Tea and Crumpets: My New Life in England

Sunday, 4 December 2011

Best Thanksgiving ever!

This was the best Thanksgiving I can remember, what a wonderful week!

Will and I had been keeping an eye on flights back to Seattle for our next visit and on a whim checked flights for Thanksgiving. They were actually a great deal!! £395 roundtrip! So... we booked them. We thought it would be fun to keep it a surprise, but we did need transportation from the airport home hence telling my sister, Sarah.

Less than a month after booking our flights we were on them, ready to see Seattle again. One word of advice about Air Canada: they like to wait for people. Come on people!! Everyone else was able to make it on the plane in time, so why are we sitting at the gate for 45 minutes for a couple people to make their connection? Oh well, we ended up making it right on time in Seattle, so all's well that ends well.

We walked through the door around 9/10ish, up the stairs, and my Mom did a double take (maybe a quadruple take). Our surprise was a success! Nobody expected us! There were lots of hugs and then lots of drinks.

It was amazing to be back at home with the family and we had a fantastic week. Thanksgiving dinner was delicious and it was great to see my family again. The next day we went out to cut down a Christmas Tree in North Bend and ended up cutting down nearly a 15 foot tree (thanks Will and Dad for dragging it to the car). The Cascade foothills really are so beautiful, and we lucked out with great weather. We spent the night decorating, munching, and drinking, and continued that through the weekend.

Then, on Sunday, Seahawk Tailgate time!! It was Redskins Redmeat day, complete with redskins potato salad. It was great seeing the tailgate gang, I only wish we could go to more this season.

It really was a fantastic vacation, thanks to everyone who made it so special :)

Me, Grandma, and Will

Ready for the Thanksgiving feast, thanks Mom and Dad!!

We found our tree!

It was pretty heavy, thanks Will and Dad

Doing a great job Sarah

Saturday, 5 November 2011

Autumn in England

Let me start by saying I have been thoroughly enjoying my first full Autumn in England, it's beautiful!! All the leaves are rich golds and crimsons, love it! And we've been blessed with quite nice weather as well; just a few weeks ago in London it was 22 C. Speaking about a few weeks ago...

Anthony (Will's brother) and his girlfriend Kyla came to visit us a few weeks ago up in Basingstoke. It was a jam-packed weekend starting off with a trip to London on the Saturday. The weather was absolutely perfect and we spent the day walking by the Thames, through the parks, enjoying some drinks, and having a fabulous Italian dinner. Following day we went up to Thorpe Park which is actually a really decent amusement park. All the amusement parks I've been to outside the Disney franchise have always left something to be desired, but this park is nice with an attention to detail. They have lots of fast coasters and thrill rides with a sort of jungle theme throughout. Such a fun weekend!

The following weekend it was another sunny day and we went for a drive and ended up in Winchester. We spent the whole day just wandering around and admiring all the historic cathedrals and homes. Oh, and how could I almost forget, we saw King Arthur's legendary round table!! The thing is massive! (and amazing, of course) We also shared our last ice-cream cone of the season; Will figured it would be the last ice-cream appropriate day of the year so we couldn't resist.

Last weekend was Halloween weekend and I somehow convinced Will to carve a pumpkin with me (he's a bit of a Halloween scrooge as he freely admits. He did an English rose and I attempted to stick with an English theme by doing Peter Pan. The tools I had were a bit primitive though so I don't think it turned out all that well...

It was Will's first ever Halloween pumpkin and I was very impressed :) He's full of hidden talents. And because I went a bit overboard at the pumpkin patch and bought 5 pumpkins, we have a few left for eating! Will made the most delicious roasted pumpkin soup on Monday, it was fantastic!!

This weekend we're down in Exmouth for the first time since the wedding for Harry's, Will's youngest brother, 18th birthday. Happy birthday Harry! They boys all went out to a comedy club in Exeter last night so the Tribble ladies had a nice evening in with some Indian takeaway, it was great! Today, November 5th, is the day Will and I met two years ago in Belfast so we're going out to celebrate with a nice dinner this evening. For now though, I'm off to enjoy this sunshine with a walk on the beach :)

Thursday, 6 October 2011

Wedding Festivities

Okay, I know it's been a while since writing, but I got married!! And had the most amazing couple of weeks surrounding it :)

My family and friends flew in from America for a whole week of fun. We started in London for a few days of sightseeing, catching up, pub crawls, and having an amazing reunion. Then it was time to head down to the coast to continue the festivities. We had some great times down on the beach and Will's parents threw an amazing homemade buffet after the wedding rehearsal. They had every English finger food you could think of! Everything I've come to know and love; quiches, yorkshire pudding, sausage rolls, pasties, cream teas, flapjacks, chutneys, English Cheddar, and so much more. My family was very impressed and the stereotype that the English have bad food was completely dispelled.

