Baby, it's cold outside

It's been a busy couple weeks! For once I have more fun stuff to share other than what is happening at the local Starbucks.

I'll start with last week first:

Last week started with a girls night out to a special shopping event at Harvey Nichols (www.harveynichols.com). The night started with some dinner and then we headed over to the department store to drink and shop. The store was shut down to the public, and they opened their doors to holders of some magic ticket. Harvey Nichols is akin to Neiman Marcus in the US, so we were there more to peruse and giggle at the 400 pound dresses. The highlights of the night were that every floor had a drink theme (and there are multiple floors to this store)- champagne, wine, cocktails, mulled wine. We all left a little tipsy- I mean, it would have been rude to not try all the different drinks we were being offered! The store also had carolers and a harpist and it set a very festive mood. The night ended in the food hall where we discovered honest to goodness pancake mix and yummy chai tea. All the department stores here have extravagent food halls where you can shop and also eat there. Harrods is another example of the foodhall- sometimes I just go there to wander when I visit Harrods - it is amazing.

Wednesday night the GEP group headed out to visit the Hyde Park Winter Wonderland. http://www.hydeparkwinterwonderland.com/ The night was fun but it did coincide with the freezing front that rolled in. We enjoyed some yummy brauts, desserts, and then when we all could no longer feel our toes or noses, we hightailed it out to the nearest pub for warmth. It showed me there is more than one reason to put a pub on every corner.

Friday night brought JP's holiday party at EY. We were a little hesitant to go. Our past holiday parties have been wrought with alcohol and friends and fun EY drama- so we were looking at a calm night among people we didn't know all dressed in tuxes. It was held at the BAFTA (British Academy for Film and Television Arts) corporate suites http://www.bafta.org/195-piccadilly/. It was fun to get dressed up and go into Piccadilly for the night. I can only compare Piccadilly to Times Square in NYC- just a mad crush of people all hours of the day. Anyways, the party ended up being a lot more fun than we planned for- Jamie and I danced all night with JP's co-workers while JP made fun of people, Matt talked to the Partners, and I argued with the DJ over the appropriate time to take off "It's Raining Men" to play some Justin Timberlake. The end of the night had JP acting as security guard to open the door to revelers on Piccadilly, and then verbally assaulting a coat check clerk for what he thought was the guy calling his scarf "gay." Actually, the man was asking JP if he had a "gray" scarf. You gotta watch the accents.

Saturday we greeted Anneliese and spent the day relaxing and getting her ready for the pub crawl. We also got our TV fixed. We are now official at our flat- a working phone line, TV, and internet- life doesn't really get any better than this!!

On Sunday, Anneliese and I wandered around Oxford and Regent streets- which are the main shopping streets in the city. The streets are all decorated for Christmas and there were more people than there is sidewalk space. It was still fun to walk around. We ended our window shopping with a cider in a nearby pub, where we were accosted by an extremely drunk man who proceeded to talk to us for an hour while we sat there silently hoping we could find an out.

On Monday we went to see JP at his office for an official office tour. It was fun for us recruiters to be on the other side! We also got to eat in the famed EY cafeteria before we headed out to the Tate Modern musuem and then on to Harrods.

Yesterday was a day of markets- we went to Portobello Road in Notting Hill and hung out at the market looking at all the goodies. After that we headed to Covent Garden to see the Christmas market. Last night we took in a play- starring Christian Slater. It was called Swimming with Sharks. http://www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk/shows/display?contentId=95180

We really enjoyed the play. Christian Slater still looks good after all these years!

The rest of the week we'll overlap on guests and have a full house until after the New Year. We are so excited and are planning out fun activities for our next round of guests. Next week we'll see another play, JP will go to his first football match, and we'll be seeing a lot of the traditional sights with Dan who has never visited London.

This will be our first Christmas in colder climates (but no snow, yet) and let me tell you, it does make a difference! Not that I wouldn't kill to be at home in my flip flops and such right now- but getting all bundled up really does make it feel a lot like Christmas!

Until next time- happy shopping!