On THIS day in History...

I was born at Alta Bates hospital in Berkeley, California.
My mother was the ripe old age of 26.
My father was the ripe old age of 28.
My parents were celebrating their 2 year wedding anniversary (what a great way to spend the day, eh?)
My brother was non-existent for another 2 years.

Oh, and in 1066 William the Conqueror invaded England.

Go figure.

In honor of my 30th Birthday TODAY, the Top 25 songs of 1976. The ones I am especially proud of are in bold colour...

Billboard Top 100 - 1976
01. Silly Love Songs » Wings
02. Don't Go Breaking My Heart » Elton John & Kiki Dee
03. Diso Lady » Johnnie Taylor
04. December, 1963 (Oh, What A Night) » Four Seasons
05. Play That Funky Music » Wild Cherry
06. Kiss And Say Goodbye » Manhattans
07. Love Machine (Part 1) » The Miracles
08. 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover » Paul Simon
09. Love Is Alive » Gary Wright
10. A Fifth Of Beethoven » Walter Murphy & The Big Apple Band
11. Sara Smile » Daryl Hall & John Oates
12. Afternoon Delight » Starland Vocal Band
13. I Write The Songs » Barry Manilow
14. Fly, Robin, Fly » Silver Convention
15. Love Hangover » Diana Ross
16. Get Closer » Seals & Crofts
17. More, More, More » Andrea True Connection
18. Bohemian Rhapsody » Queen
19. Misty Blue » Dorothy Moore
20. Boogie Fever » Sylvers
21. I'd Really Love To See You Tonight » England Dan & John Ford Coley
22. You Sexy Thing » Hot Chocolate
23. Love Hurts » Nazareth
24. Get Up And Boogie » Silver Convention
25. Take It To The Limit » Eagles

Was I Seeking Good or Just Seeking Attention?

One question haunts and hurts

Too much, too much to mention:

Was I really seeking good
Or just seeking attention?

Is that all good deeds are

When looked at with an ice-cold eye?

If that's all good deeds are

Maybe that's the reason why

- Elpheba

Saw Wicked last night and let me just say:

Me= BIG FAN.

I LOVED it. I mean, I really really loved it. "I-would-see-it-again-tonight-and-pay-for-better-seats" LOVED it. The show single-handedly renewed my faith in musicals as a form of theatre that I enjoy. Turns out I'm NOT jaded. I'm just hard to impress...and impressed I was.

The sets were fantastic, the staging was awesome, the costumes inspired and the talent was out of this world. The first 1/2 ended and I turned to Suzanne and said, "Oh my god" over the literal roar of the audience. She was mirrored my aproval with a nod and a, "dammn". We went and sat on the steps outside the theatre, sipping our champers and discussing what we liked best, excitedly talking over each other:

"That song!"
"Her voice!"
"The costumes!"
"Yes!!"

I was sad to be at intermission, that meant it was going to end soon.

I also now have a huge girl crush on Idina Menzel. That woman can SING, SING, SING. My god I was blown away. And she's pretty even when she's green! The Tony Award went to the very right person!

So if you are in London before January (when the cast will change) GO to Wicked. Go Go Go!
What a great way to jump into birthday week!

Oh, and tomorrow is the big day by the way. Until then I not 30, I'm 29.95.

We're Gonna Party Like It's Your Birthday

Welcome to BIRTHDAY WEEK!!

For those that know and love me, you know that my birthday is always cause for special celebration. It's NEVER "just another birthday"- it's a week long fiesta! This year, being my 30th, is going to be bigger and better than ever before. As we are now in the final countdown to the big day I can let my fan club members in on the big plans...Let's see what we have on deck:

• Tuesday: Tickets to Wicked with my manager Suzanne
• Wednesday: Work colleague celebration. We're rolling VIP all night
• Thursday (the big day): All of London will shut down in celebration. Party at lunchtime in Leicester Square. Scissor Sisters and Justin Timberlake scheduled to perform
• Friday: Parade down the Strand featuring the Horse Guards, the Queen, Kylie and Robbie Williams. Madge and Gwyn taking me to dinner at the Ivy (I am NOT eating macro-biotic!) then off to my sold out concert at Wembley arena. 7 costume changes planned. Prince William hosting after party. Christal will flow like a river.
• Saturday: More champers and VIP party at Guilty Pleasures. (*note - have PA return Paris and La Lohan calls - they are NOT on the list). My party. My paparazzi.

That's pretty much it. I must spa now. Some of those costumes don't leave much to the imagination and I will not be featured on Fugly as a result.

