Lifestream
- Checked in at Goodberry's— 2d ago via Foursquare
- Checked in at First Baptist Church— September 5th via Foursquare
- Published My Little Amish Girl.— September 4th via maustsontoast.com
England
16 December, Sunday – Epping Forest Community Church, Hillsong and Wok in a Box
Epping Forest Community Church in the morning for church and then we headed off to Tottenham Court Road to catch the Hillsong London Christmas program. The show at Hillsong could easily rival any show that one would pay for in a proper theater as a proper "production." Lights, smoke machines, live music, video, huge screens, Santa passing out Lindt chocolates (yes, please) and Simon. Simon helps out at Hillsong and had been down there the whole day when we caught up with him.
After the program, it was off to the Hillsongers' bar for some mulled wine and good company. We (me, Emily, Sally and Simon) met people we hadn't seen in a while (shout out to Jay) and made some new friends as well (shout out to our new Austrailian friend Louise should she find our website!). Overall a cheery evening; but things really got awesome when I spotted a little to-go/take away "restaurant" across the street from the bar, called Wok in a Box. Pick two items from the wok, they throw them in a little, typical Chinese to-go box, and you pay £4.50 for a scrumptious meal. Rocked my world. I woke up this morning still thinking about it and made up motions to celebrate. Emily knows the dance now, too. Thanks, Wok in a Box!
14 December, Friday – Tea, Lounging, Loughton and Thrift Stores
Day one of our Christmas 2007 vacation in Theydon Bois started yesterday. Seeing as we hadn't gone to bed Tuesday night, but stayed up all night and got dropped off at the airport at 3:30am Wednesday morning by our good friend Geth, and traveled all day and finally arrived at Emily's parents' house Thursday just a hair past midnight…seeing as all that happened Wednesday, we slept in yesterday until about 2:00pm, which really turns out to be about a 12 hour snooze. Praise the Lord…that felt good. Unfortunately, we weren't adjusting to the time change by waking up so late, but Thursday night, after a scrumptious pork roast courtesy of Sir Nigel D, we headed out to E15's production of Beauty and the Beast. What a hoot that was. Singing and dancing and comedy and a beast. Great time.
Getting home last night we lounged around drinking our third quotidian cup of tea and watching the TV. Unable to sleep for the time change, we stayed up last night reading our respective books. Me: Aristotle's Children. Emily: When Crickets Cry. Still unable to sleep, we watched Donnie Darko (what a messed up/freaky movie that is in no way endorsed or recommended by this post or the author hereof). After that, sleep.
We woke up this morning to cups of tea and bagels; thanks, Nigel! After primping and showers, we headed off to Loughton (a couple little towns away) and got to shopping, or getting Christmas cheer as my dad likes to put it. =) We slipped into our usual stores and charity shops (thirft stores smell the same wordwide!), finding a couple of books and a blouse/top, as well as a bottle of Ribena, a Mars bar and a Kinder Bueno. Yummy; but this appetizer was no match for the lasagne waiting at home for us. We're also adulatory to report that the white VW Polo has been resurrected for a bazillionth time; good work, Simon. Think we had a calm evening after dinner? Think again: the Seaman's stopped by for drinks, cakes, giggles and pictures…approximately in that order. Check out neonatal pictures of that foray in the picture gallery.
We're now in bed. Emily's sleeping and I'm telling you what we've been up to. What are we doing tomorrow you ask? You'll have to check this space for that info, shawty. =)
Warm and Sunny North Carolina
How warm is it here in sunny Wake Forest, North Carolina? Plenty warmer than where you are (considering most of our readers live in the northern US and UK)! In fact, it was so warm–dare I say "hot"?–that last night we had to sleep with the windows open. Warm air, cool breeze, sleeping comfortably in sunny and warm Wake Forest. Today, however, is a bit chilly: ~60F/15C. It was supposed to hover around 70F this week, but it looks like a little bit of a cold front has moved in. Short sleeves in Decemeber? Yes, please.
Lord willing, though, we'll be in the UK tomorrow night to enjoy our winter clothes for the first time this year. Thanks, UK! We knew we could count on you! See y'all soon!
Please Mind the Gap Between Your Job and Being Fired
What happens when you mock the London Underground (affectionately known as the Tube) and make spoofs of the announcments and post them on your website? Most likely nothing, unless you are the official announcer, aka Emma Clarke. You may have heard that today she was relieved of her duties for criticizing the London Underground. An Underground spokesman had this to say, "Some of the spoof announcements are very funny. But Emma is a bit silly to go round slagging off her client's services." Read more of the story here.
I was only able to download one of the spoof announcements before her site (EmmaClarke.com) went down from the rush of traffic; but now have the rest of them. You can download the Emma Clarke spoof announcement (MP3), "We'd like to remind our American tourist friends that you are almost certainly talking too loud" right here. To stream other of the spoofs, look to the right. Now I know to keep it down on the Tube; wouldn't want to out-noise the drunks!
Download A Reminder for American Tourists
"We'd like to remind our American tourist friends that you are almost certainly talking too loud."
(All the spoofs (MP3s) are now attached to this post for download. Sorry so ugly.)
Fall is For Fun
What if I told you that I was eatin' beans on toast right now? You'd think it a crazy coincidence that you're on a website called MaustsOnToast and some guy's talking about eatin' beans on toast. You can infer from the fact that I'm eating beans on toast that I'm home alone tonight while Emily's at class; otherwise we'd be having corn on the cob, french fries, and hot wings.
It's been a while since either one of us Mausts on toast have written anything on here, so let me go ahead and say that we've booked flights to come to England for Christmas and New Years. We're scheduled to leave December, 12th @ 6:00am Lord willin' and the creek don't rise. We're hoping there'll be happy Hayes's there to greet us later that evening. Can you believe the airport was gonna charge $120 to park long-term while we're gone!? We've got some friends lined up to take us. What friends they are, let me tell you: we've got to be at the airport at 4am, which means leaving our place at about 3:30am! It's a shame we couldn't leave sooner but I've got my last final exam that Tuesday night before we fly on Wednesday, the 12th. Anyways, you Angles, Jutes, Picts, and Saxons better get ready for MaustsOnTour. We need a vacation!
In other news, I've added a melange of autumnal pictures (pumpking carving, Celtic Woman, and a squirrel!) to the Photo Gallery in addition to pictures from my cousin Greg's wedding in Ohio on September 22nd.
Being British
One of the British national daily newspapers is asking readers "what it means to be British?" Some of the emails are hilarious but this is one from a chap in Switzerland…
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