And the countdown is on!

          Would like to just say that I am jealous of London, Canada for all of the snow they have and here it's still looks like Fall. Temperature wise the only time it goes into the negatives is later in the night, we've been having highs of 10-11 degrees everyday for the past two weeks or so. I did read a news article that said England is suppose to get the worst winter in over 60 years this coming winter but from what a tour guide said to me awhile ago London's temperature won't be as cold as the country side - so out here in Uxbridge we might not even hit the negatives during the day this winter.

Anyways this weekend I went and saw Catching Fire with a friend and then headed to Hyde Park for "Winter Wonderland". Almost half of Hyde Park is set up with food stalls, shops, fair games and carnival rides! It wasn't as busy as it could be, there were still a lot of people there, but it was enjoyable.

      The entire thing was at least 4miles long or so, it was HUGE! Free admission to Winter Wonderland but if you wanted to go on any of the rides you had to buy tickets (£1 per ticket and most rides asked for 3 per person so there your money would add up). There were lots of German Pubs, Mulled Wine stalls, Fish & Chips stalls, Hot Chocolate (with rum) stalls and so much more! If you wanted to feel the Christmas spirit you just had to walk through the gate and you were all set.
Trying to get home afterwards though? CRAZY! We went to the Hyde Park Corner tube station and they had shut the entrance gates until the crowd from below mellowed out....ten minutes later we finally got to go in and they had the tubes labeled wrong. Of course didn't find this out until we were on it and moving so we just had to make 2 transfers instead of one.

Next weekend is going to be a lazy weekend. I'm going to go to White City to Westfield Mall and do some window shopping and see either "The Butler" or "Saving Mr. Banks" (depends on if "The Butler" is still playing there or not). The week after, it'll be December (Holy Moly!), I'm meeting another Canadian Au Pair and her friend for a day out in London and then on the 14th&15th of December I'll be going to Wales/Cardiff to meet up with my friend from Canadian who came back over here for work.

Also 30 Days until Christmas!!!

Light It Up!

Santa's House

Oh yes Christmas is in the air! Lights turning on each weekend and different Christmas events going on in London soon. It's so exciting!

This past weekend was party central at the house. It's my Host Dad's birthday this coming Thursday so we had a party Saturday night for me. Co-workers and his brothers came to the house for food and drinks and an all nighter from what I heard - I went to bed around 1am and they were still all up (thank goodness the kids were in bed though, they'd be exhausted the next day.) We had fireworks and sparklers in the backyard to celebrate.

Giant Elf's walking around the mall.

On Sunday I went to the mall in Uxbridge for free concerts they were putting on throughout the day and then a countdown to turning on the Christmas lights around the mall. Joe McElderry, X Factor winner in 2009, was the main star. He sang "The Climb" and then after much anticipation he turned on the lights. He is also starring in "Cinderella" this Christmas, which the family and I are going to see over the Christmas holidays.

Not much planned for the rest of November, other than seeing Catching Fire & Saving Mr. Banks :). A friend of mine from Canada is suppose to be going to Wales for work in a little bit so I'll be meeting up with her hopefully in December or January.

CHRISTMAS!

          Yes you read that right... Christmas! Well over in London it is anyways. Christmas lights are everywhere, all the shops have there Christmas items out and they are even playing Christmas all over the radio and showing Christmas movies on the TV. Good thing it's my favourite holiday ;)

          Saturday on Regent Street was the annual Christmas lighting ceremony. It was going on throughout the whole day with mini fashion shows and then at around 5pm the concerts started. I briefly saw Leona Lewis, Eliza Dolittle and Baby Spice, also it was on a big screen that I saw them. The place was packed! And apparently you needed to have a VIP wristband to even get into the venue so needless to say my friend and I were with about 200 other people outside the barriers trying to get the best view we could.

          I saw a bit but you couldn't really hear anything so it wasn't really worth the little moss pit that we were in. We eventually moved back a bit on the street so that we could see all the lights and patiently waited for Phil Dunphy (from Modern Family, I know that's not his real name but much easier to picture the character than me saying the actors name and you having to look him up.) Around 7pm they started the count down to turn on the lights, they pressed the button AND.....nothing. No lights and a lot of booing from the audience. They tried it again AND......nothing yet again. About 10 minutes later they tried one more time and finally they lit!

