#4: Spend a day volunteering with Habitat for Humanity

Since high school, I've always enjoyed volunteering, and for some reason, building a house for someone through Habitat for Humanity seemed to be the pinnacle of volunteer experiences. Perhaps because building a house seems so hard and complicated, but also because of the underlying notion of how important a "home" is to a person's life, and here you are making that possible for them. Surprisingly, actual "build" experiences with Habitat seem to be harder to come by than you might imagine! I have been trolling their Web site at random intervals for a few years now, but every time I search for volunteer experiences, they are always at their "home office" doing who-knows-what. In my mind I wanted to get in on the actual physical labor, toiling away at the land, not sitting behind a desk, which I already do for 40+ hours a week.

A few weeks ago, just as I was starting to dive back into my 30 Things list, I got an e-mail from Disney VoluntEARS saying they were organizing a Habitat build day, and as you can imagine, I jumped at the chance to participate. I recruited my friend Anna from work to come along with me, and together we donned our white VoluntEARS t-shirts and headed over to Pine Hills to do some building.

Of course right off the bat, my sunny optimism about the day was shot down as we hit an atypical early morning Florida rain storm on our drive over to the build site. Any other Saturday, a morning shower would have made for a great excuse to stay in bed and read a book, but when you're en route to a construction site of sorts to do landscaping and yard work (in a white t-shirt nonetheless), this is not a welcome experience. Needless to say, we arrived at the site and were greeted by a very sandy (and ever-so-rapidly becoming very muddy) landscape in the middle of a semi-creepy part of town. Already I started to ask myself why I ever volunteered for this in the first place.

 

It was hot. It was raining. And the two together created my very favorite Florida weather condition -- steamy humid air -- the kind that creeps under your clothes and makes everything stick to you...the kind that your hair oh-so-quickly absorbs to create a frizzy mess. And here I was gathered under a very small car-port with 30 other sweaty people waiting to begin sloshing around in mud for 6 hours. What fun.

All this in mind, you can see why I very quickly volunteered to be a part of the crew that would do tasks other than lay sod and landscaping around the very large yard, thinking this would be a way to not get totally wet and utterly dirty (although I was warned to wear clothes I wouldn't mind getting dirty, it had become clear that if I took part in the yard work my clothes would go beyond dirty and reach into the range of becoming garbage, which I was not prepared for). So instead I was relegated to the task force of 6 women who would clean the inside of this new home to prepare it for the owners.

 

Let me back-track for a second and talk about Habitat for Humanity as an organization, as I learned some new things in this experience. Firstly, I never realized that Habitat was a religious organization. And even though they claimed to be "non-denominational" and supportive of all religions, they started the day off with a prayer in Jesus' name (and might I remind them that many religions, including mine, don't actually pray in Jesus' name, so if you want to be supportive of all religions, you might want to re-think that prayer). More importantly, I learned that there is actually a really rigorous application process to get a Habitat home and that the homes aren't given to the new owners scott-free. Rather, it's a loan like any mortgage, but Habitat sells it to the owner at-cost and interest free. They call it a hand-up rather than a hand-out, which aligns really nicely with my personal charitable beliefs, so I quite liked the sentiment.

 

Back to cleaning. This task seemed SO much better than the yard work, until we quickly realized that the home had no power. This meant no air conditioning, no fans, no lights, no nothing. And of top of that, the "cleaning supplies" we were given to clean an entire house included a couple very old, nearly broken vaccum cleaners (which we had to hook up to an external generator outside), some dirty mops, a couple of sponges and some rags. And this was a VERY dirty house. I'm talking sawdust everywhere, mud and grime tracked all over the floors and into the bathrooms, windows coated in fingerprints and cobwebs, etc.. This was a serious cleaning job that would have required a lot of new cleaning tools...and some air circulation.

 

We did the best we could. But when I realized that mopping the tile floors in the bathroom was actually making it dirtier than it was before, I sort of gave up. It wound up that Anna and I stood around feeling sort of awkward and useless for much of the time, although we did plenty of vaccuming, dusting, window cleaning and the like. By 11:30, I think both of us were over the experience and just ready to get cleaned up ourselves, eat something and sit in front of the blasting A/C for a long, long time.

