Weekend Getaway

Hello darling sister!

So the weekend is winding down and I'm mentally preparing to head back into work tomorrow. If I didn't love my internship so much I think I'd actually be upset, but I'm looking forward to the 3-day week ahead of me!! We have Thursday off for the Fourth of July and then I don't work on Fridays. Mom and dad are coming this weekend along with a fun little visit from Kenny, the only two people missing are you and Scott!!

So let me update you a little on my past couple days! I got out of work on Thursday and met up with a friend for dinner by where I live. Guess what we got for dinner? If you guessed salads, YOU'D BE CORRECT!! Munch munch munch, I love me a good bowl of lettuce!

My salad had spinach and kale, chicken, chickpeas, broccoli, tomato, apple, and cucumber. OH and I had balsamic vinegar, our fave. On Friday I treated myself to a day out of the city (I know, shocking) and took a train to go visit my good friend in Long Island. The day started out really cloudy but cleared up immensely while we were actually at the beach, and you better believe I got me a nice tan! We brought our lunch to the beach, and I got a tropical salad! It was so delicious!

I picked out the cheese inside of it, but it had chicken, mesclun greens, avocado, banana, pineapple and mango. I've never had a salad with fruit in it before, but literally it was unreal. Such a perfect meal for the beach!!

For dinner things got kind of aggressive and I must admit that I splurged a bit. You know how much I love mexican food, and so it was all well worth it! We started with nachos and some drinks, the music was loud and festive and made me feel very cultured hahah. For the main course I got a taco salad, SO delicious!

When I got back into the city I felt that I needed to cleanse up my system, and so today I ate mostly fruits and then met up with a friend for salad time!! Nothing like a good salad to make me feel great ;)

Well that's gonna about do it for my weekend!! I know yours was just as much fun, keep me updated gal pal.

Love you!
Lara

Noteworthy Noms (or Naans?)

Lara,

It may be difficult to believe, for although I consider myself a "foodie", a lover of all things edible, and a food connoisseur, I have never had authentic Indian food before arriving in England. Because Indian food is so popular in London, most of my friends are shocked, if not horrified by that fact. So we changed it. Yesterday after class, Caitlin and I decided it was time to take my Indian card (so to speak), and found the sweetest little Indian restaurant right across the street--it was fate!

I had to inform our waiter that, no, I was not taking a picture of him, I just loved the restaurant

The place was tastefully decorated, with soft Middle Eastern music humming in the background, and we immediately appreciated it even more once we saw the reasonable prices. We each ordered chicken curry, then decided to be adventurous and split an appetizer called Lamb Tikka. Now, you know I'm not into spicy things, but when the substantial array of food arrived and I took a whiff, I was in love.

The food came relatively quickly, and we really liked the "family style" look of it all

Buttery rice, chicken curry, Naan bread, mint jelly, lamb tikka with a side salad, and the most amazing homemade Tzatziki sauce to cool down the spiciness of the food

I can now officially say I've tried--and adored--Indian food. So much, in fact, that I was craving it this afternoon for lunch, but I think I'll take a little break from it for now (at least for a day)...

Love,
Kim

Delicious Day

Dear Lara,

After class today a couple friends (Alicia and Caitlin) and I had working out on the brain; we had gotten "free day passes" for a gym somewhere in the city, and we wanted to check it out. Our Westminster classes run from 10 am-1 pm, however, so we definitely had to have some sort of food in our systems before we sweat. We decided on Abokado, a nearby sushi and salad quick stop, where Caitlin and I split a sushi box and seaweed salad. The perfect preworkout snack!

Salmon bento box with arugula salad (I picked off most of the salmon sashimi and avoided the rice)

After a substantial sweat sesh, we cleaned up in the locker room and headed to M&M World! Maybe not the most "Authentic London" site we could have visited, but it was delicious and I made for a very happy tourist (note both the "I <3 London" tank AND the M&M bag: I got looks on the tube on the way home). 

A solid 3+ miles!

All that working out gave me an appetite...But when do I not crave chocolate? (Answer: never.)

I only had ten minutes in between getting home and heading back out again to meet friends before Billy Elliot, so I threw on some clean clothes and jumped back on the tube for Victoria. My friend Emma picked a table outside, and we got to enjoy the last of the warm air with some light white wine before heading to the theater. People watching is definitely one of my favorite parts of London...

Cheers!

Xoxo,

Kim

Super Sunday

Dear Kim,

Honestly I am so jealous I can't be there with you!! I know there are some things that we need to experience separately, but this all looks like things we'd have so much fun doing together!! (Especially enjoying that fruit juice) But I guess that's why we're twins, because I started my day off with some delicious juice as well!!

It was SUCH a gorgeous day out that I met my best friend in Union Square Park to start the day off right. This 100% fresh squeezed juice was made out of carrots, cucumber, apple, and beets. The beet turned it a very fun red/purple color, and you know how I feel about fun colors.

