Tell Me It's Just Casper?!

So I know I'm not crazy (although a few of you might disagree) but seriously, do ghosts and spirits really exist? Well, if you asked me that question last night, around say, 4:30am, the answer would have to be a definite, YES, YES, YES!

So here is the story:

I was sound asleep when I casually heard some noise coming from the hallway outside our bedroom. I was dreary, and attributed the noise to our flatmate, Marcella, walking around the hallway. But after a short while, I was fully conscious and asked myself, what is Marcella doing? The noise that I heard was this popping sound, like those fireworks that you throw on the ground, or like electric sparks, and they were moving up and down the hallway getting louder as they came closer to our door and softer as they went down the hallway towards the living room. Well, I didn't think to much of them, but they then woke Keith up after a few moments and dashed out of the bed opening the bedroom door into the hallway, looking to see what the popping noise was. Well, there was nothing in the hallway, and Marcella had not been awake. So quickly, Keith went into the bathroom, that's connected to our room, and as soon as he closed the bathroom door, I heard the popping noise right outside our bedroom window, on the stairs that lead down to our garden flat. The Sound Had Moved! (Can I just tell you that as I remember the night, I have goosebumps and my heart is racing) The popping noise slowly migrated up the stairs outside out bedroom window and I heard the noise start to make its way down the street. Loud at first, then slowly, the noise would gradually get softer, as if "it" was walking away from the flat. Keith was in bed by now, and looked to be sound asleep, not noticing the sound moving away from the flat. I, on the otherhand, was stone cold scared. Something wasn't right, This sound was literally moving, it was in OUR flat and then went up our stairs and then down the street. I lied in bed not moving a muscle, thinking that if I moved the noise would come back. And sure enough, I heard the popping sounds start to get louder, like they were coming towards the flat. They weren't in any kind of rhythm, they were random, sometimes 2 pops, sometimes a group of 5 or 6 pops, but they were getting closer. For what seemed like a lifetime, the popping noise moved up and down the street, and at one point they were right outside the flat again, until they finally got distant and then went away. The entire, say 30minutes this look place, I was saying to myself, 'that's a freaking ghost' 'go away' ' please go away' 'I hope it can't read my thoughts' 'can it hurt me' 'were is the sun, ghost don't come out in the daylight' 'I need garlic' ...a million things raced through my mind.

No, I didn't go back to bed (would you?) I wasn't certain if the noise was gone for good, and WAY too frightened to sleep. Keith woke up to me wide awake, and as soon a he opened his eyes, I told him my ghost theory for what had happened last night. He didn't seem surprised, and said he too heard the noise moving up and down the street (see people, not crazy) but he just thought it was some kids...I said, HELLO, kids would be laughing, and HELLO, kids were not in our hallway. Then Keith said it was probably some animal, again, HELLO, no animal in our hallway...he went to work, leaving me doing research on the Internet about spirits and ghosts.

I found nothing regarding ghosts and spirits making popping noises, but I did email a 'paranormal expert' asking him about the noise that I heard. My theory: I think that it was some kind of electrical current that the spirit produced that made the popping noise..I don't think that is that far fetched?...um, were talking about the 'undead people!'

Also, I'm just going to throw this in...I have crazy good hearing and know what I heard. My mother has told me for years that I can literally hear a pin drop. Also, my most fear, ever since I was a child, is being visited by a ghost. I used to imagine ghosts in my room at night and lying in my bed for hours sweating, scared, not moving because I thought a ghost was visiting me, and when I got the courage, I would go into my parents room and sleep on the floor, feeling protected..but sometimes that didn't even work. And finally, no, this isn't the first 'ghost' run-in that I've had (remember, I'm not crazy)

