Nordic House Spa

Here's the cleaned-up version, colors left exactly as you wrote them (grey in the terrace paragraph, green in the theatre paragraph):

Color hunt challenge, day three. Sage Grey.

Started at Victoria House with a chai latte and breakfast, the French toast with clotted cream was to die for, two minutes from the British Museum, then spent the morning wandering the galleries. The Rosetta Stone, the one you can touch, was awesome, my little librarian was happy. Oh, you didn't know? Yes, I have a BA in information science. The Egyptian mummies were great, but I think the Middle Eastern section was more memorable. One of the traditional dresses reminded me of the hanbok my mother-in-law gifted me, and the incense ball was super cool. Easily one of my favorite mornings of the trip.

A quick stop at OuterNet, which was an awesome free walk-in installation with dynamic video art.

From there, high tea at Dalloway Terrace inside The Bloomsbury Hotel. Botanical installations everywhere, scones, clotted cream, and grey found me at every turn on that terrace. The lemon mousse was especially good. Is it presumptuous of me to say I think my sourdough cast-off scones with cranberries might actually be better than the ones there? I do love to bake.

Evening plans shifted a little (solo bookings and cocktail bars don't always get along), but the night still ended properly with Beetlejuice at the Prince Edward Theatre. Green lighting, green and stripes everything, the whole show basically handed me the color theme on a platter. One of the best and most humorous musicals I've seen in a long time, and the cast was so very talented. The woman who played Lydia was exceptional, her voice really carried.

Bonus slide: London Goodies, all the little things from today that didn't fit the color story but were too good to leave out.

📍 London, UK

Color hunt challenge, day two. Chinese Violet.

Started the day with a full English at Dean Street Townhouse, stained glass windows, plush armchairs, and yes, I tried the black pudding. No regrets, although I think I prefer the Danish version, which we call blood sausage and eat with sugar or apple sauce.

Then out to Kew Gardens for the day. Three hundred acres, comfortable shoes required. Wandered through the Palm House, the Temperate House, and found the Great Pagoda and the Japanese Landscape, complete with the most photogenic little bridge I've seen all trip. Skipped lunch but opted for a decadent chocolate cake at the Orangery, because apparently a full English, even a half one, is a meal that lasts most of the day.

Closed the day at The Ivy Soho. Velvet booths, no live music, but an amazing fish cake for my main and an appetizer of steak tartare with the most decadent poached yolk split I've seen to date. A dinner that made the whole day feel like a proper occasion.

Violet found its way into almost everything today, stained glass, garden shadows, even the light at dinner. Bonus slide for all the other amazing things that fell outside the color theme.

📍 London, UK

Color hunt challenge, because when traveling alone, it's fun to have a task to occupy your mind.

Papaya Grey. Day 1 in London, and it turned out this whole city is basically the color on repeat.

Checked into Soho, dropped my bags, and went straight to Chinatown for dim sum at Golden Phoenix. Slate pavement, grey stone framing red gates everywhere I looked, the color was just sitting there waiting to be found. and look at the cute Fu-dog.

Wandered through Leicester Square and Covent Garden, then tried to find Neal's Yard and got completely lost instead. Never did find it. Turns out London is notorious for bad internet connection, and I kept losing connection on Google Maps. Ten out of ten London experience, would get lost again.

Ended the night at Zum Barbarossa, a basement speakeasy tucked under a 1730 Georgian townhouse on Dean Street. Dark grey walls, moody cocktails, the perfect close. Although I had to add another slide to show the beautiful colors of the speakeasy and the Chinese restaurant, so enjoy the bonus red.

One city. One very well-fed, slightly lost, very happy me.

📍 London, UK

Day 5. The last day of class, and somehow the fastest one of the week.

Started with breakfast at the hotel, one last demo and show and tell, and then went straight into practical exams. I worked on the lovely Kathy from Northern Ireland, which felt like a full circle moment after a week of learning from and with each other.

Then came the part I'd been working toward all week. Certificate in hand, standing next to Petra, genuinely proud of everything this week soaked into my brain. And then the whole group together, everyone holding their certificates, all of us a little tired and a lot changed. Just look at all these lovely, talented ladies.

Later that evening, Petra and I went to dinner at the Boathouse. I got a rare, quiet hour to just pick her brain on business, on building something real, on what it actually takes. Who knows, maybe you'll see me in the role of educator again someday 😳

Not every trip gives you that kind of access. I didn't take it for granted. Made a new true friend, well actually, many new friends.

