Spreading some Christmas cheer

12.11.10
Christmas work party= Christmas photo card op. After a little bit of contemplation I decided to stick with tradition and do a cheesy couple photo card afterall.  Hopefully Monday I will be mailing out photo cards to most of you and if I don't have your address, well I guess no cute Page Christmas photo card for YOU!
I heard a lot of people were doing e-cards this year and believe me I really thought about it. It's a tradition I just can't seem to break-thanks a lot, MOM! So I'm posting some of the pics (awwwwww) that DIDN'T make the cut this year.

Ha, gotta love me rocking my signature one hand on the hip pose-I just can't do the hand holding, one hand on the hubby prom pose.
Anywhoo, these were taken at an enormous country house hotel in Mundford, which is about 10 miles from our house. The perfect place for a Christmas party.  Here is a link: http://www.lynfordhallhotel.co.uk/
Will someone puh-leeeeeease get married there!? Preferably in the summer. :D
If you don't have our address, here 'tis!

PSC 41 Box 5162
APO, AE
09464

Just address and stamp it just like any other card, incase you were wondering...

Nearly all of my Christmas shopping is done, such a good feeling. Online shopping is a beautiful thing!  Alright now take my lead and spread some of that Christmas cheer, people! Only 14 shopping days left! XOXO

Thankful For...

11.29.10

A fabulous first Thanksgiving in England!  

Manchester United Football Game

They won-7-1!

We found the North Pole in the UK instead of the AK! :D

And saw another amazing city center-Manchester

 

(on top of the ferris wheel )

It snowed 2 inches today-we're NOT thankful for that!!

HAPPY TO HAVE HIM HOME!

11.11.10

HAPPY VETERANS DAY!

I have been fortunate to not have Darren deploy since we were stationed at Hill AFB, Utah. It's hard to believe it has been five years since his last major deployment.  Luckily he won't be leaving anytime soon, but we know the next deployment is inevitable while stationed here.  Next week Darren goes on swing shift, so that means I will get to see him for two hours during the day and when waking up and going to sleep. I guess I'll take it and be thankful that he is here.

The military is his mistress and sometimes 
she gets all the attention!!




These are some old photos from past deployments in
Afghanistan and Iraq while stationed at Pope AFB, NC.

FALLing for FALL!

11.08.10

We finally get to experience another season besides winter-FALL! And I am in LOVE!
On my way to work I pass through Thetford Forest. It stretches for 50,000 acres and is absolutely gorgeous!  I had to pull over and take some pics to share. The camera phone doesn't show how truly vibrant the trees are this time of year. I'm so lucky to be able to see and experience "tree tunnels" every day!

I love how they have trimmed the trees so trucks can pass through in this pic.

All Hallows' Eve

10.31.10

Happy Halloween!!!

My new friend Jo and I dressed as Roman and Greek Goddesses. I made my costume from a sheet and only spent £20 with the help of the thrift stores! I think thrifting is going to be my new hobby. Such great deals! Jo invited me to Newmarket to hang out with her and some friends and it was so much fun to see how they celebrate Halloween in England.
Jo is from Wales and is also a teacher.  She lives in Thetford-extra bonus! I'm so glad I met her.  We are so much alike we bought the same bracelets for each other to wear as cuffs without knowing.

These are the other girls we went out with: Sophia, Sheree, Sonia and Hannah. We bumped into a few "Americanos" while we were out who were not dressed up!  Jo is friends with Sophia and she introduced us to the other girls who are from England. They were all very sweet and we had a great time! So glad we had that extra hour.

 

  

P.S.-P90X round 3-DONE!!

On Tonight's Menu......

