My Newsletters 11/23/12

Marketing picture for the Xmas Party: During the party, I planned an "Ugly Christmas Sweater Competition." Attendees will strut down a "catwalk" to the tune of "I'm too sexy" donning their most hideous and tacky Christmas sweaters!

Dear LSR Member,
Hope you had a lovely week. I am still stuffed from all the turkey and cranberry sauce I ate yesterday(it's an American thing...gotta love Thanksgiving!) Since Halloween and Thanksgiving have now passed, that can only mean one thing; the holidays are right around the corner! Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, or just enjoy the bank holidays, join us for our annual Xmas Party! Cheers, Opa, L'chiam, Ole', you know it will be a good time!

As the London Community and Events manager for Techmeetups, it is my job to provide members with events. After my recent promotion to "Fun Manager," I am now responsible for ensuring that our events are actually really fun. Expect a snow machine, hot cocoa bar(as well as wine and beer,) a visit from Santa himself, fun photo ops, great catered food, hot mulled wine, great raffle prizes, and an ugly Christmas jumper competition at this year's Xmas Party. We have partnered with Community Links to help assist them in collecting toys for children that without our help, probably wouldn't have anything to open on Christmas morning. We ask that you please bring an unwrapped toy to donate to our efforts. We will be hosting a company/group competition: the group that brings the most toys will have their organisation announced and promoted by us, as well as win a prize! So start collecting at your offices or meetups now :)

Since public transport is far from glamourous, and we don't want anyone drink driving after our Xmas Party, Techmeetups are delighted to announce that we have partnered with UBER, to get all of you £20 OFF your journey to our Christmas party when you sign up with the promo code: TMUXMAS
With this code, you can look like a big dog and not even have to pay the price for it!


Uber is the on-demand, luxury car service that is transforming personal transportation across the globe and recently launched in London.  They have a fleet of amazing cars at the push of a button - Mercedes S Classes, Audi A8s, BMW 7 Series and Jaguar XJs - it all works exactly like having your own private driver. The San Francisco-based start-up now services 20 cities, just one app working in any of them: London | Paris | Sydney | Amsterdam | San Francisco | NYC | Los Angeles | Washington DC | Boston | Seattle | Chicago | Minneapolis | San diego | Philadelphia | Phoenix | Dallas | Atlanta | Denver | Toronto | Vancouver Rides are billed directly to your credit card on file, so there's no need to carry cash or have your card on hand. Plus, your receipt is automatically emailed to you at the end of your ride. All you need to do is: 1. Download the Uber Technologies app on your iPhone or android device. If you have a blackberry, visit m.uber.com via your web browser 2. Sign up and enter the promo code: TMUXMAS to receive your £20 OFF, it will automatically deduct from your first journey with Uber and show on your emailed receipt. This is for first time riders only. 2. Request & Ride: Select or type in your pick up location and press 'Request pick up now'. Your driver will arrive within minutes! For more information on Uber, email SupportLondon@uber.com Our Show Me The Money Masterclass is right around the corner! Like the famous words spoken by Tom Cruise in the film Jerry Maguire, “Show me the money!” is a phrase we are all too familiar with. Everyone wants to know how to make a profit, where the money will come from, and how much they can gain.
Statistics reveal that 90% of startups close down in the 1st year alone due to the lack of funding. This triggers a constant battle to stay afloat and generate income for oneself. With advancement of the net and various public & private initiatives, there are actually quite a few ways Startups can raise that crucial funding to get off the ground. TechMeetups is bringing you a workshop to cover various ways that you as a Startup can raise that important seed funding to get your business off the ground.
Experts and pioneers in startup finance will be joining us to help you understand which investment options are best for your business, whatever stage you’re at. We are looking very forward to our superb list of speakers including: Andrew Lockley, Howard Weintrob, David Myerson, Aristos Peters, Adam Baker and Stefano Tresca. Unless you have a money tree blooming in your garden, you literally can't afford to miss out on this masterclass!
Cool Stuff I like:
Because everyone likes to feel like Bond from time to time, beware of gifting this to pyromaniacs! Perfect gift to all your trek-loving friends. ****Funny video of the week.**** That's all for now y'all, Kait
EVENTS

