help.

Help. I've eaten waaaaay too much (for weeks straight) & I can't get up. Or try on clothes with the sweet gap gift card I scored. Waaaaaaahhhhh!
All I can do is sit here & blog.
That's it.
Soooooo... How about some pics from the gypsy journey?
UK.DAY ONE...
big ben (hudson & his clock fetish self was pretty thrilled)








westminster abbey











st. james park (a happy, unexpected find that was perfectly autumn)























buckingham palace












on the way home


& back @ the hotel



It was a great day :)

& now if you'll excuse me, I'm must get back to lamenting my holiday food binging...

seeing santa...

popping in to share our joyous blessed
interesting time seeing santa here {in atlanta}...

oh blessed event.
{in my poor children's defense, we've never taken them to see santa before, so they were a little shocked.  to put in mildly.}
tis the season!

highland park christmas lights with the haneys. good times.
*also: i prefer you think of me as the fun mom who puts her kids in pjs to go see christmas lights as opposed to the mom who sort of forgot to get her kids dressed all sunday & so they still had their pjs on sunday night. thanks for your participation.

normalcy

normalcy is so boring...
except when you don't have it!!!

we gypsies found find ourselves in dallas this weekend. thanks to your sweet friends, the haneys, we spent the day in total normalcy & oh, was it so luxurious!! i shall never take for granted the simple pleasures of easy washer, dryer, dishwasher access. a simple day all together, catching up on laundry, grocery shopping, washing all our water bottles... a grocery shop... normal nap times. ahhhhhhhhhhh.

i insisted on making dinner - so tired of take out. our dear children even blessed us with eating it without toooo much fuss. which was nice, considering they basically spent the last 2 weeks eating pizza & scrambled eggs. i wasn't sure they'd remember how to eat proper food :)

the magic recipe? sure, i'll share it with you.

Lasagna Soup (via the fabulous Jen Haney)

1lb ground italian sausage (I like hot, but sweet is good for kiddies)
1.5 lg yellow onion, chopped
1 c carrot, diced
2 c button mushrooms , sliced (optional)
3 cloves garlic, minced
4-6 c chicken broth
1 28 oz can italian style, fire roasted diced tomatoes (stewed works, too)
1.5 c whole wheat pasta (penne, bow tie...)
2 c (+) chopped spinach
1 c parmesan, finely shredded
4 t fresh basil, thinly sliced

brown sausage in large saucepan. add onion & carrot & sauté for 3-5 mins. add mushrooms & garlic & sauté for another few mins until all are soft.
add broth & tomatoes. bring to a boil & add pasta. boil according to pig directions (usually 8-10 mins). add spinach & cook about 1 min longer.

to serve: place a few mozzarella cubes @ bottom of bowl. ladle hot soup over cheese to melt. garnish with parm & basil.

disclaimer: i did bribe hudson with a ratio of 3 bites soup to 1 bite of butter rolled. A mom has to do what a mom has to do.

dear uk...

dear uk,

i have a bone to pick with you.  your internet access stunk.  & no, don't blame it on my phone.  it couldn't possibly be because i never update my phone.  no.  that's not it at all.

fortunately for you, there wasn't much else i didn't like about you.  you're pretty great. 
#1 on my list might be your pot pies.

when i think about your pot pies, i wonder if you're not a country after my own heart.  from my sis's homemade veggie pies to the 14 odd beef pot pies clint & i ordered @ your various establishments, i feel i have experienced pot pie heaven.

and now i shall thank you for your food in general.  @ first i was concerned that i would find your meals lacking, but i was oh so very wrong.  starting with the fabulousness of broadway market. 

OHDEARGOODNESS.
this is the stuff clint & i dream of.
really.
greenwich market is equally cool.  more crafty.  less foody.  the best part of this market being my sister's boyfriend's stall...

hampson woods

 (note to the english language:  please come up with a term between boyfriend & fiance.  4 years of calling jonty "my sister's boyfriend" is a little ridiculous, don't you think?  and she always rolls her eyes when we say our "brother-in-common-law", so i need some help.)

next, dear uk, i shall thank you for your sheep.

they're wooly.  they're puffy.  they dot the countryside with nursery rhyme kinds of sweetness.
but they do poop. 
a lot.
& it's sort of everywhere.  
& that's a bit problematic for your dreamy, wow-i'm-in-the-english-countryside kind of walk. 
but it makes for a great excuse to wear pink polka dotted wellies. 

that's me looking on the bright side of things :)

and here i conclude my letter.
many thanks for a nice holiday!

kelly harp

cold toes, warm heart

i've died & gone to "sense & sensibility" heaven...






it's just as you'd think it'd be in the english countryside: cold & damp & cold. my {freezing cold} toes miss texas, but the rest of me is happy to be here. hud, clint, & i went on a wonderful countryside walk where i swore @ any point robin hood, peter rabbit, or mr. darcy might pop out. no classic brits to be seen, though there were lots of sheep.
and mud. serious mud.
more pics tomorrow. for now I think i'll let this guy read me a bit of jane austen...


(silliness abounds no matter the continent)
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the travel...

just SOME of the luggage...





thank goodness hud can roll a suitcase now!


as is natural with traveling, we R U S H E D to the airport in San Antonio only to wait for several extra hours!!


thankfully mimi had a few gum tricks up her sleeves (pretty cool)...


holls finally sacked out...


a delay & the beginning of the trip wasn't the best way to begin such a long trip, but oh well! could have been worse (see our trip to NYC!). the 9 hr trip from houston to london was loooong & I didn't sleep much, but once they fiiiinally turned the lights out, hud & holls did go to sleep for almost 5 hrs - pretty darn good! & thanks to a bit of Tylenol :)

we're having quite the jolly good time here. now that I finally have decent Internet connection, i'll keep sharing phone pics. See you soon - I do believe it's tea time now :)

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