Getting to know Nottingham

Where to begin?  Well I suppose I should tell you how my girls night out went while the boys were away in Belfast.  We started the night at this really cool bar called the Pitcher and Piano.  It’s actually and old cathedral church in the center of town that was transformed into a bar/club.  The place is incredible with a bar, dance floor, and lounge area downstairs, and upstairs is the VIP area that wraps around the church.  The Pitcher and Piano had an all around good vibe to it and the views alone make it worth while.

(google image search)

Next we went over to the Living Room where the atmosphere and general feeling of the place was completely different.  The living room is a lot smaller but also has some cool features to it.  At the back of the bar there is a white grand piano where the DJ stands and plays his “CD’s”.  Yes that’s right…he was going old school people.  It was actually refreshing to see him getting hyped on playing CD’s rather than the same old DJ act playing from the computer.  The living room was a little packed for my liking but luckily one of the girls got us into the VIP area where you could stand without being on top of one another. 

The last place we went is called Tantra.  Again, it was a completely different bar from the previous two we went to.  When walking down the stairs to get into the place your eyes are immediately drawn to the stripper pole and canopy beds that surround the dance floor and lounge area.  Luckily that night it was pretty busy so we were entertained by the drunk girls trying to ‘work it’ and the guys who had no shame trying to break it down on the dance floor haha. 

Didn't get any pics of people on the stripper pole...I'll save that for another time haha. (google image search)

All three places were fun but I must admit that my favorite part of the night was the late night eats.  Street meat ain’t got NOTHING on kabobs!  To be honest I can’t really remember what I had in my kabob wrap..lots of onions…meat…peppers?  All I know is that it was HUGE and delicious.  And I’m pretty sure the only reason I wasn’t hung over the next day was because the curry sauce on the kabob made me sweat out all of the alcohol I drank in my sleep….lovely mental image I know…

It looked just like this only BIGGER and with wayyyy more curry sauce. (google image search)

All in all it was a great first night out on the town.  I met some of the other girls I hadn't met yet, got familiar with the local bars, and figured out my favorite late night food.  I also realized that I may need to invest in some more clothes while I am here.  The girls seriously dress up when they go into town so my usual jeans and fancy top isn't going to cut it.  Luckily they have a couple of my FAVORITE stores here that I shop at back home.....T.K. Maxx anyone?  Yes I said T.K. Maxx not T.J. Maxx...they must be brothers....alright alright corny joke haha.

Yes I'm a nerd and took a picture haha

Since our girls night out..which was almost 2..3 weeks ago now (I can't keep the days straight!), Jordan and I have been settling into our new apartment and trying to familiarize ourselves with the town.  Here are some pics of our new place and the town we live in:

That’s all I have for today…I’ll be posting soon about my first football experience in Nottingham and I guess I should probably update you on Jordan's hockey...it's not like we're living here because of it or anything ;o)

Cheers!

Quick Question....

WHY can't I post comments on other people's blogs?  It keeps telling me that the page is unavailable to my email account and that I need to sign in using another email address. It's seriously frusterating.  I'm pretty sure this started happening when I moved over to England so maybe it has something to do with my IP address?? Any ideas people??? HELP!!

I Heart Nottingham

I know it's been a while since I have posted something so I think it would be best to bring you all up to speed.

I DID receive my working Visa with no difficulties, (amazingly), and the team was able to book my flight to Nottingham on the same day as Jordan.  Everyone affiliated with the team has been lovely to work with through this process so far.  We honestly feel like we're receiving the red carpet treatment here in terms of getting everything settled.

Nottingham is absolutely BEAUTIFUL and has exceeded expectations.  When we were driving to Nottingham from the airport I honestly felt like I was in an English (UK) movie.  It was actually just as I had imagined it.  Driving into the city there was acres upon acres of farm land.  Everything was so clean and beautiful.

When we drove into the city center we saw gorgeous brick buildings, beautiful churches, and my favorite, HUGE soccer stadiums.  There are two major soccer teams here that compete in the Major second league and they each have their own massive stadium.

We also drove past the rink Jordan will be playing in and from the outside it looks incredible.  I've heard through the grapevine that Nottingham has the best Ice Arena in this league so I think we got pretty lucky with that.  I'm really excited for the first game to see what it looks like on the inside and to check out the general atmosphere.

