to love another person is to see the face of God

So the last couple of days: whaaaat? They have been crazy. Today was incredible incredible incredible.
here are some pictures:

Mom, this is for you! It's not Holland, but it's beautiful beautiful florals.

So this is a sphynx. It is right next to the 60 foot tall 'Cleopatra's Needle' that was  a gift to england from Mohammed Ali [not that one]. But... there is scaffolding around like 30% of the entire city and the needle happened to be included in that percent. The sphynx was way cooler though, right?

on one of our walks last night we walked down Drury Lane! ... the muffin man had apparently vacated the premises or already gone home for the night so let me just say that it was pretty ... lame... ish.

These are some early weapons found in the Museum of London. The whole time I was there, I thought of you, Jony. I took a thousand pictures for you but they are unfortunately not as cool. You're just going to have to come and see it for yourself, I guess.

From there we walked just down the street to the Cathedral of St. Paul. (as in "feed the birds, tuppence a bag....") and I have awesome pictures from all over the place. see up at the tippy top just below that wonky cross? That is where I was. Yeah. Best view ever. These next pictures are from the top below the top. still cool, just 152 stairs lower.

Okay, now get ready for it. The BEST part of the day ... ready???

 AHHHH!!!!! So good. So, so, SO good. I was giddy. Eponine (Brit's dream role) and Jean Val Jean were phenom. seriously. I leaked a tear... kind of. It was impressive. I can't describe it well enough. 27.50 pounds WELL SPENT.

Carly, Me, and Whitney at Les Mis. I just love these two already.

So that's all i'm going to write tonight. Tomorrow is homework day. fuuuuuun. But with these characters, I'm sure it will be.
See you soon.
love, from London

This is what I watched on the plane from Minneapolis to Heathrow.
HOW. PERFECT. Seriously, even if I wasn't on my way to England, I would have loved it. But I was on my way to the UK so I really really really loved it. In fact, I almost cried. I'm buying it when I get home. Definitely.

The plane ride. Let me just tell you that I sat by a 60-year-old man, Paul, who within in the first ten minutes told me that he was going to London to propose to his special lady. Obviously I had the best ride ever. Seriously, I loved Paul.

like london, london, london

I am officially too tired to post much tonight, but I'll put a few pictures up from the day and explain more about them tomorrow.

** so... I fro-ed my hair. on accident. basically i looked like a queen all day long yesterday. but it was okay, because i am in England and I hear they really like queens over here....

We took the TUBE from the airport. How bold are we?

this, plus me, was our DL 40 group. We had a party. Until we got out of the underground and could not find the Center. Totally in the wrong direction, without street signs, and no body knew where "Palace Court" was. Seriously, people, don't you LIVE here?? shouldn't you KNOW what the streets in the one mile radius around you are? But don't worry, we found it. After a prayer. Seriously, we pulled over (we had a caravan of 6.5 50+ lbs suitcases) and said a prayer. Within 3 minutes, bada-bing!

This is the view from the TUBE. How quaint is my new home??

This is a river, from the tube. Notice the sign - they have the greatest signs here. The little stick figures are so much more animated here. It's great. 

This is the view I see when I turn around and look out my window. Rad. 

This is the view from our back patio thing. I am in love with my neighborhood. 

Who is in this picture... Jenny is first and foremost, and Whitney. Back there there is Jared, Mark, Charlie, Stephen, and I think you can see Kate too. There were more of us - we went to see Big Ben. ....

This seriously was so cool. I went cause I was trying to NOT go to sleep and wasn't too excited about the actual site. But, guys, BIG BEN IS WICKED COOL.  My flash made it super dark, but it was light and beautiful. And at nine-o'clock (the same time that Peter and Wendy take off from the clock, I am pretty sure) we were the bridge right next to it looking at the Eye of London (dark picture below, with Jenny again {hey girl!} as well as Ryan and Jared) while it chimed. I already love London. I will blog later about the plane ride maybe cause that was a blast. Gotta go to a meeting now. Hasta luego.

love, from London

tomorrow

Tomorrow, I will fly to Minneapolis at 5:15 p.m. 
Tomorrow, I will also fly from Minneapolis to LONDON, England, United Kingdom, Europe at 9:something p.m... !!


I might be excited, can you tell?
There are people from class on my flight - huzzah - and I will be taking niquil because this LOVELY cold has decided to park on my face. Just in time. awesome. 


So I am now Jillibean [in london town] in honor of the great Buble. 


Let me just say that I have the world's BEST family and the world's FINEST friends. And I will miss you all. 
... but I am SO beyond excited. Next time, I might be in London Town. Yipi-ki-yay.

whoa oh

FREEDOM!!
is mine. and i know how i feel
it's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life


and i'm feelin' 
good.


in other words- done with finals!! yeah yeah!

grab your coat and snatch your hat

yeah. how beautiful are the days recently? i am so glad finals are being held during a time where the sun in shinin'.
speaking of, 1 down, 3 to go.

tax day!

Wow. This is a beautiful day! It's 70 degrees outside - nuts! It is my last reading day and I am going to spend the afternoon in the sunshine doing reading and etc. then i will get my hair cut (woo!!) and then I will come back and study some more. And maybe I will update the breakfast blog.
Hey, guess what? I'm really happy.

yo

stuff:

(the only picture I took of Michael. He was just too good, I had to film it all)

love. nothin' but. 

Holi Festival.... plus some model shots. whatever. i looked rad.

finals are upon us. yikes. cross your fingers and pray.... seriously. 

Two weeks.... Yeah. Nuts-o.  [actual building in which I will be living. actually. awesome, no?]


Also....

It's my 20th birthday manana! I will never be a teenager again... weird. cool. just crazy. 

but it is not this day

there might be a day when i will cry my eyes out all day


there might be a day when i will draw my blinds and ignore the sunshine


there might be a day when i will eat a pint of ice-cream by myself


there might be a day when i will stay in bed until 3 p.m. listening to sad music

there might be a day when i will pull out "p.s. i love you" and "the notebook"  and "becoming jane" and watch them 'til my eyes are swollen


there might be a day when i am crushed


......


but that day is not today. definitely not.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ltAGuuru7Q

p.s. i really am serious. this is how i feel today. :]

oh my heavens

AH! What is this, you ask? This is a lemon crumb cake. Oh. My. M. [that was for you Kimmy Lane]
Bless your heart, Pioneer Woman.

i know, i know

I need to to a major update post. But this is not going to be it. I am sitting in the library. I have been here for 4 hours. And I love it. Seriously. I am pretty happy. It's just a little rainy, dark, and cold. So I am steeling myself to walk home whilst writing paper snippets and watching one tree hill - season 1. it's... interesting. but i love nathan. what can i say? I'm a sucker for basketball players who are not named chad michael murray. yeah. 

here is where i am:

okay, i didn't actually take this. and it is no way that light outside. but i am looking down a row that looks remarkably similar, except i'm at the window end. so happy studying, happy finals, happy april. it's gonna be a killer-great month. 

p.s. update soon. like asap. promise. cross my heart and hope to die.