FROM THE YELLOW HOUSE
HAVE A GREAT 2012!
Showing posts with label New Year's. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Year's. Show all posts
Sunday, January 01, 2012
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Last Days of the Year and A Legend
Hello all…so Christmas has come and gone once again and I can’t believe that we’re headed for the end of another year. The time really does fly! :-) Christmas turned out good. My favorite part was when Brit Boy and I came back home and I was able to Skype with my family back in Georgia. I ended up playing along with them as they played Taboo and I even gave a couple of correct answers from 4,000 miles away…lol. It was so fun! The best part was finally getting to see my new little nephew. He is adorable, but then I would say that because I’m a proud auntie ;-) But he is a cute little dude. He’s two months old and is actually my great nephew…he’s great indeed, but he’s my nephew’s son. It’s so funny to see my nephew being a husband and a father and I remember him being born. Like I said before…time does fly :-) It’s great to see the circle of life continue! I hope that everybody else had a great Christmas!
In other news, Brit Boy and I have just been trying to keep warm. It has been so cold. But today thankfully it is actually not as cold. It almost felt like a heat wave earlier ;-)
So we’re preparing for our own little New Year’s Eve party around the Yellow House. Just us, but we always enjoy ourselves. I’m planning on getting on Skype again to call my sisters and niece from the future…LOL. It’s one of my things. I hope that everyone has a safe and fun New Year’s Eve.
On a completely separate and serious note, with some love and appreciation thrown in, I’d like to remember one of my favorite singers who passed away this past Sunday at the age of 54. She was none other than Teena Marie, also known as Lady T to those who loved her music. People throw around the word legend a lot these days, but she was one indeed and rocked the R&B world. She moved a lot of people with her music and that certainly counts for so much in the scheme of things. People were often surprised at how she looked when they heard her sing, but as she said herself, the soul doesn't have a color :-) I love that!
Listening to her music instantly takes me back to the good old days. And she was still making great music for years. She was a trailblazer and her voice will be truly missed, but she left us great music like this…
“Square Biz”, “Portuguese Love”, and “Lovergirl” and so much more...take a listen if by chance you’re not familiar with her work :-)
Rest in Peace Lady T…
In other news, Brit Boy and I have just been trying to keep warm. It has been so cold. But today thankfully it is actually not as cold. It almost felt like a heat wave earlier ;-)
So we’re preparing for our own little New Year’s Eve party around the Yellow House. Just us, but we always enjoy ourselves. I’m planning on getting on Skype again to call my sisters and niece from the future…LOL. It’s one of my things. I hope that everyone has a safe and fun New Year’s Eve.
****
On a completely separate and serious note, with some love and appreciation thrown in, I’d like to remember one of my favorite singers who passed away this past Sunday at the age of 54. She was none other than Teena Marie, also known as Lady T to those who loved her music. People throw around the word legend a lot these days, but she was one indeed and rocked the R&B world. She moved a lot of people with her music and that certainly counts for so much in the scheme of things. People were often surprised at how she looked when they heard her sing, but as she said herself, the soul doesn't have a color :-) I love that!
Listening to her music instantly takes me back to the good old days. And she was still making great music for years. She was a trailblazer and her voice will be truly missed, but she left us great music like this…
“Square Biz”, “Portuguese Love”, and “Lovergirl” and so much more...take a listen if by chance you’re not familiar with her work :-)
Rest in Peace Lady T…
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Happy New Year
Happy New Year to everyone! I hope that everyone is well and that this new year brings many blessings into your lives. Brit Boy and I spent New Year's Eve here at home with our chips and dips and drinks. We watched the fireworks in London on the television and then toasted in 2009.
