48 Barrington Green

Though I don't officially leave this magical island for a few months still, the lease on our beloved grad school home is up on Wednesday.

Wednesday also happens to be my birthday and truly, what more glorious way can you think of celebrating entering those late-twenties than by moving?

(hint: it's sarcasm)

The amount of memories 48 Barrington Green holds for me seems so much bigger than two years. Here are some of my favorites:

The Jam Sessions

These happened so often, Tillett eventually just left his extra guitar over at our place. Also luckily for us, Katie can harmonize like no one's business. Sometimes it was 2 am, with nothing but the glow of our fake Amish fireplace accompanying a soft melody. Sometimes it was 2 pm and my Texas accent wanted top billing. See some excerpts below:

Deleting things on my phone and I found this gem @morrill.kt @aramis47 😂👍❤️ #jamsesh

A video posted by Jenny King (@jkitsmejenny) on May 28, 2015 at 7:46am PDT

We can be really productive AND belt 90s rock at the same time. #teenagedirtbagforever @jojoginn #east15

A video posted by Jenny King (@jkitsmejenny) on Jan 29, 2015 at 2:45pm PST

We may or may not have sung an acoustic version of Cee Lo Green's contemporary classic "F*?! You" tonight in the living room around our fireplace. (Don't worry, this snippet is safe for the kids.) #cursingbysong #itsthebestcursing #ceelo #covers

A video posted by Jenny King (@jkitsmejenny) on Apr 25, 2014 at 7:29pm PDT

Super blurry friend love 🙌

A photo posted by Jenny King (@jkitsmejenny) on May 2, 2014 at 6:07pm PDT

The Parties

I'm super glad for these late nights with both big and small groups of my classmates. My favorite by far was our Too Cool for British Rule party last July 4th. Reveling in that love for 'merica - always a good time.

No more thesis = now more party #gradschool #east15

A photo posted by Jenny King (@jkitsmejenny) on May 1, 2015 at 2:23pm PDT

Go sports! 💃 #london

A photo posted by Jenny King (@jkitsmejenny) on Feb 1, 2015 at 4:33pm PST

Norwegians love the fourth too. @wasrud #usa 💙❤️🇺🇸❤️💙

A photo posted by Jenny King (@jkitsmejenny) on Jul 4, 2014 at 12:47pm PDT

Entering second party phase. #fourthofjuly

A photo posted by Jenny King (@jkitsmejenny) on Jul 4, 2014 at 4:39pm PDT

A Sunday filled with cheering on Americans, Canadians, and Norwegians. We're global here at E15, you know. 👍

A photo posted by Jenny King (@jkitsmejenny) on Feb 9, 2014 at 7:05am PST

The Flatmate

So let me tell you my first real memory of 48 Barrington Green. My parents and I get dropped off in a taxi the morning of move-in. The door is already open, a lady from our letting agency is finishing up check-in. I'm lugging one of my suitcases across the threshold when all of a sudden I hear a shriek of pure joy and feel JoJo Ginn pulling me into the biggest hug possible. All of this before I actually *see* her. It was the best first moment possible and is kinda a perfect symbol of our whole friendship. I'm so incredibly thankful for sharing this place with this girl.

Flatmates! #london

A photo posted by Jenny King (@jkitsmejenny) on Sep 21, 2013 at 6:23am PDT

I enjoy this human being a lot. #bestflatmate #east15 #gradschool

A photo posted by Jenny King (@jkitsmejenny) on Feb 26, 2015 at 3:47pm PST

Co-host of my life

A photo posted by Jenny King (@jkitsmejenny) on May 2, 2015 at 5:39am PDT

When your house gets scouted for filming, don't forget to make use of your welcome chalkboard. #east15

A photo posted by Jenny King (@jkitsmejenny) on Feb 19, 2015 at 12:50pm PST

How most of @jojoginn and my's crazy grad school nights end. (Yes, her computer has a fake mustache.)

A photo posted by Jenny King (@jkitsmejenny) on Feb 16, 2015 at 2:28pm PST

All the mirror selfies in the world couldn't contain the love I have for this girl. #bestflatmate #gradschool #east15

A photo posted by Jenny King (@jkitsmejenny) on Jan 24, 2015 at 2:33pm PST

The current light of my life. #bestflatmate @jojoginn

A photo posted by Jenny King (@jkitsmejenny) on Dec 11, 2014 at 7:00am PST

Best roomie @jojoginn brought me back a diet coke from the mall. Because she gets me. #gradschool

A photo posted by Jenny King (@jkitsmejenny) on Oct 15, 2014 at 1:35pm PDT

Made some cheddar bay biscuits to celebrate @jojoginn being done with her challenge! #roomielove #redlobsterinlondon

A photo posted by Jenny King (@jkitsmejenny) on May 3, 2014 at 9:21am PDT

The Barrington Collective

Our theatre company was born out of our living room during one of the many, many late nights Katie, JoJo, and I spent talking, laughing, and singing together. Katie, though not an official roommate, spends so much time with us she has a toothbrush and a spare mattress at 48. We became a trio of lifelong friends under this roof.

