weekend in oxford

buying chocolates in the covered market

shout out to trev & kathryn!

hotel room fun

hotel postcard

we had a nice little weekend away in oxford while kevin attended a conference. kinda. maybe if you forget about how we missed our flight there (from traffic) and our flight back was cancelled from snow (we ended up in glasgow) and maybe forget that it was below freezing and kevin was gone all day (ya know, at the conference) then maybe it was a nice time!

just kidding...kinda. there were definitely fun moments and i'm glad we went. i liked our hotel (that always makes a difference) and we had lots of great meals. i didn't take many pictures because my fingers were frozen. so - i'll just list some of the highlights!

--ben's cookies of course, one for each day. words can't describe.

--purchasing jeans at the gap (made me feel at home + i left mine in tx)

--the best onion rings ever at gourmet burger kitchen

--great meals at jamie oliver's restaurant and jee's!

--attending trev and kathryn's church on sunday evening

--having a panini at the place i used to go to during the summer of 2004, sofie de france- yum!

--getting properly fitted for running shoes, craig would've appreciated that

--hot chocolate & palmiers at maison blanc (thanks kathryn)

--coming home to SNOW piled thick in st andrews!

things i would've liked to do:

--made our flight

--had a proper tea at the randolph

--had a meal at the old parsonage

--seen trev and kathryn's flat

--had a nanny

--eat more ben's

the end.

happy thanksgiving!

dear family,
we woke up this morning to snow in our garden!! we threw on our boots and let ivy play around in her first little flurry. i'm thankful for mornings like this, and for kevin's classes being cancelled today because his prof is sick. and for sweet american friends here we are going to celebrate with. but mostly, we are so thankful for all of you - even if we are 5000 miles away.

we love and miss y'all.

eat lots for us!

love

kevin, chaiss & ivy

sweet potato soup

i love soup!
y'all may already know that by now.
this one is brought to us from my friend joy again and it's fantastic. all the different ingredients combine to make such an interesting flavor. it's autumn in a bowl. i think this would be better as a starter rather than a main, but that's just a personal preference. there's a lot of peelin' and choppin' going on here, but don't be intimidated. it's really not that bad, and it's worth it!

1. Melt 1/4 cup butter in a large pot over med-high heat.
2. Stir in: 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
3 large carrots, peeled and chopped
1 apple, peeled, cored and chopped
1 onion, chopped
3. Cook about 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
4. Add: 1/2 cup red lentils, rinsed
1/2 tsp. minced fresh ginger
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. paprika
4 cups vegetable or chicken broth
5. Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to med-low. Cover and simmer about 15-20 minutes, until veggies are tender.
6. Puree in a blender and garnish with parsley & paprika.

ENJOY!

ruins of st. andrews cathedral

a few days ago, ivy and i strolled all the way down north street (about 15 minutes) to the cathedral ruins. but let's back up, folks - we actually strolled. it was amazing! let's just have a moment of silence of appreciation.

ok.

it was a cold but sunny day, and this is a great area to let her run around in, very respectfully of course. i kind of forget to explore around and take advantage of all the cool areas by me - but i'm determined to make more of an effort because it's worth it... and it's literally around the corner.

can you see the bird at the top-left? ivy did of course!

more info: here

thanks nana for the jacket! :)

will & kate

there's been a lot of hullaballoo around the town this past week about the engagement of prince william to kate middleton since they met as students here at the university of st. andrews. it's like there's a collective pride in being a part of the engagement of the century! i've seen posters around congratulating them and our pastor even prayed for them during church this morning. come to find out, prince william lived right across the street from our flat for his first two years, (then moved to a farmhouse with his friends further from town for his remaining years at university.) interesting, huh?

i think she's gorgeous here. i can't imagine what it would feel like wearing the late princess diana's ring!

vienna: part 2

Schönbrunn Palace

front of the palace -setting up the huge christmas tree!

palace grounds (this probably has a name but i don't know it)

palace from the back

palace gardens

we walked through the palace gardens down the path to the vienna zoo (or tiergarten, as they say) which happens to be the oldest zoo in the world- founded in 1752! ivy of course absolutely loved it. it was fun watching her make the different animal noises. i think her favorite was the seals.

our last night, we had dinner at the legendary cafe mozart, which was also right around the corner from our hotel. i loved this place! it was fancy but casual at the same time, with a great menu and cozy feel. loved it loved it. i had the pumpkin soup which was so delicious and the quiche lorraine. all really good. ivy had her first little bite of lamb :) make the stop if you're ever in vienna!

the end.

in other news.....

vienna: part 1

we took a 4 hour train ride to vienna and had two great and really quick nights in this cool city. our hotel was really neat, and our room was amazing - so different (and much bigger) than the one in prague. we even had our own hallway!

welcome fruit basket = ivy's purse

we had dinner the first night at fuhrich, just around the corner from our hotel. had my first wiener schnitzel! ate every bite - yum!

streets of vienna/ st. stephen's cathedral

Hofburg Palace - the current official residence of the President of Austria

the hotel gave ivy a little bag with this robe, slippers and a bath toy. she walked around saying "quack quack!"

i wish we could say we all slept wonderfully in this beautiful place but that just didn't happen. with jet lag, a sick baby and no fan, we were pretty much just up! oh well, the days made up for the nights!

part 2 to follow.

True or False

{our makeshift old-school drying system made at 1AM}

1. ivy got sick last night. T
2. all her bedding and her bunny had to be thrown out. T
3. we have extra bedding and a back-up bunny. F
4. our washer/dryer broke temporarily last night, so the clothes that were in the wash had to be hung to dry and anything that was touched with throw-up had to be thrown away. T
5. this included my anthropologie nightie. T
6. it is 10x colder outside then it was when we left for our trip. T
7. it gets dark at 6pm. F
8. it gets dark at 4:30pm. T
9. living abroad was a mistake. F
10. it really does feel good to be home. T

{pardon the interuption of the prague/vienna travel series. will resume tomorrow!}

prague: part 2

delicious cinnamon sugar treats!

(this is the stand where we got them)/ st. vitus' cathedral

we took a 3 hour tour of all the main sights - but ivy fell asleep so kevin stayed with her on the bus. our guide kept taking my camera and telling me to pose so that we can "make pictures for your daughter to see!" haha. here i am in front of the prague castle.

boat ride under the charles bridge on the vltava river!

we spent our last morning wandering around the famous wenceslas square. just keeping track of ivy was enough entertainment for us.

train ride to vienna! so long, prague!