The End of an Era (maybe a little shorter than an era)

Well as you all know I have left West Dean and headed back home for the summer. Leaving was not easy and I will miss all of the people I met there. So far my time has been filled with many activities I decided to give myself, first of which was cleaning out my closet. It is amazing how much crap one person can acquire in life....even when you don't even live in your room. What is even more amazing to me is the thought process that I can only assume went through my head when I packed up my place in Provo and headed back to Texas. Why I decided to keep a magnetic stage that holds various sea life yet throw away a perfectly good step stool is beyond me. By the time I went through half of the closet I had moved all the crap from the confined closet and spread it out across my entire room, if only I had taken a picture. This morning I filled the entire hatch of my car with what I now consider to be crap, if only I had my head on straight when I was packing I could have brought along that stool.

Say hello to my new little friend

Well my trip to Ireland was fantastic, and I have plenty of stories to tell, but just wanted to post this quick picture in the mean time. I'm back at West Dean tonight and flying home tomorrow so it should be a tiring day, but I figured after not posting for a good two weeks or so I should throw something out there. I guess a couple students at the Galway art college came up with these little fairies and they have been selling them ever since. All of them are different and have very fitting names, mine is the one with green hair and she is called Myrtle and Catherine's is called Wendy.

Dear Readership,

So sorry I'm a slacker. Needless to say things are a little busy around here, graduation is tomorrow and I'm driving to Ireland with Catherine on Tuesday. I'll be sure to take lots of pictuers and generate lots of Irish stories.

Love,
Kristi

Skype

How long did I just spend on hold listening to the Pachelbel Canon on a loop?

44 minutes!

My first interaction with Skype was NOT good!

Goings on

Well, several of these events happened a while ago, but I wanted to blog about them if for no other reason than posterity's sake.

Several nights of boredom have led to amazing fruition of ideas. For example, a couple weeks ago we were having a good time at the Dower House, but needed an activity to fill the time. We had a croquet set in the house (mallets and balls) but no wickets. So rather than take the set down to the croquet lawn or go get the wickets and bring them to us we decided to play on a series of slopes with things like chairs and ironing boards being used as the wickets. Needless to say it was MUCH more entertaining than your run of the mill croquet game and it managed to take a lot longer than the usual. I for one think it enhanced my playing skills as it takes far more skill to hit a ball up a hill and around a chair leg than to go straight on through a boring old wicket.

Example two: A bunch of us played a rousing game of Bull Shit or "cheat" as they call it in this country. Well Drew didn't seem to be able to catch on to the way the game is played and as a result I would put down two fours and he would follow my turn by saying things like "I'll see your four and raise you another four" which would obviously generate a bull shit and cause him to collect the played cards. Either that or I would remind him what number he was supposed to be playing. Nedless to say it produced a lot of laughter.

Example three: Jenny had some extra energy to work off the other night and made an offer to run around the lawn while Emma and I played a card game. We naturally declined as that would have just been silly, so instead I taught her how to do a cartwheel. She caught on quite quickly and was even able to cartwheel her way through a patch of wild flowers towards Stephens room for a pleasant hello.

Electricity!

Well this weekend was fantastic! Harm, Catherine and I took a little trip to London to see Billy Elliot and the Tate Britain. We arrived around 11am and went right to the Tate where Catherine was researching frames for an internship she has applied for with the Tate. As for Harm and I we enjoyed the paintings and the fact that it was much less crowded than the last time we visited. From there we had lunch at Bella Italia and then headed to the Victoria Palace Theatre. The show was hilarious and filled with lots of talented kids singing and dancing. My favorite number was probably when Billy and his friend were dressing up in women's clothing. After they danced around for a while 6 giant frocks came out and danced along with them in true chorus line style. Needless to say it was amazing.

Two happy pixies

Sonia and I are working on a set of books together which means we now work together everyday. Yesterday we spent the majority of the day paring a piece of leather to put a new spine on the books. As you can see we had a good time.

Important Skills

Well since coming to West Dean I have aquired two valuable skills:

1. Cigarette rolling

2. Opening a bottle of beer with a lighter

At your service.

3 Dreams I've had Recently

1. Catherine and I decided to repel off the castle and half way down stopped for a glass of wine, it was nice.
2. Jenny and I went to a store where she forced me to steal two items because we were not going to go all the way back through the store in order to pay.
3. Catherine came to visit me in Texas but wouldn't leave the airport.

