The Quest for a Household Detox

In an effort to remove unnecessary chemicals from my household, I have started making my own laundry detergent and will soon be making my own everyday cleaners. I was inspired by a friend's similar quest to detox her life, and followed the recipe she included on her blog (see her original post here) and I have to say I love it! I won't be going back to using the store-bought detergents - there's no need!

The recipe is quite simple:

1 cup Borax

1 cup Washing Soda (not baking soda)

1 grated bar of Fels-Naptha Soap

That's it! Mix it all together and you've got some fabulous homemade detergent! I have been using the detergent for about a month and our clothes are coming out clean and fresh (and Jason hasn't noticed a difference, something I was concerned about since he has more sensitive skin than I do). You only have to use two tablespoons per large load (less for smaller loads) and though it is technically cheaper than store-bought detergent, I am more interested in the control over which chemicals are going on my clothes (and therefore my skin...). I have since seen variations of the above recipe, with some people substituting the Fels-Naptha soap for other bar soaps - Ivory, Irish Spring, Dove, etc. and while some people have reported having no problems with the substitution, I think that soaps that are formulated for a person's skin are not going to be the best in my laundry, so I will be sticking to soaps meant for use in the laundry. I want to try the unscented Zote soap to eliminate the perfume ingredient in the Fels-Naptha, but I have not seen it out on my recent errands, so I will have to try to hunt it down. I haven't found the washing soda locally either, but was able to find a neat package deal online that came with everything listed above for $11. The package came with big boxes of both washing soda and borax and two bars of soap, so I've just got to get more soap to make more than two batches.

In addition to the substitutions, I've also seen recipes with longer ingredients list, including ones that call for baking soda (in addition to the washing soda), Oxi-Clean (or other oxygen cleaner) and  fabric softener crystals. I have been using plain white vinegar as fabric softener by putting some into a Downy ball so it releases during the rinse cycle and so far I have definitely noticed softer clothes (with no vinegar smell, I promise!). The vinegar also sets dyes and removes soap residue, so I'll definitely continue using the vinegar, as I am not one who needs to have their clothing or towels smell like "Summer Breeze" or whatever. In fact, I washed a dress last week with Tide on a whim and when I wore it the next day, I was reacting to something as if a cat was rubbed in my face (I am allergic) and couldn't shake the feeling that it was the detergent smell. Though we have been using Tide for years, I was never aware of the smell before and once I changed out of the dress, I felt better. I have not had any issues with my pared-down version of the detergent recipe, so I will be sticking with it! I'll be making a batch for my mom for her to try out too :)

Also inspired by my friend's blog, I will be making my own everyday household cleaners to replace my current slew of glass cleaners, "all-purpose" cleaners and bathroom cleaners. Her basic "all-purpose" recipe calls for:

2 cups hot water
1 teaspoon liquid castile soap
1 teaspoon white vinegar

Again, that's it! Mix it up in a spray bottle, give it a shake and get to cleaning! I haven't found the castile soap locally, so I'll have to hit up a "hippie" store like Lassen's or Whole Foods. I went to my local dollar store yesterday to pick up some spray bottles to make the above recipe and a water + vinegar mixture for glass and windows, so I'll give them a try and if they work (which I have read over and over that they definitely do!) I will be scrapping my old cleaners.

I washed my tile floor with vinegar and water a few weeks ago and I felt it cleaned just as well without the overpowering chemical smell and left over residue for us to pick up on our feet. I just researched "green" automatic dishwasher detergent and so once we run out of the kind we are currently using, I'll give the top two contenders a try. Yes, there are recipes online to make your own, but I've read conflicting reports on whether or not they work well...I'll give the store-bought versions a try first. With Baby C on the way, it feels good to be eliminating some unnecessary chemicals from our home!

Apple Pie

I had been itching to bake something for a while, as there have been no parties lately to bake for, so at the grocery store I had the forethought to get some apples to make a nice pie later in the week. (I generally don't plan ahead that well, but I'm trying to keep some basic ingredients in the house at all times so I can try out some different dinner recipes) I finally used my "Bird's Beak" paring knife for the first time to peel the apples, did a bit of a combo recipe of my Great Aunt Sarah's recipe and Jason's family recipe and got the pie in the oven. The delicious smell of apple pie is drifting down the hallway to my office and it should be nearly done. I told my mom I was going to make one for Jason this evening and after hanging up with her, my dad called me back to ask me to save a piece for him :)

Welcome Home, Claire!