After sitting and enjoying the park for what seemed like hours, we both agreed that we wanted to go see Monsters University...it was so cute!! Granted, it's a little over-hyped and it definitely could've been funnier, but on the whole I was pretty amused. If I leave the theatre happier than when I came in, that's a good sign.

We were starving after the movie and so I suggested that we stop for Chop't salads. MY FAVE! For the base I picked kale and spinach, and then they mixed in tomatoes, cucumber, chicken, chickpeas, and apples. We walked our salads back into Union Square Park because it was such a beautiful day, and enjoyed our second munch of the day together under the cool protection of NYC trees.

I can't wait to take you to this salad place one day, literally you'd love it!

Love you,
Lara

The Day I Almost Died

Lovely Lara,

Good thing I spoke to you before I left, because I almost didn't come back from Wales in one piece. I'll elaborate on my unbelievable weekend:

We took the lengthy bus ride at 7:30 am, so most of us slept until we made our first rest stop to use "the toilets." I assumed the British would be much more vague and proper about the term, using something like "loo" or "restroom," but nope, toilets it is. When we arrived at our first destination, we visited old barracks, saw a cemetery from the 1800s, and watched teenagers reenact battles with wooden swords (it felt very "Role Models"). 

Enjoyed this and a Pink Lady apple for breakfast, this is absolutely pure fruit juice and I'm in love (apples, kiwi, grapes, banana)

So many wooden swords to be played with...

Next, we made our way into a neighboring town for lunch, and then walked over to visit the Caerphilly castle. My friend, Alicia, had decided on the rule of doing "one badass thing per day," so we ended up climbing up part of the castle wall to take a picture in a windowsill. There was even a wedding starting while we were there, so we were all going to stay for some cake and attempt British wedding crashing, but were sadly told we had to move on to our next destination.

In front of the Caerphilly Castle

On the way in!

We ended up staying in the small, but adorable, town of Swansea (yes, it is on the water). My group of friends and I walked into town and decided to have dinner--and apparently so did every bachelor and bachelorette party in Swansea. Every restaurant and bar was filled with groups of men putting on women's skirts and bras, and scantily-dressed women parading around the streets in boas and vibrant costumes; amusing us all with their silly antics and loud voices. After a rowdy night in our new favorite down, we all boarded the bus and headed to the "Big Pit" to for a mining tour the next morning <-- and here's where things got weird...well maybe equally as weird as men wearing women's clothes.

"Bangers and Mash" at dinner

Stereotypical fish and chips

The mines are active and methane gas still runs through them, which means that we had to leave all electronics upstairs because if something sparks, we would all be blown up in a matter of seconds. Halfway into the tour (300 ft below ground in a cold, damp mine), a girl next to me turns over and asks "So is it okay if I have my phone on me?" Well that didn't sound right. In absolutely no way was that okay, actually. So the girl, who is carrying a large purse the guide OFFERED to take from her several times before we went down into the mine, goes up to our guide, a jolly Welsh fellow, and informs him she has her phone. "Good thing nobody called you," he responds, "Ring, ring, boom, boom. Anything else?" The girl then doesn't just hand him the phone, no, she hands him 2 phones, an ipad, an ipod, and a camera. We all felt lucky to be alive when she feigned sick 3 minutes later and had to be taken upstairs, her electronics joining her above ground.

Almost my eternal resting place, Big Pit

Happy to be alive, we made our way into the town over for lunch, and then made a quick detour at Tintern Abbey, before boarding the bus and heading back to London. Please send me a picture of your face so I can cherish it and thank someone up there for loving me enough not to let me get blown up today.

Lunch before Tintern Abbey: Omelette with Canadian Bacon, Turkish Sausage,  Mushrooms, Onions, and Spinach

Making cattle friends at Tintern Abbey

Tintern Abbey from the beautiful inside

Xoxo,

Kim

The Epic Journey

Dear Lara,

I have never walked more in my entire life than the past week I've spent in London. Granted, it makes me feel less guilty for chowing down on some seriously amazing British grub (think hamburgers, bar food, fries...the good stuff), but certain boots are not made for walking. My friends Emma, Brooke, Jules and I started off the day by making some quick returns to the most unreal clothing store called Primark. It is a gift from the heavens: a massive warehouse of a store filled to brimming with clothes that are literally cheaper than a sandwich. A SANDWICH. (Which is around four pounds for those of you who have not bought a sandwich in London. This is clearly also what I have on my mind at all times of the day, considering it's almost 12 am here)

Almost too good to be true...but its real, very real.