Want to Fast Track Your Startup? Start Building a Community!
November 16, 2012, 6:00 PM
Venue: Google Campus - Central Working
[ RSVP HERE ]

Show Me the Money
November 28,2012, 6:00 PM
Venue: Google Campus - Central Working
[ RSVP HERE ]

TechMeetups London Silicon Roundabout Xmas Party #tmudrinks
December 6, 2012, 7:00 PM
Venue:Innovation Warehouse
[ RSVP HERE ]

TechMeetups Guru Program: Business Models, Real World Problems & Solutions
January 29, 2013, 6:00 PM
Venue: Innovation Warehouse
[ RSVP HERE ]
This session is part of the TechMeetups Guru Program, a practical 3 month educational and mentoring course to kick-start your Startup.  You can choose to attend just this session by booking here, or participate in the full course to receive additional support and mentoring for your company from our Gurus – find out more here.

26-Nov: Brand Strategy Jumpstarter: Defining Your Startup’s Role in the...
26-Nov: Management Reporting for Entrepreneurs
26-Nov: Advanced Javascript with Damjan Vujnovic
26-Nov: XPDay 2012
26-Nov: Tomas Petricek & Phil Trelford's Functional Programming in C# and F#
26-Nov: Dierk Koenig's Practical Groovy for Developers Workshop
26-Nov: JS Kings
26-Nov: Tech Entrepreneurs Week 2012
26-Nov: iStrategy London
26-Nov: SANS London 2012
26-Nov: Ayende Rahien’s NHibernate 3.0 Workshop
27-Nov: Conversion Conference London 2012
27-Nov: Future of Digital Communications in the Public Sector
27-Nov: In The Brain of Oren Eini aka Ayende Rahien: What is new in RavenDB 1.2
27-Nov: Next Generation Network Delivery Solutions
27-Nov: Healthy Planet presents: "The Conservation Community"
27-Nov: eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit
27-Nov: London MongoDB User Group #9
27-Nov: 10th Annual Military Radar 2012
27-Nov: Accelerating Growth Using Actionable Metrics
27-Nov: Managing Working Capital for Startups
27-Nov: Mumpreneurs and MBA Babies Get-together
27-Nov: PeoplePerHour visits The Office Group
28-Nov: Making it Mobile 2012
28-Nov: Kevlin Henney & Jon Jagger's Mastering Agile Practice
28-Nov: Cultivating a Fast Track IT Architecture
28-Nov: TechHub Venture Capital Finance Workshop with W&B Legal
28-Nov: Air Power in Irregular Warfare
28-Nov: MongoDB for Developers
28-Nov: Changing the game: positioning your charity to succeed in the new health service market
28-Nov: Croydon Creatives (November '12)
28-Nov: BLN Making it Mobile Forum - MiM Forum
28-Nov: London Node.js User Group Meetup - November 2012
28-Nov: Conference on Visual Media Production
28-Nov: The Mobile Wallet Summit Europe 2012
28-Nov: Jon Jagger and Kevlin Henney's Development for Developers
28-Nov: Dierk Koenig's Practical Grails for Developers
28-Nov: Association of Business Mentors - Professional Information Morning
28-Nov: Social Media Masterclass with Warren Knight
28-Nov: Show Me the Money Masterclass
28-Nov: Cambridge] From Student to Startup: Life as a Graduate...
28-Nov: How to Run Effective Usability Testing
28-Nov: Creating Partnerships to Drive Your Business Forward
28-Nov: Understanding How to Think Like a Programmer for Non-Techies
28-Nov: The Art & Science of Building Relationships
29-Nov: Ian Robinson and Jim Webber's Neo4j Tutorial
29-Nov: In The Brain of Jon Jagger, Principles of Improvement
29-Nov: MIT's "Mobilizing Entrepreneurship" launch and networking event
29-Nov: 2012: A year in digital trends
29-Nov: Paul Ardeleanu's Introduction to iOS Development
29-Nov: RavenDB course by Ayende Rahien
29-Nov: The Tech Business Mini MBA #6
29-Nov: Figaro Digital Marketing Conference
29-Nov: Gojko Adzic's BDD for Developers
29-Nov: AKQA Anoraks
29-Nov: [Oxford] Student to Startup
30-Nov: GA and Escape Present: Landing a Job at a Startup
30-Nov: Storytelling, the key ingredient of your website
30-Nov: Everybody Technology
30-Nov: UK Museums on the Web: Strategically Digital


