Auld Lang Syne

We celebrated New Year's Eve-day by going to La Hogue where we didn't enjoy our food, but did enjoy the location, shop, and Suffolk ice cream purchase.  Hazel's now in bed, and so we're planning on officially celebrating boring style, but that's ok with me.  I hope you have all enjoyed your 2011, and hope you enjoy 2012 even more!

Double date night

We enjoyed a night out last night with Charlotte and Jonny, and ate at the Zen Noodle Bar in Bury St. Edmunds.  Service was terrible, food was pretty good, but company was fantastic.  Overall, great date night!

An engagement worth celebrating

My beautiful friend from church got engaged, and it needed to be celebrated.  I was the chosen photographer for the evening.  Good news, I love taking photos.  Bad news, the stunning venue was is darkness with DJ lights flashing about.  But at least it was a fun night!

(If you want to see where this all took place, go here)

Christmas weekend recap

We were definitely home-sick but managed to have a nice weekend.  Hazel has been begging for a stroller for her doll, and so she's very grateful that Santa fulfilled her wish.  We hope you all had a magical Christmas.

p.s. I love skype.

A message from our palace:

We had to keep the tradition alive!  Hope you all have a very happy Christmas!

Lots and lots of love from England! xx

(You can view our last three out of six Christmas cards by visiting here, and here, and here. )

Another tea room success.

Rachel and I went to Emily's Tea Room yesterday, and I had yet another life changing experience.  Peppermint tea, white hot chocolate, and sandwiches all made from heaven.  Then if that wasn't good enough, we went and ordered some chocolate scones with clotted cream and preserves.  I now believe that this scone was the best thing I've ever eaten!  Seriously.

Today

Remember this ottoman that I got.  This is how it's being used.

And I saw this video on a friend's blog, (thanks Camille), and thought it was such a nice reminder of what Christmas is all about.  Hope you enjoy!

A life changing moment...

My kind neighbor introduced me to Mr. Kipling's Festive Bakewell Tarts.  Never in a million years would I have selected it off the shelf without being informed of their goodness.  Oh man, tasty tasty!  I guess you'll have to come visit me so that you can confirm this.  

(I'm totally salivating while typing this).

And this bouquet of flowers stopped me in my tracks today at Sainsbury's and took my breath right away.  I have a slight obsession with green and white flowers, and Christmas. This had all of those elements in one bouquet.  I just had to buy it for myself.

And I have never seen this big, beautiful, and unique flower before until living in England.  If anyone can tell me the name of this gem then you'll get a gold star!

The girls of Mistletoe Street

I had a small gathering last night with the ladies on my street.  I've said it before, and I'll say it again, "I'm so lucky to have such awesome people as my neighbors."

(And I was amused during our game of Scattergories how many words are different from the US to the UK.  I had to get out my computer more than once to prove that I wasn't making up jibberish).

Odds and ends.

I got an early Christmas present; thanks wonderful husband.  I've been longing for a storage ottoman to hide all of Hazel's toys.  Hazel thought it was Christmas morning when she saw this piece of furniture stocked full of her goods.

And today Hazel and I were delighted to see the first snowfall of the season.  It felt like Christmas for a whole two hours around here.  We made sure to blast Christmas tunes and show off our best dance moves.

And I picked up some Festive goodies to treat ourselves to this weekend, British style of course.

And did you know that there's only 9 days until Christmas?  What the?!

Happy Christmas everybody!