Is it Spring or Winter?

This weekend the sky could not figure out what season it wanted to be. It was a toss up of Winter and Spring.

This weekend marked Spring Daylight savings time for us here in Europe which should mean the start of spring right? wrong.

Friday night we has some sputtering of rain. Scott and I met a few neighbors out for some drinks and dinner at a local Wine Bar.

Saturday it was nice in the morning and then started to get very grey. The 154th Oxford Cambridge Boat Race was held in London on the Thames Rives and Scott and I had planned to go to it until it started getting windy and raining again. Scott and I have rowed enough in our time to avoid standing outside in the rain to watch a small portion of the race, so decided to watch it from the comforts of our living room! Oxford was victorious this year!!!! Saturday night we cooked dinner in and called it a night.

Sunday was absolutely gorgeous out! Flip flops were on and we headed to town with Bailey to run a few errands and give her some exercise. Scott and I then went to play tennis in the park and I hate to write this but I do....he won all three games :-( Sunday night we had some of our neighbors over for dinner and cooked them a Chicken BBQ with corn casserole, wild rice and a Strawberry-Rhubarb Crumble!

Now for another week but a short week since we are off to Prague on Friday morning!

Test Passer Part 2......

you guessed it...Scott passed his second IT Computer test which officially means he holds his first IT Certification (CompTia A+ Technician). You wonder what that means...me too? haha. No seriously, he can now officially get a job in IT and is marketable since he has a certification. So please send your wishes his way to get a new job in the IT world!!!

The Doggie Hunter...

Well, the past 3 days have been quite adventurous for our little pooch. Let's paint a little picture. It's early Tuesday afternoon and I'm on my way to take the little dog for a walk...get the excited puppy greeting, start getting stuff ready for the walk, almost about to sit down and what is next to me? A HEADLESS BIRD! Blood on the seatt, blood in her dog bed, blood on her back, someone had fun with the bird.

The day ends and Wednesday started, through the day, come home...playing with the dog, still with the taste of blood on her lips, GOES FOR DAD! ME! Apparently, I look like a tasty little treat and she bites my eyelid just below my eyebrow. Although, stiches and a trip to the A&E department (think ER) was adverted, by my personal Doctor Libby, the thoughts of her lunging at me frightens me enough to make Dr Libby, the official dog owner. I have given our doggie up for adoption to my wife.

Today, she took a local trip to the local pub, The Swan. Our new wateringhole for dinner & drinks were dogs are allowed. How cool is that! Dogs with there owners is like a whole new meaning to Designated Driver, maybe designated doggie! One pampered pooch too! Gets a 1 hour spa treatment with wash, shampoo, cut nails & an ear cleaning.

For a first post, this had a little bit of everything! Blood, guts, glory, pampering. Oh, and a little bit beer!

Easter in Venice

This past weekend Scott & I took the 2 hour flight down to Venice with our friends Jenn and Conrad for a long Easter weekend. Venice is absolutely gorgeous and one city that is a must see on everyone list. The weather wasn't spectacular (cold everyday and a few light drops of rain at night) but it was much better that the forecast for the weekend which was rain and mid 40's everyday.

We landed Thursday night at the Marco Polo Airport in Venice and decided to not wait for the public bus to take us to the water ferry station in Venice and opted for a private water taxi to take us directly to our doorstep.

Our private water taxi to the left.

Below: Me, Jenn, Scott and Conrad at our water stop on the private taxi.

Even though the private taxi costs €90 it was well worth the money since the view you get of the Grand canal when you enter it is beyond words. Here are a few pictures of the view when you enter the Grand Canal at night. Sorry as some of them are a bit dark.

Left: One of the many gorgeous buildings on the Grand canal

Left: the Rialto Bridge

We ate dinner at a little cafe/restaurant that was close to our apartment since we were all hungry.

Friday we ventured out in the morning to get some supplies for the apartment and to get some goodies for breakfast. We were staying right near the Rialto Bridge so ventured to the Rialto Mercato for our supplies! Some pictures below of the Mercato.

After breakfast, we were off to explore the city. No need for a map, just 4 pair of good feet to do lots of walking! Here are some pictures throughout the day on Friday:

To the left a view from the top of the Rialto bridge down the Grand Canal. Below: a picture from our water stop (San Silvestro) of the Rialto Bridge and the Gondolas in the foreground.

