Michelle (my buddy from ASU) and I fly to Ireland early tomorrow morning, so I figured that I'd better fill you in on exactly what's been going on the past few days before I drop off the figurative end of the electronic earth.  :-)

I moseyed about all Friday morning, making last-minute preparations for Michelle's arrival.  Her plane flew into Heathrow an hour late, so I didn't have to board the tube train until 12:30.  After a long, boring ride of almost two hours, I arrived at the airport, took a shuttle bus to Terminal 4, and then located the arrival meeting point.  I ended up waiting about forty-five minutes for Michelle, which gave me ample time to observe those around me and conclude that the airport arrival area is one of the happiest places on earth (next to Disneyland, of course).  I watched mothers and daughters embrace, children run laughing to their parents, and one particularly melodramatic couple kiss passionately.  It was like the finales of multiple movies all meeting in the same spot!  I could almost hear the swelling orchestra in the background, and I have to admit that my eyes welled up a couple of times.

Finally, I caught sight of Michelle and waved enthusiastically.  Her face broke out into a smile, we hugged, and then we were OFF!  I knew that the best way to stave off jetlag was to go, go, go until bedtime, so I dragged the poor girl to Parliament Square where we hauled her suitcases up flights of tube stairs and right onto the busy street.  :-)  I showed her Big Ben, the Parliament Building, the Jewel Tower, Westminster Abbey, the Thames, St. James' Park, and Buckingham Palace.  I must be a very tiresome, very demanding tour guide, because I'm absolutely THRILLED every time I see these places, no matter how many times I've seen them before.

We made it back to Woodford station around 6:00 where Jeanette picked us up and took us home to a delicious dinner of Indian take-out (vegetable curry, etc.).   Yum!    After that, Michelle and I went for a long, long walk around the neighborhood and got ourselves thoroughly and delightfully lost.  We even tried scaling a few fences, and I ended up with tar all over my hands.  We finally headed back to the house and the stroll was lovely.  Sunset was falling and the air was fresh and crisp.

Once back at the house, I had to find a way to keep Michelle up for a few hours more, so we hopped in our pajamas and made a fun, giggly sleep-over party of it!  We chose the silliest movie in the Saltzman's collection (a Mary-Kate and Ashley flick) and poked fun at the cheesy lines as we watched.  Unfortunately, our fun was cut short when Michelle announced that she had to throw up and spent the next half hour in the bathroom feeling sick.  Poor girl!  I sent her to bed and promised that I'd let her sleep in a little the next morning before making her launch into Sightseeing Mania Part 2.  :-)