The Beginning of a Great Trip!

Doing some hiking in St. Ives

After a hectic travel schedule, Phil and Debbie Henry are officially in England!  They unfortunately ran into some complications on their way here as both of their flights were delayed due to the late March snowstorm in Wisconsin/Minnesota earlier this week.  Due to the delays and time in line for Customs, they missed their train here.  Fortunately they were able to get tickets for a train going from London to Truro a couple of hours later.  So after a long and stressful trip, they made it to Truro Wednesday night around 9pm!

As you can imagine the jet lag was tough the first couple of days.  They were able to take the first couple of days here to adjust to the time difference and get sorted.  As Debbie hasn’t been feeling 100%, John took Phil around Truro Thursday afternoon for an official tour.  They checked out the Cornwall Museum, walked the main path of the city and even had a Cornish pasty while sitting in the sun in Lemon Quay Square! 

As both John and I had off Friday, we decided to spend the day in St. Ives, which is a coastal town on the northern coast that we had never been to but heard great things about.  Once we were there, we realized what everyone was raving about--it was the most beautiful city yet we’ve seen in Cornwall!  We spent the day exploring the white sand beaches, the turquoise water, the adorable shops and even did some hiking.  We ended up having lunch at a seaside restaurant and finished the meal eating ice cream on the coastal path back to the train station.  The weather was amazing as it was around 58 and sunny all afternoon.  A truly amazing day!  Once back from St. Ives (and after a quick nap), we all headed to Wetherspoon’s (the local pub/restaurant) for a bite to eat.  Overall, a great day!

Perranporth Beach

As I had to work this afternoon, John, Phil and Deb headed to Perranporth Beach for part of the day to enjoy their last full day in Cornwall.  They were able to take a walk on the beach as well as do some hiking and exploring along the coastal path to St. Agnes.  Their afternoon in the sun and along the beach ended with lunch at a café where they experienced a Cornish Cream Tea as well as another pasty.  And they lucked out again with another fantastic day of weather as it was sunny and warm (with no rain!). 

As their time in Truro winds down, we will spend tonight packing and getting ready for our week in Italy!  We leave in the morning and will have a week to experience Rome and Venice.  Life sure is good.

Work, Gardening and Babies!

It’s been a busy couple of weeks since we returned from Amsterdam.  Sad to say, not in an interesting sort of way.  We have been busy with work, as my part-time position has pretty much turned into a full-time one over the past couple of weeks.  And I have started working on the weekends, as I guess that is the norm in retail.  John’s job has also been busier than normal, so we have spent the past couple of weeks just focused on our day-to-day.

Perfect day for some gardening!

Other than work, we have spent the past week or so focusing on getting everything “visitor friendly” at our place before our first set of guests arrive next Wednesday!  John and I spent this weekend going from store to store trying to find all the miscellaneous things we are in need of (extra towels, bowls, bedding, etc).  We also decided that the guest room needed a little sprucing up, so John spent Saturday morning painting and I helped out when I got home from work.  Now that the room is painted and put back together, I am so glad we took the time to do it.  A fresh coat of paint makes such a difference!  Then yesterday was the first time that John and I did some gardening in our backyard.  It was a clear and sunny day (in the mid 50’s) so we put some music on and got started.  It was so nice to spend some time outside working in the yard and in the sun.  Definitely a perfect Sunday!  Once we finish up a couple more small projects, we should be set for John’s parents coming next week and then it’s off to Rome and Venice!  We just can’t believe how quickly time has flown since we moved here and that it has been almost six months since we’ve seen family.  We can’t wait for Phil and Deb to visit as well as some other guests in the coming months :-)  

Madison protests

We have also been closely following the Walker versus Unions in Wisconsin over these past couple of weeks and are thinking about all of our friends and family who will be impacted by these changes.  I know it is a huge battle and issue in the States and realized that it is also hitting internationally as I picked up a local newspaper over my tea break at work and read an entire article devoted to the political happenings with Walker in Wisconsin!  Will be interesting to see what happens in the upcoming weeks.

On a lighter and happier note, the past couple of days have been filled with baby news!  John’s sister Joan and her husband Greg had a baby boy this past week.  His name is Henry Louis Borens and he was a whopping 10 lb baby!  My best friend Emily and her husband Adam also had a baby boy this morning – Turner Chase Bradley.  I was lucky enough to chat with Emily and she is beyond happy with her new addition.  Congrats to everyone!  Looks like we’ll have lots of new babies to meet once we’re back in the States!

