Mind the Bloody Gap

So this year for my birthday, my amazingly fabulous hubby decided that it would be a good idea to get me something pretty special: tickets to see Doctor Who Live. Now for some 28 year olds this would not be the best present in the world but for me, I could not have been more excited. The show was basically a live action version of the TV show with an orchestra on stage as well as an alien battle. Oooohhhh yeah.

The show was on the evening of October 16th and I had been sick the entire previous week. We took the train out to Wembley and I pumped myself with as much cold meds as I could handle. Walking up to the arena was such a fun sight. There were all these little boys and girls dressed up as Doctor Who. They were wearing suit jackets, bow ties and suspenders. They were all so adorable.

After purchasing my obligatory T-shirt and program we stepped into the massive arena and walked right up to the SECOND ROW BABY!!! Oh yeah. One row back from all the action, but one of the coolest things about this performance was that all the aliens walked through the aisles to get to the stage. Now guess who was sitting in an aisle seat? (thumbs pointing at me) THIS GUY. I could have touched all the aliens. It was kinda a big deal. The show itself was so much fun and I couldn't have asked for a better night..sniffles and all :)

Now if you are a Doctor Who fan you will love the video I've put together. Its little snippets of the show so you deffo won't understand the plot but its still pretty amazing. If you haven't seen the show its a good introduction to this brilliant program.

Oh and as a side note. There was this adorable little boy sitting behind us who you can hear a couple times throughout this. When the weeping angels are there he says "Daddy I don't like it, I don't like it" And in the second clip with the Clockwork Robots he holds up his toy sonic screwdriver, points it at one of the robots and yells "I GOT ONE" He was just the sweetest little thing.

Hope you enjoy

So as some of you may have seen on facebook, I was ecstatic to find out that the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie is being filmed here in Greenwich. The film crew has taken over the university which is a 15 min walk from my front door!!!! So I decided that I should go and check out the scene to see what was going on. When I got there it was clear that they were still working on the set and filming had yet to start. They had security walking around but they didn't care at all if people started taking pictures so below I've got a few of them for you to take a gander at. And don't you worry. There will be much more to come.


Oh yeah. The horses are here. Johnny's bum may ride on one of these bad boys.

Part of the set. I think its great seeing all the scaffolding and fake buildings :)


Flags hanging between the campus buildings

The dining area for the whole cast.

Giant blue screen set up to block out the non-piratey looking street in the background.

A random little set. I think they did a great job and it looks real until you walk behind it and see its just the face of the building. :)

More blue screens set up to block out modern day London

So here is a video from when we headed out to Royal Ascot. Ascot is a very famous horse race thats been going on for almost 300 years. If you've ever seen the movie My Fair Lady its the race they all go to and all the heads turn when the horses run by. I felt just like Audrey.

We had tickets for the Royal enclosure which is the swanky prestigious area that the queen sits in too. Oh yeah......I'm that cool. I roll with the queen. The dress code is strictly enforced, for women only a day dress with a hat or fascinator (big feathers in your hair) is allowed and there are rules about the length of the dress and women can't show bare midriffs or shoulders. Men have to wear a black or grey morning dress (suit with vest and tails) and top hat.

We had such a fun time. The pimms and champagne flowed freely and I can't tell you the last time I laughed so hard. Thanks for making it a great day Sarah, Gemma, Michael, Guy, Lucy and Andy!!!

So again I've been very lax about updating this thing but as usual life gets in the way.

Here is an old video that I took maybe 6 or 7 months ago. Totally forgot about it and then found the video the other day. Loves it. So this is of the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge. Many people think that the famous bridge you see in all the pictures is actually London Bridge but its not, it's actually called the Tower Bridge. So sorry Fergie...When you're London Bridge comes down it doesn't look nearly as cool as you would think :)

And another thing. I speak about how Henry VIII switched over to the "church of London". Yeah...doesn't really exist. I meant the church of England.

Hope you enjoy!!!

So last post I showed you around some parts of the V&A and this week we're looking at my 2 favorite sections of the museum. The theatre and fashion/jewelery areas!!! Strangely enough I think these would be Joel's least favorite parts :)

Hope that you enjoy!!!

