Why My Husband is Better than Santa.....

Garret and I enjoyed our wonderful feast, and then headed to midnight mass. The mass was enjoyable.....I even got a hug from Santa (okay, the guy who plays Santa for the children, and he wasn't in costume.....but he does have a white beard!). Then we headed home and Garret wrapped the last present he needed to while we popped the Moet and drank a glass of champagne. He even gave me my smallest gift, some stationary and some socks with the moisturizing gel on the inside that I had been wanting. His biggest Christmas gift is still wandering around the military postal system, I'm afraid, so I offered to tell him what it was, and as he was eager I shared that I had bought him 2 leather bound books. One is a copy of A Brave New World, a book I had him read this past summer which he had enjoyed. And the other was a copy of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, which is one of his all time favorites. Then we headed to bed, only to be awakened by my mother at 5 a.m. thinking it was hilarious to call and wake me up early. Usually I am up at the crack of dawn for Christmas, shouting Christmas carols at the top of my lungs to wake the whole house up. This year we slept in until 11, and meandered our way downstairs to open gifts and eat our breakfast of crumpets with cream cheese and smoked salmon washed down with mimosas.

My husband is fantastic. He has a little notebook he keeps on himself nearly all the time, and he writes down things we see that he notices I seem interested in or something I offhandedly mention I might want. For several years now there has been a trio of books by Kate Spade that I would love to have; Occasions, Style, and Manners. I forgot I had said anything to him about them, so imagine my big grin when I opened the first box and there was the trio! We kept our limit to 3 gifts this year, so I opened my last one and it was a black and white Chanel box. Always a good sign, as I have recently fallen in love with Coco Mademoiselle. I assumed it was the eau de parfum we have here on base. But I was thoroughly delighted when I opened the box and it was a tiny little box. I could not tear the plastic off the box quick enough to get to my petite box of Coco Mademoiselle parfum. This was truly something I have been scouring everywhere for. But the parfum is nearly impossible to find. We found it once at a department store, but when I went back, they were out. So Garret got smart and ordered it directly from the company. I broke open the bottle (I was unsure of whether I was supposed to remove the seal or not, and in the end that seemed the easiest way, but next time I am going to attempt to not have to) and immediately dabbed a drop on my neck. The scent is intoxicating, and on my skin seems to give off an elegant sensuality. My husband has always loved my Givenchy Very Irresistable on me, but after smelling this on my recently he decided that it suited me more as my grown-up self. The Givenchy he decided was more representative of my younger care free self. I really love this scent, the way it makes me feel......and my husband loves nuzzling my neck to catch a gentle waft of it.


Garret's two smaller gifts from me were slightly practical, I must admit. His smallest gift was a toiletry case for when we travel. A faux (but real looking) leather that has some wonderful compartments and cases. His second gift is a pair of black leather gloves lined with a cappucino colored cashmere. He got so excited, talking about his hands won't be cold when he touches the steering wheel and he can wear them all the time. Normally we do stockings too, but this year we decided to get a nice box of Godiva dark chocolates to share instead. The only problem is we ate them all (except 2 pieces of plain dark chocolate) before Christmas. Oh well, the store had a ton of Godiva, and it will all be 50-75% off after Christmas, so we will just have to get more!


Hope everyone enjoyed their holiday! My best gift this year was just having my husband home for the week, and really, that's what the season is all about. Time with loved ones.

Making Our Own Traditions

I was always the traditionalist. Turkey was what was had at Christmas dinner, and I resolutely refused when my parents wanted to do ham.....that was what we had at Easter I said. However, this year, Garret and I began thinking about how neither of us likes to do something just because it was "always done that way." It's just the two of us, and we are forming our own life, including our own traditions. Therefore, if all of the ingredients can be scrounged up today, we are having a very different kind of Christmas meal. One that includes leek and potato soup to start, then the second course will be stuffed mushrooms, followed by a salmon roast, roasted baby potatoes and onions, and sauteed green beans with lemon and shallot, with the next course consisting of a salad, then fruit, then coffee or tea. And what are we drinking with this festive dinner? We are considering drinking all champagne (the Moet is already in the refrigerator) or perhaps picking up a Chardonnay to go with dinner and popping the bubbly near the end. Either way, the champagne is getting popped, because we are planning on smoked salmon with mimosas on Christmas morning. I am also making a batch of mulled wine for Christmas day.

