We Saw the Queen

Posted on | April 17, 2012 | 3 Comments

I am not one who gets excited easily about a celebrity. Even though I think Johnny Depp is pretty cool (and he’s only a couple hours away), I wouldn’t be screaming and jumping up and down if we ever bump into each other. I don’t wait around for famous people to pass by either. Sleep is too precious for me and if it’s cold outside, forget it!

But while in York (April 5th), Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II was there too and by accident we saw her pass by (with nobody else blocking my camera). I got a couple good pictures of her and one was this:

I have another photo but this one shows all three royals inside the vehicle. Emma was standing right in front of me and even though I am almost sure the Queen was not specifically looking at us, it felt like it. We were just at the right place at the right time. No waiting or anything…

Here was York the next day. The sun didn’t want to come out and it was a bit chilly but still, a very beautiful ancient town!

Emma… M is well. BUT, she’s been difficult to photograph lately. Jovie on the other hand keeps asking for a photo. But the other day I caught this. A happy girl who just got her croquet ball through the hoop (random ball and random hoop).

And this, Jovie behind a chess board.

The card… I created the card using this week’s Waltzingmouse sketch. LOVE the sketch! Had so much fun creating this one piece!!

Take care and until next time!

Travel Time

Posted on | March 14, 2012 | 3 Comments

I love, and I mean LOVE, living in England. But, like anywhere else, there are a few things that I wish could be better. One in particular is driving time.

For the last few months we’ve been thinking about moving. I look regularly online, get email updates and have looked at a couple in person but so far: Nothing. Don’t think that housing is hard to find or that I am uber picky (well, kind of) but I want to move into an oooooold house with a garage, at least three double rooms (some houses here are advertised as five bedrooms but only two are decent sizes and the three are only for a single bed and a dresser), a lovely garden, super clean + updated toilets, gas stove, a good location (school, gymnastics and markets) and within 30 minutes of hubby’s work.

Right now we’re about 20 minutes, 12 miles, from his work and 50 minutes, 38 miles, from M’s gymnastics club. Even though it’s ok now, if Emma keeps loving gymnastics and continues to do well she’s going to one day go more often.

With all that put into consideration, I’ve been looking further north for a new place to rent. Hubby’s work is actually in the middle of our house and gymnastics right now and so a northern move would be an advantage to him in terms of mileage.

Here’s the funny part. No matter where I look, our drive will more less be 20-30 minutes for hubby and 40-50 minutes for the gym even though mileage wise they are significantly less. Unlike the US, there are not as many interstates and highways here in the UK. While US highways have a lower speed limit and have different booby traps to somewhat slow you down, they are a lot quicker than UK ones because there are no roundabouts every 2-5 miles for example. The other main reason why it would take us as long to get to work or gym is because the villages that I’ve been looking at, the ones we want to live in, are not near a highway exit. Actually, there is probably no decent villages that is right off the interstate. And most people will agree that driving through villages can take a lot longer than going via the interstate.

Here’s an example: Last weekend the hubby and I went on a date. We ate at this lovely restaurant 6.5 miles away from our home. It took us 18 minutes to get there. It wasn’t because there was city traffic, or any traffic, but because we had to go through different villages, roundabouts, and small two lane roads (even though the out of village speed limit is 60 miles/hr).

I’ve seen many cute cute cute places 15-20 miles away from hubby’s work but even though it’s 15 miles away, it can take 45 minutes to get to his work just because there’s no direct route and half of the drive would be through different villages.

Village driving is wonderful. I LOVE doing this. But when you’re in a hurry or just trying to get to and from work, you just want to hurry it up and get there.

I hope you like the page I have here today. I used the Scarlet Lime February Frugal Fab kit for this and really like how fun it turned out. Jovie loved it too. She absolutely loved the sea horse, which I knew she would {::SMILES}. Take care and until next time!!

Conwy, Wales

Posted on | November 5, 2011 | 2 Comments

Can you imagine having the above for your bedroom? FYI, THAT is the whole bedroom area with a little dresser on my left.

I finally have a little bit of time to download the north Wales images from my cards onto the computer. I’ve been soooo busy! I FINALLY got rid of a lot of things from the study downstairs after weeks (or months) of procrastinating. Next week: The upstairs!!