I have a new pup! Her name is Claire, and I adopted her at a Farmers Market I was participating in at Cambria Winery in Santa Maria. Sara and I said "let's go check out the dogs," and here little Claire was, just adorable as can be, barking until you put your hand into her pen - she instantly got quiet and latched on to your hand in a hug. She just wanted some love! She's getting plenty of it now, and she's giving a lot back. She follows me everywhere, sits next to me on the couch, lays in our laps, sleeps at the foot of our bed and is so playful. She's like a mini-Ronan, and even howls like the wolfhounds used to :)

We went and got her a Harley-Davidson collar, and though I think Jason would have liked the "Bad to the Bone" leash, we didn't go crazy with branding our dog. Jason likes her too, but she's definitely my dog and is content to just being in the same room as me in her little doggie bed:

Oops

So I've dropped the ball on this blog. I enjoy writing, so I just need to remember this is here. I've been good about posting on the Hummingbird Cake blog, so hopefully I can get into a routine here again as well.

I'm taking a cardio kickboxing class at the local community college twice a week with a girlfriend from high school with whom I have reconnected. It's awesome being able to spend time with a friend in town, AND the class is kicking my butt into gear to get (back?) into shape. I've just got to stick with it and try and be good about eating right and supplementing the class with some bike riding and stuff. It's a lot of fun, and though I was sore the entire weekend after the first class, it's getting easier and I'm not sore for days after anymore!

Though I know the rest of the country is buried under snow, the January and February weather here has been surprisingly wonderful. I was telling a friend in England that it's been chilly and he reminded me that when he visited in January two years ago he was wearing short-sleeved shirts and the weather was not what anyone else in the world would call chilly :)

Unfortunately I am not thinking of anything else neat to report. No cool trips or events to talk about...just half looking forward to my birthday and half not. I think about college and my time in Lithuania and it seems like just last week, but in reality it was 6 years ago! I was 21 when I first went to LT and now I'm turning 27?! Sigh. Still working on making my media empire, but I suppose I have 3 more years until my self-imposed deadline to have a successful self-made business. I check out blogs and other wedding/invitation professionals and I yearn to be on their level, but then I see that they've been in business 10+ years or something and I have to remember that I can't rush things - it's all a learning process and I feel that my business can only get better.

I've joined a group on etsy (a site for selling handmade goods) for crafters in the Santa Barbara area and have been pleased with the networking and group events happening so far. I look forward to getting to know them better and learning from each others' experiences. My etsy shop has single cards and button magnet sets, just as an alternative outlet from my website. I'm also on the board for the Lompoc Business Women's Network, so I look forward to getting to know those ladies better and getting more involved with the group.

Okay, signing off - I hope to be better about writing here, so hopefully we will meet again soon!

HCS Blog

I've started another blog for my stationery stuff: http://hummingbirdcake.blogspot.com/

I'll be posting upcoming projects, store specials and what not. Right now I'm looking for input on which colors and designs of thank you notes to print, so go on over and give me your two cents!

More coming to this blog soon...

Hummingbird Cake Stationery

So, I've started a stationery company called Hummingbird Cake Stationery. Just under a year ago I started designing and uploading designs to Zazzle.com, which is a website that prints and ships items people design and gives the designer a royalty they have named for themselves. Mine is set to 15%, so I make a few dollars here and there, but having my own company will of course open the door to having a much higher profit margin. Naturally, there's more work involved, but I enjoy doing it, so it's not so bad.

A tiny backstory on how this all came about. I was fine with the Zazzle formatting until I started doing wedding/bridal shower/baby shower/bachelorette party invitations, which are my top sellers and received numerous emails from potential clients regarding the paper choices Zazzle was offering. Apparently, Zazzle lists their papers as matte, when in fact they are coated with a very shiny gloss on one side, which is, in my opinion, not appropriate for formal invitations, and my potential clients felt the same way. I got to thinking - why couldn't I print the designs for them?! I had been dancing around the idea for a while, and the complaints were just a push in the right direction. So, I filed all the proper paperwork with the city, county and state and voila! I'm a legal business owner. I've got my prices, my paper picked out and given the graphic shop in town a heads up for what is on the horizon - I'm getting my business cards printed by them this week, so I'd be happy to hand those out to anyone who may know potentially interested clients ;)

I'm working on the website now, and hope to have it up by the end of the week. Even if only just to have the gallery of the images done, as I'm still working on the shopping cart aspect...

Oh, and for those a tad confused by the name, this will be on the "About" page:

Hummingbird Cake Stationery is located on the Central Coast of California and was started by Chelsea Cochran shortly after her wedding in the spring of 2009. It started out as a design hobby after I spent hours and hours looking through countless catalogs and websites offering thousands of different wedding invitations and other stationery goods, but not finding any that I could both afford and fall in love with.

That challenge of finding something both beautiful and budget-friendly led me to start my own company with the mission to offer high-quality, personalized stationery at accessible prices.