IN THE NEWS

Money Doesn’t Grow on Trees, But Our Speakers Will Grow On You!
Like the famous words spoken by Tom Cruise in the film Jerry Maguire, “Show me the money!” is a phrase we are all familiar with. Everyone wants to know how to make a profit, where the money will come from, and how much they can gain.

Ride in Style to our UBER Cool Xmas Party!
Since public transport is far from glamourous, and we don’t want anyone drink driving after our Xmas Party, Techmeetups are delighted to announce that we have partnered with UBER, to get all of you £20 OFF your journey to our Christmas party when you sign up with the promo code: TMUXMAS
With this code, you can look like a big dog and not even have to pay the price for it!

Techmeetups Annual Xmas Party
The London Silicon Roundabout Xmas Party (#lsrxmas) is being hosted in partnership with Innovation Warehouse on 6 December to bring you the very best networking event of the Xmas party season!

Show Me The Money Masterclass
Statistics reveal that 90% of startups close down in the 1st year alone due to the lack of funding. This triggers a constant battle to stay afloat and generate income for oneself.

Angelhack summary
ngelhack London was a raving success! Hosted in the impressive Bloomberg building, close to 250 hackers and 60 teams collaborated and hacked into the late hours of the night and early hours of the morning last weekend.

London’s technology industry has highest proportion of women entrepreneurs in Europe
London’s technology sector has the highest proportion of women entrepreneurs in Europe, according to a global study of 50,000 start-ups.

The “Tech City” Delusion – A cluster of digital businesses in East London
A cluster of digital businesses in East London, the “Tech City” concept was launched by the Prime Minister, has been lauded in the media and studied by economists.


We have also created subject specific Newspapers on Mobile Apps, Gaming, Startups, Cloud Computing, & London Silicon Roundabout


JOBS

We’re looking for Python & JavaScript developers for our social advertising platform
Glow has been working with the Facebook Ads API since June 2009, helping clients like Omnicom, Group M, Kraft Foods, Best Buy, Ford and King.com run effective ad campaigns on Facebook.

Technical analyst @ JWG Group
Would you like to work on some of the most challenging problems in the financial sector?  Would you like to help create, innovate and define the next generation of

Entreprenurial Developer @ Tutorfair
We are looking for a coding ninja to join an amazing start-up alongside a great team.

Project manager @ We Are Apps
We are looking for a brand loving digital project manager, who has at least 2 years’ experience in either digital campaigns, mobile or apps.

Lead Developer (PHP/Javascript) @ Elexu
We’re looking for an exceptional lead developer to join our team at the heart of Soho, London on our mission of Empowering People through the medium of Social Interactive TV.

Senior Web Developer @ SharpCloud Software
SharpCloud is looking for a talented developer to join our team.

Contract .Net Developer @ @One limited
We are an established, growing technology consultancy and are seeking to hire an experienced developer to work on two projects.

If you have a job you would like to promote post it at TechStartupJobs

READING & VIEWING

Why Investing In Tech Startups May Be A Smarter Way To Grow Your Money – Ventures

Got a Start-up Idea? Find Out If It Will Work – Inc


More Startup info at TechStartHub


TECH STARTUP DEALS

£20 OFF your first trip with UBER
We're delighted to announce that we have partnered with UBER

Save 15% on Buzzing Communities: How to Build Bigger, Better, and More Active Online Communities
Buzzing Communities cuts through the fluff to offer a clear process for creating thriving online communities. This book combines a century of proven science, dozens of real-life examples, practical tips, and trusted community-building methods.

50% off all virtual and shared membership plans at MiamiShared for Miami TechMeetups members!
MiamiShared offers members of Miami TechMeetups community 50 % discount at all shared and virtual membership plans!

