arm warmers & leg warmers

i am here to extol the virtues of leg warmers and arm warmers. because they rock. and they keep you toasty warm.

usually i would have scoffed the return of the leg warmer but those things are utterly awesome under jeans. i now own several pairs which are in daily rotation and part of my everyday wardrobe here in b'tol.

i found arm warmers at primark here in b'tol and although my friend bonnie said i was a 'tard for getting a pair, she later relented and got herself a pair when she saw how cool they looked on me not to mention how warm i was. so there.

so if you want to be warm and toasty this winter season, go out and score yourself some arm and leg warmers. or tell me and i'll personally bring you a pair all the way from england.

pictures coming soon

I SWEAR!

boxing day

boxing day, december 26th, the day after christmas when one would typically box up all their christmas leftovers and visit family they didn't visit on christmas day is really a crapshoot here.

some things are open but generally speaking, b'tol is pretty deserted. except mcdonald's. everyone is in there for some reason. also baguettes are in short supply.

some shops are open for business in the mall while others are closed. from personal experience being a store manager, in the states, stores are "fined" by the mall management if said store does not open for business on a day when the mall is open. don't think that's the case here though.

the crazy day-after-christmas shopping frenzy doesn't seem to really go off here in b'tol. if fact, one store, although having very large signage announcing their day after sale, seemed like it was closed and empty. upon closer inspection, it was open for business, with quite a few shoppers shopping.

the salesgal at harvey nichols, an upscale, high-end department store on par with barney's back in the states said that "it was complete mayhem this morning". apparently mayhem to get to MY charcoal balenciaga classic city tote which was 30% off.

some stores had fantastic sales (thank you harvey nichols and joe. you know why) while others operated business as usual (um primark, where were you on the sale front? i expected so much more and am frankly a little disappointed in you) and some stores didn't even bother to open (yes, i am talking about you st. nicholas market).

all in all, it was fun to be out and about with joe and the kids, soaking in the wonderfulness that is b'tol.

correction

please stand by for an important announcement: clack has now become crack. so now someone cracks their head, not clacks it. sad to say it but clack has gone the way of cuckcape, water mountain, cagoose, and hamguber.

we now return to our regularly scheduled blog entry.

my britishisms

so there are some britishisms that i am adopting and bringing home with me.

get ready to hear:
brill (as in brilliant)
good work you
lovely (ok, i already use this one alot)
lie-in

i have left the bristolians with the following shellaine-isms:
awesome sauce (this is really from teri j. but it just fantastically describes anything)
fantastic
awesome
supa-dupa
all toe-up
porntastic
pornorrific
chillax
state of zen
scosh

i have also been told that i have the biggest american accent that our british friends have ever heard. not sure if this a compliment or not or if it just means i'll never sound like i live here.

a word from our sponsor about allergies

since no one has inquired, i just thought i;d throw it out there that my allergies have not bothered me one iota since we landed back in september.

i have a total of one cold since i have been here. and fingers crossed, the kids zero.

back in LA, i am sick at least one week every month due to allergies just bringing my whole system down. i hate to sound paranoid but this means my house and environs may be trying to kill me.

another reason why we just NEED to move here. i have not touched a single allergy med since i have been here and damn that feels good!

sunday roasts

before i forget, i must boast about british sunday roasts, which rock the heezy. delish, delish, delish.

a typical sunday roast consists of:
meat - be it beef, chicken or pork - whatever makes you socks roll up & down
potatoes
gravy
yorkshire pudding (for you yanks: not a pudding in the bill cosby way but more like a crispy pastry bread that is awesome for soaking up the last of the yummy gravy on your plate)
roasted or steamed carrots
baked broccoli in cheese sauce
baked cauliflower in cheese sauce
steamed brussel sprouts

all in ridiculously large quantities, except for the meat.

if you haven't had a sunday roast, i suggest you get over to england stat, because you don't know what you are missing.

can i get an ay?

where is the time going? we have been here since september and had envisioned every-other-weekend trips to other EU countries, but alas, we haven't visited any yet. this must be remedied stat.

joe had been monitoring ryanair, the official airline of ireland, for inexpensive fares to the land of emerald grasses. we had heard fabled tales of 5# fares to exotic destiniations within the EU. with baggage and carry-on restrictions, of course. but still, ryanair beckoned.