Before I get to the pictures let me tell you this: Accidentally going to Wales for our October mid-term holiday was the best thing ever! At first the girls and I were going to visit a high school friend of mine in the Netherlands. But at the last minute hubby said he got the time off and after hours of looking Wales was the only place that had cottages for rent that took dogs, children, near a lot of great sights AND not cost an arm and a leg. I decided on northern Wales because from what I read the northern side acts more Welsh than the southern region. Since I wasn’t sure if there will be another Wales visit I wanted our one visit to be the most Welsh and north it was. Before Wales I always thought that France is the most beautiful place but now… I don’t know!

Even though I still think France is gorgeous there was something about Wales that touched my heart. Even now, thinking about where we were, my heart somewhat skipped a beat. Sounds really cheesy, huh? But oddly, it’s true. I was even very motivated to walk the trails and did wish it was summer and dry so that we could hike up a bit. Hubby was impressed since I’m not a big fan of walking – I am only a city or shop walker (sad I know) or hiking (I don’t even own hiking boots).

I hope to go back in the summer. I’m not sure which summer, but I’d like to go back before we leave this island. I want to play on the beach with the girls, take their photos, and do more walking. We were though very, extremely I should say, lucky to have a dry week. It rained one day but only en-route to Caernarfon (a 25 min. drive from our cottage). All-in-all a glorious fall week we all had in north Wales!

While Wales was only planned in a week, I think we were meant to go there all along. That weekend we were there the Conwy Food Festival was going on. If you’ve been following my blog for a bit you’d know how much I LOVE food. It was great to have all sorts of Welsh food, and more, in one spot!! Sunday morning after breakfast we headed out and walked from our cottage (you can read my review on there dated 30st of October), across the estuary from Conwy, to the festival which was held right next to the castle. The walk was a pleasant 20 minute one and once we got to the bridge connecting Deganwy (where our cottage is at) to Conwy we took our time.

The first thing we did after we got to Conwy was go into the food festival. We tried a bit of this and that and listened to an Irish street band play some really awesome music. These guys were serious musicians, playing the streets before performing at one of the beer tents, and they made everybody want to dance. Very cool!! We passed by the smallest house in Great Britain too and wow, tiny!! Can you imagine this 6′ guy living in there? Living up in that bedroom? Then we went to the castle. The price was only £7 for the whole family because of the fair and it was THE best £7 spent on castle entrance ever! We didn’t know this but during the food festival the castle comes to life with folks dressed in medieval costumes, village, army, musicians, fights, etc. We were at the castle early and with not so many people in 21st century clothing roaming around I felt like we entered a time machine and was blasted back in time.

After the castle we had tea at a cafe next to the castle and hot fresh mussels from the fair. We were the last customers before closing and the cooks gave us two extra bowls of mussels (after the five we purchased). YUM YUM YUM!!!

Do browse the photos and read the little captions that I put on each image. I have a little video too of the fights but will have to share that on a later date. It needs to upload that onto YouTube first. Have a great one!!!

London

Posted on | September 6, 2011 | 3 Comments

One day I want to go to London by myself. Maybe as a birthday present, Christmas or just because. I love the kids and all but it’d be nice I think if I can, for one day, not have to chase a toddler down or listen to why things happen per Miss M’s theory. I love the hubby but it’d be nice if I can take as long as I want staring at a pair of shoes or go back and forth five times between two shops trying to decide which dress fits me best. Yes, I’d love to wonder around London, sit at a shop sipping coffee and reading and shop all by myself. Do you get “me” time here and there?

Saturday we went to London. I persuaded M to skip gymnastics (awesome gymnastics mom!) so that we could go to the National Gallery, grab a bite to eat and just hang out as a family. The first thing Jovie said when we got out of the Tube: “YEA, SHOPPING!!” Hubby looked at me and I said, “What?!?!”

While the day was quite good, the National Gallery wasn’t quite so. I wish I could share how enthused M was about the whole experience or at least a painting spiked her interest but nope. She was grumpy. I was a bit disappointed too because the reason we went was so M could see some known art work. She keeps saying she wants to be an artist when she grows up. She did perk up at the end when we got to the gift shop but became extremely upset when I told her that there will be no purchase because of her attitude in the gallery. I reminded her that she was given many opportunities to change the attitude but none was taken so the no shopping (and M LOVES gift shops… or any shop really) was the punishment. So, if anybody saw a little girl crying at the National Gallery gift shop Saturday evening then you can most likely say you’ve seen M in person. I did love seeing some of Van Gogh, Monet, Seurat, Raphael and Rembrandt’s work in person. I have a thing for sunflowers and love Van Gogh’s version. I love Degas’ ballet class too while Raphael’s colors were just so vibrant. Oh, and Lady Jane Grey’s painting… so so sad!