This New Year's Day is calmer for me this time around. This is the first one where I have felt less turmoil. You see, my mom passed away on New Year's Day in 2006 and I thought that even though it is a customary day of new beginnings, that I would hate the day forever. On the first anniversary of her passing, it was so hard, but I made it through. Then last year, I started to turn a corner in many ways and it got a bit easier. Well, this year, I am just in a better place inside, so peace came when I wasn't noticing :-) So instead of mourning my mom last night when it turned over to midnight, I rejoiced in the fact that she loved life and she showed me how to live it. I thought about her in ways that I was unable to in all the time since she passed away. And that's okay...and as they say...time does heal and looking within has helped me too. I'm still going to have days when I will cry or even scream because I wish I could pick up the phone and call her when things get rough, and that's normal because I'm human. But today I feel like morning has come into my life a bit more again :-) I love you Mama!
This New Year's Day is calmer for me this time around. This is the first one where I have felt less turmoil. You see, my mom passed away on New Year's Day in 2006 and I thought that even though it is a customary day of new beginnings, that I would hate the day forever. On the first anniversary of her passing, it was so hard, but I made it through. Then last year, I started to turn a corner in many ways and it got a bit easier. Well, this year, I am just in a better place inside, so peace came when I wasn't noticing :-) So instead of mourning my mom last night when it turned over to midnight, I rejoiced in the fact that she loved life and she showed me how to live it. I thought about her in ways that I was unable to in all the time since she passed away. And that's okay...and as they say...time does heal and looking within has helped me too. I'm still going to have days when I will cry or even scream because I wish I could pick up the phone and call her when things get rough, and that's normal because I'm human. But today I feel like morning has come into my life a bit more again :-) I love you Mama!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
London Adventure End of 2008
Hey there everybody! Well, Brit Boy and I made it safely to and from London yesterday. This time there was no nail-biting coach trip…lol. We took the train this time. I love making the journey on the train. You get to see the countryside on the way, with all of the little houses that are hidden if you drive in on the highway. And also the train takes half the time so it is my favorite.
We headed out early. We got up at about 5:30am so that we would have time to get dressed, scrape the ice off the car, and get to the train station which is a few miles away. According to Brit Boy the train used to stop here in our little neck of the woods, but they by-pass us now. So we have to drive into town to catch the train. But it’s not too far :-) Anyway, we have been having some really wintery weather the last few days and yesterday was the coldest by far. So we scraped the car and headed for town in the dark. We were catching the 7:40ish train to give us enough time.
We got to town, parked the car and then walked around to the train station. We had pre-booked tickets, which cuts the price considerably. We sat in the waiting room for a few minutes with the other passengers and then our train arrived soon after. We whisked off to London as the morning light slowly grew. It was beautiful to see everything quiet and peaceful as we sped towards London in those early hours.
Our trip to London was so that I could drop by the US Embassy. I went so that I could get some advice about tax filing and stuff like that. It can all get a bit complicated, let me tell you :-) But they answered my questions and I was able to pick up some handy pamphlets before I left, so I’m all information-ed up ;-) This was my first visit to the embassy, so it was one of those things that I figure will go in my catalogue of life experiences. We figured that a visit on a semi-off week would be the best time to visit and we were right. I got in and out in less than forty minutes. I’m sure that it is a lot more hectic during non-holiday weeks, so I was so grateful that I didn’t have to stand in line and could ask loads of questions without holding up a line or anything. It was great. They were kind and very helpful to me. There were maybe eight other people there at the time and we all got our own person to speak with.
It was a very unintimidating experience and it just felt like any other government office here or back home…I’ve been to both and it is the great unifier that they are so alike :-) I had to go in alone, since only the person seeking assistance comes in, which we found out ahead of time. I didn’t have any nerves about going in on my own. I just wanted to get it over with so that we could go do other stuff. I’ve had to deal with so much stuff like this in the last few years that now it’s nearly normal to me to do my grand tour of the government buildings on both sides of the pond :-) So Brit Boy went to have coffee and hang out while I was inside the embassy.
Here’s where our comedy life comes in…there’s always a sequence like this in our lives. LOL. I wasn’t allowed to take in any electronic devices so I didn’t have my cell phone which made it hard to contact Brit Boy and tell him to come meet me on my walk back. So we decided to synchronize our watches and check back at our meeting spot every half hour. Our spot was between two telephone boxes, one black and one the customary red, on Park Lane which runs alongside Hyde Park.