I delight in my clients' creativity, and am happy to customize any of my designs, or create a brand new one for you! For example, if I do not currently offer a design with coordinating table cards, that does not mean I can't make them for you - just ask!

The name of the company comes from another beloved hobby of mine - baking. Many people on the West Coast have never heard of a hummingbird cake, but for those that do not know, it is sort of like a carrot cake but with bananas and pineapple and pecans, with a cream cheese frosting. Check out a recipe here! (a side note to blog readers - it also came about because I wanted to incorporate the hummingbird somehow, being that it is something I will always associate with my grandmother - as it was her favorite bird. I thought that may be a tad too convoluted for the general public)

San Francisco & Halloween

So Jason, my parents and I went to San Francisco for a short jaunt, staying in Carmel the first night and then two nights in San Francisco. We saw the sights, went to Alcatraz and got to meet up with Erin, Eric and Steve for some pizza. Jason took tons of great photos, so I'll post those asap.

Halloween was a riot - we had great costumes all around, and photos to prove it. More coming soon...

Bloggy Catch-Up

So apparently I never found time to write Part 2 of the Honeymoon Adventure, so I'll just say Maui was wonderful - we had a great time, we did get our Open Water Certification for SCUBA and though I thought it would be terrifying at first, I found I was more at ease under the water able to see all around me clearly rather than just snorkeling and seeing whatever was below my face floating on the surface. I'll definitely enjoy scuba-ing in the future - though I will require clear water, because the "unknown" factor in being underwater was the thing I was most scared about to begin with, so no kelp forest scuba for me. We got to swim with sea turtles and other fun aquatic life on a beach dive to a sunken pier, and our guide had a great underwater camera that took fantastic photos. The turtles were so cute!! I'll edit this and post a photo when I figure out where those photos went...

In more recent news, Jason and I are renting a house in Lompoc and we're slowly improving the odd and/or outdated look of some features. For example, Jason has improved the garage with a fresh coat of paint on the walls, epoxy coating for the floor and expanded the existing work bench! It looks fantastic! Before and after photos coming soon...along with photos of our new bedroom window treatment. There were these awful vertical blinds in there before, and they were not only ugly, but they were broken, so we couldn't even open them! This past weekend we picked up some mini-blinds and sheer curtains and transformed the drab wall from "patio door" to "warm & cozy" - I just love it! I took before and after photos, so those will go on asap too.

It's late as I'm writing this, so I think I'll head to bed, but I'll definitely try and write on this more often!

Hawaiian Honeymoon - Part 1

So...a quick catch-up: I'm married to Jason Cochran as of May 16, 2009 and currently on Maui, Hawaii. I have a great view of the Pacific from my twelfth floor hotel room, and can hear the waves and other sounds of the sea through my open patio door. Jason and I have just gotten back from an afternoon stroll to a nearby deli for lunch, and are about to get back into our studies for our Open Water Certification for Scuba tomorrow and Tuesday. Hopefully we will pass with flying colors, and then do a beach dive with our instructor on Wednesday to see sea-turtles before we leave. We've been here since Monday of last week, and have done a lot in our time here so far. We rented a Harley and drove the road to Hana, something which was both great and not great, as the road itself is a beautiful drive with views of rocky sea cliffs dropping straight down into the ocean on one side, and rainforest creeping up mountainsides on the other. The not great part was my seat on the Electra Glide we rented. It was a stock passenger seat, which was comfortable to begin with, but as we progressed on the 54 mile, 2.5 hour trip (one way), my butt protested and required a couple stops to walk around and get the blood flowing again. The ride made me think of the women who ride to Sturgis or other cross country type trips on the backs of motorcycles with nothing more than a square of padded leather the size of a CD case under them. I don't know how they do it...

Regardless, it was a pretty drive and my sore butt got over being sore and I can now say I am happy we did it. Jason enjoyed himself and is proud he can say he has ridden the road to Hana on a motorcycle! We also have enjoyed ourselves by eating whatever we please, though it hasn't been Hawaiian food...and we're skipping the luau this trip, but we've had Hawaiian beer and enjoyed that. We've been snorkeling like crazy, and yesterday there was a 'jelly fish warning' sign outside our hotel, and when we spoke to the man at the counter, he told us someone had been stung by a Man o' War the day before, and that he was advising people to swim in the pool instead of the ocean. We decided to skip the pool and to try and be aware of our surroundings, and were able to swim for an hour and a half around a small reef area with fish and an octopus before Jason spotted a Man o' War a few feet from himself and we hightailed it out of there. The poor little guy was washed on shore, where we watched it for a little while get pushed around by the tide, warning a few passerbys of its presence, but as Jason put it "we can't babysit it forever" and so we left, knowing that some unaware beach walker was going to step on it at some point. Jason has been taking photos underwater, and so we'll get those developed when we get back. He's also picked up quite a collection of "Aloha" shirts - apparently in Hawaii, they don't call them Hawaiian shirts ;)

I'll write more later...stay tuned for part 2.