The apartment, (flat), they have set us up in is SICK.  We are only staying here a week or so though because another couple will be moving into this one.  Apparently the lease on ours doesn't start till this weekend so we will be moving into our permanent place Saturday or Sunday.  All I have to say is if it is ANYTHING like the apartment we are in now, we will be super happy.  Our apartment is actually in the same complex so I'm assuming it will be similar.  One of the wives told me that it is an open plan with two bedrooms.  Sounds good to me!  Here are our digs for the week:

That was just the kitchen area and living room, but pretty great right?!  I'm really excited to move into our place for the season but I'm kind of bummed because I know Internet won't be set up yet.  One one the wives on the team offered to let us piggy back on their Internet since they will be living in the complex accross from us but I have a feeling the connection won't be strong enough.  I'm apologizing in advance friends and family if you don't hear from me for a few days once we move!  Here is a picture of our apartment complex:

Speaking of wives, I have met a few of them so far along with their significant others and they have all been wonderful.  The guys on the team that live in the same development have come over and introduced themselves and have been really welcoming.  We actually went over to one of their places the first night we got here and had some drinks and met some other members of the team.  I was trying not to be a booze bag the first night that I met people but it seems like they can throw down with the best of 'em! Needless so say I think it's going to be a fun season ;o) 

The guys have a trip to Belfast this weekend so some of the girls are getting together Saturday night to hit the town.  It should be really fun.  Not sure what to expect yet but I'll let you know all about it.  And yes, I was a nerd and asked one of the wives what the dress code would be haha.

Which leads me to my next topic...SHOPPING.  Nottingham has a couple of shopping areas so me and Jordan decided to go check one of them out the other day.  We went to Victoria Shopping center and it is UNREAL.  They have everything you could ever want/need.  The have high fashion stores all the way down to a Dollar-tree type store.  Not going to lie...we've been hitting up the dollar-tree stores WAY more then any other stores.  With one income for now we are seriously budgeting and I'm ok with that.

They also have Walmart-type store that is walking distance from our place which is also great.  It has food, electronics, good books, home furnishings, and clothing.  They also carry all of the American brands that I am used to. 

We haven't had a chance to go out to dinner yet and see what the food is like but I'm guessing it's pretty good.  We looked at some of the menus when we were walking around the shopping center and it looked to be pretty similar to American food.  Pub food looks the same, Italian food looks the same, and Chinese food looks the same, (although I haven't seen crab rangoons on the menu yet which I am sour about haha).  The only thing that seems to be unique is the amount of Indian cuisine.  There are Indian restaurants at every corner.  To be honest I have never tried Indian food but I have a feeling I may not be a fan of curry, which is heavily used in Indian cooking.  Who knows though, I love spicy food and some of the people we met so far say it's probably right up my alley.

The last thing I'll share for now about Nottingham is that the running paths are awesome!  I know this is probably boring to a lot of you but when you work really hard to loose weight for 'bridal bod' you definitely want to work at keeping it off.  I haven't gotten a gym membership yet and I'm not sure I will because they seem pretty expensive, (unfortunately I don't think the team offers one to the wives), so I have decided that running will be may way of exercising.  There are so many different paths to take and things to look at that I ran four miles easy today. It feels like everything is a big circle too, so I'm not worried about getting lost.  I probably need to figure out if there are 'unsafe' areas to run or walk around by myself but I'm not too worried about it.  Everything is so visible because public transportation is so popular and easy here.  There is usually always more then one person walking on the same road as you or waiting at the bus stop. Here is a picture of one of the roads I ran up to get an idea of the area we're in:

That's all I have for now.  I'll be sure to keep you updated on my big night on the town Saturday and how things turn out with our other apartment.

Cheers! <----- so British of me haha

Hillary

The Journey Begins-Visa Process

Jordan just got his Visa approved and sent back to our house yesterday; I'm still waiting for mine to process.  The whole Visa application thing was a little more challenging then we expected, so for any of your moving to the UK you may want to pay attention.

First, if you are a spouse and you are piggy backing on your husbands Visa you DO need to fill out your own application. Which is a little tricky in itself the way they word the questions....but I digress.
 Jordan and I made that mistake when we traveled all the way into the city to get our biometrics, (finger prints), done and were promptly denied because I hadn't filled out my own form.  I had asked Jordan to get all of this information BEFORE we went to the visa office and he assured me we were all set....but I should have known better.  He didn't ask his coach or anyone on the team LIKE HE SAID HE WOULD till after we were denied. Thanks HUNNY.

Ok no big deal.  I'll just have to take more time out of work and head into the city in the next couple of days by myself.  Wrong. You have to wait 1-2 weeks before you can schedule your appointment again, thus pushing the application process back. 

Next, applying for your Visa is EXPENSIVE.  You will need to have around $1400 in your bank account to process 2 UK Visas.  Fortunately the team is going to reimburse us for this expense but we still needed to have the money readily available to process.

