"There's An Art Gallery Two Blocks Away / And We've Never Been There"

Lost 5.5 pounds, plus countless hours obsessing over the points (excuse me, POINTS!) of various foods. Sometimes I wonder if it’s worth it. I feel dieting makes me a more boring person – I become more grounded in the practical; less spontaneous. I’m less likely to want to go out to dinner on the spur of the moment because I haven’t save the calories for it. A last-minute movie after work immediately makes me wonder if I’ll be so hungry when the movie’s done that I’ll eat more than I should. I know, I know. Like I said, boring.

Tonight’s Let’s Make the Most of London activity – and get out a little before another 70-hour week crushes me -- was the Raphael exhibit at the National Gallery with a friend who recently quit her job and is moving back to Boston. Tonight was the last late night view of the show before it closes, and the place was packed with people who’d clearly just come from work. (The gallery is literally about four blocks from where I work -- I always think about going at lunch on a slow day, but somehow it never happens. The slow day, anyway.) I looked in wonder at how violent some of Raphael’s paintings are, but mostly I looked in wonder at the people. Did they do this sort of thing regularly? Or were they more like us – New Year’s resolute to take a bit more advantage of the city in which they live?

And on the other end of the culture scale, get me a Team Aniston t-shirt. I admire Angelina for the causes she champions (and for actually knowing something about them), but pregnant with Brad’s baby when the ink is barely dry on his and Jen’s divorce papers? Ugh. And poor Jen – anything she does this week (breathing included) is going to be splashed on all the celebrity magazine covers as a “reaction” to the news. Out partying? Dancing the blues away. Reading a book? Moping. Avoiding the paparazzi (something most A-listers do regularly anyway)? Hiding her tears from the world.