Thanksgiving and stuff

Our first British Thanksgiving was a success!  We had a house full of Americans and lots of yummy food :)  I have to say 14 guests for our first attempt at cooking a full Thanksgiving dinner was a bit ambitious but we did it!  I didn't take any pictures, unfortunately.. but Naomi did so here are a few!

Turkey before it went in the oven!

Girls from University plus Amanda's friend Veronica.  Veronica flew in from New York on and overnight flight and arrived Thanksgiving morning.. and still managed to make it to Thanksgiving dinner!  What a trooper!

FOOD!

Turkey - post carving.

Yum.

So many Americans!

Keys family tradition!  When we aren't together for Thanksgiving we make a sad face plate.  My sad face plate had a bib and arms this year :)

After everyone left Mat had to make stock, of course.  This was about 1 am.

That's the end of the Thanksgiving pictures!  A good time was had by all.  I should have taken a picture of all the alcohol.. definitely more than enough for 14 people ;)  At midnight (after everyone left) Mat, Paul and I did tequila shots for my birthday (big 2-4!).. then I remembered why I don't do tequila shots. So gross! 

On my birthday Mat and I took Flat Stanley out around London!  A guy I went to college with teaches third grade in Iowa and a student from his school sent her Flat Stanley to me.  We went to Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Tower Bridge, and out for tea (doesn't get much more British than that!).  

Mat and I in Hays Galleria on my birthday. Such pretty Christmas decorations!

Flat Stanley with Tower Bridge.

After exploring London, we came home and I took a nap.  Mat made me leftover Thanksgiving dinner in bed (he's so good to me - I got breakfast and dinner in bed for my birthday).  Then we ventured back into central London to go to a comedy club in Leicester Square.  It was a successful birthday I'd say!

Today we had a volleyball tournament.  We won every game (yayyy Go King's!).  Tomorrow I'm playing with the mixed team.  It's been a volleyball filled weekend!

This is a random picture from about a month ago.  Amanda and I went exploring in Sloane Square/Chelsea/South Kensington and found this cool bridge.

Mat got me these cute slippers for my birthday :)

That's all for now!

"What did his mom say?!"

Here's the scenario..
The little boy I watch on Monday afternoons (he's 6) and I are making crispy treats (basically chocolate, butter, and rice krispies).  He picks up the whole bowl and pretends like he's going to dump it onto the tray.

Me: Oh I wouldn't do that.  My boyfriend tried to pour soup like that this weekend and he spilled it all over the counter!
Boy: What did his Mom say?!
Me: His Mom wasn't there.
Boy: What did you say?!
Me: I told him to clean it up!

A few minutes pass....
Boy: But what was his mom like? What did she say?
Me: His mom wasn't there.
Boy: Ohhhhh so you were looking after him?

..... kids are so funny :)

Sick sick sick

I'm alive!  I wasn't sure if I was going to make it through the weekend.  The little boy I babysit had a stomach bug last week and I finally got it on Friday night.  I spent a solid 8 hours throwing up Friday night-Saturday morning.  Saturday I could barely get out of bed and I was really really dehydrated.  Luckily I have an amazing boyfriend who brought me medicine and made me chicken noodle soup - right before he got sick too!  Seriously. Our house was gross this weekend.  On the bright side, I probably lost 5 pounds!

This post is going to have lots of pictures of food, so it looks like we've been busy eating.. but we haven't.  We made stuff and didn't really eat it (except the chicken noodle soup - we ate that).  I've only eaten one meal since Friday night.

Dorking is pretty in the fall :)

Chris came to visit on Friday!  They decided to make pasta - at 11 pm.  This went on for about 3 hours! 

Putting filling in the ravioli - Pumpkin, parsnip and turmeric.

Pasta take two!  Ravioli was finished and they had a lot of extra pasta dough.. so they decided to get fancy and make tortellini.

So proud of themselves :)

Shortly after this photo, the throwing up began and didn't stop until the next morning.  Then I couldn't get out of bed all day on Saturday.  

Sunday - 

Mat was ill on Sunday.. and he apparently lost all fashion sense while he was ill.  We were going to go grocery shopping and he puts this outfit on.  What is wrong with him?! 

We didn't buy this monopoly because it was £25, but we bought regular Monopoly (which has British properties - Mayfair instead of Boardwalk, etc.)

Then we had a little game night since neither of us were well enough to do anything except sit in the living room!

Now for the food!

Chicken noodle soup.

Almond Macaroons ready for the oven!

Yum!  I don't like almonds so they weren't my favourite but pretty good!  Maybe Mat should consider a career as a pastry chef :)

We also made these little gems - peppermint cremes with chocolate filling.  So yummy! They didn't even require any baking.  Just mix cream cheese, icing sugar and peppermint extract, then melt chocolate and pipe it in the centre.  

I had to work this morning (which was the first thing I've really done since Friday).  It was good!  Little Maximilian isn't sick anymore so he was in a great mood.  We did have to walk 274504 miles and I was pretty confident I wasn't going to make it.  I suppose my body isn't quite recovered from losing all those fluids.  I need to drink a gallon of water today!

