Courtney Goes to London

Our writer bemoans her work ethic when it comes to blogs.

noreply@blogger.com (courtney) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:52:00 +0000

Well ok I have obviously stopped blogging. What can I say, I suck.

Anyway, what is going on now?

Job: working at the BBC as a Genre Head for Future Media & Technology. I work at the BBC...crazy!

Home: moved to Hammersmith (Brackenbury Village doncha know) - back in West London and a 15 minute commute from work. And we have a garden...nice.

Status: Tom and I got married in June in London!

Tom's Job: Tom quit PwC and started his own partnership!

Kitten: we got a cute little chocolate british shorthair cat named Lulu

wedding pic -

kitteh pic -

A loss must be discussed

noreply@blogger.com (courtney) — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 09:52:00 +0000

Right, so the Steam Rollers lost.

Oh well.

It was a VERY physical game, and it just felt like a blur of hits and fastness and reaction. It was our first game as a team, and I think it showed. The Suffra Jets have had more time skating together, not to mention a lot of them had been on teams together before, so they worked better as a unit. We’ll get there though. For the first and second period we were up to 40 points behind, but by the third period it started to come together. We clawed back slowly to a 14 point deficit, but unfortunately just ran out of time. We have plans for the future though. As Slice says, the backup plan is always world domination.

Next game is against the Ultraviolent Femmes, with the winner going to the championship against the Suffra Jets again.

And meanwhile we have a month off derby. Unbelievable….a whole month!! I am kicking it off by going away to Zurich for the weekend – a little surprise trip that Tom booked. Very excited as its another country to add to my list, and the city will be full of Christmas markets and snow!

Bout Footage:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=y9GIyvW6Xno (I am in dark red top with white knee caps)

A Glorious Tale of Steam Machines

noreply@blogger.com (courtney) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 10:50:00 +0000

In February I will have been playing roller derby for 3 years. That's a pretty long time. And yet, this Saturday is going to be the VERY FIRST time I am ever going to play a game with my own permanent league team! Why is that? It has a lot to do with my moves and my leagues.

When we started ACDG we just didnt have enough girls for league teams, so for a long time we just played black vs white or whatever. And then just when we split into teams and I became a Berzerker I ended up moving to London. I never did get to play a game with my Berzerker crew.

And then in London we had a whole expo season of Pink vs Black. Now FINALLY I have a league team! I am a STEAM ROLLER - and this Saturday sees the debut of the team I am co-captain of!

It's gonna be a tough game. We are up against the mighty Suffra Jets - a team that has half of their roster on the LRG travel team, and who on paper have a pretty powerful set of lineups. They have already played one game this season, and they beat the Ultraviolent Femmes pretty solidly. We figure this is a must win game for our team in order to make sure we get into the finals, so its gonna be a hard one.

Oh, and half our team is injured or ill. :)

But we are going to look damn cool.

Steam Rollers - the steam punkin bad-ass rollergirls of the LRG.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk

http://www.londonrollergirls.com/zero/teams/steam-rollers

The subject experiences a slight change of location

noreply@blogger.com (courtney) — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 17:04:00 +0000

Oh yes, I forgot to mention it, but I moved! Now that I am an engaged woman, it was time to play house properly with Tom. I really did love the flat in Notting Hill and the great flatmates, but it was just getting way too cramped. Basically it got to the point where if all our laundry was clean, there was nowhere to put it.

So one day we took a little trip up to Hampstead village and said “wow, let’s live here!”

Then we had a reality check on the prices/availability and decided to walk down the hill a bit and see where it led us.

It led us right to Belsize Park. So that’s where we are now. Around the corner from the shops and café’s of England’s Lane, down the hill from the Belsize Park tube, close enough to Chalk Farm and Camden, and a short jaunt to Primrose Hill and Hampstead Heath.

It’s great to finally have space! We live in one of the “…modern developments from the 60s and 70s with underground parking and spacious spacious layouts…” quoted here.

We have been exploring the leafy neighborhoods and checking out the pubs for our new local. It’s great! And now I have two sets of furniture (one US, one UK) cause the flat was unfurnished and we had to buy everything.

Pic: view of central London from Primrose Hill park

A new map of London is presented

noreply@blogger.com (courtney) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 17:02:00 +0000

HA!

A woeful lack of updates are shared

noreply@blogger.com (courtney) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 10:09:00 +0000

Just been sooo busy. No time to update the old blog. Had a crazy summer of work, and in desperate need of a holiday I ran off to Rollercon 2008 in Vegas. I took Tom with me, and he actually had a pretty good time. Probably because it turns out he fell in love with Vegas. We also went to Los Angeles for some family visit time, and also had a few days of wine tasting in the Santa Ynez valley. Now we are back in London, and looking for a new flat just of our own. London Rollergirls has finally split into permanent teams and we are getting ready to kick off our next season. Good stuff! Check out this latest derby portrait taken at the last LRG expo game:

click here if you are viewing in email

Photo by Samuel Hicks

A cacophony of celebration

noreply@blogger.com (courtney) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 11:30:00 +0000

Yes, inevitably, there is a shaky video of the proposal. Be careful of your ears, there is lots of screaming...

