The Most Ineffectual Reprimand Ever

Elizabeth & I were cycling home from the grocery store the other day, and were behind this group of boys - probably aged 8-11-ish. We went over the Cam, and halfway across the bridge, one of the boys threw some garbage into the waters. We eventually caught up to them, and I cleverly said to this kid, "Hey, can you not litter? I saw you throw that garbage into the river." End.

This kid just looked at me and said, "yeah, sorry", and then I biked home.

Seriously Jammy?

All About Suzie

 When my siblings came to visit me, back in May, Suzie stayed in England for 2 weeks longer than Chris & Kathryn. It was really nice to spend time with just Soosie (aka Ma'am Suzanne Claire Cheeseman, aka Bluesie, aka Boozie, aka Boozehound). Since coming to Cambreej, I am feeling more like Suzie than ever. I feel relaxed, and un-hurried, and very live-and-let-live-ish. I think it is a good change in me, and I hope Suzie doesn't take offense to this.

The best parts of the Just Suzie visit were when we just hung out and did nothing. It was wonderful. The week my sibs were here was a bit whirlwindy and a little emotionally draining, and so the day that Chris & Kathryn left, Suzie and I stayed in, played with Elizabeth, and watched about 4 episodes of Grey's Anatomy. Then we went to the grocery store, and got totally soaked when the heavens opened up unexpectedly. I'm not sure if she believed me that this had never happened to me before. I swear, we've been here 8 months and I think it's rained like that . . . 5 times? Don't believe everything you read about British weather!

We went to visit our cousin Emma (of Lapwing Drive fame), and had a great time. Emma's house is a haven of calm for me - the James family has a million toys, Elizabeth l-o-v-e-s Henry & Millie, Emma's kids, and best of all, Emma is never stressed about a tidy house. Her house is always clean, but the kids are allowed to really play and have fun. Elizabeth loves it there.

So here are my fave photos of the Just Suzie visit. Ever the conversationalist, Suzie refused to miss out on the chatting when she needed 'fresh air' and made us laugh by popping her little head into windows so she could contribute to the conversation. And then we went to the Cambridge Beer Festival. Eliz was a hit - she went to all the little groups of drinkers and 'cheers'-ed them with her little sippy cup of lager water.

 On the weekend, we went to Camden market for some serious shopping. Check out our sweet haul! I got this cool dress-over-a-dress number that I love, and this scarf (as a twofer deal), and Suzie got all kinds of clothes and bling. Including, I hope you realize, a real imitation sapphire ring that is pretty much exactly the one that Princess Diana had, which makes it also exactly the one the Duchess of Cambridge has. Boo yah.

This is Suzie's best new outfit: new-to-her black leather jacket, cute balloon-dress with jeweled neckline, with skinny jeans and heels. Hello gorgeous. 

 

 

All of Suzie's new clothes make her a Fsashionista.

Hawkeye's big find? A keychain with a mini map of the London Underground. He knows what he likes.

Suzie's parting gift to Cambreej was a new tambourine and drum for Elizabeth. Auntie Suzie is good at finding toys that are noisy, and these ones that don't have a battery you can take out or an on/off switch are grrrrrreat! Even at 7 am! Honest! And for some reason (is beer a reason?) Suzie decided to play the tambourine as we cycled home from the pub.

Sometimes, when you're so Cambreej, you just have to let it out.

In conclusion: Soosie is an excellent house guest, and we had a great, great time with her.

PS I love using 'In conclusion'. Love, love, love it.

"I have a day off."

When you're a stay at home Mum and you do a babysitting swap during the day with a friend, you usually end up with time off on a weekday afternoon. And most times, you do something glorious and selfish, like read a book with no interruptions or drink a hot cup of coffee. But definitely something away from your child. And most often, alone. But when you are a working parent, and you have days off (ie Saturdays and Sundays) you spend all your time with your kids. So you never really get time on your own. And I bet that if you choose to spend time alone, there is at least an initial sense of guilt, like you should always want to be with your kids when you can. Which means that the vast majority of parents feel a little bit bad for having a good time on their own.

This whole concept is kind of blowing my mind right now.

A Fascinating Time

Since Kate Middleton arrived on the scene, fascinators are where it's at. According to Wikipedia (aka a credible and reliable source), "a fascinator is a headpiece, a style of millinery. The word originally referred to a fine, lacy head covering akin to a shawl and made from wool or lace." Wikipedia then uses this photograph of four women all wearing the same fascinator, and all looking equally bad:

Wikipedia should have used this photograph, because it paints fascinators in a much better light:

Basically, they're a headband with a bunch of feathery frou-frou on it, and they are really fun to wear. But even more fun to try on!! My favourite department store, John Lewis, has a millinery department, and when Matthew's mum Susan was here, we did a little bit of fascinating dress-up while Eliz slept.

It's a good thing I never tried out for Canada's (or Britain's, for that matter) Next Top Model, because seriously? Tyra Banks would not have been able to give me any tips. Clearly, I was made to be photographed - so natural in front of a lens!! :)

Even Matthew got in on the fun. I'm sure he loved it. L-O-V-E-D it. Right babe?