England, Ireland, Lithuania, 24

Mega-post! I just got back from a whirlwind-nearly-three-week-trip to England, Ireland and Lithuania! I got the best birthday present I could have wished for and got to celebrate my "golden" birthday in Lithuania and see many dearly missed faces. It was all completely random and not something I thought I'd be doing if you asked me a month ago, so it made it all the more fun. Photos are here! Now on to the show:

Los Angeles, California, USA: Had to get up ridiculously early in order to make the 4:00 am bus in Santa Barbara down to LAX. I asked "which side will the sunrise be on?" and the bus driver said "...we won't see the sunrise" so hooray for early travel! Thankfully security was a breeze at such an early hour and I got to sit at my gate trying to stay awake...then had a stopover at Newark for a couple hours chatting with Regis on the phone, oddly trying to realize I'd be seeing him in just a few hours...fast forward to Birmingham 7:00 am England time and I have arrived!

Dublin, Republic of Ireland - Regis and I spent 2.5 days in the wonderful Irish city and saw the major sights: St. Stephen's Green, Grafton Street, Trinity College, Temple Bar, a small seaside suburb called Howth and most importantly - the Guinness factory. Now I don't care for Guinness beer at all, but it was fun to see the seven-story building packed with informative information about how Guinness is made and old advertisements that state "Guinness is good for you, have a Guinness a day!" and learn that the Guinness Book of World Records is in fact related to the Guinness beer! A free pint was included in the admission price, so we got the pints on the seventh floor bar with a panoramic view of Dublin and we were able to take three sips each before deciding we still didn't like Guinness and put the glasses right back on the bar. Sorry Ireland, I know you love your milkshake of a beer, but when given the choice between Guinness in a noisy, overcrowded Dublin Temple Bar or a Beck's beer in a posh hotel piano bar, I'm going to choose the latter...and did. It was lovely! Alas, the Dublin adventure had to end with an Aer Lingus flight back to...

Coventry, England day. Other events of the week included spending hours wandering Ikea coveting furniture and lampshades, discovering what a "chip batch" is from the local fish & chips shop (it's a buttered bun with chips inside...basically a french fry sandwich), eating at aforementioned chip shop several times, watching films whilst eating delicious ice cream, experiencing Curry Night and chicken vindaloo (spicy!) and just generally enjoying myself and ha- Back to England just in time for Regis' birthday, which was celebrated in style with chicken fajitas, lots of Pringles and fancy cheeses. Dancing commenced after some wine and I ended up being a party pooper and falling asleep around midnight, but it was a fun funving fun. England was fun, but I was so looking forward to heading to...

Joniškis & Klaipėda, Lithuania - Oh my beloved Lithuania...how I missed thee! I could not have guessed that I would have found myself in Lithuania so soon after tearfully leaving last summer. Regis and I left from London after a long bus ride and after having a delayed flight due to mechanical problems on our plane, we were told we'd be switching planes, then wait! they fixed it! and we were off. I have never laughed so hard on a plane and I think the woman in front of us hasn't either - various things kept us entertained - our Polish stewardess, tiny bottles of white wine and our iPods. When we arrived in Riga, we were both starving and Regis' mother had an amazing spread of karbonadas, veggies and mashed potatoes. So nice to see that family again! After a day or two, we went to Klaipeda and it was a blast - we went by train in the morning and arrived at LCC early afternoon to hopefully surprise some old friends. Chad happened to be at home in the new dorm and Regis knocked first and Chad answered and said "oh hey, come on in" and I snuck in behind him. Chad sort of glanced behind Regis with a "who's that?" look on his face and when the recognition came, I believe the words were "no....unbelievable! what are you doing here?!" and so on and so forth, with great big hugs and similar sentiments when I stumbled upon Arunas, Rasa, Viktoras, Irma, Giedrė, colleagues and acquaintances on campus. I had lunch at the cafeteria and caught up with friends and then we headed off to Twelfth Floor for capirovkas and an amazing view of sunny Klaipeda before meeting Dovydas at work. After Regina also got off work we piled in the car and went to HBH for a gigantic dinner. Evaldas was on his way from Vilnius and so we met him after dinner and had a blast catching up and bedtime didn't roll around until 5 am. I got up relatively early to go to Akropolis to meet Cathal for lunch and some quick shoe shopping while the rest of the gang went to Chinese and the Dutch Cap...I would have loved to go as well, but unfortunately our time in Klaipeda was short short short and our train was early in the afternoon back to Joniškis. More of Regis' family had arrived for a birthday celebration and much more delicious food was served and I jotted down recipes for various cakes and cookies and hope to be able to duplicate them at home. We went to the newest Joniškis attraction - a brand new movie theatre! There were about 50 seats in a tiny theatre, and even though we were the only ones attending the movie, we were asked where we'd like our assigned seats to be. So Lithuanian! Maybe some day they will get buffets, free refills and general seating in theatres. My birthday was Sunday and I made chocolate chip cookies and enjoyed a lazy day enjoying Lithuanian sandwiches and television. Monday we ran around doing errands and got the special treat of climbing the church bell tower and seeing the town from the windows in the top. We left that evening laden down with chocolates and gifts to arrive back in Coventry at around 4 am. Phew! It was wonderful to have spent even a few days in Lithuania, and I do hope to go back sooner rather than later, but we shall see what fate brings. Back to...

