Thanksgiving

This year Cullen and I hosted 

Thanksgiving dinner with some great friends,

here are a few pics before people arrived.

Home Coming

As we are about to head home for Christmas

I realized I never really showed people our home.

I posted empty photos before we moved in,
but that does not count!

I was talking with a friend the other night and
she mentioned that we lived in the country side,
which I informed her was false.
We are close to country side, but we do not live in a little cottage
like Kate Winslet in the Holiday - I wish!

So here is my home:



Ground Floor (for the Americans - 1st Floor)

You walk into the the living room/den



Then into the dinning room and kitchen
We are very lucky because this is a very open floor plan
compared to most English homes



Our Kitchen:





Our Garden (yard)
with Grover of course



Moving on to the 1st Floor (Americans - 2nd Floor)
[we have the 1st floor and the Parkers have the 2nd Floor]

Our little landing:



The first room is our bedroom:



Then we have a wonderful study/living room with great windows









Daybed ='s room for visitors



That's it for our floor!

Here are a few pics from my walk into town:



This is the Gilesgate hill
(we live in Gilesgate, kinda like saying we live in Vinnings)



The pedestrian bridge



At this point you are almost in town

Fancy a visit?

Mondays

Just another Manic Lazy Monday....
makes you want to sing along, so here you go:

So I have been unemployed since we moved to England.
In the beginning I enjoyed being able to explore with my cute husband
and get used to our new home.

Then he started school,
but even then I liked all the free time
to get the house settled, frequent charity shops, try out cute cafes,
explore blog world.

Now I am ready to find work-
this is what surrounds me most mornings until
I decide I need to start my day and exercise.


pants, mug, throws, mac

Anyone want to hire me?

Fruits and Veggies

Cullen and I were spoiled in the "old" Durham
(for more than one reason)
But one of the reasons was that we loved going to the farmers market and
being apart of a CSA
We picked up a box every week and
we could even choose what we wanted...amazing

Here in this Durham we have found



We get a fruit and veg box every week
delivered to our door.

this is it in cartoon form:



(doesn't it look delicious)
They are a wonderful group with a few farms around England
you can buy meat, dairy, fruits, veggies, homemade soups, cheeses,
they even started making wine

If you need organic fruits and veggies in your life
I would highly recommend going with Riverford

Our trip home

Cullen and I went home this past week for a very special wedding.
Here is the cute couple, Al and Meghan Daniel.

It was a bit of a whirl wind trip, with a wedding, lots of errands, attempting to spend as much time with family and friends as possible, packing 200 pounds of stuff to return with..
it's good to be home!

An Upgrade

I am an addict.

which means,

my life has improved due to this amazing gadget

When moving to England I new that an espresso machine was a necessity.

When thinking of our expenses the list went a bit like:

bed, pots and pans, desk, Nespresso machine...duh.

Family History

We wanted to bring some of home with us to England.

Before Cullen and I left we set to work finding some of our favorite photos and making copies to bring with us. Once in England we frequented many charity shops (thrift stores, but cooler) and purchased old frames.





It has room to grow, and reminds us of some great memories!

Just beyond your own front door

Cullen and I have been exploring our neighborhood via bike rides and runs.
We found this beautiful path that leads you into town.
Why we love it....
1. Its beautiful, especially if you catch a good sunset.
2. Cars can't drive down the road unless they live there
(so not much traffic)
3. BLACKBERRIES.
They line the road and we picked tons which made for a great dessert.



YUM!

Meet Grover

.....GROVER

the newest addition to our family.
Grover is a Rover, an English made car.

It was a big day for the McKenney's: new car and a new bed.

things are moving along over here.

We Moved!!!

We have had a lot going on the past week,
a big thing was moving into our new home with the Parker's.
I am being lazy and due to the lack of internet I am going to link Nicole's blog
so you can see the BEFORE photos of our new home.

TO SEE OUR NEW HOME

brown paper packages tied up with string...

....These are a few of my favorite things! (this spring)

1) New Espadrilles 2) Lilies in my living room 3) Easter Cross at Peachtree Presbyterian

It's Official!!!!

WE ARE MOVING TO DURHAM....ENGLAND THAT IS.



Cullen was accepted to Durham University's PhD program. We will leave Durham, NC in the end of June and head to England in August. The photo is of Durham Castle where Cullen will be attending classes- not too shabby.
photo credit

Spring is in the Air

After the cold and rainy week today's 70 degree weather was marvelous. I got outside and created my EASTER TREE. I have to find the ornaments I made last year and it will be complete.

I also planted some grass in egg shells. I have seen this on a few blogs, but I thought I would try it myself and see how it turns out.



I will take more pictures as it grows.

Puppy Christmas

Meet Bella:



She is the newest addition to the family. My sister and her husband brought her home a few weeks ago. And yes, that is a cast :( She broke her leg. But don't worry that isn't holding her back from playing with her big sis'.

Christmas is a Comin'

We have been blessed in Durham to have lots of SNOW!



Weldan has really enjoyed it.



She is almost camouflage!



We also had a delightful TACKY CHRISTMAS party!





Weldan even got dressed up.



MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Winter Works

Here is my most recent floral creation. I love the smell of paper whites in my house during the winter and wanted something cool on my coffee table. Thanks to the wonderful flower shops in Atlanta I can create such masterpieces....Durham is not the hot spot of foliage!

Turkey in Style

Cullen and I had a wonderful and thankful Thanksgiving this year. My family spends Thanksgiving at our (meaning my parents and aunt and uncles) lake house on Lake Lanier. The lake house is pretty wonderful (I should have taken more pictures of the actual house).

We shot skeet before linner- lunch/dinner.



The spectators



Dining in style.



Feeling bloated and lazy later.
Not everyone is in this picture, but here is the Elting side of the fam.



All in all a great trip home!