Hawkeye wears the fascinators with such flair.

Then we checked out the shoes on sale, and I am still kicking myself for not buying these bad boys when I had the chance. I wonder why they were on sale??? Surely someone should have grabbed them up by now?

"Hello, England's Best Dressed List? I'm calling to nominate myself."

With these shoes on, I was tall enough to kiss Matthew without lifting my chin - and he is 11 inches taller than me!!! Yowza.

An Idyllic Weekend

Team Hawkeye had a fantastic weekend. It was one of those weekends where the sun shined, we had great plans with great people, and everything worked out. We had two really wonderful days in a row - the kinds of days that make us glad we are here in Cambridge, because we could never have done these things in Edmonton.

On Saturday, our Cool Friends from London (Alex & Naomi Glancy) came up to Cambridge with Alex's sister Eva (New Cool Friend from London). We went for a punt, a picnic and a pint . . . well, a few pints and a bottle of Cava... :)

Nice Family Photo - Eliz is having a little nap in her boat-jacket. She played herself out at the picnic.

This was when Alex stepped in stinging nettles while photographing Eliz in the bigl field where we picnicked.  It is just when I went to put Eliz's boots back on, after she had kicked them off, but before she fell into a bush of stinging nettles and cried for a bit. Luckily, a dog came and distracted her from the pain. Alex had to dangle his feet in the river for a few minutes to dull his pain... who's the baby now???

Another Nice Family Photo - can be used as evidence to prove that Eva does, in fact, live in the UK with G & Naomi. And that G has pretty good punting skillz.

All in all a lovely day. Followed by a great Sunday barbecue at Laura & Ollie's house. Laura is my cousin and Ollie is her fiancé, and they're good peeps. We went to their place in Mountfitchet - it's about a 30 minute train ride from Cambridge (aka "just up the road"). The sun shone all afternoon, and we had a really good time together, just chatting. Elizabeth loved climbing the very steep stairs in their house, but not at much as she loved the guinea pigs. Ollie made the hugest burgers known to man, and we ate like kings. And they lent us the DVDs of the Brit version of The Office. For the record: I truly believe that episode 17 of season 7 of the American version of The Office is the funniest television show I have ever seen (Threat Level Midnight , anyone?) I have my reservations that the British version will be funnier to me than the American one, but I am ready to give it a chance. Stay tuned.

On the train on the way home, we were the only people in our carriage. This was really great, because Elizabeth talked and sang and happy-yelled the whole way home. The whole way home. Even on the bike. She had a lot on her mind, I guess. Maybe she was just reviewing the awesomeness of the weekend?

I Have a Condition

When I was little, my brother and sisters used to trick me into doing their chores by saying things like, "George, I bet you can't empty the dishwasher in a commercial break." To which I would reply, "Can so!", and they would tell me I was too little and too slow to do it. So I would go and empty the dishwasher super fast, just to show them! Oh, little Georgina...

 

Now I am living proof that these kinds of 'games' have a lasting impact. Yesterday, after dinner, we saw a dog in the courtyard in front of our house, and of course Elizabeth went crazy  for it. So she and Matthew went out to play - I had decided to sit on the couch and read my magazine instead. But then, as soon as they left, I thought, "I could probably do the dishes while they're out there, and just get them done." And then halfway through the dishes, I thought, "I bet I can finish the dishes, and take the garbages out before they're back." And then I had my realization that these kinds of 'beat the clock' games with myself are a complete product of my siblings' trickery, and it all culminated with, "I bet I can finish the dishes, take the garbages out, and blog about this realization before they come back."

Turns out, I did finish the dishes, but not the garbages or the blogging. So instead, I'm blogging now, and getting it all done before my hard boiled eggs are done.

He's So Cambreej

When he was visiting here, my big brother Chris started calling Cambridge "Cambreej" (pronounciation: cam-breej). I'm not really sure how it all started, but I now live in Cambreej, not Cambridge. And I know I've already discussed the Cambridge 'uniform' for hipsters - for girls it's short-shorts and horizontally-striped tops, usually with high heeled boot-shoes, and for boys it's super tight jeans and horizontally-striped tops with fedoras and sunglasses. There are a lot of stripes going on here this season. But Chris noticed a whole new breed of Cambreej - the Academics. The 'chinos and button downs, with a sweater tied around their neck', and the 'blazer with plaid shorts and a satchel/man-purse' set. You know the ones. They will probably own corduroy sport coats later in life.

Anyways, Chris was so Cambreej while he was here. He had a bike, a messenger bag, and a blazer. BOOM! He's Cambreejian.

Oh yes, he DID wear plaid shorts and a blazer to our local pub. He's a confident man.

I'm not sure what the headband was about, but it was hysterical. Love the guitar strapped on the back too. Seriously, I look at this picture and I laugh. Everytime. Love the Cheese.

Don't worry, he didn't look like that when we went out and about. He looked like this:

 My brother is SO Cambreej.