Hi guys! Today Ronny and I went to the Shakespeare Houses since we had the day off from work. I have always loved Shakespeare and its been a dream to visit where he grew up in Stratford-Upon-Avon. So that one can be scratched off the list. ;)
It was a really stunning day weather wise (well most of the day-this is England after all!!!) and the first place we went to was Anne Hathaway's Cottage.
Info: Anne Hathaway's Cottage was the childhood home of Shakespeare's wife and remained occupied by decendants of the Hathaway family until 1899. The young Shakespeare would have courted Anne here and the view of the house and garden has been described as the most romantic view in England (I can agree with that!) From what I remember: It was built in the 15th century and still had some of the original furniture in the cottage, including the carved oak "Hathaway Bed". I loved it! Such a beautiful place. It was completely stunning. I was a bit nervous though because as we walked through the upstairs, you could see the downstairs through the cracks in the floor boards! LOL Crazy. The back has Shakespeare's tree garden with sculptures and things. Sorry I dont have loads of pictures but I dont have a memory card yet so didn't have much internal memory! If you would like to see bigger versions let me know.




Anne Hathaway's Cottage


































Garden in front of the cottage. That circular thing in the center is an arch way made out of a plant. Its lovely.































Ronny in front of the cottage. Sorry but we couldn't take pics inside!














Ronny and I in front of the cottage.












Ronny in Shakespeare's Tree Garden looking at one of the sculptures.












Gift shop where we got a few goodies!

























Waterfall in garden in front of the gift shop.

Ok, those are all the pictures of Anne's house. At this point we went into the center of Stratford to go to Will's birthplace. At this point the weather totally started to change and pour down rain so we had to run to the house. It was really nice as they had a center with a big exhibition about him and his parents.
Info that I remember: John Shakespeare (Will's dad) was a glover and thus lived a life of some wealth. The house was later turned into an Inn. Will's family and Anne's family knew each other from when they were children. When Will was 18 and Anne was 26 they got married when she was already 3 months pregnant. They had 3 children, a set of twins, Hamnet and Judith and a girl Susannah.









Birthplace of Will Shakespeare




















Ronny in front of house. (Once again they wouldn't let us take pics inside)
After we left here we went on to visit two more houses. One was a house Will had bought and another was the home of his daughter and her husband for a few years. They were really nice but being that they didn't play a big role in Will's life (and I had barely any memory left on my camera!) I didn't take any pics of them. We got totally drenched on the way to the car but as we left the car park, it was blue skies and complete sun once again. Very frustrating weather! On our way back to the highway we stopped just to take pics of Will's mother's (Mary Arden) childhood house. It is still a working farm.





Mary Arden's house and no its not the camera, the house is actually tilted towards the left! =)



























Had a really lovely day and hope you enjoyed the pictures! One more thing: We went to see X-Men3 with some friends last night. Very disappointed to be honest but that is just me. Anyways, hope you are all well. ; )

Hey guys! Thanks for all the comments on my last post. I replied to them there. ; )

So I lost another 5 lbs this last week. A total of 13lbs!!! Really happy. I went down a dress size. :D I am really hoping to lose the 70lbs before mid-August. I know its a lot but a few people have done it on this program and I hope to be one of them. I need to get into an exercise routine to do so. I want to start going on the treadmill at least 20 min a day and start doing some weight training. Will let you know how it goes. My next weight in is next Tuesday.

So I got the course brochures from ICS. I dont know if I want to write children's books, I really wanted to write junior books like for 12-13 year olds since I think that is the cut off point when they start to lose interest in reading. If they keep that love (most little kids love books) then it will really help them in their adult life. So I want to write books that will do that. But I think I am going to start off with the photography course first or maybe something in business. =)

I just wanted to share this: My friend showed me this site where you can get really cheap MP3's. Its www.allofmp3.com I have gotten quite a few albums for less than $2.00. So for all you I-Pod users this is a great site!

Guess that is it for now. We have a bank holiday weekend which means we have off on Monday but Ronny has gotten sick and I think I am coming down with something as well. I hope we are ok for Sunday cause we are supposed to meet some friends to go see X-Men3. It looks so good! Cant wait! We also have a gathering to go to on Saturday. A brother in our hall as 2 young teenagers and they are having a game night which they invited us to. I thought that was nice.

Anyways, till next time, hugs to you all!

