HAPPY 25th BIRTHDAY, CHRIS! I took today off from work to spend with Chris on his birthday around his classes and then made him his favorite dinner - ceasar salad, fettuccine alfredo with grilled shrimp, garlic bread and chocolate molten cake with vanilla ice cream. YUMMY!! He has had a great day even though there has been a touch of what we are calling his quarter-life crisis! :)
On another note this weekend we got to hang out with Kristen (my friend from GSU and a bridesmaid in our wedding) here in Durham - she is in England for a week to visit a friend that lives in Manchester and they came to see us for 2 days. It was great!!!! I haven't seen Kristen since Christmas and it was so awesome to hang out even if just for a short time. I love you!
So we have had an eventful weekend between Kristen and David being here and Chris's birthday and it has been great! I just want to say Happy Birthday to my sweetheart - I love you, babe! :)
Monday, October 22, 2007
Monday, October 15, 2007
This Weekend
In an attempt to continue with the blogging I have decided that instead of waiting for something interesting to happen I will simply bore you all with the minute details of our lives. So here we go! :)
This weekend we had a great weekend!! First off I got to meet up with our friends Jonathan and Sissy (Sissy used to be Walters from FBA - most of you guys know her) who now live in Newcastle about 15 minutes from us by train. Anyway, Jonathan had to come to Durham for a race and Chris had a bunch of school stuff to do so Sissy and I got to hang out almost the whole day. We had a great time! We had lunch and did a bunch of shopping (groceries and toilet paper but still fun!) and then of course finished the day with coffee. It was so awesome to have someone here that you can talk to and know you are experiencing similar feelings and just life in general.
On Saturday night I baked banana nut bread but with no nuts because I didn't have any and it turned out so yummy! I am having a piece right now at work with coffee and it is even better then it was on Saturday. I am posting the link on here just in case anyone else wants to try it. It has sour cream in it which at first I thought was kind of weird but it makes the bread so moist that I now understand! http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Janets-Rich-Banana-Bread/Detail.aspx?src=etaf
When Jim and Debbie (Chris's dad and step-mom) were here they bought us a really cool gadget for the kitchen - a stove top cast iron grill. It weighs a ton and sits on top of one of our burners and works almost as well as a grill on your back porch. We have grilled chicken a couple of times and it has been really good so last night I did pork chops and they were delicious!! They were all fat (not with fat but with meat) and cooked up so good with an apple and brown sugar glaze. Here is the recipe in case anyone is interested - http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Grilled-Brown-Sugar-Pork-Chops/Detail.aspx?src=etaf
Now it is Monday and we are back to work/school. We fly out for Atlanta in 8 weeks!!! My fabulous friend Kristen (bridesmaid at the wedding for those of you who were there) is flying to England on Saturday for a bunch of different reasons but one is to see me and I can't wait! We will only get to hang out for a day or so because I have to work but I can't wait to even have that little bit of time with her this weekend!
Then Monday (22nd) is Chris's 25th birthday! What an old man! :) I tell him all the time that I am still almost 8 months away from being 25 and he hates it! On the upside what a great place and time to have a 25th birthday and I think he is rather lucky.
Better run for now - my 15 minute coffee and blog break are just about up. Hope everyone is well.
Love,
Amberly
This weekend we had a great weekend!! First off I got to meet up with our friends Jonathan and Sissy (Sissy used to be Walters from FBA - most of you guys know her) who now live in Newcastle about 15 minutes from us by train. Anyway, Jonathan had to come to Durham for a race and Chris had a bunch of school stuff to do so Sissy and I got to hang out almost the whole day. We had a great time! We had lunch and did a bunch of shopping (groceries and toilet paper but still fun!) and then of course finished the day with coffee. It was so awesome to have someone here that you can talk to and know you are experiencing similar feelings and just life in general.
On Saturday night I baked banana nut bread but with no nuts because I didn't have any and it turned out so yummy! I am having a piece right now at work with coffee and it is even better then it was on Saturday. I am posting the link on here just in case anyone else wants to try it. It has sour cream in it which at first I thought was kind of weird but it makes the bread so moist that I now understand! http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Janets-Rich-Banana-Bread/Detail.aspx?src=etaf
When Jim and Debbie (Chris's dad and step-mom) were here they bought us a really cool gadget for the kitchen - a stove top cast iron grill. It weighs a ton and sits on top of one of our burners and works almost as well as a grill on your back porch. We have grilled chicken a couple of times and it has been really good so last night I did pork chops and they were delicious!! They were all fat (not with fat but with meat) and cooked up so good with an apple and brown sugar glaze. Here is the recipe in case anyone is interested - http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Grilled-Brown-Sugar-Pork-Chops/Detail.aspx?src=etaf
Now it is Monday and we are back to work/school. We fly out for Atlanta in 8 weeks!!! My fabulous friend Kristen (bridesmaid at the wedding for those of you who were there) is flying to England on Saturday for a bunch of different reasons but one is to see me and I can't wait! We will only get to hang out for a day or so because I have to work but I can't wait to even have that little bit of time with her this weekend!
Then Monday (22nd) is Chris's 25th birthday! What an old man! :) I tell him all the time that I am still almost 8 months away from being 25 and he hates it! On the upside what a great place and time to have a 25th birthday and I think he is rather lucky.
Better run for now - my 15 minute coffee and blog break are just about up. Hope everyone is well.
Love,
Amberly
Monday, October 08, 2007
A New Beginning...