10.26.10

KEBABS!!!  Basically anyone and everyone who has visited Europe knows that kebabs are easy to come by. There are kebab/kebap shops on every street corner over here! These kebabs shops do extremely well if they are located near a pub on a Friday or Saturday night, which most of them are. People flock like vultures for kebabs and cheesey chips after a few pints!
If you're in Thetford and want a kebab, I will make you one for 1/2 the price! If you fly to England to visit and stay with me, it's on the house!!  :D

If you haven't had one you're missing out. Easy to make. This was my first time making them with lamb and turkey and it was D-LISH! Here's my recipe:  grill or cook meat of choice with seasoning (I used balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, lemon-working on a good marinade),  add homemade cole slaw (cabbage, celery seed, light mayo, skim milk, white wine vinegar-no sugar), veg, garlic sauce and pita. By the way, they are twice this size in the UK!
Do you like my mag underneath about how to lose 5 lbs in 10 days and get flat sexy abs??
I think I should write to Women's Health and tell them a kebab should be added to their recipe ideas! Substitute for a whole wheat pita-but they aren't as good!  Yum!

UFC 120-LONDON!!

10.20.10

Our favorite past time in ENGLAND?! Of course we went. We spent a pretty £ for those tickets, but they were worth it!  We weren't able to cheer too loud for USA, but luckily we are still fans of Hardy and Bisping and fit in pretty well. We drove into London this time and decided to get a last minute hotel outside of London. If we have learned anything about traveling to London it is that travel takes 2-3 times longer than you have planned and of course this trip wasn't any different.
We were on the road at 2 pm and managed to sit in traffic an extra 3 hours with roads closed prior to the fights. Darren was freaking out because he thought the fights started at 4, so we quickly parked our car on the opposite side of the river as the O2 Arena and proceeded to ask someone how to get across.  The tube. Of course, why didn't we think of that?  Found the tube and we were in such a hurry we didn't even look to see where we were. "Worry about it later",  I say. "We're near an ASDA".(Wal-Mart)  Little did I know those words would bite me in the butt later!
So we made the fights, an hour early-haha, and had a great time.  Minus some guy who was extremely intoxicated and almost fell from the upper balcony where we were sitting.  We were wayyy up in the nose bleeds, but had a huge screen in front of us.
At the end of the night we got on the tube and immediately I thought, "This is the wrong way." Well, we remembered Bank and that was where we stopped. We walked up to street level and saw a massive monument. Nope, definitely not where we parked. We got all turned around!  When we asked for directions, no one knew where ASDA was or the o2 Arena, except the nice man at McDonalds. He said to get back on the tube and go to Cross Harbor-made sense.  I wanted to get back on the tube, but Darren had lost his ticket and didn't want to go back in. (stubborn) I wasn't going to go by myself, so we used the GPS and iPhone to try to navigate, no luck. The tube closed at midnight, so there we were stuck in the middle of London at midnight.  After we walked for a couple hours we managed to wave down a cabbie to stop and help us. We tried to explain our situation to him on the way to wherever our car was.  Pretty much we just wanted to be in a nice warm car.  haha!  Luckily he knew where ASDA was!  Three  hours and one expensive £20 cab ride later, we finally got to our car, but we still had 20 miles to the hotel.  It took 2 hours to get there with more traffic and road closures! Ugh! Now I know why people take the train!!! Somewhere around 4 am we made it to the hotel and had to check out at 11 am.  Crazy. I like to go with the flow, but I'm beginning to think spontaneous is not the way to go here.  Planning ahead is very important. At the end of the day we have an interesting story to tell and still had fun.  All the frustration, money and time spent traveling still gave us another new experience in England!
                

FIGHT NIGHT!

 

HARDY! England's favorite-the crowd erupted when he came out!

Part 2 Nottingham

10.12.10

Darren got his three day weekend so we took advantage!  Day 1 Darren and I stayed near Derby because rooms were booked in Nottingham on Saturday night. The GPS took us deep into the English countryside on day one.  We got to see a lot, but driving 4 hours when it should have taken 2 was too much time spent cooped up in the SMART.  We had an interesting time in Derby, lost too much money at the casino and saw some of the crazy locals falling over themselves at 2 am. People watching in England is fun! I just can't get over how the girls dress in this chilly weather- 4 inch heels and skin tight dresses they can't walk in at 40 degrees. I guess I'm all about being practical when I go out, especially when I am walking! Or maybe it's just because I lived in Alaska for four years and I never really had the opportunity to dress up. 

