Royal Footwear

Thanks to the best sister in the world, I now have my new Royal sneakers!! And not a moment too soon as my other ones stunk big time. Fifi it was worth lining up in the post office twice! xxxx

Bank Holiday Weekend - Beer & BBQ's

Best thing about May in England are all the bank holidays. So an extra long weekend was greatly anticipated. Saturday had us returning to the beer tents for a couple more pints. I was joined by my flatmates, friends and friends of friends. A couple of rainy hours there and it was back to the house for a huge barbie. Luckily my culinary skills came into play, and I had all the food cooked and ready to go. The weather held out so we were able to eat outside. Snags, steak, beef burgers, corn on the cob, salad, garlic bread, the list was endless. Profiteroles covered in chocolate, ice cream and my choc-chip banana bread ended the meal. Most of the gang went out clubbing, but the old timers (me, Mila, Jules & Fiona) stayed in for a chat. Sunday & Monday were days to stay in. It did nothing but rain the rest of the weekend. Miserable!!! So I stayed in bed and watched the entire season 3 of Alias! So now it's back to work as I'm obviously well rested.

Cambridge Beer Festival with Work

It's been a lovely 25 degrees every day so have been enjoying the heat. Headed down to the beer fest with Potts (my boss) and only had to wait 5mins before heading into the tent. Setup same as last year, but luckily we managed to find a seat with some random guys at a table outside. Sitting in the sunshine, raspberry beer in one hand & pork with apple sauce sanger in the other. Very relaxing. Potts headed off but I was soon joined by the boys (Martin, Patrick, Gary & Peter) and Charlie & Rach came too. A great evening had by all, I stuck to the raspberry beer whilst the others tried come Wheat Beer, Beir Blanche, Gorgeous honey beer, Janets Jungle Juice (Cider) and many others. Apparently the boys even managed to find me a man in the line up for beer, but unfortunately lost him in the crowd! Better luck next year.

Called Inger at about 11pm forgetting the time difference and sang/shouted down the phone to her. Luckily she found it funny!

After many drinks we all got kicked out of the tent and we headed off to the local cocktail bar (The Depot) for a quick one. I had progressed onto the non-alcoholic cocktails (luckily noone noticed) and we had a laugh. About midnight Charlie & I said bye to the boys and headed home. Luckily as I heard this morning the boys nearly got into a fight!! Not surprising really with the state they were in. They even managed to get into the night club (Bolero's) for a boogie. Great fun but sooooooooooooo tired today. Struggling to keep the eyes open. Can't wait for Saturday when the girls & I head down for more.

Because your worth it........L'Oreal

Well after 5 years of au natural, I decided to dye my hair. Found a lovely L'Oreal colour - Iced Chocolate, put it on and 20 mins later came out looking delicious! A nice dark brown with a hint of reddiness. Off to the Cambridge Beer Festival tonight so will take some pics of myself and upload them tomorrow!

Emergency Surgery & English Wildlife

Well as some of you might know, I can be a bit paranoid about my health. So after sitting around on Sunday I decided to perform some emergency surgery incase I got gangreen in my finger and then I couldn't wear a wedding ring!!! (Only women will understand) So in our lounge with Verina looking on I took my scalpel (stanley knife) and slowly cut away the nail. Luckily the splinter was literally under the nail so when I got down to it I was able to use the forceps and pull it out. A bit more cutting and 95% of the splinter has been removed, only a tiny bit in the bottom left hand corner. A relief, the finger was saved. Although I got really hot later on in the evening and I was convinced I had an infection and was running a fever. Obviously Naomi & Verina talked me out of that paranoid deliousion! Also saw Sammy Squirel in our backyard having a forage.

Wood + Fingernails + Ouch!

As you can see I received an injury from all my hard paddling yesterday. Very sore!

American Garden Party

The sun is shining for the first time in 2 weeks! Thankfully it came out for Zach's garden party. Charlie & I joined a bunch of American Air Force officers on the grass of Parkers Piece to enjoy the glorious sunshine, eat cucumber sandwiches & play croquet. Whilst we weren't very good at croquet, I think everyone gave it a go. After many drinks and lots of lovely food, we headed off to the Mill Pond for a boat race. The punts were acquired and we were ready to race. Obviously the other teams cheated as they didn't wait for my team to get to the start line! So an hour later, drenched with water, a splinter in my finger & a team mate sacrificing himself into the water to get the lost pole (thank you Captn Sparrow) we finished second. Atleast we weren't last! Then it was onward to the Anchor for refreshments and drying out, a quick stop at the pizza shop for muchies then home! A fantastic day all round.

Dinner at Emery Street

What a dinner last night. Running a bit late from work so I got home about 7ish to find Verina & Naomi wasting away thru lack of food. Luckily Becky showed up 5 mins after me and we were able to sit down and try out the quiche! Absolutely delicious, I even had to go back for an extra sliver. The girls had made salad so was a great side dish. Dessert consisted of scones with raspberry & cranberry preserve and whipped cream. A very satisfying meal!!! Will have to see whats next.