About 5 years ago, I was living by myself in an apartment in Chicago, when I was woken up by a loud banging on my frond door (I lived on the third floor) Elsa, always one to greet a visitor, sat, un-normally, on the end of my bed and growled. I got out of bed, thinking it was some drunk neighbor or something, peered out of the peep hole to see nothing. As I walked back to the bedroom, there in the hallway, was a picture and the frame I had of Elsa lying on the floor. Ok, so it wasn't just lying there, it had been taken apart and lined up in a row...back of the frame, picture of Elsa, glass, then frame..all perfectly lined up in a row (ok, I'm getting goose bumbs again) and what made things any weirder (like they could be) was that the picture was suppose to be two rooms away, in the living room...so "magically" it appeared to have floated into the hallway, and taken apart and lined up?!?!?! I FREAKED!!!!

I turned all lights on and got Elsa and got in my car and drove to my parents house, at like 4am.

After a few days, and some Internet research, I learned it was a 'poltergeist' aka, Polish for a loud ghost, someone who likes the living to know they are present, and likes to play games (not fun games to the living world, if you ask me) So I got some garlic, a cross and went home and told the ghost in a loud and firm voice, while holding the garlic, that "I understand you want to be here, and i know you won't hurt me, but you can't live here, and I banish you from my home."(that's what the web site told me to do, I didn't come up with that on my own) Dude, THEN THE LIGHTS FLICKERED!!! NO JOKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I took that as the ghost left, and for a few nights I didn't sleep, but never heard from my 'friendly' Casper again.

"They" say ghost don't follow you, so I don't think I have a ghost stalker. But given that I am living in a really, really old city, the likely hood of a ghost is probably very high.

Maybe it was my grandmother checking in on me and taking a stroll through the city, or maybe it was the King of Pop (get it pop, popping noise...ok, really bad joke) or maybe I am crazy?! I kind of hope I am crazy, and this never happens again.

Pictures of where I heard the 'popping'

1.Our flat, you walk down the steps to get into our flat. This is our buliding and street.

2. Our bedroom. Outside those windows are the stairs to get up and down to the front door.

3.The long hallway going into the living/kitchen/patio area. First door on the right is our bedroom. Im taking the picture from our front door.

4. The stairs going down to our flat. Thats our bedroom window and throught that gate is the front door.

I can't stand it

Ok, so its been nearly 4 weeks and

NO SHOPPING!

I can't stand it!!!

For those of you who know me, and for those of you who don't so well...I live to shop. My closet is sufficating from lack of labels. Yes, I did bring some amazing clothes to London, and yes, everyday I do look oh, so chic in my 'American' clothes (if I do say so myself) but...hello people, this is London, home of Alexander McQueen, Vivian Westwood, Matthew Williamson, Burberry, Stella McCarthney, Ana Hindmarch, Lulu Guinness, and not to mention amazing world-famous department stores; Harrods, Selfridges, Liberty, Harvey Nichols...the list goes on and on...

All day I walk along the streets of London looking, wanting, wishing for chic labels. Ok, so it dosent all have to be designer labels, granted they are nice...but how about a little Top Shop, Reiss, Zara or Jigsaw love to bring home to the empty hangers in my wardrobe>?

The fashion here is amazing just think about it, Kate Moss, Sienna Miller, Kiera Knightly they are all produsts of this British look...who knew that leggings and ridding boots could look so chic, or fedorias dressed with feathers would work well with a sundress and Hunter garden boots, and how about the girl who wears gladiator sandles with her bermuda shorts and a long blazer...you just don't see these things in the States (at least not in the midwest)...and I'm so inspired to fit into the British fashion, and to forget the rules about bra straps showing and not having your butt covered when wearing leggings...The brits do it all, good and bad. You can break a fashion rule here and a million eyes aren't on you...you can step out of your confort zones and try something new without being riduculed. The truth is, if you don't have your own sence of style here, you are boring...and I have never been one to be bording when it comes to fashion...sometimes a little conservative, but never boring.

