Christmas 2010.....

A Christmas Tradition.

Christmas date with Anthony. Our first official date was a Christmas date where we met up in the centre of London and walked around looking at the Christmas light hot spots. Anthony new a sneaky little hot spot on Shore St...and well the rest is history.

Since then every Christmas we have had a Christmas date where we walk around London enjoying all things Christmas....in 2008 it was on this Christmas date that Anthony proposed.

This year we brought William along with us.

our route this year:

Delivered off a Christmas hamper to a friend on Harley St, cut through to Oxford St via James

St, looking into the windows of all the pretty

posh boutiques.

Stop off at Barrett Street (little court yard type street with pretty lights) for an Italian hot choc.

Then down Oxford Street for the big lights and department store window displays.

Take a look down Sedley Place for their lights.

Carry on down Oxford St to Regents St.

Walk down Regents Street. Stop off at Hamleys Toy Store for a bit of magic and fake foam snow blowing off the roof!

carry on along Regents St to Piccadilly Circus

and onto Liecester Sq for dinner at Eds dinner.

Then walk on to Trafalgar Sq to enjoy the big Christmas tree, choirs, fountains and the nativity.

Walk down Whitehall to Westminster, passing Number 10, sneak a peak at PM's Christmas Tree.

At Westminster, Big Ben has 'festive' green lighting, either that or its left from Halloween!! Admire Westminster's Christmas tree and walk across Westminster Bridge to the South bank.

Walk down past the London Eye and along to the German Christmas Market, buy some fudge and choc truffles....take tube home. Snuggle up with a good Christmas movie........

This has become one of my favourite Christmas traditions.

Beauty in the break down.

I have to share this blog link as I am a complete sucker for spontaneous makeup splurges that I later regret and end up with that guilty knotty feeling inside because Iv spent money I cant afford on stuff that surprisingly doesn't transform me into Liz Hurley or any other face of Este Lauder.

So for a more rational approach to makeup buying check this blog out. Honest, unbiased makeup reviews from all the testers her job lets her take home, and all the knowledge acquired over the years. Iv known the blogger since she was about 11 and she could give makeup advice at that age so its no wonder she became a makeup artist. She will answer any of your make up Q's!

So to find out what lotions and potions actually do anythin...check check check it out! And then add them to your Christmas list! YES PLEASE!

Happy 1st of December!

Its that time of year again to CRACK open the advent calenders and start the count down to Christmas.

I was reminded of the great importance of the advent calender last night, when myself and some friends popped into PoundLand to grab some sweets for the movie. They were shutting and had stopped letting people in and some teenage girls were begging the security guard to let them in just so they could get an advent calender! The most over-rated chocolate of the year!

The 1st also stands as a bit of a marking point in mine and Anthony's history as it was the 1st of December 7 YEARS ago that we enjoyed a first date...well actually there is a discrepancy there as I believed i was going on a date that night, however Anthony thought we where 'just hanging out' and was oblivious to the fact that it was a date!....in fact come to think of it I have no idea how the heck we ended up together?... A total accident or a total miracle!

Anyway in perfect timing for that Christmassy time of year the snow finally reached London on the first day of December. And last night as i was driving home i decided to indulge myself a bit, taking some detours. And I thoroughly enjoyed driving around London in the snow, enjoying the Christmas lights, listening to Christmas songs on the radio, with the snow falling in to the window screen, looking at people in there hats, scarfs and hunter wellies whilst I'm toasty warm in my car. OOOH Its beginning to feel a lot like Christmas and I love it.

Life gets busy and every now and then you get the opportunity for some 'me time' and you have to seize it!

I am embarking on some creative outlets......we shall see what happens........

Thanksgiving by default!

A pro about living in London is that there are so many other cultures here that you can jump on the band wagon of their holidays and celebrations (Why don't we do thanksgiving? Britain needs to adopt that holiday!).

We where really excited when we got invited over for a thanksgiving dinner at the Bassets (an American family who go to our church), however we later found out Anthony and I where only invited by default! When the basset parents asked the Basset kids 'who do you want us to invite over for thanks giving?' the kids replied 'WILLLIAM!' So as the parents of William it was our honour to stuff ourselves silly on a real authentic American thanks giving dinner. I didn't get a pic because i was to busy stuffing my face with marshmallow covered sweet potato! And that wasn't even the desert!

BONFIRE NIGHT....WKND

a Late post from bonfire night/s.....we had four n all!

1st, Thursday at centre parcs.

2nd Friday, watched fireworks on motorway on way home and at our local pub on the river with bonfire.

3rd, Saturday night, the big Ravens court park fair/display was fantastic this year....seriously what a job to design fireworks they get better and better, soon they will be able to spell out names and do dance routines in the sky, i love the darting ones.


4th, Sunday, Anthony's parents home, he had a bonfire and fireworks as a combined belated birthday celebration.



I love the atmosphere of Bonfire night, wrapping up warm and walking down to your local display. Next year i am defiantly doing toffee apples!

William, who smiles and gets excited at everything sat nonchalant staring, un phased by them with an expression of "an what like? av seen better".

Antony turns 40!

OK so it was his 36th Birthday but at that age he may as well be 40! At least that was my Joke!

His Birthday was on the Tuesday during our Centre Parcs trip so we had lots of friends around to celebrate with.Kelly girl had an ingenious idea to recycle some pumpkins and carve 36 into them! Bravo!

So for dinner i was gunna get a load of birthday party goodies....hats, napkins, poppers, those horn thingys...but the pound shop was a little bare in that area but i did find some stick on mustaches!!!...so since Anthony was gettin so old, a last minuet make shift gentleman's party was born (10 mustaches, two flat caps and one blazer = total fancy dress of eve. not really a success in that dept! but sometimes ya just cant be bothered with effort can ya?).



I stuck my mustache on and received some strange looks...and then the penny dropped as they realised what was familiar about me and in a chorus they all said 'YOU LOOK LIKE YOUR DAD...THAT'S WEIRD!'. Its true. I knew i looked like my dad but until i stuck this mustache on i didn't realise how much alike we where! HA.

Its uncanny isn't it!??

36 CANDLES

Later we enjoyed pass the parcel, Hot choc and birthday cake by the fire.

Happy Birthday Anthony! Only 4 years off 40! sheesh!!