Kew Gardens

If you are planning a trip to London with children, Kew Gardens is definitely a must. We are pretty bummed that this was our first visit to this wonderful place! We surely would have come often during our other stints here, had we known.

This is one of the few sites in London that you have to pay admission fees, but it's worth it. The glass houses are beautiful, the grounds are breathtaking, there's an awesome tree walk that's really fun (though it does sway in the wind and you can see through the floor to the ground, which is a bit trippy), an amazing playground/discovery center for kids, and you don't have to refrain from walking on the lawn... in fact, they encourage it! We went on a Saturday and thought it would be packed, but at one point we went at least an hour without seeing other visitors. We felt like we had the place to ourselves.

It was so picturesque.

and yes, that's my little one running away in the distance. She tends to do that.

Something old

I saw this ring on Portobello Road on Friday. It looked old, and I love it when old things look old. It was marked £15, but when I dug through my pockets and showed the booth owner my measly £3.05 in coins as a joke, he told me he'd take it. Well, he'd take it if E smiled at him, and smile she did. So although the setting is sterling silver, the stone has to be a fake. But really, for £3 who cares!

As soon as I got home I took a toothbrush (remind me to buy the Mister a new toothbrush) and went to work cleaning it up. I was so excited to see it sparkle as I pulled it from its sudsy bath and rinsed it off.

I loved the way it looked before, but it's sure lovely now! The setting is sterling silver and I need to take a picture from the side. I've never seen a setting like this before and I love it. £3 well spent, I say.