On a side note the weather is PANTS!!!! I'm sick of the rain and the cold, bring on the sunshine. Fingers crossed the weather turns and starts to resemble Spring!

P.S. Cheers for the tip Julie! Have found another recipe and will give it a go!

P.P.S. Also have the bestest sister in the world. Thanks for sending me my purchases from the States and the Reece's pieces. Maybe some kisses next time? mint flavoured? xx

Back in the Kitchen

Well it was a busy evening last night. The challenge was to make scones and I had two recipes to choose from. The first lot burnt on the outside, mush on the inside. Might have had to do with me not putting "Cream of tar tar". I didn't have any and didn't think it would be missed! Whoops! So back to the mixing bowl and start again with the second recipe. This time perfecto, wholemeal & raisins scones. The girls and I tasted tested them with raspberry jam & whipped cream. As you can see Becky loves my scones. After that I made another batch but with plain flour, even better than the first. Next in the oven was a quiche. Becky, Verina & I sat around staring into the oven watching it rise, and the smell was delicious. With a quick call to mum (7.30am Australian time) to check it was supposed to rise so high, we took it out and marvelled at my brilliance in the kitchen once again! The girls & i will be having a great dinner tonight! Bon Appetite.

Denmark - Flatmates Forever

After being apart for over 2 months, the time finally came for Inger & I to be reunited. Mila, Dina, Charlie, Natasha & I flew the friendly skies over to Copenhagen, Denmark. We arrived Friday night to be greeted by a very tanned Inger & Pernille who took us out for a quick drink once we had dumped our stuff. An early night (midnight) ensured we were well rested for the next day.

Saturday morning we hit the shopping district. The day was spent trying things on, running between stores, so many shoes, handbags & accessories! Our main aim was to get Mila's new watch which is a Danish brand. Luckily for her we hit a bargain at the local department store. The exact watch she wanted, plus 25% discount! Awesome. Ofcourse for the rest of the weekend Mila kept trying to sneak peeks at her new watch but someone always caught her! After a hard day shopping we had a quick powernap then it was back out to dance the night away.

Pernille & Inger took us to the club VEGA and the girls & I were on the lookout for any vikings named THOR. Our mission was to find him. Once midnight hit and we sang happy birthday to Inger we were all on the dance floor having a great time. About 3am the old age fatigue set in and I had to call it quits. Luckily on the way out we met THOR, well he said his name was, so it was a successful mission. Then off into the night the girls & I went and tried to hail to cabs to get us back, bit of a drama as we don't speak Danish but we made it back in one piece. 4 hours of sleep and it was back up to a celebratory brunch for Inger's birthday. Her brother (Jorgen) came with us as well. The food was fantastic and we filled our bellies in preparation of the tourist filled day ahead. A little tearful farewell to Inger (who was spending her b'day with her family) and with the sun shining, we were on the hop on - hop off bus around Copenhagen. A couple of palaces, the little mermaid, the opera house, town hall, little Amsterdam, the royal yacht, a boat ride and the we started to slow down. By late afternoon it was off to the airport to find out our flight was delayed. Luckily we were able to buy english magazines for £5 (even though it said £1.75 on the front). We made sure we read every word. Then it was back home and in bed by 1.30am. A fantastic trip, hopefully not the last.

Printer Mad

I'm always up for a bargain, so whilst busy at work, I happened upon a site that was closing down and selling photo printers for £30!!! 50% of the original price, who could resist. So as you can see I now have my own colour photo printer. Already tested and come out trumps!

The Lakes District

As the long weekend was looming what else was I to do but take a few extra days off and make it an extra long weekend. Bianca & I hopped in the car on Thursday morning and headed up to the Lakes in the north west of England. After my last trip (camping with the Choo's) the thought of a hotel was extremely welcomed. After an overcast morning we were greeted by sunshine! 5hrs later we reached our destination of Ambleside. A chilled out arvo had us rearing to go on Friday where we went to the South Lakes Wild Animal Park. A fantastic day spent watching the monkeys swinging and the tigers feasting on raw chicken. Then it was back to the hotel to watch Miss Potter so we were upto speed on all things Beatrix!

Saturday was overcast but we weren't going to let that stop us. It was onto the boat and across Windermere Lake up the road to Hill Top, the house where Beatrix Potter lived and wrote her children story tales. Although we were unable to take pics inside the house I took many of the garden. It was quite small and you wouldn't want to be too tall, but lovely and homely. It was then off to Hawkshead for lunch and a stop in The Honey Spot. Got some lovely clover honey!

Sunday was spent touring the Lakes with the company "Mountain Goat". Pretty overcast and extremely windy but a nice day out. Many picturesque views and everything looked lovely and green. We stopped at the slate mine which was interesting then it was onto Grasmere for world famous gingerbread by Sarah someone and Wordsworth's grave. Sting too lives in Grasmere and we drove past but I think he's on tour at the moment.

Monday it was rise and shine and off to Cambridge. A quick drive of 4hrs on the motorway and we were home sweet home! A great trip had by all.