finally paydirt hit: after daily check-ins on the ryanair website, joe found the 5# airfare. pow. with lots and lots of fine print. but who cares? we were finally making our first sojourn out of the UK.

better late than never.

destination: shannon, ireland.

clack

diggy has a little trouble with double consonants (like hamburger was hamguber, track is twack, cupcake is cuckcape) and one recent word that has given his little mouth grief is "crack", which he pronounces "clack". gemma recently fell & bumped her head (surprise, surprise) and diggy yelled out that she had "clacked her head". upon hearing this, gemma grabbed the back of her head and asked if her brains were falling out of her head.

we, of course, assured her that they were not.

gemma's britishisms

gemma has really become ingrained in the local language & now refers to things she knows in "american english" using the "british english" term or britishisms, as i've dubbed them.

trips to the store are now "trips to the shops"

popsicles or anything on a stick is a "lolly", pronounced "laahlee"

a mess is a ruckus

behavior and people are "cheeky"

lip gloss is "lippy"

it's "chocklate" instead of chocolate

snacktime is now tea time

pita bread has become "pitta" bread

where you park you car is pronounced "ghairage"

school is called "nursery"

an elevator is a lift

tape is now cello

and of course, french fries are chips and potato chips are crisps.

go gemma! plus she lapses into a british accent when she excitedly relates a story then goes right back into her american accent. too cute.

some things i will miss about b'tol

some things i will about living here in bristol AKA b'tol:

- driving on the left
- primark
- sainsbury's grocery & their yummy offerings ranging from fresh made jelly doughnuts to heat & eat indian curry to 27 pence dark chocolate bars
- the weather (it's not that cold!)
- the bristolian peoples
- gemma's british accent & britishisms
- weekend trips driving through the british countryside
- british ciders
- cumberland sausages
- yorksire pudding
- sunday roasts
- the pound coin
- curly wurly caramel candy bars
- reliable, working public transportation
- being able to walk just about anywhere in the city, making nights out really fun
- pub nights
- delicious indian food and the abundance of indian restaurants everywhere
- our little tyndalls flat, which is sooooo easy to keep clean & tidy
- legwarmers
- armwarmers
- the super fresh, pesticide free fruits and veggies from nearby spain (esp. the grapes! we will miss them)
- elderflower presses
- roundabouts

our time is bristol is winding down. it's been way too awesome for words and an adventure we are so glad we got to be a part of. wish we could stay here.

anyone want to buy a house in west los angeles? it's on the santa monica border and has a huge backyard . . .

london bridge is better without kids

part 3 of our weekend getaway culminates in a trip to london to check out a show at the tate modern and go handbag shopping for yours truly.

we park the car at osterly station and take the tube into london so we don't have to withdraw from the peanuts' college funds to cover weekend parking fees in the city centre.

making our way to the tate modern is hard work & we are hungry for lunch. it's sunday and not quite the holiday season yet, so there isn't much open in the way of eats on the way to the tate modern. my stomach just hopes there is a cafe at the museum that serves more than muffins and snickers bars.

we are in luck as the tate modern boasts an award-winning full service restaurant that is packed to the gills today as the lunch options the the surrounding areas seems to be a bit nil on a sunday. with yummy burgs & fries filling our tummies, we are now ready to check the exhibit, featuring damien hirst, andy warhol, murakami, keith haring and jeff koons to name drop a few.

the exhibit was fairly good as far as exhibits go but joe was a tad disappointed as it was not what he was hoping to see from these artists.

murakami had a music video looping with kirsten dunst that had the vapors' song, "turning japanese" churning in my head all day long and part of monday too. it was interesting to see all the covers from interview magazine that warhol had painted during the 80's. one artist featured identical twins reading the same book on identical chairs and otufits as they flanked a painting hung on the wall. i so wanted to talk to them and to find out how they had scored this art gig.

after getting our fill of art for the the day, joe promised some handbag shopping. i had done some recon on the internet and determined the whereabouts of balenciaga, longchamp, mulberry, and lancel as well as their opening hours. being sunday and not quite the holidays, most shops were closed but luckily mulberry (a london based brand) was open, so we headed there straightaway where i scored a cute yummy little ledbury handbag in chocolate leather.

london trip=full success!!!