The big day arrived, the sun was shining, and it was absolutely perfect! We were blessed with such amazing weather. The ceremony was beautiful and I loved every minute of it; I couldn't take my eyes off Will and my cheeks started to hurt from smiling so wide. We were announced husband and wife, we signed the certificate, and walking down the aisle. After the church bells rang and rose petal confetti was thrown, we had lots of family photos and then Will and I climbed into our vintage 1930's touring car for a quick photo-shoot at the beach. It was so much fun taking my shoes off and trudging through the sand dunes in my wedding dress!! And we got some amazing photos, thanks Martin :)

We got back in the car and headed up to the bluff overlooking Exmouth beach where our hotel and reception venue was. We enjoyed some peach bellinis out on the terrace overlooking the sea and then we were announced into the reception, greeted by all our friends and family. Dinner was excellent, the ballroom looked gorgeous, and the speeches were so much fun. We all got our dance on and Will surprised us all by actually being a good dancer!! We never practiced our first dance to "Fly Me To The Moon" by Frank Sinatra, and it was actually our first dance together EVER! SO much fun.

Then everyone danced the night away with drinks, good music, and good company. After the DJ left a bunch of us after-partied in the vintage hotel bar and drank and chatted until the wee hours of the morning. What an amazing day!!!

The next morning we all headed back up to London and after two final evenings with my family it was time to say good-bye. I wish I could do it all over again exactly the same!! Will and I drove north for our honeymoon. We took some great hikes in the Peak and Lake Districts and then spent a day and night exploring the historic city of York.

What a truly amazing couple of weeks.

Thursday, 4 August 2011

Word of the week

Back to a word of the week. This week's word: GOBSMACKED

"You're most likely to come across this mainly British slang term as the adjective gobsmacked; your gobsmack and another form, gobstruck, are less common.

Gobsmacked combines the northern English and Scottish slang term gob, mouth, with the verb smack. It suggests the speaker is utterly astonished or astounded. It's much stronger than just being surprised; it's used for something that leave you speechless, or otherwise stops you dead in your tracks. It suggests that something is surprising as being suddenly hit in the face." - www.worldwidewords.com

Basically, like the above bit says, the word "gobsmacked" basically means that you find something really incredible and are left speechless by it; it can be positive or negative (when I first heard the word I thought it was "God-smacked", haha).

Example: "He was gobsmacked when he found out he won the lottery."

Less than a month to go!

Wow, I can't believe the big day is just a few weeks away. Will and I have nearly everything sorted for the wedding and I'm just finishing up some last minute details in the weeks to come. I always thought women made too big of a deal about how much planning goes into a wedding, but it is more than I anticipated! Last weekend we went to Exeter to buy Will's wedding ring, pay for the cake, turn paperwork and fees into the church, pay the reception florists, pay the church florist, and finally pay the reception fee and confirm the menu. I'm having fun designing the wedding program and dinner menus at the moment :)

I can't wait to see everything come together on the day!!

Tuesday, 12 July 2011

Words of the month

I've been a bit neglectful with my word of the week, so here's a list of common British words with the equivalent in American English.
Example: Bin (Trash can) -> a trash can in England is called a "bin"

Let's start with a category:

Things Around the Home:
hob (stove top)
cooker (oven)
toilet (bathroom) -> also the W.C. (water closet) or the loo (though I've rarely heard it used)
bath (bathtub)
tele (television)
mobile (cellphone)
loo roll or toilet roll (toilet paper)
kitchen roll (paper towels)
rubbish (trash)
plasters (band-aids)
cling film (Syran wrap)

Food:
aubergine (eggplant)
courgette (zucchini)
casserole (stew)
coriander (cilantro)
mince (ground beef)
beef burger (hamburger)
chips (thick fries)
crisps (potato chips)
treacle (molasses)
fizzy drink (soda pop)
sweeties (candy)

Cars and roads:
motorway (more than 4-lane highway)
dual-carriage way (4-lane highway)
car park (parking lot)
multi-storey car park (parking garage)
bonnet (car hood)
boot (car trunk)

More categories to come!

Tuesday, 5 July 2011

Moving in

Wow, finally moved in!! What an ordeal though. I don’t think there’s any difference between the process of buying a house and renting an apartment; it’s that intense. They do references, credit checks, employment status checks, etc. and because I’m not legally allowed to work yet it’s been a huge hassle. And then, the estate agency charges you for all this unnecessary work, just over £300 for the rental ($500 for checking that we’re decent people?!). Craigslist anyone?? Ever heard of it?? Makes life so much easier. Will and I are finally moved in, but the overly-complicated British way of doing things doesn’t end there.

Because we’ve moved into a brand-new terraced house (aka town house for the folks back home) some things weren’t taken into consideration by the landlord to actually rent it out. Say, for example, a television aerial? It was in the 40-page contract we signed, which yes, I read every page of, that the landlord provides a T.V. aerial. Alas, there isn’t one, so we’re sorting that out today. Not the biggest deal in the world for me since I don’t watch a lot of television. The real problem for me is getting internet.

A month and half wait for internet connection? Are these people nuts? What is this, the 90’s?? Luckily (and I say luckily in relation to the other quotes) we found an internet company that could do it in two weeks, so now the long wait for connection has begun. I’m currently at Starbucks, which I’m sure will be my favourite place for a little while. We also have to get the council to drop off trash and recycling cans.

Besides the hassle of getting things sorted out, the house is lovely. We have two nice bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms and a full kitchen with dishwasher, washer/dryer, gas stove, and floor to ceiling refrigerator/freezer. The living room/lounge is spacious and the garden is small but nice. Everything except the kitchen is furnished which is saving us a ton of money for the moment. The inconveniences are worth it; as we really do like the house.