 Day 2 made it to Nottingham to see the castle this time. Beautiful on the outside, not so much on the inside. It wasn't as exciting as I wanted it to be and the entrance and surrounding walls were by far more interesting.They turned the castle into a museum, but we got to see some props from the Robin Hood movie that came out in May with Russell Crowe. I took some pics of some of the costumes, but no pictures were allowed. OOPS! We went to the casino again and even though Darren lost a good portion of his Alaska PFD money, I managed to play Black Jack for 4 hours with £20 and make £3!

Day 3 we made it to Sherwood Forest-thanks to the GPS.  By far the best part of the weekend and well worth the 30 minute drive out of Nottingham. I could have stayed there all day taking in the fall colors and surrounding myself with mother nature.  The Major Oak was said to be the meeting place for Robin and his merry men and I took a ton of pictures of it to get all the angles- MASSIVE!

Great weekend, lots of food and beverages, luckily it involved a lot of walking and a couple P90X workouts. I took so many pictures.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=264368&id=503826551&l=63dce1c559

Counting Down...

10.3.10

There are days when time passes by so quickly and life just happens. Other days it seems like time can't pass quickly enough, like now. So I am counting down to some upcoming dates that I have been looking forward to for a while now, as well as some new ones.

October 7-ALASKA PFD $1,281.00 in the bank account. I love Alaska and we will need to plan a trip there again soon!

October 11-Columbus Day-No school! I hope Darren gets off too since he has been working 12 hour days and some weekends. He deserves a three day weekend so we can take "Lemonade" out one last time before she goes into storage!

October 26-DVD release of Sex and the City 2. I am a huge fan of SNTC and I have this on the countdown list only because I have anticipated seeing it since May. I decided to wait to see it with my friend Fil.  Her husband, Ryan worked with Darren at Eielson and now they are here at Lakenheath with us and also live in Thetford! Ryan just got back from a seven month deployment in Iraq and Fil didn't have a babysitter when the movie premiered, so we set up a date night to watch it together with some cosmos. (Now that her babysitter is back! LOL!) We are so happy to have the Cacal family here with us.

The Cacal's-Ryan, Fil, Owen and Cody

October 29-Day 90 of P90X! That definitely is a big accomplishment for me because I have been very dedicated to this exercise program since day 1. I haven't always eaten 100% clean, but I am doing my best and have been pushing play 6 days a week with the doubles routine (two workouts in one day, morning and afternoon or night).  It has worked out well since I'm working part time. I have strengthened and toned my body and I feel great!

This was me after my second phase- at Sena and Scott's wedding- Christmas break last year.

October 31-Halloween We get to set clocks back an hour here in England, so that means an extra hour of fun dressed up as.....???. Last year we were the puppet and pig from the Saw movies. We saw a preview for Saw 3D yesterday and it comes out on, guess when!?! Halloween! So maybe we can reuse those costumes and wear some 3D glasses? HAHA! I don't know. We thought about having a party here, but there just isn't enough space. So hopefully someone else is having a party for us to crash.

We scared a lot of people!

November-As of right now the only thing that I can think of to countdown to in November is Thanksgiving and Black Friday! Several of my friends have birthdays in November too, like Kelcey. So that brings me to my final date to count down to!

Kelcey and I at the Tower of London

December 15-Kelcey's second visit to England!  Kelc decided she wanted to see more of England because we traveled all over Europe this past summer and didn't get to spend much time in Thetford or the surrounding area. She planned a trip back here a lot sooner than I expected!  She is staying until December 31. Unfortunately the flights spiked up in price after New Years, but I'll take it!! I'm so excited to experience my first Christmas in England with her- and Darren of course. I will definitely be in the Christmas spirit this year and I think a real tree is in order! I heard you can go pick one out, chop it down and dog sleds will bring it to your car.

