Finally....the world is my oyster

I am so excited I naturalised back in February this year which was a very special moment to share with my husband and in-laws. My ceremony took place at the Matlock Town Hall - such a grand and imposing building. Just a few weeks ago, I had my interview with the Identity & Passporting which was the last hurdle to go through and a few days later, I received my passport so now the world is my oyster and we can travel all over the world at a drop of a hat!

Easter Treats

Last weekend was Easter so I decided to make some treats as our contribution towards Easter lunch.

So I made chocolate brownies with strawberry cream as well as chocolate crispier with chocolate mini eggs.

Both were slimming world recipes - I was so disappointed with the chocolate brownies as all I could taste or smell were the prunes that I had to liquides and remove the stone.

However the chocolate crispier were delicious!

Mothers

Mother's Day was celebrated throughout the UK yesterday - Mothers were woken by their loved ones eagerly awaiting to shower them with tokens of love and appreciation whether they be in the form of a cuddle, homemade card or breakfast in bed.

Mothers are so special - they always sense when you are feeling down or need reassurance or even a cuddle. They always know the right thing to say. Everyone needs their mothers whether they are little or big so always show them that you love them not just one day in the year!

Where has all the time gone...

I cannot believe that it is now March....

We had a lovely January celebrating Scott's nana's 90th birthday - It was aoperations fair planning her birthday. Scott's mother put a lot of thought into the day what with a lovely birthday cake, gorgeous flowers and high tea at Woodborough Hall - fantastic location around the corner from the cosy church that Scott and I got married in.

Our friend, Jayne re-scheduled nana's hair appointment from her usual Wednesday appointment to the day of her birthday so she looked her best on her special day. We always phone her on her birthday so despite taking the day off from work, we decided to tell a white lie or 2 while still in bed, Scott phoned to wish her and then I called her, both pretending to be travelling to work and that we would meet up with her on the Saturday to celebrate - little did she know that in a few hours we would be celebrating in style.

Scott's parents picked her up and took her on a scenic route so as to give Scott's cousin, Mark and his partner enough time to make it to the hotel before her arrival.

Well...when they arrived and she walked towards the doorway and saw Scott, Jen, his sister, Simon, her boyfriend, Mark, Richard, grandpa Alec, Auntie Joyce and me, she started to tear up which triggered Scott's mom, Jen and myself to tear up as well!

All I can say is that she thoroughly enjoyed herself - the cakes, scones and sandwiches were all delicious and so was the glass of Moët and tea....!

2012 Resolutions.....

Well 2012 has arrived - both Scott and I made a decision that we would get healthy this year so on the 3rd of January besides returning to work that day, we joined Slimming World with 2 of Scott's colleagues.

So we sat down listening to a very friendly group leader introduce herself to us and speak so passionately about Slimming World. When we left that evening, we were all excited about starting our Slimming World journey and even bought several Slimming World cook books. By the end of the week, we were eagerly awaiting our turn to step on the scales and see if we have lost any weight - to our surprise, we both did very well - I lost 6 1/2 pounds and Scott lost 6 pounds! It comes down to making sensible decisions when planning your meals. I am pleased to say that I have lost a further 4 pounds and Scott has lost another 3 1/2 pounds. Besides healthy eating, I had a 1 to 1 session with a personal trainer and he has given me a great programme to do at home.

So, I am pleased to say that we have managed to keep our resolutions for more than a few days!

Merry Christmas to all

I cannot believe it is Christmas eve - I finished work earlier this week and Scott finally finished work on Thursday. We are spending Christmas at Scott's parents home with Scott's sister, Jen and her boyfriend, Simon as well as Nana , Great Auntie Joyce and Granpa Alex.

We have decorated the lounge tastefully and now we are all looking forward to the next few days of spending time together enjoying each other's company and some delicious food prepared by my amazing mother-in-law, Brenda and both Scott and I will be assisting her in the kitchen.

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas! X

A night of murder on the Trans-Siberian Express

A few weeks ago, we hosted a Murder Mystery evening...the scene was set on the Trans-Siberian Express in the 1930's.

We invited 6 friends of ours and sent them a invitation with all the details of their characters that we chose for them to be for the evening. We had a Russian General, the General's wife, a Chinese Ambassador, Geisha girl (spy), old wise Chinaman, his daughter (another spy), a British Major and his secretary.

The host manual gave us tips on how to manage the evening and also menu suggestions but as we didn't like their suggestions, so we chose to serve:-

Starters:-
Smoked salmon with cream cheese with cavier on bellini'S

Main Course:-
Beef stroganoff with crunchy potatoes

Dessert:-
Apple and Toffee Crumble with custard

Between courses, we had to read extracts from each of the character guides and exchange information that was relevant at certain times of the evening.

The evening went well...glad to say that we were able to guess the murderer....lots of laughs were had by all as we all tried to speak in different accents some better than others.

We would definitely host another Murder Mystery evening!