OUR PARTNERS

Elance
Instant access to online talent
Special deal for TechMeetups members: Register today on Elance and receive $50 towards your first online hire to help you launch your business. Click here

HR Insight
HR Insight is a London Silicon Roundabout based Human Resource & Employment law specialists’ team.
As a TechMeetups member you can benefit from a free of charge initial meeting, where HR Insight can review your current HR practices, documentation & plans and provide advice to guide you in the right direction.

EC1 Capital
EC1 Capital is a £10m VC fund based in London that invests between £25k-£200k in early stage digital startups with solid teams showing tangible progression.

Kingsley Napley LLP
Kingsley Napley LLP is a London based and internationally recognised law firm with a specialist team advising technology companies on a range of legal issues

DataArt
DataArt is a custom software development firm that builds advanced solutions for the financial services, healthcare, hospitality and other industries.

Jeffreys Henry LLP
Based in the heart of Silicon Roundabout, Jeffreys Henry specialise in working with entrepreneurial technology and digital companies to startup, develop and grow.
For a limited time, Jeffreys Henry is offering free company formation and initial finance/accounting/tax advice to local technology/digital startups. Click here

Radford
Radford has provided compensation market intelligence to the technology and life sciences industries.

The Fast Times of London

Hello friends, it's been a crazy few weeks! As of tomorrow, I will officially no longer be in posh Kensington.(Even though my street is the most ghetto area of Kensington.)  I am packing up shop and moving to east London. This means I will have to say goodbye to my hopes of running into the cast of Made in Chelsea, and start brushing up on my cockney. East London is very exciting and up and coming. Imagine that Kensington is like the upper East Side of NYC, and Leyton in the east is a bit like a trendier, nicer version of Brooklyn. The area consists of trendy cafes, shops, bars, and is inhabited by mainly hipsters. I think I may need to buy some oversized geek chic glasses to fit in, I already have my skinny jeans ready! My new roommates include a lovely girl named Lola, originally from Nigeria, and her adorable Jack Russel Terrier dog named Monica. I couldn't be more thrilled to say goodbye to living next to the highway, in a pest infested flat, with a horribly negligent landlord. I'm makin' moves, literally.

I was dutifully following the election from abroad, and was very happy to hear the results. Even though I didn't hear the news until the next morning because I was too knackered to stay up all night to await the announcement. Guess I'm not a true ex pat.

Work has been great, but crazy busy. It seems every day I am rushing around town off to a meeting of some sorts. I am very proud to say that I have made my first sale! Two sales actually, I managed to secure two sponsors for our London group...yay commission!  Our first huge event is this weekend in Bloomberg's office. It is a hackathon, where techies will spend 36 hours nonstop building mobile apps, and then presenting them to our judge panel. I love Fruit Ninja and Angry Birds as much as the next person, but that is the extent that my mobile app skills reach. Maybe I will learn a thing or two, but mostly I plan on playing with the remote controlled helicopters, eating all the buffet food, and wandering around with my clipboard trying to look important.

I got a chance to visit my friend Shelley's beautiful country home last weekend. We had a ball and loved playing with her horses and alpaca, and swimming in her toasty heated pool! The home is nestled on 100 acres of gorgeous rolling hills, it was like something out of a postcard, so picturesque. It was very nice to get away from the city, guess I am officially a city girl when the countryside sounds alluring!

I am thrilled to announce that I will be returning home for the holidays! I am counting down the days until I return on December 17. I cannot wait to visit everyone, witness sunshine again, and partake in the legendary cookie party. I cannot believe I almost missed my first cookie party, whew that was a close call. Since I booked last minute, and the flights are during the holiday season, there is no way I could find an affordable direct flight. So, lucky little me gets to fly from London to Minneapolis(9 hours) and then have a 3 hour layover, and then fly from Minneapolis to Tampa(4 hours.) All I have to say is thank goodness for the free wine, in-flight movies, and my iPad.

There is no animal that is cuter than an Alpaca

The only way to stay warm on a chilly Autumn evening

My spooky Halloween costume

Forget men, I am now in love with only horses

The resemblance between my pumpkin and myself is uncanny

A rare sighting of sun and blue sky at the tube station!

