Get Up and Dance

Would you get up at 5:30 am to go to a dance party? I WOULD! And do!

Introducing one of my favourite events I've attended so far in London, Morning Gloryville. The event is a dry rave that is held once a month, on wednesday morning between 6:30-10:30 am. This is not an after-party. Its a chance to rise and shine and dance.

So the getting up part is generally awful (but then I find getting out of bed generally awful). And it was very dark and rainy walk. But you have to ignore the tiny voice that says 'why are you doing this?' and trust it will all be good when you get there.

Here is us pre-dancing. Note: we are tired happy and reasonably put together. We will contrast this to our post-dancing looks later on in this blog.

So Londoners are not morning people (this is the dance floor at 7 am). We were pretty early and people were only just getting going.
But it fills up really quickly and all of a suddent its totally packed full! Dress code for this tends to be somewhere between fancy dress, pajamas, and workout gear. Also dancing on the stage, is highly encouraged.




And so we dance!

And the dancing leads to thirst which leads to smoothies! Green smoothies are the best. Along with the purple smoothies... though the yellow ones are good too. Hey just any smoothy at this point!

And here we are post event! One of us had to leave early because sadly there is that whole work thing we have to do. In contrast to pre-dancing photo, much more disshelved (okay we just going to go there and say really sweaty and messy). And those giddy expressions. Yeah this could easily be an end of a night out photo. That high is all natural my friends! That is what you get when you mix extreme fatigue with 2 hours of dancing early in the morning.


















There are morning gloryville events all over the world! See if there is one near you!
http://morninggloryville.com/

Five Ways to Find Things to Do

One of the challenges I have found in trying to do more and buy less is literally the act of finding things to do. Sadly no one has created a website of entertaining, crafty and/or slightly childish things to do in London. Right now I'm using a mix of resources to find my inspiration.

1. Event Websites/Newspapers
For Toronto I use to look at BlogTO. For London there is Timeout London or the Londonist. I actually prefer the weekly publication of Timeout to the websites. The website overwhelms me. You can try to search by neighbourhood or by interest, but even that sometimes just gives you way too many results. The weekly publication, however, can be flipped through at your leisure.

Best For: When you feel uninspired on what to do
Downside: featured events can get quickly booked up because of wide readership

2. Adverts on the Tube (and elswhere)
I've noticed that ads for museums and shows probably make up 30% of all advertising boards here. Almost all the big theatre, dance, music and museum events have ad space. Jot down anything you see that might be interesting so you can look up the details later.

Best For: Hearing about the latest shows
Downside: Only the big spaces can afford this sort of advertising

3. General Event Spaces
My two favourite so far are DrinkShopDo and Doodle Bar. I originally found both of these in Timeout. But now I watch their event pages for interesting things to do. These are both venues that hold a wide variety of events from crafting nights to drinks and dancing to film screening and everything in between.

Best For: Interesting workshops and wacky nights out
Downside: Hard to find and events often book-up so you need to plan ahead

4. Musuem and University Public Events
Grab monthly to-do guides or check website pages. There are usually a list of talks or gallery tours or late-night event. Some art galleries do art classes and some museums plan very lively events around certain collections or shows. You will be both culturally enlightened and amused.

Best for: Talks and Tours
Downside: Often really big events, not the best if your goal is to meet new people

5. Twitter
A bit of strategic following can put you in the loop about events, epecially small ones. I follow a lot of people involved in ethical fashion and a lot of them re-tweet events. Look for people with your interests and who live more or less in your area to hear about the best options.

Best for: last minute plans
Downside: be prepared to get disappointed sometimes because something is posted last minute but you already had other plans.

My Ideal Day in the Park

People in London are always telling me how there is more designated green space in London than any other city. At first this surprised me. It always seemed to me to be a lot of concrete, stone and tightly packed buildings, but then I realised they meant that there are more parks.

And there are a lot. The other weekend, I took in a few and spent almost 3 hours wandering the interconnecting parks of Kensington Park, Hyde Park, Green Park and St. James Park. All my photos are of this lovely day. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful walk. While we were walking, a Canadian friend who was with me commented that English parks seem more like gardens compared to the parks she grew up with. That got me thinking about parks in places where I've lived and how different they are.

