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Cheerio Ladies!  I am so excited to tell you all about my wonderful trip to London!!

We had the most amazing time!  I went over there to help Patrick celebrate Quacker Factory’s 10^th Anniversary show on QVC UK – and what a wonderful celebration it was!  What made the trip even more special for me was that Glen got to go with me.  It was his first time in Europe, so I just knew that it was going to be an extra-special time.  We arrived in London several hours before I needed to be at QVC for the anniversary show – so I did what any woman would do – SHOPPING and sightseeing!  Our first stop was Harrods- London’s stunning and famous department store.   I wanted to see it all decorated for Christmas, especially their holiday window displays – and let me tell you, they were gorgeous – and so was the building!  Here’s a picture of Glen and me in front of it.  What a wonderful way to start the trip!

After walking around and getting ourselves acclimated to our ‘new’ neighborhood, we went back to the hotel to freshen up before Patrick picked us up to head to the Quacker festivities at QVC UK.   Everyone there was so nice – they even had my name on my dressing room door!  The studios are smaller than they are here in the US, but they are beautiful.  Our Presenter was Jill and she had so much energy and was great fun to work with – and I especially loved her accent!  Here’s a picture of the 3 of us on set that was taken from one of the studio monitors - and yes, they LOVE their DreamJeannes in England as much as you do!!! 

Speaking of DreamJeannes, you just know that I couldn’t go all the way to London and not show your British Quacker Sisters my world famous Quacker Karate Kick!  Here I am on set with the models about to kick away!

The show was great and the UK Quackers were shopping away – so much so that we actually ran out of stock 45 minutes into the show!!!  It’s an experience that I will never forget – Patrick and I know that Jeanne was smiling down from heaven that night!

The next few days Glen and I decided to check out some of London’s finest establishments- which of course included going to some traditional English pubs.  I was so surprised that a lot of them have funny names.  Here’s an example:

 We also took a bus tour around the city to see the famous landmarks in London.  Tw of my favorite places to see in person were Tower Bridge and Big Ben.  As you can tell, it was a typically foggy London day but that didn’t stop us from having fun.

 I also loved the many winter carnivals all around town.  We would be walking and then all of a sudden stumble upon a Christmas carnival with a carousel, food vendors and games!!

 Friday and Saturday nights were filled with fun, food and friendship as Glen, Patrick, SJ and I enjoyed dinners together!  Here’s a picture of Patrick and me on Friday night when we went to a YUMMY Italian restaurant.  Glen said it was the BEST Fettuccini Alfredo he had ever eaten in his life!

And on Saturday night we went to an amazing restaurant that specialized in steaks – all I can say is WOW!!!  Here’s a picture of me and Patrick in the restaurant:

And here’s a picture of Glen and I.  I think it’s quite obvious how much fun we were having!

 We even got to celebrate Patrick’s birthday a week early.  This is my most favorite photo of him, ever – he was so excited that we were all together!

 On our last day, we took a fantastic bus tour that took us to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge & the town of Bath.  This was an exciting day full of sites we’d never seen before and places filled with thousands of years of history.

This is Winsor Castle where the Queen lives part of the year. She was actually there while we were visiting, but unfortunately we did not get to meet her.  The castle was beautifully decorated for the Christmas season.  We weren’t allowed to take any photos inside the castle, but take my word for it, the decorations were stunning!!

 While we were there, we even got to witness the changing of the guard ceremony.   I’m thinking that Jeanne Bice would want to add some bling to their outfits – what do you think?!

 After seeing the castle, we headed to Stonehenge for more history – but I STILL don’t know why it was erected – I guess that just means I’ll have to come back to England again!  J  Here I am in front of the stones – it really was amazing to see this up close.

The final stop on our bus tour was the town of Bath.  Wow!  What a quaint little town with an incredible history.  First, we toured the Roman Bath house.  The first picture is of Glen outside the entrance – and the 2^nd one is of the two of us in the room with the actual deep-water baths:

After visiting the baths, we just had to explore more of this beautiful town – so we walked along the cobble stone streets – and guess what, we found another outdoor Christmas market!  The smell of the mulled wine was so warming and inviting – and seeing all of the incredible food stalls made me wish I had brought another suitcase so that I could take it all home with me!!

What a fabulous trip it was – I’m so grateful that I was able to explore new parts of this amazing world we live in – and that I was able to be there with Patrick to celebrate Quacker Factory’s 10^th anniversary on QVC UK!

Ta-Ta for now friends – I hope you’re all having as much fun as I am preparing for the holiday season!!

Angel