UK Hen Do, October 2014

 My UK 'Hen Do' party was a complete secret and I had no input in planning or organising it, which was definitely a weird feeling since I am typically the go-to bachelorette party planner!  I was told to go to a salon around 2pm where I got my hair done, and it was there that my friend Nicola stopped by and gave me a mini bottle of pink champagne to have while I was pampered.  After getting my hair done I went across the street to get my nails done and when I picked the sparkly purple polish I wanted the nail lady apologised, but said she was instructed to only paint my nails red, white, and blue.  I explained that I was American and my friends were probably playing  a trick on me, so we came up with a fun design and then I headed back home.  

Upon arriving home I found that the whole place was decked out in British flags, with red, white and blue everywhere, and typical British snacks to nibble on.  Everyone was also wearing red, white and blue clothes and the place looked so festive!! They immediately sat me down and put each girl in charge of doing a particular makeup area - one person did my eyeshadow, another did my eyebrows, someone did my blush, not allowing me to do anything to get myself ready.

 Then they brought me my outfit for the evening - a red, white and blue go-go dancer outfit complete with gloves and knee high stockings!  I brought out my own pair of sparkly silver shoes - Lloyd had actually brought these to me when we first met in NYC (he worked for a clothing retailer and got me a discount) and this was finally the perfect opportunity to wear them.  We danced around and listened to music until the next phase of the evening began...

Soon after we headed downstairs and piled into a bright purple stretch limo which drove us around Central London!!  It was so fun, blasting our own tunes and singing along, drinking champagne and cruising around the city, only stopping to jump out and take our picture in front of famous London landmarks. 

In front of Buckingham Palace

The night was an absolute blast and many of the girls said it was the best hen do they had ever been to!  I'm so thankful to have such an awesome sister and great girlfriends who planned a truly epic night, one that will not be forgotten!  Jamie booked us a hotel nearby and when we got home the next day Lloyd and Barry had cleaned up the huge mess we left in the kitchen which was much appreciated, so we were able to relax and just enjoy the rest of the weekend. 

Halloween 2014

October was pretty busy with our stag/hen do parties so we didn't have a lot of time to get Halloween costumes together.  Luckily, we already had some costumes on hand!  I made a comment to Lloyd along the lines of 'wouldn't it be funny if we wore our stag/hen do costumes and dressed up as each other for Halloween' and surprisingly he agreed...although I'm not exactly sure he was actually listening.

For Lloyd's stag do his friends dressed him up as a cowboy, complete with a cowboy hat, bandanna, chaps, a vest, and the final touch - they cut out the pockets of his jeans where the back pockets were, giving everyone a little 'peek' at his backside. 

For my hen do my girlfriends had dressed me up as a UK Go-go girl, so I was estatic that Lloyd had agreed to wear it.  I went to the party shop and bought a long blonde wig and a black mullet wig (I cut off the back part), picked up some makeup and then rushed home to get changed for our friend's party. 

Once Lloyd saw how skimpy my costume was he threw a fit and almost called the whole thing off, but since he had no other costume options and the party was in a matter of hours he had to agree.  I did my makeup to make it look like I had a trimmed beard like Lloyd's, gave Lloyd a little bit of makeup and then made our way to the train.  Lloyd refused to wear the tutu as-is so he wore sweatpants underneath, and we got some interesting looks on the train ride to the party.  When our taxi dropped us off in front of the party we stopped in front of a family with a few young girls and one of them looked at Lloyd's tutu and when she realised it was a man wearing it, pointed and started laughing hysterically, which did wonders for his confidence in wearing the outfit!  Obviously this caused me great joy. :) Needless to say it was too late to turn back, so he prepared himself for the ribbing from his friends that was soon to come and we headed in!

All of our friends were pretty creeped out by our look swaps but it made for some really funny pictures and laughs throughout the night. Several of our friends commented on Lloyd's feminine qualities that were brought out by his makeup, and I tried to master the 'sexy man' face, which I was told looked 'quite disturbing'. :) All in all it was a great Halloween - Trick or Treat!!

Dartmoor hiking weekend

In September my Aussie friend Elle and I went on a hiking weekend with a London-based hiking group called the Outdoorholics.  We shared a ride with another girl from London and drove the 3hrs to Dartmoor, in southwest England on a Friday night after work.  There was a group of about 75 of us and we met at a hostel nestled in the Moorlands of South Devon.   The hike was billed as a 'Yoga + Hike' so early Saturday morning before the hike we did an hour of yoga with a fantastic instructor, really limbering us up in preparation for the long day.  The 1st day was the most challenging and we hiked about 14 miles through the beautiful English countryside, stopping on top of a hill for lunch and eating wild blackberries along the way. 

Briefing before we start

 

 

 

Gorgeous spot for lunch

Interesting rock formations

Qintessential English countryside scene

It was so nice being in nature...I miss the fresh air after spending so much time in the city

These blackberries were delicious!

