Week in the Life 2011: Thursday

I'm a few days late, but my friend Liz shared her photos for a project called "Week in the Life" and I decided to join in.  I thought it would be a great way to commemorate this last month of our life before it will change in a big way with the arrival of Baby Nam.  Here's the breakdown of my first day on the project.  More photos of today are in my flickr set.  What did you do today?  Let me know if you're doing the project too - I'd love to see your week in photos!

 

my first stop in the morning

I'm still in love with my new sink and vanity.  I put together the vanity and my husband did the rest of the work, including plumbing and tiling.  It's nice to have storage - which wasn't available with our old cast iron pedestal sink.

Taking a moment to look back...

2011: This evening I sit in our rocking chair with the cat next to me, resting my swollen feet on an exercise ball.  

2010: This time last year, we were spending our last day in sweltering hot Seoul.  After 20 days in Asia, first the Philippines and then Seoul, we headed home that day to Seattle.

Baby bump retrospective

  

Week 20: My first baby bump picture wasn't taken until Monday, April 4th, the 5th month of my pregnancy.  This was the first day of project week.  A week in which my co-worker and I led a group of middle schoolers on exploratory day trips around Seattle.  I now have even more admiration for my co-worker as she was about a week from her due date that week and walked around the city for several hours a day.  I don't know how she did it!  At this point, I was still able to wear all my regular clothes with a belly band.  Even now I can wear some of the shirts I bought at Anthropologie (like the Ella Moss one below).  Probably because I have a weakness for empire waist style tops.  Also, because I'm so short (5 feet), they were too long for my torso to begin with which meant there was plenty of space for an expanding belly.  My husband was not always around when I thought of taking a photo, so this one was taken in our bedroom's closet mirror.

Nursery: Part 2

One of my favorite parts of the nursery is the wall of family photos above the changing table.  The silver frames were a housewarming gift our friends got us from Crate and Barrel and the birch frames are from Ikea.  I used Snapfish to print out copies of old family photos that my husband and I had digital copies of from scanning our parent's and grandparent's old photographs.  It took me awhile to settle on what photos to print out, and I printed out some extras in the different sizes just in case I changed my mind.  There are baby photos of my husband and I, as well as photos of our parents, grandparents, and siblings.  The bins underneath the changing pad, contain the things the baby will need most (I think).  There are newborn sized onesies, sleeping gowns, pajamas, and side-snap tees.  The bigger bins contain my growing stash of cloth diapers, towels, and washcloths.  I am still unsure where other things needed during diaper changes will go, but I'm hoping I can squeeze them on the shelves below in easy reach.

  

baby toys from all over the world

baby toys from all over the world, originally uploaded by supafly.

go to my flickr site to see where they all came from

Nursery: Part 1

I've been working on the nursery for a few months now.  Just when I thought it was coming together, my husband decided it was time to add three more electrical outlets to the room (as there was only one).  He just finished this evening and I am just getting it back in order.  I started with the large IKEA bookshelf that is the main storage component in the room.  This particular shelf was bought more than 10 years ago, and has moved with me from at least 6 or 7 different apartments until it ended up in our first house.  There is a closet, but it's small and awkwardly shaped, and I figured that open shelves with bins were more suitable for tiny baby clothes.  I found the bins pictured below at IKEA as well, but more recently.  It was in the kid's section and seems to be a good size for onesies, booties, hats, bibs, etc...  I had a difficult time remembering what was in which bin, so I made little felt "labels" the I sewed onto the front reminding me what's in each bin.

Finance: How Smart Phones can help

As a teacher, I get inundated with gift cards that I have a hard time keeping track of.  Luckily, there are some smart phone apps that can help with that as well as with saving money:

1.  Starbucks Mobile Card App: This application will allow you register multiple Starbucks gift cards and will let you pay for purchases using your mobile phone at participating Starbucks (including ones in Target stores).  You should keep the cards as a back up since not all stores will let you pay with your card.  I still have to try this out.  I wonder if airports Starbucks will let you pay with your phone.  If you lose the cards, you can report it is stolen and protect your balance (if it's registered - so even if you don't use the app, it's a good idea to register cards to protect them).  You also earn "stars" when you pay with gift cards and after earning 15 stars, you get a free drink.

2.  Jo-Ann App: I just found out about this application yesterday when I was at the store wishing I'd remembered my coupons that came in the mail.  I downloaded this app and was able to use the coupons through it.  (You can also present coupons sent to you by e-mail.)

Do you have any other apps to recommend?

