Today in History . . .

Today marks the 6th Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina one of the five deadliest hurricanes in the history of the United States. Hurricane Katrina forever changed the shape of New Orleans and the effects of this storm still scar the landscape of America today. There really are no words that can even begin to sum up this tragedy. Six years later I'm at a loss for what to say. I remember sitting on my bed, in my apartment in New York with my fiance watching as the news reporter spoke of the coming carnage they expected. I turned to my fiance, our faces white with horror as they spoke of bodies floating down the streets, levies bursting and untold horrors. It sounded impossible, especially in America. I don't think I need to tell you how very real it was.

Hurricane Irene has just swept up the East Coast of America. It was strange to follow the progress of the hurricane on things like Twitter, chats on Facebook and Google with friends and family back home on the East Coast. The world has changed so much in six years. Where once we had only the media's narrative to explain to us what the coming storm would be like-- now we have hundreds of voices all telling us their unique perspective on what is happening across the country. While reports so far consider this to not be quite the hurricane the media had hyped it up to be, it will still be a costly one in an already taxed and crippled economy. It is still a storm that has destroyed property, left people without power and without homes across the East Coast. My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone back home. I hope that for those of you who have suffered damages you are able to recover quickly and rebuild.

I saw this as one of my friend's Facebook status updates and I thought it was worth sharing:

"Tomorrow is the 6th anniversary of Katrina making landfall in Louisiana - over 1800 people died and many many more lost everything. If Irene treated you gently, be very grateful, and keep the complaining on mute."

So, I leave you with this. Love is really all we ever really have.

Brilliant or Bonkers?

So this week's brilliant or bonkers is a matter of opinion.

When Herman ze German was moving into its home outside of Embankment Tube station at first I thought, could this possibly be for real?

I mean look at their sign:

This is the menu outside the shop:

And then there's the slogan: Our wurst is the best! I have to admit, I think that's kind of brilliant (and their wurst is pretty fabulous!).

And what about the actual shop front:

And of course the website: http://www.herman-ze-german.co.uk/

Yeah, I am torn, is this the most brilliant branding you've ever seen? Or bonkers? Guten Appetit!

Today in history . . .

Believe it or not, on the 24th of August in 79 AD Mt Vesuvius began it's infamous eruption. An eruption that would forever change the ancient landscape. The town of Pompeii is eight miles from Mt Vesuvius, and when you visit the ruins you can't help but be reminded of the constant presence of the deadly mountain. More on Pompeii to come in a later post, but for now, there's this:

Today there are still people who live quite close to the mountain, it's great land for vineyards, and has a booming tourist industry (with the ruins). I still cannot believe how dominating the mountain is to the landscape of the region. Amazing. (yes, I'm a nerd)

Brilliant or Bonkers?

I can't decide if this is the most brilliant birthday card I've ever received or the most bonkers. It's a tough call:

(the text inside reads: "Also, unicorns would have teats and let total strangers yank on them. Hope you get a frothy mug of something good on your birthday.")

Brilliantly Bonkers? I think that's what I'll go with. But it still made me laugh so hard I nearly cried.

What do you think? Brilliant? Bonkers? Brilliantly Bonkers? Or something in between?

The Visitor on the Balcony ('Prince Charles Cat'!!)

So, this was was the unexpected visitor on our balcony earlier today:

We've seen this cat around frequently. I've even gone so far as to name it 'Prince Charles Cat', for no other reason then the name sounds right. Silly, but right. 'Prince Charles Cat' looks well fed so we suspect he probably has owners somewhere but he's constantly on the scrounge around our garden. He runs into a lot of problems with the ginger cat ('Ginger Tom') who belongs to the pub next door. My husband has seen 'Prince Charles Cat' treed by 'Ginger Tom' and in general we've been following the exploits of the cat for about eight months. Anyway, we found the cat on our disused balcony, it is disused because it's not safe, so we were surprised to find 'Prince Charles Cat' there, scratching at our open window.

He's off on another adventure now, but we suspect we'll see him again soon . . .

A distinct lack of focus . . .

Rather sadly, as all good ideas go, I've had a distinct lack of focus lately. Hence no blog posts. I've started a few, but haven't finished them (useless, I know!).

Never fear-- I'm all about refocusing-- so get ready for my Rome updates and more :)

(I heart this photo-- it's the view of the Coliseum with my sun parasol in the shot. I became a very big fan of sun parasols while in Rome. I totally get the need for them now!)

A Girl Should Always Keep a *Drunken* Promise

So, I just had a 'big' birthday (my 30th-- which frankly is so over rated). Mama 30, as I like to call this year, spent about six months making me feel anxious over the whole affair, when really you have only two choices turn 30 or don't. Frankly, I went for option one and I'm very grateful for the chance to turn 30.

Anyway, we had a big holiday (Rome!) to celebrate (more on that in a series of blog posts!). On the evening of my 30th Birthday after a day spent 'roaming around Rome' (and more specifically the Coliseum-- yes, my inner Latin nerd was overjoyed!) my husband and I wandered down to the Trevi Fountain as part of what became our nightly ritual. We had stumbled upon the Trevi Fountain (of La Dolce Vita fame) our first night in Rome after a wander around the area our was in. The Trevi Fountain is absolutely stunning-- it is seriously hard to restrain yourself from jumping into it (well, not that hard as there are police all around the fountain to keep you from doing just that!).

Throughout the dinner I might have made a few wild suggestions and promises about things I should do, now that I was entering a new decade. (I believe serious diet and exercise regime were on the docket, but then they always are.) One of the wild suggestions was blogging, as a way to keep track of my goals and catalogue a year. It sounded like an outrageously good idea at the time. But, then everything sounds like a good idea after a day spent in the Italian sun and perhaps a bit too much wine. So, here we go. Here's my year-long adventure in blogging. I suspect there will be a lot of photos and some rather random posts-- but there you have it!