The Enchanted Forest at St Cross College

This Thursday night we went to a ball at St Cross College. I don't know much about the college itself, but I do know that they throw a great party! Our friends Mikki and Brian went as well, and we all had a blast with dinner dancing and entertainment.

The thing with Oxford colleges is that they don't look like much from the outside, but on the inside they all (for the most part) have a gorgeous courtyard which is just perfect for parties, especially as the weather is getting warmer.

Here we are at the start of the party. They put these neat fairytale mushrooms all over the place. There's something I just love about little red mushrooms with white spots - in fact, I bought a little pottery one in a small village in France called Maury on our honeymoon.. you'll learn the connection later in this story...


After the cocktail reception in the courtyard, we went inside for dinner. The dining hall was actually pretty modern for Oxford, but nice and bright. Here's me and Mikki at the table:


Here's Paul with some of his Oxford school mates


The dinner consisted of a pureed vegetable soup for the starter, bacon-wrapped chicken with lentils and wild mushrooms for the main, and some kind of chocolate trifle for dessert. BUT - the highlight brings us back to France to that little village called Maury. Paul and I thought we'd never be able to find their sweet nectar outside of France, but much to our delight, it was served as a digestif after the meal! We had brought a bottle of it from our honeymoon to Mikki & Brian's murder mystery party last week, so it was really funny that they served it there! Anywhere, here's me with the wine after dinner (we may have had seconds and thirds of it!)


Us with some of the creatures roaming about...


And the night wouldn't be complete without another cute mushroom picture!


And for real bizarre-ness, a picture with the fantasy tree/vine/foliage people:

The last Templeton Ball - Bon Voyage

A couple weeks ago, we went to the last Templeton ball, not just our last, but the last ever. Templeton is merging with Green College, so Templeton Collegeas we know it will no longer exist after this year. The theme was 'bon voyage'

Here's me with Danalisa at the champagne reception, though she didn't have any champagne since she's expecting! I don't get to see my 'mommy' friends nearly enough since I'm on a work schedule and they're on kid schedule, but we're hoping to plan a girls night/afternoon before Danalisa and Jodi go back to the US in July!

Here's me and Paul at the dinner table. We got a table in the outside patio under the tent, which was really nice! We've had so little nice weather here it's great to take advantage whenever we can!And here's everyone at the table in the tent - from left to right, Kaori & Tetsuya, Vinita & Varun, Alina & Adrian, and I'm actually not sure who the other two are, but they're studying computer science and were very nice.




After the dinner they had dancing and cotton candy (here it's called candy floss). The cotton candy was really tempting, so Paul and I both had some, but it wasn't the best idea to eat that and then go dancing! But we had fun nonetheless!

Murder Mystery Party in South Hinksey

Last night our friends Mikki and Brian invited a group of us over for a murder mystery party. We'd never been to one, but it sounded like a ton of fun - and it was! The idea is that each guest is a character in a murder mystery story, and by the end of the night, you are supposed to guess who did it - and it could be you without even knowing it! You are given a brief description of your character and an idea of what kind of costume to wear, and when you show up, you're given a booklet with more information about your character.

For this party, the theme was 'Swinging London in the 1960s.' My character was "Kitty Killer," a glamourous and famous journalist who, I learned, was actually a secret agent! Paul's character was "Terrence Shrimp," a famous East London photographer. I had to ask some colleagues what it meant if someone was from East London in the 1960s, and they said it was like the guys in movie Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. I never thought Paul was going to get all that into his character, but he did a smashing job!

I do have to add that Mikki and Brian live in a 400 year old cottage with a thatched roof! It is so absolutely charming! They live south of Oxford, and have to bike and carry their bikes up 40 stairs over the train tracks to get there, but it's such a nice place to call home!

So now on to the pictures...

Here's Paul and Varun (an 'entrepreneur'/gangster) in the taxi on the way over.


Here's Alina (a pop star), Vinita (a former nightclub hostess/aspiring actress) and me


Do you know this couple?


The men of the party


After we solved the murder mystery, we went over to the local village pub. Here's Paul with all the ladies of the night



And again at the pub (which has Hoegaarden on tap, by the way!)


After the pub, we went back to the cottage and traded wigs for some more fun - don't we look cute?



We really had a fantastic time - a great way to celebrate the end of MBA classes! (at least until September, and not counting final exams next week).

More Simaceks in Oxford

No, there's not another little Simacek on the way. I'm talking about Paul's family coming to visit us a couple weeks ago! We spent most of the time touring around the Cotswolds seeing all the touristy things. We even rented a car, and Paul did great driving on the other side of the road!

I had to work the first two days of their visit, so they all went around to the Oxford colleges. That was fine with me, since we all got a chance to get out of Oxford on the weekend. Paul and I don't get out of town much (even to go one town over), so we really haven't had much of a chance to see England together. So it was great to have guests and an excuse for Paul to take a break from studying to see the sights!

On Saturday we did Warwick Castle and Stratford-Upon-Avon. We had some National Heritage passes left over from when my family visited over Christmas, so we wound up saving a ton of money on entrance fees - well over $500 when all was said and done!

Here we all are at Warwick Castle


Shakespeare's birthplace:


On Sunday, we saw Blenheim Palace and Broughton Castle. Blenheim is the birthplace and was the home of Winston Churchill. Not a bad start!

Here's Paul in Blenheim's back yard


At Blenheim, you can walk right into the sheep pasture, and there were adorable little lambs all over!


here I am striking a pose in front of the "Column of Victory" at Blenheim:


We also just happened to see this wedding procession! Can you imagine how much a wedding at Blenheim Palace would have cost?? I have no idea, but I'm sure you need a title like "Lord and Lady" to afford it!


Here are the Simacek ladies at Broughton Castle. The owners, Lord and Lady Saye and Sele (yes, they have an 'and' in the last name), still actually live there, but open it to the public two days per week during the summer. They filmed Shakespeare in Love here!


This is the back yard at Broughton - and the moat!

Yolanta & Anne in the garden


Paul and me on the roof..