Let’s live it up like it’s our last, because there’s no room for “I wish I had’s”. It’s time to live until tomorrow ends. Don’t need to rest- we’ll sleep when we’re dead.

Saturday night the Americans hosted a big Halloween bash at Kristen’s flat in order to show the Europeans how we celebrate Halloween in the States.  Halloween is not a very big holiday here.  It’s acknowledged, but no one really makes a huge deal out of it.  The Halloween section in grocery stores occupies about 1/4 of an aisle and then is taken over by Christmas decorations.  In fact, tomorrow night is the lighting of the Oxford Street lights.  Tomorrow is November 1, people.

Despite the European attitude towards Halloween, the party was a huge success and we all had a great time.  Today, I’m going as “girl who doesn’t own an iron” because I’m wearing the world’s most wrinkled shirt…

Happy Halloween from my crew to yours…

 

Life ain’t always beautiful, but it’s a beautiful ride.

Our life as part of the Hollywood scene continued tonight with a trip to The Graham Norton Show.  Graham is HUGE here in the UK and tickets to his show are extremely hard to come by, but with a little bit of luck and a lot of the audience controller’s addiction to Tom, we managed to score tickets.  Graham Norton is an exceptionally quick-witted comedian who has very high caliber guests on every show.  Our most notable guests for tonight included [the adorable] James McAvoy and the Arctic Monkeys.

A few days ago one of the producers e-mailed me and asked if I had any Santa photos to share with the production team so that they may be used on air.  Obviously I hopped on board.  My mom sent me this picture:

(Cindy Farley I KNOW you will have something to say about this, so just go ahead and say it.)

My photo was chosen to be used on the show, which meant that extra care was paid to us when we arrived at the studio.  We were given purple wristbands, led to the front of the queue and had reserved seats.  And when I say reserved, I mean my seat had a sign on it that said “Reserved: Sarah Dudley”. It’s the little things, really.

When it came time for the segment, Graham said, “Now, where’s Sarah?  I love this picture because I have to see what you look like now.”  His response was a bit of disbelief and he said the only thing similar was maybe my mouth, to which I promptly replied, “Oh, great!”,  because I mean really, look at my face.  I look like Heath Ledger as the Joker in Batman.  Although, I do love how politely I’ve folded my hands in my lap.  And I got an “awww” from James McAvoy so I’m totally okay with sharing this picture with the world.  Even now, I’m looking at it and laughing.  They filmed about two hours of footage for a 45-minute show, so here’s hoping I’ll make the cut.

The Graham Norton Show airs on Saturday nights in the States on BBC America, so if you’ve got the ability to do so, check it out!

 

If you’re here, it means you have successfully managed to find my blog’s new (and hopefully improved) home.  Congratulations.  As per a few requests, I’ve taken the time to transfer my Tumblr posts to this blog so now everything is in one place.  There is a small very part of me that has (self-diagnosed) OCD and I’m a bit frazzled by the fact that the pictures aren’t as nicely formatted as tumblr, but I cannot be asked to sort it, so I’m going to attempt to deal.

From now on, anything related to my adventures in London will happen here.

Happy reading.

Do more than just exist

It’s been a Hollywood sort of week and the adventures show no sign of stopping.  Thursday brought George Clooney into my life, Friday I was on television more times than ever before, Sunday was the NFL and this Thursday we head to another television show taping.

Every year Wembley Stadium hosts the NFL International Series, so two NFL teams play one game in London.  Tom’s dad got him two tickets as a going away present (his favourite team is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers) and Jordan’s mom surprised her with two tickets (she’s from Tampa).  Our seats were in different sections (Kathryn and Jordan sat together and Tom and I sat together) but we kept up with one another via text.

Tom and I had seats in the “Wembley Club”.  That gave us a few extra perks, but we’re still unsure as to what they were.  Better seats and fancier restaurants, we think.  Either way, we sounded awesome.

I have to admit, I am NOT a fan of American football.  I don’t understand the game and I’m certain I lose hundreds of brain cells watching grown men throw themselves at each other.  However, I had a great time.  Perhaps because we were seated around some real gems so the people watching was endless.

I won’t bore you with the minor details, but some highlights to keep you on the edge of your seat:

1. There was a squirrel on the field

2. They keep the stadium immaculate.  The guy across from us spilled his beer and in less than one minute, there was a mop on hand.  Impressive.

