January 11 2014 - Happiest Day of My Life

Greetings friends and family! What a whirl wind these past few weeks/days have been. To recap everyone about my situation my visa applications we will filled out in the end got rejected early December and with my parents coming over for the holidays I decided to stay on. As of Monday of last week my parents got a 2nd opinion from another Immigration professional and he strongly suggested I leave ASAP so I don't hurt my record about returning. So these past few days I have been sad, anxious about seeing my parents + friends, lonely, scared, angry, annoyed! A lot of emotions have been going through my head plus my stomach! Yes that has meant some sleepless nights - not fun at all! I know Craig will be able to visit me but I am banned from the UK for 12 months (Insane right?). I fly out January 16th back home to find work - save money and maybe take a trip to Dublin or Paris to meet Craig.

On the flip side, as I mentioned on the title of my blog today is also the happiest day of my life when Craig proposed! A few days after Christmas last year Craig and I went shopping in Middlesbrough - and past a few ring shops. He said it wouldn't hurt to look around - well he picked out this ring! I didn't want to try it on (as I just wanted to look) but we did in the end and the woman at the store said it was a perfect fit! Princess cut may I mention to you too :) So he bought it - but didn't propose til Saturday. I didn't want to pressure him into asking me ASAP.

Every day - apart from Sundays I go to our local community gym to workout for an hour. When I got back at 10am I was amazed to find him waiting for me - and I walked into the kitchen to my surprise and this is what I saw:

His tablet says: Will you be mine forever? Ring is intertwined with ribbon

This ring was meant to be for me!

 Well with a few days left I am enjoying every moment with Craig! We will need to start talking about a date - but I hope for us to get married in Minnesota :) preferably in Edina. I guess along with finding a job back home (which I don't think will be too hard) I will be looking at wedding stuff!

Juice on! Day 1

Today is our 1st day on the juice cleanse.  We survived our first day! I don't feel extra hungry. Though we have made more juices to enjoy for later in the day and Monday.  To read how our morning went you can read all about it on Craig's blog.

This afternoon we saw Last Vegas - really good movie.


Our juice for the evening was Bright Pinkalicious Juice.

This was a simple recipe:

Ingredients:1 – 2  small beets (beetroot), peeled
4 carrots
1 orange, peeled
1 sweet potato, peeled
1/2 lemon, peeled  

When was the last time your fridge had nothing but GOOD stuff?

Keep up with our Juice cleanse til January 15th!

A New Year has Begun!

Happy New Year to all my friends and family! What a year 2013 was - but I am hoping for a better 2014. As many of you may know my parents visited for the Christmas period which was really fun! We had a blast every single day! Nonstop! Some of the highlights included: going to the Metrocentre, Dalton Park, Durham Cathedral, Sage Gateshead to see the Snowman on Christmas Eve morning

lots of shopping etc! Craig was also a trooper for letting my parents stay at his house for a few days.

Starting this Sunday Craig and I are starting a juicing diet for 10 days! Yes we are prepared with 100+ recipes we have collected online and a book I got from his parents. Will let everyone know how it goes - maybe I might even inspire you! Take a look at this video. It inspired Craig and I.

Happy Holidays 2013

A quick post to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
My parents are arriving in less than 48 hours and therefore I don't think I will be blogging during their stay. I will recap everyone about my holidays and hope to have a new blog up on December 28th

December 4th 2013

As everyone knows I am a huge film lover - and so is Craig. Last night (Wednesday) we saw Saving Mr. Banks - really cute movie! The synopsis is how Walt Disney contacts Emma Thompson's charcter to turn Mary Poppins into a movie. Very fun film! I am a huge lover of Disney films.
What are your favorite ones?

Splendid Sunday

Wow! We have made it to another month! I just don't think I can wrap my head around this year will be over in 30 days! What a year it has been for me - Coming to England May 2012 and actually finding work and gaining a lot of experience with various departments at Durham University. I am so proud I have been able to live abroad - and not actually go broke! Though I will admit at first it felt like a vacation to be here, but I got focused - and Craig gave me some money saving tips! Today Craig and I opened Day 1 of our advent calendars :)

Mine is the snowman - and Craig is Santa!

Today we also decorated our Christmas tree with ornaments and lights!

The rest of the day we went out to Lakeland and went shopping! At first we were just suppose to look but I bought a XMAS gift for Craig (which he saw UGH!) and he bought us a really nice toaster!

To read about it click here http://www.johnlewis.com/sage-by-heston-blumenthal-smart-2-slicetoaster-silver/p489207?navAction=jump

The countdown begins! 18 days til my parents arrive - 24 days til Christmas :)

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!