So am I happy that I chose to volunteer with Habitat? Certainly! Do I ever feel the desire to do it again? Unless it's a freezing, sunny day in February where we're not tracking around in dirt? Probably not. Of course, I still believe Habitat for Humanity is doing great things for the community, so I'd encourage others to give them some of their time, but I warn you that the physical side of it may not be as glamorous as it appears when you're actually in the moment.

And with that, I can proudly say that I've reached the half-way point in my 30 Things list. It's honestly taken me longer to get here than I hoped, and with only 13 months remaining until I turn 30, it's going to be a bit of a challenge knocking through the second half of the list. But I remain determined, and even if it requires a little bit of altering to my items, I will get there! Until then...

#15: Go Parasailing

It's a bit shameful that it's been 8 months since I've updated this blog, although I like to think that I have good reason -- I started saving my money! I know it may seem weird for me to confess that previously I wasn't doing so, but the truth is that for the longest time I was literally living paycheck-to-paycheck, and while I was getting by and squeezing in a few extras along the way, I had a bit of an epiphany that a) if I ever want to buy a house b) if I want to be able to afford a new car when my lease expires and c) if God forbid I should ever get fired and need to support myself, I better start finding a way to save some money. Thus with the shift of a portion of my income to a savings account, much of the funds I was using to fulfill the tasks on my 30 things list went out the window. And let me tell you, I did not pick 30 cheap things!

Alas, I think it was my very dear friend Tausha that helped me have my second epiphany, as I was mentioning to her that money was holding me back and I wasn't sure if I'd get through my list. And if I've pegged her correctly, she swiftly replied that I shouldn't forget this is my blog and I make the rules! There's no one standing behind me punishing me for swapping out an item on the list or modifying it to make it more affordable. Once that clicked in my mind, I was re-inspired and ready to start checking off items again, even if it meant they'd be altered some from their original intention.

However, today's post really isn't meant to go into detail about how and when I'll be altering some of these items, but rather it's to get back on the bandwagon and share my story of conquering number 15: going parasailing!

 I have my good friends at Disney Vacation Club to thank for this one, as the admin on our team, Karen, who graces my pictures in this post, just happened to have the right connections and was able to secure a parasailing outing for our team for free (thanks Karen!)! So what started as just another day at work swiftly turned into the rare opportunity to check a normally very expensive item off my list without spending a dime. (I will say that my original intention was to go parasailing over the ocean somewhere, with the beautiful, crystal clear, blue water glistening beneath me, but settling for sky-high views of the Magic Kingdom, and even downtown Orlando just had to do!)

For those of you that haven't been parasailing before, I like to think of it as the perfect intersection between an adventure and relaxation. Obviously you've got the height factor -- which for us topped out at 600 feet -- but while you're in the air, it's as if you're the only person on the planet. The views are truly spectacular, and I was amazed at just how far I could see (it was a particularly clear morning). I think my biggest fear the entire time was that a nearby bird would fly into us/our parachute and wreak some havoc (which thankfully did not happen). I'll admit that I was death-gribbing the harness straps for the first five minutes or so, but once I realized I could relax my body and not fall to my death, it was a beautiful thing.

 

The flight in itself lasted for about 8-10 minutes and that's including the fairly slow ascent and descent (there's none of that stomach dropping feeling that most people hate). Unfortunately, there's not much opportunity to take pictures while you're in the air (unless you don't care about accidentally dropping your phone and/or camera into the water), so my photos are limited to before and afters. But once you're back in the boat, if you're with other folks going parasailing, you get to enjoy a nice 10-minute boat ride while you're friends are off floating through the sky - a really nice way to cap the experience.

