Anniversary Dinner

Happy Birthday Dad!! Dad actually gets to celebrate a proper birthday this year and is doing it on the slopes of Marble Mountain, NL. Sweet deal.

This morning I treated myself to a massage. It's been a year since I had one and when I worked at Jacques I was going every 2 months or so as it was part of our benefits package. We also have the option with Keith's benefits but it requires a referral and it's damn near impossible to get a GP to give you a referral for MT in this country. So anyway, I went as my back and neck always need a little TLC from sitting at a desk for several hours a day. I decided to go to the spa in town where I had my manicure even though I prefer to go to a clinic. When I get a massage it's not for relaxation purposes but to work the knots out of my back. As I haven't really found a clinic here, well it's off to try the spa.

As I suspected requesting a swedish (deep tissue) massage at a spa isn't quite the massage I needed. I had to tell the girl not to be shy and then again ask her to push harder. I think she was afraid of hurting me, but that's what I wanted. No paid, no gain. However, it was nice just to be pampered. Can never go wrong with that.

After the massage I popped into a shoe store I hadn't been in yet and found a cool pair of casual shoes. They're somewhat what I was looking for - flat, casual, and comfortable for walking. They aren't Skechers, but these are pretty cool. They're Riekers and apparently good shoes. They're a bit on the funky side too which is nice to have something different. After my shoe purchase I was off to New Look where I was lucky to find a pair of jeans. This is my day! I have also kinda looked for a pair of jeans over the past few months and today finally found exactly what I wanted. So of course, I bought them. Good thing it's pay day! I poked around a few other stores, grabbed a Cornish pasty and walked back home.

Keith & I went to Hunky Dory for dinner to celebrate our anniversary. I've been to this restaurant before with work and wanted to take Keith as the food is really good. We enjoyed a nice evening of excellent food and good wine. I had a salmon and prawn stuffed ravioli topped with mussels to start, grilled sea bass as a main, then the best part was the baked chocolate pudding - to die for! So good, but now I'm so full!

Ah Thursdays

Ah, I love Thursdays, mostly because they're my Fridays. I'm definitely spoiled. It's going to be tough when I have to work 5 days a week when I get a new job. The week was steady but not busy like last week. Still lots to do and projects to get out the door but it was a better pace this week which was nice.

We're heading to Speedy & Rach's to watch a movie and order Chinese. Haven't seen them for a bit so it'll be nice to hang out.

Our 1st Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary Babe!

I can't believe Keith & I have been married a year! Tonight we were reminiscing about the crazy few days and events leading up to this day last year. If you need a recap, check out last year's blog post. It's so funny! Bizarre really more than anything the turn of events that would take the decision out of Keith's hands and create fate. A year later we're still going strong, being as foolish as ever (if not more so now), which makes our relationship somewhat unique and great. Life is too short to be serious all the time so why not carry on and laugh about it, I'm sure it keeps us young, healthy and happy. I wouldn't say marriage is a walk in the park as it has it's ups and downs and me arguing with myself (haha) but it's worth every minute of it.

I woke up this morning to my best friend beside me, hugging me and giving me a kiss on the forehead. Is there a better way to start the day? I came home to beautiful flowers and a card and he to a nice bottle of port and a card along with a funny/sappy poem I wrote him. We spent the evening feasting on Indian takeout, a bottle of wine and too much dark chocolate. We're spending Friday evening going out to dinner to celebrate. We'll also enjoy our trip to Budapest as an extension of our anniversary. Here's to another year!

Breakfast Outing

The boys have decided Sunday breakfast must become a tradition. I'm not normally a breakfast person other than cereal or oatmeal but I decided to go along anyway for the social aspect. It was quite the turn out in the second week of this tradition. There were 10 of us and we met at Harvey's Wharf which turned out the be a nice restaurant in Falmouth on the waterfront. The weather was nice so we sat out on the patio. The food was really good and we sat around and chatted for awhile then finished off with take out gelato afterwards.

Keith and I spent the afternoon doing house stuff. He cleaned all the windows as they were becoming hard to see out of from the amount of wind and rain that we had in January. I cleaned the bathroom. How exciting. We decided to roast a chicken for supper so we grabbed the ingredients on the way home from Falmouth and put it all together after the cleaning was finished. It turned out really good. Now I'm complaining because tomorrow is Monday and I just don't like Mondays.

Town & Penzance

Happy Birthday Danial!

This morning we put together some packages that should have been sent to Canada last month. After we dropped them off in the post we shopped around Helston for a bit with me still looking for Skechers and a jacket. I found a nice North Face jacket for £75! Good God!