(thats: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Swj7k9JosYM)

A bout, a victory, a proposal, a celebration…all are had in the summer sun

noreply@blogger.com (courtney) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 09:02:00 +0000

I had a bloody good weekend. Team Canada came to town, fresh of a major win against Glasgow the night before, ready to kick some London girls in the derby behind. Or so they thought…

Skating with London Rollergirls (and specifically the Travel Team) has reached a very interesting point. We think we are good….like with the potential to be actually GOOD…but we don’t have the benefit of real testing against hardened teams, and we don’t have the benefit of all the guest coaching you can get in the states. I know we aren’t ready to take on the big guys, but I have had this sense that the potential is there, and we have a crop of newbies that make it even more of a possibility. So I was really interested to see what happened against Team Canada, and I had a pretty strong sense that we were going to give them a big shock.

Team Canada has some great skaters, but they aren’t really a team. They are made up of gals from 5 different leagues, who have never skated together before. That’s a big disadvantage in derby, where after a certain level of competency in skating is reached, I think it becomes more about automatic strategy and teamwork. They were also jet lagged and travel weary. I have had to skate against a few tough opponents back in the states after long trips, and I know how it can sap your endurance. So major props to them for giving a super physical game the whole time.

And that’s a big build up to say that it was quite a game. I have to be honest, in the very first jam, Sky Rockit broke through the pack as lead jammer like a shot of nowhere and I pretty much said to myself “yup, we got it”. It never changed. We dominated the score line the whole bout, despite some great jamming efforts from the TC bench (watch out for Mirage and her wily skills). But man it was good. Super hard hits and takedowns, dramatic moments, rock star jamming, the whole lot…

The audience loved every minute of it too. I normally worry about a wide score margin, thinking that the audience will get bored, but it wasn’t a concern here. It was just a fantastically entertaining time.

And in the end, we won 128-45. The victory lap with the LRG flag felt pretty good. We look pretty sweet in black.

Victory Lap Picture:

Video highlights of the bout:

So then we all lined up in front of the audience for the bout awards, and Tom came up with an award envelope too. I won Penalty Queen (again)…not sure why I always get that in bouts, but not in practise, but whatever. (I think it’s the 20 feet violations!)

So finally Tom was the last one left with an award envelope, and he took the mic and pulled out a blank award and said he couldn't write down what he felt about this special person. Then he got down on one knee and pulled out a ring and proposed to me. I said yes, of course.

Proposal Pic:

Another proposal pic:

The whole audience was cheering, my girls were crying, and it was all around the biggest derby-cheesiest best moment ever. Straight out of a Hollywood movie, and pretty much a perfect proposal for a spectacle lover like me. Tom doesn’t normally like the limelight, but he did an awesome job, and I love him for it.

So we got to celebrate a lot at the after party. Then Sunday was the nicest warmest day we have had all year, and we sat in the sun in Clissold Park with friends and just chilled. The day ended with drinks with Canada in Kensington and a well deserved sleep.

So there you have it…quite a weekend.

A Grand Tour of Sunny Places is Commenced on the Holiday Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (courtney) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:06:00 +0000

A bit late, naturally, but here are some nice pics from my spring bank holiday weekend. Tom and I went to Hampton Court Palace and had a picnic in the gardens.

Tom and a garden:

Courtney in the vine walk:

Then we took a river boat down the Thames, through the locks, and got off at Richmond for a nice steak dinner at Gaucho Grill (Tom’s toss up favourite restaurant along with Bodean’s BBQ).

Boat through the locks:

Tom get excited about Gaucho:

We also spent a nice sunny day in Hyde Park, with me skating along the Serpentine Road naturally.

A good boyfriend carries all the stuff:

This type of activity seems to be part of a theme lately….with most weekend finding us visiting some lovely touristy type place. Ice cream sundaes at Fortnum & Mason, reading books in Green Park, meanders around old Hampstead village (lunch at Gaucho’s naturally), etc…. We actually joined as members of the Royal Palaces which means we can get into the Tower of London and Kensington Palace and Hampton Court anytime we want. We both like the crown jewels.

Skating, etc…

So the other day I surprised Tom with a present: a brand new pair of size 12 Riedell R3 speed skates. Muahahaha…..

He was amused and shocked (dunno why) and now he has to learn to skate.

I don’t think he will end up as a derby ref, but it will be nice to have him able to roll around with me.

Speaking of rolling around.

This weekend is pretty much one of the most exciting things to do with London Rollergirls to date. Its our first ever international bout. We have a team of skaters from 5 different Canadian leagues coming over to play us as Team Canada. This is a big one. Winning means major props for us…and we are going hard core for it.

Mutiny on the Mountie Poster:

In other LRG news….last week I competed in a BBC game show called Eggheads. It wont air for another month or so, but it should be AWESOME.

Eggheads pic:

Mondays and relationships are pondered

noreply@blogger.com (courtney) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:22:00 +0000

Mondays in general are always a bit sucky, naturally, because you have to go back to work and deal with all the stuff you left behind on the glorious Friday of the past. But when you are in a relationship you get this little added bummer…. after a nice weekend of cuddles and fun, you all the sudden feel you are going through couple withdrawal!

I felt it keenly today, so Tom and I arranged to meet halfway between offices (me at Oxford Circus and him on the western edge of the square mile), for a little extra dose of coupleness. In true romantic style, Tom brought me a big bunch of red roses. Very sweet – and they are making me smile as they sit on my desk inviting glances of envy from all the ladies in the office.

Tom is off to an emerging leader course for work this week, so we will have 3 whole nights to miss each other, but then a nice long bank holiday weekend to be sappy again. Instead of spending too much money to go to some village in the country, we are planning a London tourist weekend. We are going to visit Hampton Court Palace and maybe do a London Walk, and if the sun shines even a picnic in Hyde Park. I have been here a year so its time to pretend to be a visitor again for a long weekend.

