Sunday, November 30, 2008

Architecture Up Close

For weeks, I have been meaning to put up photos from a great activity that happens every year. A non-profit organization works with hundreds of businesses and organizations to open their doors to the public to show people architecture. And the great part, it is free!

I met up with a bunch of British friends to check out the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. From what I could gather from its function, it is like the State Department and the Commerce Department combined. Anyways, it is probably one of the only federal government buildings I will ever see the inside of!

Here is a picture of the outside. It has been at this location since 1793.

Once inside, it is a beautiful building. I laughed because the US federal buildings are so ugly. Just one of the many staircases.

Inside, many additions have been made. Such as this courtyard that has been covered.

This stairwell has a beautiful octagonal glass ceiling.

We also walked through many rooms, with amazing large doors.

Here is one of the many diplomatic rooms.

Here is another grand staircase. This one is three levels high and is made from marble and red and gold chrome.

Here is another view of the staircase.

After we were done touring the building for about 2 1/2 hours, we visited the Banqueting House. The House was built in 1622 and is the place where Charles I was executed. The building is literally one large room. Its highlight are the Rubens on the ceiling.


It was a nice Saturday activity and I look forward to next year's buildings!

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Back from America

I am finally back from a bit of a holiday in the States. I needed to go back to the States for the Coro National Alumni Gathering being held in Boston. I decided to take a break before hand and visit Keena, Grigo, and Rica in Jersey. It also was an opportunity to spend Halloween and election day in America.

After arriving, we received a goody box from mom. She made this adorable outfit for Rica to wear for Halloween.

Before going to daycare, Rica had fun playing with her new trick or treat bag (made by mom) and also Dino, her new Loch Ness Monster.

She finally had enough and wanted to head out.

Later that night, she changed into her Bee outfit.

The weekend after Halloween, Keena had arranged for us to head to PA to do some campaigning for Obama. On the Sunday before the election, we drove about 1 1/2 hours to Allentown, PA to help out. Here is a picture of the downtown office (below). When we got there, they said they had too many volunteers and asked us to travel to their new warehouse location.

After hitting the warehouse, Keena and I were given 79 houses to hit in downtown Allentown to provide polling information to. Here I am holding the clipboard trying to track the houses we needed to hit.

Here is Keena handing out information.

After hitting all the houses, Keena and I had a fun lunch at a local diner and then headed back to the warehouse. They asked us to head to another area outside of Allentown that needed volunteers. It turned out that someone had turned their house into a staging area. From there, Keena and I did another 115 houses. It was an exhausting day.

Besides doing Halloween and campaigning in the States, I also did a lot of shopping. Keena and I went to an outlet mall and Keena found Rica these fabulous boots (below). Only problem....she did not want to take them off!

After spending about a week with the family, I took a train to Boston to run the Coro National Alumni Gathering. Keena joined me for the weekend and she was one of our speakers. Here she is getting ready for her presentation.

Overall, it was a great week home and I am trying to get over jet lag.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Get out and....

Vote!!!!!!!!!!

Someone stole Keena's Obama sign outside her house last night. Let's show these people that......

CHANGE IS COMING!!!!