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!

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.

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)

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!

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/