P.S. the flowers and trees are in bloom and it’s SO GORGEOUS here right now. Lilacs and cherry blossoms everywhere…especially in my hood of Notting Hill.

On the Occasion of the Happy One Year London Anniversary...

noreply@blogger.com (courtney) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 13:21:00 +0000

Let’s pull a quote out of the archives to start this off:

From approximately one year ago, specifically April 22, 2007:

“…It was certainly not how I expected to feel on my arrival, but I guess in hindsight I should have figured on it. I mean seriously, a lot of people make this kind of move because they are tired of where they were before. I love LA...I love my friends and the life I had in LA. I did this because I always wanted the chance to live here...not because I wanted to leave LA. For me this is a challenge I gave myself....not a reward. So it's hard. But yeah, that day I was seriously questioning myself. And I still have that thought from time to time...but it's more geared towards allowing myself the possiblity of not living here for a long spell...and being ok with going back home if that’s what feels right too. People have told me that I am pretty ballsy to make this move, and I get it now...cause it sure ain’t easy…”

So here I am. One year to the date of my arrival in the UK. I have come a long way from pulling up in a black cab to my temporary flat on the Camden canal…and I am still here. There are no plans to leave.

Life does go on, I do adapt, I get over the homesickness, I get over the fear, and the longing for familiar things. New things become familiar, new friends are made, new bonds are forged…and it all combines to make me feel that London is now home.

But I am still ballsy and brave. I did it. I moved to London. I made it happen, and I enjoyed it…still enjoying it. Pretty cool, eh?

Following a holiday, the writer becomes busy

noreply@blogger.com (courtney) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 10:52:00 +0000

I always seem to slack on the blog posts after a trip or holiday. Most likely because returning from a holiday usually finds me thrown back into work or activities with no free time. That has definitely been the case this time.

So here I am reporting a while later.

The trip was good. I really enjoyed the sunshine and the beach and the Pacifico with lime down in Mexico. It was also fun to hang out with my brother, see my dad, visit with cousins and aunts, and introduce everyone to Tom. Tom wasn’t a huge Mexico fan…the street food and poverty weren’t too his liking…but he did enjoy the family, which is what really counts anyway.

Then it was back to LA for a short time. Once again I felt a sense of oddness about being back in LA. It’s like I don’t belong there anymore, but yet I have strong ties in friends/family/familiar scenes. Tom did like it quite a bit. We went shopping and had posh drinks and enjoyed lovely Santa Monica. It all felt a bit short, but I was ready to come ”home” to London.

And now Tom is officially living with me and that has been really good. It’s nice to have that feeling of being in a serious relationship again, knowing that you can come home and always have that person there to support you. He might even learn to rollerskate!

A peculiar turn of events regarding the knee

noreply@blogger.com (courtney) — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 12:32:00 +0000

Well la ti da….I finally managed to finagle my way through the morass of the NHS and get back to the hospital to hear the results of my December MRI. Turns out that I have been unintentionally healing from a non-displaced tibial plateau fracture for the past three months. Oops on the NHS!

I am in two minds on the whole thing…

1) PRO: I am relieved that I do not need soft tissue surgery to fix a meniscus or ligament tear. Plus, I am cleared to go back to full derby, providing I ease into it a bit

2) CON: doing the normal hypochondriac shuffle on google, I read that this type of fracture usually results in a knee brace and no weight bearing during at least 2 months of healing time. Folks, I won a dance contest on December 21^st…there was definite weight bearing! So I am a bit paranoid that it didn’t get the benefit of a good diagnosis and healing that it should have had. The fracture clinic at UCH (which is admittedly run by one of the best sports ortho docs in London) didn’t seem that worried, and basically said I had the benefit of 3 months of healing, but I just wish I had known earlier, and had been able to treat it properly!

What have we learned?

Will NEVER EVER play roller derby again without good private insurance, which I now have…no more waiting on the NHS!
Bette Noir has joined the ranks of the “broken bone” club, and now qualifies for the ‘ol AC/DG crutch tattoo (which she will be banned from receiving by the lovely Mr Posh)

In which a change in our heroine's living situation arises.

noreply@blogger.com (courtney) — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 18:36:00 +0000

And duh....why didn't I title all my blogs in the above manner to match the overall theme? From now on I will. :)

---

So I am about to get a new flatmate. Yup, Tom (aka Mr Posh in the derby world) is moving in. He has been keen on living with me for some time, and he spends about 5 nights a week at my place as it is.

Finally my flatmates said “why doesn’t he just move in and pay some rent?”

So when we get back from the states, Tom is moving over to Notting Hill…leaving southeast London behind. Eeek!

No seriously, I am cool with it, obviously. Just a bit nervous because I haven’t lived with a guy “officially” since my ex-husband – and this seems to put the final nail in the coffin of any vestiges I might be harbouring that I am still “single” or unencumbered by a relationship. I think that after the long struggle to accept divorce I had finally reached a state of enjoying singleness. And then of course I met Tom…who rather than being the kind of guy you have to pin down for some shred of commitment, is pretty much the poster man for “serious relationship”.

Anyway, I really didn’t want to leave my flat, as regular readers and friends will know that I LOVE where I live. This makes everything cool….cause now I get to live with Tom and stay in my hood. Notting Hill Carnival 2008 after party is definitely on this year!