Next we headed to the National Gallery, but before we got there, we were aprehended by a large man handing out free coffee coupons to anyone that passed by. Since free anything is never too be passed up, the 4 of us ended up making the best decision of the day and making a detour to Benugo, a brand-new cafe that just opened up. One free mocha latte, a free croissant, some free carrot cake samples, and the most amazing chicken pesto sandwich later (like I said, on my sandwich grind), we hopped on a tube and headed to the National Gallery and Trafalgar Square.

Om nom nom nom

In front of the Trafalgar Square fountain with my new red infinity scarf, so Pinterest

Normally I'm not a big museum person, but since I was on a full stomach and hyped up on caffeine, everything I saw suddenly became 75% more attractive in my eyes. I'm also in London, so that helps. After a nice stroll around the square, we took a tube back to our respective dorms to drop off packages, and then headed to a trendy restaurant called Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen by Brooke and Jules's dorm. We decided that since we had done a pretty decent amount of walking, we definitely deserved a portion-controlled splurge. Therefore, we decided to split nachos and the most unreal hamburger I've ever had. The nachos themselves were also surprisingly good considering I'm a Mexican food snob, I've gotten spoiled in Tucson...

Walking into Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen 

LOS NACHOS. Topped with beef, salsa, guacamole, melted cheese, jalapenos, and sour cream

The MOST DELICIOUS burger I've ever consumed: beef, melted pepper jack cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickle, onion, mayo, sauteed mushrooms, and bacon

We ended our day by getting hopelessly lost on the wrong tube--hey it happens--and managed to work our way over to the Tower of London Bridge and financial district. We got to the bridge just in time to see both an amazing sunset, and a group of rowdy British prepubescents running from the police--the perfect finish to an amazing day. We're going to Wales tomorrow pretty early, which I'm very excited for, but I'll try to document it all and post when we get back Sunday!

View from the Tower of London Bridge as the sun started to set

I am actually in a fairy tale.

Too tempting to not take a picture like this one on the bridge

All my love,
Kim

Catch Up Post

Hey Kim, I MISS YOU!!!

As per usual, my twin has been kicking my butt in the blogging game. HOWEVER in my defense, I have been nonstop busy between work and meeting up with friends, I can't be blamed that by the time I get home I want to use my computer to watch Law & Order: Special Victims Unit instead of spending more time typing away at the computer. I adore my internship, but it is a lot of hours staring at the screen and building online polls and quizzes; sometimes a gal needs a break!

Looks like Kim is kicking butt in the London world, duh I knew she would. This is hard being apart, but she's warming up the delightful city across the pond for when I make my journey over there also. I already have great friends up there from when I worked at summer camp and met amazing internationals, but now Kim can be the one to introduce ME to new friends.

Anyways, back to food. So the beginning of my days are usually similar; I have a bowl of oatmeal in the morning (along with a bottle of water), for lunch I have a salad, and then dinner is where I like to switch it up. Most recently I went out for tasty fish tacos with one of my best friends. I actually only ate the insides of them (there was too much tortilla for my taste) and then asked for some hot sauce on the side. I LOVE spicy foods! Kim hates them, so thats where our twinnie taste buds differ. We also shared a plate of sweet potato fries, which were sadly devoured before I managed to bring out the camera. Needless to say, they were delicious.

Tonight I'm meeting a good friend to catch up with delicious salads from Chop't!! It's one of my favorite salad places (however it's exceedingly overpriced) but I'll see if I can get a snap in before I chomp on that ;) Have a great weekend!

Love you Kim!

--Lara

Fuel Before Freezing

Dear Lara,

My friends and I made a bold decision last night: we were going to try an ice bar. An ice bar, for those of you who don't know, is a room where EVERYTHING is made of ice (down to the rectangles of ice they put the drinks in). I was excited to try the space-themed drinks the website suggested this particular ice bar served, so I didn't want to feel too full going there. Therefore, I opted for a simple pre-freezing snack of my absolute new favorite obsession: the banana toast.

Looking at this makes me hungry all over again

Banana Toast:

1 slice whole wheat/whole grain bread (toasted, of course)

2 tablespoons of peanut butter (my favorite is crunchy, I adore anything with a good crunch)

1/2 banana, sliced

Drizzle of honey on top!

One of the many icy decorations, and the room kept changing the wall colors!

Cuddled and warm in my "below zero" poncho

The ice bar was really fun, it was an interesting experience to be in 60 degree weather one moment and then freezing the next! It was actually located inside of a restaurant, so after 20 minutes I was feeling a little frigid and headed inside the restaurant to wait for my friends and defrost. Definitely worth doing once, but maybe not too many more times if I want to keep my fingers.

How's the NYC life treating you?

xoxo,
Kim

Adventure Day

Today was the third day of my "Jack the Ripper" course here at Westminster, and I have to admit I'm a little disappointed we haven't learned about any murders. We've been focused quite a lot on the Victorian period and early establishment of London as a whole, so we seem to be skipping the focus of the actual class. Believe it or not, this is actually a common complaint, being as the girl next to me asked why we hadn't studied or explored the issue of "gutted prostitutes from 1888" yet--I consider my complaint a tad more sensored in comparison.