Coventry, Manchester & Littleborough, England - I got to spend time with Stasys finally in Manchester and Littleborough and we saw the QUEEN! of England! We were on a random street in Manchester, took the bus one stop too far and were walking back when a line of police motorcycles and then a car passed us by with a little old lady in a pink hat and jacket that looked an awful lot like the Queen of England! Later we find out that she was in fact in Manchester in a pink outfit! Also lovely to see Stasys' family again, his mother is also an excellent cook and Manchester is such a different city than Coventry or Birmingham - full of old buildings neat alleyways filled with fire escapes and steel tubing. I bought another pair of amazing euro-shoes at the mall and Stas and I ended up eating at the same pub we ate at in November. I had a lot of fun and unfortunately had to head back to Coventry after only a couple days as I was leaving the next day...on a jet plane...don't know when I'll be back again...I packed up at Regis' house in preparation for the early 5 am departure from his house. 5 am rolled around real fast and I got to the airport in plenty of time and said goodbye and a million hours later arrived back home in California.

Take heed, World, 2008 is here!

So clearly I'm back from Hawaii - it was a lot of fun and I'd definitely do it again...maybe a different island next time! Well, definitely a different island next time - why not, right? January 2008 is upon us, World, what will we do with it? Let us hope that most of us put to use our God-given brains and hearts and do things worthwhile that make us and others happy - fulfill our hopes and dreams if you will...or at least pursue them.

My head is full of ideas...my heart yearns for something...and my body is restless...

Visiting Paradise

Yet another beautiful day in Hawaii! I've window shopped at Gucci, Tiffany and other lovely shops in a mall, eaten delicious Polynesian dishes, snorkeled in the ocean, seen whales breaching from the balcony and enjoyed a luau.

Snorkeling was a lot of fun - the ocean water is so warm and clear! We found a spot and parked right on the side of the road and the beach was 10 feet away. The flippers make walking hard, but my dad pointed out the secret - walk backwards! Then you're not kicking up sand and water and don't lose your footing. It was weird at first, because I almost went into panic mode having to breathe through my mouth only and feeling the water right under my nose (the mask leaked a little at first) but it was worth figuring out and I saw lots of coral, urchins, things I think were big sea cucumbers and fish! Even the famed Humuhumunukunukuapuaa fish! Yes, I can pronounce it even! Robert and Alex got bored fast, and Robert freaked out a little right at first, claiming he saw a huge black fish...but we never ventured very far, as the coral got pretty high and would scrape our bellies if we went far enough. It was shallow for ages, and I enjoyed it a lot - we may go again depending on the weather and collective interest. I used one of those underwater cameras, so hopefully a photo or two will turn out!

Listening to the ocean waves is something that makes me realize how much I take living by the ocean for granted - I don't particularly want to swim in the ocean off of Pismo Beach and even Santa Barbara all that often for fear of hypothermia, but being in the bathwater-temperature sea that is blue as can be is breathtaking.

We went to a luau as well, which was very cool - the dancers showcased different Polynesian cultures - Hawaii, Tahiti, Samoa, New Zealand, etc - all with different costumes and dance moves and songs. The women were amazingly talented and could move their hips like nobody else I've seen! The food was served in courses according to each location, and was very good. Drinks were endless, and I've discovered I'm not a fan of rum or drinks with rum in them. Mai Tais, Pina Coladas, etc were all out - but I love the creamy froo-froo tropical drinks without said rum in them!

I have so enjoyed myself so far and I know I want to come back to Hawaii again!!

Happy New Year!