So today we venture to the Victoria and Albert museum. Its named after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and it was founded in 1852 ( ya know...4 years after Wisconsin was declared a state :). Its a wonderful museum that focuses on decorative arts and design and you could spend an entire day there and not even see a snippet of the 4.5 million objects housed there. It is my favorite museum in London and today I'll be walking you through some of the amazing galleries.

Oh and as for the music. I'm still quite Eurovision crazy so the first song is the winning one from Germany and the second one is the song from Lithuania. Hope you enjoy!!!

Well the final show was outstanding! First the evening started out with a quite sad episode of Dr. Who. Sad but outstanding as usual. Then there was 3 hours and 15 mins of fabulous Euriovision final. About 125 million people throughout the world watch the show including 3 people at the Stone-Kilsdonk household (and the third of course is Sarah. My sister by decision :). The show was great, performance after performance. One thing that was pretty cool was that while the votes were being tallied at the end, they did a flash mob throughout Europe. I don't know if you all know what a flash mob is but its where a large group of people suddenly assemble in a public place and perform something random. They had choreographed dances all over in places like france, england, germany, lithuania, estonia etc. It was really cool. And then they had the entire crowd at the arena perform a dance too. Pretty sweet.

The winner turned out to be Germany which was alright by me. Its a great song by Lena called Satellite. Really catchy and gets stuck in your head. She won by quite a landslide. I still would have liked Belgium to win but they still did well so that's alright. The other top 10 countries went in this order.

1	Germany	Lena	Satellite	246
2	Turkey	maNga	We Could Be The Same	170
3	Romania	Paula Seling & Ovi	Playing With Fire	162
4	Denmark	Chanée & N'evergreen	In A Moment Like This	149
5	Azerbaijan	Safura	Drip Drop	145
6	Belgium	Tom Dice	Me And My Guitar	143
7	Armenia	Eva Rivas	Apricot Stone	141
8	Greece	Giorgos Alkaios & Friends	OPA	140
9	Georgia	Sofia Nizharadze	Shine	136
10	Ukraine	Alyosha	Sweet People	108

I'm ok with the top 10 other than Georgia, Armenia and Denmark. Armenia and Denmark got votes because of hot female singers. But as for Denmark...I am just kinda baffled on that one.



So I thought it might be fun to go back and show you a couple of past winners of Eurovision so you can see the range of acts that win.

1988 - Celine Dion. Oh yes. The lovely lady herself won Eurovision before she became famous...and surprisingly she won even though she wore that skirt and had that haircut. I guess it was the 80's after all.

1974 - Abba. If it weren't for this contest, the world would not have the addictive melodies of our favorite Swedes. Man do I love this song.

2006 - Lordi. Ok. If you haven't watched any other video that I've posted, this should be the one you watch. These are the winners from Finland and I kinda sat with my mouth open when I first saw it. Its pretty freaking amazing.

Sooooooooo. After moving here to england I realised that there aren't that many great english shows on television. A lot of the television thats shown here is actually from america. There isn't an hour a day where you can't find an episode of friends, scrubs or CSI. There are a few select shows that stand out in my mind. These shows are Doctor Who, Secret life of a call girl, Heston's Feasts, Snog Marry Avoid, Bargain Hunt, Iron Chef UK, Masterchef and How clean is your house.

Now I had heard little mumbles and grumbles about this little show that comes on once a year called the Eurovision song contest. I had been told by many that due to my "allegedly" cheesy nature, I would fall in love with this show. My god were they right. I have officially become obsessed with this show. So far there have been 2 semi-final events. They started with 39 contestants and after the semi-finals its down to 25. There are a couple rules. 1. Each country can only have 6 people on stage. 2. You cannot vote for your own country. Helps out countries that have less people like Azerbaijan (who I had actually never heard of until the countries name showed up.) Entertainment, Glitter, Cheesy-ness and Education. Man is this show good.


The final is on tonight and I cannot WAIT to watch it. I have a few favorites so far and I've posted the links for you to see them.


Belgium - Me and my guitar (this is my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Greece - Opa (seriously this is so fabulously greek. I freaking love it)

Romania - Playing with Fire (This is my other favorite to win)

Turkey - We could be the same (I like the metal robot lady)

Iceland - Je ne sais quoi (gay bar anthem anyone?)

