London Fashion Weekend..finally.

Sorry for the delay. As I slowly sort through the hundreds of pictures, I figure the best way to explain our experience with London Fashion Weekend is to see it through our eyes...err, camera lens.

First, we have the outside of the beautiful Somerset House (on the strand). Hot pink was this season's color for banners and gift bags.

And, inside we traveled through Escher-esque

stairwells to view all the sales.

We had tickets that for the 14:00 Catwalk on Friday and arrived early to make sure we'd grab seats and wouldn't have to stand.

So excited!

Our hostess for the evening was Louise Roe,

the British E! entertainment fashion correspondent.

(She also does some work with Elle uk and has been a guest blogger on the piperlime/gap.inc website... I guess she's a bigger deal than I ever knew.)

Toni & Guy took care of hair, while Elizabeth Arden did make-up... get ready for some red hot or bright orange statement lips and purple eyes this S/S (just don't do both together, please.)

Since this was LFWE (the E adds the "end" onto London Fashion Week), the catwalk was about Spring/Summer, but the whole week before showed the F/W10 collections.

Normally, a single designer will show a collection. This catwalk was a combination of many designers split into three trends, which I'll pick an outfit or two to post.

On with the show....

CANDY ROCK:

SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS:

I love these shorts... unfortunately, Jaeger only made similar ones for the RTW, but more shops are picking up on them.

VINTAGE GLAMOUR:

Lastly,

Betty Jackson's S/S10 collection:

xoxo,

a.

Keeping on keeping on!

The good times just keep rolling in. This series shows a few highlights from our walk down the riverbank to the Tate Museum of Modern Art--a very interesting collection, considering my studies in Dada and Surrealism in my classes. They are a little out of order, but keep in mind that this was an 8 mile walkabout spread over some 5 or 6 hours one Saturday.

First up we see what I believe is the frontage of the Courts of Justice;



Followed by Anna doing her Cousin It impression with our charming British friend, Kit.

And ending with a somewhat misty Houses of Parliament seen while crossing the Westminster Bridge;

Obviously we're getting out quite a lot and enjoying our time here as best we can. It's interesting trying to live a normal, full life and simultaneously try to fully experience and get to know a brand new place and a new culture. And don't let anyone lie to you, the British are about as different as any other culture!

Adventures aplenty

Goodness gracious it rains a lot in England. I mean, you hear about how much it rains here, and people joke about how much it rains here, and it's always cloudy in British TV shows...but holy crap! It rains all the time here. Just one time I'd like to wake up and think about going for a walk in the sunshine.
We have a good few weeks of Valentine's Day, Anna's birthday--and soon to come Anna's B-day 2.0: Fashion Weekend. Classes are well under way, and Trevor is keeping busy with reading and classwork, and interestingly enough still finding time to go out to the pubs with friends.
Here are some more pictures for your perusal:


Here we are in front of Buckingham palace, and ta-da! THERE'S BLUE SKY BEHIND US!

This is a cool view of Westminster Abbey, as they have it lit up at night:

And here is the always popular Big Ben, on the corner of the Houses of Parliament, and in the background the London Eye, a trip on which we are saving for a later date:

Cheers!

A couple more of early-ish London experiences. Conspicuously absent from most photos will be me--since someone has to take all these pictures. But, you'll see Anna in front of the Victoria monument, The Royal Dragoons during the changing of the guard, and Anna with Stephanie and Alexei--the Siberian Tiger!

Taking off..

Sorry about the delay in getting this started. There is so much "newness" happening that we haven't set aside time to keep everyone involved....our apologies. However, it's probably a good sign that we aren't just sitting around updating a blog.
Instead, we've been seeing sights, making friends, and breathing in London every day and night.

We'll try to add comments with the pictures and keep things in some kind of order. So, here we go...







Here is us at the luxurious Lancaster Hall Hotel. The land of tiny rooms and fickle heating;

also our neighborhood block in Victoria;

Sunset over Buckingham Palace;

Also the view down a snowy residential lane in Paddington;