I will say that now that I've done parasailing, I'm not sure I'd be willing to pay the typical $100 per person to do it again. But boy oh boy was it great to experience! And even better is that I've got another 30 things item on the schedule for just two weeks from now. I'll be heading to Disney's Vero Beach Resort for the weekend and it just so happens to be the very time of year that the loggerhead sea turtle eggs tend to start a'hatching. While there's no guarantee that it will happen the one night that I'm walking along that shoreline, I'm hoping that the 30 things gods bless me with a miracle! Speak to you then!

#26: Go to Comic-Con dressed as a superhero or other famous sci-fi character

I'll open this blog post with a disclaimer: I know that the real item on my "30 Things" list specifically says that I need to attend "Comic Con" and unfortunately no, I was not able to go back in time to attend this summer's actual event in San Diego, however, I hope that you will allow me this explanation. When I created my "30 Things" list, I did so with a blue sky in mind and didn't think at all about financial implications or the amount of time it would take to achieve these things, and looking back, I realize that I may have been a bit ambitious in adding too many items to my list that require some sort of traveling. Given the fact that I don't have as much discretionary income as I'd like, and that fact that the Celebration VI Star Wars convention was being held in Orlando this year, I did a little switcheroo. Now, I still hope to make it to the real Comic Con one day, but in the meanwhile, this was a great way for me to check an item off my list and have a really fun day doing it!


If you are surprised to hear that I'm a big enough Star Wars fan to attend a convention of this sort, it may just be because I fly my nerd flag selectively. Believe it or not, although waxing on for hours about different Harry Potter spells, Star Wars planets and other superhero storylines does indeed make me giddy, I do know how to suppress my nerdy tendencies and hold normal conversations too. So if you're not a nerd, which most of my friends are not, I've probably opted out of sharing this information with you so as not to bore you or cause you to run away screaming. Now, this is the opposite with my friend Kyle, who you might remember from my half marathon post. He is the King of the Nerds (and I don't think he'll mind me saying this, because he knows that this is a compliment) and we almost exclusively talk about nerdy things and/or do nerdy things together (he was also my partner in crime for the double-feature Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows midnight showing in which we also donned costumes). I knew immediately that he'd be the perfect person to join me at Celebration VI and would proudly come wearing his Jedi best.

In addition to buying my ticket (we opted to go on the last day of the convention to avoid the crazy crowds), I also had to determine which character to dress up as. Typically in the sci-fi/fantasy sphere, women don't get a whole lot of choice. Female superheroes tend to a) wear a skin-tight suit of spandex (a la Black Widow or Cat Woman) or b) run around practically naked like Slave Leia or Wonder Woman. Personally, I don't have the body or a great enough lack of inhibition to pull off either of these options. Plus, I knew that in addition to finding a costume I'd like to wear, I also had to figure out how I was going about finding that costume considering I don't sew a lick.

I wound up purchasing a custom-made gown on eBay for...I'm scared to admit it...$150. I know, it is entirely impractical to spend that much money on a costume that I will likely only wear a few times. But oh, it's so pretty! The gown is from the very last scene in A New Hope when Princess Leia is giving medals to Luke and Han, and it represents perhaps one of Leia's most elegant moments. In addition, I figured that it was a less "popular" scene in the films, so if I wore that gown I'd perhaps be only one in a handful to wear it to the convention (it's sort of like prom where you don't want to be seen in the same gown as another woman). And let me tell you, folks, that dress was MAGIC!

Okay, not real magic, but a sort of made-my-dreams-come-true-magic, if you will. Another perhaps little known secret about me is that I have always, always, always dreamed of being a Disney Princess and I am sincerely and thoroughly crushed that I am officially too old and too far down the professional pipeline to ever become one. If anybody ever wants to make my year, arrange for those costuming folks to dress me up as Belle or Cinderella and you will probably see me cry with joy. Tangent aside, I think wearing this costume may be as close as I will ever come to knowing what it feels like to walk through the Magic Kingdom wearing a princess costume. Everywhere I went, people were looking my way and TWELVE times I was asked by a complete stranger if they could take a picture of me. Granted I don't usually relish this kind of attention, but today I was soaking it in. Perhaps it's because I knew I was among my nerd bretheren who would appreciate my attire rather than judge it or think it weird! In addition to our own costumes, Kyle and I also saw some other greats, including Darth himself, Admiral Ackbar, Darth Maul, lots of Jedis and even a male version of Aura Singh.