Taking in some colorful scenery on my run in the park today

After class my friend, Brooke, and I decided we wanted to run in the park nearest to my dorm. It's actually gigantic and a little overwhelming, so we both took our little phones with us to make sure we could call for help in case we got lost (we might never have been found otherwise). However the run was successful, and we even managed to find the most adorable garden right in the middle.

We are women, we are strong, fear us <3

We were both pretty hungry after showering and putting ourselves back together again, so we headed down the street to see what we could find for lunch; lunch being a vague term, because at this point it was probably 3:30 p.m. After heading down one of the main streets, Baker, we ended up finding what looked like it should have been a frozen yogurt store, with squiggly pink writing across the front of the glass window. Instead, to our delight, it ended up being one of the most adorable salad stops we had made yet called Tossed. Brooke got a massive Caesar Salad with who-knows-what inside, while I stuck to the most fantastic Greek Salad I've ever had, God himself could not have made it more perfect. Just another meal in fabulous London.

This beauty had spring lettuce, kalamata olives, feta cheese,  hummus, chicken, avocado, and bell peppers--topped with a delicious balsamic dressing

-KIM

London!

LONDON!!!

Striking my most casual London sorority pose...

First "real" day in London was amazing: running in the park, Starbucks run (green tea), touring the city, the "Marylebone fair" (TONS of unreal food stands; Indian, falafel, cupcakes, crepes, sausages, hot dogs...the list goes on), and, of course, pubs! My day was anything from dull--from seeing Big Ben, to eating my first London meal, I am in love.

Tower of London and Big Ben!

The Marylebone fair was the host of this delicious lunch surprise; a crepe-wich if you will. The outside dough had the light texture of a crepe, but the inside was packed full of all sorts of savory, fresh goodness. Brie cheese, lettuce, arugula, tomatoes, a pesto drizzle, and prosciutto made up this unbelievable feast of a crepewich. I couldn't finish it all, but I definitely made sure to box it up and keep it for a snack later.

Holding up my meal for the whole fair to see

Toasted to perfection <3

-KIM

Final Day of Maine Nomz

Today is the last full day I'm spending in the United States, I'm off to the United Kingdom tomorrow and I could not be more excited! I've been trying to eat pretty healthy lately for multiple reasons: the main one being that I refuse to be another American stereotype overseas, but I always just feel so much better when I eat foods that are good for my body as well. One of my top favorite meals at home I've had are the salads I've been making (food always tastes better to me when I've made it myself). Plus I don't want to be spending lots of $$ abroad, so making my own food now will get me into good habits.

Arugula, Romaine lettuce, Spring Mix, Kidney Beans, Corn, Chicken, Cucumber, Celery, and Avocado created this perfection

I made the usual 40-minute run up and down my nature trail driveway this morning to start my metabolism burning early, and by the time I had showered/put my face on/picked a decent outfit for the quirky weather, I was pretty hungry. Mom chose a restaurant in the small town of Demariscotta nearby called "Chrissy's," and when we arrived it seemed to have something for all the high-maintenance eaters in my family, so we chose a small table by the door to enjoy the sunshine (<-- FINALLY).

New running shoes! Working that pavement...or rocks and dirt?

Mom and I like splitting different dishes, (it makes us feel like we're portion-controlling ourselves while still enjoying various items on the menu) so we decided on a "Mexican Rice Bowl" and a Veggie Sandwich. The Mexican Rice Bowl was filled with rice (the obvious one), black beans, scallions, spinach, carnitas (pork), avocado slices, salsa, and an egg on top--it was AMAZING. Sort of like a Chipotle burrito bowl but 100x better. The Veggie sandwich was italian bread, mozzarella cheese, lettuce, carrots, pesto mayo, tomato, avocado, cucumber, and then we decided to add chicken and bacon for extra protein and flavor. So I guess the meat in the Veggie sandwich just made it more of a well-rounded sandwich, but also makes for an incorrect name...it was still delicious regardless.

"Mexican Rice Bowl"

"Not-So-Veggie Sandwich" with orzo salad on the side

Overall, I've had the most amazing time in Maine and it's a shame I can't stay longer. From the lobster & clams in excess, to the perfect-sweater weather, adorable "foodie" towns, and my marathon of a driveway that helped me get back into running, I'm going to miss it. I'll definitely have to come back sometime this year, however, I can't wait for the excitement that the rest of my summer will bring--London, I'm coming for you!

My older brother, Kenny, and I enjoying our last day romping in the fields of Maine

The view from my backyard...Yeah, I'm going to miss this a lot

-KIM