So one thing our Rabbits love doing is sitting under my desk while I'm working or scrapbooking. For some reason they love sitting on the rug I have under my desk.
An now... they just love snuggling... and have now taking relaxing to a whole new level...
What a bum Brownie.... He is to lazy to even use his neck during this picture.
So one way you can always see time pass is through children. This time last year... our little friend was just 4 months old... and it had been a while since we had seen him.
Can you tell his dad was super proud of him? Merritt is such a great dad... he just wanted to hold him all night. Mom didn't even get a chance to hold him! So therefore no pictures of mom... next time I will have to just take a picture of Jen so I have pictures of her!
And his super cute shoes!
So I got a new camera in 2008. While I was waiting for Jim to pack up from his office.. I decided to try it out. I also realized considering how much time we spend there... I really don't have pictures of the place. So here is Jim's desk.....
And here is the big box of chocolates that Jim was eating... Right after Christmas eating... Not fair that the boy can eat... eat.. and eat... and still stay relatively the same size.
Just by looking through my camera to take this picture of the box of chocolates I gained 10 pounds.
Okay... I just had to throw this in.... as I was uploading pictures from my camera into my computer... I discovered a secret of Jim's.... it appears that often before we go on trips, he has to take a few pictures of his "children" before we go.
Some people have children, dogs, and cats... we have very spoiled rabbits... I wonder if they know how much they are loved.
So one thing I have discovered that I really love is a good German Christmas market. After we went last year, I craved more. But we couldn't justify a trip over and there weren't any cheap tickets. Fortunately in 2009 we were able to go again.
But in 2008... Jim tried to fill that Christmas need by taking me to London to the German Christmas market there in Hyde Park. We built it into a trip to see my "Aunt", A.J. here in London. My mom's best friend... she really treats me like a niece... so it's always very fun to see here. So my Christmas gift to AJ and her significant other John (also a great guy!) was to take them to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. I was able to get 5th row seats... part of the Director's row! It was a completely treat!
I'm so glad because the Christmas market was a complete let down.
It was not really Christmasy and it was "flavored" with stereotypes of Germans... just a lot of beer and sausages... none of the fun Christmas decorations and Gluwine (mulled wine) or cider! :(
So above are some of the pictures from the market... it was more rides than a market. The only thing we kind of thought was fun was the lighthouse with a slide that wrapped around it. Not very Christmasy... but interesting.
Then when we met AJ.... I expressed how disappointed I was with the market... and AJ tried to cheer me up with the lights at Covent Garden. We strolled around that area... but to tell you the truth... after watching the musical and seeing such awesome performers... Covent Garden was just the icing on the cake. There were performers strolling playing Christmas music... and just put you right into the Christmas spirit!
So after that thrilling moment... I just couldn't sleep again... the excitement of finally having proof of what I've been complaining about for almost 10 years... it just goes completely to your head.... so... I decided to try an experiment... remember... I have the best husband in the world... and I love him very very much because he is very tolerant of me....
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| 11_29_2008 London German Market and Jim Sleeping |
Okay... there are quite a few things we don't have in the UK. Two of which are Thanksgiving and 4th of July. For those of you wondering why... it's because the Pilgrims didn't land in the UK and the Boston Tea Party took place in Boston, Massachusetts and not Boston, UK.
In 2008, there were approx. 45 American families living here in Peterborough working for Caterpillar, and a few times a year the whole group gets together. Thanksgiving is one of those events.
Since I work, I don't get the opportunity to participate in a lot of the activities many of the ladies here plan. Many of them have children and it works out best for them to do things during the day while they are in school. But I did get the chance to become friends with Pam! She was so supportive of our move here to the UK and gave me a lot of her lessons learned.
Well... Pam graciously offered to organize Thanksgiving for all of these families. She had no clue what she was in store for!! And being the good friend she was... she ask me to help... and being the sucker I was.... I agreed! Next thing you know, the two of us were planning a meal for 40+ families.... yep... 45... do you know how many people that was? Over 120.... Are we insane? Yes.
So think about trying to cook Turkeys for all of these people... Imagine how many pounds that was... Let's just say it was 8 turkeys, each over 15 pounds. Yes... over 100 pounds of turkey. So as we get close to Thanksgiving in 2009, remember... this time last year... I was working with my friend Pam on trying how to cook 8 turkeys. And here is the result....a whole bunch of happy, full people.
So how did we do it? Hire a caterer of course... Geez... did you really think I was going to have my arms up 8 turkeys? I pulled a favor from work and asked the caterer to help us out, and what a blessing! He willing cooked the turkeys for us for free as long as we bought them. Then all the sides were brought by the families.... and a good time was had by all. So remember... as you prepare for Thanksgiving... remember....you could be having to prepare for Thanksgiving for way more people!
Well... soon after that, we experienced our first snow in England. Here are a few pictures of the flurries we experienced. Little did we know that in a few months we would get to experience enough snow to shovel. If you don't remember... here's the blog....Way too much snow....
My poor mini cooper... so cold in the snow....
Flurries.....
So this was our first major trip to Italy and I was really excited. It was going to be another whirlwind, but we knew we could knock out three major cities in one go.
