Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Greetings From England!

Sorry I've been a little slow with the updates. It's been a busy few weeks! Most of it was spent taking care of business and loose ends before embarking on the longly awaited honeymoon journey through Europe with my wife, Alex: Wrapped up my illustration projects, spent countless hours reconfiguring my portable studio, and of course, packed. Oddly enough, in the middle of it all a lot of home improvements went on. My mother stayed over to sew curtains for just about every room, Alex's dad installed motion sensor lights around the house, Alex and I reupholstered our dining room chairs, and our contractor replaced a side door and an entire heating system. On our last weekend before leaving, Alex hosted a baby shower for her dearest friend from high school.As if all of this wasn't enough, I managed to turn 30 the day before we left for Europe.

Well, fast forward about a week, and so far we've been to London, Nottingham, and York. We ventured through Hyde Park, saw 'Wicked', ran through a sudden downpour during antique Saturday at Portobello Market near Notting Hill, ate fish n'chips and jacket potatoes, and rode a tube train jam packed with drunken football fans singing loud jeers at the losing team to the tune of Wonderwall. We spent the past couple days with a friend of ours from Alex's high school days and have ventured through the countryside together, went to one of the oldest pubs in England (founded in 1189, roughly).

We've got just about half an hour before we catch our taxi to the train station to return to London for our flight out to Paris. England was beautiful, and I think between the two of us we already have roughly 500 photos. I've also been working diligently in a sketchbook I hope to fill before the end of the trip. I hope you all enjoy this brief glimpse into what we've been up to. Sorry for the bad quality but I'm without my own software and scanner. I'll try to write something more detailed when we're settled in Paris. Better run for now though. Cheers!

7 comments:

Julien alday said...

Geez, good boy ! Five days before I meet you two, five days !!! I can't wait, really !
Best.
J.

Tom Scholes said...

Ha! Mike! Awesome.
You two seem like such a cool couple, that picture, Duttons for Buttons is gold!

Why didn't I know it was your birthday man! No fair! Happy birthday man, when was the exact date?

Enjoy the rest of your trip man! :)

singinghawk said...

Hi Mike and Alex,

Happy honeymoon! Wow! -- Europe! Yep, sounds like you two have been busy. And happy 30th birthday to you, Mike. Really like the birthday bird and the sketches.

Have fun!

Cheers,

Ana

Bruce said...

"Duttons for Buttons," what a find!

Happy birthday to you, Mike and a happy honeymoon to you both. Man, the beginning of your trip looks like a whole lot of fun. I love the narrow streets and tall buildings, walking down streets like that always make me think of walking through a maze or labyrinth of some kind; you never know what you'll get around the next corner.

I like the first sketch shown from the London trip. Nice use of negative space on the building in the foreground.

Can't wait to see the updates.

Unknown said...

Looks like an amazing time! Dig the sketches, and the photos too. Happy Birthday by the way - I didn't know you turned 30. We are elderly men, my friend.
:)
Enjoy the honeymoon!

Unknown said...

I like the red person photo. And the Duttons for Buttons shop. Are they hiring?

mkornatka said...

Great sketches ... i like them a lot!