So Brit Boy walked me to the embassy and then I went in and got all sorted out. When I came back out, I glanced at my watch, and I realized that it was about seven minutes until ten. So I trotted along down the sidewalk trying to get back to our meeting spot by ten. I thought, how good that would be to make our rendezvous the first time and not have to wait a whole other half hour. Let’s just say, I had a nice morning run and the air was like ice as I ran that two or three blocks with my purse bouncing. LOL. I made it back to Park Lane and kept up my little morning run. My cheeks felt like they had ice as their new skin. LOL. As I got about half way down the street I saw Brit Boy in the distance. I was too far away to yell and the traffic was so noisy he wouldn’t have heard me. Then he turned and headed back the other way. I thought, “Noooo!!!” LOL. So by the time I made it to the corner he was already down the block and headed across the street at a quick pace. It was a cold day so everyone was hustling along. Then he disappeared in the crowd. By this time I gave up my run and thought, ‘I’ll catch him on the next time around.’ And I just laughed to myself. It was like a movie or something :-)
So I headed to get a cup of coffee and to take a trip to the ladies’ room. It was so nice to thaw out my cheeks. And the warm latte went down my throat like a river of warm life replenishing me. Heaven :-) I sat at the window and looked out. I felt good at that moment. The chill had left my cheeks and I was rejoicing because I didn’t get out of breath really during the whole run and I don’t exercise nearly enough. So I figured that hey, that was pretty good. Also I felt good because since I’ve been living here, I don’t feel as independent because I’m learning my way here. But yesterday was the first time in a long time where I felt, ‘hey you’ve got this Dori’. It’s very easy to become very dependent on your spouse when you are the one away from what you know. London is a huge city and it can be kind of daunting to someone who was new to it like me. But we’ve been many times now and I’m to the point where if I ever got dropped there while blindfolded and then released, I could find my way around the city pretty much and get myself back home all the way out here to Wiltshire. So this was a turning point for me in my mind. This was when I realized that the independent person that I always was is still in there :-) What a great thing to realize as we head into a new year. Full steam ahead! :-)
I finished slurping down my coffee and then headed back to our meeting spot. Then in a few minutes, there he was :-) And I thought to myself, he came back and found me as I found myself again.
We headed off to the rest of our day. We went to have a bite to eat and went to the National Gallery. Before we went in though, we stood and watched some high school marching bands that were playing outside the museum. There were several taking turns playing. They were dressed up in their full uniforms and it brought back such fond memories for me. I was a marching band girl back in the 80s :-) They did a great job. I don’t know what was going on, but how cool is that to be a high school student who gets to go abroad and play.
Later we headed to Leicester Square and walked around. Then we ate again since we had walked the other food off hours earlier. We went to this place that specializes in fish dishes. It was really good. We both had crab cakes. It was so nice to get in from the cold.
We walked around and popped into places here and there and then headed to the tube station so that we could head to Paddington Station to catch our train home. Well, I got tested on my newfound comfort with the city. Brit Boy and I made it to the platform just as the train was about to head away and usually we jump on…no problem. Well, it was another one of our comedy moments. I was right with him, but all of a sudden a space came out of nowhere and he had hopped on and the door of the train closed :-) It was weird. So he mouthed, “I’ll wait for you”. And his little tube train sped away. I just shook my head and laughed. What an eventful day. So I hopped the next train and met him a couple of stations away. Thankfully the trains are close together.
It was cool. It just all seemed rather cinematic…two people…separated by the sliding doors of the tube…will they meet again in time….LOL. Classic Dori and Brit Boy! We reunited and headed to Paddington and waited for our train home to come. It was FREEZING!!!
Yesterday was a cold day and the night was even colder, but we huddled up with a warm drink and people watched. I love people watching at Paddington. A perfect winter evening.
