Southbank

If you're going to give yourself a tour of London, the best thing to do is walk. You can get most places and see more by skipping the tube and using your feet. One of the best place to go for that walk and see all the best spots is Southbank.


Waterloo is a good starting point. If you go towards the river, you can look across and see Somerset House to the east just a bit, and Parliament to the west. I like to go from Waterloo to Westminster Bridge, then cross the river at the bridge to see Parliament, Westminster Abbey... etc. From there I can either go east to Somerset House, or go west to St James Park, Buckingham Palace, Primrose Hill... and so on.

This is Somerset House:

Somerset House is a great place to go for art exhibitions - so check them out and see what's on when you visit.

Keep walking down Southbank towards Parliament and you end up go by the London Eye, the Southbank Centre, Aquarium and City Hall. I highly recommend doing this twice - once during the day, and again at night. The London Eye, City Hall and Parliament should all be seen at night when all lit up. You can get great pictures from Westminster Bridge.

 So put your walking shoes on, grab a map and get going.

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Just a Song

Slightly obsessed with this song at the moment. That's all I've got for now. Enjoy.

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What to do in London - Borough Market

Maybe this will turn into a regular series for the blog...

Loads of people ask me what they should do in London - given a week or just a day. So going to kick this off with one of my favorite places to hang around.

Borough Market is located just across the road from London Bridge tube station. Easy to get to and find. Its chock full of food, drink, atmosphere, interesting characters, and a fair mix of both locals and tourists.

There are stalls of all sorts - vegetables, fruit, bread, wines, beers, cider, ready to eat food (get the curry from the folks next to the fish monger), meat, pies, candies, jams, cheese and on and on and on...

The market is open daily for lunch hours, but from Thursday to Saturday its open all day. My secret is to go mid afternoon and walk around taking pictures until about 4:30pm. This is when awesome things happen. The vendors start packing up - and giving stuff away cheap or even free that they don't want to or can't keep for the next market day. SCORE.

A few days ago I wandered around at the end of the day and ended up stuffing my camera bag full of 2 huge (HUGE) loaves of artisan bread baked fresh that day. OMG was it good. One was a fancy olive oil and rosemary round loaf. YUM. I paid a quid for each of them. Would have cost about 4 quid a piece had I bought them earlier in the day! Another guy offered me a free pork sausage roll - I was almost tempted to start eating pork again it smelled so good, but instead I helped him hock it to the next person who walked by.

 

My favorite thing to get at the market is mushroom pate. They guys who sell it weren't there when I went the other day (which is good because I am far too poor to buy it!) 

I also recommend hanging around the fish mongers - the larger of the few in the main area. They have a great set up and are really nice folks, will talk your ear off and give great recommendations for what to get and how to cook it. They also like to have a bit of fun with the shoppers by making some of the fish look very much alive.

So if you're coming to London, put this place on your list! And buy some mushroom pate, its to die for.

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Back in London

Been back home in London for just over 2 weeks now. Got off the plane, took a couple buses back to my old house and as I was on the bus just realized how much I felt at home. Reconfirmed that the US just does not feel like home to me anymore, and hasn't since I arrived in the UK in 2006.

Been trying to get out an take photos as much as possible. Hard to do when poor and can barely afford a tube journey into the city, but I've managed a few days out with good results. Click on them to see the image larger!

My favorite from a couple days ago:

And I believe there's a new coffee table book in progress: my favorite old pubs!

And one with a bit more dramatic flare:

More available on the website! And I'm sure many more to come :)

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Calendar is Ready!

The new 2013 Marshmallow Microcosm is ready to go!

I've already sold 5 out of my Etsy shop, so get yours sooner rather than later - I sold them very quickly last year as Christmas got closer.

Order Here!

Even though I'm now living in the UK, they are being shipped out from the US - by my mom, who has done an awesome job so far of getting them out on the same or next day :)


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Kickstarter - Free Calendar

I've got a Kickstart project going to fund the production of my 2013 Marshmallow Microcosm Calendar. I need more backers! Only 4 days left to raise the funds, and for those who pledge $20 or more there will be a calendar in the post for you! 

If I don't manage to raise the funds from this, the calendar is still going to be printed but in very limited numbers at a higher cost. This is a chance for a good deal and to help me out :)



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Curiosity Killed the Cat

I was playing around with some skulls from my bone collection, and some old looking books from around the house. The Florida scenery isn't interesting enough for me to photograph, so I've had to find my own amusements...

And if death isn't your thing... here are some cute ducklings!

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I made a book!

Marshmallow Microcosm by Heather Applegate

Its sort of my version of a lemonade stand... 
everyone's gotta start somewhere.

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Stonehenge

Moving back to London in 4 weeks... hoping to get back out to Stonehenge to take some better quality photos now that I have a better camera than I did when I first went. A friend is loading a list of places to take me when I get back to London though, so I think I'll probably be shifting the blog to maybe a "How to move to the UK" or general travel stuff... who knows. I'll probably still just do completely random posts, screw any thought of a theme, I'm too ADD for that.

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Addicted to Kitchen Stuff

I know I'm not the only one...

I tend to wander into kitchen stores, or around kitchen departments in stores looking for cool gadgets I don't need, but really want to play with. If I had a kitchen of my own (all in good time...) and a lot of money to just spend on frivolous fun stuff, here are a few fun things I might just have to own:

ForkChops


Really, you're saving money buy purchasing a fork, knife and chopsticks all in one go! Perfect for a small space or RV!



Fred M Cup Measuring Matroyshkas, Set of 6 Dry Measuring Cups

Super cute, super functional, super space saving, super genius.


Chicago Metallic Lasagna Trio Pan, 12-Inch by 15-Inch by 3-Inch (11-1/2-Inch by 2-1/2-Inch Cavities)

I love lasagna, but this is genius for when I can't decide if I want to make zucchini, pumpkin or banana bread... do all three at once!

Taylor Digital Measuring Cup and Scale

I only wish I new about this sooner. Why did I not know such implements existed?!

Joseph Joseph 8-Piece Food Preparation Nesting Set

Again with the space saving... way pretty too!

Prepara Herb Savor Pods, Set of 3

Anything that makes herbs last longer is a winner in my book.

Animal Mini Tabletop Vacuum - Pig

Pick up crumbs before the ants do!

2013 Calendar!

Last year I did a calendar with my photos of marshmallows... it was a big hit! People have been asking for it again this year, so I starting photographing scenes a few weeks ago.

Its now available for pre-ordering via Etsy

I'm loving this years scenes - I've got marshmallow art down to a science!

Out cuting myself...

I'm preparing to make up the sequel to my Marshmallow Microcosm 2012 calendar... 2013 is coming up quick and people start ordering calendars to give as gifts really soon! I've been chugging along trying to get 12 more little scenes completed and assigned to each month.

8 or 9 down... 3 or 4 to go. Not sure if I'll use one I've done for the calendar or not, we'll see how creative I get in the next few days.

They make really good prints and greeting cards too! I can't wait til I get moved into my room in London to put a set of them on my wall. Actually sold a greeting card today of a scene I did last year.

So far these are the favorites:

February

September

Whatever month...

Scarves!

Yes, I'm aware its August...

But I've finally gotten around to posting the scarves I've made so far up in my other etsy shop.










































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