We are hoping to make it to Ireland or France if Darren can get the time off, but we will definitely be in London to ring in the New Year. I should probably look into getting a room now!

Sorry family, looks like we will not be home for Christmas this year. : (  I guess you are just going to have to plan a visit to see us!

Let the countdown begin!!

So much to look forward to. I almost forgot. My good friend Becca, whom I met in North Carolina at Pope AFB, will be flying over to Europe in the next month or so and we are hoping to meet up! We also have a couple more friends getting stationed at Lakenheath some time in December. The Chipleys! We met them at Hill AFB.  Patrick worked with Darren and then made a visit out to Alaska to see us one summer. His wife Sarah and their daughter Cale will be living here while Patrick is working on his masters degree in Michigan, but he is coming in December to help them get settled first. It will be nice to have another military family/friend over here.

LIFE. IS. GOOD!

Goodbye Whiny Kinders!

9.20.10

Yep, I got a new job! I interviewed last Wednesday for a 4th and 5th Math Coach and accepted the job on Friday. Today was my first day of work and it was great! I had to force myself to leave at noon because it's only half day...ok, I didn't have to force myself that hard. But it was weird leaving so early! I'm going to be observing the 4th and 5th grade teachers during math this week and pulling students for one on one teaching next Monday.  This school is still on base at Liberty Intermediate. So far everyone there seems friendly and helpful. I already feel like it's a better school for me because it's a smaller more cohesive group. 12 classroom teachers, all female in the building, except for Alan the counselor and David the supply guy. Crazy! Only 300 students at this school vs. 700.  I can learn names at least! Ms. Scotece is a teacher who sat in on my interview and at the end when I said, " I hope to see you again soon." She replied, "Oh, I'm sure you will." Today she came up to me and hugged me she was so glad I got the job. She just said, "You were #1 girl!". I have a feeling she had a lot of say in me getting the job, nevertheless she made me feel so proud of myself. Everyone says I am really lucky to have gotten a job in DoDDs so fast, but I think I'm blessed. I had a positive attitude and pictured myself getting the job. I really had the best interview of my teaching career and God  answered my prayers. Maybe Grandma asked him to relieve my pain and suffering I was experiencing with the kinders. :)

There is a possibility my position will be full time plus there is a teacher leaving in December, so fingers crossed one of the two happen. For now I will enjoy my afternoons off!! Maybe I can make recess with the kinders, haha!  I will miss recess with Tyler. He is the cutest!

Happy Birthday to Darren tomorrow!

Nottingham -To be continued...

9.12.10

I say to be continued because I will be going back to see Nottingham Castle! We have been there twice now and both times the castle was closed. Darren wanted to go there to play poker and all I wanted to do was find Robin Hood, which I did, but it was on our way back to the train station. We had time for a quick photo op outside of the castle and only distant pictures of the castle itself. It has been rebuilt many times and looks more like a mansion. 

 

 

Nottingham is only a two hour drive or train trip away and since we always go to places on a whim, next time we will have to plan ahead! This is hands down the best looking train station I have been to in England. 

There are a lot of interesting buildings and shops with a carnival in the city center.

 

Happy Birthday to David today!

9.11.10

Many of you remember where you were on this day nine years ago, and I remember exactly where I was. I was in the middle of my student teaching experience at Pope AFB Elementary, North Carolina. Parents were frantically picking up their first graders from lunch when I heard the horrifying news from a co-worker.  "There was a terrorist attack in New York City". We watched as the twin towers stood smoking, it still gives me chills today. Needless to say, military life for us changed dramatically. Darren deployed at the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom in the spring of 2003 and was part of the first air force group to set foot in Iraq when the war started. I just looked through the scrapbook I put together during that time and found this picture. It makes me very proud to know he is still one of many enlisted men and women serving our country.  When he's home I try not to take our time together for granted because I know there are many wives out there who aren't so lucky!
  God Bless the USA!