An Amsterdam Birthday

Ahhh Amsterdam…what a weekend.  As my 30-year-old fingers type away, I am reminded of all that we experienced in this great city.  Everyone knows that Amsterdam is well known for it’s “open” stance on a number of morally taboo and controversial activities.  But to be honest, if I lived in Amsterdam, I would be rather annoyed that this is the first thing that comes to mind when one hears the word “Amsterdam.”  Yes, the presence of these things can be quite apparent depending on where you go, but Amsterdam is SO much more than this. 

I’m sure in the 13^th century, when fisherman built a dam across the Amstel River, they had no idea that an entire city would be built around this site and on the water.  Today the city, once the home to famous artists Van Gough and Rembrandt, is filled with hundreds of canals, connecting bridges, museums and fantastically old buildings.  It would be the perfect place to ring in the big 3-0.

We arrived in Amsterdam on Thursday night and after settling in to our hotel, we headed out to begin exploring.  Katie and I both had one thing in mind that we just HAD to have while we were outside of the UK.  We knew that Amsterdam would have just the cure for what we were craving….Mexican Food.  After strolling up and down the shop-filled streets, we found a great Mexican restaurant, complete with a man in a large sombrero waving people in from the street.  Let’s just say the food was amazing and we were both reminded of how much we missed good Mexican food. 

Friday morning, we started the day with a great breakfast at our hotel and headed out for the day.  What we really wanted to do was bicycle around the city, but since it was only about 35 degrees, we decided it would be a little too cold.  Incidentally, out of a population of 738,000 people, 600,000 of them have bikes, definitely a very “green” city (for more than one reason).  As a result we decided to get around the city by hopping on and off of canal boat line that had multiple routes running throughout Amsterdam. 

"I AM STERDAM" letters in front of the Rijksmuseum

We were both so fascinated by the fact that a lot of the houses were 5-6 stories tall and some, only about 30 feet across.  We learned on the canal boat that most houses were built that way during the 17^th century because the owners were taxed only on how wide the façade of the house was.  This resulted in a lot of houses that were very skinny, but very tall and very deep.  

We decided to hop off in an area known as Leidseplein, which is the very popular neighborhood for nightlife.  After a short stroll, we stumbled across a bar that was playing nothing but college basketball.  Since, it was my birthday, we even got to stop in for a quick drink before continuing with the day.  Not surprisingly, this bar was filled with Americans…mostly large groups of study abroad students who traveled to Amsterdam for a weekend of shenanigans. 

After a pint of Heineken to build up our courage, Katie and I knew we finally HAD to experience first hand what draws so many people to this city….the museums.  We made our way back over near our hotel, which was only a few blocks away from the Anne Frank House.  After waiting in line we were able to go in and explore the house where Anne Frank and her family hid during WWII when German troops occupied the city.  During this time over 100,000 Jews were deported almost completing wiping out the Jewish community.  It was not the most uplifting birthday activity, but so interesting. 

A Vodka-Red Bull night...enough said

After a short nap at the hotel, we headed out for the night.  Since we were in Amsterdam, I knew it was time to finally do what I have only done a few times since college….go out for sushi.  You know that it had to be my birthday if I got to drink during the day, watch college basketball and have sushi for dinner : )  Fortunately, on the same block as our hotel was a fantastic Japanese teppanyaki restaurant where we both had a great dinner.  From there, we headed out for the night were we had a few drinks, danced and heard a song that we haven’t stopped playing since we left Amsterdam.  Everywhere we went in Amsterdam, they were playing a song called “Hello” by Martin Solveig & Dragonette—still can’t get it out of my head.     

Now THAT is a public restroom

Needless to say, we had a great night out and we spent most of Saturday sleeping in and then doing some more exploring.  We also spent the majority of the afternoon shopping (yeah, my birthday…definitely over).   Since it was our last day in Amsterdam, Katie and I made a pact that we would take full advantage of what Amsterdam is best known for….waffles.  On every street corner, there were bakeries that sold waffles of all different flavors (chocolate, strawberry, frosted, candy sprinkles, etc.). Katie was slightly obsessed.   

After a great dinner on our last night we headed back to the hotel for some much needed rest before our long journey home the next day. 

