Christmas Time!!!

Joe and our friends Has and Lui decided to volunteer for Crisis this year, which meant Christmas Eve and Day, they would be spending the day at a temporary homeless shelter helping the running of the centre through cleaning up, serving food, chatting with the "guests" and so forth. 

I was duly appointed chauffer and chef for the duration and grasped my responsibility with full vigor!
The centre was in West London, nearer has and lui's place, so we decided to move into theirs for two days and enjoy Christmas together.
The entrusted me with their keys and I opened up Christmas Eve early and alone in their kitchen cooking up ribs, chicken wings, fois gras that I got from a great colleague!, quesadillas, prawns and dip, and a massive triple layer chocolate cake that couldn't make the journey upright and ended up in a big bowl.
When they all got in Chrismas Eve night around 10pm, the food was ready to go. 
Lui and I ended up talking into the morning till 4am and we woke up, exchanged pressies and managed to suck down more food - this time a wonderful Swedish Christmas feast made by Lui!
With all bellies full, we dressed and I got them to the centre and went home for phone calls to the states.
Later that night, I picked them all up again (by the way, I was well impressed with my uneventful drives across central London all by myself!) and we, you guessed it, ate again and crashed.
Boxing day started with a lay in, breakfast out and a four hour walk through the fabulous Wimbledon Parks.
We headed home late afternoon filled with warmth, love and lots and lots of food!
Thanks to Has and Lui for sharing their Christmas with us!

My pressie from Has and Lui!

From xmas with has and lui

Lui likes her pressies!

From xmas with has and lui

What could it be?

From xmas with has and lui

The anticipation!

From xmas with has and lui

I'm guessing Has liked his pressie?

From xmas with has and lui

Joe's turn!

From xmas with has and lui

Lui's feast!

From xmas with has and lui

Everybody is feeling the love!

From xmas with has and lui

From xmas with has and lui

The Godfather Part 4

Well, I'll say, that little Scarr sure is cute!!!
Godfather Joe and I made our way over to Simon and Catherine's for a long awaited reunion with little Juliette, and boy she did NOT dissappoint! 
I monopolised her most of the afternoon because she was just so much fun to giggle with, but Joe managed to hold his Goddaughter a few times and enjoy her lovely little personality.
I have to say, she is going to be a heart breaker and you can arlready see how daddy Simon is going to have a hard time saying no to anything she asks for!!
Given Catherine's incredibly difficult pregnancy, this baby is truly a miracle and we are so happy to be a part of her and her parent's lives!

Peace Corps Reunion!

Ten years after the shit storm that was Kazakhstan, my dear fellow Kaz-6er, Bruce, decided to pop into London for a little visit.  To say I was overjoyed was an understatement! I was ready to show him London.  Instead, we just sat in most coffee places we rambled upon and just got caught up.  I felt like I jipped him, not showing him anything about London, but he seemed happy enough.  And that made me happy.
Yeah!

Off to Spain!!!

We decided to get away in early December to Barcelona - and boy were we in for a treat!
What an amazing city!!!!  The weather was amazingly warm and sunny for December and with all that the city had to offer, we found it difficult to get in everything we wanted to see.
I don't normally like visiting places more than once, but I definitely want to come back.
Main highlights of the trip include visits to Park Guell, walks through Barri Gotic, the massive Fountain, bike ride through the city, Mont Serrat, lots of cafes for cappucino descaffianatos, a casino(!), and just walking around aimlessly dipping into shops and restaurants as our mood carried us.