Mini-break

At 5:15am on Wednesday morning, my alarm awoke me quite rudely! I had a plane to catch. Rushed around getting the last minute things packed, had breakfast, and Karl drove me to the airport. I landed in Newcastle at 9:20am and was met by Clare and her hubby, Simon. We headed into Newcastle for a day of exploring. Newcastle is pretty, and we spent some time in the Baltic museum and had something to eat there.

see the seagulls in their nests - just outside the Baltic

 We went to one of the biggest malls in the UK, the Metrocentre, to watch Men in Black 3 at the IMAX in 3D. It was awesome and funny (especially when Clare literally ducked in the cinema!). I think we were all exhausted after all the action in the movie, and we headed home (about an hour long drive from Newcastle). We decided to braai for supper and Simon made delicious lamb burgers and Clare and I made a milktart (it had too much cinnamon in it though)

After dinner, we sat around and chatted (and ate milktart) and finally called it a night. I slept like a baby after being awake since 5:15am.

On Thursday, we had a pretty slow start to the day, but finally headed out to York. York is supposed to be a very beatiful place, and Phil lived there for most of his time when he was in the UK. It was nice to stroll along. There was still a festive buzz in the air. Lots of street performers and crowds, and of course tourists. We stopped off at a market in Kings Square (I think!?) and had delicious springbok burgers from a SA stall.

Clare enjoying her burger

I loved York, and can see why people rave about it. I look forward to visiting again, with my husband. I was in bed and asleep at 9:15pm, because I had to wake up at 5:20 the next morning to catch 5 trains to the Bellis-Jones'.

I woke up feeling fine actually, probably because I slept for about 8 hours. My first train was at 6:15am and I finally pulled into Chester train station at 12:40, exhausted. But it was so nice to see Martheanne and Jenny, and to finally meet my goddaughter, Keira Lilly. 

Ryan and Rox with their babies

Friday night was spent catching up with all the Bellis-Jones' and the Burton family, and I finally got to meet Jaden. He is the sweetest little boy ever, so lovable and he has the cutest smile. 

balancing act :D

On Saturday, after a bit of a lie in, I decided to get Keira's cake sorted. It was actually alot of fun, even though my back really hurt after bending down all day. Side note: Joanne and I are starting a 3 month cake decorating course in Ballymena in September, we are really looking forward to it!

On Saturday evening, Martin's brother and his family arrived and we all went out for dinner. I had a delicious streak in a blue cheese sauce and a glass or 3 of red wine. When we got home, I whipped out my famous pub quiz and we had a really good evening.

Keira and I all dressed up and ready to go out for dinner. 

We all got out of bed at around 6am on Sunday morning to prepare the food for the christneing that day, We prepared sandwiches and cold meats and salads etc. We thought we would be running around all morning, but by 9:30am, all the preparations had been completed. All we had to do was sit around and wait til noon when the hall was ready. So I disappeared to put Keira, and myself apparently, to sleep.

 

 Martheanne and I set out the food in the hall, and she decorated it, and then we headed off to the chapel for Keira's christening, followed by a buffet lunch with about 80 adults and 30 children.

Beautiful Keira Lilly

I miss them all already.

I think we left that hall at around 7pm or so and headed home. We sat around and chatted about Oranjemund and old times, and people we havent heard from or about in a long time, and we also had a few (too many) cosmopolitans. I had such a good time with the BJs, it was a slice of home for me, and I think I needed that desperately. They all headed off to the Lake District yesterday after they dropped me off at the airport. They tried to convince me to go with them, but I reminded them that I have a job AND a husband to get back to. 

I'm just relaxing and taking it easy today. Reading, unpacking and eating :D. I'm feeling refreshed and happy. Its back to work tomorrow, and I have a deadline for the end of June that I don't think I'll meet, but I'll try anyway. 

St Paddys day

We started the celebrations a bit early, and I made a batch of green cocktails on friday night, and we took them over to Sinead and Hugh's for dinner and a dvd. 

Sinead and I finished the cocktail mix and moved on to wine I think? I woke up on St Paddy's day with no hangover! To be honest I wanted to climb Slemish for my first St Patricks day in Ireland. The problem with that plan is that so does the rest of Ireland!! Apparently it gets so crazy that you have to park miles away and have to queue for hours to get up there. So instead I made more green cocktails and we went over to Willie and Joanne's for dinner and drinks on Sat eve.

yummy chocolate wine that we got FREE with our Indian takeaway!

digging in

defo hometime!

