Welcome Summer!

BREAKING NEWS: Summer is officially here! 

The past few weekends have been lovely but unfortunately Luke and I have not been able to enjoy them as we've been stuck inside decorating and doing DIY fun! It has been worth it but both of us are tired and going to take a break for the summer. This weekend was the first weekend where we didn't touch a paintbrush and man did it feel good!

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On Saturday we spent the day the Milton Keynes Rugby 7s Beer and Cider Festival. Luke's team, The Convicts, had entered nearly ten weeks ago and he has been looking forward to it ever since. Seriously, he was like a child on Christmas morning! 

Milton Keynes Rugby 7s Social Tournament Champions 2014: The Convicts

Luke was confident that his team would win the social tournament, in fact he stated "if The Convicts don't win, I'll do a lap of the rugby pitch naked." Thankfully The Convicts did win and he didn't have to treat the nearly 1,000 people to a laugh! Their winnings equalled £100 in beer money plus a package of beer from Marston's Brewery. Considering most of the team couldn't stay at the club late and they still had £80 left over from the kitty that meant a lot of celebratory drinks to go around.

Sunday left some of us feeling a little worse for wear, but that didn't stop us from enjoying the day.  Luke and I headed to our friends' new house for the first official barbecue of summer! This was not before a group shopping trip to Aldi. For those of you who aren't in the "know", Aldi is a supermarket that sells cheaper alternatives to name brands. I'll admit it, I've been a bit of a snob about going there, but in the past few weeks have found it amazing! You can find such great bargains, like Luke found a neoprene rugby ball there yesterday for £2.99 and he's already gotten his money's worth of use.

Sorry I digressed a bit there on my love of Aldi. Anyway, the point is we had an amazing barbecue filled with sun, sausages and a few gin and tonics. After our barbecue we went for a walk around the neighbourhood through the parks and around the lake. The perfect ending to a lovely weekend!

I leave you with this parting question...

Q: Who wore it best? Luke with his blue shirt and plain t-shirt or Pete with his blue shirt and print?

Erin x

My Easter Bank Holiday Weekend

As far as holidays go, Easter has never been one of my favourites, in fact it probably isn't even in my top 5. It's situated towards the bottom of the list right before Martin Luther King Day. Sure when I was little I enjoyed painting hard boiled eggs and searching for my Easter basket which I think I always knew was hidden by my mother and not some giant pastel bunny. But I've never enjoyed the decorations (excessive pastel always worries me) nor the food which for my family often included ham which I distest the most out of all meats. Easter also always conjurs up memories of playing Clue Jr. when my Grandma was watching me and her allowing me to eat an entire white chocolate bunny, which in turn made me violently sick. A bittersweet memory really as I fondly remember the Clue Jr. part of my evening but to this can't eat white chocolate.

Living in England I'm learning to enjoy Easter a bit more, as now instead of chocolate bunnies I get chocolate eggs (which for some reason I feel more comfortable with eating) and a four day weekend! Most bank holidays are just a chance to relax and hopefully, if the English weather system is cooperating, enjoy the sun. However, Luke and I experienced a rather productive bank holiday weekend, with some fun mixed in of course.

We spent our Friday cleaning up the house, partly for my mom's visit and partly because Neil and Nicola were coming over for dinner, and doing last minute grocery shopping. We had planned to serve them coq au vin, but that plan backfired when we discovered Nicola didn't eat meat on Good Friday only fish, a family tradition passed down from her grandmother. After trying to insist to her that chicken was a white meat, and therefore didn't count as the rule only pertained to red meat we were left to find a suitable alternative. To my surprise it was Luke who found the answer to our problems with a receipe he found on the BBC for monkfish chowder. The little star even cooked it all by himself with me acting as sous-chef, and upon tasting it I can tell you I was very proud of him. It was delicious! That evening we had a load of laughs, which greatly increased the more bottles of wine we drank. After dinner we played Trivia Pursuit, Nicola & Luke v. Neil & I and of course Neil and I were the victors. We didn't just win, we destroyed them! After which we watched 10 minutes of GoldenEye that mainly consisted of impersonating Tina Turner doing the theme song before Neil and Nic decided it might be time to call for the taxi.

