ZOO

I am a really bad blogger. I try really hard, and then I just forget, and I get too busy living life to write about life. I'm sorry, I promise I'll do better, but know that when I'm not writing, I'm having the absolute time of my life.
I've started my job at Rokeby Gallery. It is my absolute dream job. I work a ton, but I'm totally would not have it any other way. The gallery is a small commercial space that represents around 10 artists. My first week of work I was at the ZOO Art Fair, a satellite fair of Frieze. When I wasn't at ZOO I was opening and closing the gallery. (On my own!!) Now that the fairs are over, I'm back to more "normal" days. Whatever that means. It is all such a rush, and I really feel like I've found the place where I just fit.
So. Stoked. Love.My.Job.

oslo, norway

I have been struggling about writing about my trip to Oslo. There is a mentality to not say anything about someone if you don't like them, but my comic life goddess, Kathy Griffin, urges you to talk about people behind their back.

I'm going to talk about Oslo behind its back.

A lot of Oslo is really beautiful.

But, a lot of Oslo is also really scary. (I didn't take pictures of the scary bits--too busy running in the opposite direction.)

We had an interesting couple of days, full of quite a few "cultural" experiences.

Would I recommend that you go to Oslo? No, but if you're absolutely dying to go, and refuse to heed my warning (which includes gang fights, drug deals, and jonesing crack addicts) then stay on the outskirts -- near the kooky sculpture garden and steer clear of the overly touristy water front area and darkness. Trust me.

stockholm, sweden

Stockholm could not have been any more beautiful. It was full of little windy backstreets off the canals. The light just always seemed perfect, and I spent most of the time there drinking coffee and then heading out in awe of how picturesque life can sometimes be.

We were all so excited to be there. So many laughs. I don't know if my sides had hurt that much in such a long time. Cheers to old and new friends making discoveries together.

See what I mean? Words do no justice.

It's a city made up of 14 individual islands surrounded by canals. The architecture, for the most part, is classical in nature, but with Ikea interiors. The best discovery was the Cultural Center. The basement is dedicated to a store selling interior collections of unsigned designers. UNREAL. I was in heaven, and didn't leave for well over an hour. The genius of people continues to blow my mind. I'm ready to go back, no joke. Take me back rightnowplease.

SCANDINAVIA.

I'm currently in the midst of my mid-term exams. They are killing me. Not because they are difficult, they really aren't, but when a semester has been more about exploring and less about studying, that blue book can come as a real shock to you. (Though, interesting fact, here in London, they are RED books. Who would have thought?) Oh well, one down, and one more tomorrow with an 6 page essay getting finished somewhere in between there. The day is young...relatively, and Work Forest has prepared me well in the art of procrastination. Potentially all I've learned in two years. Kidding. Sortofnotreallyatall.
However, after I've wrapped up those tests -- I'm off to Scandinavia. Yes, you read that correctly. I'm off the to the land of the blondes. We're leaving bright and early on Wednesday morning, and by bright and early I mean in the complete dead of night -- read 3am, and get back on Sunday afternoon.
We're planning on living spontaneously, but I'm hoping to get a good look at the fjords just as much as the original Absolut Ice Bar. It will be such an adventure, and my first abroad travel since I landed over a month ago. I absolutely cannot believe I have been here this long, I still feel like I have so much more I want to do.
Never fear, I'm making a London Bucket List and will be updating you as I go. First up after I get back from Sweden and Norway -- services at Westminster Abbey. Life is so sweet.

bronchitis sucks.

I'm sorry for my absence. I've been on "bed rest" with a case of bronchitis. Now, I know that you would think, "Oh, bed rest. Why didn't she blog the entire time?" That would have been asking a lot considering I've been sleeping for approximately 20 hours a day, for the past 5 days. However, in those 4 hours I've been awake each day, I've spent thinking and creating a mental list of all the things I love about England.

1. Ready-Made Food.
The British love their ready-mades. A trip to the Tesco Express is a trip to ready-made world. The sandwiches (my personal favorite being the chicken and honey cured bacon -- obviously), the salads, the curries, the Sweedish meatballs, etc. It's like, no one in this country cooks, they just eat ready-made sandwiches out of little cardboard boxes. Considering my domestic failures (see below) this is for the best.

2. The BBC
Two nights ago I ended up watching the strangest collection of TV -- mind you, with no commercials. It started with Strictly Come Dancing. It was out of control cheese factor. The Brits love nothing more than cheese. The sparkles, the jokes, let me repeat, the sparkles, it was like So You Think You Can Dance on crack. Preceeding Strictly Come Dancing was a comedy show that involved a lot of wine drinking and crude jokes, and was immediately followed by a two hour documentary on the Hidden Nazis. I guess when you only have 5 TV channels in the entire country, it's got to be a bit varied. It's just, wow, that is a lot of different directions in a 4 hour period.

3. Ribena
This is more a take on Britain's obsession with the past. When my granny had bronchitis, her NHS doctor recommended Ribena. When I got bronchitis my NHS doctor recommended Ribena. You'd think in 50 years, there would be a breakthrough. Not the case. You are still recommended to boil your Ribena like a "cup o'tea" and drink it up.

4. The preciousness of School Uniforms
London school uniforms are the most amazing things I've ever seen -- blazers, high socks, oxfords, hats, matching backpacks. The whole bit. I demand we bring this back to the US. When you see them all walking in a row at the National Gallery it's heartbreakingly cute.

5. Yellow Vests
Richard, Holden, and Phil love their yellow vests. All manual laborers, police officers, basically any one and everyone in England wear these NEON yellow vests when at work. The last time my brothers were here, they each bought one, and wear them when working on group projects back home. I thought they were overdoing it. In fact, they are underdoing it. These vests are everywhere. When I was at the London Transport Museum, all the little school children were wearing neon yellow vests to differentiate them from the other children running harrycarry around old buses. Richard loved it.

There are so many things I can't get enough of. This list will be ever growing, but for now, I'm off to watch a documentary on Homophobic Crime in the East End on the BBC while I enjoy a piping hot cup of Ribena.