We're in London!

I'm writing this post from London! We've been having a great time. We're currently chilling at our friends' flat (that's British for apartment). Jonathan's playing chess with Patrick, something that he likes to play but doesn't get to enough since I can never remember the rules. I thought I'd take the chance to do a little recap of our trip so far. I'll warn you though, this may not be the most exciting post though since we've only been here for a couple days.

My flight here was actually quite nice. It wasn't a full flight so I ended up having three chairs to myself so I could lay down. I was very grateful because it was a 9 hour overnight flight so what sleep I got would be the only sleep I got for that night. I watched Brave which I had been dying to watch forever. It was really cute. I got maybe 5ish hours of sleep/restfulness, then watch a few episodes of friends and big bang theory, and deboarded and got through customs smoothly. It was about an hour drive to the flat which was nice because I got to see a lot of the city. Patrick was at the flat when I got there and we had a fun day together. We went to a wine bar for lunch and then he made dinner for us at the flat. We mostly just chatted all day and caught up. It was really nice and I was glad to have a chill day since I was still jetlagged.

Jonathan had a similar flight the next day. You may wonder why we flew on separate flights. His flight was set up by his company since he's being sent here for work. So since we only had to pay for my ticket I was just looking for the cheapest day available. Flying a day earlier was cheaper and it was a direct flight. So it was kind of an obvious decision. Meanwhile, Jonathan got to fly first class! He said that his flight was bumpy so he didn't get as much sleep but he had a four course meal with all the wine he wanted. Lucky him! He got to the flat around noon and I was still asleep! I apparently needed to catch up on sleep more than I thought! We took it easy that day too but we managed to head up towards London bridge and wander around Borough Market. Borough Market was very impressive and had all sorts of different things. As you may know,  we're kind of foodies so this was right up our alley. We also checked out Southwark Cathedral, the oldest Gothic cathedral in London. It just happened to be right next time the market. Of course there are historic buildings and churches everywhere you turn in London.

Sunday we explored Greenwich which is close by where Patrick and Allie live. It is a cute town with a lot of shopping. We explored the Old Navy College, walked by the house where the queen grew up, and checked out the observatory. The observatory had a beautiful view but it was pretty cold since it's at the top of a hill. In the evening we headed to Southwark and went to mass at St. George's Cathedral. It was a beautiful church.

Today we did a free tour that covered a lot of the must do items in London. It was an awesome tour! We saw Hyde Park, Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abby, Buckingham Palace, and lots else. We had a lot of fun and we learned a lot more than we would have if we had just ventured out on our own. For instance, did you know that a different flag is flown over Buckingham Palace whether the queen is in or not? They used to only fly a flag over the palace is the queen was in. However, when Princess Diana died, the queen was out and since there was not a flag flying at half mast there became a controversy. People thought that the queen was showing her distain towards the princess by not flying a flag so now they always fly a flag, just fly a different one depending. We finished the tour at a local pub with other people that were on the tour with us. They were travelers from all over: Germany, Brazil, Japan, Canada, and Argentina. We had a lot of fun and had some great fish and chips.

We have a lot more to see here in London but we've had a lot of fun so far!

-Chelsey

Valentine's Day!

Last week was our first married Valentine's Day! I've never bought into Valentine's Day too much but we always like to do something. We made dinner together, opened a bottle of prosecco and watch a movie! I even made creme brulee! I had never made creme brulee but it's one of Jonathan's favorites so I decided to give it a try. It came out perfectly! I couldn't believe it! Of course then I discovered that our butane torch that we needed to do the brulee-ing had no butane in it. Oops! O well, that just meant that we had a second celebration the next day with another dinner, wine, and creme brulee!

We made prosciutto wrapped chicken with a side of kale!

Fire!

Look how perfect! Just like from a restaurant!

And the rest of the weekend was nice and relaxing! We definitely needed it because this weekend we are off to London!!! We'll be there for about 2 weeks and then we come back and go directly to Austin for a wedding! Our lives get pretty crazy sometimes but we love it! See you when I get back! Of course when you hear from me next I'll be a world traveler and talking with a British accent!

