Happy England Anniversary!

Well, this time last year, Christopher and I were packing our bags in Mom K's van to head down to the Charlotte Airport to get on a plane to come to England! Seriously? We've been here a year already?!?! It definitely does NOT seem like its been a year... although looking back, we've seen and done so much. We managed (including the States) to see 5 different countries in 1 year! Pretty awesome if you ask me! I think we're going for 6 this year...lol

Hope everyone is doing well!

What a Year!

Its officially 2010 in England! Happy New Year to all our friends and Family! Just like with Christmas, our New Year was a little different. I had to work the night shift. Which means from Midnight-8am. So, Christopher came with me to work and we got here a little early and the girl who got off at Midnight, her husband was there too, along with our friend Jenn who comes and hangs out at work with us. So, we rang in the new year in the Hotel Lobby while watching the Fireworks in London on TV. I got my New Years kiss from Christopher (which makes 2 years in a row! A record since he's been in the Navy!).

As one decade ends I realize how much my life has changed in 10 years. I've started dating Christopher, graduated high school, gotten married, Christopher's joined the Navy, we moved to California, decided to try and start a family (and dealt with infertility), then to England, we've traveled the world, met some amazing people, made friends, lost friends, and have grown up into what I think are pretty awesome people...lol

In the past year alone we've moved to England, been to Paris, Scotland, Germany, had people visit, decided to try IVF and donate my eggs, made friends, lost friends, learned how to be a "normal married couple" (i.e. actually living together all year)--which was been an interesting change from our normal routine, I've finished the first draft of my first manuscript and started on a second one, and got a job. All in all, one hell of a busy year!

I dont do resolutions, because I dont ever keep them, but my goals for 2010 are:

*To get pregnant! *hopefully...lol

*Travel more... we want to see Belgium, France again, Austria, and Italy this year (and Ireland if Aaron and Kellea come visit!)

*Finish working on my first book and look into having it published

*Finish my second book and look into having it published

*Write like its my job (but a job I love)

*Go to church regularly

*Eat less junk food

*cook/bake more

*save more money

I think those are some pretty decent goals to have! Here's to 2010, may it be as amazing as this past year has been!!! I hope each and every one of you have a year blessed with happiness, love, and hope!

Happy Christmas from England!

This was my first year being away from home for Christmas, so things were a little different than they usually are. For one, Christopher and I both had to work on Christmas day. So, we had our big Christmas Dinner on Christmas Eve. We invited some friends over and had ham, pot roast, roasted baby potatoes with Rosemary, deviled eggs, spicy garlic brocolini, Razzleberry pie, shortbread cookies, and my own take on Snickerdoodles. It was delicious! And we had a great time. I totally dont have any pictures of our friends and us hanging out that night, which sucks.

We almost had a white Christmas...this was the day before Christmas Eve.

After dinner, we went to midnight mass at the chapel on base, which was cool. The only catholic service I've ever been to was Aaron and Kellea's wedding, so it was interesting. The priest is on TDY (Temporary orders) to England and is actually staying in the hotel I'm working, so I see him in and out of the lobby on a regular basis. He's from Poland and during the caroling before the service started, he sang a stanza of "Silent Night" in Polish! It was beautiful!

My nativity, with my new Wisemen and the star I hung on Christmas Eve!

After the service, we went back home and finally managed to get to sleep about 3. Christopher had to be at work at 645 and I had to be at work at 745. Its not a good way to start your Christmas morning by a phone call waking you up at 755...ten minutes after you're supposed to be at work. My alarms hadn't gone off. So, I jump out of bed and call work, get yelled at, but manage to make it to work in less than 20 minutes! That was my Christmas Miracle! Everything was turned over and done before the girl I was relieving was supposed to leave, so no harm done.

A couple of my friends ended up coming over and hanging out with me all day, so that was awesome. I skyped with Mom a little bit when she first got up, and then with everyone while they were opening their gifts. Then I got to go home at 4 and I stuffed Christopher's stocking, hung it up, and went to wake him up (he got off at 1 and went home to get some sleep). We got up and did presents! We got to skype with everyone and see them open our presents, that was really cool.

All the Christmas cards we received!

The Christmas Tree with all the presents!

I was SPOILED rotten this year! I got TONS of stuff... clothes, an iPod touch, sweaters, hats, gloves, pajamas, unmentionables (lol), a fuzzy purple pullover, The 10 piece porcelain non-stick Rachel Ray cookware set, Christopher made me a jewelry tree, and it had on it a silver ring and sparrow earrings, and tons of stocking stuffers!!! We're hoping this is our last Christmas just the two of us, so Christopher definitely spoiled me! He got his MacBook, a freeze-dried chunk of grass from the old Yankee stadium and a display box to in, clothes, a new red columbia coat, boots, DVD's (Harry Potter 3 and 6, & Star Trek). So, he got pretty spoiled this year too!

Gus opening his presents!

I took a nap after we opened gifts and then we got up and headed back to my work. We took all our leftovers from Christmas Eve and had Christmas Dinner with Liz and her husband since Liz had to work. Our friend Jenn, whose family is still in the states right now, even came too! So, we microwaved the leftovers, Tim brought their TV tables from home, and we plopped down in the lobby and had Christmas dinner together!

Liz and I in our matching Christmas hats... I look exhausted!

Liz and Tim

I hope everyone had a Happy Christmas! We definitely had a wonderful time! I thought it would be really sad to be away from home, and it was sad at times, but I made it all through Christmas and didnt cry! And Mom didnt either, so that's good! :)

It's Snowing!!!

