Christmas Comes Early!

So, as many of you know, Christmas is my most favorite time of year!  I can't wait to decorate and put up a Christmas tree, however I always follow tradition and wait till Thanksgiving has passed.  Well, since I'm living in Wales, there is no Thanksgiving and that means I get to put the tree up early, yay!

And in breaking with yet another tradition, I went for a fake tree this year rather than a real tree, normally I would NEVER get a fake tree, but as I'm putting it up so early, I didn't want to risk a dead tree by the time Christmas rolls around.  So, Ben and I headed to Pound Stretcher on Saturday (which is my temporary replacement for my beloved Big Lots) and bought a 6 foot tree and all the decorations to go with it.  As many of you know, I love themes and this year's theme is stars!  So there is star garland, star lights, star ornaments and of course, a star at the top of the tree and even star window decorations.  I even decorated the table with little silver and gold stars:

Here is our pretty little tree all lit up for the night:

A very pretty site with the lights reflecting on the water in the background.

Merry early Christmas everyone!!!







To the races!

This weekend Ben took me to Cheltenham to see the horse races, I've never been to a horse race in the states or elsewhere, so it was a great experience!

Ben's boss and his wife live in Cheltenham, just a short walk from the course, so we met at their house first for champagne and breakfast, then headed over.

Here is Ben, Paul and his wife Ruth:

Ben and I with the hills of Cheltenham in the background:

As you can see I wore my riding boots for the occasion ;)

There were so many people attending the races!  Basically the point in attending is to drink beer and place bets, let's just say I'm better at drinking beer than I am at betting on horses!  We placed our first bet of the day and I picked Captain Chris to win, here I am eagerly anticipating his win:

 unfortunately, here he is coming in second:

although the view of the race course from the stands was quite impressive:

they didn't allow beer in the stands and that's just not acceptable, so we headed down to ground level:

and to an outside bar where we could watch the races AND drink beer, you know I was happy about that!

and yes, that is Guinness we're drinking, yum!

Ruth took some shots of the stands for me:

and I just had to include one of her as well, looking quite demure ;)

here's Ben wearing Ruth's hat, which is just a tiny bit too small for him:

By the end of the day Ben and I had lost every single race we bet on, but we were still quite happy and full of beer!  Here is a shot of the entire Cheltenham race group:

we all had such a great time at the races and I can't wait to go back, even if I don't place a single bet, which would probably be a good thing ;)





Wedding Weekend!

So the date had finally arrived for Lissa and Micheal's wedding!  I knew before I arrived in Wales that I would have to come back for my best friend's wedding, no way would I ever miss this special day!

Ben and I decided to head into London the night before our flight and avoid possible train delays the morning of, we headed out to the train station on Wednesday night and walked straight into a rainstorm!  Needless to say we were a bit soaked when we got to the station:

 We managed to survive though :)  For our stay in London I opted for a quaint English Bed & Breakfast by the airport which I had found online.  The pictures showed a ideal little inn with a full English breakfast, I couldn't wait!

Well, that was until we checked in!  The shuttle driver who picked us up at the airport (the train from Cardiff went straight to Gatwick airport) had long fingernails (ew!) and spoke on his cell phone in a language I couldn't understand the entire drive to the hotel.  When we arrived at the hotel we thought we were finally rid of this guy, buy no, he's the owner!  So great first impression.  When we got to our room we discovered a shabby, tiny space with two spare beds stuck together, a railing on the floor which for some reason went through the middle of the room, carpet which had been laid on top of existing carpet, a picture glued to the wall off center above the bed, gross drapes and no batteries in the TV remote!

To top it off we were located at the top of the stairs next to the hallway door which banged open and closed throughout the night with guests coming and going, not the best night's sleep to get before a 9 hour flight!  But we made it through the night and at least gained a good story to tell folks in the US ;)  Ben loaded up the car and we headed to the airport!

Finally, we made onto the plane and headed to Florida!

We landed on Thursday night (an hour late!) and Mom picked us up from the airport and brought us to Brandon for the night, the next day we headed to Jacksonville with Michele and Shannon for Elizabeth's wedding!

ROADTRIP!!!!

3 hours later when we arrived in Jacksonville, we had a little surprise for Michele, since we had missed her birthday on Tuesday the 2nd.

We surprised her with champagne and gifts, yay!

After our champagne and treats, we headed out for Michele's favorite food.....MEXICAN!

Shannon and Ben being adventurous with tequila shots, Michele and I passed ;)

A fun time was had by all, happy belated birthday Michele!!!

On Saturday Michele and I headed to Elizabeth's hotel room at the Crown Plaza to watch her get ready for her big day.  Micheal sent Elizabeth a dozen red roses, how sweet!!!!

We then watched Elizabeth get her hair done, her stylist did such a great job!



Next was makeup for Elizabeth's maid of honor, her sister Carly:

and Carly did the nails for all the bridesmaids, Elizabeth's three cousins:

Here are some shots of Elizabeth's gorgeous dress and the exquisite shoes for the bride and bridesmaids:

Elizabeth and Carly's brother, Cody,  saved the day and appeared with supplies of wraps, sodas and most importantly, CHAMPAGNE!!!

We spent the rest of the time drinking champagne with Elizabeth and all her friends, very fun!

We then left Elizabeth so she could get ready for her wedding and we could as well! 

The wedding began with a pre-ceremony cocktail reception at the Epping Forest Yacht Club, beautiful and I just loved having a drink beforehand.  You'll never guess what Michele and I chose to drink......CHAMPAGNE!  We're so predictable ;)

After the cocktail reception we took our seats for the ceremony, just steps away!

and then the ceremony began with Micheal and his brothers (his groomsmen) taking their places:

Then the bridemaids made their way down the aisle:

the maid of honor:

the flower girls:

and finally the beautiful bride herself on her father's arm:

father of the bride giving her away:

and then they were married!

Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Micheal Tricano:

as they new husband and wife made their way into the sunset, we made our way into the reception for some great food, music and booze!

Elizabeth and Micheal cut the cake:

and the reception was over!  Afterwards we headed over to Elizabeth and Micheal's hotel after a ride in their limo, you know it's a party when there's a limo!

We brought back beer for the bride and groom and had a little party right there in the hotel lobby!

Now that was a great wedding!  Congratulations Elizabeth and Micheal!