So Courtney Goes To London moves to Phase…3? Yeah I guess Phase 3 sounds about right. Briefly proceeded by Holiday in the Sun 2008 Phase 1.

Exhibit A – where I will be sipping mai tais next Friday

Exhibit B – the house we will be staying in while in Todos Santos with my family

http://www.mexicovacations.com/mx/32731.html

LRG Update...

noreply@blogger.com (courtney) — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 12:43:00 +0000

So the second London Rollergirls bout was absolutely amazing. It was so close after xmas that we were all a bit worried about turnout, and at one point were even thinking we would have about 50 people in the audience. HA….hardly. We were totally sold out about 2 days before the bout, and we even had ticket scalpers outside the venue on the day! You know you have arrived when someone is trying to tout your tickets.

I had a fantastic time announcing, and definitely would want to continue doing that if I ever had to retire (along with coaching). More importantly though, the gameplay was just super amazing. The difference in skating skill level between the first game and this one was truly great to see. We probably had about 10 bout rookies in the lineups and they held their own and showed potential that makes me happy for the future of LRG. And for the girls that were skating their second bout, well I may be biased, but many of them showed skills and gameply knowledge at the same level of gals that have skated more than one full season. The audience could really tell too. Our first bout had an audience that didn’t quite know what to do…but this time around people were jumping up and down and screaming their lungs out by the end of the bout. This was probably helped by the fact that the game pretty much went down to the last two jams, with Team Pink finally taking the win.

On an unfortunate note, we had a broken leg in the 1^st period from veteran skater, Ana Ki. She is sporting a titanium pole in her left lower leg as a souvenir of derby now.

And on to boot camp…

This past Saturday, LRG hosted the first ever European Roller Derby Boot Camp. We had skaters and refs from the across the UK leagues, and even a few from Stockholm, Sweden. It was pretty sweet. We had five hours of skating and training – covering the basic basics for newbies, and also hitting all the major elements of play for the more advanced girls. The session ended with a two hour pick-up scrimmage with everyone getting involved to their levels. Everyone had a fantastic time at the boot camp and the afterparty, and I really felt like for the first time here everyone understood what it was like to be a part of a roller derby community. We have the benefit at LRG of having lots of visiting gals from the states and other leagues, but many of the smaller start up leagues in the UK and Europe just don’t get that. So for them, I think it was very important to get a feel for it.

Ahhh London....

noreply@blogger.com (courtney) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 17:30:00 +0000

I love this quote from an article in February’s Vanity Fair:

I’ve been spending a lot of time in London lately, and it’s the perfect place to be. It’s as expensive as hell, the dollar stinks, but the parties are nightly, and restaurants are jammed, as are the theatres and the hotels.

I just read that and thought - “Damn right, and I live here!”

If I go back and read my very first entry in this blog, it makes me remember how excited I was to come here. Sometimes in the everyday grind, it’s easy to forget that I am actually here. So lately I have tried to look around a bit more, and really witness where I am. It’s so magically different from the west coast, and it really is pretty amazing. I love the buzz here. It’s like the fantasy and sophistication of NYC combined with the more charming and everyday British sensibility. I love being on the cutting edge, in a city that is at the peak of it’s game, but still being able to live a normal life.

I love going down to the local coffee house on Portobello Road on Saturday morning and watching the tourists and thinking “hell yeah, I am a local!”

I love the fact that I am used to hearing an English accent, to the point that an American one jars me a bit. I love reading the free papers on the tube, and checking in on the latest with Kate Moss/Girls Aloud/Amy Winehouse/etc…

I love my job in the London digital world…where people work hard and have a lot of passion, but also know how to have fun and seem to prize the fact that I am eclectic. In fact, I think I really like being the crazy/eclectic/outgoing/sassy American. I probably enjoy standing out a bit, but also feeling like I belong.

That’s how I feel in London.

2nd LRG Bout!

noreply@blogger.com (courtney) — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 13:41:00 +0000

Tomorrow is the second London Rollergirls bout, and I am pretty damn excited! My usual experience is that on a second outing, the attendance tends to go down a bit. But momentum in London is obviously rolling, because we are pretty much sold out already! I think we are going to surpass our capacity from our first sell out bout, and have to turn away people at the door. We need a bigger venue!! Our capacity right now is 499, which includes crew and skaters....I think ideally we need something that fits twice that, but London real estate and venues are just madly rare and expensive.

Anyway I am having anxiety dreams and making lists in my head during the night in prep...and I am not even skating. Since my knee is still on the mend, I decided to sit this one out and instead I will be announcing the bout and acting as press liason. Yeah, big stretch I am sure.

I can't wait!!

Need some warm sun!

noreply@blogger.com (courtney) — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 13:37:00 +0000

So I basically had the flu all of Christmas. I managed to just about make it to 10:30 on Christmas day, at which point I collapsed into bed with the shivers and shakes. At least I had a nice Christmas dinner and a whole ton of champagne first. Dating Tom has made me a champers girl....how very London City of me...

Anyhoo....I managed to drug my way through New Years eve, and then spent it on the couch with a relapse. Another great NYE. Oh well.

And now I am back in the office, having started my new job! That's right, I just officially became a full time employee of Grand Union, which is where I have been freelancing until now. They lured me in with a new position/promotion: Group Project Director. So now I have a new title to add to the old resume. I am pretty excited actually. I think it will be a great new challenge, and I really love the people here, so it's a good environment. Plus we are moving to swank new office right near Oxford Circus in a few months, so that means major shopping opportunities at lunch! (Bonus, of course!)

