Melissa and Nicola's creation

That is - what they turned our flat into. In order to get Burr to agree to the IKEA run (or marathon run) I agreed that this is my 28th Birthday present. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to me!!!

For those of you who would like to participate in my "Anne fit into London JL fund" please see below for a list of items your money will greatly support:

1. Tory Birch flats (so sorry I cannot spell designer names in previous blog)

2. Hermes bag

3. Hermes belt ( I think I need 2 of these, as some people - i.e. London Barbie never take them off)

4. White shirt from Harrods costing roughly $500 (can someone please make a white button up shirt with fun stuff on it that is not RIDIC. to buy)

5. $500 to get hair cut and colored (I'm not sure how much this costs but my hair needs help - you know it does, don't lie! You have seen the pictures! eeeeek)

6. Donation of 7 carat ring, no CZ's don't count Burr.

Oh, I meant to tell the story of getting to IKEA before I starting day dreaming about my birthday list - oops!

OK, so Sunday night Mel, Nic, and I are discussing what to do the next day. Since Melissa is the an amazing drill sergeant, I mean tourist, and we saw everything in about 3 days so we had a day to do whatever we wanted. I mention, jokingly, that we re-decorate our flat and they actually wanted to go to IKEA b/c they had never been there before. *

*Side Note 1 - I think they DEEPLY regretted that decision very shortly after

Monday am we get early to make it to the tube at 9am to catch the 1st shuttle bus to IKEA at 9:30 am....well we get to the tube station and the line we want is not running so...we go the opposite direction of IKEA for about 5 stops to switch and backtrack for another 5 stops - ugh. We finally make it to the tube station the shuttle bus is supposed to be at.

Here's where it gets interesting. We walk outside the tube station and notice (a) we are in the G-H-E-T-T-O - I mean scary and (b) there is no sign for the IKEA shuttle bus anywhere. So we ask the counter person and they direct us to the right and down....so we follow and then we see the IKEA shuttle bus sign perfectly situated behind some chainlink fence and underneath a highway overpass. So we are waiting and then we notice there is no bus, so I call Burr he texts me the IKEA number and I call, they claim the first shuttle bus is not until 10:30 am b/c its a "bank holiday" *

*side note 2 - bank holiday does not even mean anything here, its not memorial day, its nothing, its just a day the British don't work.

Anyway, we have 25+ min. to wait for the next shuttle so we decide to try and catch a cab. We call 1 cab company and the say "NO" - seriously said no, scary! Then the next one says 5 min. When the cab we ordered pulls up we know its them b/c they call my cell phone, we would not have been able to tell it was a cab b/c they are driving and old black beaten up fiat or something, there is no sign that its a cab and nothing inside showing his license. So we decide to by-pass the cab and wait for the shuttle.

Finally we get on the shuttle (the shuttle also has been now waiting at the stop for 15 min. but would not actually let us on the bus, but watched us stand in the pouring down cold rain) and we drive to IKEA that is not even 1/2 mile away!!!

So we COULD HAVE WALKED TO IKEA THE ENTIRE TIME!!! But, instead we experienced everything written above - terrible.

Hugs and Kisses

AMF

PS - Don't worry we hired a cab to take us home.

PPS - If you feel terribly bad for me and do want to donate to my "Birthday Fund" please feel free!