Toronto and Victoria
Growing up in Canada, I would say there were two types of parks. One was where they put children's play equipment and sports fields. You went there to 'play'. The other type, are more a bit of 'wilderness', for the lack of a better explanation. Whether its the cliff path in Victoria or High Park in Toronto, they kind of have this 'undeveloped' feel - almost like attempts to preserve wilderness, even in the middle of a city. But they also make it accessible to people by winding a few paths through the park.With many trees and winding paths, you can seemingly walk alone in many of them, even on a busy day.

Chicago
Now the parks in Chicago are less wilderness and more groomed. But what I really loved was that in the summers, the edges of all the parks would be lined with people parking and cooking. BBQ grills would appear, along with coolers, tents, chairs and tables - all unloaded from the back of vehicles. Families would be there from 9 or 10 in the morning into the early evening. It was as if the parks became giant backyards. So the parks were more social scenes than places to escape.

London
London parks I've visited definitely have that promenade feel (though I might be projecting historical imaginings on them). They are full of people strolling and 'out for a day in the park'. Really social places, but perhaps a bit more restrained than Chicago. Plenty of picnics, but less, shall we say, 'equipment'. Turning a section of the park into your own personal backyard is probably forbidden. Now I'm pretty sure 'commons' versus city parks have different rules, so it might be possible elsewhere. I would say your typical London park outing would be to walk a bit, sit on a bench, feed some birds, get a cup of tea and done!

What do I like better? I'm not sure because the escape feel is really nice, but it seems to me that in many ways the Chicago and London parks are used by more people. Maybe that's just the layout? I'm not sure.

At the end of the day I'd really like a mix. I'm happy to stroll London's parks but I also would be game for a bit more urban wilderness and if anyone knows of any park BBQ's please let me know!

Pancake Day!

I am a firm believer that all holidays involving food are good holidays. So pancake day makes my list of holidays, obviously! Now normally I'm not a huge fan of pancakes. I often pass on that sort of 'sweet breakfast' in favour of eggier options. But pancake day is different. I have been known to hold pancake day dinners in honour of this important holiday.

Now there are a wide variety of pancake options. British pancakes are more like crepes (which seem more French to me but don't tell them). However, I have to go for North American style pancakes (I would have said Canadian style but lets be honest, you'd all be confused). This is because my pancake recipe is one of those family thing- Dad's World Famous Pancakes. All our family recipes that are made by my dad are always called 'Dad's World Famous X". Dad's World Famous Stew, Dad's World Famous Steak... and Dad's World Famous Pancakes.

Now I'm sharing this recipe but if you are going to use Dad's World Famous Pancake recipe there are rules. It can be made thick or thin, big or small but they must be served with butter and maple syrup. No blueberries or other fruit. Chocolate chips, ice cream, whip cream are all out. This is recipe for pancake purists. And it has to be real maple syrup. Go out and buy some. You will thank me.


Dad's World Famous Pancakes

1.5 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder 
1 tbs sugar
1 egg 
2-3 cup of milk 
1tbs melted buuter
canola oil
 
Mix the dry ingredients. Mix the wet ingredients in separate bowl except the 3rd cup of milk. Add the wet to dry mixing thoroughly. Add more milk to get the batter to the consistency desired. More milk means lighter thinner pancakes, too little milk makes the pancakes lumpy. Heat canola oil in fry pan, add about a wine glass full of batter. Cook until small bubbles have appeared, flip to cook the other side.

Now go forth and cook pancakes! Spread the joy among the world!

Royal Palaces Hits and Misses

What I learned at Kensington Palace:

1) There seems to be this idea that the royals are fashion icons. I, for one, am not convinced. Unless you are telling me pastels and sequins are always the most fashion forward choice.

2) Queen Victoria really like to take photos of all her children along with a marble bust of her dead husband. Do you think they found that annoying/creepy?

3) The closer we get to the family of the present day monarchs the less critical we can be about their reign (either that or Queen Victoria really was the best ever!)

Compared to Hampton Court, I had a much nicer day for my visit to Kensington Palace and I had company. I was very thankful for both because the exhibits within the palace were not as good- making companionships and the out-of-doors both highly desirably.

My mum works in museums and therefore we went to a lot of museums and historical sites as a kid. I still feel obliged to go to museums within most cities I visit. These are the extent of my credentials to crititque exhibits, so make what you like of my comments.