Yes, I do have a list of things that Im dying to buy with my weak American dollar when I go back to the states for a visit in a few months, but truth be told, can I make it that long?!?!?!?!? I just can't fatham doing the conversion of the price of a Tori Burch handbag, and when I figure out the price in US dollars, its like double then what I would pay in the States...OUTRAGES!

Window shopping is the worst form of torture...

so, I have decided not to torture myself anymore. After 4 weeks of nearly crying at the Fendi counter at Harrods, I have made the life changing decision...I am going to read...???

Read you ask>? YES!

and no, I'm not talking USWeekly, although I do allow myself to splurge and spend $7.00 on an issue whenever I come across one at a local street vendors. (typically its a week or two old)

So reading it is...I will make my days about reading and not shopping...

First off, The Story Sisters, by Alica Hoffman...I began reading this book last week, when my desire for shopping hit an all time high, and after 3 days I finished the 325 page book about 3 sisters and their life's trials. I found my favorite thing to do is grab a blanket, make myself a little picnic lunch, and head on over to Hyde Park and find a quite tree that I can lean against. And to my surprise, I find myself looking forward to it?!

The book was interesting, the weather ok, the park fun, and my desire for shopping gone (that is until I have to walk past all the shops on High Street Kensington to get home)

Reading, who knew?!...The most reading I ever do is UsWeekly, Elle Decor and Vogue...which has VERY interesting articles!

So, my new book is...I'm a little embarrassed to admit it, in fact when I bought the book I asked for a gift receipt from the checkout girl so she didn't think the book was for me....the New York Times #1 Bestseller, Twilight....and 138 pages into it, and its good!..no, its actually, great!?!

I really hope my reading plan works...although I do still plan on living at Neiman's for a day when I visit home.

Its a cruel, cruel fashion world!

Bath, England

So Viv and I took our first weekend trip away, to Bath, England. Its a unique, old city with buildings made from the local limestone quarry. Its known for its hot spring, which the Romans created into bath spas. There is a splendid Abbey in the center of the city's courtyard and the city had unique Georgian stone crescents. The city is set about 100 miles west of London, in the Somerset countryside.

We took the train to Bath, it took about 1 1/2 hours to get there and upon arriving to the city, we walked to our hotel. We stayed at a cute English style hotel, you know the type..creeky uneven floors, ceilings so low you couldn't wear 2" heels, doors that you had to duck through, bathrooms with faucets that you didn't know how to use, and of course showers that were dark, had lousy water pressure, and made you hit your head if you stood up straight while washing yourself...like I said, a cute English hotel.We were really lucky about our hotels location, basically right in the middle of the tinny town. After dropping off our suitcases and hitting our heads on the ceiling, we walked around the town, in search of a bite to eat. We went straight for 'The Circus.'

The Circus is basically a street in Bath, a round street, with huge trees in the center of it. It is the masterpiece of John Wood 'the elder'. It has striking architecture and although nobody knows why johnny boy designed it this way, its lovely to walk through. So lovely, that Nicolas Cage bought a home on the street...and he paid 4 million pounds a few years ago, so if you do the math, a few years ago, Nic paid 8 million US bucks for his Circus! I wanted to knock on his door, but knew he was away filming in Singapore, thanks USWeekly. So Viv and I decided to have a drink and some marinated olives around the corner from Nic's cheep pad.

After drinks and olives, we headed out to dinner, umbrella open because of the nasty drizzle that never wanted to go away for more then 30minutes, and after a day of travel, olives and curry, we called it a night.

Saturday the sun was shinny and the clouds were white, not gray with rain, thats rare in England. First thing on our list, Starbucks....second thing on our list, the Roman Baths. Just a few streets away from our cute English hotel, the Roman baths were full with tourist. They are England's only hot spring, and the Romans built a magnificent temple and bathing complex that still flows with natural hot water. Its amazing as you walk though this place, just to think that the Romans walked were I was walking, on these ancient stone pavements. The spring, the temple the entire bath is beautifully preserved and the museum does a terrific job interpretating the ruins that aren't all intact. You felt like you could really see how they used this place, how they bathed and used the waters to heal ailments. The tour was great and afterward, we decided to be 'those people', the peeps who go on those double-decker buses and have the nerdy headsets on while the tour guide tells us to look left, then right.