To the upper left: Scott and I on the Rialto Bridge with the Grand Canal in the background.

Above: one of the numerous canals in Venice.

To the left: the Basilica in San Marco Square.

To the left is San Marco Square. Below is another picture of the Basilica.

To the far left: the Venetian Street Lamps. Gorgeous share of a rose color.

To the immediate left: a view from San Marco out to an island.

Friday night we went to eat dinner at Ristorante Alla Madonna. HIGHLY RECOMMEND going as the food was great, the price was even better and it is a locals place!

A picture from dinner of Scott and I!

This is then where the venture begins. As I said, no map in hand but lots of walking feet. We wanted to venture out for a couple more drinks in Venice and enjoy the night. We sure did! We started at a cafe with some Paulaner beer (yes if you are German or know beer it is a German beer we are drinking in Venice...we said the same thing) then left there and we are not quite sure where we ended up since the canal flooded and you couldn't get through alleys so we were taking detours and such and finally ended up about an hour or so later near our apartment. So we called it a night

Saturday we headed to the island of Murano to see where the Original Murano glass is made. It was a gorgeous day out. Below are some of the pictures from the island of Murano!

Saturday night we enjoyed the night in cooking a fresh seafood dinner and playing "Catch Phrase".

Easter Sunday we ended up walking around and having lunch at a small cafe then taking a gondola ride. Some pictures from the gondola ride below:

Sunday night we went to Fortuny Terrace Restaurant and had the most expensive meal which was not great and not worth going to. However, I will say this, if we didn't try one of the top rated restaurants there we would have never known and also might always be wondering if it was good.

Monday we headed to the airport and back to London. I will leave you with some other random pictures of the trip!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY

I hope that everyone gets to celebrate

today by wearing some Green, eating some

Corned Beef and cabbage, Irish Soda bread

and have a few pints of Guinness! As today

everyone is IRISH! Today is one of those days

that I planned to wear something Green to work

but it never ended up that way so am in brown

instead. Tonight Scott and I are going to go to a

local Pub on our High Street to have a pint or two to

celebrate Saint Patrick's Day! I will be sure to wear

Green tonight to go out and celebrate. The drink

of choice tonight will of course be a Guinness

as there is no other drink (in our opinion) to

have tonight. We will be having a regular

dinner though since we are cooking in to

get ourselves packed for our trip to Venice

this week for the long Easter weekend. So

on to this weekend, we had a relaxing Friday

night just finalizing our last minute plans

for this coming weekend. Saturday I went

to Bliss Spa with my friend Jenn for our

Valentine's Day gifts from our significant

others which was really nice. Scott and I

then met Jenn and Conrad out in Clapham

later that night for dinner and drinks in

the pouring rain. Sunday we had a relaxing

day in as it was still raining but did take

the dog for a nice long walk and a run in

the park later in the afternoon. Last night

we started to get everything packed for our

trip on Thursday as we also are dropping

the dog off at the baby sitter's while we are

gone in Venice. I hope everyone has a nice

St. Patrick's Day and isn't it a Lovely Day for a

Guinness?

Back with full bags

I made it back to London yesterday around 9am and after about a 2 hour journey home from Luton Airport (where I will NEVER fly into again), I unpacked the 2 full suitcases of goodies from the US.

Suitcase 1loaded with goodies (and a second suitcase inside the first one).

The goodies laid out on the counter ready to be put away....YUMMY!

Bailey was a bit disappointed that she didn't get a gift upon my return home, maybe next time. It was a great trip home and made me want to have Scott and Bailey just pick up the stuff from our place in England and flyover to NJ for good. With less than 9 months to go it will go bye quickly especially with all of our trips planned this summer!

Greetings from NJ!

After a LONG flight to the US on Friday afternoon/night which was suppose to be a 7 hour flight followed by meeting my parents at an Italian restaurant turned into a 9.5 hour flight and catching them just in time for dessert.

Saturday the morning was spent filtering through my parents basement taking an "inventory" of wedding/shower gifts to ensure that we could buy remaining pieces that we still needed. After that my dad and I went to our house (Scott and mine) to wait for 2 contractors to come over to walk through ideas we have to get done to the house prior to our arrival back to the US in Dec. Saturday night a few friends came over to my parents house for dinner and then we played some card games later.