On Saturday we really got down to business, mainly with tackling our spare room which we had, until Saturday, been using as a dumping ground for everything we weren't sure where to put or hadn't had a chance to put away properly; tolietries, clothes, you name it and it was probably in there. But after a full day of cleaning and organising I can happily report that we indeed now actually have not a spare room but a guest room! As it was still light out, we celebrated by going for a walk in the fields behind our house to see the little lambs, which are getting so big now! Perhaps they are starting to recognise our smell or perhaps as they get older they get braver but we're able to get much closer to them now. We were able to sit a mere two feet away from a group of as they were playing and feeding. I love lambs, they are just so cute and cuddly and their little bahs just make my heart melt.

Sunday was of course Easter Sunday, and we had arranged to go to Southam as Luke had been invited to play in a memorial match in honour of someone he used to know down the rugby club. As he didn't have a game on in Milton Keynes, and because after all it was his old club, he decided to go down and play for the laugh. I went down to watch from the sidelines with Lindsay and Ian. It was actually, I'm ashamed to say, the first time I've been able to watch him play. When he was playing heavily in Manchester I was in America, he only played a few games in Worcester so I didn't get a chance, and since we've moved to Milton Keynes the games have either conflicted with my plans, away, or I've been dumb enough to get lost en route and turned up too late. I throughly enjoyed watching my man play, and of course I most boast that he was certainly one of the best plays out there.

Luke and Pete

After the game we went to Pam and Mick's house (Ian's parents) to give our little 'nephews', Sam and Isaac, their Easter eggs. As I said people don't give bunnies, they give eggs, and the boys we eager to show us their collection. Another difference, instead of hiding painted eggs for the kids to search for, in England they hide chocolate eggs. So I suppose it shouldn't come as a shock to me that when Sam showed me their collection they had some 20 chocolate eggs. Now these aren't just small egg sized bits of chocolate, each one was about the size of my hand. Even three-year-old Sam knew he had an excessive amount of chocolate, which I'm guessing is why he kept trying to give me his chocolate and not eating any himself. At some point Ian got the brilliant idea to help the boys tie Luke up with gaffa (duct) tape. I'm not sure how exactly it started but next thing I know I have a husband lying on the floor with a three and six year old sitting on his back as Isaac giggled wildly. Sam was a little more reluctant to play, and instead kept putting chocolate in Luke's mouth, which was a nice gesture but not very helpful at the time. The day ended playing Uno with Isaac, who after learning it in Florence with us has gotten really good, while Sam fell asleep in my lap.

Luke and his captors

The next day we awoke to not a bright and sunny morning like we had hoped for, but instead to a rainly and cold one. Not at all what we had hoped for considering we were going to Warwick Racecourse to see some horse racing. Not really my cup of tea as the last time I went was the freezing New Years' Eve 2010. It seems to be a bit of an English tradition though, bank holiday means horse racing. I love horses, I just don't get enjoyment of watching them run around in a circle and contrary to popular belief just because I'm from Las Vegas doesn't mean I enjoy betting. I tried to make sense of the odds, but I might as well have been trying to read ancient Egyptian. While the people around me made bets, Luke and I were people watching. And let me tell you there were some sights to be seen! Girls wearing so much fake tan they looked like oompa loompas walking around in six inch heels and dresses so short had they bent over little would have been left to the imagination. Guys wearing suits three sizes too big for them were even more offensive. I kept finding myself thinking 'has one never heard of a tailor?' In an effort to be more politically correct, let's just say that the day was a cultural experience.

Luke, Lindsay, and I ended up leaving early as it was far too cold and too wet to carry on, and to be honest both Luke and I had had enough of the races by then. After a cup of tea with Lindsay we headed home, and surprisingly were not met with any holiday traffic.The weekend ended curled up in bed with a cup of tea watching Tangled.

My mom was supposed to arrive this morning, but unfortunately the flight she was supposed to take from New York was oversold, as well as the following two flights. Which means she's currently stuck in a dingy airport hotel outside JFK instead of here with us. Fingers crossed she'll be here tomorrow morning.

Erin x

March Madness

March has been an absolutely mad month for Luke and I, we always knew it would be busy but I don't think either of us were expecting how busy it truly would end up being. First off, Luke spent the first two weeks of March in Germany for work. (Hence my unusual commute as discussed in my previous post.) He's currently in the middle of a massive transition to the way his work manages business operations. Work has also been incredibly busy for me, I spent March arranging product launches all across Europe. Which included putting together running orders, creating presentations, and shipping off materials. I'll spare you the details, let's just say after a month of launches I'm really looking forward to the bank holiday weekend (we get Good Friday and Easter Monday off in England).