Besides that, we had fun. Right outside the Gallery we saw some street dancing. Oh, notice that little clock behind the tall monument? That’s Big Ben.

Street Dancing

See the kid jumping over the people below? These young folks were very fun to watch!

We had a great Mexican lunch at Wahaca. Highly recommended if you’re in the Trafalgar/National Gallery area! Mexican food, good Mexican food I should say, is not easy to find. So when one is found, especially if it’s not Tex-Mex, one needs to share the info. The pork tacos were soooooooo good! They’re just like the ones I got from the little old lady selling on the sidewalk in Mexico. Street food without the Montezuma curse!

We had tea (or coffee).

Saw a funny street sign.

We went to Chinatown.

Passed by the theatre where Mamma Mia is performed. Next time M and I will have tickets to watch the show and not just pass by it!

We walked through Soho to get to the tube (good thing M is still too little to notice all the “interesting” stuff ). Soho is right next to Chinatown, just a few steps from the Mamma Mia theatre and around the corner from many other places. One little road to cross, one little step and you’re in a more “interesting” part of town. I think we were the only one with a stroller. If M was older or more observant she’d have more questions but she’s still little and not into her surrounding. She was more into avoiding smoke smells. Besides more adults and people smoking, she didn’t notice anything different with the areas we walked through.

Almost at the tube station.

Got some Korean for dinner at Assa. Recommended too. Price was great and it was packed full of Koreans (a great sign, right?). I had some spicy tofu soup with rice, kim chi, bean sprouts, seaweed and fried rice. Hubby wasn’t hungry so only M and I ate. I wish I ordered the hot plate. Looked so yummy and big portions too! Next time!

I wish I had taken pics of the food. But I was hungry. Next time!

I LOVE Beaune

Posted on | June 17, 2011 | 2 Comments

Hey hey!

It’s been ages it seems since I had a relaxing day. It was so nice to just sit and read while Jovie napped. The poor girl starting sniffling earlier today and by sleep time she had a full blown broken faucet kind of nose run. If you have or have had kids this age you know how gross it can get!

Today I just want to share photos of our trip to Beaune. Beaune is a GORGEOUS small town south of Dijon (where Dijon mustard came from). Despite it’s size, Beaune is the capital of Burgundy (or as the french would call it: Bourgogne) Wines. While I prefer wine over beer I am not a wine expert and I can’t comment on the quality/flavor. But, since it’s so well known, I can only assume that Beaune has got some kick ass wine! {::SMILES}.

I didn’t know that Beaune existed until my friend recommended it to me. She said I’d love it there. Sure enough, I did and was a bit disappointed that I didn’t plan on staying longer (I booked a B&B for the next night already elsewhere). We only stayed for a few hours, for dinner and a stroll, but the little bit of time there made me want to go back with hubby and stay at least a week to explore more of the town and the surrounding. While I thought southern France was just stunningly beautiful, there’s something about the Bourgogne area that’s just enchanting. I felt like it was whispering for me to stay. The little bit of country side driving and the few places we stopped at made me very happy and at home.

Well, let me share some info on the photos…

The top, well, that’s just one of my gorgeous models whom I caught looking adorable (AND not snotty).

Then from left to right…

The cobblestone road that I drove myself on. The roads are tiny and so you really need to pay attention to the signs. They’re all one way roads you see.
The front of Hotel-Dieu. I wish we were there earlier so that we could see the inside. It’s gorgeous as you can see on the link above.
The one out of many restaurants. One thing I love about French eating is the street dining in fine weather. The hustle and bustle of dinnerware, silverware, and chit-chats. I know it’s not a French thing but I always associate eating outside that way with France. It’s one of my favorite thing to do and the girls and I spent a lot of lunches and dinners out this way.
The central of town with shops on the left and right.
A walk way that takes you to homes and hotels.
Another part of town. I love the architecture. So grand for a little town (less than 25K folks I think).
The Notre Dame church — not THE one.
Jovie running away from me. This was the view from the church.
An alley way. I have a thing for small roads and alleys. Also doors and windows. Old ones.
One of the shops. A kitchen shop. See all the copperware inside? Then the little Le Creuset coccote?
That was the Italian place we ate at. I had some escargot. I had escargot at each restaurant that sold it. HA!