The Cotswolds

Drew and I were in the Cotswolds in England last weekend for the bank holiday Monday we had off.  Where are the Cotswolds, you may ask?  Well, I'll tell you.  They're in south central England, to the West of London, north of Bath, south of Birmingham, east of I-don't-know-what.  They're a series of tiny towns throughout the countryside, many with thatched roofs and stone footbridges, with tan stone manors and castles and horse drawn carriages, and many with cozy pubs and B&Bs for the taking.  Here's a map:

We'd heard great things about this quaint piece of English countryside, and Drew had even been through parts of it before with his family.  His mom spoke highly of them so we put them on our list a year ago and finally decided to take the plunge.

Without being obnoxious and braggy, it was pretty much...the perfect weekend for us.  We hardly did anything besides drive around and explore tiny little towns and eat and drink at cozy pubs, but it was all beautiful, it was all light and airy and wonderful, and we got along famously.  Remarkably.  Miraculously.  Sometimes I post about us having a great time but I naturally leave out the big argument that we have every now and then, that has sometimes marked some of our trips (Krakow comes to mind).  But not this one!  This one was argument free and nothing but clear skies and easy breezy conversation the entire time.  I loved it.  I was so happy.  I didn't ever want to leave.

And now that I'm graduated to officially obnoxious, here are some pics.

Our first stop was Stratford-upon-Avon, home of none other than THE Bill Shakespeare!

Shakespeare's house in Stratford-upon-Avon

"Well, actually Matt, I kinda wanna be a writer."

"Well la-de-FREAKIN-DAH!  We got ourselves a writer here!  Hey, Dad, I can't see too good, is that Bill Shakespeare over there?"

Just some SNL comments I kept making all day, no big deal.  And Drew didn't get sick of it at all and laughed every time.  Just kidding, not true.

Some cuties in the courtyard who knew lines from ALL the Shakespeare plays, including the sonnets! They performed for us and it was fun.

Another Shakespeare family member's house.

King Drew VIII.

A stop at The Crown pub for some traditional cask ales.

Wearing a crown at The Crown!  We're so freakin hilarious.

Next up: Warwick Castle.  A big ol' castle originally built by William the Conqueror in 1068!  It's had additions and renovations and a couple different owners along the way.  On Saturday, it appeared to be a Halloween family bonanza with special spooky exhibits open and lots of people in costumes and what not.  Crowded but beautiful and fun!

They also had a bird show there where we got to watch falcons, owls, and this huge ass Steller's Sea Eagle that flew off of the tower!

Some Madame Tussaud's wax figures of Henry VIII and his many wives.  Kinda cool!
He technically owed the castle at one point but they have no record of him ever being there.

Evidently the largest trebuchet in the world!

We then went to Broadway, a CUTIE PATOOTIE town with a really cute B&B and fun pubs, hotels, and restaurants on the little high street!

Tea and cake upon our arrival!  I couldn't love these hosts any more.

We stopped for a drink at The Broadway Hotel to sit by the cozy fire...

...and play Scrabble!  Drew is deep in thought.  I'm waiting on a a 'T' to spell CHEETAH or CHEATER.  It never came.

On Sunday morning, we stopped by the Cotswold Falconry, which was AWESOME (more on that later), then popped into Moreton-on-Marsh to check out the high street and the fun food market, then over to Chipping Camden for some lunch!

This was the view of the little town driving in.  Do you see the rainbow on the right?  It was picture perfect!  But I couldn't capture it properly!  Damnit!

A delicious Sunday roast at Eight Bells in Chipping Camden.  Delish!

Then we drove over to Stow-on-the-Wold to wander around the square and get a spot of tea!  (PS - don't you love the names of all these towns?  I do.)

We particularly picked this spot because we had Drew's Nana in mind.

Caramel slices are my kryptonite.  I could eat 26 of them.

Then over to Upper and Lower Slaughter to see some pretty drives and huge manors...

And we ended up at Bourton-on-the-Water for our final night's stay at another lovely B&B!

A drink at The Duke of Wellington to play some pub trivia and watch the British X-Factor with our mates.

Our host at the B&B told us there was a quick "short cut" from their place to town, which she failed to mention was a long ass darkened deserted pathway in the middle of nowhere.  All these small towns, daylight savings' darkened days, the proximity to Halloween, and the likeness of many of these towns to Sleepy Hollow made me a little uneasy at night anyway.  This didn't help.  As we were traipsing through the puddles and leaves, I suddenly realized we were walking through a grassy passageway.  LINED WITH TOMBSTONES.  We were in an ancient, darkened, old CHURCH CEMETARY.

(This is where the violen strings hiss violently and the camera zooms in on the innocent victim who just realizes she's screwed.)

At once, the clock struck 9.  The chimes rang out and Drew and I both literally jumped 10 feet in the air, despite his many protests that he wasn't scared.