But all that aside, I am definitely looking forward to a visit to LA in February. Thankfully logic has won over, and instead of going to the snow in Bend, I am now going to Mexico for a week. Hooray! I need some sunshine bad....

It will be fun to show Tom LA too...and make him eat spicy Mexican food, which as a true Englishman, he will probably hate.

:)

Roller Derby and Tom

noreply@blogger.com (courtney) — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 13:32:00 +0000

Honestly the only reason I don’t blog more often is because of the picture optimization! Anyways….so what is going on with me now?

Well, let’s start with roller derby. Unfortunately, I have sustained another injury. A few weeks ago at practise I took a hard block and ran into some wooden benches at the side of the hall. My knee is messed up and I am currently awaiting an MRI. I may have torn the lateral meniscus of my left knee, but I am hoping that I will be able to skate once the surrounding tissue heals. Meanwhile, I have resorted to swimming. The league is going awesome though. London Rollergirls (LRG) has really grown leaps and bounds since I first got here in April. Along with two other girls, I was recently elected as one of the league directors, so I am right in the thick of things. We have garnered a lot of publicity, a ton of new recruits, and the skating is looking really good. We should have the opportunity to play some travel games soon, and may even have some visitors from overseas…ooooo!

BAD LEFT KNEE

On September 8th, just before my euro trip, we staged our first expo bout. That was pretty fricken awesome. It was the first roller derby bout in the UK, and it went great…we even sold out our venue. My team didn’t win, but who cares because it was all about the league. We split into Team Pink and Team Black – in honour of our league colors, and we dragged Bikini Killer back from Detroit to play on Team Black, since she spent all summer with us helping the league grow. A few pics:

TEAM PINK!

MY BOOTY

PIVOT

FAIL

AND FINALLY.....VIDEO!!

What else is new? Well I am once again in a relationship. I kept saying I didn’t plan on coming to the UK to get involved with another Brit…been there done that, etc….but I suppose that was a bit silly really. I am in the UK, so it’s likely that I would end up dating here, right? So I met this guy named Tom, who is the housemate of one of my work friends. He came to my Notting Hill Carnival after party, and Francisco gave him the seal of approval (F was here visiting for carnival). We have pretty much been dating every since, and are now definitely in a “relationship”. He should be coming with me to the US in February, so some of you can meet him then. What is he like? Hmm….well he doesn’t really like roller derby, he works in the “city” doing high net worth tax consulting for a big 6 accounting firm, he is very English, he talks “posh”, he votes Tory, he wears a lot of suits, he has blue eyes and light brown hair, he is 6’4”, and he is a bit younger than me. ;) People say we are very different, but somehow it seems to be working out nicely.

POOR JET LAGGED TOM AT A DERBY EVENT -
ASLEEP ON THE COUCH AS LRG DIRECTOR
SLICE ANDICE AND HER HUBBY REF BALLISTIC
WHISTLE GIVE HIM A GOOD DERBY TREATMENT

So probably in part because I have someone to spend it with, and also because of the ticket prices, I have decided to stay in London for xmas. I will have Christmas dinner with friends and Tom, and just enjoy the wintery goodness of a London xmas. Shame I can’t ice skate because of my knee.

Instead of coming back in December, I am planning a visit in February. I was hoping to get some sun at my dad’s place in Mexico, but it looks like I will be heading to LA and Bend, OR instead. Oh well, I’ll get plenty of heat in August at Rollercon 2008.

Eurotrip 2007

noreply@blogger.com (courtney) — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 11:46:00 +0000

God, I feel like a blog slacker…..

So yeah, obviously I have had a crazy few months. After my little visit to the US, I was back for mucho carnival, derby, and Eurotrip madness. So this blog will be about EuroTrip 2007 – ‘cause those are the pictures I finally uploaded last night. 

First off, my brother/mom/her boyfriend arrived in London. That was fun, since they got to see where I was living, and I got to introduce Kalon to Europe. We had a few days in London before we took the Eurostar train over to Paris.

Paris was good, but I wasn’t enthralled. I have been there several times before so none of it was new for me. We also had a few annoying encounters with taxi drivers that left me seething and cursing the Parisians as a whole. We got tired of walking around, and ended up doing L’Open Tour bus, which turned out to be great! My French language skills started to come out again, as they always do when I am in France. 5 years of high school and university French and I cant actually speak it….but when I am surrounded by it, I realize I know more than I think. I often end up being the one who has to communicate with the locals for the family.

My mom and Don and Kalon enjoyed seeing the sights…a first for them. We had few amazing meals – with a friend of the family, and also with my Aunt Linda, Aunt Carol, Uncle Brent, and cousin Morgan – who we met in Paris. Kalon and I ended up trawling the streets later in the evenings. We really enjoyed the café culture, although were constantly shocked by how expensive cocktails were.

Highlights of Paris:

Jardin du Luxembourg

Drunk guy on the street (broke a bottle on my foot and made me bleed!)

Cathedral’s by night….then watching the quad skaters do their thing on the bridge
(sadly forgot to take pics)

And then to the countryside……….

We had a gîte rental in the village of Busserolles in the Dordogne countryside for a week with the whole family. I was woefully inadequate with the pics of people and the actual place we stayed, but I got lots of scenery. We stayed here: http://www.lamaillerie.net/ -- which is the gîte property that my mom’s former computer consultant bought with her partner. Tanya, Lisa, and Cole were great hosts and we had a fun time sitting around the fire pit by the waterfall and drinking lots of wine and ale with them. We sat around a lot, read The Dirt (Motley Crue book), ate some amazing food, and generally relaxed with the family.

