Guys.. it’s official: Kate’s preggers again!!  Another royal munchkin is on its way.  I’m camping outside Kensington until a babysitter is formally chosen.

Ok, so the last time I posted it was Saturday afternoon so I’ll give you a run-down of the rest of my first weekend.  Saturday night we went to Trapeze Bar.  Rumor had it there would be people hanging from trapeze on the ceiling.  I guess that was a little too aggressive… there were trapeze decorations hanging from the ceiling though.  Pretty cool place, they had circus themed drinks and décor.  Bar upstairs, club(ish) downstairs - reminded me of the Harp.  The good news about living alone is that you don’t have any junk food hanging around for late night gluttony episodes.  A few dried figs had to do the trick.

Sunday I got to sleep in a little before I tackled my next adventure – laundry.  The little bugger located in my kitchen was quite confusing.  It’s a two-in-one so I had to figure out how to wash my lulu’s without it immediately going into dryer mode.  You know you can’t be tossing your lulu wunder unders in the dryer.  That took up a few hours while I made breakfast, worked out, and went for another exploration run.  This time I found the actual Hyde Park.. I think I was running through Kensington Gardens the first time.  Hyde Park was absolutely gorgeous.  Fountains, winding dirt roads in between the greenery, and some Brits on horseback.  We are definitely not in Kansas anymore.  In the heart of Hyde there is a giant pond, filled with paired up swans and other little critters.  The benches that overlooked the water and bridges in the distance were packed.  You can even rent paddle boats!  Now that I think of it… that’s just the Boston Public Gardens, isn’t it?

Got back from the run, finished up laundry, dishes, grocery shopping, and all that boring mom stuff, and went out for a latte and a light read over by Kensington.  Sunny and 70, it was such a beautiful day I couldn’t be inside.  After a couple hours I got ready and headed over to JetLag Bar near Regents Park with Eric, (my mom’s friend’s son), to watch the Pats.  The area was a little sketch but we stepped in anyway.  The bar tender took one look at us, both sporting TB12 jerseys, and said….. 'ya, you need to go downstairs'.  Crossing our fingers we weren’t about to be tarred and feathered, we walked down the narrow stairway and walked into…. The Ultimate Man Cave.  The place was sick… it was all lit up, all kinds of fancy bar decorations, leather couches, full bar, and a giant movie theatre screen playing the game.  Of course, the man cave was festooned with Americans, so we made friends quickly.  I’m going to end on that positive note instead of talking about the game….

#ihatemondays (?)

Actually, this time I didn’t.  Today was my first official Monday working in London.  Didn’t hate it.  Another gorgeous day, lots to do, and another welcome lunch for a new hire.  Life was good.  I haven’t mentioned this before but I’ve made a new golden rule for myself while I’m here: Try, see, or do something new every single day – food, drink, literature, route, landmark, whatever.  I’ve been on a good stint with that and I happen to think it's a great rule.  I’ve also tried reading the papers every day and tuning into British TV - news or junk - regularly.  Top Gear usually makes a daily appearance in the 200 Sloane flat.  So, on that note, I decided that after work I would go exploring.

I saw that there was a free outside exhibition over at the Tate Modern so I went to check that out.  A small adventure turned into something more of a marathon.  I got a little lost-on-purpose and ended up walking miles up and down the Thames, finding gem after gem.  I saw the Tate, walked across the Millennium bridge toward St. Paul’s Cathedral, and took the river walkway to the London Bridge, Tower of London, and Tower Bridge.  The Tower of London is currently swept with a bright red poppy display to commemorate the first World War.  I decided that I think the poppies are fake because they looked too perfect, but it looks amazing.  I just stood there for a  few minutes staring.  I then strolled up onto the Tower Bridge and watched the sunset.  Quite a romantic evening I had with me, myself, and I.

After getting lost for another hour or so, I found a tube station and got my way back to Knightsbridge so I could finally get something in muh bellayy.