Ukraine - Sweet People (very evanessence)

Albania - Its all about you (just gets stuck in your head)


So there are 5 coutries who don't need to compete in the semi-finals, they're just automatically in the final. For 4 of these countries (Germany, United Kingdom, Spain, France) its because they contribute so much money to the production of the show. Now as for Norway, the fifth country automatically in, they were the winners last year and since the show is held in the country of the previous winner, that country is automatically in. So I haven't seen any of these entries live yet but there are two that I think I'm really gonna like.

Germany - Satellite ( I think she sounds like regina spektor)

France - Allez Ola Ole (sounds like a perfect world cup song)

But they also have songs like these and sadly these songs have not made it into the final. It kinda breaks my heart that the dutch and lituanian songs didn't make it through to the final. (the finland one bites but had outstanding cheese factor so had to be shown)

Netherlands - Sha la li (this was written by father abraham...the dude who did the smurf theme song)

Finland - TYÖLKI ELLÄÄ (ahhhhh what)

Lithuania - Eastern European Funk - (you gotta love guys in sparkly shorts)


Don't worry. I promise to let you know who the winner is. I am so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry its taken me awhile to post something on here. I was out of town and then kept on pushing things off. I've given myself a slap on the wrist...don't worry.

So on my last post I told you that I was able to go home to visit Wisconsin for a little while and it was actually perfect timing! My sister had a beautiful baby girl while I was staying there. It was actually a dream come true because I got to see her wonderfully big and pregnant and then I was home while she gave birth. Now I have a beautiful little niece...Miss Cora Elizabeth Kilsdonk Vack. She was born on April 18th, weighed 8 lbs 6 ounces, and was 19 inches long. She was born with a full head of hair and is the most beautiful little lady I have ever met!

Kris and Nate, Hope you like the little video I've done. I am so happy for you two and am so proud to have her as my niece!

Soooooooooooo. My parents are absolutely amazing and as an early birthday present they are FLYING ME HOME TO COME VISIT IN 3 DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am beyond ecstatic to be able to come home for a little while and see everyone...I just cannot wait. Since I found out that I've been coming home I'm pretty sure that Joel thinks that I've acquired acute Tourette's because every so often I randomly shout out things that I've missed and I'm can't wait for again. Other than friends and family of course, here is a list of things that this little lady is very excited about.

1. Cheddar and Sour Cream Baked Lays - best freaking chips in the universe. Bar none.

2. Sprecher Root Beer - they attempt to make "root beer" over here. Do not be fooled people, it is brown cough syrup in a bottle.

3. Crispy Bacon - Bacon in england is like thick fatty ham. Dis-gust-ing.

4. TARGET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I miss Target so much. I miss massive american stores that have everything you want in them. None of this going to 10 stores to get what you need malarkey.

5. La Fuente, Cafe Hollander, P. F. Changs. How I have missed thee oh bountiful restaurants. It is only but days til we dine together again.

6. Pre-made dessert in a tube/roll such as cookies and pillsbury cinnamon rolls. These are both non-existent in england and to me that is a crime punishable by a stern slap on the wrist.

7. Pancakes or french toast for breakfast - English breakfast consists of the following. Sausage, fried mushrooms, hash browns (in a weird triangular shape), gross thick bacon, fried tomato, toast and baked beans. I do love me a full english but I cannot wait to douse everything in Aunt Gemima.

8. Minute Rice. Previous to coming here, I had never made rice of the non-minute kind and good lord, why walk the steps when you can zip on up in the elevator.

9. American Television - mainly TLC, Bravo and the Food Network. My life has been miserable without you and I may develop carpal tunnel from flipping between these 3 channels.

and last but not least

10. Having people understand the meaning of what I say. No more calling french fries Chips, chips Crisps or zucchini Courgette. No more mentioning the romantic subleties of the Humpty Dance and having people stare at me with no knowledge of the booty shaking groove. No more having to give the definition of a douche bag or having to explain what Preparation H is and why it "does feel good...on the whole" :)

See you on tuesday America!!!!

So I don't know if any of you know about my slight obsession with a little english show called Dr Who. I couldn't describe the show better so I stole a synopsis from Wikipedia "The programme depicts the adventures of a mysterious, humanoid alien known as the Doctor who travels through time and space in his spacecraft, the Tardis, which normally appears from the exterior to be a blue 1950s British police box. With his companions (hot young ladies) he explores time and space, faces a variety of foes and rights wrongs." Basically a science fiction lovers Mecca and I have come to accept my science fiction nerd status with pride.