Highlights of the Dordogne:

Birthday lunch at the Ferme Auberge “Les Forges de la Valade”
5 courses and champagne for my 34th birthday

The AMAZING Go Kart track

The beautiful town of Brantôme

Before the week was up, Kalon and I packed up our bags and headed back to Paris to pick up our friend Paul for the rest of our Eurotrip. Relaxing time was over, and it was back to party mode. We had Eurail passes, which were awesome. When you get a Eurail pass as an adult, it’s automatically first class. You still have to pay for the reservations on each train, but it’s totally worth it. So we picked up Paul at the Gare du Nord in Paris and hopped our Thalys train to Amsterdam. Had a great time on the train, chatting to a French woman and indulging in the free alcohol.

We arrived in Amsterdam and figured out how to take a train to our lovely budget hotel….the infamous Hans Brinker. This place has a bar and nightclub on location and is full of young party seekers. Our room was pretty funny….three single size beds with nothing else except a full size school locker each. Klassy. Beer was cheap though. And they have great ads.

Amsterdam is pretty cool. This is a city I have always wanted to visit, and it didn’t disappoint. The weather, unfortunately, was crap…so I would like another visit in the summer time in the future. I think this is a city that lends itself well to short sleeved shirts and riding bikes in the sun, so that’s how I want to experience it next time. Anyways…the city is quite charming, with the tall old buildings – complete with hooks at the gable tips to haul furniture and goods up into the houses out of the canals.

Kalon and Paul wanted to check out a coffee shop – otherwise known as the place you can buy weed – so we headed to the red light district and a well recommended spot. Can I just say….the red light district of Amsterdam is a surreal experience. The reality of scantily clad women behind glass walls just waiting to be engaged for paid sex is odd at best. Walking around and making eye contact with these ladies gave me a really weird feeling. I can imagine it’s totally different for guys, but for me I was just astounded by the obviousness of it all. Men and woman certainly are different. Anyway, certainly worth a stroll, at the very least…

So we went to the coffee shop and I had a laced cookie which did nothing for me except make me more sleepy. This is why I hate pot – and all drugs to be fair. But yeah, pot is just not for me. Never liked it, never will. Kalon wasn’t too keen either. He didn’t get much out of it that night, and had an experience the next day that really put him off it. I practically had to drag him out of a coffee house before he collapsed. Think I’ll stick to my drugs of choice: sugar and alcohol. Oh we did meet a vacationing couple in the coffee shop that was from Boston. WICKED accents too. Good times.

So the rest of the Amsterdam visit was good. I did a few culture things, including the Anne Frank Huis. That was pretty amazing for me, since I have been wanting to see it for a long long time. In middle school I became slightly obsessed with reading accounts of holocaust survivors, and I think the Anne Frank diary started it. Going through the house was like putting a mental picture into reality. I felt like I knew the people and the house already, because of all the reading. I was affected by it, and I am glad I took the opportunity to go.

I really liked the vibe of Amsterdam. I felt very comfortable there. Even though it’s Europe, and totally different from the US, I felt that as a casual liberal urban west coast girl I really fit in. Everyone seemed really chill and open minded and creative and just nice. I definitely want to go back. Plus, they all speak English.

And so on to Munich…our last stop.

Paul and Kalon and I boarded the ICE train (first class, with our own private cabin, natch) and headed to Munchen via Frankfurt. We were heading to Oktoberfest. Beer and pretzels called.

Scuzzi!

Back when Kalon worked at Accenture, he was on a training course with a great English gal named Victoria. They became friends, and over the years Victoria and her husband Alexander had visited Los Angeles a few times. Luckily for us, Alex is from Munich, and his family still lives there. So we were heading into Oktoberfest with some great local hosts, which proved to be a great benefit. We also met up with Wen, who flew in from Los Angeles to meet us.

We didn’t know what to expect when we arrived, but were immediately taken in by the Hurth family and given the royal guest treatment. A traditional Bavarian welcome dinner, followed by a sleep in a wonderful hotel next door to the family home, and the next morning we were ready to enter the Hippodrom tent for the official opening of Oktoberfest.

I was SO jealous of all the people in traditional costume. It was really impressive to see all the Bavarian pride and culture on display. Next time I am bringing a dirndl for sure! What can I say about Oktoberfest?! It was amazing. We spent the entire day in the beer hall…drinking liters of the good stuff, singing traditional songs, dancing, and just having a grand old time. I would go back any year for sure.

Alex and Vic

the Hippodrome

Beer me!

Hold on, still drinking!

Calf warmers, y’all!

Totally stole this cookie...

Drunk German biker dudes (the fat one tried to pull me…eww)

So if a day in the beer tents wasn’t enough, we had more Bavarian fun! The next day the Hurth family took us out to Lake Chiemsee (aka the Bavarian Sea) and the foot of the Alps. It was absolutely beautiful. We took a ferry to an island on the lake, where mad King Ludwig built a small replica of Versailles.

The Lake

Mini Versailles

Then we drove up into the hills overlooking the lake, and checked out the Hurth family property, where they are building a charming vacation home. The land has a beautiful view of Lake Chiemsee on one side, and the Alps on the other. What a great place…

Our day ended with a sunny spell in a biergarten at the foot of the Alps, drinking some cloudy wheat beer and taking in the Bavarian countryside. I think it’s safe to say that Bavaria and Munich were the highlight of the trip. Alex’s family was amazing, and we just had the best time with them. His mother only speaks German and French, so I found my French language skills getting better and better very rapidly. I could completely follow the conversation, and was able to pipe up every now and then. I think I really want to take French classes again, and become fluent.

