Sunday morning at the park

Now that we live a bus ride away from our church we have to plan our morning around our bus trips into Clapham.  The ride isn't so bad, but it does take more organising on Sunday morning.  

I lead a women's chant choir at St Mary's and have to be there for our 10:30 rehearsal.  Jason and Charlotte usually just arrive in time for Mass, but they decided to leave earlier than usual this last Sunday in order to get some playtime at the park beforehand.  Although, Charlotte didn't look too energetic on the way there:

 

Luckily, she perked up once they arrived:

 

Though she's developed a fear of swinging (?!) she does still love the slide:

Seriously, folks.  What is cuter than this?!

Church Fair

When we were in DC, it took us at least 45 minutes to drive from Kensington/Silver Spring to our church in Georgetown.  While it was worth it to us to attend a church that was spiritually and mentally fulfilling (Jesuit, liberal, intelligent homilies, etc.) it was difficult to become a part of the community because it was such a pain to get there! 

All of that is to say that Jason and I are thrilled to have found a parish we like that also happens to be a ten minute walk from our flat!  The music could be improved upon (I'm doing my best to help with that) but it is otherwise a great parish to be a part of.  The pastor is down-to-earth and friendly, and we have already begun to befriend some of the parishioners like Mary-Maye and her family!

Last weekend, the church hosted a fair (which for some reason kept making me think about the fairs in Pillars of the Earth.  Perhaps because they aren't something we do much of in the states and the only church fairs I'm familiar with are from that book!).  Despite being a wet day, we had a great time.  We chatted with some new friends, ate some good food and listened to some good live music.  Here are a few pictures from the afternoon:

Father Dominic and some new friends

We were sad to miss all of this go down.

A hog roast from the local butcher shop

The church courtyard

It was quite a wet day, but the kids didn't seem to care. 

The jazz band was supposed to play outside, but I can't blame them for moving indoors instead!

We tried to get some pictures of Charlotte with her new friend Eden, but couldn't get the two of them to look in the same direction at the same time.  I was just going to post one or two of these, but the series of them makes me laugh, so I thought I might as well post them all:

I especially love the ones of Charlotte with her mouth open.  I can't look at them without laughing!

Happy Easter!

Jason, Charlotte, and I went to the vigil Mass and Easter Sunday Mass at our new parish and then to dinner at the (temporary) home of our new friends Naina and Josh. (They also just moved to London and were smart enough to rent a furnished apartment while they wait for their furniture to arrive!)

Though we failed to get adorable shots of Charlotte in her Easter outfit with a lovely springtime background, we did manage to snap a few in the church:



They're not the greatest, but they'll have to do!

Here is a shot of us before dinner with Josh and Naina:


Unfortunately, Charlotte was under the weather all day, so we didn't stay too late. Home was a short bus and tube ride away:

Venn Street Market

Jason, Charlotte, and I went on a walk this morning and stumbled upon the Venn Street Market a mere ten minute walk from our flat.


They had everything from colorful spring flowers:

to beautiful desserts puddings:

to Spanish meats:

to scrumptious cheeses:

to tasty olives and other tasty bits:


It is held right near our church whose steeple is pictured in the background:

We shared a delicious serving of fresh paella:


The market is only held one weekend a month but we are definitely putting it on the calendar diary for next month!

An Update

Here I sit in an internet cafe catching up on emailing and blogging and life in general. We are without internet in the house until Tuesday which makes emailing, blogging and life in general a bit more difficult. The good news is that I'll have lots of new pics to share once our household is back online!!

Luckily things have slowed down quite a bit in our lives. Work is going well for Jason, Charlotte has started two days a week at a local nursery and I finally have some time to myself to catch up on life and work on getting my career started over here. In addition to brushing up on my audition pieces, I will need to brush up on "I Know that my Redeemer Liveth" as I will be singing it at our local church for Easter! I approached the music director after Mass last Sunday and offered my services (for free as it is our parish church) and that was that! I'm hoping that he might be a good contact moving forward. The church itself is quite lovely:

In other career related news, I will be meeting with a producer this afternoon whom I worked with a number of times while we were in DC. He is American but has lived in London for the last twenty years or so. I'm hoping he will be a good contact here. I will also be tapping my other contacts with London connections to ask for recommendations. I'd love to get singing here in London!

We have also been more social than we expected to be only two weeks in. I've met with a few mums (yes, mums) here and have a few more mummy lunch dates on the schedule. Charlotte and I have also begun to attend our local Gymboree which is helping us to meet other mums as well.

Last weekend was particularly social with a lunch date with a friend of mine who is studying at Cambridge and a dinner date with a new couple, Naina and Josh, that we met through a mutual friend. We have loads in common (we both just completed house renovations, Josh and Jason work in the same kind of law, we both have family in California and Seattle and we all moved from DC to London in the same week!) and were actually introduced by their friends Elizabeth and Jason. Weird. We're looking forward to seeing them again soon. I promise more posts (with pictures!) after we get our internet hooked up.