Mmmm...Waffles.....one of many

Needless to say, we had a great time in this truly beautiful city.  I have to admit that going into the weekend, I had this image in my head that Amsterdam would be kind of this seedy place where you would have to watch over your back everywhere you went—but I was pleasantly surprised to find it was just the opposite.  It was beautiful, very clean and filled with some of the nicest people we have met on our travels so far.  I can’t think of many better ways to spend the last days of my 20’s and the first days of my 30’s.  

Below is a link to more of our photos in Amsterdam if anyone is interested:


Click Here for More Pictures

Birthday Weekend!

As expected, February continues to be a busy, yet fantastic month!  I celebrated my birthday this past weekend and it ended up being about as perfect as a birthday can be!  John made me my favorite breakfast of french toast, bacon and Starbucks.  We then headed off to the town of Penzance for the afternoon for some exploring and even a little bit of shopping.  It has been raining every day here for the past couple of weeks, so we lucked out with a day filled with sun!  Once back home Saturday evening, we decided to stay in, relax and catch up on some of our favorite shows. 

A really fun part of the day was opening up this huge box sent to me from Emily.  I just about fell off of my chair when I opened it up to find some of my favorite American foods and treats that we they don’t sell here.  She even sent two loaves of her famous banana bread!  It didn’t take long for me to have a meal of cheeseburger macaroni hamburger helper (I know, very high class :-) and eat some of my absolute favorite microwave popcorn of movie theatre butter! 

John also surprised me with the neatest cake from a bakery here in Truro.  The cake is shaped just like a teapot and was the perfect size for two of us.  It really was beautiful and I had a hard time finally cutting into it!  Overall, it was a really great day and I enjoyed all of the cards that came in the mail and facebook postings.  I definitely felt loved!

As my birthday is finished, John’s 30^th is this weekend!  We are getting excited for our trip to Amsterdam and plan to pack tonight and then head out tomorrow morning for a long weekend.  We have both been looking forward to this trip and hopefully we have a fun time.  We will be sure to update our doings once we’re back next week!  Happy February!

Eden Project...and a Job!

Eden Project Biomes

It has been a great mixture of fun and relaxing over the past week or so.  On Saturday, John and I decided to make the trip to a place we have heard a lot about called The Eden Project.  John’s work sponsored a day of free admission, so we thought we better take advantage of one of Cornwall’s biggest tourist attractions. 

Watching my hand rolled breadsticks being cooked in
the Mediterranean biome

The Eden Project is located outside of St. Austell, was built in an old clay mine and opened in 2001.  It is a sprawling area with huge biomes (that look like gigantic golf balls) built at the bottom.  The biomes contain plants from around the globe and are the biggest conservatories in the world.  One group of biomes contains the Mediterranean plants while the other bigger biome contains the tropical plant-life.  They also have a separate building that is focused on interactional education for both adults and children as well as a seasonal ice skating rink that turns into a concert venue in the summer!

Sculpture made of each human's average
lifetime consumption of electrical waste

While we were there, we got to see some pretty great plants and flowers and learn a ton about the nature around us and in other parts of the world.  They did a great job of keeping it interactive and having a ton of interesting information scattered throughout the entire place.  Going to the Eden Project, we didn’t really know what to expect but we ended up really enjoying our visit.  Definitely worth the trip there!

Some exciting news to share is that I started a job this week!  While walking by a women’s clothing store on my way home from downtown last Wednesday, I saw a posting for a part-time job in the window.  I decided to stop in to ask about it and ended up talking with the manager for a while, which went really well.  She told me to fill out the application and bring it in.  When I stopped by on Friday to drop off the application, I was immediately offered the job!  It’s a part-time position and I already had my first day of work yesterday.  So I am looking forward to be working again and am excited that it’s only a five-minute walk from my front door! 

Holy Lemon!

The next couple of weeks should be really fun as it’s my birthday, Valentine’s Day and John’s 30^th in Amsterdam!  I am hoping to visit a coastal town and maybe even do some shopping on Saturday and then pack up for our trip next weekend.  Not a bad February!

An Old War Story...

One of the things that I love most about working with an older patient population is getting to hear old war stories.  In the States we have a dwindling generation of WWII veterans who have experienced things that most members of my generation couldn’t even imagine.  That being said, a huge part of what I am finding most enjoyable about my job here is the opportunity to meet patients who fought in the same war, but for a different country. 