Five days. A certificate. Two handfuls of new friends across three countries. And a conversation over dinner I'll be thinking about for a while.
Next stop Soho London

📍 Maidenhead, UK
Aftercare Academy by Petra Erving

Day 4 in Maidenhead, and this lobby keeps outdoing itself. Absolutely gorgeous.

Today Petra walked us through stroke direction based on lymphatic watersheds, drawing it all directly onto our lovely TA Liv. Watching the map come together in real time, and then seeing it up close on skin, made something click that no diagram ever fully did for me.

Ended the night with dinner alongside some of the best people. Going all the way to London to take this class meant I got to make friends from all over the EU, and honestly could not be happier. These gals are absolute class! France, England, Northern Ireland, and me repping the USA. Stellar group, stellar week.


📍 Maidenhead, UK
Aftercare Academy by Petra Erving

Day 3 in Maidenhead, told in snacks and small victories.

Started the morning by finally figuring out how to put a lid on my tea without a small crisis (progress). Then into a hospital lobby so nice I had to double check I wasn't at a hotel.

Lunch was excellent, and so was the local wildlife. There was a pigeon outside eating like it also had a big class day ahead of it. Absolute unit. We were basically colleagues by the end of lunch.

Homework continued in the background and way into the night as it does.

And then, dessert. I'd heard Beard Meats Food rave about the Bischoff cheesecake here, so obviously I had to test the claim myself. Verdict: worth the hype. Pizza wasn't bad either.

Three days in, one very content pigeon, and me.


📍 Maidenhead, UK
Aftercare Academy by Petra Erving

What makes this program stand out? You watch a LIVE surgery. 👀

Day 2 in Maidenhead. That day we observed a live surgery and got to ask questions while it happened.

Watching Dr. Fulvio explain his thinking in real time, why he made certain calls, how things shifted mid-surgery, was genuinely one of the most incredible things I'd witnessed in this field. Getting to see what a patient actually goes through, and the decision-making behind it, hit different than any textbook ever could.

Huge thank you to Berkshire Grove Hospital, Dr. Fulvio, and the whole staff for hosting us. And of course, thank you to Petra for putting together an experience that is true nitty gritty learning.

People have asked me since my return what's different about Petra's class, and here's one of the answers. I have never heard of a post-op care massage focused class where you get to observe a surgery and ask questions in real time. The other thing that's unique is Petra herself, her attention to you, to detail, and her willingness to share and answer questions is what makes this class stand out.

Three days still to go at that point. Already one for the books.

📍 Maidenhead, UK
Aftercare Academy by Petra Erving

Day 2 in Maidenhead, homework and dinner YES please.

Booklet open, another day of class in the books. Ended the night with Elite Kebab, a little local spot that ruined me for gyros back home. Genuinely don't know why the US hasn't caught up on this one. It's funny because it's also one of the first things I get when going home to Denmark. Kebab pizza, yum.

And yes, the homework started. Thigh lift and lipo case study, staring at me from the desk. No peeking, want a case like this? Take the class :D

📍 Maidenhead, UK
Aftercare Academy by Petra Erving

Day 2 in Maidenhead, Aftercare Academy class in pictures.

Coffee, my trusty pencil case, and a croissant to start the morning right. Then straight into watershed anatomy on our lovely TA Liv, a full box of KT tape, and watching Petra demo a taping technique that genuinely changed how I think about taping for lymphatics.

Some days you learn something new. Some days you learn something that rearranges what you already thought you knew. This was the second kind. Even though I've taken KT taping classes before and thought I knew it all, it's honestly awesome to be proven wrong and learn something new. Petra was so kind, even when my tape was wonky.

📍 Maidenhead, UK

Aftercare Academy by Petra Erving

That night I got back from dinner with my class, our educator, and TA. It was 8:30pm, we'd started at 9am, and my brain was fully cooked.

That day's class went deep on corset making and got us all on the same page for what this class would entail. We were prepping for watching a surgery take place, and understanding how taking measurements and fitting garments connects to post-surgical care for elective and cosmetic procedures. I was tired, but it was so worth it.

Day 1, done.

📍 Maidenhead, UK
Aftercare Academy by Petra Erving