After Helston we decided to go to Penzance to poke around town and to also check out the shops. Still no luck. At least I found a few pairs of Skechers even if they weren't in my size or the right colour. The mission continues. Once we were finished browsing we were kinda thirsty so we dropped into Weatherspoon's pub for a drink and nachos.

During our outing Bungy had rung to say he and Moe were at the Bell pub in Helston watching the 6 nations rugby and we should come meet them. We arrived home just before supper and relaxed for a bit. We got bored quickly by 6pm and decided to walk into town and meet the boys so we did. We spent a few hours at the Bell, then the Rodney. I decided to head home around 9:30pm as I was hungry and bored (I was just sipping). Keith stayed out as he's always good to go. I came home and enjoyed the peace and quiet and was in bed early as I was falling asleep at the computer. No hangover for me tomorrow.

My Job

Another busy week at work. The main project I'm managing is finishing up next week and it's been crazy trying to get everything done chasing the suppliers and ensuring everything is completed and installed on time. The project is with RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) which is a very large charity in the UK.

RSPB is building a new visitor's centre in Wales and we're designing all the signage & wayfinding for the exterior and interpretation panels (information boards/panels you see/read when you visit historic sites like the Fortress of Louisbourg or Halifax Citadel) for the interior. It's a big project and is on super tight deadlines. So my job is to source suppliers and gather production quotes for the job, liaise with the client, manage the designers and ensure their completing the work, proofing their work and providing it to the client, ensure client approvals are received, manage the suppliers to ensure they have all artworks from us and everything is getting done and completed on time and within budget, arrange the site visits, installation and/delivery of the signage and ensure the client is happy; it's a lot of chasing people!

Friday is the final installation day and we have 4 different suppliers on the job which are visiting the site over the next 3 days to install everything. I pray to God everything goes well. We've experienced some hiccups over the past week but we've made it through them. I can only imagine what the next three days will bring. The centre grand opening is on Monday so it better go well!

Now that I'm finishing up this project I'm managing the artwork and production stages of another interpretation project, this one with English Heritage (Heritage sector for England) for one of its many properties. At least we have another month before those deadlines creep up. At the same time I'm looking after a few other clients with small projects/requests that keep me busy.

As for today I was up early and puttered around the house and did a bit of cleaning, laundry and errands. Keith arrived home around 3pm and we went into town to pick up a parcel that arrived and go to Tesco to get supper. We didn't do much for the evening except watch TV and relax.

Budapest Here We Come!

Keith went out for breakfast with Jono in Falmouth and I stayed home so I could finally book our vacation we've been debating over for weeks. So it is settled, we're going to Budapest, Hungary! I'm so excited! I know many of you are thinking Budapest? Why the hell would you go there?

Well, in watching a travel show I learned that Budapest is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful cities in the world and it's also called the City of Spas. Budapest sits on 118 thermal/hot springs that allow Budapest to be the city of spas. Apparently the baths are the last trace of Turkish culture and you can enjoy steam baths, saunas and massage services. In my researching the baths I learned the massage services require you in the nude! Not sure how brave I am for this one! Budapest is actually 2 cities separated by the Danube River; Buda on the west bank and Pest on the east bank. I think it will be quite an amazing and unique place to visit. We're only going for 2 nights but I'm sure we'll see what we need to. We had been debating several other places like Dublin (Ireland), Warsaw (Poland), Krakow (Poland), Geneva (Switzerland), Berlin (Germany) or Amsterdam but we (me really) finally decided on Budapest. It seemed to be the place with the most unique appeal and it was definitely cheaper than visiting Dublin which was the other main contender. Dublin is expensive and we were hoping to make a cheap trip as we're both traveling home to Canada this year. Maybe next year we'll visit Ireland.

Once Keith returned from breakfast, we ran some errands and made chili and greek salad for supper. The rest of the evening was about more relaxation.

Truro & Pubs

Decided not to go to Plymouth after all. Our main reason for going was to visit the American Exchange but we discovered that there isn't actually one there. Instead we went to Truro to one of the sports stores as I need a new pair of shoes and a jacket. I'm trying to find a pair of Sketchers but wow it isn't easy to find a pair here. No luck yet, but hopefully soon. No luck on the jacket front either. It's gonna be tough to find a jacket like my Jacques Whitford one - it was a waterproof material so that's what I'm trying to find.

After shopping we stopped at the Norway Inn on the way home for a drink and munchies. Next we went to B&Q and Asda to pick up a few things we needed. During the evening we went to Porthleven to the Harbour Inn for a late supper.

Builders Here

The last stage of the central heating replacement were the builders arriving this morning. They were here for a few hours to o the touch ups on paint and any holes that were left from piping that was removed. There were only 2 of them so the house wasn't manic like it was when the plumbers were here.

