This morning, I stepped on the scale and realized that I finally hit my goal of 20 pounds lost. It is a great feeling! I want to continue to eat healthy and lose weight. I feel so much better about myself than I did six months ago, and I love it. :)
In other news, school for the kiddos starts this week. It will definitely be interesting with our new kinders coming from the CDC, but I think a lot of our stress from summer will be gone. Thank God!
Thursday night, my friend Tessa and I hit up karaoke, along with a bunch of random friends of both of ours.
Group shot.
We started sweating before we even started drinking or dancing!
Intoxicated Cupid Shuffle.
Friday was a family day, so of course I had to work. But I only had to work 6-9 am, and in the infant room at the CDC. It could have been hellacious, but it ended up being pretty chill. :)
Yesterday Tessa and I went shopping. I spent entirely wayy too much money, but it was fun anyway. I spent most of my money at H&M, and ended up with a new dress, two tanks, and a travel purse. Lots of laughs accompanied the money-spenders.
I don't have much else to say today. Hope everyone has a great week. Ciao ciao!
I started a new round of classes this week. The good news is, about the time I'm taking finals for them, Arron should be coming home! The bad news is, I completely overloaded myself since I'm aiming to graduate next summer. I'm taking three classes, all upper-level, and they're giving me a headache every time I sit down to do homework. That's probably because I can't sit and read a computer screen for that long. Blah!
Tomorrow is the last official day of summer for the kiddos at AYP. :) And it's not even a real day of summer for me anyway, because I'm going on the last field trip of the summer--AquaSplash! By far, my favorite field trip. One last chance to get my tan nice and golden before summer ends and school starts up on Monday. Friday is a base-wide family day, which means we're open by reservation only (for those parents who have a letter from their higher-ups saying they have to work). I volunteered to work the morning shift, but I won't know until tomorrow if I actually have to work or not.
Monday morning we'll get our fresh batch of new kinders from the CDC. I'll definitely take any prayers of patience that anyone wants to offer up...
Anyway, that's about all for now. Just chuggin' along with schoolwork!
All I can say about London was wow. It was so beautiful and amazing--I think it ties with Roma for my favorite European city! Gorgeous, and the Brad Paisley concert wasn't too bad either. ;)
Tuesday morning, Katie and I got to the airport and went our separate ways--she had to book a different flight to London. After a very long layover in Munich, along with almost missing my flight because they decided to change the gate on me at the last minute, I made it to London City Airport. It's much smaller than Heathrow, and much easier to navigate. I was so thankful that there was no language barrier, because I couldn't figure out the overground subway system that connected up with the tube, London's subway system. A nice middle-aged man pointed me on my way and I was so happy! On the subway ride to the tube, we passed by the O2 arena where Brad would be playing Wednesday night. I fell in love!
A camel in the Munich airport outside the "Camel Smoking Zone."
Wednesday Katie and I woke up and began our tour of London. We were surprised how ingrained into our brains it is to look left while crossing the street. Thank God the British helped us out:
We first took the tube to the Westminster Abbey. Across the Thames River was the London eye:
And of course, the ever-popular Mr. Big Ben.
We wandered around the Abbey and got a couple good photo ops.
Of course, I had to get a sign of the Union Jack flying high.
Then, on our way to Buckingham Palace, we walked through St. James' Park. It was a perfect day, about 70 degrees F, and we found ourselves wishing we could have a picnic!
We saw several of these as we were walking, a sign for Princess Di's memorial walk.
Loving the Union Jack flags along the road. ♥
St. James Park, again.
Buckingham Palace and their gorgeous flowers.
I could definitely live here!
This is how we do it in London. :)
Westminster Abbey and Big Ben.
From across the Thames.
London Tower.
Tower Bridge.
Tower Bridge, again.
The pub where we ate lunch.
Pretty flowers were our scenery for our lunch! I had fish and chips.
The pub came complete with a noose over the bar.
After lunch, we went to see a Broadway musical, Wicked. It blew me out of the water! I had never seen a Broadway show before and I was in love.
Right after the show, we jumped on the tube and went to the O2. Isn't it gorgeous!?
What greeted us right inside the O2.
We had plenty of time before the show started, so we stopped into TGI Friday's and got drinks. We decided to each get a shot and a drink (you only live once!), so Katie decided on shots of Southern Comfort and lime, and we each got drinks. Unfortunately, the bartender thought we wanted Southern Comfort and lime drinks, so we ended up with no shots and two drinks each. Ha!
Drinks & tickets at TGI Friday's.
Another shot. Amazing!
Darius Rucker was Brad's opening act. So good!
No need to zoom in.
Yep--we were this close!
Katie and me.
Belting it out!
As I've said before, and you can see from the shots of Darius Rucker, we were CLOSE! When we went to take our seats, I knew we were in the center and 5th row, but I didn't know exactly where we'd be sitting. We ended up right next to the catwalk--as in, if either Darius or Brad had reached down, I would have been able to touch them. *sigh*
Brad put on an amazing show, as always.
Mud on the Tires.
Welcome to the Future. No, this is not zoomed in at all. Wow!!
We got some amazing views from behind too.
Celebrity.
This is Country Music.
"If there's anyone who still has pride in the memory of those that died defending your red, white and blue... This is country music, and we do."
Remembering Norway's fallen.
I swear he had just looked at me and my camera, and then back down at his guitar.
Probably my favorite shot from the night.♥
In the middle of "I'm Still a Guy," Brad started talking in a British accent. I caught the last bit of it, plus the last verse of the song. At the end of the song, as he was walking back down the catwalk, he tossed his guitar pick to me. :D
Welcome to the Future.
Water.
For the last couple songs, Brad brought out Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood to accompany him. Too cool!
It's never a Brad Paisley concert without "Alcohol."
Brad and Darius singing "Alcohol."
The concert was just overwhelmingly amazing. Afterward, we took a boat ride down the Thames that was supposed to have awesome views of London. It didn't disappoint!
Walking down to the pier.
The O2 at night.
Windswept hair, ha. Can it get any better than this?
Tower Bridge by night.
London Bridge!
Labeled so everyone knows.
London Eye, Big Ben, and Westminster.
Big Ben and Westminster at night, with a bridge slightly in the way.
Our night was complete, and completely amazing. I was blown away by London. The next morning, I had to get up at 5:45 to catch the tube to the airport again. I got one quick shot of the tube stop nearest our hotel, Grand Portland Street.
I made it home around 8 pm, exhausted but completely relaxed. My London getaway was exactly the therapy I needed. I will be going back soon!!