Well, I have been inspired to return to the world of blogging! Things here have settled down somewhat and I feel just awful that it has been 6 months since I even wrote on here!!! We will consider this my early New Year's resolution - maybe call it my October resolution.
Where to begin after a 6 months hiatus? Hmm...
Chris just started his final year of study last Thursday and is really excited about being so close to the finish line. Plus, he is taking some very cool classes with a few world-renowned professors. Since he had the summer off he was able to go to the States for a couple of weeks in August - he spent some time in Atlanta with family and friends there, then went to Michigan for Nitchie's wedding (Yeah, congrats Nithcie and Michelle!) and was even able to spend some time with our friends Mike and Lisa who are now back in Michigan as well (Mike completed his Master's in July and they moved back to the Michigan but are hopefully headed to DC soon).
While Chris was in the US I had a visitor! My MOM!! She was our first official family visitor to come and see Durham and the apartment and just experience life here. It was awesome! I hadn't seen any of my family in 8 months and as much as I would have LOVED for them all to come (which obviously wasn't possible) it was so amazing to have my mom! We went shopping and ate at all the little cafes in Durham, we even went to see a movie and spent 2 days in Edinburgh before she flew out. It went by too fast but was really great.
A week after my mom flew back to Altanta Chris was back in Durham and we were getting ready to have his dad, Jim and step-mom, Debbie come for a visit. They were here for 10 days and we had an awesome time. They got to really experience our lives in Durham plus we went to the Lake District for 2 days and stayed at the most amazing little B&B there. I will try to upload some pictures from home later on. It has been so wonderful to have so much family here recently and we are always ready for visitors so if you want to come by just give us a call!
We have bought our tickets back to the US for Christmas!!! We will be in Altanta Dec 16 - Jan 6 - 3 whole weeks! We are going to try and see everyone and do everything that we can so if you have any ideas or want to get together just send me an email.
About 2 weeks ago we celebrated our 1 year anniversary of moving to England! Both Chris and I are still in wonder on almost a daily basis that we actually live here and have had the opportunity to build our lives here. God has been so good to give us this opportunity and allowed us to really settle in with friends and my job and a great little apartment to live in and everything that is Durham from our church to the people to the market - we are just grateful for every part of it. I know that one day we will look back on this and wonder at how we ever survived but more importantly how we could have ever imagined our lives without this time. Thank you to everyone who has supported us this far and please continue to think of us as we are now looking forward to the next step.
Speaking of the next step - we are looking at a number of schools for Chris to go to for a Master's programme. This would mean we would probably move next summer in late July or so (as Durham is one of the options we may not move at all!). Chris's graduation is at the end of June and we could stay in our apartment until the beginning of September if we wanted to. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we now move on to making decisions about schools, programmes and many other things.
After not writing for so long I think I have now written our longest post yet! Now the question is - will anyone read it? :)
Love,
Amber
Where to begin after a 6 months hiatus? Hmm...
Chris just started his final year of study last Thursday and is really excited about being so close to the finish line. Plus, he is taking some very cool classes with a few world-renowned professors. Since he had the summer off he was able to go to the States for a couple of weeks in August - he spent some time in Atlanta with family and friends there, then went to Michigan for Nitchie's wedding (Yeah, congrats Nithcie and Michelle!) and was even able to spend some time with our friends Mike and Lisa who are now back in Michigan as well (Mike completed his Master's in July and they moved back to the Michigan but are hopefully headed to DC soon).
While Chris was in the US I had a visitor! My MOM!! She was our first official family visitor to come and see Durham and the apartment and just experience life here. It was awesome! I hadn't seen any of my family in 8 months and as much as I would have LOVED for them all to come (which obviously wasn't possible) it was so amazing to have my mom! We went shopping and ate at all the little cafes in Durham, we even went to see a movie and spent 2 days in Edinburgh before she flew out. It went by too fast but was really great.
A week after my mom flew back to Altanta Chris was back in Durham and we were getting ready to have his dad, Jim and step-mom, Debbie come for a visit. They were here for 10 days and we had an awesome time. They got to really experience our lives in Durham plus we went to the Lake District for 2 days and stayed at the most amazing little B&B there. I will try to upload some pictures from home later on. It has been so wonderful to have so much family here recently and we are always ready for visitors so if you want to come by just give us a call!
We have bought our tickets back to the US for Christmas!!! We will be in Altanta Dec 16 - Jan 6 - 3 whole weeks! We are going to try and see everyone and do everything that we can so if you have any ideas or want to get together just send me an email.
About 2 weeks ago we celebrated our 1 year anniversary of moving to England! Both Chris and I are still in wonder on almost a daily basis that we actually live here and have had the opportunity to build our lives here. God has been so good to give us this opportunity and allowed us to really settle in with friends and my job and a great little apartment to live in and everything that is Durham from our church to the people to the market - we are just grateful for every part of it. I know that one day we will look back on this and wonder at how we ever survived but more importantly how we could have ever imagined our lives without this time. Thank you to everyone who has supported us this far and please continue to think of us as we are now looking forward to the next step.
Speaking of the next step - we are looking at a number of schools for Chris to go to for a Master's programme. This would mean we would probably move next summer in late July or so (as Durham is one of the options we may not move at all!). Chris's graduation is at the end of June and we could stay in our apartment until the beginning of September if we wanted to. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we now move on to making decisions about schools, programmes and many other things.
After not writing for so long I think I have now written our longest post yet! Now the question is - will anyone read it? :)
Love,
Amber
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