House hunting, rabbit fur and pub grub

Our week flew, quite successfully, too! Claire had a great first five days at ASL and is hoping to add an after school activity to her schedule. Ava and I found the right school for her; she will start Monday as a pre-reception student at a lovely little school housed in an old mansion.

The building has a ton of character but more importantly is full of children's art, fun decor (a huge stuffed bear, stuffed centipede, stuffed snake, etc.) and warm, friendly people. Ava had a ball touring it, asking tons of questions and having a lovely conversation with our tour guide. She's VERY excited to go to school and will be there all day five days a week. They break in two weeks and resume late April, getting out in July. Downside is schedule doesn't match Claire's, but one can't hope for perfection in moving and settling into the right school environments (this one is within minutes of Claire's school, drop off and pick up schedules jive and both places seem to fit w/ the kids' personalities). So I'm a happy camper!

Ava and I then spent some time getting parts and pieces of a uniform pulled together to get her started. Three days a week she'll wear a bright red track suit, she has a red swim suit for Tuesday swim class, and other days she'll wear a smart gray blazer, red cardigan and checked kilt. Quite cute and will no doubt curb all early morning dress-related arguments!

For some basics - white turtlenecks, socks, tights - we shopped on High Street in St. John's Wood yesterday. It's a lovely street lined with high end shops and cafes...and a Gap Kids. So we scored a couple of items, continued seeking others but were waylaid by a going-out-of-business sale at a lovely boutique.

One has a responsibility to check out such sales, naturally...I've been in search of a discount winter coat (can you tell I've been cold since stepping off the plane).

Unfortunately everything I've seen -- live or on line -- either would fit a very petite woman or someone considerably larger. Lovely prices, though.

So I asked the sales lady at this boutique if they had any coats and low and behold, she pulled out 2 rabbit fur garments. Absolutely beautiful, soft, warm, luscious. And so not on my radar.

BUT one of them fit and enveloped me, convincing me that it really needed to be mine.

Well actually the price really helped convince me -- DIRT CHEAP (1/5 of original price). So yes, hello PETA I am a target. I told Joe to steer clear of me if he sees someone shaking a can of spray paint. (Disclaimer here: I'm not generally the fur type but rabbits do proliferate quickly and heavily, so I guess a few sacrificed in the name of luxurious warmth doesn't really stick in my conscience. Bear in mind I am a ranch girl; I believe in supporting the rabbit farmer.)

After that little shopping spontaneity we continued on our quest for basic black shoes for little A, swung back over to meet a delightful mom/ballet teacher/uniform queen at Abercorn (Ava's school)for other parts and pieces to tide her over until I make it to the uniform store.

Ava has been modeling the summer hat, a wide brimmed red one -- so sweet and cute.

She's pleased as punch to tell everyone she's four and we'll celebrate all day today (minor celebration on her birthday as we couldn't all be together all day). We'll also look at 4 properties, which rose to the top in my house hunting adventures earlier this week. We'll then see where we net out with the home search. We could do the urban flat experience -- loved one near the school -- or the more traditional house route. I did view a few of the latter that "fit" our family size and needs a bit better (some we saw last week were huge -- what's the point when our focus is living like we're leaving?!?).

Last night Joe and I had a date; we went to a traditional London pub not too far away, great old building with colorful interior, humming with a variety of people -- men in pony tails sporting heavy tattoos and earrings, people dressed in business clothes, others in heavy sweaters with cool, crisp 'do's (love love love the styling hair here -- breath of fresh air from all that long black hair in India -- which is nice but let's face it, variety is a good thing). (While there, I was asked several times -- in puzzlement -- if all American women had short hair. And if all American women traveled without their husbands.)

Anyway, we enjoyed a glass of wine in the pub (I know I know beer really is the right drink for this environment but red wine sounded warm -- I'm a bit hung up on the warmth thing, aren't I?), then moved upstairs to the dining room, less colorful but elegant and comfortable, for dinner. I had chicken pot pie (so English, don't you think?) and Joe had haddock/salmon cakes. Cooked carrots on the side. Good, warm and inexpensive (I probably won't say that terribly often here).