Sunday 29 November - Friday 11 December

Thursday Eya and I did some shopping. We wandered around Oxford Circus looking for gifts. The tube stations were packed with people! Oxford Circus is a huge shopping street and really the only section of town with stores that stay open late for people to do Christmas shopping, so it gets really busy.

Friday I didn't have to go to class. I went to Pret A Manger to use their free WiFi. I applied to 2 jobs in NYC!!! After a few hours I went back home and Bridget, Eya and I decided what we wanted to do for dinner. Eya hadn't been to Ping Pong (a dim sum restaurant) yet so we decided to go there. Dinner was excellent (tiny morsels of deliciousness as the menu says!), I could eat there all the time! After dinner we walked next door to an 80's club called Reflex. Christine had been there a couple of times and said it was really fun. It was pretty funny inside. Top Gun was playing on all of the TV's and some people were dressed up in neon, leg warmers, etc. We went downstairs to the bigger bar and dance floor. They had props you could buy behind the bar-like wigs, Madonna-esque cone bras, sunglasses. I've never been to the Breakfast Club at home, but from what people told me, that is what it reminded me of. We ordered a "shared drink"-a Long Island that came in a HUGE martini glass. After a while we walked back towards home and stopped at Beduin for a little before heading back home.

Saturday I went with Chelsea and Brian to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. We left a little late (especially for a Saturday) because it was really crowded when we got there. We couldn't get anywhere near the gates but we were able to see the guards march through the street. I went home for lunch and then headed out with Eya and Bridget. We took the train to Depford to go to the other Cockpit Arts Open Studio location. There were some repeat designers. I was able to see Emma Nissim's space which was really cool-her stuff is so cute!

Afterwards we took the train to Hyde Park to check out the Winter Wonderland-a German Christmas market. It was pretty rainy out so it wasn't really fun to walk around, but it seemed pretty cool. There were a lot of rides and German food and stalls with people selling things. We headed back home and ordered some Chinese for dinner so we wouldn't have to go back out! Eya and I decided we wanted to go back to Beduin so we headed there around 12 AM. We know the host now (not sure what a host does at a lounge, but he doesn't get you drinks :P however, we do get in free!!!). We did meet the manager that night and finally got a free drink....or two!!!

Sunday Eya and I took the tube to Liverpool Street to go to Petticoat Lane and Spitalfields Market. She found some things for her mom which was awesome! They have a wedding to go to next month-a few days worth of parties too! We went back into the city and had dinner at Wagamamas before heading home.

Work was pretty busy this past week too. Rachel and Sarah are scheduled to go to China the weekend of the 12th and won't be here for my last week at Braintree :( I was finally able to meet Tara, who is like Braintree's Creative Director. She does a lot of things for the website and email and also style's for the catalog and other promotional work. I'm going to work with her this week! I can't wait-she is really cool and creative and I just can't wait to see her work and talk to her about everything I've been doing. I'm scheduled to work with her this Wednesday. I'm going to her house for a photoshoot for of the women's Spring samples for PR use.

Chelsea and I went out Monday night to Knightsbridge (Harrod's tube station stop) to look around the shops for a change of scenery from Oxford but everything was closed! It was only 8 PM! So we took the tube to Oxford Street and wandered around there for a bit. Tuesday night we went to Oxford again with Chrsitine. She was looking for a dress for her work Christmas party. She found a cute one at Mango. Afterwards we went to Nando's for some dinner.

Wednesday I received the Christmas clings for the store! I didn't have time to leave work and put them up though because I had to get the showroom ready for an appointment the next day.

Thursday I went to Camden in the morning to put the clings in the shop window. I met Asher, the new shop girl from Australia. The clings look really cute!!! I can't wait to see the windows all done-I'm really excited and anxious. I'm sad that I won't be in London when they're finished but at least they will be done and I'll be able to get pictures.

I went back home and got ready to meet everyone from Braintree at Green Park tube station. We were going out for our Christmas dinner/farewell party for me! First we went to the Winter Wonderland. We had lots of mulled wine and German sausages. Then we all went on the Free Fall ride which was terrifying! The first fall is so scary, they just leave you hanging up there forever!!! Around 945 PM we headed to a Lebonese restaurant called Noura. We order mezze, which are small sharing dishes, much like tapas in Spanish cooking. The food was amazing. They had mainly lamb and vegetarian dishes. Everything was really, really good. I didn't get home until after 1 AM.

Friday I went to my last class! Alan asked us to email him when we got back home to let him know how we readjust to going back and all that. After lunch, we went to have tea at Liberty. While we were waiting to be seated I saw some girls walk by and realized they were Daisy Lowe and Pixie Geldof! I was so excited!!!!! They were just wandering around, doing some shopping!!! They are both socialites/models/daughters of musicians. We sat down and order afternoon tea for two. It came with a 3 tiered tower of cakes and scones. Everything was yummy!!! The tea was really good too and everything was very cute.