Car Seats 101

Car seats were completely a mystery to me until today.  This morning I met with a "child passenger safety consultant" from Children's Hospital.  I thought it would be a quick 15 minute appointment, but it ended up taking almost an hour to go through the safety checklist.  Here are the major things I learned.

1.  Car seats are HUGE and need a lot of space:  The most important advice I'd have for new parents is to go to Babies r Us or another store where they let you try out car seats to make sure they fit in your car!  I realized during installation, just how little space there is in the back of a VW golf.  Even with just an infant car seat (our friends loaned us a Graco), which is supposed to be the smallest kind of car seat, I had to move both front seats up.  I'm only 5 feet tall, and my driver's seat position was back to far for the car seat...yikes!

2.  A lot of things can void your car seat's "safety":  I also learned that as popular as the Kiddopotamus snuzzler is, it isn't appropriate for use in a car seat, since it wasn't designed or crash tested by the car seat manufacturers.  However, it is okay to use rolled up blankets on either side of baby's head and a rolled up washcloth between the crotch portion of the harness and the baby's legs because they don't count as "inserts" that could interfere with how the car seat is designed to work. 

Although the owner's manual (from 2007) recommended rolled up towels to help get the correct angle for installation, those are apparently no longer considered safe.  However, you can use a solid pool noodle (foam cylinder) instead.  These can often be provided by the person who checks your car seat installation.

3.  It's important to pull all the straps tightly: Attaching the car seat base with the seat belt, was NOT as simple as clicking the buckle.  I had to make sure the seat belt was set to "lock/ratchet" mode.  Then, I had to hold the car seat down in the center and and tighten the seat belt close to the buckle as much as I could.  Once the baby is in the 5-point harness, you also have to tighten the harness so that it is so snug that you can't pinch any slack straps at their shoulders.  (There's also a hidden button that helps you easily loosen the harness when taking the baby out.) 

4.  Car seats expire: The car seat manufacturers claim the materials they are made of wear out after about 6 years.

Nesting and Crafting

I've been obsessed with getting ready for baby Nam.  For me, this has translated into trolling Craig's list, consignment stores, and my Yahoo groups for baby deals, knitting, sewing, and working on the nursery.  I've also been surfing the web for inspiration/ideas, which are compiled on my tumblelog.  I wanted to compile some of the baby crafting I've done so far. 

One of the first things I made were these taggies:

I hadn't even heard of them until my co-worker got one as a gift, but as soon as I saw it, I decided I could make it, and that it would be a good use of fabric and ribbons I already had.  I used this tutorial from Craft Blog to make them.  Other than the blue whale flannel, I had all the supplies I needed in my stash.

The next two projects I worked on came from purl bee - which has a lot of great craft ideas.   One was a a tutorial my sister found for knit baby booties, the other was one for a quilted playmat.  The playmat gave me a chance to use more fabric in my stash - one was an echino/kokka linen/cotten fabric with a bird  and leaf print and the other is an upholstery weight fabric from Ikea that I couldn't resist.  All I had to buy was the quilting for the middle.  Then I had to invest some time into hand quilting it.

Next up was more knitting, this time a baby bonnet using my favorite yarn - malabrigo.  I found the pattern in a book I borrowed from the library.  I hope baby Nam's head is small enough to fit in it.

 I've been missing the craft get togethers I used to have with friends in Chicago, and my friends Aileen and Erika obliged by having everyone get crafty at our baby shower.  They made me an origami mobile and painted onesies for the baby.

 Here's the finished mobile hanging over our Craig's list maple crib along with paper peony poufs made by my friend Becky.  I used two different sets of mural stick-ons to complete this corner of the nursery.

After a busy end of the school year, summer began and I got back to sewing.  I found an adorable elephant print flannel at Pacific Fabric and Crafts and made some double sided flannel pads - one for the changing pad and the other for the co-sleeper.

I made the mistake of not washing the flannel ahead of time, thinking they would shrink the same amount.  I was wrong - the plain, camel-colored side shrank more.  Oh well, it still works.

Our generous friends lent us a co-sleeper and a bassinet, but they both needed sheets  Rather than buy some, I decided to try making fitted sheets.  It was a bit intimidating, but ended up turning out okay.  I used this tutorial and did some math to modify the size.  I got some cute and inexpensive fabric from Ikea (3 yars for $7.99).  The most difficult part of this project was adding the elastic.  (I wish I'd known about the safety pin trick, but instead I practically ruined brand new circular knitting needle trying to thread the elastic.)  In the end, I didn't even need the elastic in the bassinet sheet and ended up taking it out.  Both sheets were for very shallow mattresses and the elastic made them a bit too tight.  Here's the one for the co-sleeper.