Today, I had a new patient come in for what started as a routine valve change and ended with a fascinating conversation.  This patient (we’ll call him Jack) was well into his 80's and was a quintessential Cornish man.  When I asked him where about in Cornwall he lives, he began telling me about his village of Mawnan Smith, a small fishing village, where he has lived his entire life.  As he began explaining what makes Mawnan Smith very unique, he started to get very emotional.  What I learned over the next ten minutes is something I will always remember.  Jack went on to explain that in Mawnan Smith there is a place called Trebah (TREE-bah) Beach, which is a short walk down the coastal path from his cottage.  What makes this beach significant is that on June 1^st, 1944, 7500 American soldiers left Trebah beach to embark on a 5-day journey for Normandy Beach, where most of them died on D-Day. 

Jack was in his teens at the time and recalled his Mom baking dozens of loaves of bread just to give away to the American soldiers.  As word spread, two soldiers in particular used to come up to the house almost daily and talk to him while his Mom wrapped their bread in cloth.  He remembers them talking about the “long haul” they had ahead of them and how the bread reminded them of home.   

With tears literally streaming down his face he told me that will never forget how, in a matter of weeks, their coastal village was filled with thousands of young American soldiers, and overnight they were all gone. 

He apologized repeatedly for being so emotional but said that as soon as I started talking, my American accent reminded him of that time and how many soldiers died during that war—among them, his two older brothers. 

As he was leaving he looked back at me and said, “You know, talking to those two soldiers was the only other time in my life I ever talked to an American. Who would have thought, all these years later?” 

I remember thinking as he walked away that this guy probably hasn’t left the county of Cornwall his entire life, let alone the country.  The whole world has changed around him and here we are living about 7-8 miles from this beach, enjoying an opportunity that was made possible by those American soldiers.  

An American landing craft on Trebah Beach, 1943

Health Care

Well, it’s been a few months now and I have had a lot of you asking me about how my job is going and how the health care in the UK compares with that of the US.  I recognize that this topic may be more interesting for those of you who work in health care, but I thought I would write it anyway.

National Health Service...my employer.

As most of you know, health care is a topic that I could talk about for hours, which mostly results in the glazing over of eyes after a few minutes (at least that’s how long Katie lasts). The fact it, it’s a conversation that I very much look forward to having with people but I believe that it should be just that…a conversation.  There are a number of things that I really miss about health care in the States and there are a number of things that I am truly enjoying about my job here.  That being said, it’s important to remember that there is a very big difference between being an employee working in a health care system and being a patient receiving the care that system provides.

What I do know is that this experience is giving me a very unique perspective on how different health care systems can work and it’s helping me to construct a viewpoint on what it means to have “quality” health care.  The honest answer is that although I am seeing a lot of differences, even I don’t know exactly where I stand on the issue. As a result, I will save opinions for our future conversations and instead try to present the facts and observations that I have found most interesting.

Initially, pronunciation of medical terminology was difficult to adjust to.  Obviously we all have the same anatomy and every hospital in the world has pretty much the same departments, but what they call them is a different story.  For example here “respiratory” is pronounced “res-PEER-i-tree” and “trachea” is pronounced “tray-KEE-ah.”  Physical Therapy is Physio Therapy and the only people who you call “Doctor” are the GP’s (General Practitioners) and the L1 and L2 junior doctors (like 1^st and 2^nd year residents).  Once a doctor becomes a surgeon and/or has completed enough procedures to reach “consultant” status (like an Attending in the US), they are then referred to as “Mr” or “Miss” and no longer “Dr.” This was really hard to get used to since most of the people I work with are consultant ENT surgeons who are VERY experienced.  So, I needed to quickly learn to call him/her “Mr. Wilde” instead of “Dr. Wilde” because the latter would technically be insulting. 

I never thought these words would ever come out of my mouth, but “I have a whole new respect for paperwork.”  This was one of the least favorite parts of my job in the States and I’m not saying that I enjoy it here, but never has the importance of consistent and clear documentation been more evident.  The thing I miss most about the US is the fact that everything is done on the computer.  The NHS is just now starting that painful transition to computerized documentation that a lot of us went through about 4-5 years ago, but for the time being, we are still using paper charts and all the scheduling of patients is done by the therapist by hand writing in my diary (oh yeah, here your scheduler book is called your “diary.”)  Every time I schedule a patient, I resist the urge to write “Dear Diary” at the top of the page. : )

There are a few things that I really don’t miss about working in the US health care system.  In the three months I have been working here the word “productivity” has never been used.  In the US, I was used to every second of my time being accounted for.  You were met each day to a full schedule of patients and you were lucky if you got time for lunch or paperwork.  Now, I’m not saying that I haven’t been extremely busy here and we certainly need to be productive, but there isn’t a predetermined target for how many hours you need to “bill” each day.  Instead the most important thing is that you do a good job with patients and represent the Speech service well throughout the hospital.  As a result you have fewer patients on your schedule each day and get to spend as much time as you want seeing them. This also allows you extra time to do the little things like make follow-up calls to check on patients and work on program development aspects of your job.

