Running outdoors is definitely out of the question. Look what we're dealing with here, people:
Looks like I'm gonna have to ice skate to the gym today...
Friday, 8 January 2010
to gym or not to gym
The first weekend of the new year is always full of excited anticipation and new resolve for the upcoming year. I went out and bought some new work clothes, ran 5 miles on Sunday and vowed to get my butt in gear. And Monday, why Monday was even better! Off to the gym I went, and had a great workout which left me sore all week, plus a bit of hot tub action. Tuesday, I decided I needed a day of rest, to recover from my intense workout the previous day. Whoops. Wednesday brought us snow, ice, doom, death, etc, which is meant to continue well into next week. Eep! It's not that we're covered ass deep in snow. No. It's that the roads melt and re-freeze, yikes! What's a girl to do (especially if she doesn't want to break her neck???).
Running outdoors is definitely out of the question. Look what we're dealing with here, people:
Looks like I'm gonna have to ice skate to the gym today...
Running outdoors is definitely out of the question. Look what we're dealing with here, people:
Looks like I'm gonna have to ice skate to the gym today...
Thursday, 7 January 2010
Saturday, 2 January 2010
2009 in review
2010's already upon us, but I wanted the chance to go over my 2009, and remember some of my fave pics during the year.
We spent Christmas and New Year in LA last year, which was such a treat. We had glorious weather (for the most part), and it's times like these (slush, rain, sleet, snow, ice) where I really miss those LA sunshine days. This particular day, we went on a bike ride along the beach with my stepmom H, and her boyfriend J. Look at that sky! It's January, and R's in a t-shirt. I love it!
February
Back home, and back to reality. February, we were hit with the most snow I've seen in the UK (especially living near the beach!). It was really exciting at first, and R and I went out the first night it fell to walk along the sea front. Unfortunately, the snow quickly turns to slush, then ice, but it was lovely while it lasted!
March
We didn't do much in March...we were going back to LA in April, and the weather had been miserable non-stop for about 3 months, so I was counting the days until we could leave again. But we were lucky enough to catch a showing of Waiting for Godot at the Brighton Theatre, with Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart. Amazing! It was a great performance, and I'm glad I had a chance to see it.
April
My cousin had her wedding in April, and it was great to get out to LA again. This is the second day we were back, and we met Jen at the Farmer's Market/Grove for a bit of a wander. It was just so nice to relax and enjoy ourselves. It gets harder and harder to come back after days like that.
May
May brought us our one year wedding anniversary. I knew R was planning something, but I didn't know what he was up to. On Friday morning, I woke up to get ready for work, but R said, 'Nope, no need to go in'. He had called my boss and booked me the day off work! Then he picked up the rental car, and told me we were off to Looe, in Cornwall, for the weekend. So exciting! We stayed in the cutest little B&B with the most amazing view. It was absolutely heavenly, and I was spoiled to bits. I can't wait for this year, and I get to plan our weekend this time :)
June
R and I had a chance to go up to Edinburgh for Zonko's birthday. It was the first time we were both up since the wedding. It was a great mini break, and so nice to see our burger friends, whom I really miss! The day after Zonko's birthday party, a whole bunch of us went to Hailes Castle near North Berwick, and enjoyed the sunshine.
July
The marriage of the monkeys! R's brother O had his wedding in July, to the lovely M, and it was such an amazing wedding. They had it at M's folks' place, with the ceremony in a sheep hut and had teepees for the reception. Unfortunately, it rained like crazy, but it was nice and cozy inside.
August
I completed my first ever tri in August, the London Triathlon - olympic distance. I was sick a couple weeks beforehand, and had a pretty bad relapse the week after, so I definitely was not in top shape for the race, but it was such an accomplishment to finish. I also raised over £1000 for Fairbridge, which was astounding. This year, I want to train even harder and get a time I can be proud of!
September
Both R and I celebrate our birthdays in September. He's the 5th and I'm the 30th. This year, we turned 33 and 25! He had some old gorilla slippers that I got him ages ago, but they disintegrated, so I got him these tiger ones (so he could match our pet tiger, Oscar). He was super pleased with them, and they are so so comfy!
