london resolutions

we're back from a tremendous week in london. it was a good thing we left the baby behind with my parents, because otherwise i would have been tempted to chuck my plane ticket and stay. for.e.ver.

i get so energized and inspired by city life (ok, city vacation life + perfect weather + no responsibilities), and on the plane ride home, i wrote down a couple of "london resolutions" that i hope to share here as they unfold, just to keep me a little accountable.

one of my first resolutions sounds super silly and vain,  but here it is: wear more real outfits, less yoga pants. 

the whole trip i felt so confident and pulled together, somewhat the opposite of how i feel at home. i'd like to keep that feeling. i was so excited that i started writing this post as an all-outfit post... which turned out, in fact, to be super silly and vain of me. so... outfits with pictures and narration of our trip! take it away!

if flying with a toddler can be hell, flying without a toddler is heaven. never have ten hours on a plane flown by with such bliss. we watched episodes of parks and rec, movies, someone brought us food and then cleared it away. i recommend international travel highly. 

for the first few days of our trip, we stayed at a little boutique hotel called no. ten manchester. here we are about to hit the town, about two hours after landing. not a moment to waste!

we wandered and discovered st christopher's place a few blocks from where we were staying. st cp (as i'm going to call it) is a gorgeous couple of blocks of restaurants spilling over onto sidewalks and alleyways. it was a packed friday night, and i just sat at our table thinking, "yesss. we are here."

the next morning we found a branch of our favorite cafe from our last trip within a few blocks of the hotel. one giant plate of eggs benedict and one latte later, we were ready for a walk through regent's park. we seriously could not have asked for better weather-- sunny and warm. 

after our walk, it was time to go to craven cottage for the highlight of tovi's year-- fulham!!

the lads won three-nil (oooo, i am sooooooo english). celebrations all around! meat pies for everyone! over breakfast, tovi had drawn the starting lineup for me, so i felt impressed with myself for knowing all their names. we had a seriously good time. 

another delight of traveling without a toddler is that we could linger and walk and explore the city without a care for anyone's bedtime. after the game, tovi said, "let's go to covent garden for dinner!" so we did.

After dinner we had ice cream at the icecreamist, and i can't believe we didn't take a picture of this-- they serve a flavor made from breastmilk. "human breastmilk," the man specified in answer to my question. i will just leave it at that. 

the next morning was hyde park:

lovely.

and harrods:

larger than life. 

and harry:

straight up dream come true.

on monday we packed our bags, and headed across town to stay with tovi's aunt and uncle. lucky for us, they work at salvation army international headquarters, right between st. paul's cathedral and the tate modern. 

but after a second round of eggs benedict, naturally.

all were amazing and inspiring. more resolutions: walk more. visit more museums. get around inspiring things. learn how to cook eggs benedict. 

we started the next morning with a walk through crystal palace park which hosts one of the world's first "purpose-built dinosaur exhibits." (crap! we've accidentally built another dinosaur exhibit!) this next picture is evidence that our aunt and uncle have a prestigious address and that i definitely still wore my yoga pants. old habits die hard.

we took the train back into london to visit borough market, the churchill war cabinets, walk about one million extra blocks by accident, and then see wicked!

on our last day, we went to the london eye (so touristy and yet so amazing), saw parliament, big ben, shopped at topshop (we'll all be wearing burgundy this fall, apparently), ate cookies on the street, and then saw the leonardo da vinci "anatomist" exhibit at the queen's gallery in buckingham palace. 

but first, one of my favorite outfits of the trip:

we ended the trip with such a highlight-- a long, lingering, and delicious dinner with tio popi and tia deise. it was such a fun blessing to stay with them. 

sniff, sniff. back to the airport in my best olsen twin travel chic.

i miss that grand old city. here's to london 2015!