Werewolves in London

To say that the spookiest day of the year isn't as celebrated in the UK as it is in the US would be a vast understatement. This was no more clearly evidenced than when our building's porter indicated to us that trick-or-treating was simply not permitted in our building. Bah, humbug! Killjoys aside, we quite enjoyed our first London Halloween. In fact something about this city flows naturally into the perfect backdrop for this holiday. Gratefully we happen to live in a special pocket of London, sort of an American microcosm, which does its best to embrace this day of ghosts and goblins. We quickly learned this corner of town is no secret as droves of taxis deposited eager trick-or-treaters like cruise ships unloading passengers into port (and I'm not kidding, one house we know reported over 800 sweet-seekers). Because we had joined up with London veterans for our trick-or-treating outing we knew to hit the sugar route early. We began at 4:30, which was clearly none too early, as we were finishing up our candy quest just as the streets were becoming too crowded to navigate and our fingers were becoming ice-lollies. We didn't make it to Kate Moss's house or to Ewan McGregor's, or the many other notables who live in our area, but we did see a whole lot of unbelievable, star-worthy London homes on our treat tour. To finish off the festivities our group gathered at our place to survey the loot and to, of course, enjoy a Monroe-family Halloween tradition, pizza! Dallin, Madeleine and Trevon dressed up as a Harry Potter-themed trio, Harry, Hermione and Hedwig. Hedwig was happy so long as a lollipop was hanging out of his beak. He and I joined some friends at a toddler party earlier in the day, where the day's sucker drool marathon began. Later in the day Madeleine had fun marching in a Halloween parade at her school as a princess before she became Hermione for the evening.


Ghost Bowling


Spider suckers!


Sucker #2


The Princess at her school Halloween parade (check out the lion digging for gold)


Trick-or-Treaters


Harry and his red-haired friend


Madeleine and Madeleine (seriously, and their moms both chose the same tricky spelling for the same reason, and they were born the same year within a couple of months of each other, and they both go to the same school, and they're both in the same primary class)


Harry and Hermione


Hedwig (sucker #3) and his falconer










Checking out the stash

A Winter Rainbow

Winter has arrived in London. Nevermind that we haven't officially reached the winter solstice. Old man winter has unmistakably made his grand entrance! Two nights ago we even got that cold, white, fluffy stuff. It hasn't snowed in October in London since 1934, so it was as much a surprise to the rest of the city as it was to me. It didn't stay on the ground long, but it sure was beautiful to watch trickle down out of the quiet night sky. While I can't claim I do not miss the land of the eternal summer that we left behind, I am adapting to our new surroundings. This includes my wardrobe. Gone are the days of crop pants. My sun glasses are collecting a bit of dust. Sunblock will surely expire before any chance of use. I wonder if my swim gear will ever see the light of day. And I've even checked in my beloved collection of flip-flops. Amidst waving the white flag on all things summer I have discovered dressing for my new, colder climate can sometimes be fun. (Ask me on the other side of five or six months, and I'm likely to be singing a whole different tune!) And by trading in flip-flops for scarves, I have discovered a rainbow in winter!

New York

Three hotel rooms, five nights, nine moms, 13 boxes of Hot Tamales, 27 theatre tickets, a bunch of tired credit cards, too much food, even more desserts, and a whole lot of crazy . . . well, this pretty much sums up my early October jaunt across the pond to reconnect with good friends. It was a crazy trip filled with the wonder of experiencing a new and exciting place for some, and the pleasure of returning to a city loved for others. Some made back-room deals on fabulous new bags, while others took joy-rides in cabs. Some shopped 'till they dropped, and one came away with a fabulous new yellow coat (does it still have the tag on?). Some made designer jewelery sure to be seen in a chic boutique someday. Some stayed up to dance the night away, while others fell victim to jet-lag. Some scored awesome, front-row seats to a smash Broadway hit, while others endured yet another technical difficulty with the other nose-bleeders. Some ran 10 miles around Central Park, while others ate a greasy breakfast at a local diner. Some bought scarves, and one caught on fire! Some shared desserts, and some got two! Some had tears fall at ground zero, but all were moved. There were as many ideas about what to do, where to go and what to eat at any given moment as there were girls, but somehow it all worked. The food, the shows, the shopping, it was all great, but the best part was being together again with all these awesome chicks!









































































Thanks for the fun memories, girls. I can't wait to do it again!