Me(me) again

1) What was I doing 10 years ago?
I was halfway through my penultimate year at high school, probably right in the middle of doing a play.

2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order):

1. Go to dance class x2
2. Attempt to buy dress to wear to Andrew’s wedding (ew Oxford Street)
3. Bra shopping (depressing)
4. Supermarket shopping to stock up for Pancake Sunday (every Sunday is Pancake Sunday when I’m in town)
5. Meet up with school friends for dinner (yay!)

3) Snacks I enjoy:
Anything salty and fatty!  Crisps, corn chips with guacamole are probably my favourite.  Honey roast cashews, mm.

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
Go back to university and study all the stuff I didn’t get around to last time – economics, history, sociology, english lit, french lit, art history, international development, etc etc.  Not all at once, I’d spread it out.  Travel the world.  Buy a nice house in London and a little bit of land outside London where I can have chickens and a garden and babies!  Also a house in the Marlborough Sounds and one in France.  Make that a chateau with a vineyard.  Les enfants must speak ze français!

5) Places I have lived:
Christchurch, North Loburn, Germany, New York, London

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The ABCs of me

Meme time! Via Monster Yarn

Accent: Mostly mild Kiwi, a bit Merivale, with a sprinkling of RP and there’s some Sarf London creeping in there due to my place of work.  Argh!  My accent’s always been all over the place though – it depends who I’m talking to.  It’s more British when I’m talking to my parents, and more Kiwi if I’ve been hanging out with a bunch of friends from home.  It gets an annoying American twang sometimes if I spend too long in the States.  My phone voice is pure Merivale.

Breakfast or no breakfast: Can’t eat first thing in the morning.  I tend to eat something like a muesli bar when i get to work.  One day in the weekend I usually do a big cooked breakfast.

Chore I don’t care for: Ironing!

Dog or Cat:Eugh!

Essential Electronics: Laptop, camera, N95

Favorite Cologne: Chanel Chance

Gold or Silver: Silver (or platinum!)

Handbag I carry most often: Maroon one that’s big enough to hold my Tube reading

Insomnia: If I’m woken up after 4 I find it very hard to get back to sleep

Job Title: Problem Solver (I don’t actually know what my job title is)

Kids: can I steal yours?

Living Arrangements: Poky flat in the middle of London with two Italian Doctors of Philosophy and a 21 year old American, soon to be replaced by a Jason!

Most Admirable Trait: My loyalty

Naughtiest Childhood Behavior: I don’t know, Mum?  Maybe scooping the dirt out of houseplants, but come on, I was just a baby!

Overnight hospital stays: none!

Phobias: Buses.  But London buses are much better than Christchurch ones so I think I’m over that.

Quote: A life lived in fear is a life half lived – Strictly Ballroom

Reason to smile: Censored, but a few of you (especially Jason) will know what it is.

Siblings: A brother

Time I wake up: About 6:30, that doesn’t mean I get up then though!

Unusual Talent or Skill: I’m very hypermobile, which hurts sometimes but means I’m quite flexible.

Vegetable I Refuse to Eat: I think I eat pretty much everything, even the stuff I don’t like so much.  Although I’m struggling to think of a vegetable I really dislike.  It depends on context.  I won’t eat cucumber in a sandwich.

Worst Habit: Hmm, I have a few.  Driving my friends nuts?

X-rays: Just my teeth I think

Yummy Stuff: Vegetable tempura!  Broccoli

Zoo Animal I Like Most: Giraffes, probably.  They’re fun to feed.  Monkeys pull my hair but I do love orangutans.  Zoos make me a bit sad though.  Places like Orana Park are better.

Prague purchases…

I was a little disappointed that on my recent travels to Belgium and Switzerland that I didn’t manage to find any additions to my Christmas decoration collection. Well in Prague I hit the Christmas jackpot (don’t ask me why an atheist collects Christmas decorations, by the way, it’s just one of my many quirks), and what with the prices I went a little overboard:

(ok, technically Easter decorations, but they’re going on the tree!)

And here’s the Mucha poster I bought:

Prague

I really, really wish Tori was still living in Prague, as that would have made it even more awesome! But armed with her tips, I travelled there with Steph and her friends Kim and Mel for the long weekend.

One of the best things about Prague is the currency – they still use crowns and haven’t switched to the Euro yet. What with the Euro being so high that makes Prague a very good place for Brits to take our holidays! We ate (and drank) rather a lot throughout the weekend. Czech beer is yummy!

Some photos, with explanations where I can be bothered:

View of the Charles Bridge, the most famous bridge in Prague

Death, detail of the Astronomical Clock in the Old Town Square. He rings his bell on the hour.

Street scene by the Old Town Square

I loved all the painted buildings

Lunch overlooking the river. The cafe was down a very narrow passageway, so narrow in fact that it needed this:

Traffic lights!

View from the cathedral at Prague Castle

Window in the cathedral painted by Mucha. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to go in the Mucha gallery. I’ve always been a fan of Mucha. In my bedroom in our old holiday house we used to have a Mucha poster of Sarah Bernhardt that I loved, I wish we had kept it. I suppose I could just buy it again. In the end I bought Printemps, which is now up on my wall, and a couple of postcards.

Making a wish on the Charles Bridge – you have to put one finger on each star and wish.

One of the highlights of the trip for me was going to see Carmen at the State Opera. It cost 100 crowns each for the cheapest seats, which works out to under £4. The opera was great! I knew the music of course but didn’t know the story very well. Don Jose is a soldier who ditches the lovely (and plucky) girl his mother wants him to marry in favour of Carmen, who never loves anyone for longer than six months. He turns to a life of crime with her, but inevitably she tires of him and ditches him for the toreador. He tries to get her back but she tells him she doesn’t love him any more. He asks her to come with him again. She says no again. He still can’t get it through his thick head. Carmen tells him once more that she doesn’t love him and throws his ring back at him. Mad with jealousy he kills her, then waits around to be arrested for her murder. Moral of the story? Men really are idiots.

Panorama – click through to flickr to see the whole thing.

Picnic!

On Sunday we had a picnic on Primrose Hill. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t as warm as it has been but on the plus side it didn’t rain!

(that’s us under the tree)

There aren’t any photos of me because Jason went out of his way to take bad ones!

Old school!

This is also from Lausanne, it just took me a while to figure out how to embed it!

Top 5 Museums/Galleries

This list is pretty fluid and subject to change, but (in no particular order):

1. Museum of Modern Art, New York

2. Collection de l’Art Brut, Lausanne

3. Canterbury Museum, Christchurch

4. Victoria and Albert Museum, London

5. Pergamon Museum, Berlin

What are your favourite museums?

(of course, now I’m thinking of what would be in my top 10… the Holocaust Museum in Melbourne, the space museum in Washington DC, the Costume Institute at the Met in NY, the list goes on…)