Keith's day was pretty quiet. A bunch on the guys gathered for a run along Looe Bar and that was the extent of their hard work today. He was home around 1pm. Not sure what the rest of the day holds. We're thinking of going to Plymouth tomorrow for a day trip. It's about 2 hours away.

Pretty quiet night. Made a nice supper, shared a bottle of wine and relaxed.

Electricians Here

I waited until 9am for the electricians to arrive, but non one showed. I was a bit annoyed, but didn't mind too much as it got me into work a 1/2 hour late. Today was busy but not crazy until then end of the day things seemed to pile up all at once and I didn't leave work until 7pm! An hour and a half late. Guess that's what I get for being happy about missing a 1/2 hour this morning.

When I got home Keith had some munchies ready and a nice tall gin and tonic waiting on the counter for me. How nice! He knew I was starving and would definitely need a drink when I got home. Smart man! We ordered Indian for supper so we didn't have to cook. I guess today is Valentines Day...haha. We don't believe in Valentine's, so we don't celebrate it. Too commercial for us. Why do you need a day to show someone you love them? I believe it's not sincere but pressured. I'd much rather receive something or have something nice done for me on no occasion at all. So much more sincere and special then. Anyways, that's just my 2 cents!

Plumbers Here

The plumbers arrived this morning at 8am and within minutes the house was manic. I think there were about 6-8 guys in and out of the house. I had a 1/2 hour before leaving for work while I ate breakfast and made my lunch. It wasn't very peaceful! I was glad to be going to work. When I arrived home the guys were leaving. They gave me a quick run through of how to operate the new boiler and radiators and they were out the door. They didn't leave too much mess. They even found the vacuum cleaner and vacuumed up their mess.

Keith was on duty tonight so he didn't get home until late. He was lucky that there wasn't any night flying and at the last minute one of the ground runs that was suppose to go was cancelled. He was happy. Spent some time looking for cheap flights and researching different cities to see where is the best place to go. Still no decision made.

Central Heating Replacement

Defense Housing Estates is replacing the central heating in all the married quarters. The current ones are too old and inefficient. Ours is being replaced tomorrow so we had to clear everything away from the radiators and clear out the airing cupboard which is the closet where the hot water tank is. There are shelves in it for your towels so your towels are always warm. What a simple pleasure. Not looking forward to having the house out of order for the next 3 days, but it'll be nice to have new heating, even though we haven't had any problems with ours.

Monday

I was kind of dreading going to work today. I had been dreading it all weekend actually. Probably because this current project I'm managing is under such tight deadlines and I just didn't want to go back to the stress. Not that it's huge stress, it's just busy!

The day ended up not being bad at all. It's always a success to me when Monday is a good day. Anyway who knows me knows I hate Mondays and I'm not always a ray of sunshine for the first few hours of the day. Haha.

Two things really started and ended my day today. First when I woke up it was light out! Yay! That's always a great start to the day. It's so hard to get up when it's still dark out especially when I don't get up until 7am - it should be light then! The second thing was the longer evening. It was still light just before 6pm! I almost made it home before dark. Good sign that the spring is on its way!

Nature Walk

Woke up to another beautiful day. Lauren ad I spent some time on Facebook setting her up while the boys and the kids walked to the park. When Lauren and I were finished we met up with them. We walked around the pond at Coronation Park then we went to a nature trail along the river. It's a really nice walk and very peaceful. We all enjoyed it. And the best part is, is the trees are all in bloom. The apple trees look beautiful and are just exploding with white blossoms! And it's February! Woohoo! The daffodils are also all out as well as many other flowers starting to bloom. Amazing!

Dale & Lauren headed off mid afternoon and Keith and I didn't do much for the rest of the day and evening. We spent sometime online looking for a destination for a short trip during his Easter leave. We haven't finalized anything yet - there are so many options! We're thinking Geneva, Warsaw, Budapest or Dublin. My pick would be Budapest as it's the city of spas! There are 'baths' that you visit and swim or have a massage treatments, etc. There's one called Gellert Hall and it's apparently the nicest one. It looks quite ancient and very impressive. But we'll see, it's hard to decide!

Truro for the Day

Woke up to a beautiful sunny day. After breakfast we all headed to Truro to go to the market. We bought some goodies at the market - fantastic cheeses, breads and olives! We walked around town a bit and stopped at a pub for some grub and a drink. We ended up spending the entire afternoon in Truro.

Back at our place I seriously needed a nap. I'm not a napper but it was a necessity today. While I napped, Lauren, Dale and Keith took the kids to the park just down from the house. I woke up refreshed and glad I'd crashed for awhile.

We had a quite evening and watched a movie.

