Taste of London

So, yesterday we went up to London with our friends Chad and Liz for the Taste of London! Its a huge festival where restaurants and bars from all over London come together and serve food and drinks. There's music and tons of stuff to see and do and its all right smack dab in the middle of Regents Park. While it was probably a little overpriced for what we got, we had a blast and found a few restaurants we want to go back and eat at later.

Christopher and I on the train...that thing on my head is called a "Fascinator". Everyone wears them to fancy occasions over here...they are fabulous.

Liz and I in Camden!

Close up of the flowers in Regent's Park

Liz and I in Regent's Park

Some more of the park

Christopher and his special run...lol

Me and Liz goofing off in the park before Taste (I dyed my hair brown!!! Yes it still has red highlights....I couldn't completely give up the red)

At the Thailand section

Me and Liz at the Ice Bar stall...they poured drinks through the top of that and it flowed down through the ice into your cup! It was awesome!

Some of the beautifully carved fruit

Chad and Liz

Us!

So far...

Well, we are coming up on our 7 month mark here in England...I know, I cant believe it either! It seems like we just got here!

I've been asked a couple of times what we love and hate about England and if we miss anything from the States. So in honor of being here over half a year, here ya go....

Top 5 Favorite things about England:

1. It feels like home.... we've been all over the states, and Christopher's been all over the world, and we've never found a place that has a sky as blue as North Carolina's...we found one here! It's beautiful and we love the weather...it does rain waaay more than it ever did in San Diego, but its so nice to have the variety!

2. We can travel pretty much anywhere in Europe! So far we've been to France and Scotland and we have plans for much, much more.

3. We're both fulfilling one of our items on our bucket lists...actually quite a few items; we've always wanted to live in Europe, and here we are!

4. The food. I know it's sounds funny, since everyone thinks British food sucks, but it honestly doesnt! We've discovered Indian food out here and it alone is worth the trip! Plus, we get the freshest fruits and veggies at the market here in St Ives.

5. All the history. We are both learning soooo much about European history. And you cant throw a stone without hitting at least one or two cathedral's that you can go visit.

Top 5 things we dont love about England:

1. Not having that many friends...we've met a couple of people out here, but nothing like the amazing support system we left behind in San Diego or even North Carolina. The way this command is set up, it makes it difficult to meet people and make friends.

2. The crazy sunlight hours. Since we're smack dab in the middle of our summer, the sun starts rising at about 3:30-4 am and doesnt go all the way down til 10pm! It is CRAZY! We've had to blackout the windows with oh-so-attractive cardboard to block the sunlight for when Christopher is working nights and sleeps during the day.

3. The exchange rate. While the pound isn't quite as strong against the dollar as it used to be, it's still up around $1.70 for every £1. Which makes it not so great for someone who loves to shop.

4. The base...we have the tiniest BX (base exchange) ever...and, while we didn't shop at the one in San Diego that much, but we so would living over here...lol

5. Things like being way behind on our favorite TV shows (and not being able to watch them online because we're not in the states and there's blocks put on certain sites like abc.com) and not being able to buy music from iTunes since we're not in the states.

The top 5 things we miss the most about the States:

1. Our friends and family...this one's self explanatory.

2. Our pups Josie and Denny. We hate leaving them behind and that may seem silly to some people, but Josie and Denny are like our kids!

3. SUSHI! When we lived in San Diego, we ate sushi all the time. It got to the point where we were eating it at least 2 or 3 times a week! And we cant find any decent sushi out here, except in London.

4. Target. This is more of a thing that I'm missing than Christopher, but still, I miss me some Target.

5. Good radio stations. The Brit's apparently LOVE pop music and disco. Neither of which Christopher and I are big fans of. So, our radio is pretty much limited to Beyonce and Abba. Not cool.

***Oh, FYI all my NC peeps...I'm coming home for a visit!!! I'll be back June 24th-July 14th!

Baby Update

Well, I debated on whether or not to post anything, since this is our travel blog, but I figured, we need all the prayers and happy thoughts we can get, so might as well.

