Kitty Cafe

Things are so hectic here, that I almost didn't write this post.  As you can tell, I have been blogging quite a bit and scheduling the posts for a few days later.  Hints, the one post a day lately. I thought about it, and I would have made a special blog post about this experience if it wasn't for the whole...moving home thing. So here I am typing away!

My friend, Emily, and I always try out new places to eat in Nottingham.  We definitely have a couple favorites, and enjoy catching up over a long lunch & tea/coffee.  We found this place called Kitty Cafe.  I have walked by it before but never noticed the REAL CATS in the large windows.  There are little hammocks, beds, and a jungle gym in the window not only for the cats' enjoyment but for pedestrians to see the cute little kitties.  This special cafe actually is a charity that allows you to adopt the cats within the shop.  You can take pictures of them, play with them, and pet them.  They have rules about picking them up and whatnot though.

 My friend, Emily, and I

 Up in the "treetops"

 Cute little hideaways

 
Before you get seriously grossed out that we ate lunch in a place filled with cats (I'm sure a few of you have this nightmare).  It had a 5-star hygiene rating, which is the highest a restaurant can have! We asked a little bit about how it passes health codes, and they do everything electronically so the waitstaff never sets foot in the kitchen.  It was a very clean place, and the cats were very well taken care of.  We especially loved the little 9-week old kittens who were running all over the place.  It was so cute to see all the the nooks, towers, slides, and walkways they had for the cats to run around.  They have 31 cats as of right now, but many of them are in the extensive process of being adopted.  Emily and I both wanted to take one home...but refrained. 

Hanging out under our table. Hiding from the other cats who were wanting to play

 The holes in the walls went from one room to the other. The kittens loved it!

 I wanted to take this sweet one home, as he looked so sad.  Very sweet, reminded me a lot of Mackey.

Overall, It was really enjoyable! You have to book in advance, as we had tried to go a few weeks back and they were booked for the day.  Emily and I both love cats, so this was the perfect farewell for now lunch before I head back to the states.  I will definitely miss my lunches with her!



You should check out the cafe's website as it highlights the cats that are trying to be adopted.

On to the next adventure...

Our Last Visitors

Jeff's mom and sister, Lori and Michelle, came back to Nottingham on Monday afternoon.  We met up for dinner at a Moroccan place Jeff and I have been meaning to go to for well, a year.  I pass by it almost every day.  Our food was pretty good, and I think everyone enjoyed trying something new.

Lori, Michelle, and I met up on Tuesday for a quick lunch at one of my favorite cafes in Nottingham, Ugly Bread Bakery.  We all enjoyed our lunch, each one of us trying something new.  I got this roasted pepper sandwich, Michelle tried one of the great pizzas, and Lori tried these pita sandwich...well it was more of a taco.  Next up on our list was a lonnnnggg walk to Wollaton Hall. Jeff and I have been here a few times.  If you don't remember this place, it was where Dark Knight Rises (Batman) was filmed.  It was about an hour walk, and very enjoyable as the weather held off on our walk to the hall.  I think they were pretty impressed, especially the outside "wow" factor.  The gardens were beautiful, and we were able take a stroll around the lake, which I had never done before.  It was a nice trail around, mostly covered by trees which made it extra pretty. Although, it was sad that the deer were hiding, as it is a deer park as well as the hall.  The inside of the building, which is a natural history museum, had changed a lot since the last time I went there.  They took away a few of the exhibits, put in a tea room, and added guided tours (for money).  So it still looks like they are making lots of changes at the hall.

 Wayne Manor..I mean Wollaton Hall & Deer Park

 There was a tree in one of the halls that asked what you liked about the hall, and I  loved this sweet little answer. Love little kids! The picture to the right is Michelle pretending to be Batman.

 This was BEFORE the squirrel tried to attack us.  No...really.  It was charging at us.  We screamed and ran away.  

Love this view! You can see Wollaton Hall in the background

We began our journey back, the weather started to look a bit sketchy.  We kept going, but I think put our umbrellas up/down at least 5 times.  HA! At one point, it was starting to hail, and we debated grabbing the next bus to head into the city centre.  We pushed through, and I'm glad we did as we ended up at a pub that I had never been into.  Lori and Michelle had a cider, which was yummy and I grabbed a pint I had never had before.  I am excited to take Jeff back to this pub, as the restaurant portion looked amazing.  It was in the back of the building, lit up with icicle lights and it almost looked like a cave.  You know how Jeff and I are with our caves...

