Away we Go!

We arrived in London after a wonderful, fun flight with Virgin Atlantic. 

Smell ya later USA!

Ready to fly Antz?

Wait, shouldn't this say first class?

Liv was so happy to wear her Michael Jackson top *an early birthday gift from her Ninos*

No one would suspect these happy shoes to be naughty

Yay! Time for $5 airport bottled water

That is quite the nose on you airplane

Where are you guys headed?

Is it time to go yet??

Elsa declares it was Princess boarding time

Here's an important travel tip for your next flight. ALWAYS bring a gift for the flight attendants. I gave ours some fancy chocolates and they were stoked! Guess who was showered with extra in-flight goodies and given special treatment?

These guys!

And Olivia was incredible during the whole flight. She happily chewed her bubble gum *from her Godmommy Aimee* and she wasn't scared during take off at all. Meanwhile, I had a tad bit of airline anxiety.

Nothing drinks won't fix, Thanks Johanna!!

Goodbye Malibu!

Liv really enjoyed reading her new Frozen book. She kept herself occupied for most of the flight

Harry & Wills chose the beef stew for dinner

When you order lemonade in the UK, you're getting a Sprite in disguise

I normally loathe airplane food but Virgin really steps up their service

Time for a Plane Pony Party!

Who's ready for Europe??!! HELL YEAH!

Sleepy Panda

Woke up just in time to say Hello to Björk's hometown!

Wow! Glasgow

All the flight attendants loved this kid

Thanks for getting us there safe and sound!

We took the Heathrow Express train to Paddington Station. I highly recommend spending the extra $10 for a less stressful and faster option for getting into London.

The train wasn't crowded at all and we were able to put our luggage on a rack. We zipped into Central London in fifteen minutes.

This was my first time in a London train station, so I was in awe of everything

Paddington Station was so charming, I wanted to stay there for hours taking more photos but we had to rush to pick up our car rental. Holy shit, driving on the left in London was CRAZY!! It really takes some getting used to driving on the left side of the street and I only drove on the wrong side of the street once. A lovely group of guys outside of a pub yelled "WRONG WAY!" just before traffic killed us.

All our bags are packed

The husband finished packing last night. Everyone seems to think I'm over packing but even Antz couldn't fit all his clothes and toiletries in his tiny carry-on. We were just about to buy this bag from Flight 001 *one of these days I hope to buy this guy* for him when he remembered I won a nice Samonite duffle bag at my old company at a Christmas raffle. At the time I won this bag, I was disappointed I didn't win the ipod but boy am I happy we have it.

There's a separate compartment on the bottom and it has wheels

I found this luggage tag at Target

I bought the voltage converter so I will be able to use my flat iron *I am praying it won't break* and Antz made some snazzy luggage tags for me.

He is so minimalist

Herschel Supply Co Heritage Backpack
Homemade luggage tags *He designed them, printed them and I took them to Staples to get laminated, only cost $1.50 for 4!*
Apple iPhone
Apple Earbuds
Antz passport
Nikon D3000 SLR Camera
Gum *Olivia is super excited because she is allowed to chew gum during our flight so her ears don't hurt*
Eyeglasses
Apple iPad
Ghirardelli chocolate *I bought some as a gift/bribe for the flight attendants*
Aveeno Baby Daily Moisture Lotion *sometimes baby products work best for adults*

I picked up our foreign currency at the bank so now I'm ready to make it rain in the shops!!

Lizzie & Elizabeth

I hope my talisman keep us safe, I love mythical superstition!

Alt Summit Design Camp

As I mentioned, yesterday was insane. I woke up at 7am and did not stop until 7pm! I scheduled too much but I'm so glad I did everything I needed to. I really did not want to spend our vacation complaining to Antz about how I don't know how to use my Nikon DSLR camera. I started researching photography classes because none of the YouTube videos I've watched were helping. I was looking for a hand-on experience where someone can tell me what I'm doing wrong *because really it's either the equipment I'm using or it's me!* Turns out Alt Summit announced a photography class taking place in Los Angeles. I was torn about signing up, I knew it was on Olivia's last day of school so I would have to find a babysitter and I still had a long to-do list for our trip to complete. I didn't want to take on too much. I decided, Liv can just stay late at school and I had to take this class so I would get the best results from my camera and end my frustration. I did a lot of hustling and the drive to and from Venice was stressful but I made it to everything on time and didn't get any speeding tickets. I really enjoyed the class. It was taught by 20 year photographer, Tracey Clark and everything she said made perfect sense. She looked at my camera and determined it was my lens that was the problem and showed me the settings that would give me the best photo results. I learned about finding the natural light, depth of field and composition. This really has improved my photo shooting. I was happy to see my friend I met at the last cake club, Ellen was there too. I met so many wonderful bloggers and fellow amateur photographers. The venue was really cool. It was held at the Microsoft Experience loft on Abbot Kinney. Please forgive me, I was so busy chatting and snapping photos of these gorgeous florals, I didn't take any proper photos of the amazing loft. I hope you can get a sense for how great the space was. The natural light coming from the skylights made it the perfect place to shoot. I was even able to drop by my favorite stationery shop, Urbanic. I am so happy I took the chance with this class. I can't wait to apply my new techniques and tricks during our trip. This only confirms that I must go to alt summit in Salt Lake City!!

Bing, you have won me over with your vibrant florals

My favorite wine, Blanc de Blancs by Sofia Coppola

Tracey was a great instructor. I liked her philosophy that the equipment doesn't have to be expensive to get the best results. She showed us how to use our iphone camera to take better photos. It's all about finding the light.

You can almost see the incredible skylights in this photo

I had to grab that tiny Eiffel Tower. It was made with the Microsoft 3-D printer!

We received these mini collapsible light reflectors as a gift from Bing

 

I can't wait to try my reflector out on Liv

I can't believe I  took this with my Nikon J1!!

Thank you so much Tracey, it was a pleasure meeting you!

So happy to see Ellen again! Thanks for the tips for Amsterdam

I headed outside with a new set of eyes and skills

I could spend hours in this shop

So I may have purchased something for Olivia's 4th birthday *it's ten days away!!*

#thanksbing