As many of you know (and for those who don't, although, I'm pretty sure by this time, everyone and their brother knows), Christopher and I have been trying to get pregnant for 3 years now. We've been through countless tests, probably close to thousands of pregnancy tests (I have a slight addiction...lol), a lot of heartache and tears, one miscarriage, and no answers. Well, a couple of weeks ago, we got some answers. Due to all the results of all the tests we've had done, the doctor said if he had to put a number on it, he'd give us a 5% chance to get pregnant on our own. He also said our only option is IVF (In vitro-fertilization).

IVF is the process where they harvest eggs and fertilize them outside the womb and then put them back in to hopefully establish a pregnancy. If anyone is familiar with John and Kate Gosselin (of John and Kate Plus 8) and that crazy Octo-Mom, that's the procedure they both had done.

The really awesome thing about all this (yes there is some positivity to this), is that we live about 25 minutes away from Cambridge, and the Bourn Hall Clinic (www.bourn-hall-clinic.co.uk) is the pioneering clinic for the IVF process. They were the ones who successfully produced the first "test tube baby" in 1978! So, that's where we'll be going to get our treatment, so we'll be in fabulous hands! Their website is really informative and helpful, so if you're curious, check it out.

A quote that is on Bourn Hall's website I really liked and is going to be my new mantra is...

"The odd's may be against you, but the results can be miraculous"

And seriously, wouldn't we make the cutest babies ever?

London with the Josh's

So, I've been slacking on this last post...lol.  The day before Josh and Brandie left for DC, we headed up to London and spent the night up there!  On Friday, the 3 of us hopped a double decker tour bus and took a tour of the city while we waited for Christopher to get off work and meet us up there.  We had a blast and it was cool for me to get to see some things I hadn't seen yet!  

Josh in front of Platform 9 3/4

Brandie in front of Platform 9 3/4

Its crazy how curved the buildings are!

One of the statues in Trafalgar's Square

Trafalgar's Square

One of the many, many dragon's guarding over the city

The London Eye

Tower Bridge!

Tower Bridge up close

The London Tower...its the only Castle in the city of London

Brandie and I in front of Buckingham Palace

hehehe

Part of her majesty's armed forces band

Up close of the guard

Knights!

Eric Clapton's guitar at the Hard Rock.  The Hard Rock started because he used to hang out here and wanted them to mark his barstool with a plaque and they said, we'll mark your spot if you give us your guitar... and he did and thus, the Hard Rock was born.

All of us in front of the Hard Rock

After Josh and Brandie left, we stuck around London and walked around a bit more.  We headed to Harrod's, which is London's most famous department store and it was AWESOME!

Part of the food court area in Harrod's

After walking around, we found another sushi place!!!!  It was delicious!  And awesome because you could choose everything you wanted by individual piece.

Christopher...uber excited that we finally, after 6 months, got sushi!

Warwick Castle

On Wednesday we headed to Warwick Castle!  Its a medieval castle built by William the Conqueror in 1068.  It was used as fortification until the 17th century when it was turned into a country house.  

Its been turned into a big touristy castle and they have it all set up with wax figures and decorated rooms.  They even have actors in the dungeons and you go on this tour almost like you go through Haunted houses, but there were educational bits through the whole thing about the plague, torture, etc.  We went into the dungeons and Christopher and Brandie kept getting picked out of the crowd to do stuff...it was hilarious!  It was super dark and crowded and you couldnt use the flash on the camera, so we didnt get any pictures of that.  

The entrance to the castle

On the way in

Castle

The guys "holding up" the porticulis 

Some of the grounds

Brandie and me waiting for the jousting to start!

All the knights lined up for the joust

The handsome knight who won the battle!

Josh and Brandie

I think Josh is in the running for best potty picture...lol

The thinker...

hehehe

The chapel

Christopher in the dining hall...with the Queen...lol

The library

Bedroom

Another bedroom

The guys in one of the rooms

And if you havent noticed yet, I am obsessed with taking pictures of the sun.  I dont know why...lol.  I like this one though.

The guys...trying to be sexy.  Trying being the key word.

The girls

And we had this running joke the whole time they were here about how alike Josh and I are and how much alike Christopher and Brandie are.  Here's a good example...me and Josh--the fighters.  Christopher and Brandie--the nice ones.  lol.