Top 5 Friday Songs

It's Friday and I'm ready to sing

pick up my girls and hit the party scene

tonight oh oh it's alright umm

so get up and let this funky mellow groove

get you in the mood

cause you know it's alright

- Aaliyah

After a relatively quiet week at work I have found myself in back-t0-back-to-back meetings today. It's given my Friday a bit of a frantic feeling and find that I am slave to my calendar. As I look VERY forward to my weekend I offer you the Top 5 Songs on my iTunes repeat today:

1. "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" - Panic! At the Disco
2. "I Don't Feel Like Dancing" - Scissor Sisters
3. "Pretty Little Thing" - Fink
4. "SexyBack" - Justin Timberlake
5. "Galaxy(Live)" - Jason Mraz

Listen and love it peeps. Listen and love.

Happy Friday!

Close Encounters of the Crazy Kind

And I hope that you are having the time of your life

But think twice, that's my only advice

Come on now, who do you, who do you, who do you, who do you think you are,

Ha ha ha bless your soul

You really think you're in control

- Gnarls Barkley

The one thing about living in a city as big as London is that you encounter Crazy on a regular basis.
You get used to people in strange outfits (are the fashionable or insane?), to people shouting at the voices in their head (is he announcing something? nope, arguing with his dead mother), and, my personal favourite, laughing at jokes on street corners when no one else is around.

After a while and it begins to blend into the background.

Crazy can take all shapes and forms and can exist in varying degrees. On the more extreme end, there is the guy who spends the whole bus ride whispering secrets to his newspaper and laughing silently to himself. On the less obvious, but more creepy end, there is the guy who insists on sitting next to you on the almost empty Tube carriage (I got up and moved to the other end).

You learn the rules for dealing with Crazy.

• Do not, for any reason, engage with Crazy on any level. Keep an eye on Crazy but do NOT make eye contact.
• Ignore Crazy as much as possible. Act like Crazy's behaviour does not affect you. That Crazy, is in in-fact behaving in a perfectly normal manner.
• If Crazy attempts to engage with you the best thing to do is to move away as quickly. If you can put someone else in front of you to deal with Crazy instead this is good. Do throw strangers under that bus.
• Whatever you do, DO NOT MAKE A SCENE. Crazy loves a scene.

However, knowing all these rules was no help for me today. Today, I had my ultimate Crazy encounter and sadly, I didn't even see it coming...even though I had been warned it might happen.

A few months back, a colleague came back to the office telling tales of walking down the Strand when a crazy little toothless lady had grabbed her arm/hip area. Just a quick grab.
We all thought, "How bizarre! She didn't talk to you or try to steal from you or anything?" Nope. She just kinda goosed her lightly on her hip and then moved away. Crazy old loon.

Fast forward to this morning. I am walking down the Strand, reading email on my phone (yes I am a nerd) and I kind of half notice a white-haired toothless lady standing near the bus stop. She has rainbow striped, fingerless gloves on and looks to be a harmless old biddy. I think nothing of it. I keep reading my mail. I am distracted and I forget that I have been warned. I quickly remembered when...

SHE GOOSES ME.

I was so shocked I nearly jumped out of my skin.

The people behind me were shocked too! I bet we were a sight to see! All three non-Crazies staring open-mouthed at Crazy and realizing that none of us had seen that coming.

Pervy old loon.

Score one for Crazy.

Overheard in London in the Last 24 hours

On my way to the Tube last night:

"She's so pretty but she can't kiss for sh*t."

Ouch.

It's a Mystery of Human Chemistry and I Don't Understand it

A prize to the one who can name that movie quote in my headline WITHOUT Googling it.

A little confession to my blog readers (you know I hate to keep secrets from all of you) I have lately been participating in some very un-Katie behaviour...

I've been (gulp!) dating.

Yep. After 2 years in London and a very poor dating record to show for it, I decided actively venture out in the dating world and do something about it. Never one to sit on the sidelines of an activity I want to participate in, I've now thrown myself into the deep end and am actively treading water.

As a result, I've lately found myself thinking about things that I haven't thought about in a while.
Top of the list: human chemistry.

What is it about one person that can make you instantly more attracted to them then the rest? Why is one guy sitting across from me in a pub infintely more exciting for me to talk to then the guy right next to him? If there were twins, both single and identical, would I choose one over the other or find them equally interesting?

Following a few dates with different guys recently, I've found myself in very different situations after each one. Reactions have ranged from, "well, that didn't kill me" to "Wow! I hope he calls me!". The frustrating ones are the times I found myself liking him a lot but realizing that it wasn't in a romantic way.

At all.
But why?

I feel like I am in the middle of one big social experiment...The mystery of human chemistry.

I'll keep you posted on how I do.

It's poetry in motion

She turned her tender eyes to me

As deep as any ocean

As sweet as any harmony

Mmm - but she blinded me with science

"She blinded me with science!"

And failed me in biology

- Thomas Dolby

Somebody STOP Me

I am totally completely 100% obsessed with "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" by Panic! At the Disco. According to my new iTunes 7.0 I have listened to it 8 times already and it's only 1.30 pm UK time.

Oddly enough, I still can't decide if I really like it or not.