I made it!

So I have finally gotten settled into my new life in London! It has been an exciting and interesting past few weeks. I managed to find myself a teensy tiny flat in South London, but unfortunately, it is a bit far from work, and my landlord in unbearably negligent. Since I have moved in, I had a broken microwave, no access to internet, and a mouse roommate. A broken microwave wouldn't normally be an issue, but since my studio only has a kitchenette instead of a proper kitchen, the microwave was my only means of heating/cooking food. I had lots of take out for my first two weeks until my landlord finally got me a new microwave. After 2 weeks of numerous phone calls to my landlord, he finally gave me the password for the internet access in my building. When I say I have a mouse roommate, I am not being cruel and describing my roommate as mousey. I literally have a mouse living with me. When I first saw him nibbling from my trashcan, I freaked out and called my landlord to take care of it and order pest control services. Shockingly, my landlord went against his word and did nothing about the mouse situation. In the past few days, I have bonded with my little mouse friend, and have even named him Gus Gus, after the plump mouse in Cinderella. If only he could sew me clothes, then all my problems would be solved!

I have actively begun looking for alternative housing, since this option isn't working for me. I have several viewings of my property set up for next week, and I have become a member on all of the London estate sites. I'm sure I will find something! Once I do, I will sign over my lease to a new tenant and move elsewhere.

I am absolutely loving the new job! My co-workers are great, and I really enjoy what I do. So far, I have been organizing meetings, events, and job fairs for the Techmeetups community. I have also been assisting in the expansion of our communities to other global cities and obtaining sponsorships for our many events. My newest project is planning a hackathon. (Scroll to the bottom of the page to see my organizer profile!) For those who aren't techie, a hackathon is when tech people come together, form groups, and work together to build mobile and computer applications. Usually a weekend event, hackathon attendees pour their souls into the creation of these apps for 48 hours, and then there is a competition, and the best app wins some amazing sponsored prizes. I am becoming quite educated on the technology front, and my office is in a very trendy and artsy and entrepreneurial part of town, it couldn't be more perfect!

My company is also expanding its brand, and is creating other channels in which to reach out to the tech community. We have begun a community outreach program, which is an initiative we are pitching to local governments for them to get involved within our community and create other tech cities(besides London) in the UK. My boss and I actually have a meeting in the House of Commons with a member of Parliament to discuss our program with them! Definitely making moves, I will make sure I look very political and Brit chic, hopefully I don't end up pulling an Elle Woods and wearing a pink suit in a sea of black, I'm thinking I will stick to neutral colors.

One of the newer cities that Techmeetups is planning on expanding to is Barcelona, hopefully I will get travel benefits for the christening of the community! It would work out perfectly since I have been working on perfecting my spanish skills via Rosetta Stone.

I have managed to make a lovely group of friends, and London is starting to feel more like a home than a vacation or short term stay. However, Florida will always be my true home, and I am missing the sunshine terribly. I think my skin is becoming translucent from my lack of sunshine, I may start to look British if I don't watch out!! I absolutely cannot wait to travel home for Christmas and my holiday in the sun.

Will be sending out more details as they come!!

Classic phone booth shot

I'm official with a business card!!

Chinatown, the best food in London

The closest I will get to princess life in the UK

My first real autumn! The leaves are beautiful colors here

Stonehenge...just a bunch of rocks?

Although I am very glad I finally got to see Stonehenge and was able to tick off another box on my bucket list, I'm very glad we did not head all the way out to Salisbury just to see it. It truly is an incredible landmark. More amazing the the rock structure itself is the story behind it? Surrounding the monument are hundreds of Neolithic burial mounds, giving Stonehenge a slightly eerie vibe. There are so many conflicting theories of Stonehenge's origin, I don't know which one I quite believe or agree with. Stonehenge has seen so much during its lifetime, it is believed some of the stones have been there since as early as 3000 BC, it has been the site of battles, and "tourists" have stolen pieces of the monument for thousands of years, the scenes have dwindled to less than 1/3 of its original amount. It is believed that these stones had healing powers, and that is why ancient civilizations went through the laborious trouble of transporting these rocks and then arranging them. But how did they get there? Much like the conundrum of the Egyptian pyramids, is a a great mystery how the people of the land actually transported the rocks from eir origin miles and miles away with no modern day technology or equipment. It is also believed that this area was a place or worship for a civilization that left no written records. I knew prior to this visit that Stonehenge was in a secluded area, but I had no idea it was literally in the middle of nowhere! Besides the residential sheep nearby, there is nothing nearby for miles! This is one of those things I will just have to ponder like the rest of the unsolved mysteries of the world....