Im back. A few things going on:

-Our anniversary trip is starting to pan out which is very exciting. When we get the deposit down I will let you guys know all the details. Its REALLY exciting. Cant wait!
-Still awaiting for my passport from the government so hoping it comes soon because we are going to Sweden next month. I am really looking forward to it since I have never been to Sweden in the summer and I am looking forward to seeing the kids and my in laws.

And the biggest news: I have lost a total of 8lbs in my first week!!!! LOL Sorry, I know its a bit late because my second week is rapidly ending (time is flying!) but I have been really busy this week and couldnt post about it. To say the least I was very pleased. I already see a difference in my face and my jeans are getting big. I still have my moments but I am determined to do this. I want to get nice clothes and things when we go away in September.

Another bit of interesting news: I was just watching TV when a commercial for a home degree came on. I visited the website and its really cool! They even have it in America. The website is www.ics.tv I believe. If that doesnt work, let me know. I am interested in getting a degree in writing children's book as well as their photography degree. It looks great. I am finishing my massage therapy and going on to reflexology but would like to have a few trades under my belt and with this one I can do it from home. Will let you all know what I decide to do. Thought I would share it as I thought it was a great idea. They do all kinds of courses and with some you dont need any previous training. =)

Gotta run but be back soon!

I am so looking forward to our convention this year! I was a bit sick last year so missed a day and that really messes things up! I am so excited about the new campaign to advertise the convention. How cool! Its like back in the old day. Will really enjoy that. We are hoping to take the kids in Sweden to at least one day of the convention. I dont think their mom will let us keep them for the whole time but we think its important that they attend some of it. Their mom is teaching them things that we know are pagan like Christmas and birthdays so we want to help them learn how Jehovah feels about it. They will make up their own mind in the end but its Ronnys responsibility as their father to make sure he can share the truth about Jehovah to them as much as possible. They are still little. Felicia is 6 (starting school this year!) and Jonathan is 4. They are really really good kids. I look forward to seeing them again, although language is a barrier! I need to work on my Swedish.
My weight loss is going great. I had my first weight in on Monday night and started the program Tuesday morning. Then was weighted again Wed night to make sure its working and I had already lost 2lbs by then! So my first official weight in is Monday night. Wonder how much I will have lost by then!

A bit of nonsense:

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet and current street name) Boots Beechwood
2. YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME: (grandfather/grandmother on your dad's side, your favorite candy) Minnie Rasinets (I had to laugh at this!)
3. YOUR "FLY GIRL/GUY" NAME: (first initial of first name, first two or three letters of your middle name) M-Lee
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Blue Penguin
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) Lee Brooklyn
6.YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (first 3 letters of your last name, last 3 letters of mother's maiden name, first 3 letters of your pet's name) Kririv
7. JEDI NAME: (middle name spelled backwards, your mom's maiden name spelled backwards) Leearevir
8. SUPERHERO NAME: ("The", your favorite color, the automobile you drive) The Blue Vauxhall (I dont drive but used Ronny's truck make)

Ok, so my weight loss blog is up and running for those of you who would like to check it out. Please remember to email me at mkristensen@espresso.co.uk if you would like the link as Im not giving it out to the public.
Well I have been going crazy trying to figure out where Ronny and I should go for our 2 year wedding anniversary. We have tried so many different ideas but I want something really tropical. Initially, we wanted Kenya and I still want to go there but they dont have any flights going out in September so maybe next year. So we saw gulet sailing in Turkey and it looks really fantastic. Its basically a sailboat or a yacht of some sort and you go to all these differents ports in Turkey. We want to do 2 weeks. So will see if that is what we end up doing. We need to book it soon. Also we are going to Sweden over a weekend soon to see the kids as well as a 4 day trip to Paris to see a friend from the US that will be going to the international convention with his mom. He used to live in NY but is now in Arkansas so being that everytime I visit the US I wont be able to see him, thought it would be easier to see him while he is in Paris. He is like a brother to me. Its REALLY cheap to go to Paris as well. Surprisingly so. It will be 268 for the both of us in total including the train ride and rental of a studio and that is in the heart of Paris near the Lourve. So should be nice! I can bring my Lighter Life food with me as well so only Ronny would have to buy food or we could cook it in the apartment. Anyways, looking forward to it!
That is pretty much it. Been really beautiful around here lately. Warm and the trees and flowers are blooming. I finally got my camera up and running so will post pics up soon.
Anyways, thats it for now! Be back soon.