Ah, to hear the crashing Pacific from the open windows overlooking the beach...Hawaii is wonderful! We're staying on Maui and our condo is directly above the beach, so the lanai (balcony in Hawaiian) has breathtaking views of the sea. We got 'lei-ed' when we got off the plane and welcomed to Hawaii with rain and humid air. After a quick walk around our accommodation complex, I fell asleep on the couch - we had left the previous morning at 3 am and so I was not going to make it to midnight to greet the new year without some Zzz's. As it turns out, I was the only one to make it to midnight - Sara and my mom felt under the weather, the taxi we called to explore downtown didn't show up in a reasonable amount of time, so my dad gave up and he went to bed and my brother and his friend Alex fell asleep just before 12. People were setting off fireworks for hours on the beach below and I mean hours, like since we arrived in the afternoon. Where these people got all these fireworks and why they thought it was a good idea to set them off mere feet from the ocean just proves some people have more money than sense. Plus, we found out today that fireworks are illegal in Hawaii.

Today held some sunbathing and beach exploration, but it was mostly a low-key day and hopefully everyone will feel better and more up to doing something exciting tomorrow. I'll gladly report all the excitement :)

Happy 2008!!

Last Full English Day & Goodbye!

Last full day in England, Wednesday November 28. Shopping, shopping, shopping at the Manchester mall - basically window shopping and having something to do with Stasys without sitting and watching television. I only bought some licorice allsorts napkins for my mom and drooled over a beautiful expensive party dress that I would have nowhere to wear. Mew. Still wet weather, and so stopped for coffee at a cafe called Zinc and Stasys took artsy photos - oh look, the Lithuanian flag colors! Coincidence? I think not...

Back in Littleborough I knew I should go to bed early since I'd have to be up at 6:30, but Stasys and I of course were up until about 3:30 watching the BBC and talking. I set three different alarm times so I wouldn't hit snooze and sleep through my flight and actually woke up before the alarm miraculously. Probably nerves...Took the train to the airport and got there with plenty of time to have a Coke at the little cafe and spent some of my remaining pound coins. Lovely chat with Staska, and then I reluctantly went to my gate...bye England...hopefully see you before too long!

Chipping Campden, Broadway & Machester

Again, I know this is posted late, but better late than never. The Tuesday I was to leave to Manchester was first going to be another out of town adventure - Regis and I were off to Chipping Campden and Broadway, small towns a short TomTom visit away. The weather was overcast, but not rainy and so our journey started after a breakfast of Regis-made porridge, we were off! Chipping Campden is a town known for its sandstone buildings and the huge cemetery and church as we entered town was breathtaking. We found a parking spot and walked back to the field with the church in it and upon setting foot on the grass, my feet were soaked immediately. Worth it! Sheep were in the adjacent green, green fields and everything was so English! It was a perfect setting. We climbed the wall into the cemetery and looked around at the old tombstones, some dating to the 1800s. The sandstone was beautiful, and very different looking than ordinary old red brick or stucco. The town reminded me of Solvang, the Danish village near my house, but on a less kitschy scale. There were antique shops, tea rooms and little inns. There were Toby Jugs and Bunnykins in one antique shop, and the funny pairs of porcelain dogs my mom has in tea room windows. All of it reminded me of the English knick-knacks we have in our home.

There was a hill Regis wanted to find, so we trekked up the narrow streets trying to find it. The cottages all have names - Emily's Cottage, Meadow Manor, Foxenwood House, etc - no numbers, just the names! The new guy at the post office must have his work cut out for him when delivering mail...but they were just darling! There was one for sale on a corner lot with a cemetery attached and so we fantasized about the clearly low price of 100 pounds on account of the location...we both had 50 pounds in our wallets, so clearly it was fate...if it were true. I do wonder how much those cottages are though, as they were so cute and who wouldn't want a cottage in England? We did not find the hill right away, but found a farm trail and a stack of sugar beets and tie-dyed sheep munching on the vegetables. The view was great, but the overcast weather did not lend itself to breathtaking photos. As it was afternoon already, we decided to trek back to the car and head to the other little town of Broadway for lunch.

A short drive later, we arrived in Broadway - a clearly more upscale town with more upscale-looking tea rooms and castle-like inns and boutique shops. We walked around a bit, taking cliche photos in the red telephone boxes and quickly realizing that the restaurants were already closed and wouldn't reopen until dinner time. Lame. We ended up staying about 10 minutes in Broadway and left for Coventry again to find food and get me to the train station. Pub food, repacking and a tearful goodbye and I was on the 2 hour train to Manchester. Poor Stasys was waiting for me for quite a while, and Manchester was wet, wet, wet. Happened to stop at the store to get peanut butter cookie makings and made a better batch to redeem myself for the 'used the wrong brown sugar last time' batch. Yum.

Coventry Cathedral, China Red & McDonald's

Someone posted some advertisement on this blog, so I deleted it and started over since I couldn't edit the comment itself...so, Back to Coventry...thankfully I was able to get 'funfares' for bus trips and save some money, or travel on the British Isle would have proved expensive. Regis met me at the bus station, and we decided to go out to Coventry and see what there was to see. We took a bus downtown and sat on the upper deck to see the city at night. When we reached the city center, we got off and started exploring.