Sunday my mom and I went to the mall to exchange a few things then we picked up my dad and headed to dinner at a Chinese restaurant! YUMMY! I surely miss Chinese food.

Today is all about work. It is good to be back in NJ and really can't wait to move back here and get life started again. All that being said we are 9 months to the day till the move home to NJ!

Call me Betty Crocker

well not quite. If you were to ask my mom about my baking skill, or lack there of, she will tell you that I often forget to add some ingredients that are called for in the recipe. They are not just ingredients they are mainly the key ones, baking powder, baking soda, etc. It is not that I forget to do it, I think I have already put them in. They she double guesses me and says "are you sure you put everything in", "yes, mom I can read" would be one of my replies I am sure.

Fast forward to this past Monday, I was home all day waiting for two service crews to come over for various items in the house, so I decided to bake. We have Hershey kisses in the house and Skippy peanut butter so I thought I would make peanut butter blossoms...you know the ones

Peanut Butter Blossoms Ingredients:
48 HERSHEY'S KISSES Brand Milk Chocolates
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup REESE'S Creamy Peanut Butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Granulated sugar

You are probably wondering what did Libby do, you guessed it. I used 1/2 cup all purpose flour and 1 cup of White Bread Flour. I knew going into it that they wouldn't be the same, however; I was smart enough not to even bake them and waste the Hershey Kisses because the dough was just not right. Mom- I hope you are sitting down since I realized that the dough wasn't right!

On two Betty Cr ocker Project #2 for the day:

Mary Ann (my Mother in Law) but I will not call her MIL as she is more of a mom to me that the stereotype MIL's that you hear of. I am very fortunate to have her as Mom #2! Anyway, Mom shared a recipe that Scott likes which is her Sour Cream Coffee Cake. I ventured on Monday to try and make it again. Back in Nov. when I got the recipe from her and got a bundt pan to bake it in I tried to make it and failed miserably. The coffee cake wouldn't come out in one piece out of the pan and it tasted like ____________ (you can fill in the blank with what you like). At Christmas when Mom and Dad Tune were here, mom ventured to make the coffee cake and failed too. Sorry to say this mom, but it made me feel good since I thought I was just not a good baker. Fast forward now to Monday again and I declare VICTORY over the bundt pan as my coffee cake came out PERFECT!!! Scott was highly impressed and I will post the photos later since I was so happy with my work.

So I gues 1 for 2 in the baking department on Monday wasn't all that bad especially since I knew that one wasn't going to work. So I will have my turn with the Peanut Butter Blossoms once I am back from the US next week and will declare Victory over them too!

Packing for Home

With just over 9 months until we move home and with me going home this coming weekend it was time this weekend to figure out what we don't need here anymore but what we will need prior to the movers getting our stuff from London to New Jersey. What makes matter worse is that we are moving home just prior to the holiday so all of the Christmas decorations, tree skirt, etc need to make it home. That means Libby will have one (well more like a few) stuffed suitcases going home this weekend.




Suitcase 1: I am sure I will be pushing the weight limit but oh well it has to get home. Tree Skirt, Down comforter, duvet cover, box of christmas ornaments, tins for cookies, 2 suits (Scott's) and hopefully a few more things.



















Suitcase 2: Wine (that we can't get in the US that we love)



















Box 1: christmas decorations and other misc. items


















carry-on bag: a German Pyramid (Christmas), Tie Rack, laptop for work, notebook for work, book to read, camera, etc.















Dad I am sure you are looking at all of this and saying "rent is going up"....I guess you are correct :-) My parents have a room in their basement that is full of our wedding gifts since we didn't bring them over to London with us. The running joke is that the room is getting so full of stuff that the more I add the more "rent" goes up! I was speaking to my dad this weekend and had ordered a few (just a few boxes) of items to go into the basement and he said "I see some boxes sitting by the door to the basement which I assume means rent is going up". Pretty soon I think we will be doubling rent with all that is coming home.

I am sure all of the expats know that eventhough you bring stuff home you bring more back with you. Well I am sure my suitcases will be just as full coming back here but mostly of some food, hair products, shoes, clothes, etc. from the US since it is a lot cheaper than the UK and more especially items you can't even buy here.