I love Saturdays!

Last night I went to bed at 9:45 (yup I am that cool on a Friday night!) because I had a headache and was just really really tired. GOing to be early has advantages however because I was wide awake and well rested at 8:15 this morning! So I got up, ate nutella/crackers and headed off to Buckingham Palace. I was a tourist today which was fun, but I wasnt a very good one. My Buckingham Palace experience turned into an epic fail pretty quickly.

I got to Green Park and got off the tube. I walked through the park and found Buckingham (Pretty hard to miss actually) Right when I get to the road people are running towards me... whats going on! Turns out the mounted guard was riding by so that was cool. I got a picture of two! Then I headed for the Queen Victoria Monument to see if that was a good place to see the changing of the guard. (I wasnt planning on going until I saw the mounted guard and it was 10:45. Convinent!)Well the monument was covered in scaffolding. Bummer. (the down side of going places during off-tourist season) I got a good spot on the top steps and waited. At 11:15 I was wondering why the police werent there yet. The crowd was huge and there werent any barricades or mounted police. Hmmm. At 11:30 I was really confused. Last time they had been here by now. Then the Mounted Guard went by.. a total of like 10 horses. Then everyone just stood there. It then hit me that this is October. In October the big parade and changing of the guards is every other day. I pull out my Droid and look it up... yup the changing of the guard is Oct. 28th and Oct. 30th. Woo!! I had stood there for nothing. Oh well. It wasnt that big of a deal. I was frustrated though that I had tried to take a video of the mounted gaurd and thought i was until I realized that I hadnt pushed the button hard enough. The entire thing was kind of a fail.

I then walked down the mall. (not like the one at Chautauqua which actaully isnt even a legit mall, but the one that Will and Kate rode down after the wedding) There wasnt much there but the park was really pretty. I ended up near Big Ben again (its crazy how small downtown London really is) and decided to just call it a day and take the Westminster tube home.

I had realized on the way to the Palace that there was a HUGE Sainsburys at Finchley Road. I could see it from the tube. So I got off there to see if they had a drying rack... the only thing I wanted in life. No... they did not have a drying rack. of course. Its not like they have DRYERS in the country! Why would they have something to hang your clothes on to DRY!I did get a hot water kettle.. on sale for 5 pounds. Its an electric one that boils water in 1 minutes. Perfect for tea! I was just going to get a normal kettle but those start at 7 pounds so I go the cooler one on sale instead!

I then went home, grabbed my compy and headed to the library to post my blog and check emails. After I decided to go back on the bus I took last night to a store that was at a different bus stop. its the TJMaxx of home stuff, but even cheaper. Its awesome. I had to put so man things back down. I did walk out with a flat sheet (WOOO!!!! I had given up on that one!), a cool englad mug and coaster set (for 1 pound), a french press (for 3 pounds) and.... A DRYING RACK!!!! O my goodness it was the only one there and it was 2.99. I sprinted at the shelf and grabbed it and just hugged it to me. its my most prized poscession now and has a place of honor in the living room (the only place it fits when its not folded up actaully...) I was so happy. I took the bus home and popped my pizza into the oven. I opened all of my goodies and set them around the house (Oh I bought a oven mitt for 2 pounds so I would stop burning my hand through the hand towels that I was using).

After dinner was the exciting moment of trying both the kettle, and the french press. Woo excitment for the girl who has had no coffee except for one horrible cup! I followed the instructions and Bam! Coffee. i have no creamer/milk however and I think I put too much coffee in so its kind of taking off the enamel on my teeth, but Im still happy. I have had this bag of coffee since my very first day here. the dragon made me buy it pretty much. It has been tormenting me ever since. I thought i would never use it because coffee makers are 25 pounds here. gah! My little french press and water kettle did the job just fine though! its like Christmas here in Willesden Green. Im one happy camper.

So after all of that running around today and yesterday I am going to chill tomorrow. Im going to do laundry, clean my apartment (dusting, picking up, the works! The toliet may even get a bath too!) and I have to work on my presentation for Tuesday. I jsut dont know how I can take 20 minutes to say that the artist was a cocky, arrogant, elitist jerk. (my question is Why Rubens and Van Dyck never showed themselves with a paint brush in their hand.) So I am going to have to pull some stuff out of my butt (which I am pretty good at. I hope) I do have to do my weekly shopping and hit up the library too! Hopefully Il be home for most of the day though!