About the summer trip so far,
In no particular order:
1. Ima/Mom/Marci and her celebration of 50 years since being born.
2. Shayna
3. Dad
4. England
5. Getting the chance to visit Iceland, a place that has been on our dream destinations list for a while now
6. The picturesque countryside
7. The bustling city
8. Memphis: the Musical
9. Bend it Like Beckham: The Musical
10. Finding Neverland: The Musical
11. The end of Finding Neverland Act One when I cried
12. The other nine times I cried during Finding Neverland
13. Mom and Dad’s wedding anniversary on July 3
14. Getting on the cruise around Iceland on July 4
15. Car drives and knitting time
16. Plane rides and knitting time
17. Subway rides and knitting time
18. Restaurant waits and knitting time
19. Seeing famous paintings in person by artists I learned about in AP Art History
20. Thinking of funny captions for historic art pieces
21. The duck comfit burger I had at the food fair in London: Duck comfit burger with arugula, crispy duck skin, truffle honey
22. The corresponding side of duck fat fries with truffle mayonnaise
23. Farm fresh food at the Dormy house
24. Sleeping in random places
25. Taking notes in my Adventure Awaits journal that Nonny (my maternal grandmother) bought for me before we left.
26. Joking around and making the family laugh
27. Making Shayna laugh with one of my humorous remarks
28. Making my mom laugh with my blog posts
29. Not having Facebook
30. Watching Shayna sleep on car drives (it’s not creepy I promise)
31. The occasional awesome photo Shayna takes of me which may later become my Facebook profile picture (if/when I reactivate Facebook)
32. The horrible photos Shayna takes of me and the ugly snapchat drawings that are awful but done out of love (probably)
33. The Snapchat filters (this is more of what makes Shayna happy, but I’ll throw it in there too)
34. The used book stores
35. The comic book stores
36. Outdoor markets
37. Bargaining at the outdoor markets
38. Throwing out a ridiculously low number while bargaining for something I didn’t really want in the first place and seeing the seller’s reaction
39. Talking to dad about issues I am passionate about
40. Learning that the US legalized gay marriage in ALL 50 STATES the day before the London Pride Parade
41. Feeling a sense of relaxation and serenity in the evening, after a long day of touring; Crawling into the hotel bed after a long day out
42. Thinking I will do some reading on my Kindle (I have yet to start, but technically I have the time now)
43. No homework
44. No outside work
45. My blog plans and the feeling of excitement I still have about writing this blog
46. Nice hotel rooms
47. Big fluffy comforters
48. Smiling involuntarily
49. Free stuff from fancy hotels
50. Making light of aggravating situations
51. Seeing cute toddlers and remembering that used to be me
52. Free Wi-Fi
53. The Dinner table as an EFZ (Electronics Free Zone) (Thanks a lot Uncle Jay) (I can’t tell if I’m being sarcastic or not)
54. Having dinner with Uncle Jay, Aunt Tammy, and cousins Robert and Brandon
55. Going to see the Billy Joel concert with them afterwards
56. NOT arguing with Robert about the patriarchy
57. The Tube system
58. Souvenir shops
59. British Netflix, that has Homeland, Community, and The Lizzie McGuire Movie
60. The fact that YouTube still works abroad
61. British accents
62. The security at museums, because even when they are scolding you they sound polite
63. Surprising mom with John Legend at the O2
64. Mom’s face when she learned our surprise
65. Singing along to “All of Me” at the John Legend concert
66. Hearing the academy award winning song “Glory” from the movie “Selma”, live at the O2.
67. Recognizing John Legend’s “Fight the Power” hand gesture after he finishing singing and playing “Glory”.
68. After the show, hearing Shayna rap on repeat the other sections of “Glory” that John Legend skipped over (because Common, the rapper, was sick that night)
69. Shayna’s new T-Mobile plan that gives her phone access to data abroad (she has no service in Marin, but that’s a different issue…)
70. Face Timing with Rachel
71. Snapchatting with friends back home
72. Sitting down to eat for lunch and relaxing for an hour or so
73. Fish and Chips
74. Saying “Challenge Accepted” when Shayna asks sarcastically if I could go any slower
75. Quoting relevant pop culture references in random foreign situations
76. Hearing “we’re going to be sitting for a while”
77. The feeling of accomplishment after hearing the number of steps or miles we’ve walked by the end of the day
78. Taking bad and unnecessary selfies
79. Having my computer
80. The Oyster card we bought for the Tube that made public transit so much easier
81. Taking a moment to appreciate where I am and the travel opportunities I have been gifted with
82. Feeling isolated with my family and not feeling independent at all, but accepting that and even being grateful for this
83. The weather—gloomy and NOT HOT
84. The lack of humidity
85. My on point (and not frizzy or wild) hair
86. Shayna’s braiding of my hair in the morning or at night
87. Castles
88. Literary landmarks
89. Being able to live in the moment
90. FaceTiming with Nonny and Poppy
91. FaceTiming with Bubbi and Zaydie
92. Still feeling connected to home without Facebook, through email, FaceTime, and blogging.
93. Hearing mom tell stories about her days studying abroad in Oxford
94. Making lists about our travels, and organizing my thoughts in a numeric order
95. Enjoying adventures and thinking about who would also love this (Nonny would love this hotel; Exploring this castle with the Weisses would be so fun; I wish I could walk down this London street with Poppy and talk about life; That queen in the painting looks just like Bubbi; Marci and Ruth Rosenthal should ride the London together someday, etc.)
96. The cute little villages that make me feel like I am walking or driving through a fairy tale
97. The UK’s love of knitting
98. Receiving gratifying responses and comments to my blog
99. Watching Ima (Mom) and Dad’s love and connection still flourishing after 21 years of marriage (July 3 anniversary)
100. Being together as a family, traveling through magical and enchanting adventures, enjoying life, and simply being.
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