Entrance to my building

I do have to say that so far my absolute favorite thing about working here is how incredibly collaborative the care is.  In the US, sometimes the hierarchy of doctors, nurses, and allied health can very clearly defined, and as a result it can create a sense of division between care providers that can negatively impact how cohesively a “team” provides care.  There just doesn’t seem to be that here and there is just a culture of everyone being on the same level, each approaching the patient with a different specialty to provide the best care possible.  One good example is our Joint Head and Neck Cancer clinic every Tuesday afternoon.  In this clinic the entire head and neck team is present which includes 3 ENT consultants, 2 surgeons, 2 oncologists, 1 clinical nurse specialists, and the cancer specialist for nutrition and speech and language therapy (me).  It’s an open clinic where patients have a chance to see the entire team at one time and the entire team is able to establish a comprehensive and collaborative plan.  This kind of service delivery model would NEVER fly in the US because insurance companies would never pay for it.  They would say that everyone was providing too similar a service to justify covering all the care provided.  If you are a US hospital, know that this is SO incredibly efficient and great for patient care, but your hands are tied by the payment regulations of the insurance companies.  If you work in health care you exactly what I am talking about : )  Anyway, since the health care here is paid for from the same place (the National Health Service) it’s much easier to set up these type of patient-centered clinics.  This type of efficiency is not only encouraged but expected and ends up saving the hospital money AND benefiting the patient. 

Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife
after having their baby at the Royal Cornwall
Hospital.

Lastly, I am finding that the pace of the workday is much different here.  It is quite common for all of us to arrive in the morning, sit around and have a cup of tea for awhile and then go up to see our patients.  Almost everyday about mid-afternoon everyone will also take another break to have some more tea and relax before finishing up for the day.  Since my job is a leadership position it’s a little bit different than the rest of the speech team.  As a result, I spend a lot of time in meetings and working on program development, policies, procedures, etc.  This has definitely been an adjustment from being in a strictly patient-care role back in the States, but I am finding that I really like it.  I am the only specialist in Head and Neck Oncology here, which means that my role is to see these patients almost exclusively. I was excited to find that it is expected that I attend the monthly laryngectomy club and cancer recovery club meetings, which are organized and led by cancer survivors for newly diagnosed patients.  Considering that these meetings take place during the workday at a local pub, I can’t really complain about getting paid to attend. Other than that, I have also been filling a dysphagia specialist role and am in the process of rolling out the FEES service here, which this hospital has never had.  It’s been a great challenge and I feel like I am getting some really diverse experience, which is exactly what I was hoping for.  I find there are some opportunities for improvement within the speech service here and the challenge of being responsible for changing these things is something I am enjoying more than I thought I would.

Overall there continue to be many aspects of my job here I love and many things that I miss about working in the US.  I suspect that this will remain the case throughout the next year so I am just trying to keep an open mind and learn as much as I can from this opportunity to just do something different. 

At the end of the day, whether we want to or not, we will ALL be a patient receiving health care at some point in our lives.  I think no matter where you live in the world, the quality of care you receive is more dependent upon the actual person providing that care than the system in which that person works.  Working with health care providers who genuinely care about their patients and go out of their way to provide the best care possible is probably the biggest similarity I have seen between my colleagues in the States and my new colleagues here.  If there is one thing I find that holds true no matter where I work, it’s that the best doctors, nurses and therapists are the ones who never forget that they will one day themselves be the patient.

UK Picture Randomness Thus Far

Bingo Wings Translation
The old lady underarm fat that jiggles when you wave.......or play bingo!

Cotton Buds = Q-tips
Took us awhile to find these because we kept asking where the q-tips were

Notice how they have to phonetically spell out how to say fajitas?!?!
Cornwall = Rare to find Mexican food = We miss Chipotle

If I can't find a job, at least I have options!

In the States if you park your car in your front yard you're a redneck.
In the UK you have no choice

January Doings

Victoria Gardens

I want to start the post by thanking everyone who took the time to send us a holiday card.  We loved getting all the new pictures and family updates.  It’s always fun getting mail, especially here!  We appreciate the extra effort it takes to mail anything overseas (and figuring out how to address an envelope to us, took us awhile to figure out).  We loved hearing from everyone….thanks again!