Reunited and it feels so-FREAKING COLD because we turned the heat off in London in winter for three weeks.

A photo posted by Jenny King (@jkitsmejenny) on Jan 7, 2015 at 10:45am PST

Friday with JoJo & Katie...& Ben & Jerry #gradschool

A photo posted by Jenny King (@jkitsmejenny) on Oct 17, 2014 at 12:01pm PDT

Could I love these two any more?? Not possible! #east15 #gradschool

A photo posted by Jenny King (@jkitsmejenny) on Jun 28, 2014 at 7:40pm PDT

Ready for an early Thanksgiving celebration with my classmates.

A photo posted by Jenny King (@jkitsmejenny) on Nov 22, 2013 at 3:44pm PST

Sure the house gave us a few problems - the occasional downstairs toilet flooding and washing machine clog. But overall, this place has been pretty great to us. So in a few days, as a new 28-year-old, I'll try to say goodbye to this beautiful little place without ugly-crying.

(hint: it's totally gonna happen)

To 48 Barrington Green,

Christmas Favorites

Merry Christmas, y'all! I've been back on Texas soil for a little over a week now and have enjoyed every minute - even the 20 minutes spent trying to get out of a parking garage at North Park Mall in Dallas this Monday.

In honor of the day, here are a few of my new and old Christmas favorites:

Bonus! Because it's super important and because including Matt Chandler explaining how Fox News is wrong makes my heart happy.

To Christmas and Jesus,

YouTube Updates

Have you seen all my recent vlogs? Because I have been all up in the YouTube recently. Here's your own personal catch-up list, in case you've missed anything.

Katie helped me figure out all the 2014 resolutions for me to fail horribly at. (Except for the one involving sweat pants - I'm keeping that one gloriously well.)

JoJo, Katie, and I ventured into Soho one Friday to eat some classic American food at a place called The Diner. That's right- American food. In London. We just miss bacon so much.

Finally (and my personal favorite) the three of us had a day off this week. So what did we do? Figured out an acapella arrangement of my favorite Ingrid Michaelson song, of course! (If you want to hear the original, click here.)

YouTube is kinda the best. There are hilarious, intelligent, wonderful people from all over the world making great content on that site. And plus, you know...cat videos.

Wha- Why?.....How?

I think a cat gif is always a good stopping place. 

To the internets,

September Favorites

Lady Gaga - Applause: No it wasn't Gaga's weird face paint & sea shell-filled music video or her disturbing VMA performance that finally got me hooked on this song. It was a car commercial featuring adorable hamsters trying to get fit. I mean, come on. That's just fantastic.

Justin Timberlake - Take Back the Night: No explanation needed, right?

Selena Gomez - Birthday: This might be the epitome of throw-away pop, but I just don't really care. Tell 'em that it's my birthday.

The Newsroom - Election Night, Part 2: I know a lot of people thought the season finale wrapped everything up too nicely and I agree the montage at the end felt very rom-commy, but several moments left me too happy to care. Mainly I just hate that this series has such short seasons.

New Girl - All In: This was the perfect season premiere for me. I know the writers will make Nick and Jess' relationship crash and burn at some point (to reignite tension and draw plots out a la Friends, Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, on and on and on) but I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts. Winston and his puzzle struggles were a highlight of the episode (see below). Side note: can't wait for some Winston/Coach action in the upcoming weeks. COACH!

New York City Ballet - YPC

Vlogbrothers - Syria in 5 Minutes

TED - Everyday Cybercrime & What You Can Do about It

Vlogbrothers - 42 Amazing Maps

Oscars - Bryan Cranston's Advice to Aspiring Actors

Mental Floss - Crazy (but creative) Film Interpretations

Relevant Magazine - Lies Every 20something Needs to Stop Believing

BuzzFeed - The 14 Saddest Moments of Futurama

Thomas Ward - One Fell Swoop

Jayson Bradley - 3 Things Christians Need to Stop Saying

Huff Post - 6 Words You Should Say Today

benedictcumberbatchgenerator.tumblr.com/

Endless fantastic names in the style of everyone's favorite Sherlock.

picmonkey.com

Ever wonder how I feed my photo collage addiction habit? Welcome to my crack cocaine.

Say Yes to Grapefruits's Even Skin Tone Moisturizer with SPF 15 - I really like the "Say Yes to" company. Their products are paraben and cruelty free and I'm always up for putting more SPF on my face.

Society6 Up iPhone Case - A new phone upgrade means a new phone case. I was giddy when I stumbled upon one of my favorite images from cinema.

To many new London favorites to come!

The Final Days

I set all the travel notifications.

I've eaten all the delicious Texas food.

I packed my life into 5 suitcases (3 big/2 little if you're a detail person).