I also love that they have a song called "The Only Difference Between Suicide and Martyrdom is Press Coverage". **

Awesome.

**Although, out of loyalty to my profession, I do feel compelled to clarify that in reality it's actually "The Only Difference Between Suicide and Martyrdom is your PR Team" but we'll let that slide for now

Overexposure?

I always feel like

Somebody's watching me

And I have no privacy

Whooooa, oh-oh

- Rockwell

So we are one week in and I am really glad I made the jump from MSN Space to Blogger. I did lose some of the ease of use of MSN but overall my pages load faster, anyone can comment now and I feel a lot more in control of my space.

Planned updates still include:

• I am hoping to add Flicker soon so I can share photos
• I also need to update my world map - that one that's on here is from my MSN Space. I haven't fixed it yet.
• Thinking if I have some down time on the Net I might go play around and look for some fun other things to add to my space...any suggestions on what those might be?

However, I will say that the one down side to all of this is that I am also feeling a bit exposed now. Anyone can find my space easily (the lovers and the haters) and after having my hand slapped earlier this week, I've noticed that it's causing me to censor myself in a way I never thought about on Spaces. Out here in the bright lights of the blogging world I feel like I need to keep the shades lowered just a bit. I've got to watch my sound bytes and stick to safe public topics - I can't jump on couches, have adorable alien babies, or wear white after Labour Day without ridicule now. The fans are EVERYWHERE and they are judging me. Ack!

...

Eh, maybe it's just the paranoia of fame kicking in.

Speaking of fame - who else here LOVES Entourage? They are finally showing the first season in the great UK and I watched my first 2 episodes last night. LOVES IT. Loves it. Loves it. I am once again annoyed that all you USA peeps get to be on Season 2 and I am just now discovering it.

I'm getting dizzy. I feel a DVD purchase coming on...

That Song is Called "Land of Hope & Glory"?!?

Tam bo li de say de moi ya
Hey Jambo Jumbo
Way to parti o we goin'
Oh, jambali
Tam bo li de say de moi ya

Yeah, Jumbo, jumbo!
Oh, O, O, O, yes

We're going to have a party!

All night long (all night), All night (all night)

- Lionel Richie

Went to the Last Night of the Proms on Saturday (photos soon!) and experienced the "finer" side of British culture. The Proms are held throughout the summer at the Royal Albert Hall and are usually a bit of a dignified affair. The Last Night they take the show on the road and have a performance in Hyde Park with music that's a bit more popular.

We picnicked starting around 5 and were treated to everything popular and orchestral from the Superman march (Prashant, you would have been close to tears) to "I Could've Danced All Night" from My Fair Lady. The big headliner (and the reason we were there, let's be honest) was the man himself, LIONEL RICHIE.
Awwwyeeeeeeaaaaah.

Needless to say, we were dancing on the ceiling all night long.

I could lie and say I didn't rush the stage (full speed in flip flops from the back of the park). I could lie. But I won't.

If you want to experience the night for yourself you can watch it here.

The highlight of the Proms was Pomp & Circumstance (in America we call it the graduation march?). Yeah, turns out in the UK it's not P&C it's "The Land of Hope and Glory". It has lyrics...and everyone knows them except for the 'Mericans. The British flags came out, people wrapped their arms around each other and sang along at full volume. It was all very patriotic...and a bit weird.

I could lie and say we didn't sing along waving our flags as well. I could lie and say we didn't sing out loud on the Tube almost all the way home. I could lie. But I won't.

Between Lionel and the Hoff it's been a hell of a week!

Meeting the Hoff: Borders Books, Oxford Street

"I have to say it was a good day."
- Ice Cube

After an hour of waiting and several times asking ourselves, "What the hell are we doing here?" We finally met the Hoff himself.

We now know why we were put on this planet. The Hoff told us. He said, "You girls are HOT! Get back here for a picture!"

Welcome Fans!!!

Hello hello and welcome to the new space!

I'd like to reassure my fans that even though I have this new place, I am still the American Girl in London. If you ever find yourself wanting to view the old blog (and maybe research my trip to Nice or Prague or my thoughts on British Airways) there is a link in my profile. I am not going to kill it because a) I don't know how to port the content and b) I don't want to lose it.

Damn you MSN Spaces. Damn you I say!

In other news, the blog launch party last night was a bit out of control and today I have a hangover (very rock and roll). However, the results is that here I am on launch day and severly lacking in creativity for welcoming words. I decided that instead, I'm going to let the king of British Pop, Mr. Robbie Williams (seems fitting given the new theme and my location), express me and the hopes for this new blog better than I ever could. Welcome everyone!

Let me entertain you

She may be good she may be outta sight

But she can't be here so come around tonight

Here is the place where the feeling grows

You gotta get high before you taste the lows

So come on

Let me entertain you

Let me entertain you

So come on let me entertain me

Let me entertain you

Come on come on come on come on