Next, don't forget to send your passport in with your application.  I'm not sure if Jordan didn't read the fine lines or if it was something we were just supposed to know, but Jordan didn't send his passport in with his application and it got sent back a week later.  This process seems a little weird to me because your passport is such a critical document and the UK seems very nonchalant about the possibility of it getting lost in the mail....but what do I know.

Finally, the whole process takes around 3-4 weeks....I think.  It's kind of hard to tell because we messed up a couple of times but I'm guestimating it takes around 3 if you do everything correctly.  Jordan got a confirmation email last week..or the week before...(who can really keep track of all these things)...letting him know that his application was received and it would take 9 days to process and get back to us.

Really, the timing doesn't seem to bad considering some of the horror stories I've heard where it has taken months on end to get approved.  But still,  the whole process makes me a little nervous mostly due to my lack of  luck with these type of things.  I can just picture it now...Jordan over in England and I'm stuck back in the states because I filled out my application wrong, was denied, and have to go through the whole process again.  No bueno.

Yes I am getting a little head of myself, but i've learned in the hockey world that it is best to prepare for the worst then to expect the best.  That way when things do go wrong  you don't have a complete  mental break down.

Hopefully I will be getting a confirmation email soon saying they have received my passport...and that its not lost in the mail....and not being sold on the black market...oh god here we go haha.  In all honesty I am preparing for the worst but crossing my fingers for the best.  Here's to hoping it goes as smooth as possible!

Anyway, training camp begins August 22- or 23 so we should be getting flight information pretty soon.  I've come to terms with myself that we probably won't be flying over to England together due to the whole Visa application process, but I'm ok with that.  I have a feeling this would bother most people who are moving accross the country with their spouse but if that's the biggest issue we have in terms of Visas and flights I will be happy.  Plus it's probably better for him to get over there and really focus on training camp rather then worrying about getting the apartment all set up and exploring the town with me.  But we shall see.

I'll let you know how it turns out...off to England we he goes!... (for now ;o)

Bridal Do's and Dont's

So to wrap up my wedding posts I thought I would share a list of Bridal Do's and Don'ts.  Obviously this is just my opinion but any future bride following may want to look at some of the things listed here. 

Bridal Do's

Do keep spreadsheets of your DJ playlist, Guest list, Shower list, Seating chart.  Trust me, it will make your life easier in the long run.

Do keep an email trail of all things "Wedding" . Make sure to save each correspondence between you and your DJ, photographer, wedding coordinator, florist, etc.

Do (or Don't) send out your Save the Dates to EVERYONE.  Make it all or nothing.  I made the mistake of sending out half of mine because I wasn't sure what the final guest list would be.

Do send your invitations out EARLY.  Especially if: 1. It’s the summer. 2. On a holiday weekend

Do make your husband help with things.

Do trust the vendors you have hired.  Sometimes you just have to let go and trust they will do a good job.

Do work on bridal bod.  You’ll appreciate it when the pictures come back and you look good on your honeymoon.

Do pick a bridesmaid dress that is flattering on everyone.

Do let your bridesmaids have a say in their shoes/accessories and hair.

Do get transportation for your guests.

Do spend money on the extras....specifically late night snacks! Huge hit at the wedding.

Do give your MOH/bridesmaids an idea of what you would like for your shower and bachelorette party.

Do go over a time line with your florist, DJ, photographer, and wedding coordinator.

Do have a plan B in case it rains on your outdoor venue.

Do practice dancing to your wedding song to make sure it works.

Do a practice wedding hair-do

Do drink a ton of water 1-2 weeks prior to the big day....may face was super clear!

Do smile at your husband while walking down the aisle.

Do introduce yourself to guests you may not know at your wedding.

Do a bouquet toss, they’re always fun.

Do delegate someone (other than your parents) to count your wedding cards and gifts during the reception.  My Dad was delegated this job at our wedding and his missed us cutting our cake and tossing the bouquet.

Do tell your husband to relax and sit down while having dinner at your wedding…especially if he is a antsy pantsy, chatty cathy.

Do print out booking confirmation of your honeymoon flights/reservations and bring them with you.

Do tell the people in your bridal party, friends and family how much you appreciate their help with everything…multiple times

Bridal Don'ts

Don’t worry/spend a lot of money on your programs.  More then half won't even be read and then will be thrown out.

Don’t underestimate the amount of detail you need to give your DJ....wayyyy more then what I expected.

Don’t settle for a wedding dress.  You will know when you have found the “one”

Don’t stress TOO much about RSVP’s.  It’s inevitable that some people won’t respond.

Don’t hold a grudge against people who don’t come.  It’s their loss!

Don’t feel bad about updating your engagement ring to by a set that looks nice together ;o)

Don’t spend a ton of money to get your make-up done if you are already good at doing it.

Don’t get ready with a bunch of women in one tiny hotel room.

