Chile

Last week I was texting with my ridiculous college friend and mentioned I was leaving for Chile that night.  Then this happened.

A few things about Chile

• First time seeing the toilet flush the other way!!! I didn't even realize this until the last day when we spent 9 hours at the airport (more on this later). 
• Mussels at a Seafood market, which literally tasted like I was eating a piece of wood off of Pier 39 in San Francisco, after a seal had lived on it for 30 years. Oh, with a side of barnacles, fo sho. 
• "Where did you guys do last night?" "We went to Harvard and got tanked on Cristal!"  This resulted in one of the worst hangovers of my life - so bad, that our 8:30 am alarm to "go hike and see Santiago" turned into "sleep and do the grandma walk and die of a hangover until 12:30 pm when we had to check out." That soon turned into, let's buy Gatorade and sit on the sidewalk with our bags and drink it for an hour because we're not physically capable of moving anywhere.  Obviously that morphed into... let's go to the airport 9 hours early.  THAT is how badly hanged-over Santiago made us!!!
• The Fatify app is NOT your friend, BUT, you know your friends are keepers when three of you from different completely separate locations in the world send fat booth photos as a way to wish the idiots Happy Thanksgiving.                                                                                                    
• You really need to speak Spanish in Chile.
• It's a very picturesque city (ignore the brown water)              
• Not specific to Chile, but don't go anywhere with people who prank you.  During hour 7 of 9 at the airport, Mike and Tony decided to tell me that you could bring up any item to this lady and she would scan it to tell you if you could bring it on your flight, same way you would ask Siri something.  Why did I believe these two idiots and WHY did I walk up there in front of 100 Chileans seated theater style and make her try to scan it? Thank you Mike, for getting this whole thing on video. (I hate you all.)                                                                                         

Little Rock | Bilary Clinton

Day trip to Miami slash NYC slash Indianapolis turned into a day trip to Little Rock! We went to check out the William J. Clinton Presidential Center, my first presidential library even though Carter's is located right here in Atlanta (tourist day in Atlanta, anyone?)

The museum was awesome, a chronology of Bill & Hilary's lives (ps - I would NEVER recognize Young Bill if not in this context!) and of his presidency.

The itinerary for every day that he was president was also on display - IN.SANE.  Starts with a jog every 'tba' each morning, with every subsequent minute of his day planned out! I don't think the snooze button and "5 more minutes" works very well when you're a president.

We drove around "downtown" Little Rock, and not much going on on a Sunday.  We did make a pit stop to the Central High School (well just the outside), where desegregation happened in the 1950's.  This high school is HUUUUUUUGGGEE, definitely carries a lot of history and is still a functioning high school today.

Such a random place to visit but it was definitely a good 1 day trip - you don't get this kind of history in California and I've always wanted to visit these places via the cross country road trip I'm never going to take. 

4 Augusts.

Today I came to the sudden realisation that I have been in London for the last four Augusts and in Europe for the past five (only because it was Carnival and I was counting in my head the number I've been to). This really started to freak me out because 1) I don't know where I will be in six months time (this is a common theme in my life -- I think I need to get some structure embedded. Seriously) and 2) That's In.Sane.

I have also come to the realisation I haven't been on a plane in -- wait for it -- THREE MONTHS. I'm getting really really antsy, but the good news is I am off to Norway for a weekend in September, unless I am off even sooner to Amsterdam in a few weeks to film a non televised pilot for a dating show my friends submitted an application for me for.  My life is absurd.

Cheers to being 25 and fabulous

So during this ridiculously long blogging hiatus (of 2 years.....), I've magically turned 25, the dreaded quarter century age. And if it were not for my FABULOUS friends from all corners of the earth, it probably would have been the most miserable experience of my life. Instead, it was probably the ultimate best month ever.

First of all, World Cup fever has and still is hitting Europe, and I'm loving every minute of it because it gives me YET ANOTHER reason to hit up the pub. I am, however, missing the fact that during the last world cup I was tanning on the beaches of Greece and doing G-bombs on our hotel roof bar -- probably the ultimate best summer of my life. This one however, is coming pretty close!

