Kate and Jeff's Blog

Well it's been a few weeks I think since I updated much so here it goes...

Thanksgiving is coming up and all though the brits don't celebrate neither Jeff or myself is willing to go without turkey and stuffing! So I have spent the last few weeks preparing for my first ever turkey dinner. By preparing of course I mean many many text messages to my VERY patient mother about cheese cloth, savory spice and roasting pans, two of those things they don't even have here (checking those off in the cons column of England). Since I have never made a roast chicken either I decided I needed a little practice so I stuffed a bird and threw it in the oven for a few hours (just that easy right?) turned out pretty well if I can believe what Jeff says, with only one injury and my finger will heal just fine in time but I will be making Jeff peel potatoes from now on! It was an absolutely beautiful day here so we did spend some time up on our roof while the bird was cooking. The weather here has been really nice, not as much rain as I thought and from what I hear my dad and brother are getting more rain in Halifax then we are getting here.

A few weeks ago I had a two interviews with LUSH here at the mall and I am very happy to announce that as of this morning I am no longer unemployed! I start work next wednesday and I am so excited about it! Whoever thinks they would rather never work is wrong, and believe me I never thought I would be saying that!

We are starting to feel more and more comfortable here, getting pictures put up around the apartment (of course most of them are of the most adorable god-daughter a girl could ask for!) and we also got our first piece of mail from home so that is also on our fridge! (thanks Adam and Marie)

So this weeks mission is to find a turkey (otherwise it will be chicken again) and also to find a pumpkin because another thing the brits don't have is pumpkin pie filling (I know my mom is cringing thinking I wouldn't do it from scratch) but it looks like I will be if I can find one, if not there won't be pumpkin pie at our dinner :( We are having one of Jeff's co-workers over who is from Australia so I must impress! Wish me luck!

missing you all!

lots of love!

Kate

p.s. for those of you who were asking Jeff says he has fixed the problem and you can now comment on the posts, if it doesn't work let me know!

The beautiful day last weekend from our roof top!

Some guy I saw sitting up there, he is kind of cute I guess

This one is all for my dad...I FINALLY met the Queen!!

Dinner!!!

The final product! as mom says "took hours to prepare and finished in a few gulps"

We went to the beautiful city of Oxford today! We went to some amazing buildings and saw some green green grass!

First we went for a walk by Oxford Castle, which was pretty cool. The tour was guided, and an hour long, so we passed on that. Got some photos though.

Then we stopped for a bite to eat at The Eagle and Child pub, which is a bit of a landmark. Authors J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis were frequent patrons there in the early 20th century. Kate got Sausage and Mash and I got Glazed Chicken; we were both impressed with our meals.

Our third stop was Christ Church College. Kate was pretty excited because it was a major inspiration (and filming location) for Hogwarts school in Harry Potter. I think that's kind of lame, but the building was amazing, so I went along with it.

Next we went to the Covered Market, which was nice, but not many booths were open on a Sunday afternoon. However, Ben's Cookies was open, so nothing else mattered! Best cookie I've had in a while!

Our last stop was Blackwell's Book Store, which was pretty much my idea of heaven. Apparently it is in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest bookstore in the world. It took us a good 30-40 minutes to browse the place!

Oxford was a really beautiful town, and we will definitely return in the future!