White Christmas

For the first time in almost 90 years Dallas experienced an actual white Christmas. The snow started about mid-day Christmas Eve and didn't let up until later on that evening. I'm so thankful I made it to my parents house before the weather started getting too bad. My parents two dogs along with mine had such a great time playing in the snow. We tried to get all three dogs to pose for pictures in front of the fire, but that was much easier said than done. By mid-morning Christmas Day all the snow had melted, but that still didn't stop us from enjoying probably the one and only white Christmas we will experience in Dallas in our lifetime.

What Blog???

Okay, I'll admit, I've done a terrible job of keeping up with my blog. It's not that I haven't done anything in the last few months, it's just that about the same time as my last post, I discovered Facebook. So, if you follow me on Facebook, you can see minute by minute updates of what I had for breakfast or who I hung out with on Saturday night. Well... maybe not quite so detailed, but I do a much better job of keeping up with Facebook than I do keeping up the blog. So... if you don't have a Facebook account, I highly recommend it. Just watch out, though, it's very addictive.

Mike and Val's Wedding in Las Vegas - December 6, 2008

New Beginnings...

I've been going back and forth the last couple of months trying to decide whether or not I should even post this. I think most of you that read this, already know, but there may be a few who don't. For those who don't, Alan and I are now divorced. I'm not going to go into reasons why and such, but if you ask me, I will talk about it. It was official as of last Thursday (November 13th). Now I am just trying to pick up the pieces and move forward with my new life (hence the new blog title "New Beginnings"). Thanks to everyone that has been there and supported me during this difficult time in my life. I truly appreciate it.

Love,
Brooke

PS...I'll keep posting things that I think might interest readers :)

Wine Country

Last week, my friend Anna invited me on a spur of the moment trip to Wine Country in Sonoma/Napa Valley California. We had a great time staying at a bed and breakfast and visiting a ton of wineries. I can't wait to go back.

England Pictures - Part 1

Here's my first batch of pictures from England. Hope you enjoy!

My New Baby

Please welcome the newest member of the Kelly family... Landry! She's an 8 month old black lab mix and just as sweet as she can be. She seems to be adjusting very well to her new surroundings and her feline siblings. The cats, on the other hand, don't particularly care for her, but are starting to tolerate her. I don't think it will take too long before they are all great friends.

Cheers from London

Well, technically, I'm not sure if I'm using the correct usage of the word "Cheers". Most of the time I hear people use it in place of "goodbye" or "thanks", but I figured that it could be used in place of "hello" as well.

Here's a list of words that I have added to my vocabulary over this past week:

• Cheerio - This is the slang version of "cheers". It makes me laugh everytime I hear it, which is quite often!
• Flannel - The other day I called down to the front desk of the hotel to ask for some additional washclothes. The man at the front desk had no idea what I was talking about. We finally figured out that what I was asking for was actually a "flannel"
• Pasty - No...this is not what you think it is!! This is actually something you eat. It's actually quite good. They are basically a hand-held chicken pot pie (or beef, lamb, pork, etc).
  
• Jacket Potato - a baked potato.
  

Other observations from the past week:

• Showers should be mandatory for everyone, especially if you are in a small conference room with someone for a significant amount of time or on a train or bus in close quarters.
  
• No one here knows what "Ya'll" means.
• London is EXPENSIVE! I left work pretty late one evening, and stopped at the McDonald's by my hotel and got a Quarter Pounder combo that cost 4.49 pounds. That's a little over $9!
• London is cold and rainy. It's rained every single day since I got here. On top of that, I don't think the temperature has broken 70 degrees since I've been here, which is a huge change from the 105 degree heat I left in Dallas.
• The US is a lot more conservative when it comes to television. I've seen things on local TV that I wouldn't even see on HBO! I'll just leave it at that! They have their own version of "Big Brother" and it is on ALL the time.
  

Fortunately, I've gotten to do a little bit of sightseeing along the way. Once I get my pictures uploaded, I'll post them.

The first weekend, my coworker and I did a double decker tour bus of London, and got to see all the typical sights... the London Eye, Trafalger Square, Picadilly Circus, Buckingham Palace, The Tower of London, and Harrods (where I bought the most expensive coffee ever to bring back to my parents).

On Sunday, we took a tour inside some of the Buckingham Palace state rooms, which you can only do a few weeks out of the year. I feel honored that I got a chance to go inside.

This past Saturday, we took a day trip over to Bath, which was about a 30 minute train ride from where I am staying in London. The buildings and architecture were amazing. It was really hard to believe that the actual bath and pump room were over 2000 years old and they still work.

This past Sunday, we took a 20 minute train ride over to Oxford. We did quite a bit of walking and viewing of the college grounds. Oxford has some of the most amazing churches and chapels that I have ever seen.

I also wanted to mention the hotel I am staying at. It's probably the nicest, yet strangest hotel I've ever stayed in. It's very dark yet whimsical with lots of little hallways and steps inside. Here's some picture of the room from the website.

Decorating Part II

Alan keeps asking me when we are going to finish decorating the house. I keep having to tell him it's a process...not something I can conquer in one weekend. Well, I finally figured out what I wanted to do with the entry way and got the process started.

I ended up having a lady who came highly recommended come and paint the entry way. I asked for a chocolate brown with a gold metallic faux finish. I think she probably thought I was crazy, but in the end it turned out better than I imagined! I love how the brown looks with the blue dining room.

Then this morning, I had my new piece of furniture delivered. Now all I need to do is accessorize. My plan is to put a very large decorative mirror above the sideboard and put a larger rug in the middle of the entry way. Let's hope it doesn't take several months for me to find something I like! It still has a ways to go, but it's a start!

New Edition...

So we finally did it... after about a year of talking about it, we finally traded in the good old Altima and bought an Acura MDX. I just picked it up this afternoon, but I already love it! I do have to say, going from driving a car to driving an SUV will take some getting used to, but I'm willing to deal with it!