A herd of dog deer

This weekend Emma, Harm, Jenny, Catherine and I took a little day trip to Petworth House. It's one of your regular run of the mill giant English houses filled with antiques, paintings, vases, clocks, and various other objects. The inside of the house was really beautiful, however I think the highlight was what lives in the garden behind the house.

I was talking to someone before leaving about Petworth and she told me that on her way to the house she could see a herd of what appeared to be dogs in the distance. As it turns out it was a herd of small deer. This story caused us to refer to the herd as "dog deer" for the majority of the trip. We were able to get quite close to them and even got to see a little scuffle between two of them. I have to say I expected more action from a herd of dog deer, but I guess you can't ask too much from a group of antler clad canine.

Dear Jackie,

Have I ever told you how much I love the fact that you have a link to the CDC on your blog? You are hilarious.

Love,
Kristi

"Right here beside me"

Catherine and I had a conversation once about her need to have people right beside her at all times, when she mentioned this concept to me my initial response was one of repulsion. However after nearly three terms of being with the same people nearly every moment of everyday I find myself quite worried when I think of being without them. I have become a person who exsists in a state of coexsistence at all times, I usually have one of the following people by my side: Catherine, Sonia, or Jenny and the idea of having that empty space next to me when I leave is truly worrying.

Bringin' a little Texas to West Dean

Sunday night I brought a little Texas to West Dean, in particular the Dower House. We played a game of Texas Hold'em, something I haven't done since last summer. I didn't remember how fun it is to play or the entertaining banter that the game tends to bring about. I taught several people the game and we played many rounds filled with ridiculous bluffing, blind hands and impossible wins. Needless to say it was a pretty fun evening and one that reminded me of some really good past times.

A childish dream has been fulfilled

In general people tend to carry their money neatly stowed in the safety of a wallet or money clip. People that don't want to carry a wallet will often fold their money in half or quarters before placing it in their pockets. Now think about how kids carry a couple bucks. Even if it's handed to them clean and crisp fresh from the mint within a couple minutes it seems to become a crumpled up ball inside their pockets. I for one love this, and find it highly entertaining for some reason. So, to celebrate this I decided to crumple up my tenner and stuff it in my pocket, ready to be used as payment for my next purchase. I entered HMV and took advantage of their two for 10 CD sale and picked up Blondie and Pink (I'm partial to people with one name these days for some reason), headed to the counter and waited for my total to come up. It went a little something like this.

HMV Dude: That will be 10 pounds please
Me: (Removes wad of money from pocket and gently places it in the palm of his hand)
HMV Dude: (Looks at me, looks at the dough and then proceeds to flatten out the money before placing it in the till.)

I nearly peed my pants.....yes I'm ten years old.

Fake Birthday Recap in Pictures

Western themed menus

Sara finishing off the ice cream sundae

How to eat a burger the American way....not with a knife and fork like the Brits

Stephen enjoying his ribs

Jenny and Harm

Birthday girl with Harm

Drewsopher

Emma and Alan

A bashful Harm

The last couple weeks when anyone says pretty much anything I can think of a corresponding song. Well, apparently I've been saying "I know a song about that" too much since people have started asking me if I know songs about various topics. of conversation.

Me: "I have something in my eye."
Catherine: "Blow your nose."
Me: "What?"
Catherine: "It's all connected." (making a circular motion around her face)

So there you have it, the next time you get something in your eye, be sure to blow your nose and poof it will be gone. Man she's funny.

A Lovely Day

Yesterday Harm, Catherine and I visited a nearby castle in Arundel. We arrived at a descent time and set off to view the fortress, dungeon, keep, and state rooms. The visit ended up being very nice and also served as a moderate level butt workout thanks to the many sets of stairs throughout the castle complex. All of the areas of study at West Dean were represented inside with various tapestries, clocks, metal work, ceramics, furniture, instruments, paintings and even a couple books. Arundel is also filled with many antique shops and after careful consideration I have decided that my house will be filled with antiques I will slowly collect over the course of my life, now I just need to figure out a way to make enough money to make this dream possible.

Thank You Credit Dauphine

Well this weekend is a long one for those of us living in England. It's a Bank Holiday weekend, a day when banks used to be shut, causing all other businesses to close as well. Lucky for me this tradition has continued on giving me Monday off. I'm not sure what I am going to do with that extra day, but I'm sure I'll figure out something.

Dear Maroon 5,

Thank you for finally releasing your second album.....and thank you for not producing a sucky record.

Love,
Kristi