What an absolutely amazing weekend!!! I think I will reflect back on this as one of if not the best trip I have done while living here in England. The Amalfi Coast is just gorgeous. I may be a bit easy to please at this point, starved for sunshine, edible food and time off, but this weekend covered all of those better than I expected. (Hey I was just happy to be leaving the pouring rain on Friday!!!)

I am 99% sure this shot is of Positano on the Amalfi Coast. Not 100% as we were on a highway above it at this point... But it really looks like it.



It was all just so wonderful, I don't know where to start! Hmmm.... We got into our hotel about 11pm on Friday night. It looked like a pretty sketchy area but we ventured out anyways and went about 7-8 blocks down the road and found a restaraunt. (I was a bit wigged out about the area but what can really happen to 3 tourists walking around in the middle of the night in Naples? Obviously I was just being paranoid... I did start to rethink my trip to Venice next weekend though...) Well the restaraunt was great and we even got to sit outside!!! I know this doesn't sound exciting but when you live here in Croydon you barely get to walk outside comfortably much less sit outside and eat at 11pm!! This was the start of my pizza eating!

I love when I arrive at night somewhere, that way in the morning it is kind of like Christmas. It is a big surprise! Our hotel in Naples, which was nothing special, was up on a little hill so we were able to see this green valley, kind of what I imagined a Mediterranean area to look like. Very lush and overgrown but beautiful. We started out on our crazy drive, thank goodness I had thought ahead and gotten Michael's name on the rental car. He had nerves of steel the entire trip. If I had been driving there were several times I would have had to pull over to cry. I don't think people in Italy need to have a drivers license, there certainly aren't any rules that anyone is required to follow. They drive in the middle of 2 lanes, drive cars that are falling apart, have flat tires.... They go all different speeds on the highways... oh and the mopeds!!! My goodness there are millions of them!! They drive like crazy, zipping in and out of traffic. We easily could have killed a few and no one would have noticed.

Our intention was to drive to Sorrento and head over to the Island of Capri and spend the day there on Saturday. The map was a bid odd and we misjudged the distance on everything. Before we knew it we were in Salerno! That is why on the picture above I don't know for sure if that was Positano because we weren't even sure where we were. Thankfully we weren't in any rush so we changed plans and did our Sunday itinerary instead which was to drive from Sorrento to Salerno on the Amalfi Coast road (obviously we went the opposite direction though!) This drive was absolutely insane. I white knuckled it the entire time!!! The road barely fits 2 cars, it doesn't even have a line down the middle, but it is a 2 lane road and it is full of cars, trucks, buses and of course mopeds. When the buses go around corners they honk to warn people coming the other way! This lasted for 2 hours, winding and turning and braking and winding some more and all the while trying to avoid the mopeds. Again, I will say how happy I am Michael was driving!!! I would have cried a million times (I almost did as a passenger!) Michael is going to be a guest driver and will describe it more....

We stopped for lunch along the way as we desperately needed a break. We just randomly chose a restaurant and it turned out to be amazing. Probably one of the nicest meals I have ever had, certainly the best setting. It seemed like we were cantilevered over the cliff and our table overlooked the water. Just breathtaking. And the food!!!! It was all so wonderful. (There are pictures....) Karen is going to be a guest writer on the site and she will describe it in more detail....

We then continued down the coast on the way to Sorrento and stopped in Positano at a ceramics shop. Karen and I were having a bit of trouble holding on to our lunch so we needed a break. And there is always time to shop!!! I ended up buying a lovely 4 person setting of plates, bowls and cups and saucers. They are so pretty!! Hand-painted in Dark Blue and Pink (2 of each) and they are supposed to put mine and Jamie's initials on the back. I can't wait to get them (it will take 3 whole months!!!!)

