Mexico by numbers

1 wedding
1 lost engagement ring (mine)

1 engagement

2 hospital visits

4 extra days on holiday (thanks volcano)

6 days with heavy rain

7 activities I participated in - aqua aerobics, yoga on the beach, stretching class, salsa dancing, beginner tennis lesson, face mask workshop and a scuba dive taster

12 full days of sunshine

13 bouts of food poisoning

18 days on holiday

22 members of the party

648 cocktails drank

It was an eventful holiday.

I would like to thank June my mother-in-law for feeding our two little fluffy monsters while we were away.

Gx

It never happens to me

but it did this time.

You may have heard a little something about an Icelandic volcanic eruption and its ash grounding flights to and from Europe.  Well, yep, I was one of those thousands and thousands of people stuck in another country.

3 weeks ago I flew to Mexico with 21 other people for my sisters wedding.  With only a few days of the holiday remaining the wind changed direction, luckily for us we were in a great all inclusive resort and the holiday company covered the costs for the extra 4 days.

The boy's brother was not so lucky, it took him and his girlfriend 4 days to travel home from southern Spain.

It's good to be back.

And happy St Georges Day, OK so it was on Friday but I was flying.

Gx

Happy New Year

I hope you had a happy holiday.


For the third year the boy and I hosted Christmas dinner in our home, there were 7 of us including 2 family members who travelled up from London, and practice must make perfect because it was the easiest Christmas dinner we have made so far.

We did the big food shop on Wednesday at midnight, it was the best time to go - the store was empty, we got everything we wanted and did not have to get up at 7am to find a parking space.


This year we decided to make a fruit platter for the starter and let our guests graze before dinner, for mains we had the traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings, we then opened our presents and finally had Christmas or chocolate cake for desert.

We still made too much food, but my gingerbread biscuits were a success, two days later this is what was left. I baked around 50 gingerbread biscuits on Christmas eve using this recipe:     http://www.waitrose.com/recipe/Gingerbread.aspx I added the extra cinnamon and ginger suggested in the comments. 


On New Years eve the boy and I celebrated our 10th anniversary. We got together on the eve of the millennium and so to celebrate we went to the same city we were in 10 years ago, had a fantastic meal and at midnight we went back to the waterfront. We brought in the New Year in front of the clock with the horns sounding from the ships and watching the fireworks from the peninsula.  I loved it.

Here's a stitchery I made for my quilting groups 2008 challenge, we all had to pick a Christmas card we received for Christmas 2007 and make something using the design, but we were not allowed to talk about it. I chose this little soldier and came up with the border myself. 

- - - - - 101 in 1001 - - - - -

104. Choose wedding rings.

London baby

At the being of June we went for a long weekend in London. We jumped on the train after work on Thursday and 2 and a half hours later we were in the capital.

Considering I found the apartment I thought we were staying north of the river, but we stayed a couple of minutes walk away from the beautiful Tower Bridge.

It was nice to have a little home away from home for a few days even if the design was a bit strange. The building has offices on the first 3 floors and accommodation on the rest but that's not the strange bit. Look at the 2nd photo blow, the bedrooms face the inside of the building and have floor to ceiling windows, outside the windows there's glass on the walkway floors, the window blinds did not hang properly and with the walkway lights shine through, lets just say if someone wanted to he/she could watch the inhabitants!

The next day we visited the Tower of London, did you know that people still live there? I didn't. The crown jewels are amazing (sorry no photos), the guide said they belonged to the country's citizens, that includes me then, and I want to borrow them - even if it's only for a day.

Front of a house at the Tower of London, I want my house to look like this

In the evening we watched Blur in concert in Hyde Park.

On Saturday we walked through London, past the Houses of Parliament, by Westminster Abbey, through Regents Park to Buckingham Palace to watch the change of guards and finally headed to the Victoria & Albert museum. Did you know the museum have a collection of quilts? Unfortunately they were in storage, but next year from the 20 March to 4 July they are exhibiting quilts dating from 1700-2010. Anyone want to go?

In the evening we watched Wicked. The singing was amazing and the show was funny, I would definitely watch it again. Photos are not allowed during the show so this is the only one I could get.

On Sunday we met the boy's brother and his girlfriend and headed to the second-hand markets and shops around Brick Lane.

I searched the shops for a pre-loved tablecloth to make into a blind but this time I was not in luck. Instead I found this cat in a suitcase and a stall selling tops with pieced hexagons.

We had a great time.

- - - - - - - - - -

One last thing, the designer behind Don't Look Now! is giving away a beautiful quilt to celebrate her 100th post. I love it. You will have to be quick, the giveaway closes on the 2nd September.