Don’t worry about creating your vows from scratch, that’s what google is for ;o).

Don’t feel bad if you have one or two bridezilla moments…weddings are stressful!

Well that's the brial advice advice from Me to you.  Take it from someone who's been through the up's and downs ladies and gents! I'll leave you now with my two favorite pictures from our honey moon in Cancun:

Haha Yes, this is us smoking celebratory cigars :oP 

Wedding Part 4- The Reception

**Sigh of Relief** the hard part was over and now it was time to have some fun!

Wouldn't you know it that the weather had cleared up right AFTER our ceremony. Figures. But at least we got to take our professional pictures outside during our cocktail hour.  The Hyatt did a good job and put a whole cart or food and drinks outside for the wedding party to enjoy while taking pictures.  Thank goodness because we had picked out some BOMB apps for everyone to enjoy....think lobster ravioli. YUM!

Anyway, taking pictures was actually like pulling teeth.  Well not really that bad but I really couldn't wait to get them over with.  Having to stand there with a smile on your face for an hour is tough.  I had thought this was going to be one of my favorite parts of the wedding...you know...take some fun and funky pictures with the wedding party.  Get really creative with it.... Yeah, No.  I was so tired of taking pictures with our families that by the time it came to take our wedding party pics I was pretty much clocked out.  Hopefully they come out nice none the less but it will be my own fault if they don't.  What can I say, this girl wanted to celebrate instead of standing there with a pretty smile.  Can you blame me?

These aren't our professional pics but some that our friends and family took of us during the cocktail hour.

Now that the cocktail hour was over it was time to PaRtAy! Well not just yet actually.  Me and bridesmaids had to go back up to our room and re-touch our hair since the weather outside had COMPLETELY flattened it.  No big deal though, the groomsmen all sat in the lobby and took shots while they waited for us haha.
So we finished getting beautiful again and headed down to the ballroom for our introductions.  It was really funny standing outside of the ballroom watching our bridal party make up dances and practicing their moves.  I would have loved to see what they came up with and how the crowd reacted...I'm sure they got plenty of laughs!
After five or so minutes of our wedding party getting introduced it was me and Jordan's turn.  We heard the  intro to "Shipping off to Boston" by the Drop Kick Murphys and we were ready to go.  We walked in fist pumping to the music....I know how 'Jersey Shore' of us haha...and we made our way to the dance floor while everyone stood up and clapped.  Once we had made it to the dance floor we were expecting our wedding party to be there waiting and dancing for us but that was a no go.  They were all at their seats.  So when the intro music kept playing we kind of stood there and danced awkwardly but at least we got a few good twirls in for pictures :o)

Now it was time for our first dance as a married couple. We chose Tim McGraw and Faith Hills song "It's Your Love" to dance to.  We are both country fans and the first concert we ever saw together was Tim & Faith so it was fitting.  During our dance we kept talking about how surreal everything had been up to this point.  We couldn't believe that we were actually at "our" wedding doing "our" first dance.

Next up was the Father-Daughter dance and the Mother-Son dance.

It was time to sit down and take a load off after all of that excitement.  The weight staff was exceptional and ALWAYS made sure Jordan and I were all set with drinks any anything else we may have needed.  The food was delicious, (a fillet and chicken combo), and I ate just enough to get me through the night. 

During dinner we had the speeches.  Jordan's Best Men, Brock and Adam, two of my best girlfiriends, Aimee and Whitney, and my two Uncles, Barry and Brian all stood up and spoke such kind words for us.  They weren't the tear jerker-type speeches, just all around happy and funny words that made us smile and feel welcomed into each others family.

The cutting of the Wedding Cake was next.  Don't think for a minute that I didn't tell Jordan I would kill him if he smeared cake on my face and ruined my make-up haha.  Even with this strong warning I wasn't so sure....

He got the message loud and clear...no mess to be cleaned up thank god haha!

After cutting the cake all of the "formalities" were through.  It was time to party on the dance floor.  I can honestly say I didn't stop dancing unless it was to go to the bathroom...see below

This picture was too funny to NOT put it in.  Sim was a TROOPER and went with me all night haha.

Or to grab a drink.  Our D.J. was great and played almost everything I had requested from the list I had sent him prior to the wedding.  Here are the highlights I remember.....Oh no...OH YES...I was that bride that had a couple drinks to many and has a hard time remember every small detail.  But what I do remember was dancing all night with my niece who kept telling me a looked like a princess, dance offs, standard wedding dances to get the crowd going (cupid shuffle etc), people drinking out of the center piece "goblets",and getting tossed in the air on the shoulders of Jordans friends.  It was FABULOUS and I had the time of my life. Thanks to everyone who came out and made it one of the best nights of my life!