Windsor Castle

My friends and I recently decided to take a bus tour to visit the sites of England. We presumed this wold be much easier and cost effective than trying to go see different landmarks on separate trips on our own. We woke up at 4am in order to make the 5 am train from Guildford to London, where we would be picked up at a set location in London. The fact that we all work up on time and made it before the bus left us was a miracle of itself! Or first stop was Windsor castle. This is the largest and oldest inhabited castle in the world, the castle is absolutely massive! Located in Berkshire, this is the royal family's country residence. The Queen considers Windsor her home, Buckingham Palace is her office....how I would love to work in that office! The Queen has a special fondness for horses, and the castle is complete with a stable and riding grounds. The castle was originally build to protect london from norman invasion. It served as a refuge for the royal family from the bombings of WW2, and even survived a fire that resulted in millions of pounds of damage. Windsor Castle is also famous for its St. George's Cathedral. This is an incredible place of worship where many great royals are hurried here. My favorite part of our tour of the castle was visiting the Queen's doll house room. Her cousin, Princess Marie Louise presented this gift to Queen Mary for her birthday. This is the most incredible dollhouse I have ever seen. Famous architects, furniture makers, and artists all donated miniature versions of their craft to help complete the decor of the doll house. The house was made to scale and even has working electricity and running water! It was meant to show how an uppercase English home would look during the early 1900's. Unfortunately, the Queen was hosting an event during our stay, so the staterooms were not available for us to view, but we did take a tour of the castle grounds, and ate lunch of fish and chips at a pub across the street from the castle. Located so closs to heathrow airport, we wondered why the architects built the castle so close to the airport...(haha just kidding) I much prefer the grandeur of this country castle over that of Buckingham Palace. Then we were off to Stonehenge....

