the pigeon man

Yesterday while I was working in Clapham this old man walked into the little green area behind the tube stop. Nothing ordinary you might think, but as he walked, even across the street, a flock of pigeons followed him, as if he had trained them. He sat down underneath a tree and shared his lunch with the birds, even his beer :)
There is nothing I like about pigeons, but this was the sweetest thing I saw all day.

summer = salad

For a week we have had proper summer. It's been hot and sunny and I'm surprised that English newspapers haven't reported on a heat wave yet!!
I've been living off salad for the last couple days, as everything else is way too much effort and I can enjoy my beautiful window sill lettuce.

Can't tell you how delicious it is. Loving summer, the only thing missing is a lake to swim, but that'll come soon enough :)

balcony TV

Here's a bit of fun :) My Glorious were on balcony TV in Hamburg and they posted the video yesterday.

Gotta love it! Go spread the word x
Don't ask why the video cuts off... watch it here to see the whole thing.

wolrd cup mania

Not sure what football means to you, but I really don't care about that game at all. A dislike that's got everything to do with my brothers watching every single game there ever was and me getting very bored with it all. If you are like me who wants everyone to be a winner and will side with the losers out of sympathy, there is no hope for you in sports!
All this changes when the world cup starts. You are transformed into this person getting really anxious for your team to win and all of a sudden you are yelling at the TV.
What the heck happened??
Maybe England is getting to me these days. The last game they played I was watching at the pub - but not just watching. As the pub was packed with people the only way to see the screen was if you stood on a chair. So for more than an hour I stood on a chair, surrounded by others on chairs, benches and even the table, clapping for no reason and cheering the team in the red jerseys.
It was the most fun I've ever had watching a game and I think everyone should have that experience. I have to admit, when the guy behind me yelled out "If they only knew how much people cared", I almost fell off my chair laughing. There is only that much you can take :)

that's the only picture I took and it came out all out of focus :)

garden update

I've been eating gorgeous crunchy salad and lovely chives ever since I planted the seeds, but look what just popped out now

and finally the tomatoes are blossoming... very early but still exciting :)

fun things to do on a Sunday morning

Had some hang time with Zeke on Sunday morning.
The plan was to walk to the park,

which took a while as he had to count every fence post there was :) Which turned into singing a numbers song and after a few repetitions singing the song in different voices!!!
Stopped in at Starbucks to have some breakfast.

Such a cheeky kid!
Took some pictures with Paddington bear.

The picture he took of me looking through the hole...

"I did it Yaya, I did it."

Of course we never made it to the park, but sometimes the journey is more fun than the destination!

things to do while still in London

There is a little list forming in my head right now. Things that I want to do before I leave this beautiful city.

Things like...

...watching the tennis in Wimbledon - to think that I used to live across the park from the stadium and still never managed to get in the queue to fill seats, is just silly! If I have a day off in the next couple days, you know where to find me :)

...watching Shakespeare at the Globe - this will be fulfilled tonight as I am about to head off and watch Henry VIII. Yay!

...visit the National Portrait Gallery and the V&A again.

...hang out with the recently engaged Hannah and the whole Thrapston gang!

...whipping up a feast for my flatmates, for being amazing and crazy and fun and letting me crash on their sofa for 4 months :)

Every time I think of something I should really write it down, I just keep forgetting. Thank God that I know that I'll be back again and that there will always be heaps to do and look at.

in the woods

I had forgotten how much fun it is crawling through the forest. Had a little time out to think and write and spend time with God yesterday. So good to get away even if it's just up the road, but once your inside the woods, you feel like in a different world.

As I like to go off the beaten track, I stumbled upon this little hut some kids must have constructed. How sweet is that, took me right back to my childhood when we used to build things in the forest.

crazy flatmates

What can I say, they are nuts!
These three chicas make my life over here more fun... you never know what will happen or what they'll bring home :) I will miss them and feel blessed to have them in my life!

look what my friends are up to

... in this case Kelly's boyfriend, Brad, as one of the artists painting and my friend Glenn was one half of the team behind the video :)

Scratching the Surface from [weAREtheIMAGEmakers] on Vimeo.