Cute little calf relaxing in the grass

 

We were knackered when we got back after the 1st day's hike so we hobbled over to some picnic benches to have a beer in the sunshine.  Shortly after we did another yoga class and while we were sore from the hike it felt amazing to stretch our tired muscles.  

After our yoga class I returned to my room and saw a lot of missed calls on my phone...after calling Mom I received the news that Grandma had passed away.  I felt completely helpless, unable to comfort my family from so far away, and wishing I could be around everyone to grieve together.  My friend Elle was very sweet to me and I was able to call the family back home as well as speak to Jamie, Barry and Lloyd in London, so that made me feel a bit better.  I was able to sit outside under the stars and just think about her, and Mom reminded me that it would make her happy that I was in a beautiful place, surrounded by nature.  The next morning I got up and did the morning yoga class and thought about all the things I was thankful for, and prayed for Grandma and all the folks back home who was surely missing her as much as I was.  I hiked for Grandma that day and tried to enjoy the beautiful weather and surroundings. 

Cute pub by the river

Quaint bridge where we stopped for a drink and a rest

The hike on the 2nd day was much easier and we only went about 7 miles, but I was still so sore from the day before!  When we walked back into the town we passed a pair of dogs just relaxing outside, and the dog laying on the sidewalk looked about how I felt after the long hikes. 

A German summer wedding

At the end of July, we went to Germany to attend the wedding of our good friends, Mareike & Richard.  We flew into Bremen and then took the train about 1.5hrs south, just north of Osnabrück, to a sleepy little town called Stemwede-Levern.  Stemewede was in the middle of lush farmland with cornfields and cows all around, which reminded us a little bit of Oklahoma!

Lunch at the only pub in town! 

We arrived the day before the wedding and of course the Germans put us straight to work!  We helped set up at Mareike's dad's farmhouse, where the wedding was to be held. Over the years I had heard about the strange traditions at German weddings so I was really looking forward to finally experiencing it all first-hand. 

The church they were married in was just beautiful and the minister was really something special.  He greeted us at the beginning of the ceremony in English, then said that he understood there were people from all over the world attending.  Then he proceeded to recite the same message (at least I think he was saying the same thing to all of us!)...in 4 different languages.  He had such a great speaking voice and I was so impressed at his ability to communicate with all of us in our native tongue.  He told us that it would take quite some time to translate the ceremony into 4 different languages, so he was going to stick with German and the rest of us could follow along!!  Hilarious. 

One of the German traditions was to hand out little slips of paper that we would attach to balloons.  On the paper we wrote a few wishes for them and then gave them some sort of task we would do for them if they actually found our balloon and note.  We all released the balloons at the same time and wondered if they would ever find them.

Silly boys

 The wedding was in the late afternoon and afterwards we hitched a ride over to the farmhouse, where we had cocktails and canapes in the garden before the balloon ceremony.  We were treated to some champagne elderflower cocktails and the elderflower syrup was homemade from the elderflower on the property and there were fresh sprigs of mint from the garden in each one!  Totally refreshing for a warm day.  Our first meal of the evening (ha...it was a long night) was a delicious buffet of salads, BBQ, and all kinds of yummy food.

Later on in the evening the ice cream truck showed up and gave us all a sweet treat.

Fellow Horned Frogs:  Mareike, Jen & Cristina

They also had a photobooth area so we had fun dressing up and playing with the props.  

And of course we had to do our trademark dance...Gagnam Style!

Dancing under the 'money' veil 

The remaining few

There was also an epic guitar battle at the end of the night which made for some interesting pictures...

Sun is on its' way up! 

During the last dance we all gathered around Mareike and Richard as everyone sang a popular German song together.  By that time the sun was on it's way up and it was time for the ride in the, er, stretch car, which awaited us outside.

Unlike American weddings, German weddings last all night and the bride & groom would never leave their own party, so they stay with all the guests until the end.  

Our stretch ' limo' 

The ride through the countryside was a blast, and soon we arrived at Mareike & Richard's house (just around the corner from the farmhouse and across from the Church) where the groom carried the bride through over the threshold.  Upon arrival we were cooked eggs for yet another meal of the day, then we all dispersed, hoping to catch a quick nap before we had to be back at the farmhouse to clean up!

As a wedding gift we put together a video of the wedding for Mareike & Richard, it took a while condensing all of our footage down but it was worth it in order to preserve some really great memories!

The next day was...tiring.  But luckily we were able to recover and spend it in the beautiful countryside at the farmhouse.

Beautiful tree in the Garden

We even snuck in the cornfields! 

Rooster in the Garden

They even had solar panels!  

Baby Linus played with us in the garden the next day and we all relaxed in the sunshine after a really fun marathon wedding.  That evening we hopped back on the train back to Bremen and landed, exhausted (!) in London a few hours later.

Taking down Mareike's curls the next day 

He's gettin' handsy...

Beautiful little German baby!