When we got back to our car. It was frozen over with a thick layer of ice and it was only about 7:30pm. We scraped the ice off the outside and then scraped it from the inside of the window and it refroze. Now that’s cold!!! LOL. Then the defrost kicked in and we headed home…happy to see our little house and to know that there was a warm drink and a snack inside. It was an eventful and fun winter’s day and a great way to end the year! Happy New Year everyone! Many blessings to you all!!! :-)
We headed out early. We got up at about 5:30am so that we would have time to get dressed, scrape the ice off the car, and get to the train station which is a few miles away. According to Brit Boy the train used to stop here in our little neck of the woods, but they by-pass us now. So we have to drive into town to catch the train. But it’s not too far :-) Anyway, we have been having some really wintery weather the last few days and yesterday was the coldest by far. So we scraped the car and headed for town in the dark. We were catching the 7:40ish train to give us enough time.
We got to town, parked the car and then walked around to the train station. We had pre-booked tickets, which cuts the price considerably. We sat in the waiting room for a few minutes with the other passengers and then our train arrived soon after. We whisked off to London as the morning light slowly grew. It was beautiful to see everything quiet and peaceful as we sped towards London in those early hours.
Our trip to London was so that I could drop by the US Embassy. I went so that I could get some advice about tax filing and stuff like that. It can all get a bit complicated, let me tell you :-) But they answered my questions and I was able to pick up some handy pamphlets before I left, so I’m all information-ed up ;-) This was my first visit to the embassy, so it was one of those things that I figure will go in my catalogue of life experiences. We figured that a visit on a semi-off week would be the best time to visit and we were right. I got in and out in less than forty minutes. I’m sure that it is a lot more hectic during non-holiday weeks, so I was so grateful that I didn’t have to stand in line and could ask loads of questions without holding up a line or anything. It was great. They were kind and very helpful to me. There were maybe eight other people there at the time and we all got our own person to speak with.
It was a very unintimidating experience and it just felt like any other government office here or back home…I’ve been to both and it is the great unifier that they are so alike :-) I had to go in alone, since only the person seeking assistance comes in, which we found out ahead of time. I didn’t have any nerves about going in on my own. I just wanted to get it over with so that we could go do other stuff. I’ve had to deal with so much stuff like this in the last few years that now it’s nearly normal to me to do my grand tour of the government buildings on both sides of the pond :-) So Brit Boy went to have coffee and hang out while I was inside the embassy.
Here’s where our comedy life comes in…there’s always a sequence like this in our lives. LOL. I wasn’t allowed to take in any electronic devices so I didn’t have my cell phone which made it hard to contact Brit Boy and tell him to come meet me on my walk back. So we decided to synchronize our watches and check back at our meeting spot every half hour. Our spot was between two telephone boxes, one black and one the customary red, on Park Lane which runs alongside Hyde Park.
So Brit Boy walked me to the embassy and then I went in and got all sorted out. When I came back out, I glanced at my watch, and I realized that it was about seven minutes until ten. So I trotted along down the sidewalk trying to get back to our meeting spot by ten. I thought, how good that would be to make our rendezvous the first time and not have to wait a whole other half hour. Let’s just say, I had a nice morning run and the air was like ice as I ran that two or three blocks with my purse bouncing. LOL. I made it back to Park Lane and kept up my little morning run. My cheeks felt like they had ice as their new skin. LOL. As I got about half way down the street I saw Brit Boy in the distance. I was too far away to yell and the traffic was so noisy he wouldn’t have heard me. Then he turned and headed back the other way. I thought, “Noooo!!!” LOL. So by the time I made it to the corner he was already down the block and headed across the street at a quick pace. It was a cold day so everyone was hustling along. Then he disappeared in the crowd. By this time I gave up my run and thought, ‘I’ll catch him on the next time around.’ And I just laughed to myself. It was like a movie or something :-)
So I headed to get a cup of coffee and to take a trip to the ladies’ room. It was so nice to thaw out my cheeks. And the warm latte went down my throat like a river of warm life replenishing me. Heaven :-) I sat at the window and looked out. I felt good at that moment. The chill had left my cheeks and I was rejoicing because I didn’t get out of breath really during the whole run and I don’t exercise nearly enough. So I figured that hey, that was pretty good. Also I felt good because since I’ve been living here, I don’t feel as independent because I’m learning my way here. But yesterday was the first time in a long time where I felt, ‘hey you’ve got this Dori’. It’s very easy to become very dependent on your spouse when you are the one away from what you know. London is a huge city and it can be kind of daunting to someone who was new to it like me. But we’ve been many times now and I’m to the point where if I ever got dropped there while blindfolded and then released, I could find my way around the city pretty much and get myself back home all the way out here to Wiltshire. So this was a turning point for me in my mind. This was when I realized that the independent person that I always was is still in there :-) What a great thing to realize as we head into a new year. Full steam ahead! :-)
I finished slurping down my coffee and then headed back to our meeting spot. Then in a few minutes, there he was :-) And I thought to myself, he came back and found me as I found myself again.