This love affair started when I was a little girl and my dad introduced me to the show on PBS. The Doctor that I grew up on was Tom Baker. I remember him with a curly afro, a red scarf, and a pocket full of Jelly Babies (kinda like gummi bears). The whole family loved the show and my sister and I even have Dr Who shirts from back in the day. I remember driving around and pretending that the big cylindrical traffic cones were Daliks (the doctors mortal enemy). We used to duck down in the car so they wouldn't see us and exterminate us :)

The show started on BBC in 1963 and so far has gone through 11 different actors playing the Doctor. Conveniently, when the doctor is "dying", he regenerates and comes back with a different face...hence the 11 different doctors. Yesterday started the beginning of a new doctor named Matt Smith and I have obsessively been waiting for this for months. We get a local paper and right on the front page, there was an article about how BBC was promoting the new series in Woolwich. So Joel and I hopped on a train and headed there to see what they had going on. As suspected, everyone there was an adult...accompanied by their young children but we still had fun. They had 3D previews of the new show, free stickers and tattoos. Then one of the coolest things ever happened, they brought out a scarecrow and a CYBERMAN!!!! And yes, other than a mom, I was the only adult to get my picture taken with them bit I don't care. IT WAS AWESOME!!!

We actually had people over for a roast dinner last night and whether they liked it or not, we all sat in silence and watched the series begin with an awesome episode. I'm really liking the new Doctor (pictured below) although no-one can replace my David Tennant. Really looking forward to this new season (especially because his companion is a red head..and we rule) Its on the Sy Fy channel in the states so please watch it if you get a chance. You will wait for the Tardis to show up in your backyard too!

So I know its been awhile since the last entry but I've been busy running amok with my lovely friend Leigh-Anne who came out to visit from Boston. It was really nice having her here especially since she came bearing tootsie rolls, peanut butter M&M's and cheetos!!! We did loads of fun stuff and here are some of the highlights. My fav thing of the week was going to see Legally Blonde the Musical. It was such a fun clever show. Really really worth going to see if you get the chance. We did lots of shopping on Oxford street and at Westfield Mall....and as Leigh-anne said "She single handedly boosted the UK economy". :) We had fun nights out drinking at Reflex (80's bar), Walkabout (an australian pub) and the Firestation (a bar...not an actual firestation although a pole between floors would have been fun!).

We made it down to Guildford to visit our friend Gemma and had a great day. We went through a little town called Shere where the movie "The Holiday" was filmed. If anyone has seen the show Top Gear, we went to a pub in Shere that is owned by The Stig!!! And he was there so we chilled and had a drink in the same room as the him. How cool is that!!! We did a Harry Potter Walk throughout London and got to see places where the movies were filmed. Because of this we were in the magical spirit and managed to watch 4 Harry Potter movies while she was here! Wingardium Leviosa!! All in all it was a very fun week so thanks for coming out Leigh-Anne :)

The video I have for you today is from Borough Market. It has become one of my fav markets here. Any kind of fresh food that you could possibly want. It really is a fun place and I've taken you on a little trip through it. Hope you enjoy!!!

Sorry I haven't posted anything for awhile and I'm sorry to say but it will be a bit longer before I post anything else. I currently have my friend Leigh-Anne over here from Boston and we are doing our best to run amok through London. I promise I will record some of the adventures for you to follow along with. Today we're off to Borough and Greenwich markets and then tonight......THE NEW ALICE IN WONDERLAND MOVIE!!! Very excited to see it. Hope you're all doing well and I'll be back soon!

So one part of Greenwich that I unfortunately haven't added to this video is the Market. There is one small market alongside the street that is all great antiques/kitsch stuff. You never know what you're going to find there and I comb the tables hoping to spot that prize find that will give me my moment of fame on Antiques Road Show...Probably not gonna happen though considering the last time I went there I wanted to buy a brightly colored kitschy vase and a black ceramic bulldog. Could have been owned by the queen...you never know :)

The main market in Greenwich is just fabulous. Its filled with crafts, vintage book/record stalls, jewelery, clothing, and a food section that's to die for. Some of the things that we've purchased at the market: 1. asian anime pictures for the hallway 2. a poster that is a version of the tube map where it shows haunted stations, spots effected by the plague, and bombed stations during the war 3. Baby clothes for my new faux nephew Kailen...and future baby clothes for my sister's little bundle of joy that I will spoil rotton. 4. A beaded giraffe. Thats just a taste of things that can be purchased and there are just so many more interesting things to find. I just feel so lucky to live a 15 min walk away. And since the weather is FINALLY getting nice I swear I'm going to be down there every single weekend.

