What a week we’ve had! It started off with me dropping Jonny off at the fire station for work on Sunday, so that I could have the car and go to a Pampered Chef being held by one of the fire wives in Brandon. It’s actually a nice drive from our home in Downham to Brandon, and not too far. I was a little nervous driving to a village I am pretty unfamiliar with; the tricky thing is, not all streets have signs. So I am in love with our GPS Navigator that talks in real time as I drive. “Turn left in 80 yards” Followed by a “Turn left now” really comes in handy! Also remember, the GPS speaks with a British accent =) Luckily, towns and villages here are very small, so it doesn’t take long to familiarize yourself! The party was great, the Pampered Chef Consultant had a nice display of products and made us some very yummy chocolate raspberry martinis to enjoy while we “shopped”! I did try to mimic those at home, and it will probably take 2 more tries before I really nail it! We also played a few games where I actually won a new paring knife! I found it funny, that as I was looking through the catalog, I was able to find items I just had to have, and never knew existed…Needless to say, they will arrive in about 4-6 weeks! It was a fun party, and, small world, one of the other wives I met, actually grew up in Monument, Colorado! She graduated from Pine Creek High School. So we chatted for a while and talked about colorful Colorado. She is actually one of the “key spouses” for the Firefighters Wives Group on Lakenheath, and she and I have emailed back and forth a few times, so it was nice to put a name to a face! Very sweet, and also went to Pikes Peak for Interior Design before moving to Lakenheath a year ago. It looks like she and I are going to design centerpieces for the Civil Engineers Holiday Party in December.
Since I had the car Sunday, Monday morning I had to be at the fire station by 7:30am to pick up Jonny. That was the day I decided I would give in a find myself a car. So we went to Rugby’s Café for breakfast and when we got home I went on to my new favorite website, lakenheathyardsales.com , and started searching for a car. It’s a website for the general Lakenheath area where people get on there to sell and buy everything from clothing, furniture, antiques, and cars. Basically an even more so local craigslist.com. It’s a great place for military members getting deployed of PCSing to sell stuff fast! I’ve decided that will be a great place to buy our guest room furniture =) I already found some super cute, brand new guest bedroom curtains there for like 5GBP. Well as we were eating breakfast, Jonny surprised me by saying we would be staying in Central London Thursday night because he was taking me to see The Lion King! I saw it in Denver probably 5, 6 years ago, and pretty much haven’t stopped talking about it, so he figured it would be a good idea! So we stayed in The Union Jack Hotel in Waterloo, right behind the London Eye and the train station and saw the 7:30pm show at The Lyceum Theater. What a trip it was getting there though! We didn’t think we would actually make it at one point! Thursday we decided to take our time and enjoy the morning, so I pulled out our waffle-maker and made up a good breakfast, then we packed a bag for the night, and around noon headed to Cambridge where we were going to take the train to Kings Cross in London, then the underground to Waterloo by the hotel. Well as we were on our way, Jonny received a call from one of the SSgt at the fire station confirming that Jonny would be at a 9am class Friday morning. Unsure what in the world he was talking about, as well as the bad reception, I turned the car towards Lakenheath so we get it all figured out. So I dropped Jonny off at the station and sat in the car with my fingers crossed for about 30 minutes. Then after what felt like forever, he came back out and said we were good to go. Apparently they sent him an email-to his work email-on his day off the day before about the class. But they were all really nice about it, another Airman volunteered to take his place and all was good. On my to-do list for today is bake a batch of cookies. So we were off to Cambridge again, parked, and went to get our train tickets, when at the counter they were about three times more expensive per person then we were told. So very hesitant about driving straight into Central London, we threw our bags in the car and headed south. Actually it was quite a nice, quick drive to the outskirts of the city. However, once you are smack dab in the middle, that is not so much the case. We got to London in about an hour’s time, and then spent oh, another hour and a half looking for this hotel. With not many street signs, construction and closed roads, we were lost- about mile away for an hour. We decided that since it was now six pm, and we had to be at the Box Office by seven, we would just park in the next garage we could find, hail a cab, and pray we get there in time! So we parked, grabbed our bags, and ran to the street where we hopped in a cab that drove us across the bridge to our hotel in about 2 minutes. Once we got to the hotel, we literally had time to take the