We finally made it to Sorrento and caught the ferry over to Capri. We took the funiulare up the hill and to the main Piazza then walked another 10 minutes to our hotel (there aren't any cars allowed up there, they wouldn't fit!) Our hotel was called the Villa Sarah and even had it's own vineyard. It was really lovely and it made it feel like a real vacation. Karen and I let Michael rest a bit (after all that driving! Whew!) and we walked around a bit, here is a particularly beautiful pic from near our hotel.




The next day we walked up to the Villa Jovis which has been there for a couple thousand years. Wow. (I'm getting a bit used to seeing things that are a few thousand years old!) It was pretty cool though. Tiberius ruled Rome from there. I guess he didn't like Rome and liked the idea of living on his own little island away from everything. It's not a bad idea, I wouldn't mind trying it myself! We then did a bit of shopping and then made our way down the hill to a boat that took us to the Blue Grotto. When we got there, we had to climb into these tiny little row boats (thank goodness we didn't have to row them ourselves!!) The boat just fit Karn, Michael and I. The guy rowed us into this tiny little cave. He had to wait for the right wave and then we ducked and he pulled us in using a chain attached to the walls. Once inside, we were in the big room like cave about 2 stories high. We looked behind us at the opening and saw the most beautiful blue. The sunlight hits the water in the cave in a certain way that the water seems to glow. I really enjoyed it!

The picture doesn't do it justice so just trust me until you see it for yourself that it was amazing.

We then made it back over to Sorrento and said goodbye to Capri (I plan on going back!) We found our hotel which also happened to be at the top of a hill! Except this time we had a view of the water from our room. (This turned out to be a bad room though. The sun came in around 6am and shined on me and Karen. We were so hot!!!! Michael was over in a corner sleeping liek a baby in the shade....) We were hoping for an early dinner and early to bed as we were all exhausted. That didn't happen. We went to Don Pedro's as recommended by the hotel. The waiter came and picked us up so we wouldn't have to drive and took us to the restaraunt about 3 minutes away. This was a very looooooong 3 minutes. He was crazy!!!!! Zipping along the road at a million miles an hour, I am amazed that I am here to write this! But it all worked out in the end. The restaraunt was family run, not only was he our waiter and driver but he was the son as well. The father took our orders and gave us recommendations and someone like an uncle played the guitar and sang. We got there about 5:30 and stayed until about 12:30! The food was again outstanding and we had great company. We got to talking to the ladies at the table next to us. One of them works here at Nestle and the other is some BBC reporter. At another table was a girl named Bernie. We got talking to her and invited us into our table. The 6 of us pretty much spent the evening together. (The best part was when we were talking about how we all worked together, the BBC woman said to us "Well at least you don't HAVE to live in Croydon!" I burst out laughing and told her I did and she got really embarrassed but I told her I didn't mind since I don't have to live here forever!) I don't know what Michael though of the whole thing. You might think he liked being surrounded by five women... but maybe it was overkill. You decide, how does he look in this picture?

On Sunday we walked around Sorrento a bit and then drove to Pompeii. I really enjoyed it. The runis were better than Rome. Since it is part of a city and you see peoples houses and such with paintings still on the walls and tiles on the floors, you really get a feel for it. Rome kind of seemed like a movie set in comparison.




Overall it was wonderful. I am now looking forward to Venice!!!!!

My alarm went off this morning and I sighed... no not morning already!!! I went to switch the alarm and then it hit me! Not only is it Friday but it's a Bank Holiday Weekend and I am going to Italy today!!! Woo-hoo!!! I opened my eyes and realized it was quite dark... poked my head out and saw it was poring rain... but I don't care! I am going to Italy where the sun is shining!!! I walked to work with an umbrella in one hand and a suitcase in the other and a big, fat smile on my face. It's a beautiful day!!!

We fly into Naples tonight then drive to Sorrento tomorrow and take a boat over to the Island of Capri. We are staying there over night then staying in Sorrento on Sunday night. Monday morning we drive to Pompeii and then fly back. We arrive (hopefully) at 1am on Tuesday. No blog on Monday and maybe not on Tuesday... depends on what time I drag my butt into work! Have a great weekend!!

