england : day two

Wednesday morning I felt refreshed after getting a good night's sleep to catch up from the overnight flight. Tom unfortunately had to attend the funeral of a fellow councillor, so I unpacked while he was away.

When he returned, him, his mum, and I took a trip to The Animal Refuge. We wanted to check out a super grumpy looking cat ("beautiful", as Tom called it...) that was up for adoption. Sadly, Bagpuss didn't get on with other cats (or children) and had been sent back to The Animal Refuge three times previously. Since Tom has three other cats, they didn't want to allow Bagpuss to go home with him.

There were loads of other animals to see, including horses, goats, dogs, and cats. It was really a nice place and much bigger than I expected it to be. They also had a little gift shop where I bought a quaint little tea pot (I'm obsessed with tea pots) and an England pint glass.

After leaving the refuge, we headed back to Tom's to get cleaned up because that evening we were meant to be having dinner with the mayor... Yes, the mayor. The actual real live mayor of Carlisle. 

I must say it was one of the more nerve-wracking things I've done, but it turned out to be a really nice night. I wish I had pictures; their house was seriously lovely! I ended up deciding against whipping out my iPhone to document things...

In attendance were the mayor (Steven) and his wife (Christine), Tom's parents, and the two of us. When we got there, we sat in the garden (which was so cute and cozy) for an hour or so, drinking wine and chatting, before going in to eat. Everything was so relaxed and Steven and Christine were so welcoming and friendly. It was really nice getting to know them a little bit.

The dinner they had prepared for us was perfect. We started off with fruit bowls and bread. Next came salad, potatoes, and Ullswater Pie. I was a little apprehensive of the pie to begin, as I'd never heard of it before, but it turned out to be soo tasty. I wonder if there's anywhere around here that makes it... highly doubt it.

Pudding (dessert) was an apple crumble and vanilla ice cream, washed down with coffee.

By then it was getting late, so we called a taxi and got ready to go. Whilst waiting for our ride, Steven gave me a tour of his basement. Now, if you're from Michigan, you're probably wondering why in the world  we'd want to see his basement. However, this was much different from your typical "Michigan basement".

He informed me that servants had lived in the house until the 1950s, and the basement had actually been their living quarters. I got to see where they slept, cooked meals, and did laundry. It was fascinating.

At the end of the mini tour, we walked out of a door that took us into their garage, where Steven showed me his gorgeous, shiny, bright red 1960 MG. I can't pretend to know much about cars, but I will say that this one was a true beauty. He was very proud of it, and I don't blame him!

By that time, the taxi was waiting out front. Tom, his parents, and I got in to head back home.

All in all, it was an exceptional evening.

-teddy x

england : day one

As you may have read in earlier posts, my plan was to write a post per day on my trip across the pond... Obviously, that failed. So, now that I'm (unfortunately) home, I'll catch up. I'm going to backdate these posts to the days they're about so as to make myself feel better about not having actually done it on time. To be honest though, it's not that I slacked off, we just were too busy enjoying ourselves and doing things for me to sit down and blog.

Before I really get into the day, I'd like to share a piece from an article I read on the plane giving the low-down on all the teams in The 2014 World Cup. The whole article was brilliantly written (wish I could give credit but I've no idea what the magazine was or who the author was), but I'll just share my favorite bit. If you don't follow football (proper football, not American-- I'm not allowed to call it soccer when I'm dating a Brit), then you may not know who Mario is, but trust me, he's great entertainment.

______________________________________________________________________

I flew into Manchester at about 6:30am local time (1:30am Michigan time).

Met my lovely boyfriend after grabbing my bags (which were for once not over the weight limit!!!) and off we went to take a hike through The Lake District. He took me to a place called Ullswater where we hiked around for a couple hours and saw the gorgeous Aira Force waterfall.

After our hike around there, we decided to head back to Carlisle (where Tom lives) to drop off my luggage and get some lunch. Later on, Tom had to go to a council meeting (did I mention he's a city councillor???) so I decided to take a nap before going uptown to meet him and have a drink with him and his parents. Here's the rest of the night in photos:

Hell Below. Been here a few times now. Their menus are perfect.

 Mojitos and Lady Killers (whatever those are, there's a 2 per person limit).

Paddles of shots because why not?

My handsome man.

 1.5 liters of butter beer.... because why not?

Best friends.

I'll continue with trip details tomorrow. Thanks for checking it out!

-teddy x

last day of work!

...before my trip. :)

I love my job but it will be kind of nice to get out of the office for a couple weeks seeing as we've been in a temporary location due to the library undergoing renovations. I miss my real office!

I've got the weekend to pack and whatnot, then I leave Monday! Really hoping my long flight has the individual TVs at each seat... Makes the 8 hours go so much faster.

So here's a little bit of what I know is happening during my week in England:

• Camping (for one night, with 6 people total, in Scotland I believe?)
• Dinner with the mayor and his wife (this is what comes from dating a politician!)
• Visiting an animal refuge (looking at the cute kits and pups! ^_^)
• Chip Shop Friday!!! (fish and chips for Friday's lunch-- one of the highlights!)
• Going to the pub Friday evening (love the people there & they treat me like a celebrity- so funny!)
• Watching the England v. Uruguay World Cup match (wish I was gonna be there for more than one)
• Having Breaking Bad marathons (Tom and I are hooked & need to get through 3 more seasons)
• Boot camp workouts & running (whipping the boyfriend into shape!! Plus I've been doing them twice a week for over a month now so I can't take afford a two week hiatus!)

That's all that comes to mind at the moment. Not sure how realistic this idea is but I'm going to attempt to do a post per day during my trip. Hopefully I can stick to it!

-teddy x