I'm always searching for ways to use the fabric stash I already have, and decided to make some drawstring bags that could be used for diaper changing kits.  I made three for myself and one as a gift.  The only thing I had to get was some twill tape for the drawstring.  I got the idea from another Christine who has a baby and a blog called Brunch.  She provided the link to the tutorial I used.

I stuffed this bag with clothes to bring to the hospital for baby.  I stuffed another one with things I would need at the hospital. 

Cloth Diapering 101: Is it cheaper?

I wanted to put together what I've learned from friends, other Seattle area moms, the diaper pin and other websites, and a cloth diapering 101 workshop I took this past weekend at Birth and Beyond.

My mom, a pediatrician, encouraged me to try cloth diapering because she noticed that her patients who do it are less likely to develop diaper rash.  Since I'm taking the year off from work, I thought it was worth trying as I would have more time to devote to it and it would save us money - the workshop estimated it would save us approximately $2,000 compared to the cost of disposable diapers. 

I decided to do some math to verify this for myself.  According to what I found online, babies go through approximately 5-6 diapers per day for the first year.  That would be about 2,007 diapers in a year. 

Amazon has some of the lowest prices for diapers, and they cost approximately $0.20/diaper.  That's about $401.50 for a year of diapers - and of course, this is assuming you can get exactly 2,007 diapers in all the right sizes, which probably won't happen.  (And that you get free shipping.)  Since potty training doesn't usually happen until after the age of 2, let's make that $803.00 minimum for 2 years (some websites estimate the cost to be closer to $1200 for 2 years. 

Cloth diapers prices might vary even more than disposable.  It could be as cheap as $6/diaper (for pre-fold + cover bought used) or as much as $25/diaper (for pocket or all-in-ones bought new).  Since they are re-used, you only need roughly 24-36 total cloth diapers which could range in cost from $144 - $900 plus the cost of washing and drying them. 

Diaper Pin has a cost comparison calculator that estimated that it will take me over 7 months of cloth diapering to break even with the cost of disposable and I would save $356.00 after 1 1/2 years of cloth diapering.  Of course, this is if I used the cheapest alternative.  In addition, you can save even more money if you either re-use the diapers for multiple kids or sell them to other moms on Craig's list (which can re-coup you roughly 50% of what you invested if they're in good condition).  In the end, it looks like if you do it smartly, and/or you stick to it for long enough, you will save money cloth diapering.  They can also be really cute compared to disposables :-)

Happiest Baby on the Block

I heard a lot about this book so I borrowed it from the library.  Considering how difficult I was as a baby, I am anticipating payback when baby Nam arrives.  Dr. Karp, the author, seems to think that the main source of baby's crying in the first 3 months is due to being born to the world as still developing fetuses and his goal seems to be to re-create the environment that encompassed them in the womb.  He claims that many cultures do not deal with colic as a problem because they constantly hold and carry their babies with them.  Here's a re-cap of Dr. Karp's advice - at least what I remember of it and think would be important to apply.

 Five steps to calming the baby:
1.  Swaddling
2.  Lay baby on side/stomach (when with you) - reverse breast-feeding hold, football hold, over the should hold
3.  Shushing (loud white noise) - hair dryer, vacuum, fan, exhaust fan, running water, radio static, dishwasher, car ride
4.  Swinging - rocking chair, dancing, swings, rhythmic pats, hammock, baby carrier, car rides, vibrating bouncy seat, bouncing on an exercise ball, brisk walks
5.  Sucking

Top Ten Ways to imitate the Uterus
1.  Hold the baby
2.  Dance with the baby (I was apparently a big fan of this as a baby)
3.  Rock the baby
4.  Wrap/swaddle the baby
5.  Sing to the baby or use white noise
6.  Take the baby for a ride in the car
7.  Take the baby for a walk outside
8.  Breastfeed the baby
9.  Give the baby a pacifier
10. Put the baby in a swing

When and how to wean the baby so they can learn how to soothe themselves to sleep:
1.  Wean sucking - between 3-4 months
2.  Wean swinging - between 3-4 months
3.  Wean swaddling - between 3-6 months
4.  Wean shushing - between 3-12 months
(Note: end co-sleeping around 4-5 months)

Spousonomics: Using Economics to Master Love, marriage, and Dirty Dishes

I just finished reading this book written by Paula Szuchman and Jenny Anderson, two reporters who interviewed economists and couples for a book that has you think about relationships from an economist's point of view.  Since my husband is so rational (and an economics major), I thought this would help me to better understand his point of view.  Here's a re-cap of what I learned:

1.  How to divide chores: It's more efficient to divide up chores (For example, rather than taking turns washing dishes, one person should do this and the other could be in charge of vacuuming.)  To decide, which tasks to take on, decide who is relatively better at each task (also called comparative advantage).  Splitting up tasks this way should give BOTH people in a relationship MORE time for other things.  A 50/50 split isn't always what works - instead, strive for efficiency and meeting the needs of both people in the relationship.  Hopefully, the chores you end up with are once you like doing and/or have an incentive of some kind to do.

