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!

Happy Anniversary!!

Tomorrow (March 1st) marks our 5th wedding anniversary. Hard to believe Alan and I have been married 5 years. It seems like yesterday we were stranded out on I-20 for 26 hours trying to get to Fort Worth for our wedding!

Alan, thanks for sticking by me through the good times and the bad (mostly good). I look forward to another 50 years (or more) with you.

My Best Friend's Wedding

One of my oldest and dearest friends got married this weekend, and I was honored to be a bridesmaid. Kourtney and Chris tied the knot in Fort Worth on February 2nd. The festivities started Friday night with the rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner at the Reata. We had good food and wonderful conversation. Alan and I sat with Kourtney's brother, Jeriahme and his fiance', Carrie. It was great to catch up with Jeriahme and get to know Carrie.

After the rehearsal dinner, Amy and I stayed at her parents house since we had to be in Fort Worth early in the morning. It was just like one of our former high school sleepovers.

On Saturday, we woke up to a fabulous breakfast thanks to Amy's mom. Nothing beats Chick-Fila chicken biscuits and cinnamon rolls! After the hearty breakfast, Amy's mom took us to the Lemongrass Salon to get our hair and make up done. Everybody looked great. It was so much fun to get pampered. I wish I could have someone do my hair every day!

After hair and makeup, we joined Kourtney, her parents, and the rest of the bridesmaids for lunch at a wonderful little deli. Kourtney was so relaxed! We then headed back to the hotel to get changed. We had a few hours, so we entertained ourselves learning the "Soulja Boy"dance so that we could "perform" at the reception.

The wedding was held at Saint Patrick's Cathedral in downtown Fort Worth. After the wedding the bridal party walked the two blocks to the reception at the Fort Worth Club. Thank goodness the weather was beautiful. We had no idea what to expect weather-wise for the first weekend in February, so we couldn't have been more pleased. After a wonderful sit-down dinner, we ended the day with an evening of dancing with all of Kourtney and Chris's friends and relatives.


Congrats to the new couple... Chris and Kourtney Dell'Accio!! I wish you a lifetime of love and happiness!

Introducing Hannah "Noel" Brinkman

Noel was born around 1 PM this afternoon to proud parents Jennifer and Cory. Mom and baby are doing great! Welcome to the world, Noel!!




Hannah "Noel"
February 5, 2008
7 lbs 3 oz
20 inches

The Kelly Family Cruise

This year, we decided to do something a little different for our families for Christmas. We took my parents, Alan's parents, and Alan's brother on a cruise. We left from New Orleans on a 5 day Carnival cruise that traveled to Progresso and Cozumel Mexico. As you can tell by the pictures we had a great time.

Decorating

After two years of living in our house, I'm finally getting around to decorating it! For awhile, it just seemed too overwhelming, so I never wanted to bother with it. I tackled the dining room first since it was the room that needed the least amount of work. With the help of a decorator, I picked out a painting, a rug, and had some gorgeous drapes made. It's amazing how much better just a few key pieces made the room look. I still have to finish reupholstering the seat cushions, which is much more difficult than I anticipated. After that, the room will be complete!! These pictures don't do the room justice, especially with the mess on the table!

Skiing in Colarado

Alan was up in Denver last week for work. Since he had never been skiing before, he thought this would be a good opportunity to try it out. I flew up to Denver Wednesday evening and we drove up to Keystone, CO with a couple of his coworkers where we had rented a beautiful condo.
We had a great time skiing. Alan did very well for his first time out on the slopes and asked me when we could go back! I'm not to sure I'm ready to go back. I'll at least have to wait until the giant bruise on my leg goes away before I'm even ready to think about it again. Injuries and all, we still had a great time, but I'm sure glad we don't live someplace where it snows like that!!

Curiosity Will Probably Kill This Cat...

I always thought that our cat, Honey would calm down once she got older. Boy was I wrong. She's 7 and just as crazy as ever. The other day, she decided it would be fun to climb into an empty 7-up container. Unfortunately only her head fit in, so she spent about 20 minutes frantically trying to get the box off of her. She finally got the box off, only to try again a few minutes later. I guess she'll never learn.

She's also very fond of the Christmas Tree. We hadn't even finished putting the tree together, and she was halfway up the tree. We've been fortunate this year and have yet to have a broken ornament....