We grabbed some items at the grocery store, and then headed back to our flat to relax before dinner.  Michelle snuggled up with Mackey and took a "quick" nap while I started dinner.  We had a great meal, although Jeff was unable to join us as he had a late meeting.  Bummer!

Mackey doesn't care if you're allergic or not...he does what he wants.

Wednesday, was Lori and Michelle's last day in England.  They flew out of Manchester on Thursday and headed to Copehhagen, Denmark.  Michelle is studying abroad for the next 6-weeks, so that is really exciting she gets to continue her European adventure! But back to Wednesday's adventures...I took Lori and Michelle and Derby for an afternoon day trip.  We had pretty much done every attraction there was left to do in Nottingham, so we decided to try a new city.

We got into Derby via the bus.  The bus was on its best behavior as it was only a 20-25 minute bus ride, and not the dreadful 45 minutes that it can be.  We walked around the city for a bit, tried to go into the cathedral, but it was closed.  We hopped into Primark, one of my favorite cheap stores.  I think Michelle enjoyed it, as she picked up a couple items.  We headed into the mall to pick up some candy that Lori and Michelle really like that is only in England.  Then we were on our way to the Royal Crown Derby, where we had a factory tour of how the china is made! I was pretty excited to do this, as I had been to the Denby Pottery stores on site (located outside of Derby) before, but never the "fancy" brand in the city.

Definitely a small, but mighty factory

No pictures allowed, which was a bummer.  Completely understandable as people were working, and that would be EXTRA annoying for tourists to be snapping photos of you when you are trying to do your job.   We got to watch the entire process, the molding, kilning process, smoothing, and decorating.  It was really interesting, especially since they use liquid gold on many of their pieces.  It was crazy to see the gold when painted on, as it just looks brown.  Once it dries, they buff it out and it shines.  It was amazing! We definitely understand why one teacup and saucer costs 50 pounds ($75).  So much goes into the process, and many of it is inspected and created by hand.  We watched one lady use these decals, where she had warmed the plates, moistened the decal, and placed it perfectly around the rim of the plate.  To meet quota (and get paid accordingly) she had to complete each plate in between 3 and 4 minutes. If it didn't meet expectation, the plate would come back to her the next day to fix.  She would not get paid for working on the piece twice.  How do they know it was her piece, you might ask? Each plate has an initial on the back to tell inspectors who was in charge of that one.  That makes each plate Royal Crown Derby makes individual and unique.  If you own any pieces, check out the little initials on the back of the product to see what I mean.  I should have taken a picture in the factory shop.

I had this all planned out in my head that following the tour we would have afternoon tea.  Unfortunately, they told me I had to book a day in advance.  Which, I'm not going to lie, made me really mad because their website or the lady I was corresponding with through email did not say anything about.   So, if you are reading this Royal Crown Derby...take this as my review and constructive criticism!  Michelle and Lori were very understanding with my honest mess up, so we just had a cup of tea and a sweet to hold us over until our early dinner.  It was fun still being able to eat and drink out of the cups and plates we had witnessed being made minutes before.

Tea and sweets. Is there any other way?!

Jeff met up with us in Derby, and we went out for an earlier dinner (given we had only ate sweets since we woke up...whoops!).  I was pretty excited to try the Silk Mill, which is a famous pub in Derby.  We had a couple pints, and the food was excellent.  We all left will full bellies.  Lori and Michelle were able to experience riding in a car on the "wrong side of the road" or as locals say, "the correct side of the road."   We dropped them off at their hotel, as they had a 5:20AM train ride in the morning to head up to Manchester, to then get to Denmark.  I can only imagine how tired they were!

What a great couple of weeks it has been, seeing and hanging out with so many loved ones.  I can't believe we had 17 visitors (2 of them came more than once) over our time here. And 9 of them were in the last two weeks!  That is basically an average of a person a month! CRAZY! A big thank you to everyone who came to experience "our world" while living abroad.  It was fun to travel, show you our favorite spots, eat some of our favorite foods, and enjoy each others company! See you in a couple years when we do it again.....calm down, I'm joking.

On to the next adventure...

#30daysofappreciation {Round 1}

Tuesday, May 12th was officially our one month left mark.  In honor of that, I decided to post a photo a day on my Instagram account to show my appreciation of our amazing time over here.  Pictures include anything from food (shocker), daily life, and/or things for which I am very thankful.  It really made me stop and smell the roses one last time of those things I will miss when moving back to the states.