October
I love Halloween!!! We started planning our costume in September, tee hee! Obviously, we're Kermit and Miss Piggy (we had a Kermit and Miss Piggy wedding cake topper). J&K came down and we just went out in town in Brighton. So much fun, I can't wait for next year :)
November
November was another month of birthdays. We celebrated Kate's birthday in the middle of the month, which included a very large assortment of flavoured vodka shots. Oh dear. I seem to be particularly fond of the birthday cake flavour, but I think I'm alone in my taste. It didn't end up too messy for me (surprisingly) but poor R did not manage to escape unscathed. One of the very few nights where I have to look after him and not vice versa!
December
I love Christmas time, and had taken loads of photos around town of decorations, and our Christmas Party, and our tree, etc. Unfortunately, my camera was stolen in December, boo hoo. But I'll leave you with our Christmas card, which I love!
A little late, but now that I've done this, I can get focused on 2010! Happy New Year!
January
We spent Christmas and New Year in LA last year, which was such a treat. We had glorious weather (for the most part), and it's times like these (slush, rain, sleet, snow, ice) where I really miss those LA sunshine days. This particular day, we went on a bike ride along the beach with my stepmom H, and her boyfriend J. Look at that sky! It's January, and R's in a t-shirt. I love it!
February
Back home, and back to reality. February, we were hit with the most snow I've seen in the UK (especially living near the beach!). It was really exciting at first, and R and I went out the first night it fell to walk along the sea front. Unfortunately, the snow quickly turns to slush, then ice, but it was lovely while it lasted!
March
We didn't do much in March...we were going back to LA in April, and the weather had been miserable non-stop for about 3 months, so I was counting the days until we could leave again. But we were lucky enough to catch a showing of Waiting for Godot at the Brighton Theatre, with Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart. Amazing! It was a great performance, and I'm glad I had a chance to see it.
April
My cousin had her wedding in April, and it was great to get out to LA again. This is the second day we were back, and we met Jen at the Farmer's Market/Grove for a bit of a wander. It was just so nice to relax and enjoy ourselves. It gets harder and harder to come back after days like that.
May
May brought us our one year wedding anniversary. I knew R was planning something, but I didn't know what he was up to. On Friday morning, I woke up to get ready for work, but R said, 'Nope, no need to go in'. He had called my boss and booked me the day off work! Then he picked up the rental car, and told me we were off to Looe, in Cornwall, for the weekend. So exciting! We stayed in the cutest little B&B with the most amazing view. It was absolutely heavenly, and I was spoiled to bits. I can't wait for this year, and I get to plan our weekend this time :)
June
R and I had a chance to go up to Edinburgh for Zonko's birthday. It was the first time we were both up since the wedding. It was a great mini break, and so nice to see our burger friends, whom I really miss! The day after Zonko's birthday party, a whole bunch of us went to Hailes Castle near North Berwick, and enjoyed the sunshine.
July
The marriage of the monkeys! R's brother O had his wedding in July, to the lovely M, and it was such an amazing wedding. They had it at M's folks' place, with the ceremony in a sheep hut and had teepees for the reception. Unfortunately, it rained like crazy, but it was nice and cozy inside.
August
I completed my first ever tri in August, the London Triathlon - olympic distance. I was sick a couple weeks beforehand, and had a pretty bad relapse the week after, so I definitely was not in top shape for the race, but it was such an accomplishment to finish. I also raised over £1000 for Fairbridge, which was astounding. This year, I want to train even harder and get a time I can be proud of!
September
Both R and I celebrate our birthdays in September. He's the 5th and I'm the 30th. This year, we turned 33 and 25! He had some old gorilla slippers that I got him ages ago, but they disintegrated, so I got him these tiger ones (so he could match our pet tiger, Oscar). He was super pleased with them, and they are so so comfy!