They've been calling for snow for the past few days, so like a little kid on Christmas, my nose has been pressed to the window just waiting for it to happen. Finally today, I was getting ready to run to base to run some errands when I heard something on the window. I looked outside and it was hailing to beat the band! So, it hailed for a few minutes, then started pouring down snow. It snowed on and off all day but never really stuck....til tonight. Christopher got up to go to bed and said, "Baby! Come look!" It was POURING down snow! So, we went outside and snapped these...

Me and Angus!

My Car...

I skyped Mom to show her (and Amanda and Jonathan who were there visiting!)

And I dont know why, but its tradition to go outside barefoot when it snows! Jared and I have been doing it for years (yes, Mom K, I know you're shuddering...lol)

And Merry Christmas from the Koenig's!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!l

Since we were in Germany over Thanksgiving, we didn't get to partake in all the deliciousness that is Thanksgiving. So, we invited our friends Liz and Tim over and I made the whole spread on Saturday. It was delicious! It was the first time I've made a turkey (last Thanksgiving I took the easy route and used the Jennie-O Turkeys that go straight from the freezer to the oven, no work involved), so it was a bit of an undertaking, but it turned out really, really tasty! Enjoy...

Putting the yummy butter/parsley/garlic mixture under the turkey skin...lol

Because its not the Holiday's without Hog Balls.

Yummm!

My delicious turkey up close

I made a cranberry maple glaze for the turkey that was divine

My incredible Pecan Pie!

The table all set (and the silver that we used is my Christmas gift from my awesome Grandparents, Mymom and Grampy! When I was home over the summer, Mymom and I spent like 2 hours on the computer looking at antique silverware because I really wanted some and they searched different antique stores and found the perfect set for me.. ornate and beautiful! I opened it the night before and had to use it for our late Thanksgiving meal!)

All the food (and Tim in the picture...lol)

Before Liz and Tim got there, Christopher took some pictures of Angus and me under the Tree! Look at all our presents!!!

And we have Mistletoe growing in our front yard, so I picked a bunch, wrapped a ribbon around it and its hanging on our front door... but we had to be all cutesy with it first...lol

2 Posts one day!

Today is a day we weren't sure if we were going to make it to or not. It was tough going there for a while... there's been a lot of blood (on my part), sweat, and tears. Today is Angus' first birthday! A year ago today his mama gave birth to hands down the biggest handful of a dog I have ever met (Mom, Bonnie has nothing on this dog and you know it...lol). I think psycho dog is finally calming down and has warmed his way into our hearts... of course, it helps that he no longer hates me. Seriously, this damn dog hated me there for a while. He walked past me one day and snarled his lip up at me and walked off. Now he loves his mama and I love him and we're all happy as pigs in...well, you know. Although I could do with less kicking when he sleeps with us at night.... but alas, you cant have everything.

So, in tribute to us all making it to this fateful day...

Happy Birthday Angus....

The dog who's gone from the pup who melted my heart the minute the breeder put him in my lap...

the puppy who instantly loved Christopher and tolerated me...

to the crazy puppy we almost mailed home...

the puppy who learned to climb stairs so he could get into even more stuff...

to the dog who loves walks and loves the river

to the One year old Terror that is Angus!

****Also, because I'm incredibly nosey, I want to know who's reading this.... I know sometimes you cant post comments because blogger acts up, so email me: jessicakoenig827@gmail.com

Lincoln Christmas Market!

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Liz and I decided we wanted to do something together with our husbands. We started looking around for Christmas markets that were close by and her husband, Tim, mentioned something about a place called Lincoln. We looked it up at work one day and decided to head to Lincoln for the grand opening of their market on 3 December. It was only about an hour or so away, so we headed there after Liz finished up with work.

We were blown away! Lincoln is one of THE prettiest English towns we've been to yet! It is absolutely stunning! The market started at the gates of the Lincoln Cathedral and went through the town and into the gates of a Castle and into the Castle's courtyard area. It was HUGE! It was also freezing cold that night, so the hat and glove section of the market made a killing! Also, the hot chocolate guys drew in quite a crowd as well, although, it helped that they were adding Baileys to their Hot Chocolate...so, we stayed relatively warm. :)

There are always carousels at the markets...this one was especially gorgeous!

Christopher in the hat he just had to have...and Tim laughing at him!

We walked through the Cathedral first and it was breathtaking. It was massive and ornate and beautiful. The main altar and the choir stalls were INCREDIBLE! It was probably one of the prettiest altars I've seen yet!

They had a Services chapel which was really neat, it was a chapel split into three sections; Airman, Seaman, and Soldiers. Each service had their own little section within the chapel, so we of course went in and took pictures of the Seaman part. And we learned that St. Andrew is the patron saint of Seaman, which is cool.

I also lit another candle for Marnie and I got to put her name on their prayer list, so that little girl's got prayers coming her way from all over the world!

After we walked around the cathedral, we hit the market stalls; buying hats and gloves first. We had dinner, I had a turkey, dressing, and cranberry relish sandwich (which was good, but nothing like my mama's or Mymom's turkey and dressing) and Liz, Tim, and Christopher had Lincolnshire Sausages in Lincolnshire, which was kind of neat.

We spent a few hours just wandering around looking at all the neat things and spending way too much money, but we had a blast. We will definitely be going back to Lincoln just to visit the town, it is well worth the trip.

There's a new folder added to our Mobile Me Gallery, so to see more pictures, go check it out! And as always, no stealing our stuff (Christopher is paranoid that someone is going to steal our fabulous photography and make millions from it I guess. Whatever. Enjoy!)