Corwin Andrew Blodgett Harper

9 pounds 3 ounces of cuteness.

I’m an Aunt!

My brother and sister-in-law had their first baby today! I’m very excited for them and our family, I can’t wait to meet the little fellow. Hopefully I’ll have more soon, I’ll keep you posted.

Well I’m back

Back to the land of SUVs and overly processed foods, yum. Sean picked me up at the airport on Saturday and I managed to stay up untill 10pm. I was slightly delusional towards the end of the night, but it was a good step in the direction of getting over my jet lag. I kind of back tracked a little last night by going to bed at 9 and waking at 4, then 5, then finaly getting up at 6. Ohwell, maybe I can train myself to become an early riser. It could come in handy.
I’m heading back to Houston on Wednesday and staying for the weekend, which I’m excited about. I begin my real student teaching next Monday, so I am trying to enjoy this one week of free time. I am missing my classroom and London a bit today though. I enjoy the freedom that the city brings of being able to walk almost anywhere. I walked to the post office and the drug store today but it wasn’t the same. I felt like the only one walking to get somewhere and not just for exercise. Ohwell.


Look, Sean brought me flowers! The whole time I was in London I was tempted to buy my self some since there are flower booths every few blocks.

Goodnight London

Today was my last day at my school in London and tomorrow morning I fly back to Fort Worth. I’ve had such a wonderful time and it has gone by so quickly. The children kept begging me to stay, and one even burst into tears when we were saying our goodbyes, which I felt awful about. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep in contact with them and maybe even go back to St. Vincent de Paul some time. Well I would like to write more, and I have a ton of pictures I took today. However, I am getting up at 5 am so I can get to the airport in the morning so it will have to wait. Something to look forward too!

I haven’t fallen in a gap, don’t worry

It’s been a few days I know. Monday Kelli, Krystina, Caitlin and I went back to Chinatown for dinner. Since Sunday is Chinese New Year, the streets were decorated with lanterns and other fun decorations. Tuesday was Kelli’s last night before she went back to Zurich so we took her to Covent Garden for a traditional English dinner. We ended up choosing Porters, and it was a very good choice with lots of traditional English pies. I had Sheppard’s Pie and an apple-blackberry crumble for dessert. Yumm!
Today I ventured out on my own after school. I started out by going to Liberty. It was pretty much amazing. They have gorgeous fabrics, along with lots of other beautiful things to wear and for the home. I couldn’t justify buying any fabric with the cheapest I found being 20 pounds a meter, or about 40 dollars. I did buy some really nice cards that I might post later. I then headed to Soho to look at other fabric and notion stores. At Cloth House I got some nice vintage ribbon. After that I just wondered around a bit down Charring Cross to look at some book stores and then through Covent Garden one more time for fun. Tomorrow Krystina’s mom will be coming in and we have reservations to eat at Bombay Brassiere. I’m excited for some good Indian food.
Today I arrived at school and my teacher, the assistant and I were all wearing the same shade of red. The kids had a lot of fun passing out Valentines, but they didn’t bring any sweets with them. I brought some Cadbury chocolates for the staff room, which everyone seemed to like. So Happy Valentines Day everyone!

Ermi, Me and Miss Collett taken by one of the students.

Hampton Court Palace

We took the train out to Hampton Court Palace today. Krystina and Kelli hadn’t been there before, and for some reason I really like to go. It’s fun to walk through all of the rooms with the old furniture and paintings. Even though it was drizzly this morning, it turned out to be a beautiful, mild day. We got back in time for me to do some shopping on Kings Road this afternoon so I could buy a few gifts for people. Tonight we are going back to My Old Dutch, the pancake restaurant. Krystina and I are very exctied.



And don’t forget to look at my Travel Site. I just updated it with pictures from Hampton Court.