We headed off to the rest of our day. We went to have a bite to eat and went to the National Gallery. Before we went in though, we stood and watched some high school marching bands that were playing outside the museum. There were several taking turns playing. They were dressed up in their full uniforms and it brought back such fond memories for me. I was a marching band girl back in the 80s :-) They did a great job. I don’t know what was going on, but how cool is that to be a high school student who gets to go abroad and play.
Later we headed to Leicester Square and walked around. Then we ate again since we had walked the other food off hours earlier. We went to this place that specializes in fish dishes. It was really good. We both had crab cakes. It was so nice to get in from the cold.
We walked around and popped into places here and there and then headed to the tube station so that we could head to Paddington Station to catch our train home. Well, I got tested on my newfound comfort with the city. Brit Boy and I made it to the platform just as the train was about to head away and usually we jump on…no problem. Well, it was another one of our comedy moments. I was right with him, but all of a sudden a space came out of nowhere and he had hopped on and the door of the train closed :-) It was weird. So he mouthed, “I’ll wait for you”. And his little tube train sped away. I just shook my head and laughed. What an eventful day. So I hopped the next train and met him a couple of stations away. Thankfully the trains are close together.
It was cool. It just all seemed rather cinematic…two people…separated by the sliding doors of the tube…will they meet again in time….LOL. Classic Dori and Brit Boy! We reunited and headed to Paddington and waited for our train home to come. It was FREEZING!!!
Yesterday was a cold day and the night was even colder, but we huddled up with a warm drink and people watched. I love people watching at Paddington. A perfect winter evening.
When we got back to our car. It was frozen over with a thick layer of ice and it was only about 7:30pm. We scraped the ice off the outside and then scraped it from the inside of the window and it refroze. Now that’s cold!!! LOL. Then the defrost kicked in and we headed home…happy to see our little house and to know that there was a warm drink and a snack inside. It was an eventful and fun winter’s day and a great way to end the year! Happy New Year everyone! Many blessings to you all!!! :-)
Monday, December 29, 2008
Hello
Hi everyone! I just wanted to check in and say hello. I have been hanging out with Brit Boy these past few days and enjoying having no school or work on either of our plates. We have been making the most of it while we can before the new year begins and things get back to normal :-) Thanks for all of the comments on my last post and I will be commenting back. I’m just a bit behind.
I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and I wish you all a wonderful blessed New Year in 2009! I will be back in the blogging seat in a few days and back to my Entrecard dropping too.
We are headed up to London tomorrow for the day. I have an appointment to go to and then we are going to hang out. It’s too bad that our trip up isn’t a day later so we can be there for New Year’s Eve, but these things can’t be helped :-) I hope that we get a chance to experience that maybe next year or one of these days. Anyway, it should be fun.
Have a great day and a Happy New Year my friends! :-)
I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and I wish you all a wonderful blessed New Year in 2009! I will be back in the blogging seat in a few days and back to my Entrecard dropping too.
We are headed up to London tomorrow for the day. I have an appointment to go to and then we are going to hang out. It’s too bad that our trip up isn’t a day later so we can be there for New Year’s Eve, but these things can’t be helped :-) I hope that we get a chance to experience that maybe next year or one of these days. Anyway, it should be fun.
Have a great day and a Happy New Year my friends! :-)
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