It's odd to think my little family of two is making our life different than how we were raised, but it suits us. We prefer seafood, although poultry is a close second, and after all the heavy foods at Thanksgiving we want something light. I hope everyone is enjoying Christmas (or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa) exactly as they love to, because after all......isn't this time of year about enjoying your time with your friends and family? Merry Christmas!!!

Life Always Surprises Me

This past Thursday I made plans to go to tea with a co-worker of my husbands who is becoming a friend. I was excited to get out of the house and enjoy some girl time. I arrive at the tea room, it's all decorated for Christmas with garland strung up with white lights, ribbon-wrapped cinnamon sticks and slices of dried oranges. It's a tiny little place so the wonderful smells always fill the entire place. I really must get a few pictures of the place while it's decorated so prettily. So we sat for 2 hours chatting until it was time to close the place up. And somewher during this time she said, "Well I'm really glad we got more time to get to know each other so I can ask you to go on the cruise with me." On a previous occassion she had been telling me and Garret that she had booked a cruise to go on with her best friend from back home, but not too long ago, the best friend had to cancel. Neither her mother or her sister could make it, but she was trying to figure it out. I was actually quite shocked. Me? She was asking me?

But then I got excited. A 12 day cruise that hits up places like Rome, Greece, and Alexandria? Where do I sign up? Beforehand Garret and I had discussed that we would grill her about how she liked the cruise, since it is one we would be interested in taking later. Now, I will be the test run. We leave in a couple of weeks! I'm actually rather excited......if she and I don't kill each other in the 12 day period, I figure we have a good chance of becoming good friends. I just need to book a flight and pay to have the name switched to mine (a very minor fee), everything else she's already paid for and says she is covering. Basically, it's an amazing oppurtunity that came out of left field. Have I mentioned I'm excited?

So last night Garret got off work a few hours early, we hit up dinner at a packed Cafe Rouge. I wasn't really sure I was going to get a table but when the manager asked if we had reservations I looked at him and point blank explained that no, we did not, but that we had tried calling and had let the phone ring for nearly 10 minutes each of the 3 times we called. It seems to be the one negative thing I can say about the restaurant is that on several occassions, we have tried calling for reservations, only to decide we are going to have to drive the 30 minutes there and hope we get a table because no one ever picks up. The only phone is in the office, which door is closed off to the restaurant, and the manager is generally out helping in the main area. But on one occassion, Garret got a busy signal, kept trying and eventually the busy signal went away, but no one answered.

Anyways, after dinner we decided to call his co-worker to see if she wanted to meet up for drinks. We ended up going out to a bar and sitting on little couches and ottomans to drink some Strongbow. There was a younger guy (maybe 20, at best, but I would guess 18) who was a very enthusiastic dancer, so we watched him most of the time, as he happily made a fool of himself for entertainment. To get to the bar and back involved quite a bit of walking uphill on cobblestone, and in my high heels it was a wonderful workout. My poor feet are ready to scream mutiny, but I have a lovely husband who gives great massages.

So these next few weeks really will be crazy. This week the friend and I are planning to go shopping for some new clothes for the cruise. Then it's Christmas Eve, Christmas, Garret's birthday weekend. The week after that is New Year's Eve and Day, and I leave that weekend. Anytime I begin to think my life is becoming boring, another adventure in my whirlwind of a life comes up. Someday I will have to slow down, but for now, I am enjoying the ride.

Beginning of the Birthday Extravaganza!

This is us before we headed out.

