I Won! =-)

DeeRoo had a give-away a couple of weeks ago, and

I Won! 

I couldn't believe it!  But even more,

i could NOT BELIEVE what she SENT me!!!
Look:

A shot so you can see that there *was*  sun when my daughter (Bunny) started taking pictures, but it was movin' FAST!

I was sorta expecting the package in the mail, but when i saw it,

I squealed like a little girl!  =-)

It contained TWO mug rugs (like coasters, but large enough for your coffee mug *and* a cookie or muffin):

What i'm callin' the "front" 'cause i love it so!

What i think DeeRoo intended as the front, and they're BEAUTIFUL!

 She also sent a mini quilt (which is what the give-away was for), which is on my kitchen counter at the moment, but i may hang it on the wall:

Beautiful!

And she has a pre-made label on the back! 

I want pre-made labels! [whine]

Love!

Dee also gave me a pattern to try out, and she sent along the *sweetest* note with my package! 

Pattern on the left and Love Note on the right.  =-)

And, as if all the above wasn't enough, Dee also sent me two batik fat quarters!  She said she felt such love and support from me when she started her blog, that she felt like i deserved all of this love...

I almost cried when i got this package in the mail...

Beautiful fabrics i'll make something with...

Thank you SO MUCH Dee!!! You're the BEST!

Here's everything together in one pic.  The sun was setting SOOO fast!  I had to continually move things as Bunny was taking the pix.  I wouldn't have believed it if i hadn't been there to see it myself!

Thank you Dee for having a give-away for your One Year Blogging Anniversary!

May you have many more GREAT years!

=-)

Day Five (Finally!)

Ughghghgh!!!!!
Blogger is giving me a hard time today!!!
It won't let me upload pix!

I'll be back...

We Interrupt This Program Once Again...

Sorry, but i'm traveling today and this weekend.   I'll be back Monday or Tuesday with more Tales of My England Trip.

=-)

We Interrupt This Program with a Very Special Announcement...

I'll get back to telling you about our trip to England tomorrow, but first i have to tell you why today is so special:

Today is my 27th wedding anniversary!!!

Boyfriend and i were married in some hotel in Charleston, SC 27 years ago.  I would show you pictures, but...

On the way to the park across from the Justice of the Peace's office, Boyfriend and i got in a terrible automobile accident in Georgetown, SC.  We plowed into the back of an 18-wheeler on a bridge on the highway, and we totalled Boyfriend's car.  Needless to say, we did not make it to our 2:00 "wedding" in the park.  Boyfriend called the Justice of the Peace  (JOP) from the hospital (while waiting for me to have x-rays), and the JOP said to "just let her know if we still wanted to do it later that evening since the paperwork was already filled out." 

So at about 7:00 that night, in our hotel room on I-26, the JOP married Boyfriend & me.  The 2 of us were all bruised up, and i had a broken thumb and 7 stitches in my leg, but we were determined to "do this thing!"

Boyfriend's Toyota Starlet on Nov 3rd, 1983

Boyfriend's  Toyota Starlet on Nov 4th, 1983

And here we are, twenty-seven years later!  We've kidded that since it was just Boyfriend and me and the JOP, maybe we weren't really *legally* married...   But it's certainly "by law" by now!  =-)

Yes, we've had our rough patches.  Every relationship does.
We lovingly refer to 1994 as "The Year of The Bitch"!  But thank you, Boyfriend, for holding on!  It just keeps getting better and better!!!

Thank you, Boyfriend, for being the BEST husband any girl could EVER ask for!!!

And may we have 27 MORE!

=-)

p.s. Do a little jig for my 100th Post!

Day Four: Bath, Lacock, Bourton-on-the-Water, Bath (again)

We drove our rental car from Bath, England to a small, old town called Lacock .  Beautiful little old town.  People actually LIVE in this town!  There are signs in most of the windows that say something about 'these really are houses and people really live here. Please do not disturb.' or something much nicer.

Lacock, England

The Red Lion Hotel on the left.

(W & C have stayed there before and highly recommend it.)