The bus really was a good idea, Viv's idea of course. We really got a feel for the town and learned all kinds of fun facts, aka Nic Cage. We saw Jane Austins place, saw were the Vikings put up walls, saw the lady's house who wrote Frankenstein, learned how Queen Victoria used to visit the baths because it made her skin feel better (she had psoriasis and she only bathed 4 times a year, gross, maybe that's why she has psoriasis?!) we saw Solsbury Hill, aka Peter Gabriel's hit song by that title (he grew up a town away) and crossed 1 of only 3 bridges in the world that has shops on both sides of it (the other two are in Italy; Florence, Venice) After our brains were full of Bath knowledge, we needed a snack, so we headed back to the cute English hotel and had afternoon tea.

Well, I don't really recall much after that...you see I got bloody sick! While Viv and I munched on scones, I felt dizzy and nauseous, so I went back to the room and preceded to be sick the entire night. Poor Viv, he had to be on his own the rest of the day, doing a little more sightseeing on his own, then dinner by himself...I would have much rather been with him, then on the bathroom floor of the cute English hotel.

By the Morning, I was fine. Sunday morning we woke up extra early, due to the fact we had both been in bed by 9pm Saturday night. We woke up to find the entire town still asleep. The local Starbucks wasn't even open yet. Viv and I took advantage of being one of the few people up and got some amazing pictures of the Abbey in the center of town without any tourist in the frame. Then we took a walk up to the 'The Royal Crescent'

The Royal Crescent is one of the worlds best known landmarks. Built between 1767 and 1775 and designed by John Wood, 'the younger'. The crescent contains some 30 houses, one is now the most exclusive hotel in Bath, The Royal Crescent Hotel. We will stay there when we win the lottery. We did get a chance to walk through the lobby of the hotel and into the garden...holy nice-ness..I now understand, just by the courtyard garden why the cheapest room at this joint starts at 400.00 pounds, that's almost $800 US bucks!

After the big Crescent adventure, Viv and I had basically seen the entire town and done all the tourist things. We finished up with lunch at Jamie Olivers, who is one of my mothers favorite celeb chefs, so I made it a point to go to his restaurant. I had delish porage, aka, oat meal topped with honey and nuts. Viv had a typical English breakfast, cold beans, fatty bacon/ham, tomatoes and eggs, a real mans meal. Before we knew it we were back on the train headed home.

If anyone has the chance to visit London, I highly recommend a trip to Bath. Just a short train ride away, its a world away from the hassle and bussel of city life. Its a beautiful and unforgettable place to visit.

Now, next stop.... Dublin!

Pictures left to right:

Part of "The Circus" Nic's pad is in this strip.

Bath in all its Glory. Thats the bridge with shops on both side of the street; 1 of 3 in the world.

The Royal Cresecent. The uber exclusive ritzy hotel is in the dead center.

Me at the Roman Baths with the citys Abby in the background.

Viv at the Roman Bath's, notice how lovely the water looked...makes me want to jump in!

Wimbledon

How fortunate I have been so far as I continue to explore this wonderful city. My experiences got better as Viv and I headed to the 2009 Wimbledon Tennis Championships on Thursday. I have a friend who is a college tennis coach for a prominent Chicago college, and he was kind enough to get me tickets to this years games. It was a hot and sunny day, perfect for a day of lawn tennis. Viv took a half day (very rare) and met me at the courts.

Wimbledon is about a 20 minute tube ride away. The grounds sit right on the River Thames. Wimbledon itself is a huge tennis site. Besides the famous, centre court, there are plenty of other courts, something like 15, some with stadium seating, some with sideline seating, all with grass courts. I have never played nor seen a grass court before, and had totally forgotten that its part of the magic to Wimbledon.