October
I love Halloween!!! We started planning our costume in September, tee hee! Obviously, we're Kermit and Miss Piggy (we had a Kermit and Miss Piggy wedding cake topper). J&K came down and we just went out in town in Brighton. So much fun, I can't wait for next year :)
November
November was another month of birthdays. We celebrated Kate's birthday in the middle of the month, which included a very large assortment of flavoured vodka shots. Oh dear. I seem to be particularly fond of the birthday cake flavour, but I think I'm alone in my taste. It didn't end up too messy for me (surprisingly) but poor R did not manage to escape unscathed. One of the very few nights where I have to look after him and not vice versa!
December
I love Christmas time, and had taken loads of photos around town of decorations, and our Christmas Party, and our tree, etc. Unfortunately, my camera was stolen in December, boo hoo. But I'll leave you with our Christmas card, which I love!A little late, but now that I've done this, I can get focused on 2010! Happy New Year!
Wednesday, 30 December 2009
post christmas recap
It's been a wonderful Christmas season! Warning: Long post ahead (with lots of photies)!
We had our office Christmas do on Thursday 17th December, which was tons of fun. Lunch at Harry's then off to the pub for the whole evening. Unfortunately, I drank far more than was necessary and lost my camera. Gutted!!! Not only am I bummed to lose the camera (which my dad gave me) but I've lost all my December photos. But in the evening it started snowing and by the time we were heading home it was a proper blizzard! Those that weren't hungover the next morning were greeted to this:
Glorious!
Unfortunately, it only snowed on the Thursday so the snow quickly turned to ice, dangerous icy roads of death! It was insane, Friday, Saturday and Sunday the sidewalks were actual ice rinks. My wellies did nothing to grip the ice! We ventured into town slowly and carefully, for sure. I saw Leashie on Saturday 19th, and we exchanged Christmas pressies! She made me the most amazing pair of mittens and a lovely lovely hat, plus a book on crochet motifs! Spoiled, I am :)
Then R and I headed off to his parents back in Northern Ireland in the wee hours of the morn on Monday. We booked a nice sensible 8.30am flight and gave ourselves 2 hours. Omg, the line for Easy Jet (which probably had at least 20 flights leaving before ours!) actually snaked past all the other check-ins for all the other airlines. Luckily it was moving quickly, but boy oh boy, I will never not check-in online again! We had a lovely week back with his folks, and his brother and his preggo wife (yay for soon to be neice/nephew!). On Wednesday the 23rd, we all took the train down to Dublin and visited the Guinness Brewery:
Christmas Day was great, too. It's always strange spending the holidays away from your own family because somehow, it never feels right doing new traditions. But I love my in-laws, and they always make me feel right at home. We were back in LA for Christmas last year, so it was great for R to see his folks this year. And next year, there will be a new MCK in the family, so I can't wait for baby's first Christmas! But this year J&J absolutely spoiled us for food. Most delicious Christmas meal ever:
MCK Family Christmas tree:
Compared to our cute little tree back in Brighton (I swear it's not really that crooked...I think):
My favourite pressie by far is the one R got me. It's the Pegasus Necklace (with matching earrings!) from Tatty Devine:
I also treated myself to a new camera, the new Nikon S220 (nothing too flash, but it's shiny and blue!):
Coming home wasn't too painful, only an hour delayed (considering the travel chaos on the British Isles with the snow, we were very lucky indeed!). It's been great being home and relaxing just the two of us. We've been sleeping in every morning until about 10, and just lounging about the house. Bliss! My new project (after scouring over all of R's dad's albums) is to start organizing and printing off all of our pictures. We're going to start with 2009 and work backwards from there. I can't wait! I love looking at the whole MCK family from the last 30-40 years, and I want to make sure we have that for our family :)
Lastly, I finally had a chance to see the movie Cinema Paradiso last night at the Duke of York's. It was okay, but looooong. I don't know if I'd watch it again. A bit too schmaltzy for me. But oh my god, the actor who played Alfredo was an absolute spitting image of my Dad (he may disagree, ha!)
tee hee!