Since many of my blog followers are not followers on Instagram (*cough, Christin), I decided to share my photos of the last 10 days of appreciation.  I will post two more times to share the other 20 photographs.

#Day1: Relocation Assessment
The relocation company came by to assess how much stuff we have to ship back to the states.  It was kind of funny it landed right on our 1 month mark.  We chatted for a bit, and then he assessed our stuff. He said we were right at our limit, so I best not go out and buy anything over the next month.

 

 #Day2: Time to Cook

I have absolutely LOVED my time in the kitchen over here.  I could start dinner at 5:30 some days, knowing Jeff wouldn't be home until 7.   It really allowed me to play with recipes, explore, and have time to make healthy foods.  I know I am going to miss that, as I will be working, and the amount of prep time will be eliminated.  I have already been trying to think about ways to prep over the weekends, so I am able to cook more clean and healthy.  Wish me luck!

 

#Day3: Mackey

Although it has been expensive to keep him over here in terms of getting him to/from the states, I wouldn't have had it any other way.  He has become even more loveable! Who knew that was possible?  His personality has changed, but for the better.  I think he has enjoyed his time over here, watching pigeons and sleeping in every windowsill possible.  I definitely enjoyed having that "piece of home" with me.

#Day4: Friends

We have made some great friends (both Americans and locals).  We have been able to travel, have nights out, girls and boys nights, and plenty of time to chat about life.  That was one thing I was really nervous about when moving over here, as we both have amazing friends at home.  We will miss our local friends, but hope to still see our new American friends in the states once we all move back. 

#Day5: Beer

I should probably point out that these are in no particular order.  As you have yet to see a picture of Jeff, does not mean he is not my #1 thing I appreciate over here.  Okay, now that we have cleared that up...beer.  We have enjoyed trying all the different kinds of beer over here.  During the first year, we took a picture of every new pint we had.  That got old pretty quickly, so we stopped taking a a picture of each pint.  Jeff had a project envisioned.  We definitely enjoyed that part of England, but in the same sense, we won't miss the crazy amount of drinking.  

#Day6: Traveling

The bag below barely made it over the one year mark before being thrown away.  I thought for sure that when we were in London a couple weeks ago it was going to completely break.  It made it home before saying my final farewell to it.  It was the perfect size, as you have to have a fairly small bag to fly on budget airlines, like we do.  It would fit in the top bin or under the seat with no problems.  I never had to worry about it! I definitely got my 12 pounds worth out of this bag, as it traveled to many amazing places around Europe.

 

#Day7: Beautiful Spots

This one goes along with #6, but all of the beautiful places we were able to see during our time abroad is something I will never under appreciate.   I will speak on behalf of Jeff (I geuss I always do that, but...) and say that were very appreciative of how many trips, whether big or small, that we were able to go on.  We were so glad we spent our money on traveling, as we will have those memories, pictures, and video forever. 

#Day8: Visitors

We had so many visitors over the last year and a half! Seventeen, but who's counting?   We have loved every visit, and each one was unique in its own way.  We tried to do something a little different with each visitor, whether it was a local restaurant, new European trip, or a tourist attraction we had never been to in our own city! We enjoyed showing off "our world"

#Day9: Tea

In the states I would NEVER drink tea. Not iced tea, hot tea, flavored tea...etc.  My friends here continued to "bully" me into liking tea. I tried it each time we were together.  Now, I can officially say I drink a cup of hot tea every morning and no longer drink coffee at all.  What a transition!

 

#Day10: House/Flat

I definitely do not spend enough time appreciating the house, which was converted into 8 flats that we live in. It is in a fantastic location with a beautiful view from every window.  If I want ice cream, I can have it in hand within 5 minutes. Amazing! It is definitely an English feeling house, which is nice.  We want to embrace the culture as much, and I think our single pane windows that make our flat colder than it is outside is embracing it! Ha!

Shopping, Tea, & Nottingham Markets

The last few days my mom was here we checked off a couple things I wanted to do before I move home.  My mom and I love to shop, especially consignment or charity shopping.  We love the deals! On Friday, I took my mom around Nottingham to about 7-8 charity shops.  We found a couple we really liked and got a few things.  There were a few shops that I have been meaning to go into, but it is just more fun with someone with me...especially my mom!  We found a couple cute tops and pieces of jewelry to add to our wardrobes.