A barn built in the 1200s in Lacock.

Yep, you read that right!

An old church still in use in Lacock

(they were preparing for a service when we were walking around in it). 

Boyfriend (my husband) really likes this one.

It's an old gaol (jail).

Not even gonna ask what that says about him/us...

 After walking all around Lacock, we got back in the car and went to another quaint town in the Cotswolds area called Bourton-on-The-Water.  Another beautiful and old town.

This type of picture helps us remember where we were

when we're older and looking back on pix.

 There was a "Motor Museum" in Bourton-on-the-Water.  Very much worth the 4 pounds 10 pence admission price!  One man used to own most of what's in these seven or eight buildings!  He collected the cars, motorcycles, bicycles and other memorabilia for about 40 years, and he retired about 12 years ago and gave it to this organization.  If you're EVER in the area, give it a look!  You'll LOVE it too.

We  went to the Motor Museum.

Boyfriend LOVED it!  I thought it was really cool too.

Very worthwhile place to visit.

Just ONE of the MANY pix Boyfriend took in the museum.

 After driving and touring around, we went back to Bath for the evening.

Boyfriend and me in front of the Weir on the River Avon in Bath.

The Weir in front of Pultney Bridge, Bath, England

The Abbey in Bath, England

The Weir at Pultney Bridge on the River Avon on our stroll "home" in the evening.

Once again, it was another wonderful and beautiful day.  We had excellent weather and the sun even graced us with its presence off-and-on that day (October 17th).

Have i mentioned lately that i ABSOLUTELY LOVE LOVE LOVE ENGLAND!?!?!

=-)

Day Three

Woke up in Wales, in a small town near Cardigan.

We had breakfast at the Cliff Hotel (where we spent the night) in Gwbert  before beginning our day of driving the countryside. 

I LOVE the Traditional English Breakfast!  It consists of 2 over-medium eggs, "grilled" tomatoes and mushrooms, bangers (sausage, but doesn't really taste like our breakfast sausage, and it's *bigger*), beans (basically like Pork-n-Beans but without the pork), "bacon"  (looks just like country ham, but tastes a little like bacon), and toast.  LOVE! 

Traditional English Breakfast (minus the beans)

The Wales countryside. 

You can barely see the windmills in the background on the top of the hills. 

There were lots  of windmills on hilltops in Wales.  Generating electricity.  Yay!

After breakfast, we packed up and drove south (mostly along the west coast) to a small town callled Carmarthen, Wales.  We were going there to meet up with K (another friend from the Wine Room on a semester study-abroad). 

She walked us to the castle in the heart of Carmarthen, and then we walked to a nice little fish-n-chips place for lunch.

It was wonderful to see her again! 

The Castle in Carmarthen, Wales.

The Y Gegin Cafe, famous for excellent fish-n-chips.

After lunch and a nice visit with K and her friend, we drove on, heading east toward England and out of Wales.

The bridge over the Severn River

"Welcome to England"

and in Welsh at the bottom

Since W is a golfer (it's almost like a religion for some!), we absolutely HAD to stop  at the Celtic Manor where the Ryder Cup was played just a month or so ago...

This was solely for W

It didn't really mean much to me, but it was a GORGEOUS place!

Next we "landed" in Bath.  It's the most beautiful city!  And it's a very old city, so there was a lot of history there.  Oh heck! Who am i kidding?!  All of England is old with LOADS of history EVERYWHERE!  I loved it!  And the architecture!

We stayed in an old B&B called the Villa Magdala.  It was beautiful.  Boyfriend and i had never stayed in a B&B anywhere before, so i think this one has spoiled us for B&Bs from now on.  I doubt any B&B anywhere can be as great as this one was...

The Villa Magdala in Bath, England (from the front)

The Villa Magdala in Bath (entry is on the side)

Our Room (en-suite)

Double bed in our room

The Breakfast Room at the Villa Magdala B&B

 Once we got settled into our rooms, we went strolling around the beautiful town of Bath.  We settled on supper at the Sally Lunn, the oldest recorded house in Bath.  It's a quaint little place with multiple floors and delicious food. 

