I want to go home with the Armadillo
Big congratulations to Paul
Walcutt and his brand new fiancee
Kady Simkins. Paul has finally put the various rumors about himself to bed.
If any of you have seen the way Paul lights up when with
Kady you know that these two are made for
each other.
Congrats guys, we've already booked our plane tickets.
I see crazy people...
Spent a good weekend with the
Flaizes 14/15 April. They are colleagues from Philly who bid for the prime opportunity to spend 2 days and nights at
Casa Hennigan. William had never been to London in a tourist capacity, so blessed with another gorgeous nice day I treated them to the 2 hour walking
Hennigan London sights tour. I highly recommend this tour which has been hailed as "A revelation" by the NY Times, "The best most comprehensive London sightseeing tour EVER!" from
TimeOut magazine, and the accolades go on and on...
After a relatively quiet week London again experienced a wonderful weekend of weather, you all should really check this place out, it's right up there with the
Caribbean. Sunday 22 April was the running of the London marathon. 23 degrees is ideal weather conditions for watching the marathon, however a bit hot to be running. Kirsten and I spent several hours watch people cruise/struggle/gasp/limp by. What compels someone to run 26 miles is a bit beyond my comprehension (editor's note: Kirsten has run several marathons) hence the title of this thread, that and the fact the
Flaizes are loco.
When we tired of the crowds and yelling encouragement to runners including Gordon Ramsay ("Go on
Gordo!!!") we headed up to Hyde Park to commune with nature and spend a little down time together. We finished up the day with a relaxing pint in
SoHo and then returned home to get a good night's sleep before facing another week...
Time Zone hopping or How I learned to abuse my body
The end of March through Easter was a test of the endurance of the human body for me.
First leg of the trip was a direct flight from London to
Las Vegas for the Avenue A
Razorfish annual client summit, so after 11 hours in the air sitting in the middle seat we arrived in Vegas in the middle of the afternoon, or so the clocks said, our bodies said it was nearer midnight. With events scheduled that evening there was no chance for sleep, so by the time we turned in that night we'd been on the go for 27 hours - ugh.
For those who have never had the pleasure of attending an
AARF client summit you have to understand that sleep is low on the list of priorities, especially when you're in Vegas. So after only 10 hours of sleep across the 4 days in Vegas I hopped back on a plane to London. This time I got upgraded and an aisle seat, finally some recognition! So after only an eight hour flight filled with champagne and other treats I arrived in London on Sunday, with a day of work looming on Monday.
3 days later on Thursday Kirsten and I hopped on flights out of London to Florida for the wedding celebration of our friends Cate and
Imran. Despite the total confusion that my body was experiencing the long Easter wedding weekend was phenomenal. The weather was gorgeous, we had no responsibilities (at least I didn't, Kirsten was a bridesmaid so she had an agenda), and we were staying at this little place called the Ritz. So while Kirsten did whatever it is that bridesmaids do I treated myself to a massage at the spa, drinks by the pool and caught up on some good
ol' '
merican TV. The wedding ceremony took place on the beach and was beautiful, the party afterwards was loads of fun as well. The only thing that would have made the evening perfect is if BC had been able to bring the NCAA Hockey Championship home to Chestnut Hill, unfortunately it will spend the next year in Flint, Michigan, I mean come on, Flint vs. Chestnut Hill??? [Editor's note: East Lansing - Flint - East Lansing - Flint - Chestnut Hill over either of them]
While I boarded a flight back to London on Sunday, Kirsten continued west to Atlanta to visit her mother and gran. So as I sit here writing this we are less than 24 hours from being reunited (and it feels so good) and putting any serious travel plans on hold until out bodies
re-acclimate.
We have guests this weekend so there should be plenty of updates...if they ever wake up!
Eltham Palace
The English Rose was in town the weekend of 24/25 March, so we took the opportunity to take a short drive to a most impressive residence
Eltham Palace.
The Palace is 700 years old, surrounded by a moat and is one of the finest examples of Art Deco style. It's a very strange thing to walk from the Great Hall which evokes feelings of being in a medieval hall where turkey legs are eaten whole and
mead consumed by the goblet, to the room with intricately carved wood paneling and white leather chairs straight out of the 30's to the lemur cage on the first floor (I kid you not).
Through the wonders of the
internet you too can experience
Eltham Palace by visiting:
http://www.elthampalace.org.uk/ and clicking into the Explore Now section. While this will give you a sense of the palace it really is a place that must be visited, so make it happen
cap'n.
Perhaps the best part of the adventure was hitting a local pub for a few pints and lunch afterwards. The day was finished off back at
Mads and Martyn's flat with a visit to their local and then take away from one of the best Indian
restaurants we've found,
mmmmmm curry.
