victoria and albert museum

 

Was bored one afternoon, so we hopped on a bus and explored the ground floor of the Victoria and Albert Museum. That is what makes this city amazing. See that last image? That is a part of the V&A's original refreshment rooms, forming the first museum restaurant in the world.

brick lane

Brief glimpses on a quiet afternoon in brick lane... Thanks to Shelf for the lovely German weather house! The lady "comes out" when it is dry and the other way around when it is raining.

house tour :: kitchen

Ta-da! Here's our kitchen. I told you, this place is huge! Yet, from the 22 or so places we saw that day, this was within our budget and more affordable than the other properties. The places that we viewed were pretty interesting, one was a carriage house turned two floor flat and the other was a renovated flat in an old police station.

The walls are red / pink. Unlike Canada, the landlord does not need to paint the rental when new tenants move in and if you want to hang shelves / pictures, then you must get permission first.

The landlord will hopefully remove the kitchen table, chairs, bar stools and hutch. It's going to be empty for a bit while we settle in and find something that better represents us. I'm thinking our bench seat with a wood kitchen table and some retro wood chairs against one side and a teak buffet (my great grandma had this exact one!) on the other for some extra storage?? Perhaps some floating shelves to display our retro kitchenware and pyrex collection? Endless possibilities! Oh, and maybe a fresh coat of off white paint to neutralize it.

Gas stove, microwave / convection oven, a full oven and a dishwasher. Oh, and they love hiding their fridges here...

Surprise! Fridge on the left, freezer on the right. Due to the size, we are getting used to shopping more often!

weekend :: here and there

Fruit and veg market by the Wimbledon stadium. Above is a meat truck where they auction off their meat. 

Bus to waterloo station...

loving the old building in the background with the modern art installations...

stop in chinatown for noodles!!

mini-break :: birmingham

We met up with E + M last weekend and took the train to Birmingham for the Designer Vintage Bridal Show which was amazing! Not only did I meet Rock 'n' Roll Bride and Love My Dress, but I discovered some amazing wedding suppliers such as Vintage Glamour Days specializing in afternoon tea and vintage china hire and Debbie Carlisle Bouquets that makes bespoke vintage wedding bouquets and accessories - beautiful! It was an amazing show, so if you are in the area, keep an eye on their website for the next event.

 

 

Check out the post by Rock 'n' Roll Bride here for more pictures (<- much more amazing than mine!).

This church was across from the Bullring (one of the largest shopping malls in the UK). Love the teeny balcony on the bottom right hand corner. You can click on the picture to enlarge it. 

Across the street is the Bullring Open Market which pretty much has everything - food, curtains, fabric, haberdashery, electronics, underwear, clothing, shoes... you name it! All for pretty reasonable prices too. That entire bowl of lemons, tomatoes or oranges for £1 or approx. $1.58 CDN. I could never find that in Vancouver!

london :: randoms wk 2

 (ASDA - aka Walmart)

 (Antiques at Spitalfields)

(crazy how skinny some of the buildings are)

Since we didn't have a reliable internet connection last week, here are some random snapshots from around London. Here are some things that we have learned recently (check out week one here!):

1. We live near East Putney station which is at the end of zone 2. If we want to head to Wimbledon, we need to upgrade to zone 3 (just like in Vancouver). However, if you travel by bus, there are no zones. Saves money and you see more!
2. Eggs are located in the middle of the grocery store and are not refridgerated. This through me for a loop a few visits ago. I just kept circling the shop.
3. Car insurance is ridiculously cheap here. Think £200 for the year. Cars are more affordable here as well.
4. If the shop states that they are open 24 hours, they do not mean on Sunday's. Sunday hours are generally 11-4pm or 11-5pm.
5. The largest tub of catnip I can find is 2oz. For all those wanting catnip toys, I will be busy stuffing when I get to Vancouver for the Spring Got Craft event.
6. Cornish pasties have been given a protective status. To call the pasty Cornish, they have a long list of rules they must meet which include:

• must be prepared in Cornwall, but can be cooked elsewhere
• must only be made with beef (at least 12.5% beef)
• must have the distinctive 'D' shape 
• must have a robust crust that survives baking and cooling

van city kitty :: meet cleo

In case you missed me showing off Cleo like a proud cat momma, I thought I would send her some extra love on the blog. Cleo is this week's Van City Kitty over at Vancouver is Awesome. Think she's a cutie? Leave a heart for her at the bottom of the post!

... and we are back

(walk from Aldgate East to Spitalfields Market)

Our internet was installed this afternoon which means that we now have a reliable connection! Regular posts to commence shortly!

happy valentine's day

image from a life through the lens

Happy Valentine's Day! It's beautiful out today, crisp and sunny. Planning on a field trip to Clapham Junction for a few more house items (seems like it never ends!), lunch and then we will head home to finish up some work.

Do you have special plans? Would love to hear about them!

xo andrea + robert

house tour :: top floor

Down the hall from the craft studio and up a small flight of stairs (below) is the main bedroom. Please excuse the mess. I was too lazy to tidy up before snapping the pics! I am happy to announce that I found a nice, metal bed frame from gumtree (UK version of craigslist) this afternoon which will be delivered to us next Sunday. Originally a £500 or so frame for £120 from Habitat. Score! 

Don't get me started with UK mattress sizes. Omg. Apparently, our double (north american) is classified as a king size here, but it also depends on the retailer as they all have their different sizing charts. To top it off, Ikea makes one size of mattress for North America and then another size for EU which are both different from the UK sizes, so if you want an Ikea bed frame then you have to purchase a mattress from them too. 

 

Why yes, that is my bowl of cereal on the stairs! hehe

Between the craft studio and the bedroom, there is a small bathroom with a toilet, sink and washer / dryer (it's a combination, but the dryer part never works).

Here is a picture of me lying in the bed looking up. We have 3 skylights in the bedroom and one additional skylight in the hallway. Fantastic cross breezes! After sweating up a storm each summer at our old place, I can't wait for the summer here. There are also two speakers to the right of the room where the little window is. You can see one of them in the top picture. Have no idea what these are connected to. Seems so random.

This is the other half of the room. It's awkwardly shaped, but after looking at 22 different flats, this isn't uncommon. First floor pictures coming soon... may need a few days to take some proper pictures. Internet is finicky too. Our internet won't be properly installed until February 22nd or 23rd, so we purchased a temporary BT Openzone account for Rob's work.


Overall, things are coming along slowly. Missing Vancouver on and off... lots to learn.. sometimes feel like I'm living in a country of opposites... adjusting... can't wait for our boxes to clear customs... excited to visit Birmingham with e + m this Saturday!


PS. For those that are interested, I started a separate flickr account to post random London pictures. It's only visible to friends and family, but you can search for andreatongtucker.