Go Beastman... this is incredible!!
You can buy a limited edition print on Stupid Krap.

this one's for you Simon

Just stumbled across this, taken two weeks ago when our friend Simon wouldn't talk to us. So Ruth and I sent him a picture of our angry faces haha. LOVE my friends!!!!

friends and familiar faces

Lately I have been going on about things to do before I leave this city. The cherry on top came in the form of a visit from my old Sydney team at church last Sunday.
Although a very busy day, it was lovely to hang out with them, catch up what's been happening, looking at pictures of their offspring, etc. Hayley should get an extra mention because she did an amazing job - not least for being on a bus with 15 boys for the last 3.5 weeks. I remember what that's like but at least there was three of us when I went along!!
They are an inspiration to me in every way - how they worship God, how they change the world by being faithful what's been placed in their hearts and hands, how they still keep energy levels up even though it's the last day of tour haha, how they give their all in building God's house... I could go on and on. My time working with them has changed me and I will be forever grateful for that!
Thanks guys, love you all and go team!

umbrella time

A few pics from last weeks day with the Zekestar... He's loving his new Thomas the tank engine umbrella, not to sure about how to hold it up yet :)

London, Sunday, 6.45am

There is something charming about a city still asleep! I had to be at church quite early on Sunday morning so I took the bus to the West End and loved every single second of it. Hardly anyone was up - why would you on a Sunday morning - but I thought it was the most beautiful moment.

random bits and pieces

Had a day with the crazy Zeke Zeke today. Planting tomatoes in the garden, splashing around with water, talking in a secret language, watching the world cup. Bliss!
Recently I've gotten lots of emails with upcoming opportunities. I'm excited about all of it and feel that I made the right decision to go back to the motherland. God is a true provider and He knows our wildest dreams :) How boring would life be without Him!

On another note: If you're in Europe and you haven't booked your tickets for I heart next Thursday, get off your butt and make sure you don't miss this once in a lifetime experience. Check out what I wrote after watching it last November when it launched in the US. I can't recommend it highly enough!
Love that I'm still here for that! So proud of my friends who put it all together. Some will be here this weekend and others will be missed heaps!

inspirations for future projects

The new Lonny issue is out now. I am so excited, have been loving every single one so far!
Have a look here.

first crop

I ate my first home grown salad the other day. Seriously delicious stuff, those tiny dark green rocket leaves in between gave it an extra kick.

Good bye watery, tasteless lettuce wrapped in plastic, this is the new way to go!!!

A21 campaign

Check out the new A21 webpage and educate yourself about human trafficking!

Germany and the wedding of Dee & Rob

Sometime last year I received an email that said "Come to my wedding in June next year!!!!". I, not even knowing that Damaris had gotten engaged, was like "WHAT!!!!!! of course I'll come!"
Could hardly take the excitement over the last couple weeks as this was no ordinary wedding but first of all Damaris used to live with me for a while and she is a dear friend and so much fun to be around! Second we went to college together in Australia. So this wasn't going to be a wedding but also a little get together for all our college friends.

Most people had already arrived or were dropping in on Thu/Fri. The two days were packed with catching up, meeting more and more people and walking around Heidelberg.
The wedding was amazing. The groom started crying before the ceremony even started and when she walked in he was a goner :) So moving. All you could think is how amazing is God that he takes two people from two different continents and brings them together!!
After lots of coffee and cake the bridal party took off to take pictures and we had three hours to kill on the terrace high above the city in the sunshine. It was perfect and what followed was delicious food, lots of fun and dancing. What a great day, I couldn't be happier for the two of them.
Before jumping on a plane late last night we sat in Dee's parents garden and ate left overs with everyone. Such a perfect and relaxed way to end a great weekend!

look what my friends or their brother are up to

Told you this was going to become a regular feature :)
The other day I met up with Hannah & Todd, Daniel, Oliver and Dave to go see Phil's band Slinfold play in Camden. His brother is Andy, our golfer friend up in Thrapston.
The band was phenomenal and I still can't get over how young those guys are. There's lots more to come from them Nothing better than watching people do what they love doing most!

Thanks for a fun night everyone. 

sustainable week

We worked at Ikea all of last week as part of their "Sustainability week".

People could guess how many energy efficient lightbulbs we stuffed in the car and write all over it, what they do for the environment. Not sure what happened to schools around this country, but people could not spell for the life of them! I should have recorded how many versions of the word "recycle" there were. 

Bring back the spelling bee!!!