The Sally Lunn House (Restaurant)

The Sally Lunn House, circa 1482

After supper, we took a leisurely stroll back through town to our B&B for a very restful night.

Join me again tomorrow for Day Four...

=-)



Day Two: North Wales, South along the coast, to Carmarthen, Wales

W drove our rental car, 'cause he's had experience driving on the "wrong side" many times before, so we "elected" him as driver.  He elected Boyfriend as the Navigator, so C and i rode in the back, which was just fine by us.



We left Manchester in the morning and drove along the north coast of Wales.  Talk about beautiful countryside!  We drove through Rhyl, Colwyn  Bay, and a resort area called Llandudno where we drove out onto a huge peninsula called The Great Orme.  (I believe it was a national park.)

Llandudno from the Great Orme

After driving all around the Great Orme, we drove south, down the west coast of Wales, through small towns like Betws-y-Coed, Dolgellau, and Aberystwyth, ending up in the small town of Cardigan, where we drove to an even smaller town called Gwbert (goo-bert) to spend the night at the Cliff hotel.

"Flats" in Cardigan (i think!)

Our room at the Cliff Hotel

After a delightful supper and a drink at the pub in the Cliff, we went to bed to ready ourselves for the next day.  Though we didn't really see any sun this day, we did not see any rain either, so once again, a wonderful day was had by all.  =-)

Tomorrow... Carmarthen!  And Bath!

First Stop: Manchester, England

We actually started talking about taking a trip to England as a joke.

We frequent a local place called 'The Wine Room' in our little town.  They have tastings every Tuesday which we always attend, unless something "big" is happening that keeps us away.  There's a college student there, "S", who one  evening said something about her birthday being November 14th.  I chimed in that our Anniversary is on November 4th and we should "party together".  She said she'd be in England then, and our neighbor, "W", said "We can be there!"   ("W" & his wife "C" have been to England at least 6 times and they love it.)  It sort of picked up steam from there.

What started out as a joke, somehow became a reality, and boy am i glad it did!

A mixture of old & new in Manchester

After an 8 hour (or so) flight, we checked into our hotel on October 14th around 11 am or so, and then went walking around town.  (We didn't really do much "tourist-y stuff"  in Manchester.)  We ate lunch at a place called 'Bar 38'.  Then we walked around town some more. 

If you ever go to Manchester, be sure to stop in at their Information Center downtown.  They have the COOLEST maps there!  The maps are actually "powered by Bing", and totally interactive!  The four of us stayed there playing with the computerized maps for almost an HOUR!  =-)

After playing with the coolest maps ever, we walked into a huge department store called Debenhams.  (Boyfriend needed a hat since it was so chilly.)  Then we strolled back to our hotel.

After freshening up back at the Jury's Inn Hotel, we met "S" and a friend of hers at a place called "KRO-Picadilly".  Very nice bar/restaurant.  Seemed to be a  very "happening" place.  Plus the food was delicious!  "C" & I got the "Pint of Pie" which was like a steak & ale pie in a ceramic pint "cup".  Delicious, but almost TOO HOT to eat! (Heat, not spice.)
It was really good to see "S", and i think we only reminded her how homesick she was.  She's in England for one semester in a "study abroad" program.  She said she couldn't really believe we had come all that way "just to see her". 

After eating supper at "KRO-Picadilly", we walked to the Hilton Manchester Deansgate Hotel... to the bar/restaurant on the 23rd floor (i think it was called "Cloud")!  It was FANTASTIC!  The view was AWESOME, and unrestricted because the 23rd floor only has low-level lighting so you can sit and truly enjoy the view.
Oh, it was beautiful!  (See the pic from yesterday here.)  Gorgeous!

I cannot get a picture to load, but if i could, you would be seeing a picture of the Hilton Deansgate from my hotel window here!!!  [FRUSTRATING!!!]