The Coventry Cathedral was one of the first things we saw, and it was breathtaking. I love ruins, and so to see the ruin of the old cathedral next to the rebuilt cathedral was a treat for me. After doing some reading, I found that the original cathedral was bombed in World War II - "On the night of 14 November 1940, the city of Coventry was devastated by bombs dropped by the Luftwaffe. The Cathedral burned with the city, having been hit by several incendiary devices" - Unfortunately, it was dark and so my photos of both cathedrals do not do them justice, but the glass wall shown was etched with figures, which I found different than I had seen before because they were not the typical angels and saints one might expect, but stylized so that they looked almost skeletal. The spire is all that remains of the old cathedral - the only thing that survived the bombing. There was also a huge bronze statue of St. Michael on the front of the church, and since I also love statues, I wish I was able to take a better photo of it, but maybe Regis will go there in the day time once and I can steal photos from him.

Continued on to more of the city, passing various pubs and closed shops until we found a little nice-looking Chinese restaurant called China Red. The pricing was fair and there were so many things to choose from, it was hard to narrow down choices, but in order to be adventurous we ordered frog legs as an appetizer and found them to be quite good actually. Sort of a cross between fish and chicken in flavor, and quite spicy. For our main meals, I was boring again and got chicken chow mein and Regis got some kind of garlic sauce beef. Both were outstanding and complimented well by the chinese pints of beer - If I go back to Coventry, I'll want to go back there.More wandering around the closed malls and I was surprised at the lack of people walking about - we were some of the only ones on the street. After goofing off for some time, dessert of McDonald's milkshakes was decided upon and caught the bus home. A fun night on the town!

London Calling...Again

London for the weekend - left Friday afternoon and arrived late because of traffic, so after running to the tube station and being held up by slow French students who couldn't figure out the automated ticket machine, I arrived at a theatre where I was to meet Cambria 5 minutes after 7:00, too late to go into the show. I had to wait another 40 minutes before all the late people were allowed in, when finally I was ushered to my seat to see the last half of a play that I had never heard of. The consolation prize was that Ian McKellan was in the play, as was the British guy in Anaconda and the brunette in Vanity Fair. It was called The Seagull, and the brunette from Vanity Fair was awful. After the play, Cambria and I went to pizza and then to her house via the underground. In the morning I joined her at a rehearsal at RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts) for one of her group projects and got in touch with Ieva and set up a meeting later in the day. Cambria and some of her friends ended up having tickets to another play called The Arsonists that afternoon, and there was a cheap ticket left for me to attend as well - it was a modern, short play that was interesting enough. Then Cambria and I had dinner at Giraffe, which was delicious and then waited for Ieva in the Waterloo tube station. Ieva met us and Cambria went home and Ieva and I went to London-China-Town for dinner for her. It was a highlight of my London trip to see her, if only for a few hours! Then I went back to Cambria's house for a girly movie and giggling...

Photos posted here!

Stratford-Upon-Avon & Oxford

(I know this isn't on time, but better to document the rest of the trip late rather than never) Stratford-Upon-Avon & Oxford at night! Regis and I drove there after he came home from work and thanks to TomTom, arrived in no time. The drive was beautiful, even at night - we strayed from the freeway and drove the scenic route through the English countryside and tiny towns along the way. Stratford is known for being Shakespeare's birthplace and so there are many statues of characters from his plays and the town is just darling. It was decked out for Christmas, with a Christmas market in the center of town. I ended up buying two pairs of Baltic amber earrings, because as much amber as was in Lithuania, the selection of green amber was limited. We then wandered around taking photos and looking for a restaurant that wasn't going to cost us such a pretty penny. We settled on Usha, an Indian restaurant that was reasonably priced and yet fancy looking. It was delicious! I was boring and ordered chicken tikka masala and Regis was adventurous and got something he'd never had before - chicken pathia - both dishes were wonderful and we then treated ourselves to a coconut ice cream sundae for dessert. More walking around, then headed back to the car to give TomTom a new destination for the evening - Oxford.

Arrived at Oxford and had a quick coffee in an Irish pub and then proceeded to walk around and explore one of the hearts of England's academic world. We saw Oxford castle and walked for some time while Regis tried to remember where one of the university's main buildings was. The streets were full of loud teenagers, most sounding drunk and we walked by a 'let's take this outside' fight between two groups of young men. Heart of England's academic world indeed...but the trip was fun, we ended up finding an ancient library and set of university buildings and then wandered back to the car and headed home. It was late and my knack for falling asleep in the car was not helpful for Regis, who was also tired and so I tried telling stories to keep us both awake, but that proved easily ignorable and so I resorted to a random question game. "Would you rather eat a snake or an eel?" etc...

