David Cameron ~ Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Here's a quick little speech by David Cameron after he was notified that the AMERICAN ARMED FORCES ~ NAVY SEALS ~ took out Osama bin Laden and KILLED the crazy-ass terrorist! First of all, I just want to say THANK YOU to all the Armed Forces of the United States of America! I'm am SOOO proud to be an American and so proud and thankful of them and all their hard work and never-ending commitment to our great nation!

Secondly, I just want to show you this exciting item I received today! I contacted a couple gals who I have dealt with at the Parliament, and they helped me to attain this wonderful bottle of The House of Commons champagne signed by non other than the Prime Minister himself, Mr. David Cameron! :) I am donating this to the school that my boys attend to be put up for auction at the annual charity event they have each year! Let's hope for a large sum of money for this unique and fantastic item! So awesome to be putting every penny toward the wonderful charities that the school has chosen! And the neatest part of this whole thing TO ME....is that it was signed the week that Will & Kate got married! :) A post regarding my trip into London on April 29, 2011 is to come! Check back every few days! I'll hopefully post it soon! :)

Good times living here in the UK! ♥

Ingrid Seward on the Royal Family

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On April 12, 2011, I attended an American Women of Surrey meeting with Ingrid Seward as the keynote speaker. She is the Editor-In-Chief of MAJESTY ~ The Quality Royal Magazine, and has been since 1983. She told us all kinds of great tidbits about the royal family! Here are a few interesting facts and quotes I jotted down:

• "The Queen is thrilled that Kate is a commoner!"
• "She's (the Queen) concerned that Kate comes from a stable-minded background."
• Ingrid says that Kate's Mum is "very glamorous and glossy"! :)
• "The Queen wishes that she would have established a better rapport with Diana."
• "Charles will NOT abdicate the throne to William, because he would want him to have his freedom before he takes on the responsibility of becoming King."
• Ingrid feels bad for Fergie for not being invited to the wedding and that she believes William did NOT invite her out of respect for his grandfather. Prince Philip does not care for Fergie because of the way she disrespected their family. Fergie was a close friend to Diana and the boys were supposedly quite close to Fergie growing up. Fergie's a "busted flush" ~ not liked by the English people.
• "Will and Kate will cut their wedding cake with a sword (tradition)."
  
• "Harry has a twinkle in his eye like Diana had."
• Will and Kate will live in a 6 bedroom farm house on an island in Wales for two years. When they're in London, they'll live in a small apartment in Kensington Palace.

This is one of the two books she was selling that I purchased.

She signed both of them inside for me. See below for an example.

Majesty magazines photo by me, as are the bottom two of Ingrid's book.

Carrie Underwood - How Great Thou Art - ACM Girls Night Out

Unbelievable performance!

What the hell does BOB'S YOUR UNCLE mean?!

When we were preparing to move to England, we all went through "cultural training". One of our sons noticed a common English phrase in his workbook ~ Bob's Your Uncle. He asked our instructor what it means. She told him it means "and that's all" basically. Well...for some reason, he got a total kick out of this phrase and started to use it all the time. So, when I was trying to come up with a unique title to my blog, Bob's Your Uncle just stuck! :)

On Friday, April 29th, 2011, after William and Kate are united in marriage, they've had their reception, and the sun has set...Buckingham Palace will NOT be leaving their lights on all night long like Westminster Abbey....and Bob's Your Uncle! :)

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Here's another great example of the definition of Bob's Your Uncle: This is a well used phrase. It is added to the end of sentences a bit like and that's it! For example if you are telling someone how to make that fabulous banoffee pie you just served them, you would tell them to boil the condensed milk for three hours, spread it onto a basic cheesecake base, slice bananas on top, add some whipped double cream, another layer of banana and Bob's your uncle!

The Mannequin Pis?!?!?

A couple really great friends and I, (who I met while living here in England), decided to take an adventure to Brussels, Belgium! What a great trip it was!

We enjoyed just walking around Brussels and taking in the sights! We also enjoyed just randomly sitting down to enjoy a nice, cold Belgium beer.

So can any one really explain to me why the Mannequin Pis is so popular?!? Is it because it's small and it's been stolen so many times over the years, that it's become this obsessed about thing?! Supposedly, according to Wikipedia, the original version was "erected" (no pun intended) :) in 1388. The current version in 1619. When we were there, it was dressed up as a vampire. There were many adults wondering around

Brussels dressed up as zombies. We're not sure what it was all about, but there was a theme. I guess they change the outfit on this little statue (who is normally just naked and peeing into the fountain just below the statue) quite often. While we

were taking pictures, there were a few guards who were VERY protective of it. They actually made sure I was behind this certain spot on the sidewalk. I took a picture, but was really confused on why it was so popular. After coming home and reading up on it...I'm still confused! :) Oh well...that's nothing new!

So, from there we went a few steps down the street and bought totally delicious Belgian waffle!! Then we stopped in a few shops, bought a few things, drank more beer, tried escargot and mussels. I wasn't a fan of either...but the Laura actually took a liking to them! :)

The Grand Place (bottom right picture) is the central square of Brussels! We enjoyed a nice lunch, some beer, and lotsa laughter in that square! :) A super fun trip!

Adele - Rolling In The Deep

Copied from YouTube, I love this girl's voice! A British 22 year old star who just bumped Miss Britney Spears from the top of the charts with this album featuring the song, Rolling in the Deep. This song is about being heartbroken (who can't relate to that, right?!?!), based on a true story about (I'm thinking) HER relationship with an older man that just didn't work out. Enjoy!

Big Ben ROCKS!

Climbing the Clock Tower is something you can ONLY do if you are a resident of the United Kingdom. A group of expat ladies filled out all the necessary security information in order to go on this incredible experience! I'm going to add a link so you can take a virtual tour and be able to see what we just experienced this past Friday, April 8th, 2011. As you look up the tower, you get this excited feeling as you start to climb the 334 stairs to the top! When we reached the top, opened the door and saw the first of four GIANT faces of the Clock Tower, I got shivers down my spine. It was just such an incredible moment to stand up on the little lip and measure my height to the top of the VI and stretch my arms out behind the face of the world's most famous clock!

There were two moments when I choked up just thinking about the opportunity we were

experiencing....(1) Standing behind the face of the clock and, (2) while listening to the chimes of the bells and looking out across London on such a beautiful sunny day, tears filled my eyes. It was just such a great, appreciative moment. Seeing London from a view that not everyone gets to see.

Unfortunately, we were not able to take any photos, so if you want to experience the tour we took, you'll have to click above for a quick version of the tour.

I am so thankful for each and every opportunity I am having living over here in such a beautiful country! England is just beautiful!

Enjoy your virtual tour, and if you want to take a moment and play a little game....have fun and good luck! :)

I'm ending this post with a picture of the London Eye nestled between these beautiful trees.

Today was a perfect day! ♥

~ all photos taken by me ~