The Daily British Life of Jenny Mac: It's California Weather! Are you sure it's March?

For the past few weeks the weather has been outstanding, considering it has been March. We’ve had mostly full sunny days, and some that were even warm, which is NOT common in England for the end of March.

Last Sunday, The Kings Head Hotel had a BBQ to raise money. A few of the staff members are doing an event in June called The Three Peak’s Challenge, where they will climb 3 proper big mountains (one in Scotland, one in England, and one in Wales) within 24 hours…that includes driving time(to give you an idea, it’s probably 5-6 hours to get to Scotland from wales, so it’s quite a bit of driving time in between as well). To qualify, the team has to raise enough money(I think it’s like 2000 for the team) for the entrance fee…all of which goes to charity in the end.

I helped out, and was the ‘ticket taker/cash handler’ for the 3ish hours…which I enjoyed. I like handling money, even if it’s not mine. I just like counting it all up. Does this come from being an accountant’s daughter?

It was a good turn out (about 50-70 people in just the restaurant and back padio, which is quite small compared to what’s normal for a fundraiser function room in California) and The Kings Head raised quite a bit of money.

Loads of merchants donated food and drink to the Kings Head, so that was nice, and made the initial cost less. And The food was good…nothing like a BBQ at home, but it was nice. I will say that hot English mustard is the best thing ever on Hamburgers…it may seem insignificant, but it really gives a spicy taste the burger that’s really good.

Harry cooked the food.

Rob and I helped set up, and he helped bartend.

A load of other waitresses helped serve behind the bar and set up as well. There was even a live one-man band.

He was a good performer…seemed like the kind of act that would sing at weddings because he was asking for requests and knew a range of songs….even some country(did Sweet Home Alabama, and another country song I have no idea what it was…but I was in a country mood that day so it suited me).

I’ve been diving deeper into the country waters as well. Ever since I watched the latest season of America’s The Voice….and saw RayLynn perform “Hell on Heels” I can’t get it out of my head. I’ve listened to that, a few Blake Shelton songs, and some other random songs from country artists. I like SOME country songs, but they really have to have fire and attitude behind them(Like Hell on Heels, or “Kiss my Country #&$” by Blake Shelton), or just be really off beat in some way(like “Safe & Sound” from the hunger games soundtrack…it’s sad, but it’s really heartfelt and has a creepy melody).
I HATE the normal country songs that tell a story and talk about the pickup truck, the drinking, the dog, the southern way of life ….and I hate the sad sappy sort of stories about people dying(like Jesus Take the Wheel). SOME country I like, though. And we’ll keep it at that.

My diet has been going well. I’ve been watching what I eat, counting my calories & logging it daily on a website Kaiti gave me, and exercising every day, even if it’s just my 10min Pilates in the morning. I’ve been doing this for 10days and I’ve lost 4.5 pounds already. YAY ME! My goal is to lose AT LEAST 15 in total. No particular date, I just want to lose it as fast as I can so I can fit into my jeans again!

Since it’s been nice out, Robert and I have been going walking after we get off work, or on our days off. The seasons are definitely changing for us. The scenery is getting brighter and greener. SO of course, I get my camera out at every possible chance and take pictures.

And Spring is defiantly coming early for us because new life is being born already. One walk we went on was just through the fields in a nearby town and we saw a herd of cattle with baby coooows!

This is a Hereford Bull...biggest Bull you'll find in the UK. It's Massive. It's head alone is about the size of a large 'hand ball'(you know the big bouncy red ones you used to play with on the school playground? about 2-3x the size of a basketball...).

Some bulls playing in the mud at the end of the feild.

The walk that we went on yesterday was interesting. It was in the Forest of Dean, a place called Cannop Ponds(which the scenery around there reminded me alot of Arrowhead). It’s basically a group of manmade ponds that were once used to supply power to the coal miner’s equipment. Now they’re just a group of ponds in the forest with picnic tables and a place where people can come to walk, and just soak up the sun.