Coventry & London

He's there, the Phantom of the Opera....at Her Majesty's Theatre! The show was amazing...and though the stage initially looked small, the theatre only presents the one show and so there were little touches that made it a very impressive performance - from the candles rising from the floor of the Phantom's lair to the chandelier falling from the ceiling. It's the 21st Anniversary of the play and just imagine, it's been going on twice a day for that long? That's a long time...

Also saw Cambria before and after the show - had a brunch of cottage pie and dinner of a fancy pizza and a pint in a pub, a lovely day in London, except for the weather. The rain kept us from walking too far, and oddly enough did not see any London-y things like the houses of parliament or the London eye at all...only saw the river on the bus on the way out and Trafalgar square because Cambria was studying near the National Gallery. I also found out I do not like the way the English concoct chai tea lattes...

Before London on Tuesday, I arrived in Coventry on Sunday afternoon via a fairly comfortable train and met Regis and rainy weather. We went to dinner at a American-Italian place that could have been a Marie Callendars or Applebees called Frankie & Benny's. My dollar conversions hurt my little wallet's feelings, though I have been good about money so far. On the drive home, it started snowing! Enough to stick until morning even, but the weather has since been off and on rain. The next day I went with Regis to Warwick University and saw the campus and sat in one of the many cafes on campus and read while he attended a class. That evening we went out for dinner again - this time TGI Friday's and splurged and had filet mignons which were very good - followed by store-bought ice cream with custard on top. Tuesday was London and today was a quieter day with me catching up with photos and bloggie and doing some laundry and baking peanut butter cookies whilst Regis went to work. Tomorrow we're going to Oxford in the evening, so I will have another tale to tell then!

Facebook is hosting my photos as Flickr only allows you to have 200 photos total and I think that's dumb. More photos will be posted as I take them.

Littleborough, Manchester & Hebden Bridge

Ah, England. Gloomy skies, a variety of accents, slang words and road signs one doesn't hear too often in the States, and driving on the other side of the road...but all wonderful! My flights were fine, sort of on time and no lost luggage - plus a fairly delicious bbq beef dinner served on the transatlantic flight.

Some highlights so far:

• Unusual Signs - My favorite sign so far has been one of those 'look out for...children, or elk, or tractors' signs, but with 'Watch for Elderly People' instead, with some silhouettes of little old people with canes and walkers on it.


• Taking the train - so fun to just hop on a train and go somewhere, instead of driving everywhere. It costs £2.90 for a roundtrip ticket to go to Manchester from Littleborough.


• British Telly - better than the small sampling of BBC America, though I see now that BBC America does give quite the variety of normal shows on television here. American shows are on quite regularly as well, I saw Scrubs and CSI shows on the guide...


• Pub food - I had cottage pie in a pub, with peas and chips (thick-cut French fries to the Yanks out there...) with some Heinz mint sauce on the side. It was delicious and fairly inexpensive.


• Exploring Manchester & surrounding areas - I've walked along muddy canals with sheep in the hills, poked around a used book shop, looked at Prada and Dolce & Gabbana attire and seen two museums for free - Natural History and Science and Industry. The tiger I'm high-fiving here is from the Natural History Museum. In the Science & Industry museum, there was a hands-on section for kids, and I was having such fun playing with the bubbles and mirrors and other kid-oriented stations - while Stasys was embarrassed but I'm sure secretly thought it was fun too.

On Saturday, Stasys and I decided to go outside of Littleborough for the day, but since Wales, Scotland and York were all several hours away by car and neither of us are familiar with getting there, etc - we decided to just pick a city that the train from Littleborough went to. Halifax was on the map printed in larger letters and was only a 5 pound trip, so we decided to check it out. The weather was sunny, but quite cold and breezy and Halifax did not hold any cool looking coffee shops or cafes that were screaming 'come on in, Love, and try our Yorkshire pudding!' so we ended up walking around the main promenade of several stores and discovered a market building with a big open courtyard with stall vendors and little peculiar shops tucked in the building surrounding it. There was a glass blower's shop and a weird gothic/fantasy store crammed with more dragon and fairy statues than I've ever seen, and a used bookstore where I bought a delightful hardcover 1953 edition of a book about the nature of boys, "the unfair sex." We then decided Halifax had nothing more to offer, and so we headed back to Littleborough via the train. I was treated to Lithuanian food cooked by his mother, and it was a pleasant surprise to have pancakes with curd and curd dumplings again!

More on the way...going to Coventry tomorrow and Phantom of the Opera in London this week!!