I'm leaving on a jet plane...

...don't know when I'll be back again.

Just kidding. I will be back May 13th, unless I miss my plane (ha-ha).  My Air France flight leaves LAX at 8:00 PM tonight, and when you all wake up tomorrow morning I will be in London. And by the time you eat lunch I will be in Paris. Very, very, very tired.

I will try my hardest to keep this blog updated while I am gone. The only thing that will stop me is if I am having just too much fun.

Au Revoir!

Love Actually, Notting Hill and Bridgett Jones

I admit it - I am a complete sap for romantic comedies, and especially for British romantic comedies (although my all time fav is You've Got Mail). You know how in Love Actually the movie starts and ends at Heathrow Airport, with everyone waiting in great anticipation for their loved ones to come through those doors? And then there is much hugging and happiness and tears of joy? Well, Mandy had better be waiting for me outside those doors or she will kill my fantasy of the reunion with her. If I have to go down to the Tube Station with luggage all by myself, and look like a loser who has no loved ones, I will have tears of sadness...

JK!!! I am just pulling the mother guilt card so she will try hard to be there. I need to keep my annoying-mother tricks sharp!

(BTW - this photo is of Mandy arriving at LAX at Christmastime, where we were all waiting for her in great anticipation as she came through that door.)

I'd rather have chemo

This rather twisted title is a little phrase that my clever sister Val came up with (she is currently going through chemo). We are now using it to convey our strong feelings when we don't want to do something. Today I am doing our taxes, and believe me, I'd rather have chemo.

Yay Estrogen!

For the past 8 months I have lived in a house of men - thus lots of testosterone - when my girls left me alone with my boys. My day with Amy yesterday was just the shot of girl that I needed, and soon I will be with Mandy and two weeks of girl stuff! I really, really need this!

P.S. This morning I asked Matt if he wanted some special mother-son time before I leave on my trip, and he said, "You mean more than what we have every day?" I feel so loved.

210 Freeway - here I come again!

That freeway and I are becoming fast friends. In a few minutes I am leaving for another trip to Pasadena, for a quick check-up at my doctor's. And then I will head over to USC to pick up Amy for a fun mother-daughter afternoon. This will be the last time I will see her until I get back from London. Our plan is to come back to Arcadia, eat at our favorite Mexican restaurant (Pepper's), see a movie - and probably check out H&M. And then I will take her back to school so she can spend the entire weekend studying and writing papers and not having any fun at all. Right, Amy?

And then I will ask Matt if he wants a fun mother-son day before I leave. I have a feeling I already know the answer to that question.

7 days to take-off, 8 days to landing

This is my last week on U.S. soil. One week from tonight I will be in the air and on my way to London to see my Mandy. I have missed my Mandy and can't wait to see her. I do not like having my babies so far away from me, and I will feel that way no matter how old they get. I already told Amy that she is not allowed to study abroad for the whole school year because I won't be able to handle that again. Luckily her screenwriting program at USC will only let her spend one semester. Yay!

Matt had a great trip to Europe visiting his sister. He was gone 3 weeks, and I think that is the perfect amount of time! (For me, anyway.) I have a link on this blog to his photos, and also to Mandy's. Please take a look, I know you will enjoy them. 

Shakespeare Insult of the Day

"Thy kiss is comfortless as frozen water to a starved snake."

That is pretty harsh! On a happier note - Mandy got tickets for the two of us to see Midsummer Nights Dream - at Shakespeare's Globe Theater - in London - on my last night in that city. Isn't that awesome? I still can't believe this is all happening.

If you aren't in So Cal today, let me begin with an apology.

It was a hot and beautiful day today. I floated in the pool and got a start on my tan! The only difference this year is I am using sun block. My mother's skin cancer troubles have freaked me out a little. Let's all be careful out there!

The Irish have the right idea! Photos from Kenny's life celebration which was like an old fashioned wake!

As a blogger I am a failure...

The paradox of writing about your life is the busier you are, the more interesting things you have to write about and the less time you have to write. At least that is my excuse and I am sticking to it. 

Since this blog is technically my travel blog it is appropriate that my busyness has to do with a lot of travel. Other than the trip to Oregon, I have spent most of 2008 on the 210 freeway. My mom, my sister Val and I all had surgery since January and our doctors and hospital are in Pasadena. Hence all the driving on the 210. However, things are calmer now, everyone is doing well, and my trips are less frequent. Yay! Now I have more time to plan my trip to London, and that's a good thing since time is getting short!

This week I spent countless hours on the internet looking for a place to stay in London. True to my personality I had to find the perfect hotel in the perfect location for the perfect price. Not an easy task in London, let me tell you, especially with the currency exchange rate being one pound for two dollars right now! Also, with Mandy and Matt being on their train trip around Europe I had to wait until they got back to London so I could check with Mandy on the location question. She highly recommended the Bloomsbury area since it is centrally located, fairly close to her apartment and very quaint and English. Lucky for me Bloomsbury has the best rates on B&B's in London, mostly due to the fact that there are so many of them. Just today I confirmed and booked with a B&B that looks perfect (and cute-very important!) and came highly recommended by Frommer's and Lonely Planet. And the reasonable daily rate also includes a full English breakfast each day for two (Mandy and myself) - and anyone who has been reading Mandy's travel blog knows how she feels about English breakfast! I can't wait to taste it myself, especially those beans. (Right, Yvonne? Ha-ha!)

Our first 3 nights will be spent in Paris. Mandy will meet me at Heathrow when I land and we will go to the Eurostar station and take the train through the chunnel to Paris. I think this train trip will be so awesome, and the idea that we can take a train UNDER the English channel is amazing. While in Paris I want to do things that we didn't do last time we were there, such as visiting the Musee D'Orsay. This art museum houses many works by Monet, Van Gogh, Rodin, Gaugin - just to name a few of the amazing artists from that time. And this trip I want to go to the Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise, the cemetery where the graves of Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde and many other famous people are. And of course we must stroll along the Seine and hopefully we will see many starving artists painting again.

Spring in Paris and London! I sure hope the weather will be nice and spring-like. Mandy said today it is raining and hailing in London. I hope it gets all rained out soon and we are left with sunny weather.

I will try my best to be better about this blogging thing. More to come...