After tea we wandered around the store some more. I saw a short haired blonde woman and heard her speak and thought to myself "that kind of sounds like Pink" and I said it to Chelsea too and right as I said it she looked right at us! It WAS her! We were 3 feet away from PINK!!!!! We didn't know what to do!!! It was crazy!!! THEN, after wandering around the store some more, I saw this very skinny girl walking around with what looked like a personal shopper. I recognized her face, but couldn't place it right away until I got a good, straight on look at her. She was a freaking Victoria Secret model! 3 sightings in 1 store!!!!!! It was insane!!!!

We wandered around the area some more and ended up in Piccadilly Circus. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant, which was really good. Then we headed back home. Eya, Bridget, Chelsea and I went out to On Anon in Piccadilly (the same place Eya and I went to on Thanksgiving). It was pretty crowded and a lot of fun again.

Sunday 22 November - Saturday 28 November

I’ve been able to accomplish more on the windows!!! I’m working with another graphic designer to develop the artwork for the windows. Work has been pretty steady, constantly doing things. Thursday was THANKSGIVING! In the morning, Bridget and I went to Borough Market and grabbed another amazing grilled cheese. Then we headed to St. Paul’s. We walked around inside for a while and then went to climb the stairs to go to the top. There were soooooooooooooooo many stairs. And a lot of them were little, long steps, which made it a lot worse, constantly compensating for the height you’re used to. The good thing was that they gave you breaks. After the first set of stairs, you come to the Whispering Wall. You can sit at one part of the wall and whisper into the wall and the sound will travel around the wall and the other person will be able to hear you! It doesn’t work well when there are a lot of people, you need to be closer together. After that you go up more stairs until you get to the first outside part. The view was awesome; you could see the whole city. One last set of stairs brings you to the very top. We walked down to the bottom and went downstairs to have some tea in the café.

We wandered back home and hung out there until we had to get ready for Thanksgiving dinner! We had tickets for the Medieval Banquet, which is like a fancier Medieval Times. We were told people dressed up a lot in medieval dress and you could rent costumes there. But we decided to just dress in our own clothes. We got there around 7 PM and were greeted at the door by guards. We went inside and took our seats. People were getting into their rented costumes and some of the staff/cast were walking about.

Eventually the festivities started and our Beer Wench (!!!) told us how we should “ask” her for more wine and beer and anything else we needed. If you run out of beer or wine you hold up the jug and scream “Wench!!!” and she’ll come running. The dinner was a 4-course meal, with utensils, and plenty of bread, beer and wine. While we ate, there was a sword fight, jugglers, and singing. It was pretty entertaining and the food was ok, not Thanksgiving, but it was good.

After dinner, Eya, her friend Eveon, Chelsea’s boyfriend’s sister Amy, and I decided to meet up with Harry and his brother Grant at On Anon in Piccadilly Circus. We took a cab there and it dropped us off right out in front of the club. We were ushered into a line by a promoter straight away. Once we got inside, we needed to walk around to find Harry and Grant. The club was HUGE. We went up one set of stairs and we were in a room with different music and a bar (no Harry and Grant though). We went back downstairs and walked around the main bar to another set of stairs. Once up that set, we walked and walked and walked and walked, passing bar after bar and different sections of the club. It was crazy-it never ended! Finally, turning another corner we saw them hanging out on a couch in front of a bar. It was college night so some drinks were half price-vodka soda (vodka seltzer in the US, they don’t call it seltzer here, they have no idea what that means. Story I forgot to tell you guys! One night when I was out I accidentally order a vodka seltzer. I’ve been really good at ordering vodka soda the entire time I’ve been here because I knew that’s what they called it. When I ordered it the incorrect way, the bartender looked at me, started making the drink then said, “You’re lucky I’ve worked in America, otherwise no one would know what you’re talking about.” I was like ooooohh, I’ve been so good this whole time!!! Oh well) was only £3-AWESOME!!! After hanging out for a while we went up another set of stairs and were in a dance area with a DJ. Music was great and we danced the whole night! We got home after 3 AM-I felt bad for Amy because she had to get up very early to catch a train to Paris :P

I got up to talk to Alan on Friday. I skipped my first class. He had told me about Cockpit Arts Open Studios a while back. Cockpit Arts is an organization that offers studio space to small designers. A few times a year the studios are opened to the public where you can buy the designers’ goods and see the space where they make everything. He was excited I remembered about it and decided to come along with me, which I was happy about because I probably wouldn’t have been able to find my way to the building.

It was £5 to get in and the ticket was good for the Cockpit Arts Holborn and Depford locations. There was a lot of jewelry, which I expected, because tons of people make jewelry (learned that from Lexi Lu!). It was cool to see the looms, screen printers, and other tools the designers used to make everything. I looked for Emma Nissim, who is a designer with a store in Greenwich Market. She screen prints on bamboo tees and sells Braintree clothing and accessories. She wasn’t at the Holborn location though, so I would have to look for her the next weekend at the Depford studios.

Saturday, Eya and I took the bus to Greenwich Market. We went into the Emma Nissim store. I talked to her for a while and told her I worked for Braintree and that I was from NJ and looking for work in NYC. She said that she would love to open a store eventually in NYC, that that was always a dream of hers. Definitely a good contact to keep! If she opened a shop in NYC that looked like the one in Greenwich it would do really well-its really cute, cozy, eclectic-would definitely fit in with the downtown scene.