Magical Mystery Tour

This is for you Cindy.... :)

I have loved the Beatles since I was in high school, and have always wanted to go to Liverpool where they're from. So last week when I got a 2 day layover in Manchester was the perfect opportunity. I even took a tour bus, which I never do. Here are a few pics:

A John Lennon impersonator at the Cavern, where the Beatles used to play when they first started out




The street where Ringo Starr lived the first 2 years of his life. I swear we're related, I just haven't figured out how yet. :)



Albert Dock

Capitalism, A Love Story

I saw Capitalism, A Love Story this weekend. There were a lot of things in the film that were shocking and depressing about unfettered capitalism. It made me outraged on so many levels, to see so much corruption and such an inherently harmful system in so many ways. Sometimes it seems like there is so much bad in the world it just seems impossible to make any sort of difference. But rather than spiraling down into a cycle of despair, cynicism and apathy, it seems better to do the few things I can do. First is just being the kind of ethical person I want to be and trying to make the world a better place in my immediate circle. Sometimes I wish I had money to throw at problems, but I definitely don't have that. So the next best thing I think is to support businesses who are ethical, which is difficult since so many seem to have shady practices, but at least I can try...so here are a few links I found that may be helpful...

Companies that bought life insurance policies on their employees (dead peasants insurance program). There are so many companies here it is probably difficult to avoid all of these, but I can try, and this does renew my determination not to shop at Wal-Mart.

Ethical companies of 2009. A good list of good companies, though a report from the WSJ does warn that this list has some conflicts of interest. Though so does the WSJ...

Does anyone else know of other good, ethical companies, that are not listed here? Or horrible ones to avoid? I'd love to hear about them.

Fall

Ugh. It's now officially not summer anymore and I'm back to being on call. I just spent five whole days in New York, which hasn't happened for about 6 months. But if I'm willing to work weekends, I may actually work this winter. Birmingham tonight, hopefully I have a good crew! Going to attempt to blog more...here are a few pics of my most recent trips.

The lake in Hamburg


Paris, obviously.


A photo from an amazing outdoor photography exhibit I found in Paris while walking along the Seine.

Hong Kong

I was somehow lucky enough to get a Hong Kong trip this month. I thought the flight would be horrible, but it actually wasn't bad at all and Hong Kong itself is awesome!

Here is a view of the city at night during the laser show:




Me at Victoria Peak:



Very authentic and delicious food:


Summer has gone so fast! This month I have been to Paris, Berlin, Dublin, Hong Kong, and I go to Rome tomorrow. I may be on call next month :( but at least I'm going out with a bang!

Kauai

I went to Kauai a couple of weeks ago with my cousins Jessica and Allina. We had an amazing time. A few pictures:

Jones Beach-July 4, 2009

Copenhagen layover

the end of winter and the beginning of spring

Last weekend I was in Utah for my nephew Will's first birthday.





I love getting lost in Central Park. Today I was so tired of sitting in my apartment on call so I went for a walk in the park.

If you have a little time...

When I work at the boutique in Soho, I have a lot of down time. This is what has stood out to me today. Seriously, click on any of these links-at least the sleep walking dog. You won't be sorry. 

Bizkit the sleep walking dog

So do you still want to date a banker?

The Daily Show

I'm just NOT into this movie

I went to see "He's just not into you" last Friday. And I Hated it. That's right, hate, with a capital H. The two people I went to see it hated it too, though we are all in different relationship situations-single and dating, deep into a relationship that is breaking up, to married with a child. I couldn't figure out why I hated it so much. I think it's because I couldn't decide whether I bought into the premise or not. (plus there was the bad acting, too many sub-plots, etc, but that's not really the point of this post) I found this review about it online that I liked a lot. (fyi, there are some words that might offend some)

http://www.pajiba.com/hes-just-not-that-into-you-review.htm

What I finally got to thinking is that unless you do really psycho desperate stuff (some of which the girls in the movie did, and some people do in real life), I don't think it really matters what we do or don't do. If two people like each other, it works. If that "thing" is there, it's there, if not then it isn't. i don't like the way the book makes it seem like there are such exact rules. There may be for some people, but i don't really think all guys we are dealing with are that traditional. I'm so tired of analyzing texts and phone calls and phrases that people say in passing. There is a chance I may be delusional, but I really think for the modern world, in which many of us are attempting to not let traditions of the past unecessarily hold us captive, it's impossible to simplify things that much. I am going to stop thinking in such terms as "the girl does this" and "the guy does this," and try to attempt to relate to guys as if we are both people. Crazy? Maybe. I'll let you know...

Rainy Paris