The Weekend

Lets see, what have I been up to. Friday after school we went to Cecil Court to look for old books. We found lots of books, but I couldn’t decide what to buy, so I didn’t get anything. I’ll have to come back again when I’m in a more decisive mood. After we walked around that area a bit we went to the National Potrait Gallery, since it is open late on Friday. I walked around the photographic portrait winners for 2007 exhibit. I think I should work on an entry for next year, just for fun. After that we went to eat at the Texas Embassy, not so good tex-mex but fun none the less.
Today a fellow TCU student teacher came in from Zurich for a short visit during her school’s mid term brake. We went to Portobello Road Market to start off our day. There is so much to look at. One of these days I am going to get an antique camera, but today I only got a few trinkets. After that we went to St. Pauls on the other side of town, then we walked to the Tower of London. We didn’t go into either because we had seen them before, but we did go into the Tower Bridge which was alot of fun.

Tomorrow I’m going to family mass at Westminster Cathedral to see the students from the school sing, then we are going to Hampton Court Palace. Oh and I found my favorite cookies at the grocery store today, they have been eluding me the whole time I’ve been here. Yay for Nice cookies, so yummy!

Powdered sugar fell from the sky

I woke up this morning and looked out my window to find this!

Big fat snow flakes fell all morning, which were beautiful, but messy to slush around in. I was amazed at how much of it actually stuck for part of the morning. My teacher told me it rarely snows in central London because of the heat the city produces. At the school the upper level yard had a thin layer when I arrived, and by play time it was about an inch deep. They let the kids go out, and they all came back in soaked, but happy.

By lunch the snow had stopped though, and was almost all gone by dinner. Krystina, Staci, and I went to see Wicked tonight, which was a lot of fun. I might even like it better then the Wizard of Oz, maybe. Well, I’m up past my bedtime though, so I better get to bed.

Brr…It might snow tomorrow!

It’s been very cold since Sunday night, which has deterred Krystina and I from being very adventurous. We usually just want to sit in our room were it’s nice and cozy. On Monday we did manage to venture from Sloan Square to our dorm along Kings Road for a little window shopping. There is a wonderful art store I found that I will have to go back to, as well as a nice paper store with the biggest selection of mole skin journals I have ever seen. On Tuesday, we went to Harrids to wander around. The toy section was good, but not as great as I had remembered it. However, I was much younger last time I was there, which might have something to do with it. My favorite part by far are the all of the edwardian food halls. We ate dinner at the deli bar and then had gelato in the desserts room, both were delicious. I also bought Turkish Delight in a variety of flavors for those of you who wish to partake.
Tonight we walked a little over a block from our place to the Albert Bridge and then Battersea Park. The bridge is lit up very nice at night and the houses in Chelsea along the river are quite picturesque. Our walk didn’t last to long though because we both began to loosing feeling in our faces because of the cold. This might sound weird, but whenever I walk in the neighborhoods of Chelsea at night I frequently find myself peering into the houses front rooms. It’s nice to see families eating together, old men reading in thier studies and beautiful paintings hanging in guild frames over mantels.

Super Tourists!

Today being the Lord’s day, Krystina and I ventured down to Metropolitan Tabernacle, once home to Spurgeon, for Church. Unfortunately, Peter Masters was sick this morning so I didn’t get to here him preach, but the service was still very good. I really liked the Hymns. After that adventure, Krystina and I had lunch then did the touristy stuff. We road the London Eye, saw Big Ben and Parliament, St. James Park and Buckingham Palace. It was fun, even though my fingers almost fell off from frostbite. I don’t think I will ever forget my gloves in my room again. For dinner we ate at Old Dutch House, across the street from our dorm. It was soo good. They primarly serve large thin pancakes with almost anything you want on/in them ranging from savory to sweet. I had apples and sweet bacon on mine. We were planning on going to Hamstead Heath this afternoon, but the main tube line going that direction was closed for service, so hopefully we can go next weekend. Check out my new photo album here, Travel Page. I will run out of space on wordpress if I keep posting a ton of photos, so I will post a few as teasers then put the rest in my new photo albums.