So I walked up slemish on Monday instead and it was dead quiet and so mucky, i slipped a few times, but at least I can say that I did it!

Slemish

it was freezing up there!

Also went to my very first spin class, and it actually wasn't THAT bad! Will defo be going back!


Counting down the days till Mel arrives!
xx

Gluten-free weekend

Mark called us on Friday evening wanting to know what we were doing for dinner. I didn't even realise that they were coming to us on Friday eve, and panicked to get their cake done in time. Luckily it was ready when they arrived. We basically spent Friday evening in front of the fire, watching tv. On Saturday morning, Moira taught Christina and I how to make the St Brigid's cross.

Barry and Harpinder only arrived at around 6pm last night and then we had to get ready for the dinner. The ladies had pre-dinner cocktails :)

We arrived at the restaurant just after 8pm, and did the whole family photo thing

The waiter took his own sweet time to show us the specials menu, so Barry got up to give us the low down!

The in-laws are going on a cruise for Moira's 60th in May. They bought a package, all inclusive except for lunches and drinks, so we all put some cash together as a gift.

Add caption

 

We headed off to Johnny Joe's for a few drinks and some music. The music wasn't that great, so Harps took things into her own hands...

Christina HATES photographs! She's always trying to block my shot of her. This one came out pretty well though

I think we got home shortly after midnight. I attempted to take off my boots and failed! I had on a pair of socks, a pair of tights AND a large pair of woolly fleece socks on and shoved my feet into my boots, not thinking about how to take them off later. This is Karl trying to take them off for me..

Then came the cake-cutting ceremony practice round (Mark & Chris are getting married this New Years Eve)

Christina seriously at 6 slices of this cake last night. Since she can't eat gluten, its not that often she gets to eat cake, so she had more than her fair share of cake last night (and this morning for breakfast!)

Mark does this funny thing (if you beg him enough!) that he saw in Lethal Weapon. White bread brown bread in a South African accent. It was soooo funny that I dropped the camera (oops!) in this clip.

We all ended up sleeping at the in-laws last night. And needless to say we all slept quite late this morning. The rest of the day was spent sitting around, chatting, reading newspapers and watching Modern Family episodes. That was until Christina decided it was time to bake some more gluten free stuff! Christina made traditional Irish soda bread, which is delicious with butter and jam, especially when its hot off the gridle. 

And I tried these marble mini muffins out, also gluten free.  

Karl's granny is with us for the afternoon, and my mom-in-law jumped at the opportunity for another family pic (I look really fat in this photo because I'm squatting in a very uncomfortable position, and my shoulders are hunched so it looks like I have no neck. Well, thats my excuse anyway, and I'm sticking to it!)

Everyone has left now, and we are still at the in-laws place (its nice and warm). Sunday evening pizza is a bit of a tradition in this house. So after our pizza, we will head up the road to our own wee house. I need to gather all my things for my first day at my new job in the BIG CITY :)

Oh what a night (image heavy!)

Karl and I started cleaning up on Friday. Just general sorting and shifting and cleaning so that the house is sorted for the New Year. We had initially planned to go down the road and have a house party with the cousins. But Karl kept inviting more and more of our friends for New Years, and eventually, at around 4pm yesterday, the party was moved to our house! Luckily our house was clean! The ladies decided to have a cocktail evening, everybody brings some kind of alcohol and liquer and we just made up our own cocktails as we went. Everybody brought snacks too: I made chocolate mousse, and my mommy's awesome peppermint crisp tart (with mint aero) and some pigs in blankets.

the beginings of my choc mousse

result

mommy's peppermint crisp fridge tart

We then got busy making the house all partyish andlit candles, set the cocktail table and prepped the glasses :

After everyone arrived, we started straight into the cocktails and snacks:

I call this one "The Tarrin-Rae Cocktail" :)

And then, on to some pizza, ordered from Karl's uncles chip shop down the road :)

And then the fun really started! With xbox kinnect zumba and dance offs, followed by mad dancing in our kitchen!

Kerrie drinking water out of our milk jug, just because she can!

And then of course, the main event:

The cleaning up party! Awesome guests, my house was spotless this morning :)