I even shot a goodbye tour of Waco with the lovely Casen:

Backtracking to a few weeks ago, my homegroup from The Village threw me a going away party. I've been so incredibly blessed by this group of people. I could never put into words what they've done for my heart and what the Lord has shown me through their grace, patience, and love. Thank you to Janet, Marc, Kate, Jeremy, Hannah, Cory, Jody, Baron, Dan, Worris, Kristin, the Allens, the Wrens, the McCords, the Grahams, and everyone else that I had the pleasure of fellowshipping with at the Oglesby abode these past 2.5 years. I love you so!

A few photographic highlights from the night:

For the party, my friends had written me letters to open while I'm in London. I in turn made them each a copy of this:

And what was on this cd, you ask? Not to worry, I made a track listing (ignore the red squiggles just like I do):

It's a strange, extremely eclectic mix, but hey, every song means something to me. Just be glad I restrained myself and didn't include any 1D.

I came back home from DFW with an extremely full heart and a need to do lots of organizing, lots of packing, and lots of procrastinating from doing those other two things. (#Netflix) Luckily you can only stare at your computer screen for so long until your eyes rebel and force you on to other, more important tasks. 

One thing you never think you're going to run out of is luggage tags. Pro tip: If you do, just use it as another opportunity to buy something to showcase your obnoxious state pride.

This past week, I headed back up to DFW for some last minute quality time with a few very important people. It feels like I've been driving this I-35 stretch so many times my car should be able to autopilot itself there by now. The journey is always worth it to see these wonderful friends.

I'm spending my last few days here in lovely Waco running errands, basking in the smog-free sunlight, racking up phone bills by calling London at 3 a.m. to figure out utilities at my new place, enjoying my family, and assuring Zorro that "I'll be back before he knows it so no need to fall into a deep depression over my leaving." 

Either he doesn't believe me or doesn't care. I can't tell.

On Thursday, my BFFAE (google it) Emily will drive me up to DFW where I'll fly off for the beginning of an adventurous two years. It's very fitting for Em to drop me off since our Summer 2011 trip to London reminded me beyond a doubt of how much I loved this city and wanted to live, work, and study in it. If she could only stow away in my suitcase, life would be perfect.

There are two - count 'em two - Friends references above.

To my addiction of making photo collages,

August Favorites

Jesse McCartney - Back Together: The 9th grade girl that lingers inside me won't let this one go.

Ryan O'Shaughnessy - No Name: Ryan finished 5th during the 6th season of Britain's Got Talent and this is the original song he auditioned with. It's gorgeous.

Conor Maynard - Vegas Girl: Ignore the incredibly awkward music video and just dance instead.

Bastille - Pompeii: This should have been a "song of the summer" contender.

The Band Perry - Done: We all have someone we'd sing this to in our heads.

The Piano Guys - Begin Again: You can't really go wrong with the cello/piano combo.

SYTYCD - Top 8: I loved the concept of All Stars also as choreographers. It's amazing how much talent has run through that show. My two favorite numbers of the night:

The Newsroom - Red Team III: I really don't care what the critics continue to say about this show- I love it. The ep's promo:

It also had the best last two seconds of an show I've seen in a while, delivered perfectly by Jane Fonda.

Pretty Little Liars - Now You See Me, Now You Don't: Ahh, PLL. We meet again. You've become my favorite guilty pleasure no matter how many loose ends you leave dangling. The summer finale was full of #WorldWarA ridiculousness with the biggest reveal that (spoilers) Ezra is A!...or one of the A's...or on the A team...or was just following the girls trying to keep them safe? See what I mean about dangling ends? So many questions; about 99.4% of them unanswered.

My favorite thing the internets have given us so far concerning this episode:

HISHE (How It Should Have Ended) - Pacific Rim

New York City Ballet - Dancing Peter Martins' Swan Lake

Jasmine Meakin - "Talk Dirty" choreo

John Green - Why Are American Health Care Costs So High? (High five for the nerdfighter readers! Anyone out there? Anyone??)

NBC Sports - An American Coach in London

Jezebel.com - Racial implications of Miley Cyrus' VMA performance

ArtsUSA - How the arts teach 21st Century success skills

Church is Messy - Calling out Joel Osteen and Joyce Meyer

Austin Statesman - Finally! A clothing line for girls who aren't defined by pink & purple.

Boston Globe - Did Shakespeare really make up all those words?

whatrhymeswithhug.me/

One of the top songs this summer that's been asking for it so badly.

dailydishonestly.com

Lies told via top notch graphic design.

fakescience.org

Chic Graphique's Customized Laptop Sleeve - I'm a sucker when it comes to monograms. Mine is en route now:

L'Oreal BB Cream - Evidently there's a whole wealth of things you can put on your face that I didn't even know about. (What the heck is primer, amirite?) BB Cream is like all that good stuff combined. This is my first to every try (so I don't claim to be an expert) but I pretty much love it. Lightweight, non-greasy, and (best of all) CHEAP. 

Vera Bradley's Laptop Backpack - Since I'd been slugging around the same one for over five years, I decided to use my Vera birthday coupon this year on a new backpack. The laptop compartment is super handy and I of course know it's great quality.

What did I miss??

To many new September favorites!