To kick off, Kyle & Steve FINALLY made it to the capital after months and months of anticipation, and what better way to welcome their arrival than the England v U.S.A. match?! Vineyard for some lunch, a bottle of champers, a bottle of wine, some Gaymers koolaid look alike beers, off to The Bull for one Jaeger Bomb, and back for infinitely more beers and some football!

[ The wonky idiots at it again ]

[ The Vineyard ]

Monday kicks off French dinner Mondays (for three weeks in a row) at the LOVELY Coq d'Argent in the city. Proper banker Kyle, proper wanker Steve.

Delicious three course meal, A.Ma.Zing ridiculous banter... "we should do this everyday!" My favourite kind of flash is slow synchro flash.

I'm pretty sure we were the funnest table in there.

Cheers to celebrating Dana's birthday, Stef's birthday, out of town visitors, being fabulous... ohhh, and..life?! When is our life NOT a celebration? Come on now...

So much of a celebration that Dana wanted to get hammered on a Monday ...

[ Dana & I - I don't think I see enough of her...]

[ Steve, the proper wanker ]

[ View of the City from Coq d'Argent]

Clearly, having Kyle in town for a week meant three things.

1) St. Pauls up the wazoo

2) Members Room like there's no tomorrow.

3) Blurb

I got to experience Kyle full out on Tuesday. Members room for Blurb book sharing hour, photoshoot from the outside deck, AND evensong at St. Paul's... and the cherry on top? Getting plastered at the C&B in Paternoster Square.

[ Blurb book sharing hour with the most fabulous building in the back ]

The best part of the week though? Definitely would have to be Royal Ascot, Ladies Day, in the Royal Enclosure.

10am and we meet at Waterloo station, champers (all like 7 bottles of it) in hand, me and Dana have enough medicine and toiletries to climb Mt. Everest, and we are off to get hammered for the day. Literally. Pics are pretty self explanatory, especially Dana's nap and the fact that we didn't recognise 90% of the pics after they were taken. PLUS, we didn't win any money. Well Dana and I didn't. The boys did.

[ The boys. Who had to take care of Dana and I. Massively. Thanks lovelies. ]

[ Holman waiting for his mum to pick him up after a day of school in Eton. Precious. ]

[ Would you rather saw off your own leg, or never see the queen again? ]

I have no idea this was possible, but after a 14 hour drink and fun fest, I went to work, then met up with everyone @ Anexo for Dana's birthday drinks.. Happy 25th Daners. HTXL defined to the max.

So of course, our Wenlock Arms /Zoo Bar Saturday plans got scrapped, partially because Dana was being a bummer (and ridiculously hungover, not suprisingly) who didn't want to come out on Saturday but suggested Zoo Bar on a Sunday. (!??!) So we decided to play it low key at the 19th top ranked Time Out London pub (or something like that) -- Charles Lamb, with none other than Jarmon's cousin, Elizabeth -- the original teller of the Pipo story.

[ Rapunzel yelling at Kyle from my bedroom window haha! ]

[ Kyle & Elizabeth ]

Sunday Primrose Hill -- gorgeous views of Regents Park and of London, pictures honestly do not do this place justice, it's definitely something you have to experience for yourself. Probably one of the funnest banter sessions I've had recently, maybe even ever. If I haven't said it before, I have the world's wonkiest most spontaneous ridiculous hilarious posh friends and I'm loving every minute of it!!

And on the actual day of my 25th Birthday...

I just can't express enough how much I love how all my crazy friends!!

Dinner @ Le Mercury, the old, the new, the roommates. Best birthday ever!

And of course in true S.Zed fashion, birthday celebrations don't end the night of your b-day, even if you've had too much wine, tequila, BVC's and are dying the next day... which paid off, because I got to see VENUS & SERENA WILLIAMS play COURTSIDE at Wimbledon!!!

[ I think this was only the second day of Wimbledon, and there was already a massive tent queue for the finals or whatever specific match they are trying to get into. ]

Still not the end of my birthmonth celebration, more events to come in a later post! 

xx