Easter in the Countryside

**This is a very photo heavy post

I spent the long Easter weekend in Berkshire at Tom's parents house. Tom had quite the weekend planned for everyone he invited. On Thursday after work he and I drove to his parents and were greeted by his mom and the dogs. One of the dogs had puppies a few weeks back and we got to play with them. They are so amazing (2 girls and 4 boys) and they are the CUTEST little nuggets ever!  After a delicious dinner and more puppy time it was late and time to go to bed.

On Friday Tom and I took the dogs outside and we laid in the grass enjoying the gorgeous weather. The 1st two guests, Saran and Charlie, arrived at lunchtime and we enjoyed lunch in the garden and took the pups out to play on the grass for the first time.

That evening Michael joined us and we had pre-dinner drinks in the garden again and then went inside for another amazing dinner which included lots and lots of laughs.  

On Saturday Saran left to go back to London after breakfast and Tom, Michael, Charlie and I drove to Wiltshire for a day in Marlborough to do some shopping at the markets and headed to a pub called The Outside Chance for lunch.  Lunch included jugs of Pimms and lots more laughter. 

After walking around Marlborough we all went back to Michael's house and had tea out in the garden as the sun was beginning to set. The weather again was absolutely gorgeous! 

We headed back to Toms after tea and went for a "frolic" in the field with the dogs before yet another delicious dinner. 

Due to the fact that we had to be up early on Sunday we called it a night early. On Sunday morning at were joined by Bex at breakfast and ventured off to the Badminton Horse Trials Cross Country Day.  This was something that I had never experienced before but it was so amazing. I would try to explain it but can not do it any justice so you should check out this link to see.  

On our last day Bex left early in the morning and Tom, Charlie and I had a relaxing day with the puppies and took the dogs for a great walk. We also kind of had an impromptu photo shoot in the woods :)

  

Sadly after yet another amazing dinner we had to end the amazing weekend, head back to London and get back to normal life.  

It was such a beautiful weekend, the weather, the food, the plans and most importantly the company were perfect.  I could not think of a better way to spend Easter weekend. Thank you to Tom and his mother for such a great time!

Happy 1st Birthday!

Today is A Redhead in London's 1st Birthday!  I started this blog as a way to keep my family and friends abreast of my life in London (and leading up to the move) and I can't believe that its already been a year since I started writing.  To think back to this time last year when I had no idea where I would be living, how I would find a place, how I would get over here, who I would be living with...and now here I am almost 9 months to the day of my move all settled and very happy.
I want to send out a huge thank you to all my readers, known and unknown. Thanks for following me and I hope you will continue to do so!  I look forward to sharing more of my adventures with you.

xoxo

Sun, Shopping and Shakespeare (among other things)

This past weekend was the most beautiful weekend so far this year.  The sun was shining like it was nobodies business and the city was bustling. It was beautiful and what better way to spend a beautiful weekend than being out in the sun with friends.  On Saturday post breakfast in the neighborhood I headed into town with Tom and his friend Michael. The mission at hand was: get Michael some new duds as he wanted to update his wardrobe. Armed with is 2 fashionable sidekicks, Michael set off into Covent Garden and walked away a new man. OK maybe it wasn't that dramatic...but he ended up with 5 bags of clothing and a kick in his step.  I left the boys to meet up with Caroline to see The Tempest at the Barbican Centre. I woke up on Saturday morning with a message from Caroline that read "Brush up on the synopsis...the show is in Russian" so I had no idea what I was in for.  I went into it open minded with the mentality of...some people who speak English cant understand Shakespeare so I'm going to treat it like that. Lucky for me I had seen The Tempest last Spring so I already had an idea. The show was fantastic!  There were some really interesting elements to it. The Tempest is not my favorite of good old Will's cannon but I really enjoyed what I saw.  I look at is as it is preparing me for when The Globe puts on the whole of Shakespeare's works during the Olympics, each play will be in a different language.  Bring it!  Post show Caroline and I met up with Tom and Michael after the show for a night of drinking, dancing and debauchery with Michael was looking ever so stylish in his new clothing!  Did we have fun...oh yes we did!  We ended up in this club just off of Piccadilly where we got to bypass the queue and get in immediately. It certainly didn't suck not having to wait in line!  We all parted ways early Sunday morning armed with quite a few laughs from the night.

On Sunday Tom and I picked up Michael and we headed to Embankment Gardens for bacon sandwiches (mmm...bacon) sunshine and all in all a relaxed morning.  We were right by where Tom works and he recently got a promotion so he showed us his swanky new office on the same floor as his CEO!  After the office tour we decided what better time than now to go and get waffles.  We headed to a park bench to eat our waffle-y goodness before heading to Tate Britain to take in this Watercolour exhibit.  I hadn't been to Tate Britain since I was over here in 1999 so it was nice to go back. And this exhibit was great.  I didn't know how detailed watercolours to be. I'm used to seeing the use of watercolour paintings looking diluted and well, watery, but there was this one painting that looked like a photograph. It was gorgeous!  I wish I had photos to show you but I didn't have my camera.  We ended our day with a drive down the Embankment all the way to Tower Bridge and then headed back to grab food (all you can eat sushi in Soho) before dropping Michael off at the train (shopping bags in hands.)  It was the perfect way to spend a such a beautiful weekend!

Here are some photos from the weekend. I apologize for the quality as they are from my phone.

Breakfast in the park

Tom gave up coffee for Lent so he is smelling mine

Michael looking like a million bucks in his new clothing

Friend for 23 years...

with Oscar our faithful mode of transportation for the day

I Know I'm Going to Regret This

I'm going to regret posting this on a public forum, but if I do it this way I can't back out of it.  I'm making my official announcement...I am going to sign up to run a 10K. 

I haven't yet learned to like to run, but I somehow still keep doing this to myself, so "Go big or go home!"
Ive downloaded a Couch to 10K app for my phone which will have me supposedly running a 10K in 13 weeks but since I have already started the running thing I think I might skip to week 4 or something and it will leave me with 9 weeks to run a 10K. I can do it right? Right!?!?!

So here goes nothing.

Its About Time

Its already April and I havent written since February, it's official that I am a terrible blogger. Anyway, lots to catch up on though...

Its officially Spring in London. We have had some cool days still but over all the weather has been holding steady in the mid teens (thats high 50s-low 60s F) and its been wonderful. The trees all have flowering buds on them and the sun has been shining and as much as possible, color has been emerging from my mostly gray, black and brown wardrobe.

Last month I ventured out of London for the first time in ages and went to Brighton. I had never been and it was so much fun. It was the first time I had ever been on a pebble beach! (its the little things)

I took my DSLR with me, which is a rarity for me, but I got some great shots (Tom did as well) of our day trip. 

Also, I have been exploring the wonders of London. I read about this waffle place called Wafflemeister which isn't far from home and indulged in a little bit of Heaven!

Also, I ran yet another 5K. This time I finished knocking about 5 minutes off my time. I was pretty impressed with myself. I still don't love running but I am committing to it (well, to be fair I haven't run since the race but I will) and I am looking to sign up for another one.  

A little pre-race warm-up

What else...

Oh, I went to the opera for the first time. It was amazing. I saw Madam Butterfly at Royal Albert Hall. Never before have I stepped foot into a more beautiful or amazing place!  

Thats pretty much it for right now. I will try to be more on top of my blogging. I hope this will wet your appetite for more...and I hope there is more excitement to come :)

*This blog is dedicated to my friend Cat Parker :)