It's December already!

December kind of crept up on me. Since it's "the season" again, I've updated my My Wishlist to help anyone who might be thinking of getting me a gift. PLEASE don't get me make-up! (unless it's something specifically on that wishlist...)

So I guess it's time to re-cap the month of November.

November 2 - Left for London.
November 3 - Arrived in London. Note to self, arriving on a Saturday morning with all the tourists trying to get to Portobello Market is NOT fun... Got to Michelle's, unpacked a bit and fell asleep on the couch. Then we went out to do some shopping errands - i.e. Christian Louboutin shoes.
November 4 - More shoe shopping with Michelle. Made good use of my MAC addict knowledge helping her with some stuff.
November 5 - Went to the V&A Museum to check out the "Golden Age of Couture" exhibit. It was fabulous - lots of Dior and Heims. Bought 2 beautiful books for Tiff.

November 6 - Took a day trip to Leeds Castle, Dover and Canterbury. The tour left 30 minutes late because the scheduled tour guide never showed up and we ended up getting another guide from one of the other tours. He was a bit stressed out but did the best he could. We had a few Japanese tourists in the front of the bus and he translated everything he said in English into Japanese for them. It was neat to eavesdrop a bit to see what I could pick up (not much! LOL). That morning was also the opening of Parliament or something and lots of streets were blocked off in downtown London so it took even longer to get out of the city. The tour itself was great - Leeds Castle is very picturesque, and I had enough time in Canterbury to explore the cathedral and wander around the old part of town.

November 7-10 - Took the train up to York to visit Laura. Did lots of touristy things during the day, and when the sun went down and the shops closed we watched Heroes on her laptop. The trip to York was great - we visited most of the local tourist attractions (and a few tourist traps!) and even had time for tea & scones at Betty's and shopping.(Julia - start planning your visit!)

November 12 - Went out with Michelle to watch Wicked. It was a bit strange to have the actors speaking with a British accent but singing in an American accent. Other than that the show was awesome! I finally bought myself the "Defy Gravity" shirt that I've been wanting for over 2 years :)
November 13 - Flew on Lufthansa to Cologne. They lost my luggage, but I can't be mad at them because they have SERVICE! On the short flight they did a full bar service and everyone in economy received a small sandwich and chocolate bar. It certainly wasn't gourmet, but it is better than the kibble and bits that I'm used to serving to people. Filed a lost luggage report and then met up with JP to head over to his place. We went grocery shopping with his roommate Agata and then made dinner. We had homemade pizza and apple crumble, followed by sitting around and chatting over warm mugs of Glühwein. We invited their friend Daniel over to join us too.
November 14 - JP had an early morning rehearsal so I slept in. Lufthansa phoned him and told him that found my suitcase and would be brining it over early in the afternoon. Then I took the train into Köln on my own and did some shopping. I had been so good in the UK about not spending money - it all went out the window as soon as I arrived in Germany :) That evening JP and I went out for sushi, and then went over to Daniel's for wine and cheese. We stayed up chatting for ages, and I did my best to follow along their conversation in German.
November 15 - Did more touristy things and shopping in Köln. Discovered the MAC Pro Store and bought stuff for JP (hurray for my having the sense to bring my PRO card with me). Found fabulous ingredients for dinner and went home to cook. We made bruschetta and oven-roasted chicken breast in a garlic cream sauce, with salad. So good! I really enjoyed the social aspect of cooking together - it's not something that I get to do often and it was so much fun.

After leaving Köln (which was very tight since the DB was on strike and I was really worried I'd miss my flight!) and I had one last day in London to go shopping for last minute purchases, and then flew back home. It was a very nice, laid-back vacation.
November 21 - Since I first saw the trailer for Enchanted back in the spring, I made Kevin promise to take me to see this. So we went on opening day :) It was so adorable! It's filled with the usual Disney clichés but I couldn't help smiling through the whole film. I highly recommend this to all my Princess friends ^__^"
November 22 - My Birthday - went out for a family dinner. Probably the first time Kevin and my parents have seen each other in ages. It was good to see my grandmother and my cousin Athena again since I rarely see my relatives. The dinner was nice - the food was "ok-la" but a bit expensive. Kevin ordered me a fabulous strawberry shortcake that even my mother (who doesn't like desserts, cakes or sweets in general) had to admits was yummy.

We went to the One-of-a-Kind show on Tuesday and ended up coming home with mostly food stuff. (And a Mr. Chow monster from Monster Factory). Since Kevin had most of this week off he splurged and bought us a Wii - along with Super Mario Galaxy and Cooking Mama. Hehe... it's addictive and fun.