Now I'm looking forward to New Year's Eve tomorrow - we're heading out to Southend on Sea for a little mini gathering. Should be great fun! x
We had our office Christmas do on Thursday 17th December, which was tons of fun. Lunch at Harry's then off to the pub for the whole evening. Unfortunately, I drank far more than was necessary and lost my camera. Gutted!!! Not only am I bummed to lose the camera (which my dad gave me) but I've lost all my December photos. But in the evening it started snowing and by the time we were heading home it was a proper blizzard! Those that weren't hungover the next morning were greeted to this:
Glorious!
Unfortunately, it only snowed on the Thursday so the snow quickly turned to ice, dangerous icy roads of death! It was insane, Friday, Saturday and Sunday the sidewalks were actual ice rinks. My wellies did nothing to grip the ice! We ventured into town slowly and carefully, for sure. I saw Leashie on Saturday 19th, and we exchanged Christmas pressies! She made me the most amazing pair of mittens and a lovely lovely hat, plus a book on crochet motifs! Spoiled, I am :)
Then R and I headed off to his parents back in Northern Ireland in the wee hours of the morn on Monday. We booked a nice sensible 8.30am flight and gave ourselves 2 hours. Omg, the line for Easy Jet (which probably had at least 20 flights leaving before ours!) actually snaked past all the other check-ins for all the other airlines. Luckily it was moving quickly, but boy oh boy, I will never not check-in online again! We had a lovely week back with his folks, and his brother and his preggo wife (yay for soon to be neice/nephew!). On Wednesday the 23rd, we all took the train down to Dublin and visited the Guinness Brewery:
Christmas Day was great, too. It's always strange spending the holidays away from your own family because somehow, it never feels right doing new traditions. But I love my in-laws, and they always make me feel right at home. We were back in LA for Christmas last year, so it was great for R to see his folks this year. And next year, there will be a new MCK in the family, so I can't wait for baby's first Christmas! But this year J&J absolutely spoiled us for food. Most delicious Christmas meal ever:
MCK Family Christmas tree:
Compared to our cute little tree back in Brighton (I swear it's not really that crooked...I think):
My favourite pressie by far is the one R got me. It's the Pegasus Necklace (with matching earrings!) from Tatty Devine:
I also treated myself to a new camera, the new Nikon S220 (nothing too flash, but it's shiny and blue!):
Coming home wasn't too painful, only an hour delayed (considering the travel chaos on the British Isles with the snow, we were very lucky indeed!). It's been great being home and relaxing just the two of us. We've been sleeping in every morning until about 10, and just lounging about the house. Bliss! My new project (after scouring over all of R's dad's albums) is to start organizing and printing off all of our pictures. We're going to start with 2009 and work backwards from there. I can't wait! I love looking at the whole MCK family from the last 30-40 years, and I want to make sure we have that for our family :)
Lastly, I finally had a chance to see the movie Cinema Paradiso last night at the Duke of York's. It was okay, but looooong. I don't know if I'd watch it again. A bit too schmaltzy for me. But oh my god, the actor who played Alfredo was an absolute spitting image of my Dad (he may disagree, ha!)
tee hee!Now I'm looking forward to New Year's Eve tomorrow - we're heading out to Southend on Sea for a little mini gathering. Should be great fun! x
Thursday, 10 December 2009
KHMXmas
Just about my fave show on TV is Location Location Location. Maybe it's envy, maybe it's middle class porn, whatever. I love it! And I love Phil and Kirstie.
I love Kirstie's style. She is just lovely and so personable. Look at that grace!
Do you know what else I love?
Christmas!
So what could possibly be better than Kirstie AND Christmas???
I've enjoyed it the past two nights, but unfortunately will miss tonight's as I'm about to head out for my book group meeting. Last night was so cozy, watching lovely gifts being made with care, whilst I was crocheting and working on my own little handmade gifts.
There have been so many Christmas programmes on TV so far this month, and I just love it. Luckily, R indulges me, and puts up with the endless carols and mince pies (so hard, I know!)
Only two more weeks left to get those pressies finished!
I love Kirstie's style. She is just lovely and so personable. Look at that grace!
Do you know what else I love?
Christmas!
So what could possibly be better than Kirstie AND Christmas???
