TEST DRIVE

Little Bess gets one step closer to having a real doggy! Checking it out at John Lewis...
... and at home. Think she likes her new buddy?

Daddy hopes that it is hypoallergenic and doesn't shed.

BLAST FROM THE PAST

I found this today while cleaning up after Bess...she loves to pull everything off of the bookshelves. Finbar and I have been married for five years and together for 13.5. Kind of amazing. And he's just as cute as ever! Sorry, Babe, couldn't resist. Photo credit goes to the fabulous LouLou of Sweden.

DADDY-O COOKS!

Waiting for Daddy's challah french toast - a fabulous family tradition. Hurry Daddy, Hurry!

Chef getting supplies out of our tiny fridge in our messy kitchen.

IT'S BEEN A WHILE

Technical difficulties and lots of travel have kept us from blogging but we're back! Biggest news is Bess is one. We had a fabulous fiesta courtesy of Bo and Steph back home on the East coast.

The caption for this photo is "Crazy in love with Cupcakes." Needless to say, the day of Bess's birthday she required two additional baths. It was that fun!

Since then we've been to the Cotswolds. Ask Finbar about the baby contest if you are interested. Sammy's still too bent out of shape to discuss!

Scotland, our own little Gleneaglet.

And Paris, literally in the shadow of la tour Eiffel.

Now we're back in Notting Hill and very happy. If not a little tired!

MHS REUNION 2006

IT'S HOT

BATH

Had a lovely weekend away in Bath. Sammy, Bess and the Guzzler took the M4. Guzzy did really well. Bess, less so. But alas, we got in and hit a pub where Bess had dinner in the garden with all the other kids of Bath. Finbar finally arrived via train. It took a little going backwards after the train broke down but magically, he got there.

This is what Sammy's evening looked like pre-Finbar's arrival.

Bless whoever invented baby listening. We got to have a nice dinner while Bess was tucked up in bed.

Bath is a beautiful city and we had superb weather. Here's the infamous Royal Crescent. Reminds me a bit of the Long Walk at 'ol Camp Trin Trin.

Saturday was spent seeing the sites and drinking in the pubs. Did I mention Baby listening? Love it. Note to self though: make sure you hang up the phone when you return to your room!!!! Finbar and Sammy drank tea in the garden and read, gasp, books and newspapers. Uninterrupted by a paper-tearing fiend named Bess, it was bliss. Bess was sleeping. She capped off her Saturday in Bath with another dinner in a pub. Yum.

We made our way home on Sunday but no trip in England would be final without a visit to a beautiful village (Castle Combe) or an old landmark, in this case, Lacock Abbey. Beautiful. Oh, and lunch in a pub.

Finbar took the wheel on the way home. It was an eventful drive - a misplaced camper caused a good lot of traffic on the M4. Even the Ferrari had to wait! And of course, Bess started to fret so Sammy climbed in the back seat and we had fun with water bottle and burps!

WARMER WEATHER THAN THE CARIBBEAN, THE MED AND SOUTHEAST ASIA

Move over to our beloved pals in Laos, we're having a heatwave! And we don't have any air-con. Good news is we're all sleeping in the buff (one of us is wearing a bit more, out of necessity!) and we're eating homemade ice pops for dinner - yippee!!!!

THE WEEKEND

The weekend started with a visit to Finbar's office, where Bess crunched some numbers and left behind something stinky (Finbar went to work today and reported back)!

On Saturday night, Sammy and Fin went on an Opera boondoggle in Kent. Got driven there in a phat Merc S (the Guzzy was jealous - but that's another story). Here are Sam and Bess waiting for the sitter - doesn't Sam look smashing? Look closely - Bess has her first fat lip. Crawling accident. Broke our hearts.

Sunday was our pizza / pasta party chez nous. Yum. Then, Fin went to work while Sam and Bess played in the garden and watched Wimbledon. Finbar came home and attacked the ceonothus (aka the California Lilac on Most Wanted posters). Fin isn't much into horticulture, but since this job involved power tools, we let him at it. Good job Fin!

BABY

I have always promised the few faithful readers that I would not make this all about baby. But I just have to share. Bess started officially crawling today. I am gobsmacked! She's been taunting us for some time, rocking on all fours and moving backwards. I was sitting here a few minutes ago typing an email when all of a sudden she was heading for the door (why is it they always know where the door is??!!). I pulled her back to start position and she did it again! Result!

Earlier, she discovered our bookshelves. Ironically, she was in the pregnancy and child rearing section.

SUCCESS WITH HORTICULTURE

I was a bit nervous with my second summer of flower boxes. I did manage to successfully maintain some beautiful heather all winter but you'd really have to be an idiot to kill that stuff. So when it came time to plant some summer flowers, I was nervous. Last year, Mom helped. This year, it was all me. I'm proud to report that my petunias are blooming and below is the proof. I owe a shout out to my lovely neighbor Lester who watered them for me last week while I was Stateside!