In total, we wound up spending about 6 hours at the convention. We saw a great panel with Warwick Davis, ate a themed lunch, got Disney Star Wars name tags in Aurbesh, took lots of pictures and browsed through hundreds of exhibitors pawning their best merchandise. By the time we left, we were thoroughly exhausted and already brainstorming about our next nerd outing.

And with that, another item has been checked off my list. Only 17 to go! Until next time...

#2: Get an acupuncture treatment

Acupuncture, as well as other homeopathic and ancient healing methods, has always fascinated me, and that is originally why #2 made its way onto my 30 Things list. As of late, however, my interest has piqued significantly, going from "I'd like to try this so I can say I tried it" to actually hoping it could make a medical difference. Let me tell you a little story...

As many of you know, I suffer from Crohn's Disease, as well as other annoying ailments like allergies, headaches, acne, etc., all of which tend to result in me ingesting a far greater quantity of medication than I'd like. And as I've made certain changes in my life -- becoming a vegetarian, trying to eat mostly organic foods, using only organic and natural cosmetics -- I've started to see all of these medications in a different light. Sure, some medications and treatments are absolutely necessary (I am NOT one of those people that won't vaccinate my kids, or refuses to pop an Advil to cure a headache), but I've noticed more and more lately that doctors try to treat the symptoms of illness, rather than doing the necessary exploration to find and treat the cause of the symptom. Not to give too much information here, but I went to the dermatologist the other day because I've got some chest and back acne that's bugging me. I clearly stated to the doctor that I really didn't care to be on acne medication for the rest of my life so I was hoping to figure out what was causing the acne and treat that. Of course, she nodded along like she agreed at first, but then she hurried me out of the office with three prescriptions for various pills, creams and lotions that she even admitted wouldn't cure me, but would keep things in a controlled state. How's that for exactly the opposite of what I asked for?

At the end of the day, this is a very long-winded way of saying that my distaste for doctors' attitudes and prescription-writing frenzies has further increased my desire to pursue alternate courses of treatment for some of these less-critical and more annoying conditions. And therefore, conveniently having acupuncture on my list, and even more conveniently meeting a friend at work that is undergoing acupuncture, made my decision to schedule my first appointment simple.

Let me start by saying that there's no reason to hide the fact that actually making the appointment and driving myself to the office scared the crap out of me (ok, I was scared during the evaluation, too, and stayed scared until she put the first needle in my foot...but I'll get to that in a minute). I think it would be an outright lie if anyone who has never had acupuncture tried to sit here and say the thought of someone sticking multiple needles into various body parts wasn't a bit unnerving (unless maybe you've gotten a tattoo in which case you apparently have no aversion to unnecessarily sticking yourself with needles...next time, try acupuncture instead, it's way less permanent).

My appointment at Ling's Acupuncture was for 12noon on Saturday (part of the appeal of this place is the Saturday hours!) and after arriving I was promptly ushered into a small room that looked very much like a typical doctor's office waiting room, except with slightly more soothing lighting. Dr. Wang came in shortly thereafter and asked me a series of medical questions -- why was I here? when did I feel pain? what helped the pain? how long did it last? -- after which she explained that acupuncture is designed to restore the balance in the body...something about qi, which is pronounced chee, but honestly she was talking so fast in somewhat broken English and I was still scared as heck, so I caught about 30% of what she was saying. I do remember that she stated that acupuncture can help increase blood flow in the body, or balance your yin and yang, which apparently represent heat and cold. By this point, I was just ready to get started and see what these needles felt like.

