Thanksgiving!!

So...I survived my first thanksgiving, (but only just!!!)

The day was very much like Christmas day, but without the present

giving, which was actually a nice sentiment, and more about simply

enjoying the company of others and being thankful for what we have.

We had the thanksgiving here at Wildgrove avenue, so the day started

early as Decided i was going to help with preparation of the meal and

even contribute with a couple of dishes.

Brixs' parents took a flight over from California and are staying the

week here, so that was great to meet them, after the turkey was in we went over to the neighbors house for some drinks and snacks, in total there were 8 of us who ate thanksgiving meal together, while we heard

the story of thanksgiving from Brixs' dad, Bruce.

(I made sure to let

everyone know that the pilgrims in fact were originally from

nottinghamshire!)

As you can seek in the pictures we had a variety of things to go along

with the turkey, they were all really great!!!

I made devils on horseback (another great English tradition) as a pre

dinner snack, stuffing the prunes with Stilton before wrapping them in

bacon, they went down extremely well, and I made a potato, parsnip,

onion and Rosemary mash - which not surprisingly was a success!

After the meal, we had people over for dessert and cocktails. Pumpkin
pie, spiced apple cider, cranberry gin and tonics...and much much
more! This was a real treat and I was so thankful to share my first
thanksgiving with such amazing people, we had the official Christmas
lights switch on, that jeff, brix and I put up outside the house and
on the tree, I'm sure you will agree it looks lovely!

This was all topped off with the fact that a cold front came around,
amazingly on thanksgiving day, so it was a lot colder and we had the
fire burning, which made for a really nice thanksgiving. A day later I'm still stuffed and the fridge is full of leftovers that will
probably be around till Christmas! 

All I can say is what a special
day, and I look forward to the next thanksgiving!

6 weeks in – Blog Update

So 6 weeks in what can I say.

Only how glad I am that I made the brave move to head across the pond. I must get asked over 5 times a day ‘So what made you come to Texas?’ and the answer I would have given before I left is still the same as now. Amazing hospitality, a feel of great opportunity, a real sense of community and a place filled with exciting things to see and do. My adventure so far really was better than I ever could have imagined....

I am just back from a friends 30^th birthday party, she initially helped me during my search in dallas, even picking me up for the airport on my first day here – how long ago that now feels!! I baked her a cake using reeces cups – shown in the picture here – it was amazing and I can’t wait to re-create for you it some day!

I am making progress here in Dallas on the work front, applying for interesting jobs, networking and learning so much from all the new experiences that I encounter each day. Last weekend I voulunteered with a friend, we went to a really poor hispanic neighborhood and read to the children and helped them to read, that was really nice as it seemed many of them couldn't speak or read english very well.

So sorry I havent been in touch more,  but hope you like this post and i hope to follow up with more soon.

My First 'Football' Game - Texas Tech vs Missouri

Happy Halloween!!