Viv and I watch many matches; a men's match, a mixed doubles match, a junior women's and men's singles match, and the level of their play was amazing. I played tennis in high school and just two years of college, and was so in awe of the level that they played. The juniors were spectacular, just to think they are 15, 16 years old and serving at 115mph was jaw-dropping. Just as interesting as the players, were the ball fetchers (I don't know what they are really called, anyone?) Basically there are these young kids, 9-13 years old who's only job is to retrieve the ball and hand the players tennis balls and their towels when asked..and they do it with military precision. They were like little soldiers on the court. And something else I had not expected but seen on television, were the judges. Every court had a head judge, who sat on top of a high chair overlooking the entire court, announcing the score and making sure the game was played by the rules. Along with the head judge, there were 8 other judges on every court. A judge at basically every line, watching like a hawk, ready to call a ball out. It makes you wonder how a player could ever dispute a call, with so many judges, although each judge had different jobs. There was a base line judge, a judge who watched the serving players foot to make sure he did not serve over the line, and a judge for every other area of the court...and they all wore khaki pants/skirt, a polo top, and a cute paperboy hat, with matching polo treks (that's London talk for sneakers)..and yes, when I say polo, I mean Ralph Lauren was the official wardrobe for the judges, and ball fetchers.

Wimbledon would not be complete without Pimms and strawberry's with cream. And yes, we did both of these. Pimms, delish! It taste like a bubby fruit salad in your mouth. The strawberry's were sweet and the cream cold. Viv and I had lunch at the courtyard. We sat in teak lawn chairs, eating parma ham and mellon with a bottle of white wine...life is good! All around the grounds they were serving anything but carnival food. You would be hard pressed to find something to drink besides champagne, pimms, wine or Evian water. Food choices included duck, prawns, roasted chicken and parma ham. It really was a wonderful and amazing day. Viv and I both left Wimbledon so happy to have been able to attend. It's most certainly English lawn tennis at its best!

1 week and counting...

Can you believe its been 1 week since I arrived to my new home in London? Busy, busy I have been...Lets see, Ive met a bunch of new peeps, mostly Americana's ironically, attended a Killers concert in Hyde Park, gotten lost, been to Bond street, Covent Gardens, Camden market, figured out the tube, learned how to use the dishwasher, the laundry machines, and managed to even understand military time and ask for something at the deli using the metric system...totto, were not in Chicago anymore.

It's certainly a change of pace, everyday is an adventure. When I walk around the city I can't help but have a huge smile on my face. I just never, in a million years, would have thought that I would be living in London. A typical day, so far, is I wake up around 8:00, when Viv is leaving for work, go make a little breakfast of yogurt, scones and of course a 'spot of tea.' I then goof around on the computer, talk to Marcella, the flatmate from Germany. We kind of plan our day together, then get dressed (lots of skirts and tank tops b/c the weather has been in the 30's..aka 80 degrees-see metric system) then head off into the day, stopping for lunch or a snack as the day goes by. Then Im usually home around 5-6ish in the evening goofing on the computer some more and waiting for Viv to return home around 7ish, prepare or go out to dinner, watch a movie on the tv(the British TV sucks) and off to bed at 10-11pm. They are great days, and by the time I return home my feet are soar and nasty dirty from all the walking Ive done.

Pictures from left to right:

Killers concert stage at Hyde Park (aka the Central Park of London)

Marcella and I at Camden Mrkt, we had a police man take this pic..haha

Kensington Palace garden...more lovely in person. The palace is in Hyde Park. Where Dina lived

Me at the food market in Camden. The vendors would yell and scream at you forcing you to try their food tempting you to order lunch from them...I got suckered in and ordered Thai.

Viv at a cafe at Covent Gardens.

Viv and I on our Patio before the Killers concert. We hosted a pre-party so I could meet a few people here in London.