Just kidding! That's actually a Gold Medal winner from the Chelsea Garden Show I attended last month! Pretty gorgeous eh? It's Downderry Nursery who specialize in lavender.

Seriously, here are my little petunias.

GB vs. USA

After a week in the States, we have to say that the Union Jack looks pretty good in comparison. However, here’s a list of the things we miss most about the good ole US of A.

10. Service with a smile: No, really, we are paying you for service too!
9. The cost of doing business: In the States, a dollar is a dollar - not a dollar eighty.
8. Mexican food: Don’t believe the hype about Taqueria. Time Out must be getting kickbacks. You just can’t find decent Mexican in London. Nothing beats Burritoville!
7. Soft water: Would it really kill you to soften things a bit? Soap is supposed to lather.
6. Wide streets: Broken side mirror = no fun.
5. Gatorade: There is no substitute! Lucozade is really just carbonated p*ss.
4. NY Post: Defines the tabloid newspaper. Rupert, please duplicate here - your UK publications don't match it.
3. Iced Coffee: Message to Starbucks UK – plastic cup plus ice cubes plus hot java makes a terrible iced coffee. Somehow your US stores got the memo.
2. Shoe shines: Come on folks – they already have cobblers here – would it be so tough to add a bit of polish?
1. OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS.

GRADUATION

Extra, extra, read all about it. OLDS had graduated. As loyal TJ bloggers will recall (and we appreciate your loyalty given our weak posting record this year!), OLDS was given her name to commemorate her drunken sailor look post feed. Well, we are pleased to note that she has indeed outgrown this nickname. I am also pleased to report that she now laughs when her parents burp. But anyhow, on the eve of her 10 month birthday, we’ve renamed her BESS.

PS: Here's a recent picture.

FROM HER TOES TO HER TIARA

Happy 80th Birthday to the Queen. An amazing woman.

ELECTRIC SCREAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I did it. I went to an afternoon movie with OLDS. I had wanted to see Woody Allen's Match Point and missed it for a date night but it was playing at the Electric so off OLDS and I went. The entire theater was full of women and their babies - totally wild. Needless to say, OLDS was a champ until the near bitter end. I left with probably five minutes left in the film as OLDS had had it and rather than go through a meltdown along with 50 other babies, I figured someone could fill me in. Movie - I wasn't so impressed. Good cast, fab locale (London, of course) but rubbish plot. So if any of you have seen it and can fill me in, please drop me a line. Thanks in advance!

THE ELECTRIC.

We saw Walk the Line this past weekend at The Electric Cinema down the road from us. I will never go back to a normal theater. What's better than watching a film on a rather massive and comfortable leather couch while holding a glass of Rioja? Not much. Funny thing is this same uber-theater hosts what they call the Electric Scream - on Monday afternoon you can bring your under 1's to sit on your lap and make as much (or hopefully as little) noise as they want without bothering the greater movie watching population. I plan on trying that soon! What I really want to know is, is the bar open in the afternoon?!!!

FREEDOM

We're back! Happy New Year! Sorry for going radio silent. We've been busy, busy, busy! But alas, we're back. OLDS is starting to move....very exciting.

We had a weekend of naps, eating, walks through Notting Hill and lots of laughs! Can't imagine a better weekend...although a little exercise would have benefitted Sammy and Finbar. (Carrying around our 16.5 lb-meatball doesn't quite cut it.) We recently upgraded from Sky to Sky+. What does that mean? Well, in addition to the 8 million televions channels, we now have TIVO! Having TIVO enabled us to record the last hour of Celebrity Big Brother and watch it at a respectable hour. Yes, we knew by then that Chantelle had won it but that's ok. And getting to fast forward through all the Carphone Warehouse advertisements is worth its weight in pence! We have also lined up many of the old Top Gear's we've missed over the years which makes Finbar particularly happy.

Hope this message finds those of you checking in well. We promise to write more soon. We're brewing up some more top 10 lists we think you'll find amusing.  

ANOTHER TOP FIVE LIST

Why Finbar loves living on the 'bello!

5. People, people and more people. Especially on Saturdays. It is impossible to be lonely.
4. The 'bello has a continuous block improvement program. Real Kaizen style. Once one bit of residential construction is finished, the scaffolding goes up next door! The block will sure look great when it is finished in 2025.
3. Drive-bys by the real BATMOBILE. Kickin' it Bruce Wayne style from the 1970s. I kid you not.
2. Morning serenades from the Queen's Brigade. 20 men on horseback with red helmets clomping down the street. Maybe they are chasing after the Batmobile?
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1. A Christmas Eve bagpiper cruising down the block, flying solo. Just lovely - reminds us of Bo & Stepanie's engagement party.

Happy Holidays everyone, from Finbar, Sammy and OLDS!

OUT OF THE CLOSET AND PROUD

Ok, it's true. I've long been a Mariah Carey fan. So I was excited to read the following. You go, girl!

Mariah ties Elvis with 17th No. 1 single

There. I've said it. I feel better already going into a new year!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FINBAR.

Here's looking at you, kid!