Packing up one of our exhibition stands.

March 17th is of course St. Patrick's Day, and I had a very enjoyable one this year. Luke was playing rugby so I walked down to meet him at the club and watch him play or at least that was the plan. While making my way down to the club, I believed I had discovered a short cut but instead I ended up a bit lost. First I ended up in a pretty neighbourhood, then a park, before making my way to what I thought was the rugby club only to discover it was a secondary school. By the time I finally made it to the correct rugby club the game was over and Luke was waiting bemused for me in the bar. All was not lost as we had prime seats to watch the final of the 6 Nations, England v. Ireland, with some of his teammates. I was told the drinking of Guinness was unpatriotic during the match by some of the lads, but no one shall deny me Guinness of St. Paddy's day! The 'luck of the Irish' wasn't with Ireland, a bit ironic given the date, and England won the match. I felt a bit sorry for the Irish really, but it was a quality match.

Guinness on St. Patrick's Day is a must!

This is going to sound a bit peculiar to my American readers, but March 18th is Mother's Day here in England. This is my second Mother's Day here and I still find the early date odd, as we don't celebrate it in America until May. So of course we went to Southam to celebrate it with Luke's mum. We had a lovely meal, a bit of a Greek buffet with everything homemade by Lindsay (before you scoff at the mother cooking, it had been done the day before and just thrown in the oven). It was a relaxed and enjoyable day.

Now I have received a lot of queries over the past months over the state of our new flat. Well, the battle is still raging on with the estate agents but FINALLY we have new carpets in the hall and lounge, which happened only last Tuesday. We're still waiting for the walls to be repainted, but as the landlady is abroad for three weeks we've been told there is nothing they can do. I know, it was idiotic for them to put the carpets in before they painted, but if they mess up the new carpets that's their issue as they'll have to do them again. We've given up living in a limbo at the house and have started to fully unpack to make it our home. To celebrate this I finally ordered my black, white, and red Moulin Rouge prints for my bedroom! I've been wanted a Moulin Rouge themed room since I can remember and have found some fantastic prints by René Gruau! 

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Besides the obvious hiccups, the flat is coming along rather nicely. We've got a lot of work to do on it this weekend as the following weekend we're getting a special visitor - my mum! I'm so excited to see her, and of course for her to see our new abode! I just hope the brilliant weather we experienced at the end of March will return for her, as this chilly start to April is not appreciated. But that's quintessentially English weather for you, always unpredictable!

Erin x

An Email from the Queen

Note: I did not write this, I received it in an email and found it too funny not to share. I would like to give credit where credit is due though, so if you know where this is originally from please let me know.

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To the citizens of the United States of America from Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

In light of your immediate failure to financially manage yourselves and also in recent years your tendency to elect incompetent Presidents of the USA and therefore not able to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately. (You should look up 'revocation' in the Oxford English Dictionary.)

Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except Kansas, which she does not fancy).

Your new Prime Minister, David Cameron, will appoint a Governor for America without the need for further elections.

Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire may be circulated sometime next year to determine whether any of you noticed.

To aid in the transition to a British Crown dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:

1. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'colour,' 'favour,' 'labour' and 'neighbour.' Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters, and the suffix '-ize' will be replaced by the suffix '-ise.' Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. (look up 'vocabulary').

2. Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as ''like' and 'you know' is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. There is no such thing as U.S. English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take into account the reinstated letter 'u'' and the elimination of '-ize.'

3. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.

4. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers, or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you're not quite ready to be independent. Guns should only be used for shooting grouse. If you can't sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist, then you're not ready to shoot grouse.

5. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. Although a permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.

6. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left side with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.

7. The former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling gasoline) of roughly $10/US gallon. Get used to it.

8. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with vinegar.

9. The cold, tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as beer, and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager. New Zealand beer is also acceptable, as New Zealand is pound for pound the greatest sporting nation on earth and it can only be due to the beer. They are also part of the British Commonwealth - see what it did for them. American brands will be referred to as Near-Frozen Gnat's Urine, so that all can be sold without risk of further confusion.

10. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters. Watching Andie Macdowell attempt English dialogue in Four Weddings and a Funeral was an experience akin to having one's ears removed with a cheese grater.

11. You will cease playing American football. There are only two kinds of proper football; one you call soccer, and rugby (dominated by the New Zealanders). Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a bunch of nancies).

12. Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside of America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. You will learn cricket, and we will let you face the Australians (World dominators) first to take the sting out of their deliveries.

13. You must tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us mad.

14. An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies due (backdated to 1776).

15. Daily Tea Time begins promptly at 4 p.m. with proper cups, with saucers, and never mugs, with high quality biscuits (cookies) and cakes; plus strawberries (with cream) when in season.

God Save the Queen!

Erin x

Fox on the Run

It is always a sad moment when a weekend comes to an end, but this past weekend was particularly hard. Luke and I spent it in Milton Keynes, which if jobs permit will soon be our new home, this time with Neil and Nic. (We were in MK the previous weekend dogsitting for them.) 

Friday evening we chilled out and had a lovely dinner made from the duck Luke's colleague sent him from France and Nicola's scrumptious dauphinoise potatoes. Topped off, of course, with a couple of bottles of red wine.

Saturday we spent the day wandering around Stony Stratford, a small village near Neil & Nic's where the phrase 'cock and bull story' comes from. While there Luke finally got his hair cut so it no longer looks like I'm married to Cousin It. In fact it no longer looks as if I'm married at all as Luke and I both turned in our rings to be resized. Mine was 4 sizes too big for me!!! 

After a trip into Stony, we went into central Milton Keynes to have another lovely dinner, this time at Raymond Blanc's Brasserie Blanc. We were joined by Neil & Nic's friend Dave and his three-year-old daughter, Matilda. While she was initially shy, Matilda soon decided I was her best friend and gave me a fairy princess sticker. I'm told this is a high honour, as she usually doesn't bestow new people with stickers so quickly. Luke also got a sticker a few minutes later, his was a plane. My sticker is decidedly more cool. Neil received a text after dinner from Dave telling me that I was a hit with Matilda. She said, "I like Erin because she is pretty and she held my hand." Out of the mouths of babes, eh?

The best part of the weekend, and the whole reason Luke and I were down there was to go to Twickenham (England's rugby stadium) to watch the England v. Scotland 6 nations match! While I didn't enjoy getting up at half-seven to get ready for the mini-bus to pick us up, I was surprisingly upbeat. I jumped up as soon as the alarm went off, while Luke just grunted and hit the snooze button. We were all kitted out in our England rugby shirts and on the mini-bus by 9:15. Which meant we were sitting down in a pub with our first pint by half-eleven for a 3 o'clock kick off!

The atmosphere at Twickenham is like none I have ever experienced, I can only liken it to what I assume the Super Bowl could be like. Everyone is happy and their is a buzz about. Their were kilts any way you turned, England was after all playing against Scotland, and English flags being waved with enthusiasm. All around the grounds were little stands selling all sorts of trinkets and food ranging from English favourites (i.e. fish and chips, Cornish pasties) to South African BBQ.

Our seats were excellent, only twenty rows back from the try line, which meant I could see all my favourite rugby boys in pretty good detail. :) The entertainment of watching the players warm up was surpassed however by a rather naughty fox, who somehow made his way onto the pitch. This fox stayed there for several minutes, much to the annoyance of officials who were trying to get him off and the delight of fans who cheered him on. In hind sight cheering for the fox was not the best of ideas, it probably scared the poor thing

The Fantastic Mr. Fox

The game wasn't the best I've seen, but for me that didn't matter because the atmosphere was so good. It was a close game, but this was due to the number of penalties each team got, not trys. My boy, Toby Flood, was not at his greatest but England got the result we wanted and need to win 6 Nations. 22-16. If England beats Ireland this weekend they will have won every game the entire tournament and thus win the tournament with a Grand Slam. I hope they do, but it will be a tough match for them, Ireland can be a formidable team and if they play how they did with Scotland I don't like their chances. I can only assume they'll play harder as everyone (including myself) always thinks England is going to crush Scotland which means England doesn't play as hard. A foolish mistake, and one that could have cost them, but no matter, like I said they won!

