Saturday 30 November 2013

Thanksgiving 2013




Thanksgiving is always my favorite time of the year! Every year when I have been home the first thing I would do in the morning is color the Star Tribune turkey. I find coloring to be really fun! I always get excited when there is a full crowd at my parents house!  - but this year I celebrated and gave thanks to Craig who cooked an AMAZING Thanksgiving -Evening meal for us.

*Note: Couldn't find tinned pumpkin puree in shops, so I ordered Libby's pumpkin off Amazon (as well as a can opener as Craig didn't own one).





GOBBLE GOBBLE!


Thursday 28 November 2013

Wednesday November 27 2013

As many people know Craig and I love movies! Every Wednesday we head to the cinema as a date night because we don't have to pay for a ticket! He has an unlimited card - and since I am on the Orange phone network I get in free too :0) We saw The Family - good film - as Craig has said predictable but I enjoyed it! I am a huge fan of Michelle Pfieffer.



Wednesday 27 November 2013

Weekend - November 23/24 2013

Greetings all! This is a quick recap of my weekend

Saturday Evening


Craig and I attended a disco/karaoke in our village. This event was the first that I have attended in the village. I have never done karaoke before and at first I was nervous, but with a little practice before we went everything went good! I sang 3 songs and nobody booed me :) A volunteer from the gym and her husband actually do this for a business on the weekends. Everyone had a great night! dancing the night away.

Sunday


We headed to Middlesbrough to enjoy a nice Sunday roast at Craig's parents home. Then in the evening we saw Chris Ramsey as a birthday present from Craig. Had the best night ever! Couldn't stop laughing. Here is a clip of him. He is from South Shields which is in the Northeast - so Craig and I could relate to his humor. I couldn't find him doing stand up this year but he has done a partnership with Nandos' (nothing like KFC but serves all chicken)







Tuesday 26 November 2013

Birthday Girl Weekend


Hello to all! Sorry I haven't written my birthday blog post recently but life has been pretty busy so far at age 30 (EEEEK!). On the morning of November 20th Craig made me breakfast burritos (so delicious!) and we opened up presents from family members and friends :) I got great gifts - and even 2 books from my parents (which have arrived in good time as I just finished my kindle book) and also they bought me a birthday hat to wear which was really cool! After that we started to pack up our clothes as we were going to the Lake District also known as Windermere for 2 nights and 3 days. We had to stop at the local post office to pick up a few packages - then we headed off! The drive took about 2 hours and in that time I was able to finishing writing thank you cards (Yes - I am old fashion and write cards!).


Before we reached our hotel we decided to stop at Lakeland (Craig loves this store!) and we just walked around to see what Christmas stuff they had and also Craig was possibly looking at buying a shoe rack. We headed back on the road and went to the B&B - cute place, nice room. We walked into town which was only 10 minutes - and went around to various stores.  I had researched 3 different restaurants that I was wanting to celebrate my birthday so we checked out 2 out of 3 places (the first one we didn't care for as the menu didn't show any prices!) That night we ended up having a yummy meal at Lazy Daisy's. Funny enough we were the only two there (maybe we beat the dinner crowd!) and had a great evening.
Photo of Lake Windermere


The next day, Thursday we headed to the Motor Museum and Lakes Aquarium. Both were very fun! In the evening we went to an old style movie theater and saw Sunshine on Leith.

Friday we packed up and said our farewells to Windermere but we went to Grasmere - which has the best gingerbread ever! Then we stopped is Keswick (another place) for lunch. .                                                                          While Craig drove I took a snooze. My next blog post will have more photos of my trip. Stay tuned!

Sunday 24 November 2013

Lumiere 2013

Every two years in Durham there is an exhibit in the city called Lumiere.This is a light show around Durham area of various images/lights.  I don't believe Minneapolis has anything like this but here are the photos Craig took.









 To see more photos you can visit this website: http://www.lumiere-festival.com/

Monday 11 November 2013

Saturday November 9 2013

Good day! This is just a blog recap post highlighting my night. Saturday night I went with Craig to the Stadium of Light to attend 2Touch's Got Talent - which was a talent show with judges just like popular talent shows on TV. There were over 300 people there and it was a really fun atmosphere! Afterwards there was a disco where we danced the night away.  Here are some photos we took.
Craig created the buzzers
Favorite act of mine - Papa smurf - he wore a blue outfit all over his body                        



Sunday 10 November 2013

November

Hi everyone! Sorry I haven't written recently but I started a temporary job end of October with Durham University which is going good. The role is only PT but I am really enjoying the people in the office.  I work 2-5pm Monday, Wednesday, Friday which is alright but I have been in contact with the agency every week in case another position may come up! on Tuesday/Thursdays I also do a lot of my SocialNicole (social media work) - and I do social media work as well MWF evenings my time. My favorite month has always been November - my birthday and thanksgiving all in the same month! Though I haven't been home for Turkey day for 2 years :( though last year I celebrated with other American students at Durham University which was really fun! Though this year it will just be a Thanksgiving between Craig and I Thursday evening. Will keep everyone posted how it goes!

On another note my parents are coming over for Christmas holidays! Which I am very excited! Still haven't heard more words from the Home Office so my parents decided to book the journey over here! It shall be fun. We will be spending 4 day/nights with Craig at his home then the next 4 nights in Newcastle. This will be my first Christmas actually away from home - which is really hard! Plus my grandma (Nina) isn't here anymore :(  Though Craig is a darling man, he has allowed me to decorate a tree (fake though), which is less messy (but you seriously can't beat the smell of the real tree!). Though I am sure we will have the Christmas music starting in December and will bake sugar cookies. 

Also for my 30th birthday (I know crazy right??) Craig and I will be staying for 2 nights in Windermere. I have really no clue what we will do - but it should be fun!

Also next Sunday November 17th Craig and I are going to see the Lumiere exhibit in Durham.

Craig just bought us tickets to see a favorite comedian of mine that is from the Northeast!
So on the 24th we will head down to York to see Chris Ramsay

Also I continue everyday (besides Sunday) going to the gym. I am really happy that West Rainton has a community gym - and all the volunteers are superb!