The Capital Ring (and my sister met Obama)

London is great, but it's a city and when you live here, you do city things. Like going out for coffee and pastries, or beers, or your choice of ethnic food, or dancing, or theater. I love it all.  But most of it doesn't involve nature or exercise. And last weekend, I was craving nature and exercise.

Refusing to wallow in city woes (okay, I wallowed for a few hours), I did some research and discovered the Capital Ring, a 78-mile walking path around the edges of London, through some of the city's prettiest and oft forgotten green spaces. Despite gloomy weather forecasts, Dave and I headed to west London and walked seven miles through Wimbledon Common and Richmond Park. What a beautiful, blustery, refreshing day. We saw a historic flour mill, stood on the historic hill where Henry VIII hung out while Anne Boleyn was beheaded, watched ducks and squirrels, climbed ancient oaks, and most lovely of all, gave our legs a good stretching and our lungs some clean forest air. I'm going to walk as much of the Capital Ring as I can during the next few months. Nature's beauty aside, it's a fun way to explore new parts of London.

And oh yeah!


In case you didn't hear, my sister met President Obama on Thursday. 

Yes, they are smiling at each other in that photo, bonding over student activism and education policy, no doubt. And yes, this is the coolest thing my blog will ever report.


Analyzing my jealousy, I realized I may have a slight celebrity crush on Barack Obama.


Analyzing my crush, I realized it's because he's intelligent, witty, fun, not bad looking, and progressive... and because of this video.

I watch this video whenever I'm worried about jobs, unemployment, and the future. Yes, that's correct. I watch it every day. It makes me laugh and gives me hope and I temporarily forget about economic policies that may or may not be affecting my job prospects.  Thanks, Barack and Carly Rae (and whoever put the two of you together).

Love,
mb

Ricotta scones

Did you hear?

The Queen recently had her sixtieth anniversary of being queen.  Hurray!  The UK loves their Queen (for the most part). We got two days off and people flocked to London and fleets of ships sailed down the River Thames and there was an epic concert and Elton John wore hot sparkly pink under a brilliant fireworks show.

Melissa was visiting over this Jubilee weekend. We went to a musical, ate at a fancy restaurant, enjoyed an indoor British barbecue (it was raining, but my, what delicious salmon), and headed to the pub after Monday night's concert.

Perhaps my favorite part of the weekend, besides spending time with kinfolk, was baking scones. I was feeling grumpy and cold and unpatriotic and our afternoon tea plans had fallen through. So I baked scones. Ricotta and raspberry scones, recipe courtesy of Smitten Kitchen, to be exact.

They are amazing. Truly delightful. You don't even need to butter them (if you're American) or top them with clotted cream and jam (if you're English). They're perfect all on their own. I've baked them twice in the past week. I will bake them again before the month's over. Do try them for yourself, in honor of the Queen, or just because they are heavenly.

Linking with love: photo from Smitten Kitchen (best food blog ever)

Follow your dreams

Investment Banking:

True Stories of Hope And (Mostly) Despair

Follow Your Dreams

It's Monday morning, but I'm feeling good.

On top of that, today is a senior manager's fifteenth anniversary at the bank!  Free cake for all!

We're standing around eating cake, congratulating the senior manager on her fifteenth anniversary at the bank. She waves her hand in the air, getting our attention.

"Thank you, Bob and team, for the bottle of wine," she says.  "Actually, most of you don't know this, but it's been fifteen years and ten months since I joined the bank. After ten months, I quit to travel and follow my dreams... of course, inevitably, I came crawling back!"

Everyone chuckles and takes another bite of cake.

I die inside.

Linking with love: photo of tall building

My top ten

Yesterday my business strategies professor asked us to list the ten "most important things" in our lives, without overthinking. I came up with my first three immediately.

1. friends - building community
2. family - building community
3. being outside, sunshine

Then I had to think for a few seconds.

4. serving God/people - helping
5. self sufficiency - $

Five through eleven slowly came to mind.

6.  travel/adventure
7.  being useful, accomplishing something significant
8.  music, writing, creativity
9.  good food
10. telling stories
11. reading

Can good food be that important?  I think it can.

Linking with love: beautiful photos from a well traveled woman

The post I meant to post last week....

Let's talk about gay rights.

Just kidding!

Longer post coming soon.

HAPPY FRIDAY!
mb

Linking with love: rainbow

A new series...

Investment Banking:

True Stories of Hope And (Mostly) Despair

Never Get Up

It's 7am. In that half awake dream state, I hear Winston Churchill say,

        Never ever, ever, ever, ever ever give up. 

Warm and fuzzy in my bed, I'm relieved to hear those encouraging words because yesterday I cried a lot and worried that somehow, against all odds, I was going to be trapped in finance forever.

Over and over again I hear,


       Never ever, ever, ever, ever ever give up. 


       Never give up.  Never ever give up.

I smile sleepily. I won't ever give up. My fuzzy thoughts float from Winston's advice to last night's Homeland finale to the morning light and the cool breeze quietly slipping through the window. I roll over and snuggle deep into the covers.


      Never ever, ever, ever, ever ever get up. 


Some time later, it dawns on me that Winston's words have changed. Over and over again I'd begun hearing,


      Never get up.
  
      Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever get up. 
      
      Never. Get. Up.
      
      I am never getting up.



I'm awake now. I think about calling in sick. But eventually I get up. 


I go to the bank.



Linking with love: photo of a bank

Going home to Tuscany

It's been raining, all day, for the past sixteen days. I'm not exaggerating. In fact, it might be more like nineteen or twenty days. It's not pleasant. I'm at home in my pjs for the second weekend in a row. Last Saturday night, my mom asked what I was doing. I told her Dave and I were waiting for our sweet potatoes to finish baking and then we were having dinner. She said, "you sound like old people." Thanks, Mom. I'd like to blame the rain.

Last month I visited the folks in Italy, twice!  Here are some photos. Look at that beautiful sunshine.

Tuscany really is gorgeous and the food does not disappoint. I visited Rome and Venice back in high school, and I remember eating lots of pizza and pasta. But this time, my favorite dish was simple fish and vegetables slow cooked in generous amounts of olive oil. And ravioli in walnut cream sauce. And the creme brulee. Mmmmmm. And the coffee, too. Italian espresso isn't as caffeinated as the American and British stuff, so I could have a coffee after every meal if I wanted. 

Dave came along on Easter weekend. We strolled around Florence, shopping for shoes, eating gelato, taking naps on benches at the base of the duomo (that was just me). We explored bits around Pisa and walked around Lucca's walls. On Easter, we took the train to Cinque Terra, which is a string of five quaint, colorful villages along Italy's coast. It's touristy but totally worth a visit. I want to go back and hike through all five; it takes four or five hours.  All day, a thunderstorm hung overhead, creating awesome clouds and lightening. 

Looking forward to visiting again when Melissa hops over the ocean.

Stay warm and dry,

mb