This coming weekend is another one to look forward to, as Amy, my friend since we were 9, is coming to visit for a week. We're spending the weekend in London, where her mother has generously gotten us a room at none of than Ruben's At The Palace - the hotel I stayed out when I came to the UK for the very first time. I wonder if Nathan the doorman will be there still?

Erin x

Roastbeef v. Frog (6 Nations)

It has been eighteen mostly rainy days since I've been back in England, and only the last four of which I have not been living out of my suitcases. I may detest unpacking even more than I do packing. While it has been taking me a while to get back into the swing of things here, I think I can confidently state that I am on my way.

This past weekend was lively, with friends and Luke's cousin coming to stay with us and the England v. France game from the 6 Nations Rugby tournament on. Quick Note: 6 Nations in a rugby tournament played between England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Italy, and France each year. England v. France is probably the biggest match of the tournament due to the intense rivalry between the two countries. I was very torn on who to pledge my allegiance to, England being my home now and France being a place I called home for a year and still love. In the end, I donned my recently purchased England Rugby shirt and decided to cheer for my favourite French rugby players, namely Sebastien Chabel, or as I like to call him Jesus on steroids. 

Chabal, French Position Number Eight and All Around Legend

Seriously, look at the bloke! I think if he were running at me for a tackle I'd assume the fetal position, start sucking my thumb, and cry. He's an absolute beast with a top-notch beard and an all around quality rugby player. In the end, England triumphed over their froggy rivals with a victory of 17 to 9. They have so far won every match which could result in them winning by a grand slam. Next match for them is versus Scotland, which Luke and I will be in attendance for.

After the rugby and a few drinking games our group of five set out to explore the bar scene of Worcester. There is not a shortage of bars here, but certainly a shortage of common decency. I don't mean to insult my current city, but it seems to be full of people suffering from big fish, little pond syndrome. When we tried to ascertain the best bar to go to by questioning the locals we were told the name of a bar which escapes me now, but that we couldn't get in because 'only locals could'. We were actually turned away from somewhere for not being local. How they knew this I don't know, perhaps it was the absence of tracksuit bottoms and fake Burberry. 

One of my favourite moments of the night, happened right after we were turned away from the bar for not being locals. Four police officers were standing on the corner watching the bar we had just been been denied entry to. I'm not sure how we got to speaking to these gentlemen but I think it might have stemmed from the bouncers trying to say that 'locals only' was not a form of discrimination. We chatted to them for probably 10 minutes, before it was quickly cut short by a street brawl which they had to attend to. Which was a shame as we were quite enjoying our little chat.

It was a decent night out, apart from a few hiccups which were brightened by a morning of countless cups of tea and bacon sandwiches or bacon butties as they are called here. After our guests left, Luke and I spent the rest of the day huddled in bed watching the first few episodes of what is fast becoming our new guilty pleasure Glee.

I must leave it here for now, as a houseful of guests has left the place in dire straits. Until next time.

Erin x

Pocketful of Sunshine

Signs of Autumn are beginning to show here in England - the cricket season has ended and the rugby season is just beginning (in fact Luke is off playing rugby at this very moment). Jumpers are making a comeback to my wardrobe. The leaves of some of the trees are now adorning splashes of red and orange. And further proof, last night when Luke and I were cooking dinner the entire first floor's windows fogged up. Yes, it's beginning to get a bit chilly here.

The arrival of Autumn always brings lots of things to look forward to. For example: my birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving (in America that is) and it's the precursor to Christmastime. My favourite time of year has always been October to December! This year Autumn introduced me to a new treat, figs. I was reading one of Luke's mum's magazines and it said that September is when figs are at their perfect ripeness. People seem to truly enjoy figs here, where as back home the closest I got to a fig was a Fig Newton, and even then that was just the name as I usually ate the raspberry ones. Not anymore! I absolutely love figs, every time we go grocery shopping we pick up about 5 or 6 of them. They are amazing just plain but even better when thinly sliced and put on top of Greek yoghurt with honey (my own little concoction).

As I said earlier, Luke is playing his first game of the rugby season, which is also the first with his new team - Pershore Rugby Club, located about 10 minutes away from us. Normally I will go and watch him play, but since it was his first match I thought it best to let him get his bearings. Besides, I am supposed to be getting the house ready for my mom's visit (she'll be here this time next week). Instead I got sucked into my blog, so now I better go make a start on the house!

Erin x