We saw the Bourne Supremecy last night. I really, really enjoyed it!!! As Yoshi and I walked home, I got very cold. I think summer is officially over. When I got to my flat I had to put warm fuzzy socks on!! I think I may have to start up the heaters pretty soon! Well I should be nice and hot this weekend. It should be about 90 or so in Italy. I figure after my trip this weekend and then to Venice next weekend, I can come back and pack up all of my sandals, tank tops, shorts etc and just take them home in October. Maybe I can pull them out again for Christmas!

We just received our engagement photos and they turned out wonderfully!!!!









I am so excited about them!! If you want to see more, follow these instructions:
Go to http://www.pictage.com/event.jsp?event_id=68198 to see the website. Register with your name, email address and password of your choice (use the NEW USERSREGISTER NOW link near the bottom of the page). If prompted, enter the EventKey, which is 68198.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHELE WEATHERFORD!!!!

Not a very exciting Tuesday... I did make it to the gym last night and did some weight training. My arms hurt this morning. That is the first time in many months..... I will try to run tonight.... hmmmm....

Saw a movie last night... The Opposite of Sex... terrible (no it is not a sex movie!) but wow was it bad. Have you ever sat there watching a movie thinking that you should turn it off but nothing can be that bad... it must get better.... but it never does and then you have sat through an hour and you think there can only be about 30 minutes left and you can suffer through 30 minutes because it might get better..... and then when it does finally end you feel like the biggest idiot for not realizing it wouldn't get better and just turning the dumb thing off? Well that was me last night. Sorry to anyone that liked the movie.

I had the most wonderful weekend!!!!! On Friday night we went to All Bar One again for more drinks for Ian (can't say goodbye too many times!!) The a few of us headed over to Loop to play some pool. I got Myriam to come so I wouldn't be the only girl and she ended up having a great time! It was so much better than being in a pub. You all know how much I like to play pool even though I am terrible!

Saturday I met Karen and Michael (the Canadians I am going to Italy with next weekend) and we went to the matinee of Chicago. The play was great but it is hard to keep yourself from comparing it to the movie all the time. After, Karen and I had to find a bathroom. We ended up behind the theatre and when we came out of the restaraunt we saw Michael waving at us to look at David Hasslehoff! We were at the stage door and didn't realize it. I gave Michael my camera and he got a shot!




Wow he is getting old!!

We then went back to Michaels flat where he serenaded Karen and I and taught us how to play poker (he is a pro!)

Sunday Karen and I decided to go for a Thames Walk from one of my walking books.



We started at Hampton Court and worked our way back. We figure we walked about 15 miles total. As you can guess we were exhausted!!! We went back to Karens (met up with Myriam and Michaels) where Karen made us a gourmet meal and we all had a lively discussion about politics!



What better way to spend a weekend?! The weather was beautiful the whole weekend and we got the best news of all.... the BA strike is cancelled!!! YAY!!! We leave for Naples on Friday!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO RENEE PRATT!!!! (On Saturday....) (My cousin....and my maid of honour!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO DEBBIE LARA!!!! (On Saturday too!!)

Last night was Ian's Going Away to do. We went to lunch and then out to All Bar One (where else?) after work. Here is a great pic of him after he got all his "chav" gear!



