Mum's the word.

Today is Mother's Day in the UK. Which is weird, because it's not till May in the States. But, oh well. 

Happy Mother's Day, mom mum! 

  

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We spent the afternoon at a pub in Twickenham, watching rugby and laughing at the banter between the Ireland and England fans sitting behind us. The luck of the Irish wasn't with the boys in green (they lost 9-30), but by the end of the night, Hannah and I had scored some foam fingers and a Guinness hat. So it was a win for us.

(Wales v. France. Wales won it all.)

This is how I spent most of the match. Rugby is confusing.

Happy St. Patrick's Day, friends!

 

"Not available in this area."

Eight little words just completely broke my heart: "March Madness is not available in this area."

I love college basketball, so I'm especially fond of March. There's always a game on, and it only gets more exciting as the month rolls on. This year, I've got high hopes for Baylor. The women are still undefeated, and got a 1 seed, while the men are seeded at 3 -- the highest they've ever had. 

So I was thrilled to find out that just $3.99 could get me online access to the tournament. That's like one cup of coffee (I tend to think of prices in terms of coffee...), and since I wouldn't be able to watch it otherwise, I figured it was well worth it. I got all excited. Then, this happened:

Heartbreaking.

I just sat and stared at the screen for a few minutes because I didn't know how to react. 

But that's not the first time it's happened. No, I've seen that message many times since I moved here. For example:

And on and on and on...

I never considered regions when it came to online content. I guess I just assumed that if it was on the Internet, it could be accessed by anyone, anywhere. But I was wrong. 

What a sad, sad realization.

Look, y'all!

(Burnt orange. Gross.)

Saw this in the lift today. The university is holding a real live Texas hoe down! If only I'd seen it earlier. I'd have loved to have seen what that looks like to people from England...

Also, there were some girls in the lift when I took that picture. I had to ask them to move out of the shot, and they looked at me like I was craaaazy. Oh well.

Wednesday randoms.

And here we are. Wednesday again. And mid-March, too! Time flies, doesn't it?

Something you've got to know if you ever spend time here is the letter "x". Why? Because it's a kiss, and people use it alllllll the time. I was familiar with "xoxo," but even then, it's not that common to see at home. Here, it's pretty much included in every message. Text, email, Facebook post...it doesn't matter. For example: "See you tomorrow!xx" There's just so much love going around over here!

Okay, real talk. Deodorant. We all wear it. (I hope...) But I, like most Americans (I assume), am most familiar with the solid kind that twists up from the bottom. And when I say "most familiar," I mean, that's all I've ever used. So imagine my surprise when I went to buy some and saw this:

My choices are limited to the few hiding in the bottom corner...

Yes, spray deodorant is the norm here. Weird.

My friend Kathy was in the country this week doing touristy stuff, so we grabbed dinner the other night. We met at Baylor my freshman year, when she walked up and said, "I see you everywhere. Hi, I'm Kathy." So it was great that the whole seeing each other everywhere also applies when we're living on different continents. It was so good to get to spend time with someone from home. Oh, and another thing about Kathy: she meets celebrities everywhere she goes. And London was no exception. I've lived here for seven months, and haven't seen a single famous person (not that I'm aware of, anyway). She was in the country for like three days, and she somehow managed to meet and get a picture with Zach Braff. How??

It's March Madness time! So exciting! Baylor women are #1 in the nation (undefeated, still!), and the men got a pretty decent seed. I'm pumped! And, yes, I'm definitely forking over the $3.99 to get all the games on demand online. Can't even wait.

Also, a quick shout out to my incredible mom, whose birthday was Monday! She's the best. And to Kim as well, who's 24 today. Happy mid-twenties, soul friend! You don't look a day over 23. 

 

One banana banana bread.

Sometimes, you forget you bought bananas. And the next thing you know, they're brown and squishy and headed for the trash can. But stop! Don't throw them away! You have a great opportunity here. 

You know that saying, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade"? Well I say when life gives you overripe bananas, you should totally make banana bread. 

Most banana bread recipes require several bananas. That's always a problem for me, because I tend to eat most of my bananas before they get too ripe. And that's why I love this recipe. You only need one banana. 

Let's do this.

One banana banana bread

Ingredients:

Large very ripe banana

egg with enough milk to make one cup liquid

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cup flour

1 cup sugar

1 tsp baking soda

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in one large bowl. No need to sift or anything like that! Super easy. Mix until the lumps are mostly gone (if you use a hand mixer, use the medium setting -- if you over mix, the bread won't be soft and fluffy).

Grease bread pan (I used a muffin tin) and fill pan (or tins) 2/3 full. 

 

Bake for 50 minutes (or 10-15 minutes for muffins) at 350 F (175 C). It's done when it's golden brown and passes the toothpick test. 

Springing forward.

I'm 50-50 on this whole Daylight Savings thing. I mean, I love it in the fall. An extra hour of sleep? Um yes, please! But in the spring? Not so much. Something about springing forward makes me kind of grumpy. Sure, it gives you more daylight in the evenings, which I honestly do appreciate. And, really, what is one hour lost, anyway? But even though I'm fully aware that my distaste is irrational, I can't help it.

Lucky for me, I get to put it off for an extra week. Why? Well apparently, the UK has it's own Daylight Savings day -- and it's a week later than in the States. I'm not sure if there's some logical, geographical explanation for this. All I know is, I don't have to lose my hour till next week.

Which is great, since I have another presentation this week, so I need all the hours I can get.