2.  Fighting and Loss Aversion: People don't like losing fights, even when it would be in their best interest.  Things to remember about why this happens - rash decision making, choose immediate satisfaction rather than saving for future gains, fear of change.  A good technique to avoid the fight in the first place is to wait 24 hours or so and see if you still think what ever was bugging you is worth starting a fight over - not easy to do for an "emotional-reactor" like me. 

3.  Sex is important: Pew Research Center has found that a happy sexual relationship is the second most important factor to a successful marriage (after faithfulness).  To make sure your having enough sex you should clearly communicate when you're in the mood, get into the habit of doing it regularly, and be open about what you want and when you want it.

4.   Moral Hazard (or taking your marriage for granted): When we get comfortable in our relationship, we take our spouse for granted and can treat them worse than we should.  In order to avoid this, we need incentives to be more responsible in how we treat each other such as investing actively in the relationship, set expectations for each other and work to meet them, and share the "costs" of being in a relationship.

5.  How to get him/her to do what you want: Trust them to do the right thing. (This is a big one that I'm always working on!)  Forgive them when they mess up, which then gives you a get out of jail free card.  Surprise them with thoughtful gestures. 

6.  Trade-offs (Get over it): As a default perfectionist, this is an important one for me to practice - just reminding myself that things can't be perfect and trade-offs have to be made and accepted.  I always want things to be fair and perfect, but real life doesn't work that way, and I have to remember that.  One way to get over what seems like big problems is thinking at the margins.  Rather than looking for one perfect solution, which is my tendency, try to find smaller changes that can be made that can provide a benefit (but at a cost).  Ignore sunk costs (something my husband is always reminding me to do) - which is another way of breaking free of bad habits and perceived status quo.

7.  Asymmetric information (why communication is important): Be very clear in expressing your needs (in a nice, and succinct way).  Of course, for this to happen, the other person needs to be receptive in listening rather than getting defensive and lashing out (another skill to work on!)   

8.  Avoiding laziness and procrastination in your relationship: Find a way to help you commit to being a better partner.  To do this, you need to figure out what incentive will help.

9.  How to sustain a happy marriage: Don't succumb to peer pressure - for me this means not constantly comparing ourselves to other couples, but figure out what makes sense for us instead.  Don't be so confident that you take your marriage for granted.  The book provides a good quiz to help you gauge whether or not you may be overconfident. 

10.  Game theory works for marriage too: Think ahead. (Maybe playing more chess will help me with this one.)  Learn from past experiences.  See things from their perspective.  Rather than only aiming for an ideal outcome, also think about what would be an acceptable outcome.  Making the first move can give you an advantage.  Although the aim is to "win," cooperative strategies often make everyone happier in the end.  Hmmmm...maybe keeping this in mind would help me win Catan more :-)

I realized as I was reading this book that so much of this advice are things that my dear husband has been telling me for years.  So, this post is dedicated to you, oh wise one.  Happy 2nd anniversary!

Children's Consignment Stores in Seattle

Part of my nesting craze has been focused on getting cute clothes for baby Nam.  We are the first in our family to have a baby, so there are no hand me downs from relatives, so consignment stores have been a great resources to build up a wardrobe for her.  I've also had many generous friends who've passed clothes on to me.  Here's a list of consignment stores I've visited in Seattle.

1.   Me'N Moms: I've gone several times to their Ballard location, but they are also in Issaquah and Lynnwood.  This store has the best prices I've found by far for baby clothes.  They are a great place for basics like onesies, footed pajamas, and receiving blankets.  They also have baby gear like strollers (I spotted an orbit there), cribs, vibrating chairs, etc...  In addition, they have a section of new items.  A friend of mine says they sell any baby clothes they are done with here and use the credit to get the larger sizes they need - all without having to spend much money.  What a great form of recycling!

