Happy Valentine’s Day!  In honor of Valentine’s Day, I have finished writing about my England adventures. 🙂

I think I left off on Wednesday, after our incredible Morrison’s trip.  Wednesday night we had drinks with James and Helen, two of Neil’s coworkers who I hadn’t met during my last Preston visit.  We had a great time, and Neil and I enjoyed getting just a liiitle bit tiiiipsssyyyy… <insert Ke$a tune here!>

Thursday we did… nothing.  All day.  However, we roused ourselves up at night so we could drop off some gingerbread (purchased from Sarah Nelson’s Gingerbread Shop in Grasmere in the Lakes District) to Neil’s mother, and then I went out to drinks with Gemma while Neil went to footy.  Gemma and I had a great time gossiping, gushing, and all that other girly stuff!  She’s coming to Turkey in April and I’m so looking forward to it!

When football/soccer was finished, I said a quick hello/goodbye to Steven (one of Neil’s best friends) — the boys were both grouchy after a crushing defeat.  I got Indian takeout (MORE SAAG PANEER!!) and Neil made microwave pizzas and we watched Dumb&Dumber (which I’d never seen before but thoroughly enjoyed if only because they all spoke American English!).

Friday we managed to tear ourselves out of bed and into the car (only two hours late!) and we headed to Nottingham for my super Christmas present… the Black Keys!!!

Unfortunately, thanks to our delayed start, we missed the Nottingham Castle being open.  We did, however, see the Robin Hood statue outside it (and we drove through the Sherwood Forest on our way home!).

We also made it to Ye Old Trip to Jerusalem, the oldest pub in England.  It had windy stairs and it was so cute and we had a drink and enjoyed our culture/sightseeing for the day 😉

For dinner we went to an INCREDIBLE Thai restaurant called Tarn Thai.  Neil got some sweet and sour duck thing and I got pad thai with duck and we shared coconut rice and mixed meat satay and I’m not going to lie — it was heavenly.  I really miss having choices for cuisines.. Turkish is yummy but sometimes you just want something different.

We also found…  CUPCAKES!!!

Then it was time for the concert!!!

We got there around 8ish and saw the opening act, a band called Band of Skulls.  Doesn’t really sound like a band that would be at the top of my list, but surprisingly they were really good.  I have to download some of their music.

And then… The Black Keys!!! So so so good.  I wasn’t really a fan of their last cd from December ’11 but luckily they played a bunch of their old stuff which was amazing.  My two favorite moments: “I’ll Be Your Man,” an upbeat love song that always makes me dance and bounce around, and the beginning of the encore where they did “Everlasting Light” complete with a disco ball and light show.  I took a video but I was so excited I couldn’t stop singing and it sounds TERRIBLE so I won’t share it!  haha

Sunday morning we woke up relatively early (for us at least) and checked out of the hotel.  We headed back to Manchester for Neil’s brother Lee’s birthday extravaganza.  We arrived in Manchester with about 10 seconds to spare before hopping on a train to Liverpool with Lee, his wife Lisa, and a huge group of their friends.

We arrived in Liverpool and went straight to the pub.  I enjoyed a few vodka tonics but got to the point where I didn’t want anymore tonic so I switched to my typical vodka with lemon.  (Daddy, stop worrying.)  After month of alcohol-less-ness, it was so much fun!  (Don’t worry Daddy, I switched to water every few drinks!)

After a few pubs, we headed to the Cavern, a small bar space where the Beatles used to perform all the time before they were famous.  “Where it all began…” was the slogan written all over the bar.  We listened to a love band play covers of everything from Adele to the Beatles (of course) and danced around and had a blast.

Dinner was a burger (my first in months!) and fries with malt vinegar (yummmm) and then we bounced around from club to club.  Around 9 we finally headed back to Manchester where we went to a gorgeous little pub and drank the best bloody Mary’s I’ve ever had.  They were soooo good (and I don’t usually like Bloody Mary’s)!

Finally we had to crash, so we headed back to Lee and Lisa’s and their central heating.  Ahhhhh amazing!

The next morning was quiet and slow, just hanging out until we had to leave for the airport.  Because it had snowed the day before, I kept praying for a delay and one more night in England, but no such luck.  I ended up being the ONLY flight to leave on time from the Manchester airport that day… Just my luck.  Of course, there was a delay in Istanbul so I didn’t get home until almost 3 am… Grrrr

All in all, an amazing trip and now I can’t wait for April when Neil makes his next trek to Turkey!

I hope everyone is enjoying Valentine’s Day!! I had a great morning with the arrival of a cute e-card from my dad and roses from my wonderful boyfriend!!!!

Much love to everyone!!  xo