da plaine, da plaine

bath trip. part deux.

to recap, joe & i were able to steal away for a weekend getaway to bath, about 12 miles from bristol.

sadly, we waited until the very last moment to make our travel arrangements, so our hotel choices were really limited. as in no where to stay. not even the dreaded within walking distance holiday inn had a room for us. i mean, who comes to bath and stays in a holiday inn? i don't even go to holiday inns back home. but in this instance, the holiday inn would have been sufficient.

industrious joe got online and was able to find a room for us at a hotel about 6 miles outside of bath, called the plaine. while we could have just gone back home to tyndalls, finding this open room meant that after our relaxing visit to thermae, we would not have to go home to little people.

on the twisty drive to the plaine, joe kept saying "i hope you like it. i just hope you like it." i just said i hoped it wasn't a bed and breakfast, being that we are not bed and breakfast people. for those of you who are ben stiller film buffs, i challenge you to name that film.

of course, it starts to pour buckets & it's taking forever to get there. at this point, i am just hoping that an actual hotel actually exists out here and that we have not booked a hay bale in some local barn.

we arrive at the the plaine. and guess what? it's a bed and breakfast! and from the look of things, we look to be the only guests that weekend. from just the look on his face, i can tell joe is just dreading tomorrow's breakfast and having to make small talk with complete strangers or even worse, the b & b owners. i would even go as far to bet that joe thought about leaving before the break of dawn to avoid said breakfast.

the plaine turns out to be quaint and small, owned by a husband & wife and thankfully not some old cranky woman with a cockney accent. it has electricity, it's own bath with a shower & a flushing toilet from this century. plus we're only sleeping here before we shove off to london to visit a museum or 2 and handbag shop for moi.

the bed leaves something to be desired as it is short & maybe was pilfered from napoleon's garage sale plus it's a little low to the ground for my taste. there is a fireplace in the room but it's been turned into a reading alcove. a small tv has been provided but there are like only 4 free channels in england and they always seem to be showing a documentary about fishing or something.

our breakfast order was taken when we checked in and we have been told to arrive in the dining room between 8:30 and 9am for our breakfasts. we are the first (or we had thought the only) guests to arrive. the husband is reading the sunday paper in the kitchen area but immediately greets us and sets about cooking up our brekkies.

breakfast is a simple affair: eggs any style, beans, sausages, tomatoes, and toast. very basic but very delish & perfectly filling with orange juice, fresh tea & coffee.

the plaine turns out to have had a full house last night as all tables are full with weekenders. the wife makes the rounds at breakfast, making small talk with each of the couples, maybe 6 or 7 in all.

but we are off like a prom dress promptly after finishing up brekkie and heading to london!

sad lonely little b'tol blog

not sure if a neglected blog is a sign of someone who is just very busy & out having adventures or someone who is just lazy.

spa thermae, bath

after weeks of doing stuff that kept the kids' interests in mind, joe and i finally got a much needed break.

we were spending the weekend away from the bristol (or b'tol, for those in the know) flat. sans kiddies. we were beyond excited. a whole night without some little person climbing into our bed and shoving us over the edge or kicking us in the head.

and we were going to spa thermae in bath then on to london for a little museuming as well as a little hanbag shopping for moi.

awesome sauce.

my parents had offered to watch the peanuts for the entire weekend, allowing us to get away.

thermae is located in bath, 12 miles from bristol and draws upon the city's well known mineral waters that made up the roman baths for some 400 years. thermae boasts a rooftop pool as well as steam rooms, various pools and treatment rooms, all utilizing the health vitalizing bath mineral waters.

unfortunately, i waited too long to make spa appointments for both joe and myself at thermae, so we were out of luck as far as getting spa treatments that we actually wanted.

joe waited too long to make hotel reservations and as luck would have it, every hotel room in bath was booked. even the ones at the dreaded holiday inn nearby. my persistant husband went online and was able to locate a place for us to stay. outside of bath and almost 10 miles away. but at least we would not have to return home to crazy children after a day of relaxation.

thermae was . . . underwhelming. i like my water really really hot, almost scalding and the thermal waters of bath, although naturally imported from the center of the earth, were a bit lacking in the heat department. it was plenty warm but a few degrees more would have been awesome. but then if the waters were heat assisted, we might have a lawsuit on our hands. the rooftop pool was awesome and we hoped for rain as we had heard it made the pool even more fantastic. seeing bath from the 4th floor was amazing.