Oh and apparently I was obsessed with saying stunning when I made this video...I think I said it like 10 times. So please stunningly enjoy this stunning video of stunning things.

So this week I thought I would take you on a walk through Greenwich where Joel and I have settled down. It's an amazing little town outside of London that is not connected to London by the tube. To get out to where we live you have to take the overground train or the DLR (Docklands Light Railway)

So here is a picture of the London tube map link. The DLR is listed on this map and it is in the lower right hand corner. Its the line represented by the two double teal lines. If you look down to the station that says Deptford Bridge...thats home sweet home.

Its a lovely little area with a market thats open every wednesday through sunday. They have all sorts of arts and crafts and AMAZING food stalls. Over this past weekend, Sarah and I had the most outstanding teriyaki salmon pretty much in the entire universe. I did a survey and two out of two people agreed :) There are a lot of pubs, restaurants (including pizza express), clothing shops and a ton of great little kitschy places. It really is such a lovely area and we have fallen in love with it. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!






So this is the first half of the Greenwich walk and I'll post the next video shortly.

I was on facebook the other day and I saw that someone I’m friends with on there (who is much younger than me) had done one of those cheesy lists where you put up the guys you think are hot. This got me thinking about all the guys I thought “were like totally hot” when I was younger. I can remember buying Bop and Tiger Beat to see pictures of them and yes I did hang their pictures up all over my walls. I have thought long and hard about this one and I think I have a pretty comprehensive list of the stud muffins I had super crushes on :)

Hunks of my childhood

1. JTT (Jonathan Taylor Thomas) - Home Improvement and the voice of Simba in the Lion King. I mean come on…to an 8 year old girl he was a dreamboat.

2. Jonathan Brandis – Ladybugs, Seaquest and Neverending Story 2. I have to share this love with my sister because I think she may have liked him a slight bit more than me but let me tell ya…I never missed an episode of seaquest.

3. Brendan Frasier – Encino Man. Again I think my sister edged me a bit on that one but how can you resist the charms of a man who says “Check out Fresh Nugs, wheezin' the juice”

4. James Marsden – Second Noah. You may not remember this show because it was on for like 2 seasons but that was more than ample time for me to fall in love with those baby blues.

5. Devon Sawa – Casper and Now and Then. The blonde hair, the big lips, the freckles…who didn’t want to be Christina Ricci at the end of Casper?!?!

6. Joey Lawrence – Blossom. WHOA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Open shirts…leather jacket…great hair. Need I say more.

7. Leonardo DiCaprio – Romeo and Juliet. This movie made me memorize Shakespeare in hopes that he would show up at my window. And yes…I had the picture of him through the fish tank hanging up on my wall just like the rest of you did. Oh and PS: this movie soundtrack was the best EVER!

8. John Stamos – Full House. Oh Uncle Jesse. I realize that I was very young and that our love would have been illegal in every state (perhaps not Kentucky) but that didn’t stop me from loving that perfect coif. Have Mercy!

9. Dean Cain – Lois and Clark. Its Superman. How can you not be in love with a man who prances around in spandex all day?!?!?! And hello that body…beefcake city.

10. John Travolta - Grease. Now I know this movie came out before I was even born but we used to watch it and sing along ALL the time. You know you've all wanted to go for the bad boy at some point, and this one could sing and dance!!!! "Tell me about it, Stud"

11. Andrew Keegan + Jonathan Jackson – Camp Nowhere. I think my sis and I may have rented this VHS from blockbuster like 20 times. You may not remember the movie but I thought the two main boys were just dreamy.

12. Dalton James - My Father the Hero. One of my favorite movies of all time. Don't know if I would go through the lengths Katherine Heigl went to win him, but I wanna go to an island and fall in love with Ben too!!! "The way you laugh makes me heart soar"

13. Jared Leto – My So-Called Life. Jordan Catalano. I have officially saved the best for last because I really did think I was in love with Jordan. I know this show was only on for one season but I wanted to be Angela and man did I want to go to the boiler room to make out with him too!!! “Your cuticles look like little half moons”