3. We had a streaker.  It was awesome.  He ran onto the field and promptly stripped from the waist up.  He managed to run around collecting high fives from the players for a good two minutes before anyone from security made a move.  He dodged two guards and the entire crowd cheered him on as he headed for the end zone, where he was tackled to the ground.

4. Perhaps the most important highlight of the night was the fact that THE GOO GOO DOLLS WERE THE PRE-GAME SHOW.  I don’t know how many of you know this, but I have an astounding love for them.  It’s not Clooney big, but it’s big.  That unexpected surprise was enough to make sitting through the whole game worth it.

Everybody dies, but not everybody lives.

It’s been a Hollywood sort of weekend and I’m totally okay with that.  Last night, Kathryn, Tom, Jordan and I went to BBC Studios in Shepherds Bush to see the taping of a new show called “Trust Us With Your Life”.  It was created by the same guys who created “Whose Line is it Anyway?” so the premise was very similar.

Each week, a celebrity guest appears on the show and recounts various stages of his or her life to the host, Fred Willard.  After each story, the four comedians present must reenact the events using their improvisation skills.

Our celebrity guest for the night was Jerry Springer and the comedians were Wayne Bradey, Colin Mochrey, Brad Sherwood (all of “Whose Line” fame) and Jonathan…Something or other.  Hilarity ensued.

Because the show is airing in America (we all had to pretend that we were in a studio in Los Angeles), we got special treatment for being Americans.  We got priority seating and my friend Kathryn got picked to go on stage and participant in a skit called “sound effects”.  Do yourself a favor and go to youtube and search “whose line sound effects”.  You won’t be disappointed.  I have never laughed so hard in my life.  It’s way funnier when someone you know participates.

It is your duty to find something beautiful in life.

You have to do stuff that average people don’t understand because those are the only good things.

Fanny-pack wearers of the world unite.

Last night was roller disco…minus the actual roller disco part.  We got all dolled up (I in my neon purple tights, Bayside Tigers t-shirt, and jean jacket) to head to South London for a night of roller skating and 80’s fun.  That was until we got to the venue and found out the wait to get inside was one hour.  And then another hour-long wait inside before we could even get onto the rink.  So, needless to say, we spent about two hours travelling around London looking like we had just escaped Doctor Brown’s time machine (Back to the Future reference, anyone?)  and had no roller disco bumps and bruises to show for it.

Friday night we didn’t manage to travel back in time, but we did manage to head back to the States for a bit.  We went to Roadhouse, an American-style diner/club/bar.  It was AWESOME.  We managed to meet an entire (semi-professional) men’s football team, who was eager to show three American girls a great time.

We spent most of the night saying random words for them, as they like the way they sounded in our accents.  After the novelty of that wore off, Jordan headed home and Kathryn and I hit the dance floor.  We ditched our plan to catch the tube home (basically, at midnight, the tube turns into a pumpkin and is no longer a method of transportation.  Quite an early time to head home on the weekend.) and stayed until 1 am.  Several times throughout the night, Kathryn and I were two girls surrounded by 15 (quite attractive) British football players.  I could do nothing but laugh and give her the “I can’t believe this our life right now” stare.

It’s moments like this that remind me why I love this city.

Look at you. You’re young and you’re scared. Why are you scared? Stop being paralyzed. Stop caring what other people think. Wear what you want. Say what you want. Go out for a drive at midnight and forget everything. Stop waiting for Friday. Live now. Do it now. Take risks. This life is yours.

First day of work was a success.  It’s lovely to be sitting on the tube amidst all of the other commuters in business suits, while I head to work wearing something fashionable and completely awesome.

I spent all of today helping Karlie (Jago’s lone PR representative) wrap up all of the press information for fashion week, which ended about a week or so ago.  There was LOADS of it and I’m certain even that is an understatement.  Despite the tediousness of it all, I loved every second of it.  Just having every Vogue editor’s contact details in one place is enough to make any spreadsheet exciting.

I arrived at 10am, fully expecting to stay until 7pm with everyone else on the team.  That is, until my left contact popped out at 5 and I worked from 5 until 5:30 with half my eyesight.  That’s when the spreadsheets became less exciting and I asked if anyone minded if I left a little early so I could attend to the problem.  Luckily Karlie was going to let me leave anyway because they didn’t have an extra computer for me to use and the rest of the work could only be done by laptop.

Speaking of technology, it’s 1984 again in England.  My internet has been down since Sunday and there is a blackberry outage so I can’t use my phone.  I thought I was supposed to like this country better than my own…?!

The most highly requested photo…

Even the men in London know how to be fabulous…