2. Childish Things: A co-worker recommended this Ballard/Greenwood shop to me.  It's prices are higher, but they have a pretty big selection of cute dresses and shoes and other clothing above and beyond onesies for babies/toddlers/kids.  Even though it's consignment, some of the things for sale still have tags on them.  They also have some baby gear for sale and a sizeable and tempting section of new items.  I found a cute Ralph Lauren dress for baby Nam on their clearance rack for 99 cents!

3.  Sela's Small Couture: I found this little Queen Anne shop because I'm addicted to Macrina Bakery which is across the street, and also love Malena's tacos which is next door to it. They had a lot of cute Janie and Jack, Hanna Andersson, and a few adorable Tea and Oilily items.  I bought the most adorable Janie and Jack sweater there with a turtle zipper pull. There's also a small area with a tv and chairs for little ones to sit in as you shop and one rack of new items for sale.

4.  Kids on 45th: This little shop in Wallingford has pretty good prices and selection.  They have some baby gear for sale too.  A bonus is it's close to Molly Moon's and Fainting Goat Gelato!

5. Le Petit Shoppe: This shop is just down the road from University Village in and it's on the pricier side for consignment, but I guess it's because of the neighborhood it's in (Laurelhurst). I found an adorable seemingly new Winnie-the-Pooh footed pjs here.  There is also another consignment shop a couple doors down that was for women and children that had some cute baby items, albeit a smaller selection.

6. Bootyland: This shop in Capitol Hill seems to have more new than used items available.  Their selection of affordable consignment was pretty slim and not really worth a visit if that is all you're looking for.

7.  Majesty: This shop is actually in Redmond, but it was near work so I checked it out.  It was on the pricey side, but was well laid out and had baby gear as well as clothes. They often list items for sale on Craig's list.

8.  Stella + Jack: This is an online consignment shop based in the Seattle area.  They had a sale at a neighborhood coffee shop in Magnolia a few weeks ago.  They had a lot of high end items (Hanna Andersson, Tea, Kate Quinn), but it with prices to match.  It's usually even more expensive if you buy it online since you have to pay for shipping.  However, they will pick up if you're interested in selling to them.

Places yet to be visited:
- Again and a Gain: A shop in West Seattle I've seen them list many baby gear items on Craig's list, but I have yet to make the trek out there.
- Sugarlump: I encountered some of the items from this shop in Madison Valley/Central District area at a boutique sale at Birth and Beyond, but have yet to go to their actual store.  It looks from their website like they also have a lot of new items for sale.

Do you have suggestions for other places worth a visit?

Fabric Stores in Seattle

I've been engrossed in making things for baby Nam, who is due at the end of August.  Since I've recently developed pregnancy-related carpal tunnel, I've switched from knitting to sewing.  I was able to use some of my small stash to make some taggies and a play mat, but then needed to find more fabric to continue crafting.  Here's a list of places I've visited in the Seattle area.

1.  Ikea: This is an excellent source for affordable fabric!  The selection is limited, but they   have  great bright and modern prints.  Generally, the prices only run about $7.99 a yard - and that's for upholstery weight!  I used the billy goats on a bridge print below to make a pillow cover.  In the kid's section, they also have kid-specific prints in regular cotton for about $7.99 for 3 yards!  I used a cute black, white, and red print from there to make sheets for the co-sleeper and bassinet and still had plenty leftover to make a taggie, some drawstring bags and a burp cloth.

 

2.   Stitches: This is a small fabric, sewing, and knitting store in Capitol Hill that also offers classes.  Although it is smaller than most of the other stores, it's selection is so well-edited that I often find what I want here.  They have an especially great selection of the beautiful echino cotton/linen fabrics from the Japanese company Kokka.  Echino fabrics are pricey at around $18/yard, but I haven't found anything cheaper that is the same in terms of weight (in between cotton and upholstery), design, and color.  Stitches has also been a valuable resource for sewing notions, ribbon, felt, etc...  I used the echino fabric below to make a playmat for the baby.

  3.  Pacific Fabrics and Crafts: The Northgate store is fairly close to me and I've also been down to their SODO outlet, which has a bigger selection of remnants.  This store has a HUGE offering of fabrics, but you have to sort through a wide assortment of cheesy quilting prints.  I do find they have a fairly good selection of kid's prints and flannel (solid and printed).  They also have a fairly large selection of notions and ribbon.  I recently found a coupon for them in the Stranger or Seattle Weekly, which came in handy. I bought the cute grey flannel print there to make a changing pad cover.