Oh it should be a lovely weekend. It doesn't look like it should rain so I am taking the opportunity to go into London and do some of those walks that I love so much but haven't done in ages! It is going to start getting cold in about 3 weeks so I want to take advantage of the warm weather (upper 60's) as much as I can. A few of us were also talking about going to a show on Saturday. That should be really good if it works out! I have decided that my time here is kind of like pizza (Dave, you can skip this part as you have already heard it....) I love pizza, it is my favorite food! I could eat it all the time. When I first got here it was like pizza and having it every day was great!!! Well even pizza seems to lose some of it's greatness after 10 months. Sure I have had some other things by travelling a bit and going back home but then it's back to the same old pizza. Well now I only have 4 months left of the pizza and I am going to try to savour it!! I will order different toppings (go to shows, do my walks, enjoy the rain!) and really enjoy it! Speaking of pizza.... our trip to Italy next weekend may not happen!!! Here in the UK and the rest of Europe one of the favorite pasttimes is to stage a strike during holidays. So the wonderful staff of British Airways have decided to possibly ruin everyone's 3 day weekend next week and go on strike at the London airports. Let's keep our fingers crossed that some miracle occurs. And people wonder why I go on and on about hating unions..... By the way... the wedding is 6 months from today!!!!! :)

Hey all you Hawaii people!!!! Jamie and I are pretty sure we want to go to Hawaii for our honeymoon and are thinking that staying in a house on the beach part of the time would be a nice idea. Does anyone know of a rental company that they would recommend or an actual house that they know of that we could rent? Thanks for your help!!!

For those of you that used to live here in Croydon... today is one of those beautiful blue sky days! It rained pretty hard last night and the wind is picking up so you put those 2 together and you get a beautiful blue sky! It's one of those days that reminds you that it can be nice here. :)

Good morning!!

If you need a little wake up, go to this website http://www.stokeyouth.co.uk/coffee.html

Went to dinner last night for Roe's birthday!!! We tried a Thai place that ended up being pretty good. The waiter scared me a bit when I tried to make sure they didn't use cashew oil or anything in the dish I wanted... that was a difficult process.... language barrier and all. So when my food came, I carefully put my tongue to it and licked it and left it on my tounge waiting for some horrible reaction that never came. After that, the food was pretty good!

So Happy Birthday to Roe!!

We went to see 13 Going on 30 last night. Poor Ian was the only boy in the entire theatre but I think he actually liked it deep down and did a great performance of pretending not to like it! We girls thought it was great!! Such a fun little movie. No real substance but still entertaining.

Still jetlagging a bit. It sure is dark at 3:30 AM.

Well here I am, back in Croydon. If I accidentally forget where I am I just need to look out the window and see the grey sky....

I had such a wonderful week home!!! It was so nice to be in 100 degree weather. I enjoyed every minute of it. When Jamie took me to the airport on Saturday night, it was so hard to leave!! I really didn't want to. I went to check in and was moaning about leaving and then they told me that I was upgraded to first class!! WOW! That helped a little bit. Someone was watching out for me and wanted the trip to be a little easier (Not that I have ever or would ever complain about business class!!!) First Class was really nice. When I boarded the plane they didn't just point me where to go. The steward escorted me to first class then introduced me as Miss Bennett to someone else who walked em to my seat and offered to put my carry on in the overhead bin for me! The seat was even more comfortable than business! There was a nice blue ligh ambiance. I got to have my meals whenever I wanted, didn't wait for a cart (they don't even have a cart, they bring everything on trays like in a restaraunt.) Oh and the best part!!! They gave me pajamas to change into!!! So we all looked alike in our soft, grey cotton jammies. Even the socks they give you are nicer! I was able to get video tapes of movies so I didn't have to wait for them to start. We got a nice velvety pillow, a night time bed pillow, a blanket and a comforter! In the morning they came around and took it all away so it wasn't in my way. I also noticed that it was almost as quiet as a regular room. The first class is at the very front of the plane, the pilots are on the upper deck so we were right up front. Probably quiet since we are much fuurther from the engines. All in all it was a great experience.

My trip home? ... Well here are a few highlights. On Saturday we went to Sean's birthdya party at Shakeys, he is getting so old!!




On Monday we had our engagement photo shoot at Malibu Beach. It was so nice out. I took a couple of pictures before our photographer got there because I couldn't get over how perfect it was!