I'm off to work again this afternoon, then meeting Mat for dinner in Hampstead Heath.  I'll definitely be getting an early night tonight and then spending the whole day in the library tomorrow... the joys of being a Master's student :)

Wine tasting

Here's how my day is going -
- Woke up with a stomach ache.
- Attempted to make french toast and spilled half the jar of cinnamon in it.  Literally, half the jar.  Needless to say it wasn't good (even after scraping cinnamon off the top).
- Lost my Oyster card on the tube (you can't get out of the tube station without an Oyster card or ticket) so I had to smile sweetly at the man in the assistance desk to let me out.  Then I had to call Oyster and they charge £10 to replace it!  Annoying.
- Went to a meeting with my supervisor about my dissertation which consisted of me saying "I don't really know what I want to do.. maybe this... maybe this..." and her saying "I think you need to do some more reading." I feel like my eyes will bleed if I do any more reading than I'm already doing!

Now I have to go to class until 5, another meeting with another supervisor, then class again until 730.  Wednesdays are not good days.  While I'm doing all these things, Mat will be sitting at home doing absolutely nothing - not okay with me so I gave him a list of things to do :)

Yesterday, Amanda and I ventured to Dorking to get some fresh air (it's hard to breathe in London's pollution sometimes) and went wine tasting at Denbies (the biggest vineyard in the UK).  It was good fun and the wine was really good.  The tour was a bit dated (probably made in the 80s) - we rode on a "people mover" through the winery.  It was basically a really slow roller coaster.. and we were the only people on the tour (Tuesday afternoon at 2 o'clock and NO ONE else was wine tasting?! Step up your game Brits).  We did get to try the Queen's favourite wine (or so the lady said).  We weren't impressed with the Queen's palate.. our least favourite of all the wines!

Anywho.. here are some pictures from yesterday/last week.

Christmas decorations are up in Covent Garden! 

Me and my library :)

This is my library.  Mat was trying really hard to get me and the building in the picture. He's such a good photographer :)

Vineyard on a Tuesday afternoon!

Just 2 'mericans in the British countryside :)

It looked like a really gloomy day but it was actually really nice!

That's all for now :)  Off to class!

Volleyball

This is what happens when you try to do something fun like play volleyball in the park with Mat:

Yes that's my volleyball up in a tree.  Lucky for him, he managed to shake it loose!

I don't have much to report today.  I've been working this morning - by working I mean playing with balloons and going for a walk :)  Now I should be working on my dissertation and/or essay but I have zero motivation.  So I'm going to take a shower and go into central London instead!

Belfast pictures

Random photos from the past few weeks:

Amanda and I wandering around the South Bank.

Mat and I's anniversary :)  All ready to go out to dinner!  It was miserably cold and rainy outside, but we had a good time.

Pretty anniversary flowers.

Northern Ireland from the airplane!

Alasdair (Mat's friend from school and our wonderful host) and I at the sea park in Belfast.  I couldn't look any more awkward in this picture if I wanted to (the sun was in our eyes.. let's blame the sun).

Me and the Irish Sea.

My travel buddy.

Mat and his new best friend Sebastian (Alasdair and Emma's baby).  Adorable.

Just some boys hanging out in the pub.

Sebastian and I :)

Can you see the shamrock in the foam?  Only in Ireland :)

That's about it!  Mat and I had a lovely time in Belfast.  We didn't take nearly as many pictures as we should have - oh well! A special thanks to Alasdair and Emma for being such great hosts!

We're back in London now and getting back into the swing of things.  I spent the morning at the library and managed to crank out 1000 words of my 6000 word essay!  Then I met Mat for lunch, came home and cooked a million cookies to take to school tomorrow, and did laundry. Such a productive day!

I'm now being forced to watch the Grand Prix. The joys of living with boys ;)

Farm

My newly discovered favourite song (for the moment):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4zCOHFrLVY
I love it.

I babysat this morning.  The little boy and I went to a "farm" in the middle of Islington.  They had sheep, goats, a couple cows, a pig, and some chickens.  He was very excited about the sheep!

To get there, we had to take a bus.  For those who have never tried to get on a London bus with a stroller, it's not an easy feat.  The places to park the strollers are not really big enough, and getting out is an absolute nightmare.. and the whole time everyone looks at you like you're dumb.  I ran over these two ladies feet today getting on the bus because they refused to move their feet out of the aisle so I could get through.... sorry I'm not sorry ladies!  In any case, we survived :)

Here's a cow - such a tiny little pen for such a big cow :(

Now I'm off to pack for Belfast! EEEEKKK! I can't wait :) 

Then I'm going to a food market/tea festival on the South Bank.  I've turned into a market addict.  I love them.  Convenient that I live in London so there are always markets on :)

Next week I have to really buckle down and get some paper writing done.  I have not done enough school work this week (oops).