 

4.  Nancy's Sewing Basket: I was excited to check out this shop in Queen Anne, but didn't actually get much there.  They did have the same grey animal flannel print above along with several coordinating prints in the same color scheme.  They also have a ribbon room with many fancy ribbon options.  I think it was a bit too high-priced for me overall.  They did have good quality felt there, but it was double regular prices and still wasn't 100% wool.  This is a good place to go for highly specialized items like fancy ribbon, buttons, or fabrics, but I'm not sure it has much to offer for everyday users, unless you live in the neighborhood or have a big pocketbook.  I do like its proximity to Macrina Bakery though!

5.  JoAnn Fabrics and Crafts: Their Ballard store is my go to place for general craft supplies, but I don't actually buy much fabric here.  It is a good place to get sewing supplies/notions, especially when they are having a sale.  They also have a special discount card for teachers!

Up next...I'd like to check out West Seattle Fabric Company.  It's a bit of a trek for me, but I spied some of their selection at the West Seattle street fair and it looked awesome!

 

a trip to the Prime Meridian

Greenwich park, originally uploaded by supafly.

Sunday was a sad day of packing and saying goodbye to Marshall as he headed off to India for six weeks, so lets skip to Monday. I decided to check out another Royal Park, Greenwich Park. This is also the home of the Royal Observatory and the Prime Meridian. Greenwich actually isn't too far from Peckham/Camberwell Green and I was able to take a couple of buses to get there. The parks were beautiful and surrounded on the side I entered by a wall that separated it from the noisy roads bordering it. The park was filled with many parents with strollers and little kids running around. There was a separate, fenced in flower garden in the park as well as a tea pavilion with snacks and a merry-go-round nearby.

There was a large tourist group going into the Royal Observatory when I got there and I actually missed the Prime Meridian line in the crowd. Instead, I headed into a camera obscura room and through the exhibits and actually had to exit and come back in before I saw the Prime Meridian line. It was right at the entrance, but the crowd had obscured it from view!

After leaving Greenwich, I stopped at the National Gallery for a look around the wing of most recent paintings. There were lots of great works of art and it was a relaxing way to end the day.

trip to New Malden

leaving central London, originally uploaded by supafly.

On my last Saturday in London, a parade went down Peckham as we ate lunch. It was a small parade - one truck with a band and a row of people behind dancing, singing about Jesus and waving ribbons. However, it was enough to create quite a traffic jam. Behind the parade were half a dozen buses. We peered into the bus windows to see how many people were pissed about the exceptionally slow bus ride and wondered if any of them knew what was holding them up.

We headed out of zones 1 and 2 of London and took a Southwestern train from Vauxhall to New Malden (just 5 miles past Wimbledon). We were going there because it's supposed to have the largest expatriate community of Koreans in Europe. Marshall was impressed with how close together all the Korean shops were. Within 2 or 3 blocks of the train station were two Korean grocery stores. Both of them had these back stairwells that led to other businesses, like cafes or a golf store. There were also several Korea hair salons and Marshall went to one for a haircut. While I waited for him, I was entertained by a trio of friends who were all there to get their haircut. The two men were laughing about how much more complicated it was for women when they get their haircut but were baffled as to why. Their female friend proved them correct. She was British-Korean and spoke no Korean so her friend had to translate for the hair stylist. In her words, she wanted it "styled more." What does that mean? In the end, they couldn't agree on anything so she let her guy friend get a haircut while she thought about it some more.

After a delicious and spicy Korean meal and a stop to get kimchi and seaweed for the house, we went to see Shrek 3 at our local theatre - the Peckham Multiplex. It smelled a little funny, but it wasn't too expensive (£6) and wasn't crowded at all. Some people I have talked to loved the movie and others didn't, but we thought it was hilarious!

Jane Austen, fashion, and okonomiyaki

our finished Okonomiyaki, originally uploaded by supafly.

I started my last full Friday in London by watching a movie about Jane Austen (called Becoming Jane) at the Prince Charles Cinema. It was an interesting movie that expanded on historical accounts of a romance that Jane Austen had. If you're familiar with her books, you will see moments in the movie that could have inspired her novels. It is interesting to wonder why both Jane and her older sister ended up never getting married and what circumstances led to that. (On my way to the movie theatre, I passed an tent in Leicester square set up for poker playing by the World Poker Tournament. I didn't stop to play, but I got a bag of free goodies.)

After the movie, I headed to the Victoria and Albert museum where I walked around their wonderful fashion exhibit. My favorite was a muslin dress from 1819 that had interesting details on the skirt that I think would still look modern today. The gallery was filled with young students taking photographs and making sketches of designs that inspired them. (Apparently, Zac Posen went to fashion school in London and was himself inspired by some of the fashion on display at the V&A. Now his own work is on display here.) There was also a wonderful Chihuly piece hanging in the museum entrance as well as several red lip sofas, which are a part of the special exhibit on Surrealism.