Dale & Lauren Here

Keith arrived home at 8am this morning! Haha. He stayed at Jono's last night after their course party. He crawled in bed with me and we slept until mid-late morning. Sleep was definitely a requirement for me as I didn't get home until 2:30am and it was 3am before I went to bed. When I woke at 8am I felt like I had been drinking for days and I didn't even have much to drink last night. Amazing how sleep affects you.

Once we arose from our comas we tidied up a bit and went grocery shopping. Dale & Lauren and the kids arrived around supper time. It was so good to see them. Jack has made a lot of progress since we saw him about 4 weeks ago. He's now crawling, sitting up and standing. He's quite the little explorer. He'll be hard to keep track of as soon as he starts to walk - which doesn't seem very far off. Olivia is so cute, she gets so excited to us, especially Keith. She just loves Keith to death.

Keith and I cooked a big supper of salmon, greek salad, fixings and apple crisp for desert. We washed it all down with lots of wine and enjoyed chatting around the table for the rest of the evening.

What a Day at Work!

What a day at work! It was absolutely crazy! I enjoy being busy but this was beyond. I barely knew my name at some points.

Didn't get home until late but called Rach before I left work and she wanted to go dancing! The boys are out tonight on their course dinner so they'll be in fine form - they started at lunchtime and are probably out for the night! Rach and I planned to have a girls night but dancing wasn't in the original plan. When I talked to her after the day I just had I was stoked to go dancing! She came here for a drink and some girl chat then we headed out to one of the clubs called the Beehive. It was pretty quiet at first for a Thursday night out but eventually it got busier. After the Beehive closed we went to Trewlany's but it was dead. We stayed for a 1/2 hour then decided it was time for food. We grabbed some greasy take out then went home. Keith had called me earlier to say he wouldn't be home, he was crashing at Jono's in Falmouth. Must cheaper than paying for a taxi in this country! I ended up not getting to bed until 3am - tomorrow is gonna suck!

Olivia Kotzer's Baptism

Happy Birthday Shannahan!!!

Today was Mark & Laura's (Canadians) Olivia's baptism. She was born in December and Mark and Laura invited us to her christening today. It was a small affair, but really nice. They had a few of their British friends there as well. Afterwards, they invited us all back to their place for lunch. We had a great feast. I got a bit into the wine so I was feeling a bit looped on a Sunday afternoon! Haha. We spent the entire afternoon hanging out and chatting with them and the two other couples who are actually their neighbors and pretty much ours. It was nice to meet more people who live almost right beside us. We had a great afternoon.

Off to Padstow

Woke up to a beautiful day. Thank God because it's been awhile since we've seen sunshine and no rain. We decided it wasn't a day to sit in the house so we headed to Truro to the market. It was my first time being to the Saturday market. It's small but it has three great things - a fantastic baker, excellent cheese stand and large variety olive bar. I instantly fell in love.

Once we had purchased all three of these important items, we hoped back in the car and went to St Mawgan to the RAF base for the American NEX. We stocked up on some more North American foods and were on our way again. Next we were off to Padstow.

Padstow is about an hour and a half from here and is a small coastal village which is very popular with surfers. We had heard lots of good things so we decided to go. We spent a few hours walking along the water, around the town and to the beach, checking out the little shops and of course sampling the wares at one of the pubs. It ended up being a really nice getaway for the day. We relaxed for the rest of the evening as we didn't arrive home until after supper.

Chris & Vern and Eric Leave

Keith & Dale took Eric to the train station early this morning so he could get to London to catch his afternoon flight. Chris & Vern leave tonight on the sleeper (overnight) train to London as they have an early flight tomorrow. Didn't everyone just get here?

Jamie, Keith, Chris, Vern and I went to Land's End and St Ives for the day. We had to show them the sights before they left. It was super windy and cold, but we enjoyed it anyway. Had supper at a pub in St Ives then came back to our place so Chris and Vern could get packed. Keith took them to the train station at 10pm after we said our goodbyes. It was sad to see them leave. It was wonderful to have them here.

I'm back to work tomorrow but Keith is off until Monday. After he got back from Truro, he and Jamie headed to town and he showed Jamie around the booming Helston pubs. They ended up having a good time and stumbled home as drunken fools.

Girlie Day With Rach

10 months today! Can you believe it's almost a year we've been here? I can't!

Rachel was off today too so we made plans to head into Falmouth and spend the afternoon browsing and chatting. We grabbed lunch first at 5 Degrees West which is a really nice restaurant/pub. The next few hours we strolled along the high street in Fal and visited several shops. I finally bought a new cell phone today. It hurt me to do it but I had no other choice. We finally had enough late afternoon and headed home.

Later in the evening Rach and Speedy come here then we went to Anglo Asia for a late Indian supper. What a great day!