See it. Say it. Shopped it.

sorting out what matters most

A misty moisty morning in London; another day under the avocado umbrella. We’ll soon join the sea of umbrellas on the streets, mostly black but every now and then a stylish pop of pattern or color. It surprises me how many people just walk about unfazed with the drizzle though. The kids skip along in their rain suits like nothing, truly Keeping Calm and Carrying On. The Brits are a plucky people. (I’m writing this on the Tube, which I’m quite happy about. The first time I’ve started this soon after sunrise!)

Rhonda and I were pleased to be the first out of the flat this morning; ready to walk down to “our” local cafe for a bit of brekkie. Charming is an understatement. Cafe Corso is run by the sweetest couple; she’s from Ukraine and he’s French-born but from Algeria. I chose a flat white to go with my salmon and spinach quiche which came with a side of salad. I loved it! Maybe I’ll have to change my personal mantra from Eat Cake for Breakfast to Eat Salad for Breakfast!

Today was our “Shopping Day.” And shop we did! Heading back to Harrods was high on my list. I thought we could simply go to the top floor, make some quick loops whilst looking, and be back down to the basement floor to check out in 30-45 minutes. Rhonda didn’t disagree with my plan and we started out. It didn’t go that way. The three words I would use to describe our Harrods experience would be. HARRIED. CONFUSING. EXHILARATING. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing everything we saw, (the Food Hall was my favourite,) but somehow a store that has over one million square feet of selling space and over 330 departments was too much for this Enneagram 7 with a severe case of FOMO. I left the proud owner of a tiny green key chain-sized Harrods bag (to hang inside my kate spade for either my key fob or chapstick) a passion fruit/lime bottled water, AND the coveted green carrier bag! These bags don’t come easily. They don’t even have them on the basement floor. You have to go out and into the Collection/Lobby area and ask for one!

The rest of our group had split up earlier to enjoy other things, such as the Churchill War Rooms, Hatchards, and Fortnum & Mason. Rhonda and I lunched at Fortnum & Mason’s Food Hall (I got a Scottish Egg and a Sausage Roll, both delightful!) to experience a bit of that lovely store before catching up to the rest of our party at Liberty London, another darling department store which has its own designer fabric and fresh flowers by the door. From there we went on to several charity shops. America could learn a lesson on how lovely a thrift store can be! These all seem to be quite small, of course, (everything isn’t oversized over here) and neatly arranged and styled like a boutique! One place even had each bits & bobs display sorted by color in addition to the color-sorted clothing displays! I was very pleased to come away with 2 dresses, 4 books, and one sweatshirt which will go right into rotation here in London because I didn’t pack enough warm clothes. With charity shopping in mind…

Afternoon snack was healthy juice drinks and an açaía bowl from Joe & the Juice. Very pleasant and nice place to pop into and sit a bit out of the drizzle and make our evening plans. Hanging out at Piccadilly Circus got canned due to the weather. Back at the flat, Wendy and Michelle made thee most delicious chicken alfredo lasagna and toasted garlic bread. Rhonda stirred up a fresh salad that she had picked up ingredients for at Sainsbury. Grocery shopping away from home is always so fun! I bought various other things to add to the meal or to our bountiful communal snack stash on the counter and in the fridge.

Mel set our table in style; felt like we were dining fabulously fine! After supper, we had Show & Tell with all our purchases; marveling over how low the price of the £ feels with the luxury of no tip or tax!

We ended our day with crazy good cheesecake Karma had popped out and gotten at Morrison’s. She bought Cadbury flakes and caramel for toppings. Rhonda made Aeropress decaf coffee. Utter contentment abounded as we all relaxed and typed and talked. Some of the best things in life can’t be bought on a Shopping Day. But it does help to purchase a few things along the way.