The palace only took us one hour. Now we didn't join any of the tours or talks (given by that the museum called 'explainers'... the first point where I rolled my eyes). Instead, we just wandered. Apparently this is a bit of a mistake because there was so little text/ exhibit materials. Usually just one board with 'this room was used for this purpose'. No history or reflection on either the reigns of different kings or the atmosphere of the court at the time. Now maybe the tours and talks had more info, but I think not letting people take in a museum at their own pace is a mistake.

There were three different periods being cover across the palace- William and Anne, The Georges and then the Victorian era- I feel like there was more that could have been done. So in the end I was very glad I only paid half-price.

Concluding remarks, Kensington Palace can be a pass unless you really love Queen Victoria and court fashion. Instead, take your times to walk the interconnecting parks, which are full of man-made lakes and monuments. I spent almost 3 hours walking through all the parks and it was a really beautiful time.

Buying Experiences Rather than Things

I read somewhere last fall that when people look back, they have stronger and happier memories about the things that they did rather than the things that they bought.

While this has always made sense to me (even much beloved items are often out of sight, out of mind), I realised that I don't exactly live by this principle. I've always been a bit of a shopaholic in truth. A lot of my money goes into things.... okay mainly clothes, but lets be more generous and say things.

When I started blogging in London last summer, I originally thought to concentrate on being an ethical consumer. After a couple of months, though, I wasn't enjoying the enormous pressure to keep buying things and trying them out. In fact, I felt like I was constantly obsessing over what to buy next; needing to buy something so I could write; worrying about spending money to try things, even if I was happy with what I was already using.  Even if it had an ethical dimension, it still felt like a lot of hyper consumption.

Starting this year, I've decided I want to spend more energy, more time, and, yes, even more money, on experiencing, creating and doing, rather than shopping. I will still talk about ethical products and decision making, because I do think these are important. But I want to explore the idea of 'living well' beyond buying. Explore it in the broadest sense - as in 'well' for myself, the world and the other people I share it with.

I guess that moves this blog firmly into the field of being a 'lifestyle' blog. I hope you will enjoy this second (or third or perhaps fourth, not quite sure honestly) go at this and don't mind sticking with me as I try to get my head around what this might entail.

I would love suggestions of sites and activities around London that you think I should check out. Leave ideas in the comment box please!

Slow Sleepy Starts to the New Year

I find it hard to get going in January. I'm not a January person. In fact, its my least favourite month. Its cold, its dark, its post-holiday. So when people talk New Year's resolutions, I usually take a pass. This is not a month for leaping into action. Unless the action involves finishing my Christmas chocolate while watching my favourite movies and tv shows.

However, one of my yoga instructors said something about January that I actually liked (I know that sounds flaky, but hear me out she was brilliant). She said to think of January like a slow awakening. Like when you are lying in bed awake, but not quite ready to get moving. This concept of January I can get behind. I can curl up, make dreamy plans for the rest of the year and know that launching into action can wait.

One of my dream plans for 2015, is to do one 'day trip' or 'weekend trip' a month. Getting out of the city, breath a bit of fresh air, and see this new country I've found myself in.

Of course what with it being January, I couldn't find the energy to a major adventure. But then winter discounts caught my eye and I made a last minute decision to get out to Hampton Court palace while it was still cheap (half-priced entry when you book online until Feb 13th in case you are interested).

If you are someone who feels a bit awkward on solo outings, museums are great. Especially ones with audio guides, because truth be told, everyone is in their own world anyways. Besides, everyone knows the truly cultured people wander museums in their spare time (or something like that). I spent about 3-hours wander the Tudor and William and Anne exhibits with the audio-guide glued to my ear.

Because there were so few visitors and the palace is surrounded by a giant park, it actually did feel like a break from the city. There was a steady drizzle all day (three cheers for English winter), but it cleared in my last hour and I managed to take a brisk walk around the grounds too. I'm not a 'gardens' person but even I can appreciate the symmetry of this sort of architectural garden layout. However, I was much amused by the winter wrapped classic statues, many of which look like they are fighting to escape their white packaging. Break free statue, break free!

More palaces for me next weekend as I'm hoping to get to Kennsington palace on the same half-priced deal. Will likely be all 'royalled' out after that, but the price is hard to resist!