Garret and I were headed to Bury St. Edmunds yesterday because I had entered a drawing at Noa Noa, a Danish clothing company, and had won a gift card for ₤20. On the way out, I checked Garret's e-mail to see if a friend had e-mailed us a recipe for the best sugar cookies I have ever tasted. In his inbox was a letter from Cafe Rouge that was a voucher for a free ₤30 of champagne to celebrate his birthday (we had to spend ₤30 in food, but that really wasn't hard). So we printed the voucher off and away we went. It was freezing rain out, so the market wasn't very busy as we arrived there around 3 in the afternoon. Immediately we headed to Cafe Rouge to make reservations for the night (because on a Friday or Saturday if you want to eat from 7 or later you need them) and also warmed our insides with a couple of cappucinos. Then we shopped, killing time in bookstores, clothing stores, and once we ran into a jewelry store so I could try on a Cartier watch I have been eyeing (at over ₤4000 I will be saving for quite a while, but you have to have goals) and also to look at a Links of London travel clock. Finally we made it to Noa Noa, picked up my gift certificate and spent half of it on a gorgeous pair of earring made from shell.

Me with my new earrings at dinner.

Our dinner turned out to be absolutely sumptious. We got seated in the section of our favorite waitress Ewa (pronounced Eh-va) who is from Poland and always an absolute delight, enough that I wished she would have joined us. While I ran to the restroom to try and fix my windblown hair, Garret handed them the voucher and asked that the champagne be brought with the hors d'oevres. I had Crevettes à l'Ail which were king prawns in a garlic, tomato, chilli and basil sauce served with French bread. And Garret started out with a small order of what I would have as my main, Moules du Cafe Rouge, yummy mussels in a white wine, garlic, herbs and cream sauce with French bread. Garret's main was a casserole called Marmite Dieppoise that had salmon, dory, mussels, carrots, leeks, and potatoes in a white wine veloute. All of it was delicious! For desert we had a crepe filled with bananas and topped with chocolate sauce and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Unfortunately, the only thing I got a picture of was my empty mussel shells, because we were too busy with our meal and our conversation that I completely forgot to take pictures! We ended the night with a cappucino and an espresso, feeling very much sated and satisfied.

My favorite pic of my husband with his new contacts!

Part of the restaurant, it's this beautiful golden yellow wall paint, with words and pictures painted on it. The chandeliers and wall sconces are all different, it's just kind of a whimsical little cafe. And when it's full (like last night) it's noisy but relaxing all the same time.

Garret's birthday is the day after Christmas but we have begun to celebrate early, and plan to continue our birthday extravaganza through New Year's!

Calm Before The Storm

This week has been my lazy week here in the U.K. Garret and I could be found lying about the house watching movies or curled up together, and when he has been asleep or working I could be found watching crap t.v., mainly reality shows. I know, it's embarassing. However, I must say it has been quite relaxing. This weekend we are being rebels and not going to his squadron Christmas party. Instead we are staying home to put up the Christmas tree (finally), drink hot cocoa, bake cookies, and listen to Christmas carols. We'll be switching from him working nights to days, so we will probably sleep a lot.

But next week will be a long work week, full of me running around trying to get things for his stocking, wrapping a few presents, and getting things together for our Christmas dinner. The week of Christmas he should have the whole week off, which normally would mean relaxing, but there are a few outings I am interested in. Then it's his birthday, and I hope possibly a trip to London for some ice skating and dinner out at La Trouvaille in Soho. La Travaille was nice when we went a couple Christmases ago, but I have read some lukewarm reviews since, so we may be looking for a different restaurant.

For now, I am enjoying being slightly lazy, staying in to drink tea and keep out of the cold-enough-to-snow-but-it-probably-won't weather. Hope everyone is enjoying the build-up to Christmas!

Intuition

For a large part of my life I went with the crowd. If people said something was cool, then it must be, and vice versa with uncool things. But as I prepare to turn 25, which for me if a significant number I am amazed at how much I have changed in the past couple of years, as well as how much I haven't changed. One big way seems to be that I trust myself more now. I go with my gut, follow my intuition. When I feel there is a person in my life who is bad juju, as I put it, I feel free to not judge, but to let go of them from my life. Allowing negative people in my life has only proved previously to be unhealthy, at times even disastrous. When I feel an urge to do something, I usually follow it. A couple of days ago while sitting enjoying coffee in a cafe I noticed that the lady next to me was wearing a beautiful purple dress, with white embroidery. I even pointed it out to my husband. As the woman was preparing to leave I gently touched her arm and explained that I hated to interrupt but I wanted to let her know that the dress looked amazing on her. Once I said it, I got an odd look, and I was worried that perhaps I should have kept silent. Here in England you just don't talk to strangers much, it's "just not done." But suddenly the lady smiled, and she said that I couldn't possibly know how great that was to hear, that she had just come back from vacation and it was nice to hear someone thought she looked good. I smiled, told her I was glad, and then quietly went back to my conversation with Garret.

