy land full of old castles, churches and fields dotted with little lambs.  Seriously, Corinne even had a bleating competition with Hercules, a lamb the girls named during our visit.   It was heaven!  We stayed in a little cottage with the name of Wychwood in Bruern Stable Cottages.  I'm wondering why Americans are so lame?  Our homes need names.  I didn't know it could sound so cool to have a name for your house!

This is Hercules

This is Corinne and Chandler at Gloucester Cathedral in the hallway where parts of Harry Potter were filmed.  We all felt the magnitude of this important event. 

One of my favorite moments was when we went to the Bourton-on-the-water miniature village.  There was a fantastic replica of their Cotswold village.  It was amazing!  But as we were walking and admiring the village, we saw a sign that posted, "Don't walk on the grass" (not a small sign, a full-sized one), which we all found extremely funny since everything was tiny.  So Corinne and Chandler pull out their walking fingers and proceed to 'walk' on everything---from the grass to the roof-tops.  Here is a nice photo of Corinne totally breaking their tiny village laws!

But we are now back to London and reality.  We are trying to sign the girls up for school and get into a routine.  Mike got me a car today, but I have come to realize that driving in London will be scary as all get out!  The streets are teeny and there isn't any rhyme or reason to how things are laid out and no one seems to have any problem driving two inches away from another car or parking in a space that only looks big enough for a child's bike.  I'm taking my friend, Tasha Siebach's advice and getting up at 5 am to try it out.  My total experience so far was moving the car to a new parking space and I ended up a block and a half away from our house!  

By the way, our house is great.  The girls were surprised by the size and said that the pictures they had seen of the place were deceiving!  :)  


Week two:
The girls and I are adjusting to life here.  We finally received our shipment last Friday and were able to unpack and start making our house feel like our home.  It's amazing what a few familiar pictures and chotchkis can do for your morale!  It finally seems like it belongs to us.  

There are things I really love about the place...and things that are less than desirable.  Here's some random facts about our life here:

-Our front walk is made up of black and white checked tiles and it leads to a door which has  great stained glass windows.
-We have window boxes on a bunch of our windows--I need to work on those a bit
-We have three floors in our house.  So when I walk from the kitchen to my bedroom I have to go up 37 stairs.  I am going to have a really toned tush when this year's up!
-I don't have a cookie sheet small enough to fit into my teeny ovens
-We have three refrigerators, and still don't have as much space as our fridge at home
-I have to go to three rooms to get ready every morning since there isn't enough closet/drawer space in any given room for our clothes
-Our garden has tomatoes and herbs--love this!
-We have a different set of keys for the front door (which has three locks), the back door (three locks, two keysq), the front shed, the back shed, the back gate, and other random things.  It's almost humorous
-We have to walk 10-15 minutes to get anywhere...the grocery store, the tube station, the bus stop...pretty much anything.  This is probably my biggest challenge right now.  I'm having a hard time getting used to this.  For example:  the girls and I left an hour and a half before their dance class so we would have time to walk to the tube station, take a tube to Earl's Crossing, change tubes and ride to Covent Garden, and then walk to dance.  You have to allow time for traffic, rain and a myriad of things.  People just allow a lot more time to get everywhere.  Mike's office is less than three miles away from our house, but it has taken him an hour to get home because of traffic. Crazy!
-We are enjoying observing our neighbors.  Everyone walks everywhere so you observe a lot.  One neighbor has an awesome VW van that is bright yellow with heart stickers on the sides.
-there are tons of small children on scooters and bikes riding around town.  Sometimes they have little baby dolls in backpacks or on the back of their bikes.  And I adore hearing them talk with an English accent!
-no one, and I mean NO ONE, has convenient stores like the ones in the states.  But I have been able to buy Dr. Pepper zero in bottles at a couple of places.  Dad, I'm sure you feel my pain!
-I'm learning how to drive on the wrong side of the road.  Mike bought me this amazing navigation system which tells me everything to do. She tells me how fast I'm going, if there is a  camera taking pictures of speeding cars, if there is a lot of traffic and I need to take an alternate route, etc.  I couldn't get anywhere without her!  I say "her" because it is the voice of some lady with an English accent.  She and I are becoming quite attached.


I'll tell you more things later.  I'm also totally entertained by all of the names here.  I've started a running list.  Here are a few:

Duke's Head
Slug and lettuce (the girls and I ate lunch here)
Nag's head
The Bitter and Twisted
Porcupine
Goat in Boots
Tooting--we have people in our ward that live here and I chuckle every time I hear it :)
Wagamama
We received a flyer for a restaurant giving out free poppodoms and chutneys (what ARE poppodoms?)
Rocket--some kind of lettuce used on many things

Biggest pain of the week:
Right now I have to go outside every single day and move our car to another neighborhood (between 9:30-10:30am) because we don't have a permit for our street yet. 


Week Three: 
Well, the girls and I had a big break through this week.  In the last 48 hours we have had not one, but TWO people who have stopped us on the street and asked us directions.  What?  We might actually look like we know where we are going now!  


This past weekend we went to The National Gallery twice.  The first time we went with Mike and ran out of time.  Since it is huge and we love love LOVE it, we went back to see more on Monday.  We saw so much good stuff (Boticelli, Michaelangelo, Renior, Rembrandt, Watteau...just to name a few) and it still feels like we've barely scratched the surface, but the cool thing is....we can go back.  

This was a copy of a Van Gogh painting which was outside the museum---it was made out of live plants and was HUGE!

Corinne, Chandler and I head to Covent Garden almost daily to dance at PIneapple Studio.  It's located in a pretty fun and happening location, which is great for me because there is lots to see and do while the girls are dancing.  The other day I tried to take the girls to see some cool sights after dance and it was a bank holiday so many things were shut down.  But alas, the day was not a total loss as we were able to witness this totally cool alien bottle man. 

totally cool alien bottle man and totally cool Lohner girls

My crazy names/words list cont.:

nappys--diapers

plasters--bandaids

boot--trunk of a car

rubbish--garbage (which you probably already know, but we are continually amazed at how many times a day they use this word)

baps--potato rolls or dinner rolls