We flew into Venice first. Took the shuttle from the Airport to Venice and experience a world where all the roads are water. I also got to see the production of Murano Glass. I love colored glass and it has been a dream of mine to see the production of Murano Glass and I got to do it! What a blessing for us! Here are the pictures from this portion of the trip.
Next we took the train from Venice to Florence. Once again... you gotta love those high speed trains. So within a couple hours we were in Florence. I wasn't too sure about Florence. I knew it was the land of leather, but that's about it. Florence ended up becoming Miranda's real life lesson on Italian art. I have really never been a fan of Italian art, but after what I saw, and the tours I got to experience, my eyes have been open. I'm still not a fan of all the pictures of Jesus all bloody all over the place.... but I now understand how it's an expression of a person's faith.
And finally we ended up in Rome. By this point, we had walked and walked and walked.... but Rome was just overwhelming. Everywhere you when was a monument or something historic. But as a result of the whirlwind... we made a huge error.....We saw tons of churches, got a tour of central Rome, saw the Vatican... but can you believe that the Katters did not make it to the Coliseum??? Yep... we went to Rome and didn't see the Coliseum or any of the ancient Roman ruins. I can't believe it either. So now we need to make one more trip there..... But we never anticipated it would take a full day to see the Vatican... so let's just chalk it up to poor planning.
But we got to experience pizza by the kilo. Something super cool in Rome are these pizza places that have tons of varieties of pizza. You go to the counter and tell them to cut as much or as little of each pizza that you want. They then cook it in a pizza oven for you, and you pay for the weight of the pizza. It was so delicious and such a good deal.
The best part of this trip was during our tour... we had paid for a 1/2 day private tour of Rome, and then a group tour of the Vatican. As we transitioned from the private tour to the group tour, our guide gave us a little time to ourselves and asked us to meet at a spot. So we thought we would run into a bank and pick up a little cash. Unfortunately, the machine took Jim's ATM card but would not kick it back out or give us money. So we had to call the bank and cancel the card. In the middle of this mess we lost track of time and realized we were running late for the next part of the tour. So Jim sent me ahead to track down the guide and the group and explain what happened. As I wandered around St. Peter's square at the Vatican, the guide spotted me called out my name. So I joined the group and explained that Jim was coming. The guide continued with the explaination of the plaza as we waited for Jim.... then as Jim joined us... a voice out of the tour group goes... "Miranda... is that you???" Next thing you know, I see my good college friend Nadia and her new husband Russ. They were on their honeymoon and were on the same tour! I had not seen her for over 5 years and it was just so great to see such an old friend! What a small world!
But here is a panoramic view of the Vatican
A panoramic of the Trevi Fountain
And though you were not allowed to take pictures in the Sistine Chapel... I snuck in a quick video. Yes... I was a bad kid. Double click on the video to see what I did...
And down below is a link to our pictures
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| 11_1_2008 Italy for the Blog |
Halloween in our neighborhood in the US was one of my most favorite times of year. The weather was getting nice and crisp, the trees were turning colors.. and best of all, our neighborhood was so much fun. Houses were decorated with pumpkins and all kinds of other things. And they always Boo'ed people!
For my UK friends... it is where a friendly ghost drawing was taped on your door with a poem written with a nice treat! Sometimes it was tons of candy and popcorn. Once it was candy and a beautiful autumn colored candle. It was just always the most pleasant surprise.
And on Halloween night, children of all ages came out to Trick-or-Treat. It is absolutely amazing the types of costumes there were. You got to see all your neighbors out and got to catch up on the latest news as we chatted between children. In our neighborhood we typically counted over 100 children at our house each year.
Just to give you an idea of how much candy that meant. In the US, I would fill the taller basket in the vertical picture heaping full of candy. By the end of Halloween evening... we would have just enough left to allow Jim to take some to work. In the UK, I filled a much smaller basket in 2008 and we barely gave any away. We only had 5 children and gave them large handfuls of candy. I was so disappointed... but as Jim put it... we saved money. You always have to look at the bright side I guess.
So back into 2009 just for a sec... I went on a bike ride today for 2 hours... My friend Allister has been trying to schedule them weekly to ensure that I get 2 hours of exercise in every week. He rides us all over town. It's pretty fun because there is a rather large group that is invited and we always get a different group of people coming. Well today we got to experience something only seen in movies... we crossed the river in town and there was this huge crane and a bunch of police cars surrounding the water. Well... I guess they found a car and were in the process of pulling it out. It was pretty darn cool.
Just to give you a quick update about the weight loss... okay... I've lost another 2 pounds. Only 1 more to be back to the 15 original pounds I lost... Hopefully this bike ride helped... it was 15 miles! To help with my weight loss... another thing I have been trying to get myself to do is to eat breakfast... Yep... not a breakfast girl. I don't like eggs and it takes me a while to wake up in the morning, get moving, and finally get hungry. So I've been on a kick of trying to eat yogurt or oatmeal. I just love the packages of oatmeal... especially the Wakey Wakey one... it's so English!
As you can see, I'm trying to blog and catch up... I have a big load of pictures I'm preparing for the next post... so it may be a few days... but I'm working on it!
Keep on cheering me on!!!! And check in often!