I suppose this is not too horribly different from how I used to be in the way that I have always felt completely comfortable complimenting people. But I am now more bold about it, sometimes stopping someone to tell them rather than only complimenting someone if I am in conversation with them. I find it easier because I tell myself that the worst they can do is look at me like I am crazy or even get snippy if they are having a bad day. But there is always that chance that the person really needs to be noticed. And when I get such a strong urge, I follow it, because I get the impression it's almost as if I am being told to do something. Like I am being used for a purpose, and that while I am not all that important, what I might do is.

As for things I might do, I love to eat an ice cream cone while strolling the Abbey.....even better when it is cold out. Something about the decadence of locally made ice cream eaten when it's cold enough everyone is in scarves and gloves delights me. Another thing I do is dance as I walk around the garden, twirling even. I've learned that while a few people might stare, in the end they will not remember it, but I will remember if I let my inhibitions cause me to not do something that causes joy in my life. In the end, a compliment is a free way to brighten a day, and twirling, well.....it always seems to brighten mine!

Facing Myself For The First Time In A Long Time

I am in the process of slimming down. It's an interesting process for me, one that has me behaving as giddily as a teenager. Suddenly clothes I have had for a while look great on me, and I am being more experimental with layering and colors. Instead of ending up in tears and saying I am not going like I would have a year ago, I revel going out with my husband.

Now to be quite honest, (and this is going to be an honest post) I was not too big to begin with. A year ago, or even a few months ago I fit into my size 16 jeans comfortably, and one pair of 14's fit just fine. I've always been the one who no one believed me when I told them my weight. I was blessed, from my mom, to be that person who just looked fine no matter the weight.....it seemed to distribute itself properly all over my 5'8 1/2" frame. I've never had a big belly and I have always had kind of a flat ass. But my first year of marriage had me feeling frustrated, stressed, and a problem I have dealt with for going on 11-12 years now encouraged me to binge (along with it's sidekick) and left me feeling horrible. Now most of my 14's fit quite comfortably (although I must say Old Navy sucks on size consistency, because while most fit perfectly fine, and one is even slightly baggy, there are 2 pairs---the same style as the baggy only darker---that are not quite fitting how I would like). My hips are slowly disappearing, and suddenly my curvy long torso shape is returning. My face is slimmer, when I smile my dimples are deep and my cheeks pop. My husband, my best friend and biggest supporter, cannot quit telling me how wonderful I look.

But I am scared shitless (pardon my French). As any woman who has ever considered herself chubby or fat (whether in her head or not) can attest, sometimes it's easier being that way. Sometimes it's comfortable being the chubbier friend. I've had moments in life where I have dropped weight and suddenly a friend gets almost aggressive, as if I have committed a crime in our friendship. While I have never had a problem attracting men, whenever I would lose weight men would seem to come out of the woodwork in droves, and being one who was not entirely comfortable with herself, I was terrified and didn't know how to handle it. You would think things would be different now. I'm very happily married to a man who with a straight face said that if I ever reached something crazy (for me) like 500 lbs he would be sad because it would be unhealthy but he would still love me and find me attractive. And I don't blink an eye when it comes to him, I know he has loved me off and on since he set eyes on me when I was 13, so frankly, he's around whether I want him to be or not! It's other people who ask if I've lost weight, which freaks me out because they seem to notice before I do. And it's my family, for whom I was always the chubby one.

My 3 brothers are all fairly tall and slim (one brother is 6'4", another 6'1" and the last one, ten years younger than I is probably going to hit at least 6'4"1). I was the one who always ate the least but weighed the most....it was funny enough it should have been a sitcom. The last time my mother saw me was over 6 months ago, and it's been about a year and a half for everyone else. So if I show up several sizes smaller, shocked will be the most delicate word I can use.....my family is sometimes not as tactful as they should be. I've avoided talking about my actual weight with my mother since she's stressed and having put on a bit of weight is currently slightly heavier than me. And deep down I feel like she will see my weight loss as a betrayal.