I've enjoyed it the past two nights, but unfortunately will miss tonight's as I'm about to head out for my book group meeting. Last night was so cozy, watching lovely gifts being made with care, whilst I was crocheting and working on my own little handmade gifts.
There have been so many Christmas programmes on TV so far this month, and I just love it. Luckily, R indulges me, and puts up with the endless carols and mince pies (so hard, I know!)
Only two more weeks left to get those pressies finished!
Wednesday, 2 December 2009
Tree Decorations
I love love love Christmas tree decorations. A couple years ago, we ended up buying a 'starter pack' at WHSmith, and it was shite. Absolutely shite. So we're starting fresh this year (well, keeping the super cute red berry lights). Here are a few of my faves!
Embossed Metal Heart Decorations - Velvet
Glitter Wobble Leg Santas - John Lewis
I hate sprouts glass bauble - Homebase
Little London Telephone Box - Liberty
Reindeer Mini Decorations - Paperchase
Embossed Metal Heart Decorations - Velvet
Glitter Wobble Leg Santas - John LewisI hate sprouts glass bauble - Homebase Little London Telephone Box - LibertyReindeer Mini Decorations - PaperchaseI've also found a lovely tutorial from Attic 24 for these badboys (which I will be making, en masse, all night, thank you very much):
I think we're going to have a pretty snazzy looking tree, if I don't say so myself...
sleigh bells ring
I had such a lovely Thanksgiving this year!
Lovely lovely Alicia moved down to London, and joined us for the day. I brought out my little 1.5k (3lb - hey, he was cute) turkey, and I made cranberry sauce (from scratch and AMAZING, thanks Martha), garlic mashed potatoes, buttermilk biscuits, roasted carrots and parsnips, lemon butter green beans, stuffing and gravy to go with Mr Gobble Gobble. A few pals from work came along, so we managed to feed (and more impressively, seat) 8 people in our wee flat. It was cozy, fun and delicious. And we even had a special delivery earlier in the day - my grandma in LA sent us some Peppermint Bark. We had it for dessert, what a treat! And one of my co-workers picked up some turkey napkin holders for me, boy did they look snazzy.
On the weekend, our friend Glenda's son turned one and we went to his little birthday party. I guess one year olds don't really have friends, so it was actually a bit of a boozer (no other kids in sight), which I can never complain about. How cute is James hanging out with his daddy????
We've also just stepped into the month of December, yippee! On the dot, out came Father Christmas for our front door, and Elvis Christmas Carols on Napster. I've also had a chance to make some new festive cushion covers:
Hmm, they look a bit wrinkly...but trust me, they are festive!
First mince pies of the season:
And out came the advent calendars:
Hopefully this weekend, we'll finish our christmas cards, pick up a little tree and get it decorated. Bring on the festivities!
Lovely lovely Alicia moved down to London, and joined us for the day. I brought out my little 1.5k (3lb - hey, he was cute) turkey, and I made cranberry sauce (from scratch and AMAZING, thanks Martha), garlic mashed potatoes, buttermilk biscuits, roasted carrots and parsnips, lemon butter green beans, stuffing and gravy to go with Mr Gobble Gobble. A few pals from work came along, so we managed to feed (and more impressively, seat) 8 people in our wee flat. It was cozy, fun and delicious. And we even had a special delivery earlier in the day - my grandma in LA sent us some Peppermint Bark. We had it for dessert, what a treat! And one of my co-workers picked up some turkey napkin holders for me, boy did they look snazzy.
On the weekend, our friend Glenda's son turned one and we went to his little birthday party. I guess one year olds don't really have friends, so it was actually a bit of a boozer (no other kids in sight), which I can never complain about. How cute is James hanging out with his daddy????
We've also just stepped into the month of December, yippee! On the dot, out came Father Christmas for our front door, and Elvis Christmas Carols on Napster. I've also had a chance to make some new festive cushion covers:
Hmm, they look a bit wrinkly...but trust me, they are festive!
First mince pies of the season:
And out came the advent calendars:
Hopefully this weekend, we'll finish our christmas cards, pick up a little tree and get it decorated. Bring on the festivities!
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