I loved Munich, and definitely want to go back and check out more of the city. Also, the Bavarian culture and people were really charming. It felt totally different from the rest of Germany…and I hadn’t realized how much they are their own culture before I had a chance to see it for myself.

And so back to London…..a long day of first class trains and we ended up back at my flat in Notting Hill. The boys were in town for a few days, mainly because Kalon and Paul missed their return flight. (I came home to find them drinking a case of Stella and eating steak and chicken pies….good British day)

And that, my friends, was Eurotrip 2007 in all its glory.

Next blog: Notting Hill Carnival, London Rollergirls Expo Bout, and the new boyfriend…

P.S. if you getting this via email...make sure you check out the pics if they dont come through...just go to the actual blog page

Yes, I am still here!

noreply@blogger.com (courtney) — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 11:12:00 +0000

Sorry...been a bit distracted. I will soon soon soon write up my whole euro vacation blog, but it requires me to upload and optimize a bunch of pics, thus the wait.

Meanwhile, I did have a blast, and now I am back at work in Notting Hill. Also dating someone, so there is news on that front.

To be edified soon....

Courtney went to America

noreply@blogger.com (courtney) — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 01:00:00 +0000

Well I am sitting here on 4th Street in Santa Monica at my brothers apartment packing for my return trip to London. This has been quite a whirlwind visit, in many ways, but I am totally ready to go back.

More precisely, I really really need to get out of here now. :)

I think I haven't been gone long enough to be comfortable coming back here yet. As I predicted, just driving around LA and seeing so many familiar things often made me feel unsettled and strange. I dont feel I belong here, yet its soooo familiar that my mind is confused. London feels a bit distant too....was the past 4 months a dream?

My trip started by flying into LA and then 4 hours later flying to Vegas for RollerCon. Vegas was fun, if a bit overwhelming. It was great to see the massive quantities of rollergirls all in one place...I actually got to meet way more people than I did last year. I also skated a lot. Did some on skates training, some Flamingo Banks scrimmaging, and most importantly played the Team World vs Team USA challenge bout on Fremont Street. And hey....we totally won! I was there for 5 days and was ready to get back to LA.

So then LA. Yeah....bit odd to say the least. On one hand it was good to see people and some of the old haunts, but at the same time there was that unsettled feeling.

And yeah, not going to lie, dealing with the boy that I left behind when I went to London was a big part of that. I don't need to go into details, because if you are close to me you are probably privy to it anyway. Regardless, there were some ups and downs, some fun, some sweetness, feelings both good and bad, but in the end I think there is a sense of transition to a comfortable and healthy place. That's probably how it should have been when I went to London in the first place, but it somehow didn't go that way, and that led to complicated emotions and actions. I feel all cryptic here, but I am torn between the two extremes of airing dirty laundry and sharing nothing beyond a surface level. Just trying to strike a privacy balance and still communicate my state of mind with some context in a blog.

Anyway, I think the trip has been a little cathartic and introspective for me. I guess that's never a bad thing, although not always chock full of fun. And dont get me wrong, I did have fun. Hung with the ACDG girls and a lot of other friends too. Beach bonfires, bar crawls, crazy shenanigans, beach skating, karaoke, shopping, movies, cuddles, Tequila Tuesday, Tiny's, 107, family time, derby practice on a full track, OnDemand TV, Ice Blended Mochas, sushi, driving fast, Old Navy, The Other Room with Ms D and Francisco, numerous quality times with Adam/Joetta/Shane/Scarlene/Bee/Dia/Vodka/Holly/Minnie that crazy gal...

And now it's back to London. Really glad that Francisco (that's wolfsblood to you MySpaz friends) is coming with me from LA. I think having a good friend visit from home will make the transition back a lot easier. Then right after he goes I have the first LRG bout, then the fam comes over for fun times on the continent.

So conclusion: not the easiest trip....not a vacation in the traditional sense....ups and downs....fun times too....ready to go back and continue my new journey. See ya at xmas. Hope its more chill then.

Courtney On The Move – Coming Atcha!

noreply@blogger.com (courtney) — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 13:42:00 +0000

So I am all the sudden getting frantic before a big trip. Only this time it’s not me moving to London, instead it’s me finishing my job here and getting ready to head back to the states for some visit time. I still have mixed feelings about it. I think it’s going to be a bit “odd” to be back in LA, but living in London. Things are very different than when I left. No more Adam…no more Mo…no more apartment or car. Maybe I will feel unsettled and a bit lost. Who knows…

Course it’s probably going to be fun too. I will have no responsibilities, and plenty of time to skate on the beach, party with my girls, flirt with outgoing American men, and chill with my family. And I am starting the whole thing off with RollerCon in Vegas.

So….for those wanting to know, here is the schedule of “Courtney’s Two Months Off Work Extravaganza!” (Brought to you by Microsoft™...but made on a Mac™)

August 8th – August 13th
LAS VEGAS

Wednesday - I fly into LA at 1pm on the 8th, run around getting stuff, then fly to Vegas with Dia Blow at 8pm.

Why? RollerCon…that’s why. Drink, drink, schmooze, talk derby, meet rollergirls, drink, sing karaoke, sleep.