Afterwards, we went to Afternoon Tea.  This was something special I wanted to do with my mom the first time she came over here, but we ran out of time.  We went to this cute little tea house called, Thea Caffea which was elegant and quaint.  If you do not know much about afternoon tea, it is a 2 or 3 tiered cake stand with small sandwiches, scones, and various desserts.  Of course you get a pot of tea with your experience as well.  We sipped on our English Breakfast tea while we waited for our food.  We just got a 2-tiered stand that was filled with cucumber & cream cheese, egg salad, and cheese sandwiches.  After finishing those, we moved to the top tier and had a couple amazing scones and various cupcakes.  It was so nice to have the 1-1 time with my mom and just enjoy this special English experience with her.

"There is No trouble so Great that Cannot be diminished by a Proper Cup of Tea"

 Just two girls enjoying a cuppa...or two

 Close up of the teapot and cups

 Sandwiches, scones (w/ clotted cream & jam), and sweets

Thea Caffea, a hidden gem in Nottingham

We were able to spend Friday night and all day Saturday with Jeff.  We went down to the Nottingham markets that were happening in the square in the city centre.  We never know when there will be tents or events up, as it is always something new each week.  It was neat for her to experience it, as last time she was here the square was filled with the beach (sand, rides, and games).  Of course, it changes throughout the year, and the Christmas Markets were in the same area as well. We were able to shop around, try new foods, and grab some desserts (a selection of fudge & Italian sweets) for after lunch.

Just a little fudge...

Later that night, we went to Brown's, one of our favorite restaurants that is just down the street from our flat.  My mom really enjoyed the restaurant the last time her and my dad were here, so she wanted to eat there again. I think it was the sticky toffee pudding that was calling her name again. So good. We all had fantastic meals and enjoyed her last evening her in England.  Although we took a picture, I am opting out of posting it, because it isn't the most flattering picture for any of us. Ha!

Overall, it was a fantastic 10-days with my mom! I was so glad she was able to come over here and experience it again.  And I know Jeff was glad he was able to spend our time in Lisbon, the weekends, and evenings with her as well. We look forward to seeing you in June, Mom!  Thanks for the brilliant surprise!

On to the next adventure...

 

York: Take Two

Having my mom here during the last 3 months of our time abroad has been great, as I have been able to check off items I've been wanting to do one more time before going home. Jeff and I visited York February 2014, and it is one of my favorite cities in England.

I had York down on our "to visit list", so I could see it one more time before moving home but Jeff and I have been running out of weekends..so I figured we would not make it there. Since I have a traveling buddy this week, I took Mom there! On Thursday, we got on the train for about an hour and a half total.  This was the first time I had to change trains, so that was a little different (but easy to do!).  We rode from Nottingham, but had to get off at another station to catch another train.  It wasn't as painful as I thought it was going to be! We made it into York in one piece and stopped by a pub for some warm lunch.  Mom tried a burger and I gave into my favorite British classic, sausage & mash. The restaurant was adorable, filled with British themed decor. 

After lunch we walked to one of my favorite cathedrals of all time.  York Minster, is one of the most beautiful churches in England. I personally think it is better than Westminster Abbey.  Half of England's stained glass is in this church alone, so you can imagine how beautiful inside it is with the sun shining through the windows. We were in the church for about an hour a half. We enjoyed learning about the reconstruction, which will take 10 years to complete as each process is intricate and time consuming.  One slab of brick on the outside (just a general rectangular prism) takes a week to perfect.  The stone with faces and more detail takes over a month...just one piece! It was really interesting seeing it all, especially the up close look at the stained glass they are fixing on one side of the building.  They were beautiful, and it was cool to see the story behind each piece.  The part they are renovating is the size of a tennis court...so you can imagine it will take a long time to complete.

  Not the best shot of the outside of York Minster, given so much is under construction.

 Just a couple of the stained glass windows throughout the church

A 1,000 year old book about the life of Jesus. Beautiful display. One of my favorite pictures!

After the church, we walked the beautiful streets. It was filled with various shops, restaurants, and for the most part---car free, which is nice.  We popped into a couple shops and I was overly excited to show her "Debbie's Bakery" which Jeff and I found last year when we went for the first time.  See her adorable picture below...isn't my mom so cute? 

I still can't get over how awesome it is that my mom is here!