OPA! GREECE

     The day after Mumsy returned to the states, I embarked on my next adventure, Greece! One of my housemates, who has become a very good friend of mine, is from Athens and he invited me to stay with him and his family for a week during Easter break. Of course I accepted this offer! This trip was going to be my first international voyage on my own, surprisingly, there were no hiccups! All went very smoothly. Xenophon picked me up from the Athens airport, and we arrived to his parent's home early evening. After meeting the family and their very sweet housekeeper, Xenophon, myself, and his friends headed out for our first night on the town! I was exhausted from my early flight, so we had an early return of 2am. The following morning, we were to catch the 7am ferry ride from Athens to the Greek Island, Paros. It was here that we spent the majority of my stay.
    The only way to access Paros is via boat or very small plane, it was about a 3 hour high speed boat ride. The island is gorgeous! Paros is one of the less touristy islands, so it was brimming with natural beauty. The warm weather was a very nice change of pace from freezing London. It was cloudy and rainy for part of my stay, but was warm for the majority of my visit. I was even able to lay out on the gorgeous patio and get a bit of a tan!
    The house that I stayed in was incredible. It is owned by Xenophon's parents, but the entire family stayed there for the week to celebrate the Greek Orthodox Easter. This family isn't like mine, they do not fit in one car or at one dinner table. There were 20 people staying in this house, not even an exaggeration. The house was a modern version of classic Greek island style. I was thrilled that I got to see the iconic little white houses with blue doors scattered through the hillside of the island. Just like on Mama Mia, which I found out wasn't even filmed in Greece.... It was such a relaxed lifestyle, very different than that of London, that is just the island way of life.
    In Greece, Easter is the largest holiday of the year. It is a weeklong event that is celebrated in unity with the entire family. One fun tradition that I learned is egg fighting. This is done by hard boiling a large batch of eggs. Each of the children in the family is given an egg. Then they have "egg fights" where one person tries to hit the other's egg, cracking their opponent's egg while keeping theirs in tact. The owner of the last egg without any cracks is the winner! To anyone wanting to try this at home, just remember to boil the eggs first, or it could get quite messy! Two nights prior to Easter Sunday, all of the villagers attend the services provided by the local church. The epitaph(coffin with Jesus in it) is carried from the entrance of the church, and is paraded through the island, to be safely returned to the church for the resurrection. All of the locals follow the epitaph processional and sing hymns. Along the route of the processional, are people acting out scenes from the Bible. It is similar to the Greek's version of "Walk Through Bethlehem." The following evening slightly before midnight, everyone returns to the church for the resurrection. The holy light is passed via candles from inside the church to all of the people gathered to pray. At midnight, everyone hugs each other and shouts "Hristós anésti," meaning "He has risen!" The response is "Alithós anésti," meaning "Truly, he has risen." Many of the locals are very religious and this is an extremely important night to them. On Easter Sunday, the celebrations really begin. We went to the neighbor's house, along with the entire family, for lunch/dinner. One of the main dishes is the roast lamb, which I actually helped prepare! This is not just a slab of meat that is cooked in the oven, the entire lamb is put on a spit, and roasted over a fire all day until it is perfectly cooked. I was able to rotate the spit and assist with the lamb cooking process, it was so tasty!
       It seems as if every time I turned around, more food was being shoved in my direction. YaYa(Xenophon's Grandma) insisted that I was too skinny(bless her heart) and that I needed to eat more. And eat I did! I tried all sorts of exotic things! My favorite was souvlaki with tzatziki sauce!
      Once we returned to Athens, I took a tour of the Acropolis! It is amazing what that building has endured and still stands to tell the story today! It was quite the educational experience to learn about the Greek gods and goddesses, and their ancient stories. Filakiaa for now! (kisses)

Paros, Greece

Easter Lamb

Xenophon and I

The girls <3

YaYa and Pa Poose

View from the Acropolis

Still standing today

Electric buses, very sustainable!

House of Parliament

Calamari!

The carrying of the epitaph

Donuts with Nutella and ice-cream...I die!

