Dorset weekend and a busy week – Week 17 (July 2010)

This weekend saw me heading off to Dorset for a weekend with my Aunt and Uncle in the countryside. 2 hours later on a train I pulled into Gillingham, Dorset (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gillingham,_Dorset). It’s the first time I have seen my Aunt at her home and each moment was special. With all the beautiful and stunning countryside we got to go on stunning walks with Ginny (their dog), felt as if I was on holiday!

Saturday night saw us heading off to one of the National Trust’s Heritage homes, Stourhead (www.nationaltrust.org.uk/stourhead/) where we got to enjoy an evening picnic set in stunning scenery with an amazing firework display all choreographed to music to send the evening. Many memories from that night. Next morning was off to the airfield to watch some of the micro light planes and see the beautiful countryside that God has created. Eventually after a lovely bbq for lunch I gradually made my way back to Stoke Green.

Work was busy to say the least this week, so pleased I had a relaxing weekend to cope with the hours this week would bring! Oh and of course coffee and chocolate helps to keep me going!

Time out, summer sales, technology and girls nights - Week 16 (July 2010)

Middle of July and that means summer sales galore in UK – had fun doing some bargain hunting over the course of a couple of days. Got to meet up with Allyson and Archie for their first trip to Windsor, great fun had and a nice dinner well lets say when we eventually got our food…….. Perhaps there is another reason why the place we ate at is called Ha Ha Bar and Grill!

This week I was also out with some of my old friends when we had a girlie get together. Laughed so much our sides hurt :) Lovely to see we are all still friends, some of us have known each other for over 10 years, yes time really does fly. We can also tell we are a little ‘older’ as going out during the work week for dinner a couple of times in one week left us all tired!

And lastly……SKYPE – yes ok a lot of you probably have used this technology well before me but I am finally there now! It was wonderful and mum and dad got to my family in NC for the first time face to face, let’s just say we are all still smiling about it :o) Who knows perhaps one day we will get Guto on Skype and then we will see him in person doing this..... (thanks to everyone at Chadales I miss him so much)

Race for Life 5K, horse time, London trip and rest! – Week 15 (July 2010)

No sooner did I recover from the half marathon it was time for mum and me to join over 2500 other women for the Windsor Race for Life in aid of Cancer research. Something mum never thought she would participate in but I was so proud of her finishing the 5K – we both had a lovely time and decided we deserved some ice-cream afterwards!

Horses were around a lot this week for me with checking on my friends horses and helping out at the RDA and continuing to train a horse which shall hopefully be used for RDA come September.

Work was a busy, busy one this week and I had a trip to London mid week. Guess who managed to get lost…………eventually found the correct street I was looking for but think I walked miles to get to my destination! Nice to be in London, the hustle and bustle does remind me a lot of NYC.

Had aimed to start going back to the gym more as I finally have clearance from my doctors after my bike accident in May – praise God. But it seems like I needed to rest as on both occasions I should have gone to gym in the evening I fell asleep early………. Whoops!

July, dad’s birthday, half marathon time (!), portrait pictures – Week 14 (July 2010)

Here we are in July and sure was a busy start to the month. Got a chance to carry on with my volunteer work with the homeless, God truly does allow you to let His light shine; we have to be willing vessels though and be prepared to step out of our comfort zone.

Got to enjoy time with Jenny from NC which was nice, I do like showing people round England and of course the typical country pub setting and food :) Dad’s birthday was on July 5th, the weather was nice to us so we all went out for the evening plus were still in amazement that the portrait pictures that we taken of us all turned out the way they did! Anyone who is looking for that something extra and memorable to go to Venture (http://www.venturephotography.com/uk/), they looked after us so well and dad can finally look at a picture and feel as if he isn’t in a wheelchair.

Big event this weekend was the Wycombe Wander Midnight Half Marathon. Yes Simone and I managed it in just over 3 hours, there were a total of 700 people who took part and raised over 55K. Kids in Sport raised 10K, wonderful to be part of an event like that, you could say after 48 hours of being up and doing a half marathon at night I sure slept well the following day!

Oxford fellowship and another month nearly gone already – Week 13 (June 2010)

After all we did last weekend this week/weekend was taken a little slower. The weather is being really nice to us right now and allowed us all to have lots of cups of tea in the garden.

Also the time of year for Wimbledon, (http://www.wimbledon.org/en_GB/index.html), so dad was happy watching his tennis while eating strawberries and cream – after all it’s a Wimbledon tradition! Mum and I had a girlie shopping time in Windsor which was nice and whoops we managed to stop and get a traditional Mr Whippy ice-cream, yum yum!

On Sunday I was in Oxford all day fellowshipping with Ridgeway Community Church (http://www.ridgeway-church.org.uk/) and bringing God’s word in their service. A lovely day had and being set amongst the countryside and seeing nature in its element was perfect.

Jenny from NC was over too so we got to go out and she kindly bought me some more oreo's!!!