Week of Feb 11th 2013

How is it possible that I have been living in England for 9 months. I can't believe it! Time has sure flown by. I just look back at to when I arrived how much effort I did looking for a job and now that I have secured 2 contract jobs and adding more UK references to my resume is exciting! Craig says I have an accent - but says I always revert back to Americanism when skyping with my parents.  I continue on with my job search while enjoying working at Durham Student Union and talking with my colleagues (word they use in England for coworkers).

Below are my highlights this week:

Feb 12 - Pancake Day
  Craig made pancakes and to my surprise they were quite good! Not like the pancakes that I order at the Original Pancake House back home - but they are thinner and yummy! We watched Come Dine with Me recently on TV and the main entree dessert was Banana Fosters - flambed. Hence that created our pancakes for Tuesday

Feb 14 2012

After I finished work Craig and I went to Middlesbrough to spend some money at the Arcade for fun (to play games!) and we met his friends at Nando's.  Valentine's Day was relaxing! He also bought me a small cake and the cutest card ever!

Feb 16

Craig went home for the weekend so I took a day train trip to York. It was good memories about my time at York St. John.  I also met up with fellow classmate CJ.

River Ouse

International Food Festival 

The French sure know about presentation - I just wish I had one.

York House - B&B on the way to Limes my parents and I have stayed in

The PostOffice box near Limes I'd walk to 

Good memories

for the years I was at York St. John I lived in House 7 & 9

Spring 2005 I volunteered for a counselling class as a Toddler Aide

 

 

 

Student Union

York Minster - where I graduated

Feb 17th

Craig was gone most of the day - so I went to town to go on a tour of gym.

Lazy Sunday

Wow I sure slept great! And my swollen eye has disappeared.  I am so happy! Today was a day where we are just going to be lazy.

Highlights of the day

• Craig dyed my hair. Yes I actually asked him to do it as I didn't want to stain his bath tub. It wasn't all that bad for his first time - and the color came out great
• watched TV
• Went to Morrison's (grocery store) to grab lunch items
• Craig made a roasted chicken dish with lemon sauce and white rice 
• We then made Lemon Meringue (a challenge at first as the meringue wasn't stiff enough - so he had to make another one. 

Skyped with mom

Had Chicken and lemon panini for dinner

Recap of week February 4 2013 Highlights

Wednesday
Craig and I saw Flight - starring Denzel Washington. I really like his films - but the movie sorta dragged on (I thought!).

Friday

Woke up to a swollen right eye - not sure what happened! Bought Eye cream from Boots during lunch


Saturday

We went into Durham starting at 9:30am and started our day in Starbucks.  I then left him to read his Kindle to go to a beauty appointment.  After I finished I collected him and we went shopping - where I got a bargain spring fleece jacket for only 15 pounds :D

Then I lead him to his Valetine's Day surprise (as Thursday nights we visit his friends) - I had to sugar coat a little and be devious not revealing what we were going to be doing.
In the end I booked him a couples massage at Sirens - a favorite pampering spa in Durham city center. At first he seemed a bit confused and seemed nervous (though I doubt he would admit) joking with one of the girls offering water and he replied a whiskey please.

In all I think he really enjoyed it! Though I was quite shocked when he told me he was thinking about work during his massage. I guess his mind can't switch off like mine :D

I think this is not the end to Craig getting pampered - after all he moves computers, crawls around the floor doing wiring, run up and down the stairs etc.

Had lunch in town at Nando's - (More up class than a KFC) - I had a chicken burger with corn on the cob and Craig had a chicken pita with spicy rice.

Scooted to Tesco's to grab a few things and got home.

 Rest of the evening he surprised me by baking 2 loaves of fruit bread (one of them for my work) and marble cake.

Hotel Butters

Greetings readers! Not sure if any of my readers have known I have never really moved out of my parents house apart from attending Augsburg College and York St. John University.  Those were the best of my years! Well I have to admit at the age of 29 I don't really know many dishes to cook - yep!If you asked me what can I make - I would say stirfrys, pancakes, and I am a great baker!

When I moved in with Craig I would help around with cleaning, etc and he would do most of the cooking. I am still wanting and keen to learn new recipes. It takes baby steps right? Well I feel like I live in a hotel - Yes Craig is a chef and baker all in one! He has more cookbooks in the house than I have shoes. Anything from Asian cuisine - Baking cakes and tarts - and much more! I also have never seen the amount of kitchen appliances either - he has his own food processor, pasta maker, coffee machine, and soon to be (well on his wish list) an electric mixer.