-Chelsey

Covington, LA

Three for three! Check me out! We have a long break this morning so I thought that I might as well post this. I head back to Houston and my amazing husband this afternoon! I can't wait! As I've been mentioning recently, this week I went to Covington, LA for work for three days. It's not the most exciting place in the world but it's cool to get sent somewhere. It's only about an hour north of New Orleans so it's actually cool to drive the 30 mile bridge that crosses Lake Pontchartrain. Plus it still has all the great cajun food that's in New Orleans! I'm here for a training for a new software that will be rolled out in the next year. It's been a pretty interesting training and we've had a lot of good discussions. I'm glad I came because I've learned a lot.

If you remember my blog post about our New Orleans trip, you'll recall how much I loved Acme Oyster house! Well I was quite ecstatic to find out that they have a location across the street from my hotel here in Covington! I ate there twice, and I'm not ashamed! I also treated myself to an Abita Purple Haze beer. I've always liked Abita beer, but when looking up things to do in Covington I found out that the Abita brewery is very close by in Abita Springs. I was hoping to make a trip out there but their tasting room is only open during the day. Maybe I'll just have to head back here sometime!

Purple Haze is made with raspberries, hence the purple! So good!

The Chevron campus out here is really beautiful. There are tons of trees and lakes and there is a track that circles the entire campus. I decided to take a walk around the building during one of our breaks in the class. It was so relaxing. If I worked there I'd probably be out there all the time.

This is the front entrance.

This is the back where there's a pavillion.
It's a brand new facility since they moved here after Katrina.

There are at least 4 or 5 lakes on the property.

A weird thing that I noticed about Covington is that they seem to not believe in sidewalks, making it hard to go for a run. It's a really pretty area with trees everywhere, but how can you enjoy it without being able to walk around?

On my last night in Covington, I tried a new restaurant that someone mentioned was good. It was called Zea Rotisserie Grill. They brew their own beer so I had to try some! It was delicious! I ate way too much on this trip if you can't tell.

According to the label, they follow German brew making techniques from 1950 something.

It paired great with this: mediterranean hummus!

So it was an interesting trip. I always like going to new places and trying new things. Of course our next trip is going to be way more amazing: London!!! Jonathan is being sent there for work and we're going a week early for a vacation! I can't wait!!! London baby! I need to watch all the Friends episodes in London to prepare! Feel free to leave a comment with all the fun things we should do in London!

-Chelsey

Jonathan's 30th Birthday!

Two posts in two days?? That never happens! You know I must be slightly bored while here in Covington haha. It actually hasn't been too bad but I was hoping to make a trip to Goodwill tonight but found out at the last minute that the hotel shuttle doesn't go there. They do go to Walmart though which is actually a farther trip. Make sense? I didn't think so. Anyways, tomorrow I will be back in Houston with my husband! I'm looking forward to be home and having a long weekend!

So I need to continue catching you up with all that's been going on. Well I mentioned before that the cruise was partly a birthday thing for Jonathan. Well it wasn't just any birthday. This year he turned 30! It being Jonathan's 30th birthday, I knew I wanted to celebrate big. Unfortunately, with the cruise being the weekend after his birthday and us having a wedding before his birthday, we didn't have any time to do anything until the weekend after. (Not that we were upset for to be doing all those fun things.) I decided to plan a surprise scavenger hunt! Not only that, but I decided to make it 30 themed! Either the clue, activity, or both had 30 somewhere in it. I definitely had fun coming up with everything, and Rachel and Colleen helped me pull it off! Saturday morning I took Jonathan out to brunch. I took him to a restaurant called BRC, which has a great brunch and serves southern comfort food. Jonathan kept asking me what we were going to do all day and I wouldn't tell him anything. Meanwhile, Colleen and Rachel let our friends into our house so that when we got back home Jonathan was greeted by his surprise party! It worked like a charm!

Jonathan at brunch, clueless!

We took tons of pictures! At each location there was an activity that each team had to perform before getting the next clue. They were quite funny so I have to post some pictures!

Trying to get 30 ping pong balls out of a kleenex box taped to  their butt!

Then they had to complete a relay race while  keeping themselves on a towel!

Ok enough of the embarrassing photos! It was sooo much fun, and I have to say, I was very impressed with how well everyone did! Want to test your own Houston knowledge? Read the clues below and leave a comment with your answers!