Since the New Year, things have been relatively quiet around here.  The weather has warmed up, it’s typically in the 40’s and 50’s each day.  The only downside of the warmer weather is that the rain comes along with it!  I ran some errands yesterday only to come home drenched from head to toe from the random downpour I got caught in.  The joys of unpredictable, rainy English weather.

The sport of basketball exists here?!?!

Last weekend John and I decided that we needed to continue exploring Truro, so we decided to go for a walk in areas we haven’t been yet.  The sun was out and we took advantage of it by exploring all over town.  We came across some pretty cool finds a couple blocks from our place.  John was ecstatic to find an outside basketball hoop and court.  Basketball isn’t much of a sport here, so it was surprising to find a place to play.   We also found a pretty large community park/garden, which overlooks parts of Truro.  It made us realize that during our down times here in Truro, we need to push ourselves to continue to explore. 

Porthtowan Beach

This past weekend we decided to take a short bus ride to another coastal town called Porthtowan.  It’s a tiny village, but boasts some amazing scenery.  We started with some lunch at the beachside restaurant called Blue Bar.  The food was amazing and it was great being surrounded by lots of cute dogs, as it is a “dog friendly” place.  We then headed to take a Saturday stroll along the beach.  There weren’t a ton of people there, so it felt really serene walking along the ocean and checking out the area.  Definitely a place we will be visiting again soon!

How adorable is she?!?!

Some exciting news this past week is that John and I had a niece born on January 5^th to my brother Kevin and his wife Kaite.  I received a memorable early morning phone call with the news from a glowing father about the birth of his daughter, Sophia Kathryn.  We were lucky enough to be able to meet her over skype and talk with Kevin and Kaite about the experience.  They are over the moon and loving every minute of having a new baby in the house.  Congrats Kevin, Katie, Sophia and Wrigley!

January continues to look pretty quiet for us.  We are enjoying the down time and watching lots of movies (we would highly recommend The King’s Speech) and catching up with our favorite tv shows online.  It seems no matter what country you live in, January always seems to be a catch-up month from all the holiday busyness!  Hope all is well with everyone back home.

Happy New Year!

Truro's midnight fireworks in Lemon Square

It's been a relatively quiet week since getting back late Monday night.  John had off of work Tuesday, so we spent it relaxing and recuperating after all of our traveling.  We were invited for movies and drinks with some friends Wednesday night, which was a lot of fun.  Good way to ease back into the week!  

Lantern lighting

We ended up making New Year's plans with a couple that we met here.  We started last night having drinks and tasty appetizers at their new house along with another couple.  We walked down the hill from their place and had a fantastic New Year's dinner at a restaurant called Bustopher's Bar Bistro.  The six of us got along really well and had quite a few laughs throughout the night.  We finished up dinner and headed to Lemon Square in Truro for midnight fireworks.  There was such a great energy as the square was filled with people watching the amazing fireworks display.  In the square we saw a lot of people dressed up in costumes which they call "fancy dress" here.  We found out it is very common for people to dress up in costumes when going out New Year's Eve night, much like the US's Halloween. 

Lift-off!

While watching the fireworks we also saw a handful of lanterns floating in the air.  We were lucky enough to be standing next to a group who lit and sent off their own wish lantern into the New Year's Eve sky.  We were told that pilots are not fans of the New Year's Eve tradition of floating lanterns as the lanterns can make it up to a mile into the sky and can supposedly be confusing for them.  But the tradition continues as people light their lantern at midnight, make a wish and release it into the night sky.  Pretty amazing to witness!  After fireworks, we headed back up to our friends' house for a late night of drinks, chatting and laughing.  A pretty incredible New Year's Eve 2010 in England! 

I love breakfast!

The rest of the weekend, we plan to hang out and maybe head to the coast for a day or two.  John has off of work Monday for bank holiday, so should be a nice extended weekend.  And John started out 2011 in a pretty fantastic way this morning....with an "American breakfast!"  Breakfast in the UK does not include french toast, maple syrup and the bacon here is very different, more like fried ham.  So I was super happy and surprised to wake up to "real" bacon and my favorite breakfast of french toast with syrup and tea.

On our way home last night, John and I took a moment to reflect on what a fortunate 2010 we had.  We look forward to seeing what 2011 brings us!