Happy birthday to Evan today!

Snails or Slugs?

8.24.10

I never knew the difference, but according to Wikipedia, snail-like creatures that lack a shell (or have only a very small one) are called slugs. These little guys are all over our back yard. One night we had two of them outside our kitchen window. To me this was pretty cool and I had to share!

All Work and No More Play!

8.22.10     Sad....my long, stress-free summer is coming to an end! I'm a little sad that I won't be teaching full-time and setting up my own classroom this year.....ok not that sad...but I feel a little lost.   I'm sure some of you can relate, when you're used to doing something and have a routine and then suddenly it changes and you're like, ok now what do I do? There are a lot of unknowns at the moment, but that's all part of starting something new. I haven't officially received word on when I am to report to work for orientation, but I know teachers go back this Thursday and then the kids next Monday, which is when I officially start! I'm anxious to meet new people and make new friends, hanging out with the boys is getting a little old. Lord knows I need a gal pal to shop and gossip with! haha! I did meet a girl last weekend who is from Wales and is a second grade teacher in Brandon. She invited me (ok, more like I invited myself) to her classroom for a day or two to see how they operate in the British schools. I requested to come in during one of her Victorian themed lessons when they dress up. How fun!  I'm obsessed with British history! I can't wait to start season 2 of The Tudors, but I'm afraid I won't have much time for it. 

Side note, no more being a couch potato for me. Time to start waking up early, pushing play on P90X and eating clean! So far I have done very well and I'm on day 20 of 90. Fingers crossed I am still blogging about sticking with it in a month and will have pictures posted of my new "guns"!!  Time to really Bring It! and work hard!

Speaking of which, who knew golf was so tiring!? Darren and I both were sore after this day. 

RAF Lakenheath Country Club

I'm A Working Girl Again!

I interviewed for a kinder aide position on base yesterday. The interview itself lasted for oh, 5 minutes. As soon as I told her I had been teaching for nearly 9 years, her eyes lit up and I knew I had it. (confidence is good, right?) So, needless to say Darren is happy I got a job and I'm happy because I'm not going to bounce around from classroom to classroom as a substitute. I get to pull kids to do mini lessons and testing as well as recess and lunch duty, yuck. But my foot is officially in the door and I hope this will lead to a full time teaching position. This is a school with over 700 students, just in K-3. The biggest elementary school I have ever worked in! At least one of the 60 teachers is bound to leave. :)

Congrats to my student teacher, Stephanie who got the
Academic Intervention Aide position at Hunter. I'm so proud!


Thinking of all my Alaskan teacher friends and how much
I will miss working with everyone this year.
Yes, even these two!


Have a great first week back and a successful year, everyone!!

There's A mini Stonehenge in Thetford?!

What a great find! Ruins from an old priory in our city center.


This has been a very busy summer of site seeing. Especially in and around England. Darren's parents visited for two weeks in July and I think Jack has gotten me into cathedrals now. I am just in awe of the history and architecture. I was most fascinated with Ely Cathedral and probably took 100 pictures, although they're nothing like seeing it up close. Here is a link to some of the pictures:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=211785&id=503826551&l=39778d4838

We also toured the well-known West Minster Abbey in London.


Norwich Cathedral, 30 miles from our house


We took a day trip to Cambridge, where Darren and I
argued about who was better at punting...



I think I won that bet!


Another weekend we finally found a beach in Great Yarmouth.



We had a lot of fun....as you can see.


The best part was having family around.
This was the only picture I managed to get of the four
of us and Roxanne was too busy drinking her pint! haha!


Our favorite place in Thetford, The Riverside.
Inside there are license plates from the states.
The owner didn't have Alaska up yet, so Darren
gave him his old one off the vette. Pretty cool.