Natasha and Borris Explore London

      "Hail Britania, Britania knows the waves....da da bum bum bum bum" we're the words Mumsy and I sang as our train pulled up to the London Waterloo station. Although we enjoyed our time in Guildford, it was time to move on to the big city. We stayed in a London Hilton, the usual drill.
    It was such a funny experience with Mum along. I had become used to bending hotel rules a little bit and cramming four people like sardines in a room meant for two, or purloining the breakfast for lunch and snacks, however, Mum was not one to break the rules. In order for us to get the employee discount at the hotel, my friend Ally booked the room under her name and added me as her travel companion. But Ally wasn't with me to check in, she was on a trip traveling across Europe, and Mom was my companion. While I was checking in, Mom insisted on staying outside in the freezing cold to avoid raising any suspicion to our sneaky plan. Since I had just cut my fringe, Mom thought I slightly resembled a Russian spy and jokingly called me Natasha. Since she was my partner in crime, her  Russian spy alias was Borris. Whenever we would do anything that was the slightest bit dodgy, we would use our code names. Check in was successful, clearly I am sneakier than we all thought.
     The hotel was a beautiful, modern building, and the food was amazing! We had so many plans penciled into our agendas, we even decided to stay for an extra night. It was necessary to do all of the touristy things, so of course we visited Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, Picadilly Circus, the Tower of London, London Bridge, Buckingham Palace, and the London Zoo. The tour of the Tower of London was very educational, and we even got to see a replica of the King's chambers from the olden days. We also visited the torture chamber in the tower, certainly not a place anyone would like to end up in. Unfortunately, no royals were spotted at the palace. According to the tabloids, they were at Kensington. No one mistook me for Kate Middleton, even with my new English 'do....maybe I need to start wearing more Burberry? Then we would be twins for sure!
    Since we both have a love for the theatre and fancy a good musical, we visited the West End. This area is London's equivalent to Broadway. It was here that we saw three shows, three nights in a row. Amongst our repertoire of shows were "We Will Rock You," "Chicago," and Michael Jackson's "Thriller." We Will Rock You was an amazing show, and the audience interaction was epic. The cast had the entire audience on their feet, clapping and singing to Queen's greatest hits. The following night, our musical escapades were slightly less well planned. We purchased our tickets from a kiosk one hour before the show. We hadn't eaten dinner yet since we were out all day exploring, so we went to a nearby Italian restaurant and scarfed down a pizza and glass of wine and we were ready for the show! We arrived to the theatre just in time, Chicago was about to begin. The cast was so talented, and really did justice to the storyline. However, the biggest entertainment we received was from the couple sitting directly in front of us. They decided to kiss for 90% of the show's duration, it was disgusting. Some people just do not have anything theater etiquette these days. The song "Class" in Chicago stated it perfectly: "Whatever happened to fair dealing? And pure ethics? And nice manners? Why is it everyone now is a pain in the ass? Whatever happened to class?"
    The final show that we saw was "Thriller." Earlier that day, we toured the city sights. We didn't really have a game plan of what the evening's events would include. One must-do was to get a Creme Egg McFlurry from McDonald's. My two loves, Cadbury's and Mackers! It was the best 70 pence I've ever spent. While in McDonald's, Mom and I leafed through our "Things to do in London" pamphlet and agreed that we wanted to see the musical, Ghost. Oops, we read that the show was starting in a hour. We didn't have tickets, didn't know where the nearest underground was, and had no access to googlemaps due to no internet connection. No worries, never fear. Armed with a cheeseburger to go and a small map, we set off in a gallop, determined to make it to the show. We pushed through the crowds in the full streets, ran through the tunnels of the underground, and shoved our way onto the tube, overflowing with passengers. We actually made it to Picadilly Circus 10 minutes before the show was starting! The only issue was that we had no idea how to find the theatre where the show was playing. Feeling slightly defeated, we wandered through the streets thinking all hope was lost and that we would miss the show. It was then that we stumbled upon the theatre playing Thriller. There was a queue outside! People were still purchasing tickets 4 minutes before the show's start time. We were able to get limited viewing tickets for wayyyy less than the "good seats." We even had time to snag a glass of wine and slide into our seats as the curtain was being raised. Adventuring at it's finest!
    The great thing about the underground is that it's open all the time...oh, wait, no it's not...the exact words I uttered as we approached the underground entrance and found the gates closed late after the show. Luckily, we continued to walk for a bit and found another tube station that was running. By the end, we became pros at the tube, such a well-constructed system! We are pretty much city slickers :)
    While at the London Zoo, we saw a wide variety of exotic animals. We were slightly freezing...who knew zoos were outdoors?! But it was a great experience and a day well spent! We were lucky enough to get a 2 for 1 offer on our tickets to the zoo. Funny story about that...there is an special by the national rail that offers two admissions for the price of one at certain venues if you fill out a form and prove that you travelled to London by rail. Such a great idea! Unless you lose your rail card, and forget the pamphlet with the necessary forms in the hotel. We went through the trouble of taking the underground out of our way to find a rail station, to pick up a new pamphlet and buy another train ticket. It was still a good deal because we saved lots of money!
    At the Tower of London, we watched a reenactment of the traditional English dancing and viewed the crown jewels. I have never seen gems so massive! They were such a size that they almost looked fake, land resembled  tacky costume jewelry. But hey, if they are good enough for Queen Elizabeth, they are good enough for me! It was a sad day when Mom left and I escorted her back to the airport, but I will be excited to see her soon for the wedding! :)

Don't touch it...

I want them all!

Not very good at following instructions, luckily the little monkeys didn't steal her cheese

And. All. That. Jazz.

The Queen Mother

Stained glass in the Tower of London

Representing my alma mater, go Knights!

My home

Best invention EVER

I'm startin with the man in the mirror....

Billy Jean is not my lover...

The London Eye

Big Ben

Houses of Parliament

Olympic countdown clock!

The National Gallery

The gardens of Buckingham Palace

Livin the life...

She finally has a baby monkey, all she's ever wanted!