We walked up the street to walk the City of York Walls around the city.  It is a little over 2 miles long, although I'm guessing we didn't do the whole thing...given it didn't take us very long to walk the "entire" thing.  It was fun just walking on the walls, seeing the beautiful views, and chatting with my mom.  We took a few more pictures of the city and then went back to the train station to head home.  Two train rides later, we were home by 8:00PM.  It was a long day, but so worth it so show off one of my favorite cities in England.  I know my mom enjoyed it, as she enjoyed comparing this city with others in England and Scotland.

 Just one of the many beautiful views in York

Our walk along the wall

 One of the last of my favorite photos

On to the next adventure...

Partying Like Santa Claus

We have been really blessed to be invited to a few Christmas parties this holiday season. Although we could not attend them all, we were able to go to a couple.  This past Saturday, we headed over to some friends house where 12 of us celebrated Christmas by having a wonderful dinner and sharing a few presents.  The dinner was fantastic, and pretty much the same foods as we would have in the states.  Although the dessert was my talking piece, Christmas pudding, or as someone told me, figgy pudding.  I bet you can't get the Christmas song out of your head now.  "Now bring us some figgy pudding..."  It was fantastic! Also, they served some other great desserts, but the cheese tray for dessert was right up my alley.  Cheese plates are on dessert menus over here, and I absolutely love that idea as I like to end with something savory rather than sweet.  One other tradition that I know a few people in the States do as well is "Christmas Crackers" or what I would call "poppers".  Before we ate dinner, we grabbed our cracker, crossed our arms, and pulled it with the person next to us. Inside was a crown (as you see in the picture below) and a small gift (a sticker).  It was a great tradition that I would like to start at my Christmas dinners in the future.  So cute!

 The group

Enough about food.

After dinner, we swapped presents which is always a great time!  We all had a name, but instead of just handing that person our present they had to guess based on the present we gave them.  The other "catch" is that all my presents I gave to my Secret Santa had to start with the first letter of my name.  I first put a card in the holiday bag saying "May your Christmas be warm, fulfilling, and drunken.  This was my way to give him some clues on what was left in the bag.  So...I got him a scarf (an American flag one to make it that much better...muahahaha), Starbucks gift card, and a small bottle of Smirnoff (with the booze, candies, and little pint glass).  So needless to say after he opened the scarf...he knew it was me since Jeff opted out of the gift exchange (Scrooge).  The gift I received was from a friend, named Tom, so he knows me well as he got me a great loose leaf tea pot and some tea to enjoy.

My teapot and tea.

We each taught a game to the group as we sat around and enjoyed each others company.  Each couple brought a cocktail to serve the group.  Jeff and I made it simple and fun by bringing some Fireball, which you cannot find over here.  No other ingredients needed! Overall, it was a great night. It was a little sad thinking we would not be able to do this every year with our friends over here as next year we'll be back home in Indiana. Thanks Ben, for sharing your pictures with us all! 

 Large Jenga!

Mustache game, kind of like the post-it note game. You have to guess the person's name you have on your mustache.  Actually harder than you think, especially if you have no idea who the person is, like me! 

Just for the record, Jeff did participate in his work's Secret Santa, although I am pretty sure he did not have a choice.  We decided another round of American gifts, as we see this very fitting. Hey, I mean next year these gifts will have lost their novelty as I'm guessing our American friends would not find as much humor in this.  Let's be honest, Jeff gave me the go-ahead to pick out something American. I tried to buy The Patriot, but the guy at the movie store said it was "discontinued"...whatever that means.  So I bought three Blue Moon beers, as they are from America.  I also picked up a Hershey's bar, Butterfinger, and Baby Ruth candy bars to tie to each of the bottles.  Then I picked up a mustache pint glass to go along with it. I wanted to put a corny title like "You mustache more American beer and candies. Merry Christmas!" But Jeff wasn't as keen on this idea. Do you get it..."You MUST HAVE more American beer and candies. Merry Christmas!" Yes? No?


A few days later we went to Jeff's work Christmas party at a pub in Derby. It was nice because many of our same friends were there, so I knew people, which was nice. It was nice hanging out with the wives, and catching up, just us girls.  As the boys were off doing their own thing.  We ate, they gave out awards, and we had a few pints.  The awards were interesting from a non engineer's point of view.  A lot of acronyms were thrown around, so I had no idea what they were talking about.  As if it was a different language!  It was still fun, as everyone was laughing.  Jeff won the "Demonstrating a Lack of British Stamina and Shameless Promotion of American Exports (aka Taylor Swift's music).  Great night overall, and was glad we were able to go [Sorry, failed at taking any pictures].



Onto the next adventure...