1. Picture of a statue of George R. Brown
2. The second killer bee was traded to the Houston Astros on August 30, 1990. Go play some ball with him and take a picture!
3. 30 minutes into the game, 60 to go. Grab your cleats and head to the game
4. Did you know that Venus is just under 30 million miles from the Earth? (Approximately 25.8 million miles.) Lucky for us, we have the entire system here in Houston!
5. These owls aren’t at the zoo. You’ll want to find a building that’s fitting for today’s celebration
6. 30-love, don’t lose the game now. You’ll be remembered for this one
7. Phew! That took long enough. I think I’ve aged 30 years! First one back wins!

The winners!

Second place!

Third place! Hey that's still bronze!

After the scavenger hunt, we met back at our house and watched the videos of us all making a fool of ourselves. That is, until my computer decided to completely crash for no reason. No matter, we still found plenty of games to play and hung out all day! We had a 12 hour party! I think I'd call that a success!

Of course we had to sing the 30 year old Happy Birthday.

O yea, and the winners each won a Crave cupcake!
Everyone got one of these cupcakes that I made. Everyone was happy :-)

Fluxx!

Phase 10!

As you can see, Jonathan had a great birthday! The next day we slept in, lounged around, and watched the super bowl. It was an awesome weekend!

Until next time,
- Chelsey

Cruisin' Mexico

So I'm wayyyy behind on what's been going on lately. We've usually super busy but it's risen to a whole other level. Don't worry, it just means that I have more to right about on this little blog! Well I'm currently in Covington, LA for a business trip so hopefully I'll have some free time in the evenings to catch you up on everything. So following the weekend of Karen and Evan's wedding we headed out for a cruise! The cruise started the day after Jonathan's birthday so it was partially to celebrate his 30th but it was also for a bachelorette party for one of our friends. Surprisingly, it's not the first bachelorette party that Jonathan's attended. The cruise was out of Galveston and we rode up to Galveston Saturday morning and met for lunch at The Spot before boarding the ship. The food was great and we all got pina coladas that came in a coconut! Yum!

We're on a boat!

Leaving Galveston!

We had a blast on the cruise. I loved looking out at the water, watching the stars at night, exploring the ship, and going to all the activities on board. We spent most of the afternoons finding a spot with a good view by the water while reading. It worked perfectly because I loved being outside in the sun while watching the water and Jonathan loved relaxing and reading.

We took some breaks to take pictures.

Cozumel was really fun. We decided not to do an excursion and to just explore the island and I'm glad we did. We shopped, checked out downtown, had real Mexican food, and took a quick trip to the beach. It's definitely a different world there. They're willing to bargain and sell anything. We were even at one shop and the owner had an old car that Jonathan complimented him on. The guy offered to rent the car to us! Definitely sketch but that's Mexico for ya. The beach was beautiful! The water was so blue and we could see little fish swimming around our feet. The water was pretty cold so we just pulled up a few beach chairs and sat in the water. It was kind of unreal how pretty it was. They also had all these games on the water: a trampoline, rock wall, slide, etc. Although we were too cold to venture out there I thought it looked awesome! Probably doesn't pass the safety codes in the US or else they'd be everywhere.

Land ho!

Jonathan's first time in Mexico!

Can you believe that water?!?!

The main plaza in downtown Cozumel.

Look how huge that mango margarita is! 

A historic Catholic church in downtown.

I'm obsessed with these doors!

We stopped for coffee at....

...which you can tell by the name, is purely Mexican lol.

The beach!

Look how fun!

The water is sooo clear! I was in heaven...

The last night of the cruise we threw a surprise bachelorette party for Katie. It went great and Katie's mom brought so many great decorations for the shower. Katie was totally surprised! Afterwards, we danced the night away, especially after hearing that we would be delayed in getting back to Galveston weren't getting in until noon.

The group at the bridal shower.

And finally, more pictures that I just wanted to throw in here...

The obligatory towel animal pictures!

and group photos:

Dinner on our last night!

All dressed up for formal night!

As you can tell, it was really fun. It was nice to go on a short trip and explore a new city. Traveling is definitely a favorite of ours. Sorry for the picture overload! I always take way too many pictures when we go on trips :-)

Check back soon on what else has been going on in our crazy lives!

-Chelsey