          Fireworks followed the lights turning on and it actually felt like it was Christmas, just needed a cup of hot chocolate in my hands and it would have really felt like it. After the ceremony my friend and I walked around Regent Street, taking pictures of the lights and meeting up with more friends. We then went into Hamley's, a 7 Floor Toy Store! Each floor has it's own theme, toys wise, and there is so much that I want to get that I might as well buy the store and then I could have it all.

          The next couple of weeks are sort of lazy weeks, I don't really have much planned (other than maybe going into London the odd weekend) but I am currently getting my Christmas package ready to send back over to my family. Happy to say that I am finally done my Christmas shopping, just have to send it all over now. There is a new movie coming out each week that I want to see so I think I'll take sometime for myself and go and see them :)  "The Butler" is finally coming to the UK on Friday, next week it's "Catching Fire" and at the end of the month "Saving Mr. Banks" (yes we get it before you "insert evil laugh here").

Merry Christmas from Mike&Sully!

          All is well with me and the family. They just got back last week from their mini holiday and the girls had a lot of fun with rock climbing, swimming and many more activities. Now it's back into school and after school activities routine, which has been going surprisingly well even after a week off. Also mentioning Christmas we will have two new additions to the family by that time, TWO more kittens! I'm going to turn into crazy cat lady and they won't even be my cats haha.

          I hope to try and post at least once a week, unless some really awesome stuff goes on and then there could be more. So hope all is well in Canada, missing my friends and family but am so glad that I am here and experiencing this :) talk to you all later!

Mini Break Part Two

Hampton Court Palace

          Well my week off is coming to an end, which I am sad but also happy about (as I will explain later.) So onto the rest of my week!
         Thursday was Halloween and so instead of sitting on the couch all day watching Halloween movies (I did that that night instead) I went to Hampton Court Palace which is where Henry the VIII lived, as well as some other Kings.

          I just have to say now that it is such a beautiful place! And not just because of the architecture, the paintings and the staircases and just how everything is arranged in Hampton is just breath taking! If I could live there I think I would. It was a cool day, which didn't help with my cold but I pressed on. I'm really glad that I have this membership pass (thank you again Caitlin), now I don't have to worry about seeing everything in one visit, I can go back anytime I like (as long as they are open) and explore more of the things that I didn't see.

Just one of the beautiful ceilings I saw 

They have this exhibit on at the moment all about the Royal Bedchambers of some of the people who lived there, we weren't allowed to take pictures but the beds were just beautiful! I believe it was Queen Anne who had FIVE mattresses for her bed, they were made of feathers and soft wool (and stacked every other). I think it was King George who had a take-away bed that he would bring with him where ever he went, it could be taken part and put into a box about 3 ft wide. But when it was resembled it would be as long as 6ft for a comfortables nights sleep.

Natural History Museum 

         
On Friday I went into London to go to the Natural History Museum, and this day made me decide for the next half term break the girls have (if the family is on vacation I will also go somewhere else other than central London!) Oh my god it was busy, well everyday that I've been into London this week it has, but this was a totally different story! Just trying to walk around the museum and see anything was a struggle, you had kids running around and running into you, parents who were carrying their kids (which is smart for being so busy) but not looking where they are going and hitting you (which was not fine) and then you had the "in a hurry parents and kids" who would run by you and two seconds later run by you again in the opposite direction. 

Thank goodness it is free to get into the museum or I would not have gone that day, I will have to go back again when it is not as crowded to really enjoy myself there. For the weekend I plan on taking it easy, I think this is the first weekend that I have not gone into London or gone somewhere at least one of the days. I have been feeling better so a couple of days of relaxing won't hurt. The family gets back on Monday so it will be go-go-go for me when they get back, which will be nice to get back into routine again.

I have a few little things planned for November, mostly going to the movies and getting my Christmas presents and cards ready, and December will be a busy one with the girls have their break, Christmas, Boxing Day, New Years and all the activities I will be joining in with the family. I hope to from here on out to post at least once a week just to give an update or even twice a week depending on what's going on. I think I'll make my blog postings for Sundays, it'll be a nice wind down from the week and a reflection of what I did the past week. Remember to comment with any recommendations you wish me to go to or any pictures that you want to see of past events or really anything :) Thanks for reading guys!