the downstairs minerva bath reminded us of spring break at daytona beach plus the accoustics of the room mixed with the voices of all the other spa goers didn't help in making the environment more relaxing. the glass enclosed steam rooms were awesomely warm and the lavender scented room was my personal fav.

we each were able to snag a last minute treatment, although not the specific treatments we were hoping to get. beggars can't be choosers and i did wait too long to book, so the fact that we got anything was beyond a miracle. i got a vichy exfoliation which was way too short at 30 minutes. joe had the vichy shower which is relaxing but does not do much in the way of relieving stress in one's joints.

next installment, da plaine, da plaine.

the world famous . . . clown eggs

yes, here they are in all their glory, the famed clown eggs of wookey hole.

feel free to ooooh & ahhh to your heart's content.

we strassers know how to suss out the fun and unusual.

wookey hole

so in looking for things to do with kids in or around bristol, we happened upon wookey hole, a local attraction that boasts cheddar caves, life size dinosaurs, a circus museum and the world's largest collection of um, clown eggs. we'll get to those later.

to clear things up, wookey hole is in no way associated with chewbacca, much to our disappointment. so needless to day, chewie wasn't on hand to greet us upon arrival.

most english amusement parks, castles and public attractions close up for the season in october. some reopen for a brief christmas stint but otherwise after october, it's kind of a tourist attraction ghost town.

which is how we arrived at wookey hole, it being one of the few open year round.

sadly, the day we visited vacillated between drizzles and full fledged rain, further limiting the already limited array of things to do at wookey hole.

parking is free though. which is big, for england.

after ruling out pirate miniature golf due to being rained out, we opted for a tour of the cheddar caves, which is reputedly haunted by the wookey witch. the cheddar caves are true cheddar caves. not in the sense that one can reach out & pull off a hunk of cheese goodness from the cave walls. somehow, someone figured that you could leave fresh cheese in the caves to ripen. probably some old miner that forgot his lunch only to return the following spring to find it had "matured" and that the resulting cheese tasted damn good. the caves are a constant temperature all year, thus being the perfect environment to ripen cheese.

wookey hole also has a large mirror maze which the kids delighted finding their way through. they were better than most of the adults present. i must note that my children are also unusually adept at finding their way through a corn maze, so mazes must just be their thing.

wookey hole also has an amazing amount of circus memorabillia, if that makes your socks roll up and down. costumes, hats, shoes, scaled models of circus sites, and many circus wagons, including one of the abominable (or is it abdominal?) snowman being kept alive with various potions and whatnot.

lastly, the wookey hole also boasts the largest collection of clown eggs ever assembled in the world. what are clown eggs you ask? these are regular eggs with the insides drained out and painted with the facial likenesses of famous and not so famous clowns from around the world. there must be like 300 of these eggs at wookey hole. so incredibly strange. there was also a marcel marceau egg but it didn't do any of that walking in the wind or invisible wall thing. thank goodness.

we learned several things on the wookey hole expedition:
1. wookey hole not affiliated with chewbacca. damn.
2. cheddar caves not actually "made" of cheese but more a cheese storage/ripening facility.
3. clown eggs exist. for what reason, we do not know. kinda like stonehenge.
4. dignan is claustrophobic

in remembrance

this is for ed strasser, joe's paternal grandfather who passed away last week.

ed had recently celebrated his 102nd birthday & now joins his lovely wife, joe's grandmother, mary in the great beyond. they were quite a pair in their day!

we hear that ed was buried with his harmonica, so you know he'll be whistling tunes on the other side. maybe even taking requests as he was often willing to during his birthday celebrations at the manor.

dignan's middle name is edward - named after the grandfathers on both sides.

we will miss ed and are so thankful that gemma and dignan both had the chance to meet their great grandfather.

now a word from our sponsor

hey everyone, sorry to have fallen off the wagon with bristol posts.

we had guests for 3 weeks+ & went to wookey hole & ireland.

so i been a tad busy.

but i am about to get it started all up in here with the latest & greatest news from our fav new city, bristol.

hope everyone is well & that your turkey day was delish.

stay tuned! more to come!