But for the first time in a long time I have faced myself, looked myself head on in the mirror and realized I am humongously happy. My life isn't perfect, but it's pretty great. And being happy has made me see that I don't have to continue to be slightly overweight just to make myself or others feel comfortable. I'm comfortable being able to think I look good. I'm comfortable being able to make my husband give me piggyback rides around the house (which actually freaks my dog out, so we don't do it too often). And I'm comfortable standing up for myself, even to my family, when I wasn't even 6 months ago. I have chosen in these past few months to make my husband and I the 2 most important people in my life, to not let anyone do anything that upsets one of us unnecessarily. Basically I put me first for the first time that I can ever remember. And it feels great. For the first time the weight loss is happening naturally (I am not actually dieting, we just have always eaten fairly healthy and now we walk everywhere a lot....but tonight we are having pizza!). I'm not freaking out trying to drop any certain amount of pounds, I'm not aiming to reach a certain point by a certain date. Hell, if all I lose is another 10 lbs I will be enormously happy. And if all goes well, this time next year I will have a bit of a belly, so really, in the end me being healthy is what matters.

I will try and run an occasional update with photos as a way to track the journey. I'm ready for one hell of a ride, because sometimes that's how life is......The journey should be as fun as the destination.

Christmas Fayre Fun

This weekend in pictures... leave some comments!

Getting ready to head out....with my new Gerard Darel bag. Seriously, I was terrified of banging the bag up all day.

The market, a normal stall. This is one of my favorite vegetable vendors near the end. Each stainless steel bowl costs only one Brit pound, and generally that gets me 4 or 5 really good leeks, or 3 lbs of plums, etc. Generally their produce is really good.

The Abbey Gate, and one of the many Christmas trees around Bury.

This was absolutely stunning, the photo doesn't do it justice. It was all metal, cut and formed.

The Very Brave Bag Piper. It was freezing, seriously, I think with the windchill it was below freezing (and boy was it windy). He was quite good with the Christmas carols though.

Here I am drinking some mulled wine that apparantly followed a more alcoholic recipe. I was used to a red wine with oranges and spices, what I got tasted like wine-flavored vodka. I wasn't able to drink more than half, and that was forcing it. I mean, I like vodka, but ice cold, and pure.

The yummiest bratwurst I have ever had. It was super long and covered in sauteed onions. Mmm!

The carousel. In the end we ate way too much to ride it around and around.

A rock band played Saturday night. I couldn't get close enough to get a name.

The view down one section of the market.

Yummy olives, marinated garlic, organic apples, and sundried tomatoes.

The stall that was selling wonderful sausages, including ostrich. The vendor laughed and said he didn't want to be a star, but that he guessed I was making him one.

This photo and the next were taken at a boulangerie/pattiserie stall. I was so excited because I was able to go through the whole transaction in French. One the vendor realized I spoke it well enough (especially with my accent) he got more animated and spoke only to me, and only in French! Garret thought it was quite funny.

We ordered and have now consumed a few pain aux raisin et pain au chocolat.....for shame.

All bundled up to watch the race.....eventually I had Garret's coat on over mine, so I looked quite bulked up!

Garret dressed as Santa. He really is too skinny to play the man, but oh well. In a photo I took at home he got all excited because light reflected giving him a twinkle in his eye!

The Santas got an interesting warm up, that involved them generally moving about, sometimes with a bit of dance moves thrown in!

A petite chien that was in the race!

The male reindeer that they had to pet.

My husband looking quite happy as he was in the middle of devouring his second crepe ever, full of aprociot jam. Neither of them lasted long, and now I am in search of a good crepe pan to be able to make them at home for him.

Wonderful smelling lavender. I forgot to purchase any before ending our weekend!

Vive La France!

The weekend turned out to be amazing. We had a great time exploring all the booths. I got an very good workout on Saturday going up and down Abbey Street (a very steep cobble stone street) about a dozen or so times. Garret and I got to spend some time with Nansi at Cafe Rouge chatting about pretty much everything and anything. And in the end we collapsed at home, exhausted, and unable to eat any of the scrumptious food we had bought.