hello december!

first of all...HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRITNEY!!! it's B. Spears' birthday today, yay! i think i'm going to celebrate by listening to Britney all day. which means unless i want to listen to "My Only Wish (This Year)" i won't be listening to Christmas music today. oh well! Happy Birthday Britney!

in other news, i'm back! i got back from London on Thanksgiving...which sadly meant no turkey for me and the fam. my mom made up for it and did Thanksgiving dinner on friday! yay! i was so excited...i came home from a very busy day at the store to a surprise turkey dinner. it was amazing.

i also finally got to see new moon. it came out while i was in England, so i never got to see it. it was awesome. better than the first in my opinion. i do need to see it again though because i was super tired when i saw it friday night, due to jet lag, ew.

i'm just getting back to blog about all of this now because today is my first day off since i returned. i worked 5 days straight after getting back as well as fitting in the phenomenal USC v. UCLA game on saturday night. what a game! worth every penny. but, back to the blog ;)

england was lovely. i got in monday the 16th in the afternoon and then flew from london to manchester that evening. the plane to manch was soooo empty. i was the only one in my row and it was basically like that for every row. everyone had a row to themselves, amazing. i wish every flight was like that!!

i went to machester to visit a friend of mine that goes to school at the university of manchester, it was my second time visiting and it was great. took a few days trips, one to birmingham which was cute. i actually found birmingham to be nice, which is a surprise to many england dwellers. the jonas brothers also happened to be in birmingham that day. i was so shocked when i checked twitter roaming the streets of birmingham to see a tweet from the jonas brothers that says "BIRMINGHAM!!!" what are the odds!?!? the next day we went to liverpool. eh...not my favorite. apparently my friend took me through the dodgy parts first, which clearly is a mistake. what about me makes you think i would enjoy going through dodgy parts of any city? i was baffled. i was approached to work at hollister while in liverpool. apparently i give off that "i'm from a beach town in southern california" vibe even when bundled up in liverpool. haha! i also got to see the cavern club where the beatles got their start. that was very cool. and lastly, probably my favorite part of liverpool...the merseyside maritime museum. i love anything that has to do with nautical life...boats, anchors, sail cloth, submarines, knots, you name it...i was in heaven.

back in manchester, i got a big taste of christmas at the manchester christmas market where i had "glu wein" in a colletors mug. so kitschy! i also saw "a christmas carol" in 3D IMAX! after a few more days in manchester, i was off to london to meet the fam. while they travelled in style flying first class LAX to Heathrow...i traveled in style, taking the train first class from Picadilly Station in Manchester to Euston Station in London! i had tea and shortbread, it was such a picturesque little train ride!

i met the fam at the Hilton Park Lane saturday afternoon which is one of the tallest buildings in LDN with 28 floors. sister and i were on floor 23, we had a gorgeous view of hyde park which was celebrating the season with their very own Christmas Market, which means more glu wein!!! mmmm!

after our first night at the Hilton, we moved to the Sheraton Belgravia. it's supposedly part of the Starwood Luxury Collection...i don't buy it. aside from the fact that it's in a nice part of town, right near sloane street and a short walk from Harrods, i was unimpressed. we had two nights there and due to it's proximity to Harrods, i ate probably 25 macarons in the two days spent there. delish! rose macarons are the way to my heart. i kid you not.

for our last two nights in london, my sister and i moved to The Lanesborough while my parents went to the Intercontinental. they are kitty corner from each other pretty much so we were still very close but at different hotels. The Lanesborough is the nicest St. Regis property i've every stayed at. i've yet to stay at the NY St. Regis though which i hear really is the best, and the first! i loved this hotel so much, the library bar being one of my favorite parts for sure. also, we had our very own computer in our "office"! it was grand! loved it! we of course had a photo shoot at the peter pan statue in kensington gardens, followed by peter pan tea at The Lancaster! all in all it was a fabulous trip! i will put up some pictures later, promise.

that's all for now i guess. this has been a super long post so i won't bore you anymore! be back soon! lots to do today, maybe some christmas shopping :)

xo.

tray chic