A beautiful evening for us all.
S & her friend walked back to her dorm, and the four of us walked back to our hotel, and thus ended our first day in England. 
Come back tomorrow for more of the continuing saga. 

=-)

Ooops! I Forgot About Bath and Lacock and Bourton-on-the-Water and STONEHENGE!!!

How could i forget about all those places?!?!
How DARE i?!?

I guess i was just so anxious to tell you about London that i simply skipped all the other stuff.  Sorry 'bout that!  Or, as the "kids" would say:

"My bad!"

Tomorrow i'll begin with Manchester, and go on a daily basis in a more organized fashion, and you'll not miss a thing.
'Kay?!  =-)

Here's another picture, just so you'll forgive me:

Boyfriend & me at Stonehenge 
(it's not that tiny, we just couldn't get that close)

=-)



Did I Hear Somebody Say England!?!

Man-oh-man it's been a long time since i posted!  Part of that is because i started putting my thoughts into a Word document on my computer.  It's been helpful, but it hasn't "encouraged" me to blog!  Sorry 'bout that!
I haven't been doing much quilting lately anyway, so there hasn't really been much to blog about...

But remember one time i told you that Boyfriend was taking me to England?!
Well, guess what?!?!

I have pictures!
Actually, we took over seven HUNDRED pictures, but don't worry; i won't bore you with ALL of them.   =-)

When i say "we" went to England, i really mean the four of us; our next door neighbors were our "tour guides" because they've been to England like six times before, so we felt "safe" going with them.  (Boyfriend's a little coughscaredcough to travel out of our country... BUT YOU DIDN'T HEAR THAT FROM ME!!!)

We flew out of Charlotte, NC on Oct 13th and did a quick layover in Philly, and then flew into Manchester, England (arriving on the 14th).  We really went there to see a friend who works at our favorite spot, The Wine Room.  (Who knew?!  =-)  )  Her name's Sarah, and she's spending one semester studying abroad, lucky little devil.

We spent one night in Manchester, and then hit the road in a rented car.  We drove across the north coast of Wales, and almost all the way down the west coast to a town called Cardigan where we spent the night in a tiny town called Gwbert (goo'-bert).  One night there, and then we went to Carmarthen, Wales to meet up with another friend from the Wine Room, Kelly, who is ALSO studying abroad for the semester.  (I'm thinkin' i didn't do something right when i was younger... Hmm.) 
One short day there (we didn't really get to see much of Carmarthen), and then we headed back across the Severn river into England, where we drove straight to Gatwick airport to turn in the car, and hopped on the train into London.

Oh my god, LONDON!!!  I absolutely LOVED London!!!  The architecture, the history, the cultures, the Tube, the red double-decker buses... I LOVED EVERYTHING ABOUT LONDON!!! 

We stayed in London until the 25th.  We were supposed to go to Paris, but with all the rioting and striking and craziness going on over there, we decided to just stay in London.  And i'm GLAD we did!!!  I didn't really "miss" Paris 'cause i am SO IN LOVE with LONDON!!!

People keep asking me what my favorite thing about my trip was and, honestly, i can only say

THE ENTIRE THING!!!

I loved it ALL!!!
(Well, "all" except that looong and boring plane ride there and back, that is!)
We had an absolutely FABULOUS time!!!
Even the weather was wonderful!  I fully expected, before i left, that i would get wet every day; that my feet would be soaked at the end of every day.  I expected it so i (hopefully) wouldn't be disappointed every day, but...
It never really rained on us!  We had cloudy weather in Manchester and most of Wales, and even saw the sun on many days in London, but... it never *really* rained on us!  (I'm not counting that one time it started to lightly sprinkle a tiny bit and we popped into a Cafe Nero for a coffee, and by the time we came out, the streets were almost dry.)  I could NOT believe it!  I am STILL tickled (in case you couldn't tell)!
Anyway...
Here's a picture to get you started:

Manchester at night from the 23rd floor of the Hilton Manchester Deansgate Hotel (we did not stay here, only came for a drink... or two.  And the VIEW!!!)

... more tomorrow ...

=-)