Dr. Wang had me lay on the table and she started wiping down certain areas of my body with an alcohol swab (feet, legs, belly, hands, forehead and scalp...and yes, when she went up to my forehead and scalp I got a little more scared). But then all of a sudden she was down by my feet and said "is that okay?" and I was like...is what okay? Wait, you just stuck a needle in me? I hadn't felt a darn thing. Le sigh. This wasn't going to hurt! Hallelujah! Dr. Wang continued sticking my feet and legs and I couldn't feel any of it. I got a little more nervous when she came up to my belly, but she told me to relax, that she'd be very gentle and she was right. There were a couple of needles that stung the slightest bit (one in my left hand, in particular), but for the most part, the experience was absolutely painless.

The best part comes next. Dr. Wang turned on a heat lamp and focused it on my midriff, put on soothing Chinese instrumental music and left me to relax for 25 minutes. Seriously guys, I think I was asleep 10 minutes in. I actually woke myself up with a loud snort, which is a bad sign that I was probably snoring. Regardless, I felt refreshed by the time Dr. Wang came back in to remove the needles and send me on my merry way.

Of course, one treatment isn't supposed to really accomplish much (just as going to the gym one time won't turn you into a body builder), so I'm scheduled to go back next weekend for treatment two. The likelihood of me being able to keep up with this in the long term is probably pretty slim as it's $75 a treatment, but I figure I'll give it a month and if it seems to have worked miracles, I may re-evaluate my finances to see if this can't be squeezed in. For now, I'm just glad that I faced another one of my fears and crossed another item off my list!

Til next time...

Two years to go and counting!

Another birthday has come and gone, and thanks in large part to my team at work, it was a great day! It always strikes me how quickly the years fly by, and in particular this year, I felt sort of reluctant and melancholy about celebrating and/or making a big deal out of my birthday. I'm not sure why this year of all years felt so strange, but perhaps it's partly due to the fact that I'm at the age where birthdays bring you closer to milestones that seem to have so much weight attached to them. I guess it's my own fault for setting unreasonable expectations for myself, but sometimes I think about all the things I was "supposed" to accomplish by now and then make myself totally and completely depressed by focusing on how I haven't achieved many of those things. I know, it's absolutely, totally stupid and that is the main reason why I am here writing this blog post right now -- to remind myself that it's not about the things you don't accomplish in life, but more about the effort you make to fill your days with fun activities, meaningful relationships, continuous challenges and lots of laughter.

When I look back on the last year (..and a few months, since I technically started my 30 Things prior to my 27th birthday), it's striking to remember all the fun and unusual things I've done. From swimming with dolphins to riding in a hot air balloon, to going pretend sky-diving, having my fortune read by a psychic and even facing a "fear" singing karaoke in front of complete strangers, it's been a wild ride!

And the excitement has just begun! With more than half of my "things" still yet to tackle, I'm looking forward to another year of facing fears, learning new things and maybe even making a fool of myself. Here's what's coming up...

- At the end of August, I am attending the Celebration VI Star Wars Convention dressed in full nerd regalia and I simply can't wait! I actually ordered a custom-made Princess Leia gown that's fashioned after her attire during the ceremonial scene at the end of Episode IV. It's going to be awesome.
- Also in August I'm planning to go for my first acupuncture treatment after receiving a referral from a friend at work. I'm totally nervous about the pain, but excited to see if it's worth all the hype!
- In September, it looks like I may be crossing off my "be in the audience of a TV show" item by attending a Price is Right show in Lakeland. It's not exactly the real thing since it's not a taping of the actual show that airs with Drew Carey, but it may very well be good enough!

Hopefully as the rest of the year winds down, more "things" will fall into place, but for now, I'm excited to tackle the line-up that's presently in store. Thanks to everyone who has stuck with me during the first year of my adventure. I appreciate all of the support!

#12: Visit the Mona Lisa & #11: Throw a Coin in the Trevi Fountain

It's hard to believe that I've been home from Europe for two months and I still haven't blogged about seeing the Mona Lisa or tossing a coin into the Trevi Fountain. In truth, I've been suffering from a tremendous bout of writer's block, and try as I might, I just couldn't think of an interesting or compelling way to position the "checking off" of these two items. Needless to say, I sort of feel that if I haven't been able to come up with a good story in the last eight weeks, it might never happen, and seeing as I have a few other "30 Things" on deck, I need to force myself to get this one on paper. So do excuse me if this post is particularly boring, short and/or overwhelmingly reliant on photographic evidence for proof that I did indeed accomplish what I say I did.