The museum is open late on Fridays, but I decided to go in search of this pub that was recommended in a blog for its sticky toffee pudding. I should've known better since the Abingdon is located in the ritzy Kensington/Chelsea neighborhood. The sticky toffee pudding there was £6.50! I decided I wasn't willing to spend $13 on a dessert, but I did enjoy my walk around the beautiful neighborhood. I found a Waitrose (Seema says its like the Whole Foods of London) where I instead got a sticky toffee pudding to microwave at home for less than £3. (It was delicious, but so sweet that I've had my fill of sticky toffee pudding for awhile.)

I met Marshall for dinner and we walked to Abeno for Okonimyaki only to find out that you need reservations there and they were all booked up so we walked on to their other restaurant Abeno Too where it's first come, first served. It was a lot of fun sitting at the counter (on big boxes that also served as storage for all of your stuff while you ate) and watching them cook your food, but it was also really really hot. By the time we left, we were drenched in sweat and the coolness of the evening was a welcome relief.

science and poetry

sculpture at the Royal Society, originally uploaded by supafly.

As I'm writing this I am being driven crazy by the construction that starts outside around 9:30 every morning. There's always hammering or drilling happening with the occasional swear word thrown in. The worst though is the constant 80's and 90's music that they play. It's all the cheesy stuff too....that's better - I just put on my noise cancelling headphones and am listening to Blossom Dearie instead. (I could also just move to the front room, but why do that?)

On Thursday I went back to the Royal Society for the last day of the Science Exhibition. On the way, I walked by Trafalger square and the Mall. They were setting up bleachers and big screens in Trafalger for the Tour de France opening ceremonies tomorrow and the mall was closed to traffic. It was lined with new trucks and Tour de France vehicles. I walked over to Carlton Terrace and up the stairs of the Royal Society.

The only quiet exhibit room contained information on primate language. You could listen to different chimpanzee sounds and the researcher's explanation for what it means. They also had a machine that showed pitch and loudness of different primate sounds and a microphone so you could try matching their sounds. I tried a few times, but the room was so quiet so it was quite embarrassing to hear myself trying to sound like an orangutan for example.

There was another room that was loud with the sound of airplanes taking off. They are trying to develop technology for quieter aircraft. One of their simplest and most brilliant solutions was to point the engines up instead of down so that most of the sound was above the plane rather than below it. They also gave out cool portable frisbees.

An exhibit about life in the canopy of the rainforest had many arthropod specimens. There were huge beetles and ones so tiny they looked almost like specks of dust. There were also a few live samples, including dung beetles, a millipede, and a centipede.

In the basement of the Royal Society were the last few exhibits. The clothes of some of the first arctic explorers were on display. I couldn't imagine staying warm in such thin layers of cloth - they must have been cooooold! One of the coolest exhibits let you control a mini ROV (Robot Operated Vehicle) that was in a large fish tank. It's similar to playing the game where you try to pick up things with a robotic claw, except you watch what you are doing on a tv screen and it's hard to do something 3-dimensionally from a 2-dimensional image. Kids were once again overwhelming the exhibit so I just watched them bicker with one another about whose turn it was and how so and so was hogging the machine.

After watching all the exhibits, I walked down to Regent street to Habitat, a store with similar goods for sale as Crate and Barrel. The biggest difference was the in-house wurlitzer organ that was being played when I walked in. There were several old people gathered on couches near the organ and I joined them for a little while.

Next, I walked down to Carnaby street. I was going to get some sticky toffee pudding, but decided I better have something more substantial and sat down in a quiet corner of a pub for sausage and mash instead.

After taking some time to read and rest, I took the tube to the Southbank Centre. I walked through their Operation Soapbox maze, where people could leave messages throughout and then went next door for a poetry slam. All the poets were teenagers and many of their works were about the violence they had seen. The two that impressed me the most were only 12-years old and great beatboxers!

Visiting the Tate Modern

entrance to the Tate Modern, originally uploaded by supafly.

Wednesday I made my first visit to one of the big British museums. I decided to start with the Tate Modern. I took bus #343 to Borough High street and walked to the Tate Modern from there. On the way, I passed the Rose and Crown, a pub where we ate Thai food last summer when we visited London.

On the ground floor of the Tate Modern was an interesting exhibit on cities. It focused on London, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Cairo, Mumbai, Johannesburg, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Shanghai and Istanbul. They used photography, sculpture, video, and graphics to compare and contrast the speed, size, density, diversity and form of these ten cities.

