An epic comeback.

One of my favorite things about London thus far is the fashion. Four words. Stirrup. pants. are. back. YES! My 6th-grade self is stoked. Stirrup pants are everywhere - well, all types of leggings are hugely popular, way more so than in the states, which also excites me - however, I have a special place in my heart for stirrup pants. I have been super-tempted to ask people on the street if I can take their picture to post on the blog to give you all back home a taste of London fashion (which, I realize, may only be exciting for a small handful of our blog-followers) so stay tuned in case I grow the cajones to do so. Other than stirrup pants, pretty much anything goes in London, which I love. People-watching here is pretty awesome and I think I could spend all day taking note of the different styles. No one wears running shoes (we believe you, Whit and Kate) - lots of flats or heels. Layering anything and everything seems to be key, especially since the ever-changing weather here is giving Chicago's crazy weather a run for its money. I have no idea what stores are "cool" to shop at yet, but I have discovered that you can buy expensive things at one of the grocery-like stores; I saw jeans at our local Waitrose for 190 pounds! Also, they sell Uggs there. Too funny. But enough about fashion for now.

Today, we spent time searching for our flat with a lovely woman named Ellen. We looked in the Angel/Islington area (still our favorite by far) as well as Hoxton, White Chapel/Shoreditch (not so much our favorite area: think Bucktown meets the South side). The rental market here is nutty - places go so quickly that if you don't make an offer (yes, offer - you can negotiate your rent to some extent) immediately, you could lose the place. I realize there may be properties like this in Chicago, however, it seems ALL rentals (or lettings, to speak proper English) are subject to this unofficial policy in London. We ended up making an offer on the last place we saw today and should hear back tomorrow if our offer was accepted. We still plan to head out to see more places on Thursday with Ellen so that we have a back-up plan if the first place falls through.

After flat-searching, we came home and went on a quick run in Canary Wharf, which took us from urban to rural, literally. There is a community-sort of farm/garden in the area southeast of our flat in CW, complete with cows, sheep, pigs and llamas - and you can run/walk right through it. We took some pictures and hopefully I'll figure out how to link the blog to Picasa soon so we can share pics.

Time for this girl to put her feet up. Will post again soon, hopefully with good news regarding our flat!