Today Craig  (and I helped him!) made a victoria sponge cake from Mary Berry's Baking Bible 

Preparing the cakes for the oven

Tonight we had Thai Red Curry pork with white rice along with homemade wraps

I appreciate all the baking and cooking

Craig does - but sometimes I feel like I am going to gain weight.
I have started doing Yoga from this iPad app - which has many tutorial videos.
I am eating more healthy and burning calories by playing Just Dance and Kinect Adventures with Craigy B


Signing Off. Stay warm friends back home!

January 30 2013

Wow I can't believe January is almost over! This month has flown by so fast. all is going well with my temp job - I work with 3 nice ladies at the DSU (Durham Student Union) I am still looking for FT work. I wanted to share some photos with my readers of my weekend and week On Sunday Craig and I went to Whitburn to a local coffee shop a coworker of his suggested. It was a very lovely day - and we walked along the beach.

Afterwards we went to Argos (like a giant walmart but you look at a catalog first and write down the code and they find it) - so I have started Yoga. I got a great deal on a NIKE mat which was 24.99 - now 12.99. Craig took this snapshot of me.

I am not resting really - just following instructions from my Yoga App

 Sunday Meal by Chef Craigy B
Venison with sweet potato fries, onions and homemade bread

 Craigy B in his fleece jacket (from my parents)

Bargain deal for 18 rolls of toilet paper - only 7 pounds

Snow Day - Saturday January 19 2013

My first snow day - where the snow is a bit too deep and we need to stay inside.  Needless to say I wasn't really thrilled because we go out every weekend - but we made the most out of our day.

First thing started by a few knocks on the door from DFS - the sofa couch arrived! They seemed a bit hesitant regarding the room size but all is good.

Once the movers left Craig's steam cleaner finally arrived! He was super excited and immediately opened up the box.  I was really impressed when he told me what you can actually - bathrooms, kitchens, closets, clothes, mattresses, carpets and much more! On another plus note it helps kill dust mites :D (which I said in an earlier post in December I am allergic to).  So for the next hour he was on a steaming spree while I chilled out on the new sofa and read my Twitter stream. 



By the time he finished it was lunch time. We didn't take anything out of the freezer ahead of time so we had limited option and took out 2 chicken kievs - served with vegetable pilau rice.

Craig then decided he needed a few storage boxes and a snow shovel - so we ventured out to battle the roads.  We first went to Tesco to buy some groceries then headed to B&Q (which is like Home Depot) - we had no problem finding a shovel, it took more time looking at the various storage boxes.
The storage box he bought is quite tall - and long.  We were worried that it wouldn't fit in Scarlett (his car) but he came up with a brilliant plan - Put the top down. So for the journey home I am holding this storage box with my head tilted to the side and trying to keep my earmuffs on while the fresh cold air hit my hair.

When we got home to Craig's astonishment most of his driveway was already shoveled - by his neighbor.  I went inside to unload groceries and watch some TV.

We then started putting his HUGE DVD colletion into the storage box and moved everything up to the loft (our version is an attic).

After that Craig updated my PC to Windows 8.

Before dinner I mentioned to him I had a craving for Apple Crumble (Crisp in USA) as on THursday evening the Italian Farmhouse didn't have any - he liked the idea and we scooted off to the grocery store.

Once home Craig cooked up salmon with noodles and apple crumble.

Why England? Timeline explained

So I am not sure if any or all of my readers are aware about my connection to UK/England and why I really enjoy living here etc.

When I was 13 our family hosted a student from Northern Ireland for a couple of summers and a full school year - so my first trip overseas was August 1997 (to visit London and fly to Belfast) with my parents

During my time at Edina High School I participated in People to People - a student ambassador program where we went to various places in the UK - and had homestays.

After graduating from EHS (2002) I participated as a volunteer in Stanley, England through VFP working at a playscheme for children.

I believe (trying to recall) after my freshmen year at Augsburg I visited our exchange student.

Spring 2005 - I spent a semester studying abroad at York St. John  while a student at Augsburg

2007 - I came over to York, England to stay with friends I met at YSJ

2009-2010 - I was a MA student at YSJ in the Leadership and Management Programme

May 2012 - Came to England on PSW visa to find work. 

I really enjoy living here - though I do miss driving.
But nothing will ever replace my home in Edina, Minnesota