Besides the cities exhibit, one of my favorite areas in the museum was the gallery with drawings and sketches by artists. There was one drawing by Alighiero Boetti called "Aerei" that I particularly liked. From far away, it looked like it the blue background of the sky had been created by embroidering blue thread, but when you got closer, it was actually rows and rows of parallel ballpoint pen marks. I am always amazed with artists' ability to put so much time into meticulous detail.

After stopping at the cafe for a snack, I took the Millenium footbridge across the Thames and passed St. Paul's cathedral on my way to a jewelry exhibit at Goldsmiths' Hall on Foster Lane. The building is home to one of the old guilds of London and it had one of the nicest bathrooms I've found in the city. There is a lounge connected to the bathroom with couches and make-up mirrors and I sat there for a while resting.

The jewelry exhibit showcased some of the most accomplished young silversmiths and jewellers in England. My favorite artist at the exhibit was Zoe Arnold, whose jewelry was inspired by stories and poems. They were like wearable illustrations to a poem or story and each piece was quite unique and different from the others.

On my way back down Foster Lane and to the St. Paul's tube station, I found a quiet church courtyard. It was welcome to anyone who needed a space for quiet and meditation. Unfortunately, there was road construction going on right outside, but it was a respite from the dust and business of the street. A dove sat on one of the benches sleeping. On my way home, I stopped for dinner at Food for Thought. It was my second meal there and I liked it because it was healthy, delicious, cheap and filling food. Also, the space is small and you share tables with people so I didn't feel so odd eating alone. In fact, I shared a table with two other people that were there alone.

Royal Society Science Exhibition

coral, originally uploaded by supafly.

Tuesday I went to the second day of the Royal Society Science exhibition. It was like a science fair for scientists. There were probably more high school age students visiting than anything else so it was crowded with people grabbing whatever freebies they could. Why is that so often human nature - to take all the flyers and pens and random crap that you can? Often, people got carried away and took anything that wasn't nailed down and some exhibitors were left without some of their presentation materials.

Before I went in to see the exhibits I went to hear the presentation about deep sea discoveries that have been made in the Arctic. 60% of the world hasn't been explored and that includes the deeper parts of the ocean. The scientist who talked to us had just returned from a June expedition to the Arctic where he found coral that lived in deep (350 meters), dark and cold waters. Apparently, corals, like trees, have rings so you can tell how successful each year was for them. He showed us the damage that fishing can do. When they get too close to the coral beds, they end up killing the colony which pretty much destroys the entire ecosystem. I didn't realize it, but 98% of all life is on the seabed.

After the presentation, I headed into the ground floor exhibits. The first exhibit focused on research being done on the bacteria that live in our digestive system. Apparently, we obtain most of the bacteria living in our gut when we are babies. They had a series of beakers kept at different temperatures that were supposed to mimic the different parts of the digestive system. They monitored the pH of each beaker because each section has a slightly different pH. You can take the microbe journey online.

The next exhibit was about a three-wheeled, two passenger vehicle that runs on compressed natural gas. They wanted it to have the small footprint of a motorcycle, the comfort of a car and lower emissions than both. The vehicle was called CLEVER (Compact Low Emission VEhicle for uRban transport) and you could sit inside it to see what it was like.

They had an interesting historical exhibit on blackboards. Apparently, at the University of Oxford, they have kept a blackboard that Einstein used during a lecture there in 1931. They didn't bring that with them, but they asked other notable scientists, writers, and philosophers to recreate writing from their lectures on blackboards. It seems that the value of the smartboards now found in classrooms is that it is even easier to save this kind of writing. Rather than having to cart around a blackboard, it can all be saved electronically and displayed on a computer, on paper, or on a smartboard in a completely different location!

There were several more interesting exhibits. At one, they had body sensors similar to what is found in a Wii that you clip on to your ear. It is able to track your position in space. There was another exhibit where you could practice being a surgeon. They had silicon models of skin with a "lipoma" (benign tumor) embedded in it. You could tape the silicon skin onto a real person and perform surgery on them. They had two operating areas and they even put people in scrubs, masks, and gloves. Of course, the exhibit was inundated with kids so I moved on to an exhibit on listening to trees. It seems you can tell the hardness of a tree by hitting it with a mallet. The deeper the pitch, the harder the wood.

After seeing half of the exhibitions, I was ready for a break and spent some time wandering around Regent street. I headed home early to take photos of the house for Marshall, who was desperately looking for someone to take his room while he is in India for 6 weeks. (It turns out the rent in India is much more expensive than the rent in London!)