Suddenly- a horse's neigh splintered the silence.  Thundering hoofbeats raced towards us, and I looked down the darkly lit path to see the HEADLESS HORSEMAN SPEEDING TOWARDS US.  We ran to hide behind a headstone, knowing that we would soon meet our fate and be carried to our graves....

Ok, that last part didn't happen.  But it COULD HAVE, very easily, and you and I both can only imagine if it actually had.  The setting had all the makings of the Headless Horseman story come to life.  After the clock-chiming incident we sped along and nearly slipped and met our deaths in wet piles of leaves, but eventually and safely made it home to our B&B and into bed, even though I wasn't tired but didn't want to go to sleep alone because I would have stayed up listening for the Headless Horseman.

I'm actually not kidding, unfortunately.  Sigh.  Why am I such a nut job?  

Drew was scared though, whether he admitted it or not.  There's no way you couldn't be.

ANYWAYS, we had a great breakfast on Monday morning and then decided to drive to Oxford on a whim and check out the old buildings.  

This is one of the only decent shots I got of an old building, because it started monsooning as we literally shut the car doors in the parking lot.  I'd love to go back and tour it another time, but we got a good glimpse into this pretty college town!

And thus...ends our journey.  Work awaited us and MUCH colder temperatures back in Dublin - I had to wear a heavy coat this week!

I'm doing a separate post about the Falconry we went to, and then I'll finally get back to writing about normal things.  Or something.

Happy Halloween - goodnight!

Fall in Dallas

Drew and I got to go home to Dallas for almost 2 weeks at the beginning of October!  We planned the trip far in advance mostly because...our high school reunion was happening.  Drew was a class officer and sort of helped the others in planning it and to be honest?  I wanted to go.  I figured it's like prom - you might not have the best time but you'll always be glad you went.  Or something like that.  Plus it was TX/OU weekend, plus we hadn't been home in awhile, plus we wanted to see our peeps, so it came at the perfect time!

The reunion surprisingly turned out to be like...really fun.  Way more fun and way less awkward than anyone anticipated.  We had almost 200 people there and I feel like everyone was genuinely happy to see everyone there, whether you were friends in high school or not.  It was positive and optimistic and just good quality...fun.

This was one of the only pictures we got together that night, and I'm not even looking at the camera.  Oh well!

Having a good confidence boosting drink at Dev's house before the reunion with Kathleen, El, and Lindsay.

Me and Linds being photobombed by Win.

Mere and Paula had a big brunch for us the next morning at the house, and everyone drank mimosas, rehashed the evening and who said or did what, and everyone brought their BEBEEEES!  And I naturally took pictures of Drew with all of them.

Drew and Peanut!

Drew and cutie bebe Tinley, who we got to meet for the first time!

Drew and WalkMan!

My birthday was Monday so it was also fun being in Dallas for that.  I went to lunch with some girls and went shopping for a bunch of new clothes and then had a fam din at my parent's house.  I didn't take any pictures of people but I DID capture this amazing cheesecake my mama made.

This is a peanut butter cheesecake with a sugary sour cream topping and a BROWNIE crust!  HELP! 

We also had a big Solomon family dinner on Tuesday night and we got to see all our peeps, including but not limited to...bebe Tyce! 

I'm in love.  Look at that face.

I also got some quality friend time.  I saw my b-fries mostly every day, had some quality outdoor time, lots of long walks with different peeps, lots of wine, lots of good Mexican food, lots of happiness.

Arboretum!

With some cuties!

There's nothing like an afternoon on a blanket overlooking the lake with some wine and 2 bald babies!

Hangin out at Cait's

Drew and his ladies.

Then on Friday night Evan was in town and we finally got to meet his sweet gf!

 Drew got to go to the TX/OU game on Saturday - and we WON!!  And I meanwhile got to hang out with the other love(s) of my life.  ANNNNNIIIEEE!  John and Lauren graciously drove on I-35 during the TX/OU traffic to make it all possible.

Angel bebe cutie eating!

Bebe in a diaper at Aunt Lolly's house.

Cutie with a big hat on.

Sweet family in the pumpkin patch!

Us too, damnit.

And there's kooky Poppy and Gigi with Annie, and a pumpkin on my mother's head.

Soccer!

Bath time!

Murphman.  Precious puddin pie.

Fun with sidewalk chalk in her PJs.

It's allll over her face, hair, and hands.  SO. CUTE.

I should probably use a Thesaurus for the word "cute" as I've said it maybe 20 times in this post, but I can't not.  Sorry not sorry.

We had a great time being home, perhaps the best trip thus far.  For some reason, I've been anxious about moving back to Dallas.  We have less than a year and the future is totally unknown and I've just felt weird about it.  But this trip made me more excited than I was and made me think that it would be better than I'd thought.  But more on that later.

We have a bank holiday this weekend so Drew and I are off to drive around the Cotswolds in the English countryside.  I'll post more upon my return!