elevator to our room on the 13th (out of 24!) floor, shak
e a few wrinkles out of our clothes, change, and run back to the street to hail another cab to go back across the bridge again to the Lyceum Theatre. And we made it! The theatre was beautiful inside. Stone detailing on every surface and the ceiling had large mural paintings. The show was amazing-all the colors and the costumes amaze me. Jonny was even surprised by all the animal costumes in the opening scene. The giraffes, and giant elephant, and the zebras, I liked the zebras. Not to mention the music is pretty spectacular. I do have to admit, I was somewhat thrown off for a second 
when they started speaking with a British accent. I think I forgot or something! I could see that show probably once a week and still be in awe of it all- I loved it! After the show was over, we decided to just walk back to the hotel and enjoy the view. The city is a beautiful site wh
en it’s dark. Parliament and Big Ben are all lit up, and the bridges have bright pink, purple, and blue lights reflecting off them into the water, then the London Eye just towers over everything, especially in the dark. The next morning we woke up and enjoyed breakfast in the hotel restaurant, then after check out, started walking back to the car park. Little did we know, London Fashion Week began that very morning…it was kind of fun to walk though/by all the red carpet craziness. Photographers were everywhere, and people were passing out promotions on the street to everyone who walked by. The more “into” it we walked, the more I found myself feeling very boring in my jeans and t-shirt. Jonny said everybody looked like clowns. On some accounts I agreed, I thought this lady was wearing balloon animals in her hair. I debated taking a picture, but didn’t want to be rude or violate some copy write law of some sort! Once we found the car, tha
nkfully, it was an easy drive home, or back to base anyway! Wednesday we test drove a couple of cars, and decided to go pick it up and register it with the base on our way home. I ended up with a tiny blue Nissan Micra-and I mean blue! I believe that if the Blue M&M had a car, it would be mine. But I love it! It drives WAY 
nicer than Jonny’s boat of a car does! Actually his car is normal sized for the U.S. but the roads, parking, EVERYTHING is so small over here, that a “toy car” like mine fits better! So after an adventurous couple of days we finally made it home! I surprised myself by making these really good stake, cheese, and onion hoagies for dinner…we decided I would defiantly be making those again!
Since I had the car Sunday, Monday morning I had to be at the fire station by 7:30am to pick up Jonny. That was the day I decided I would give in a find myself a car. So we went to Rugby’s Café for breakfast and when we got home I went on to my new favorite website, lakenheathyardsales.com , and started searching for a car. It’s a website for the general Lakenheath area where people get on there to sell and buy everything from clothing, furniture, antiques, and cars. Basically an even more so local craigslist.com. It’s a great place for military members getting deployed of PCSing to sell stuff fast! I’ve decided that will be a great place to buy our guest room furniture =) I already found some super cute, brand new guest bedroom curtains there for like 5GBP. Well as we were eating breakfast, Jonny surprised me by saying we would be staying in Central London Thursday night because he was taking me to see The Lion King! I saw it in Denver probably 5, 6 years ago, and pretty much haven’t stopped talking about it, so he figured it would be a good idea! So we stayed in The Union Jack Hotel in Waterloo, right behind the London Eye and the train station and saw the 7:30pm show at The Lyceum Theater. What a trip it was getting there though! We didn’t think we would actually make it at one point! Thursday we decided to take our time and enjoy the morning, so I pulled out our waffle-maker and made up a good breakfast, then we packed a bag for the night, and around noon headed to Cambridge where we were going to take the train to Kings Cross in London, then the underground to Waterloo by the hotel. Well