Let me begin by saying that I was sort of disappointed in my Paris experience and the fact that I was disappointed continues to disappoint me, and I think it might into perpetuity. I still can't quite put my finger on why I disliked the city as much as I did, but part of it could be blamed upon the fact that our trip started off on a bad foot. After arriving on the Eurostar decently exhausted, we had trouble getting onto the Metro (couldn't figure out how to buy tickets), were "accosted" in the train station by some creepy Parisians and then, try as we might, couldn't help but get thoroughly lost, no matter how closely we attempted to follow a map. Combine these early troubles with the general aloof nature of the French, our lack of language skills and our hotel situated off the beaten path, and our generally poor disposition begins to make more sense.

With this said, you shouldn't be surprised that our bad luck sort of followed us to The Louvre on our second day in the city. It started with a 45-minute hunt for our bus stop, which coincidentally wound up being about 2 blocks away from our hotel and continued with a somewhat harrowing journey where we were squished among a group of Parisian pre-schoolers heading out for a field trip whilst desperately trying to gauge just when we had arrived at our stop.

The great news is that we had a goal in mind, and achieve our mission we did (see how the thumbs up in the photo clearly showcases my happiness in making it to the Louvre in one piece?).

Thanks to my travel-savvy friends, I had been prepped in advance that Mona would be small, so thankfully, I wasn't too disappointed when I saw that, indeed, she is a lot tinier than one would expect. What disappointed me more was the fact that there was a rope around her, holding the crowds back at about 10 feet away (you can see me straining against it in the photo) AND the entire wall that the painting was on was covered in a sheet of plexi-glass. Art connoisseur, I claim not to be, however, I was hoping to at least pretend to be of the haughty-tauty variety and admire the brush strokes of the Mona Lisa from a foot or so away.  In this instance, my plot was foiled, so after Melissa and I spent a good 15 minutes taking pictures, we moved on to explore the rest of the massive museum.

TIME WARP to Rome, about a week later, and I am now sick with a cold that Melissa caught in Paris and so kindly decided to share with me :). Despite it all, I am in good spirits and attempting to relish every last second of vacation before the real world comes back into focus. The day that we were scheduled to view the Trevi Fountain was our last in Rome, so we had thrown in some more touristy sightseeing that afternoon as well, stopping by the Spanish Steps and Pantheon, as well as a famous gelato place where I got nutella flavored ice cream that was fantastic!

Interestingly, our map issues that we acquired in Paris continued to haunt us in Rome, so we certainly took the scenic route in getting to our destination, but once we arrived, we were floored with the Fountain's utter beauty and sheer size! If Mona was smaller than expected, Trevi was so much larger!

I can definitely say that pictures do not do this beautiful fountain justice, as the detail gets totally lost, but I can promise you that were I not being hounded by strange Romans trying to steal my camera and/or take my picture with their vintage one (which had I let them surely would have ended badly), I could have stayed and stared for hours. Unfortunately, in this circumstance, it was business as usual -- we were there to take photos and throw a couple coins and then be on our merry way.

Now I just have to hope that the legend is true and that I'll be returning to Rome someday (and perhaps with the husband I wished for, hehe! Oops, maybe I'm not supposed to share that...).

All in all, despite my quacking, my trip to  Europe was most definitely a fantastic experience and I'm so thankful that I was able to go and see all the sights I saw. I've learned a lot about the way I like to travel and certainly hope to do a lot more of it in the future, which begs the question...where to next?!?

#25: Visit the Guards at Buckingham Palace

Ever since I was a little kid, I have been enamored by England. Although I don't 100% know why, I vividly recall practicing my English accent on my Home Alone-style tape recorder, trying to befriend kids at school that were UK transplants and watching any film that took place in England or starred English actors (Sense & Sensibility was a favorite). I think part of me wanted to BE English, since it always seemed like a much more exciting culture, and even to this day I would LOVE to have an international work assignment in the UK. It should come as no surprise then that the first destination that Melissa (my travel buddy and best friend from college) and I selected for our big European vacation was none other than London. And naturally, the number one thing we wanted to do and see in this fantastic city was pose with the "I can't show any emotion that would distract me from my post" Guards in front of Buckingham Palace (I've seen so many fun photos of friends' from the past and couldn't resist adding one to my personal collection).