While Jamie and I were waiting we even saw dolphins out in the water. It could not have been more perfect! I can only hope it is as nice a day on Feb 20!

Throughout the rest of the week, we picked out bridesmaids dresses, ordered invitations, saw the wedding location again, got a mani and pedi with Carolyn, had some lunches, had some dinners and just had a wonderful time over all! I will leave for good 4 months from tomorrow! That sounds so far away but when I consider that it was a year ago that I found out about moving here and 10.5 months ago that I moved, I realize how fast time goes! I assume that it will go even faster with the holidays coming and all!!

Sorry I missed seeing some of you and only got about 5 minutes with others, it's crazy how fast a week goes. I wish I could have more time!!!

What a beautiful morning!!! I actually got hot sitting and eating my breakfast. I had to open the balcony door. Walking to work was so warm I almost broke a sweat. It is fantastic weather right now and has been most of the week.

I can't believe I am going home today!!!! So no blogs for the next week. Will write again on Monday the 16th!!! Have a good week!

It's raining right now!! Absolutely pouring! It was sunny one hour ago.... So weird....

OH CROYDON!!! OH CROYDON!!! Sing the joys of Croydon!!! I love your vomit on the streets! I love your pregnant women smoking cigarettes while they are pushing a stroller. I love going to restaraunts and having the table next to me be full of smokers and children. I love seeing the sun in the morning and rain in the afternoon! I love the smell of KFC on High Street! I love the men that walk around in businss clacks and no shirts because the sun is out and well... they can! I love the 15 year old girls with mini skirts so short they shouldn't bend over and tank tops that don't fit so that you see rolls of flab sticking out.

This mornings song has been brought to you by me! Mike and Reed said they were feeling a bit Croydon homesick after I mentioned Doughmasters yesterday that I felt they needed a little dose of Croydon reality so they wouldn't miss it so much!

As of today I have been in Croydon for 10 months! Despite the little ditty above, I really do enjoy it here and think I will get a little homesick for it every now and then when I leave.

Another milestone today..... our wedding is in 200 days!!!

YAY!! Roe got here yesterday so Greg is very, very happy now!

It is another beautiful sunny day. I am still surprised when I see the sun!! It almost feels like I am somewhere else.... until I walk to work and pass by some vomit on the ground and then I remember, oh yes, this is Croydon. There was a book put out last year that listed the 20 or so worst cities in England and Croydon was #10 or something like that. There was this big uproar about how Croydon isn't as bad as the book says. But I gotta tell you, the book was absolutely correct! It even stated that there was trash and chicken bones everywhere and that is completely correct! I don't remember if it mentioned the constant vomit everywhere though. Maybe they need a revised edition on the book.

We went to doughmaster's yesterday and just about passed out from the heat inside. (If you have been there you know what I mean) The place doesn't have air conditioning and they run these little ovens all day. I feel so sorry for the people in there!!! But ymmmm it was good! (Jealous Mike and Reed?)

I'm coming home!!! I'm coming home!!! Only4 more days!!!! Woo-hoo!!!

Thank you to everyone that sent me notes about my race. I really appreciate your support!!!

For those of you that used to work here... you might be glad you aren't here now. We went live with Canada this week. That means that the project we are working on is actually being used by the Canadian market! Very exciting but for some people here it means alot of work. Some people were up all weekend trying to fix things. It's amazing how you think something works but you give a whole country the opportunity to break it and they find a way. It happens every time!!! This doesn't affect me very much as I work on reporting and it is all prefect (yeah right!) but at least it isn't an urgent priority like being able to take orders from customers. The upside is that I don't get asked to work all night long. (At least not yet!) Overall it does seem to be going very well. Nestle Canada isn't in the papers yet like Hershey was when they implemented SAP (they couldn't process any orders for a few days or weeks or something like that.) We are allowed to have problems as long as we don't end up in the newspapers!!