as we were on our way, Jonny received a call from one of the SSgt at the fire station confirming that Jonny would be at a 9am class Friday morning. Unsure what in the world he was talking about, as well as the bad reception, I turned the car towards Lakenheath so we get it all figured out. So I dropped Jonny off at the station and sat in the car with my fingers crossed for about 30 minutes. Then after what felt like forever, he came back out and said we were good to go. Apparently they sent him an email-to his work email-on his day off the day before about the class. But they were all really nice about it, another Airman volunteered to take his place and all was good. On my to-do list for today is bake a batch of cookies. So we were off to Cambridge again, parked, and went to get our train tickets, when at the counter they were about three times more expensive per person then we were told. So very hesitant about driving straight into Central London, we threw our bags in the car and headed south. Actually it was quite a nice, quick drive to the outskirts of the city. However, once you are smack dab in the middle, that is not so much the case. We got to London in about an hour’s time, and then spent oh, another hour and a half looking for this hotel. With not many street signs, construction and closed roads, we were lost- about mile away for an hour. We decided that since it was now six pm, and we had to be at the Box Office by seven, we would just park in the next garage we could find, hail a cab, and pray we get there in time! So we parked, grabbed our bags, and ran to the street where we hopped in a cab that drove us across the bridge to our hotel in about 2 minutes. Once we got to the hotel, we literally had time to take the
elevator to our room on the 13th (out of 24!) floor, shak
e a few wrinkles out of our clothes, change, and run back to the street to hail another cab to go back across the bridge again to the Lyceum Theatre. And we made it! The theatre was beautiful inside. Stone detailing on every surface and the ceiling had large mural paintings. The show was amazing-all the colors and the costumes amaze me. Jonny was even surprised by all the animal costumes in the opening scene. The giraffes, and giant elephant, and the zebras, I liked the zebras. Not to mention the music is pretty spectacular. I do have to admit, I was somewhat thrown off for a second 
when they started speaking with a British accent. I think I forgot or something! I could see that show probably once a week and still be in awe of it all- I loved it! After the show was over, we decided to just walk back to the hotel and enjoy the view. The city is a beautiful site wh
en it’s dark. Parliament and Big Ben are all lit up, and the bridges have bright pink, purple, and blue lights reflecting off them into the water, then the London Eye just towers over everything, especially in the dark. The next morning we woke up and enjoyed breakfast in the hotel restaurant, then after check out, started walking back to the car park. Little did we know, London Fashion Week began that very morning…it was kind of fun to walk though/by all the red carpet craziness. Photographers were everywhere, and people were passing out promotions on the street to everyone who walked by. The more “into” it we walked, the more I found myself feeling very boring in my jeans and t-shirt. Jonny said everybody looked like clowns. On some accounts I agreed, I thought this lady was wearing balloon animals in her hair. I debated taking a picture, but didn’t want to be rude or violate some copy write law of some sort! Once we found the car, tha
nkfully, it was an easy drive home, or back to base anyway! Wednesday we test drove a couple of cars, and decided to go pick it up and register it with the base on our way home. I ended up with a tiny blue Nissan Micra-and I mean blue! I believe that if the Blue M&M had a car, it would be mine. But I love it! It drives WAY 
nicer than Jonny’s boat of a car does! Actually his car is normal sized for the U.S. but the roads, parking, EVERYTHING is so small over here, that a “toy car” like mine fits better! So after an adventurous couple of days we finally made it home! I surprised myself by making these really good stake, cheese, and onion hoagies for dinner…we decided I would defiantly be making those again!
"I surprised myself by making these really good stake, cheese, and onion hoagies for dinner..." Add mushrooms and peppers and you have yourself a Philly Cheesesteak NOM NOM NOM.
ReplyDeleteThor
oh. my. word.! how much fun! it sounds like you are loving living in the UK! :) love hearing your stories! - and the Lion King ROCKS!!! :)
ReplyDeletelove you!