If you know me at all in real life, it should also come as no surprise that Melissa and I had this vacation planned to a T. We researched everything and anything that it was possible to do research on. TripAdvisor was our best friend, as were real life friends that had lived in each destination we planned to visit. We read Frommer's, Rick Steves and Fodor's. By the time we left for the trip we had built a 7 page itinerary that listed every activity we were planning to do. It even outlined exactly when we'd have "down time" or time to "be spontaneous" (yes, I have been told this level of planning is insane, but hey it usually gets the job done!). Naturally it all came back to bite me in the butt in the end -- clearly someone from above was trying to teach me that life isn't all about schedules, itineraries and plans -- but we will get to that shortly.

Although I don't want to spend a ton of time rehashing our stay in London, I will tell you that we LOVED it. We were staying in the St. Ermin's Hotel, which was centrally located right outside the St. James's Park Tube station and within walking distance of Westminster Abbey and Big Ben/Parliament. In our first four days we took trips to Stonehenge, Windsor and Bath, did tours of Westminster Abbey & St. Paul's Cathedral, went to the Tower of London, had traditional afternoon tea at a fancy hotel and squeezed in time for shopping at Harrod's and on Oxford Street. We also went to an English pub, ate fish & chips, walked through Trafalgar Square and visited the Victoria & Albert museum (which unfortunately, was our least favorite activity of the trip). All this to say our schedule was packed and we were looking forward to capping off our last day in the city with a royal viewing of the changing of the Guards.

Of course, this is where, despite all my planning and scheduling and researching, our plot was foiled. That morning, as we were asking our Concierge for directions, he sadly informed us that the changing of the Guards would not be happening that morning,. Of course it happened the morning before, and would happen the morning afternoon, but this particular morning? No dice. My heart sank! We were leaving for Paris early the next day, so it meant I had totally and completely missed my opportunity to see this piece of traditional London. I couldn't believe that somehow I had made such a fatal mistake, particularly knowing that this was one of the key items on my 30 things list and that I thought I had much such an ironclad itinerary (I should have spoken to the folks that built Titanic, clearly).

Despite the disappointment, we headed toward the castle anyway, figuring that we'd make the best of things. We wound up taking lots of pretty pictures in front of the castle (including a close up of the balcony where Will & Kate kissed!) and then started walking down a long dirt path back toward the center of the city.

Alas, about a half mile down we saw a crowd of people standing around what looked like a small garage entry, and then moments later, noticed that there were two Guards standing nearby guarding the gates! Hallelujah! This was no Buckingham Palace, but the red jackets, black boots, bayonets and tall black fuzzy hats were in tact, just waiting for us (sorry but you'll have to tilt your head to watch the video as I can't figure out how to flip it!).

Hurrying, we crossed the street and strategically placed ourselves in a position primed for photo/video-taking (you see these Guards actually marched up and down a roped off area, so you had to be ready at any moment to catch them at a good angle). Interestingly, each of the two guards appeared to be about 18 years old. I don't know why I expected them to be older men, but perhaps they have to start here at the servants entry before they get promoted to the front of the castle! We wound up standing in the same spot for a good 20 minutes until we were able to snap the perfect shot: As Melissa says, he had a little captain in him! :) (P-S: Does anyone else think those chin straps look INCREDIBLY uncomfortable??)

After we had our fix, we continued down the path feeling much more satisfied and ready to finish our final day. When we did depart, we felt sad to leave London behind, but glad to have experienced so much in a short period of time. And although there are still many things I'd like to see and do, I chalk it up as an excuse to come back one day...and one day soon!

Coming soon in a few days...meeting Mona!! Til then...