Maggie's 20 Mile Night Hike

Last night my friends and I walked 20 miles around London to raise money for a cancer charity. Let's just say I'm a bit sore and tired this morning! But it was a great experience and will be a life long memory to cherish forever! And we raised lots of money for a great cause. If you are interested in helping us to raise even more, please click here.

Hall Stairs and Landing

For some reason these uploaded in reverse order. So the finished product is here:

















And the later photos is how it looked when we moved in.... all the bits in between represent all the hard work we've been doing over the past 5 months!

On to the dining room now....

N's trip to the UK

My brother N visited us on the way home from his field studies program in Ghana. We had such a great time visiting museums in London, travelling to Snowdonia in Wales to do some family history visiting, walking and eating lots of good food! We really miss you now N! Good luck in your last year at uni.

Edinburgh

The last week of July, J and I went to Edinburgh for a long weekend. We wanted to try out our new car, so we drove all the way there and back (about 7 hours). That doesn't sound like a long drive to me, but for J it was very long as those Brits aren't used to driving long distances like we Americans are!

The first day, we stopped at the Angel of the North on the drive up. We stayed at a lovely B&B in the Leith part of Edinburgh (about 20 minute walk from Princes St). We visited the Royal Botanic Gardens and saw a comedy act, which was a prep act for the Festival, which started this week.

Then on Friday, we saw the Royal Yacht Britannia, which was the Queen's boat that she used on all her holidays for nearly 50 years. That was beautiful and I really enjoyed seeing the Queen's taste in decor. Then we had lunch at The Kitchin, which is a Michelin starred restaurant and it was fab. I will never forget having minced pigs trotters - yum! J also really enjoyed his chocolate souffle for dessert. That afternoon we shopped, went on a ghost tour and then had a late supper at The Witchery Restaurant near the Castle.

On Saturday, we visited the Castle and then walked all around the town and shopped way too much. We saw Inception and then had a nice quiet dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant that evening.

All in all, we ate too much and spent too much but it was a great little break to get away. Even the weather cooperated :) Now we just have to get through 3 more days of work and then we're off for a week (or 2 weeks in J's case) for our visit with N. More pics to come!

London 2 Brighton

Last week was the annual Mini Run to Brighton. Our mini did so well but it took 4 hours to get to Brighton (it should only take about 2!) So much traffic which was a bore. But a nice day at the seaside and so much fun seeing all the minis!

Visit with Elder J

We went to King's Lynn in Norfolk last month to visit Elder J and his companion. We had a great time!

Cello lessons

I have decided to learn to play the cello. I've always loved it and figured now was as good a time as any to learn. I have hired a cello from the local music shop and found a teacher in my town. He's very good - still doing his degree in cello performance, but he also teaches piano and violin. I had my first lesson last weekend and was excited to get practicing on Sunday. Then I got the bright idea to try my hand at tuning and managed to break the C string. That's the really big fat one that is the equivalent of the C two octaves below middle C on the piano. When I told my teacher he said it was quite an achievement and he has never broken the C string. Guess I didn't know my own strength! I have managed to buy and fit a new string, but I think it's pretty bad quality because, even though it's now roughly in tune, it just sounds so much worse than the other ones. Think I'll be string shopping again this weekend once my teacher has had a chance to look at it and recommend the best one for the instrument (that won't cost the earth as I can't afford to keep replacing good strings on a weekly basis!) I have already managed a C major scale though and am learning how to hold the bow and make a sound that isn't too painful for the ears! (Poor J and the kitties!) But it gives me something to look forward to in the evenings to spend a little time practicing something and it has also inspired me to get back into practicing the piano. I really appreciate being able to sit down and actually make music on that instrument! Stay tuned for some pics with me and my beautiful cello :)