Thursday – on skates workshops at the Imperial Palace, meet more rollergirls, drink water only, eat healthy. Meet up with Team World at 7pm in the lobby of IP for meet and greet…then we head to Flamingo Banks for the pick-up scrimmages…then back to IP to make our shirts for the challenge bout.

Friday – on skates workshops…..say hi to all the LA rollergirls who are starting to roll into town. Trade pins, stickers, etc…. Make team lineups for challenge bout. 5pm on Fremont Street – TEAM WORLD vs TEAM USA, with me as Team World captain. Kick ass and wipe the concrete with Team USA….watch the other scrimmages….head back to IP. Roller Derby Coaches meet and greet pizza at the IP. Eat, drink, schmooze, drink, talk derby, drink… Back to the room to get ready for the Black and Blue ball. Party hard at the Black and Blue ball. Maybe hit the OG for late night action. Get obnoxious on the strip in our Ball outfits. Sleep.

Saturday/Sunday – drink, sleep by pool, skate, schmooze, drink, etc…

August 13th – August 24th
LOS ANGELES

Back in Hell-A. Party with Joetta and the girls. Tequila Tuesday debauchery. Bar Marmont, Tiny’s, etc… Skate, skate, skate…on the beach and practice with ACDG. BBQ at my mom’s in Topanga. Visit from my dad. Buy a ton of stuff to bring back to the UK. Get a massage on Main Street. Generally feel rich with my UK pounds. Pine for real pints.

Leave on the morning of the 24th. Francisco is coming back to London with me, so we are flying on the same plane.

August 24th – September 12th
LONDON

Saturday/Sunday/Monday – recover from jet lag, get coffee at Coffee Plant, intro London to Francisco. Sunday and Monday are the Notting Hill Carnival, which is supposed to be a bit mental. I live in the heart of it, so we have a security guard posted on our door the whole time. Probably going to have a party with our flat as homebase. At least we don’t have to use the port-a-loo.

Next week and a half – hang out with Francisco and show him the sights. Also…big importante…lead up to the first every London Rollergirls Expo Bout!!!

Saturday the 8th – LRG roller derby descends on London full bore. After party at Big Red…drink, drink, dance, drink, get obnoxious, stagger home.

Sunday the 9th – my mom, her boyfriend, and my brother arrive in London.

Monday – Wednesday – play tour guide for like the 5th time this year. Should be fun though, since my brother has never been to Europe!

September 12th – 19th
FRANCE

Take the eurostar to Paris with the family on the 12th…meet up with two aunts, once uncle, one cousin in Paris. See the sights, play tour guide again, attempt to remember my five years of French. Fail miserably, but with a good accent.

Saturday the 15th – take the train to Angouleme and then drive to farmhouse gite in the Dordogne for relaxing fun times in the French countryside.

SUNDAY THE 16TH – MY BIRTHDAY….GODDAMN I AM OLD!

Wednesday the 19th – Kalon (brother) and I take the train to Amsterdam for relaxing fun times in the canals

September 20th – 24th
AMSTERDAM AND MUNICH

So Kalon and I are meeting Popo and Wen (two friends from Hell-A) in Amsterdam. I have no idea what we are going to get up to. Technically I don’t do drugs, and that’s pretty much one of the reasons people go to Amsterdam, right? I might have to do some cultural stuff….I actually wouldn’t mind seeing some Vermeer and the Anne Frank house.

Then we all head over to Munich for the beginning of Oktoberfest. Kalon has some pals who have family there, so we won’t be tourists on our own. And we are on a table at the big beer hall for the opening day of the festival. Now, unlike with the drugs, I do partake of the beer. I think I need to buy a drindl to wear. That’s my style.

And…finally…after all that craziness, we fly back to London where the boys hang for another day or so before taking off. Then I probably collapse or something. Oh, and hopefully go back to work somewhere.

Sweet.

Then I start planning my xmas vacation. Or maybe a weekend in Barcelona with the flat mate gals in November

Oh! Almost forgot.....

September 29th -- Joetta and her mom arrive in London! More debauchery! Garlic and Shots...SoHo...Big Red...Camden! Bring it!!

Senior Project Manager SLASH Actor

noreply@blogger.com (courtney) — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 12:42:00 +0000

Check out some of the latest stuff from my job...

These are some results of the banner ad campaign we did the shoot with acrobats for...you can see me in the pink t-shirt on the left....and in here too, holding an arrow sign.

The company also just completed a really cool viral project which you should all send around to amuse your friends. Check it out: Private Dick Movie.

Tea at the Ritz

noreply@blogger.com (courtney) — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 19:15:00 +0000

So last night a group of 6 gals went to tea at the Ritz Hotel. It was fab. A splendid excuse to get all togged up and make a spectacle of ourselves, to be sure. Went with some rollergirls: Slice Andice, Bikini Killer, Lady Frankenstein, and two friend's of Slice's who were visiting from LA (how funny to get a taste of home from them). Slice had her brand new custom fit corset dress and needed a place to wear it, so we all went full out with full rockabilly costumes, including fake lashes and cuban heeled stockings. I saw a hat on Oxford Street that I had to have, and this became the basis for my look. It was super fun. We ate finger sandwiches, tasty pastries, fresh scones, drank champagne and tea, and generally felt very posh. Then we walked through Leicester Square and Picadilly Circus and Soho, and had people stop us to take pictures with them. Good London times. I highly recommend it if you have a spare £36 and wants a taste of old fashioned London....check out some pics:

Group Shot Outsite the Ritz

My Fabulous Hat