But who cares? I'm going home in 4 days!!!! YAY!!!!!! For those of you at work, I will be popping around the office on Wednesday the 11th. I'll try to catch you! See you all soon!

WOW!!! What a fantastic 10K! I am really pleased with me and Liz. Liz did better than she expected. She was hoping for 55 minutes and did 54:49. I was going to be happy with 1 hour 30 and excited if I could do 1 hour 15 but I did even better!! ! hour 6 minutes!!! WOW! It's amazing what you can do!

Liz and I arrived in London about 9 or so and checked in our bags then had to wait about 25 minutes to use the portopottys. We finally headed to the start line which ended up being about 2k away. Oh well, this counted as our warm up. It was kind of cool though because as we walked along we were walking against the race route. At 9:35 the race started and the people at the front ran right past us. Boy those people at the front are so fit!!! It was very cool to see them and watch them run. When we got up to the start area, we had to be herded like cattle to the start line. It took about 10 minutes to get there. We walked around this bit and then you just took off running! As we crossed over the start line, Liz hit her stopwatch (that's why she has an exact time) and I checked my watch. We ran about 200 meters together then I told her to go ahead and she took off running. I never saw her again until the end! Liz was able to run the entire thing without walking at all. POWER WOMAN!!

I started running and tried to soak it all in, there was music playing and people on the sides of the streets cheering. I went around the first corner and was so pleased to see a downhill! What a fantastic start to the race!!! At the bottom of the hill was a 1k marker. I checked my watch and it had only been 5 minutes. Pretty good start even if half of it was a downhill! As I kept running, I kept a lookout for the all important markers. The next one I saw was 3k. I slowed down for a bit of a walk and took the time to look around me. We were now along the Thames and there were trees so it was nice and shady with a beautiful breeze. I picked it up and started running again with a concentration of looking for the 5k marker. After a bit I go worn out and kept telling myself that I just wanted to make it to the 5k! Halfway, that would be great. It seemed like the sign would never come. And it didn't, I gave up and walked for a minute, beating myself up for not making it to the 5k marker. What a loser I was!!! But then shining up ahead like a sign from God was the 6k marker!!! No need to beat myself up! I ran to 6k!!! What a big burst of energy that gave me!! So I picked up and started running again. Up ahead was the Westminster Bridge. I walked a bit again and then made it a goal to run the whole bridge, I ran to the end and turned around and ran back across it without walking. The route then took us a bit past Parliment which was a bit of a tease because as we went around to go back by the Thames, I was able to catch glimpse of the finish line. That is a good thing and a bad thing. At this point I had about 2k left. I ran down the Thames and and back around. Then I started to see the best sight of all!! The finish!! The route takes you down the street then you turn around at the end and run down the other side to the finish so youe nd up running past it and back to it. There was a sign that said 800 meters left. I slowed down because I wanted to be able to run the last bit. I passed the 600 meter sign and broke out running! Then the 400 meter sign!! Then the 200 meter sign!! Then I saw Karen (a friend from work who came down to cheer us on!) I yelled at her and she pulled out her camera. I didn't really want to stop so I turned around and ran backwards and she was able to get me. If you look at the picture you can see the 2 white banners behind me, they are the finish line!




I crossed the finish line and checked my watch. I absolutely couldn't believe my time!!! I couldn't stop smiling!!! It was one of the greatest feelings of accomplishment I have ever had.

I then went to pick up my stuff and my medal and meet with Liz. There were people all over handing out flyers for a 10k in 2 weeks. No Way!!!! I don't see myself doing this again.... well at least not in 2 weeks!

Liz and I then went to Karen's as she had prepared some fruits and drinks for us. It was really nice and refreshing. She got a picture of us after we had relaxed a bit.




Karen was also able to get a pic of Liz right before htting the finish line.



We then went home and I relaxed a bit then headed over to Liz's for a Post 10k Pimm's Party . It was a great ending to a fantastic day.

And oh my the weather!!!! Just look at all the pictures!!!