Our England Trip ~ Day 3

Day 3 in London ~ Our final day of blog friend meet-ups

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From my travel journal: "Today is the day we meet with our blog friends / members of Team Teal. I know my mom is with me in spirit, and thinking of her makes me want to cry - but I won't! I'm so happy and excited to meet these ladies, to share a meal with them and visit face to face. I can't believe this day is finally here!"

In February 2011 my mom was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and my blogging took a little turn. I began sharing more personal information on my blog, and I went from being someone who rarely asked anything of others, to straight out asking for support for my mom. To my joy and amazement, I got what I asked for and then some! Team Teal was born and friendships were grown to a new level.

Before my mom passed, she knew that Carrie and I would be traveling to England and that we would be meeting several members of Team Teal. She was so very happy about that! These ladies {as well as several others from around our awesome planet} were such a source of love and support for my mom {and me} while she was fighting cancer. Every time I talked to my mom she mentioned receiving a card or note from Team Teal and she was so touched by that. Every. Time.

Having the opportunity to meet these women in person, to hug them and express my gratitude for what they did for my mom, was so very important and special to me. I tear up as I type this post - it just meant so much to us.

{Rather than pepper this post with links every time I mention a name,
I have put links for each friend's blog at the end of this post.}

Here's how day three went down:

My friend Helena traveled from Scotland to be in London for our lunch, and she met us for breakfast in our hotel that morning. After breakfast, we all walked over to Covent Garden near our hotel. Helena had gone to university in London, and she told us that Covent Garden had been the main produce market years ago before being turned into a super awesome shopping center.

See the group of musicians at the bottom right of this photo? There was always a different group there, or an individual singing opera. The acoustics were amazing, and it was always so much fun to walk through Covent Garden on our way to the Underground and hear different performers there.

Being there the week before Easter, we were able to see the Easter Egg display and also a giant Lindt bunny play area. These eggs were really cool, and they were all over Covent Garden.

Our group kept growing - Carrie, Alison, Helena, and then Karen joined us there as well. When it was time, we made our way by bus to Maggie Jones's restaurant where Ruth had made reservations for our lunch. I was anxious to get there early as I really wanted to greet everyone when they arrived. 

Very first thought about Maggie Jones's: SOOO beautiful and quaint and kind-of-dark-for-photos... {but we managed just fine!}

It wasn't long before our table was filled with happy ladies, all sporting cameras. :o) I felt just a little sorry for the older couple at the table next to us, and I hope we didn't spoil their quiet lunch with our happy chatter.

Above: Karen, Jacky, and me

Below: Karen, Denise, and me

Above: Rhona and Jacky

Below: Becky, me, and Mel

{borrowed some of these photos from Denise ~ Thanks, Den!!!}

Lunch was really yummy, and we had a few really great servers who took care of us throughout our time there. This one was so patient when we asked if he'd take a group shot - with not just one camera, but several! We took mercy on him and didn't have him use 11 different cameras.

I'm so glad that Denise snapped this photo - it seemed kind of silly at the time to ask to have my photo taken with our server {Nicholas}, but now I'm glad that I did. He was a fun part of our time at Maggie Jones's.

Here's a group photo from Carrie's camera ~ taken by our server friend Nicholas:

Alison and Jacky seated on the left.
Then from left to right, Ruth, Carrie & me, Helena, Becky, Denise, Mel, Karen, and Rhona.
Awesome, right?!?!

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After lunch we stood outside the restaurant and took pictures. Lots of photos, including a photo of Carrie and me with each blog friend. I loved this so much! I plan to make a little mini book with all these photos soon!

{Denise's photo of Ruth taking a photo of Carrie, Rhona, and me}

After our photo session, we walked around until we found a Costa and the few of us still remaining went in for a cuppa. I didn't want our time together to end! I was savoring every last bit of it! But alas, all good things must come to an end, so we bid farewell and Ruth walked us to our bus stop and made sure we got ourselves on the right bus.

Travel journal: "After everyone went their separate ways, Carrie and I came back to our hotel for a little while. We were exhausted, but not ready to call it quits for the day, so we ventured out and found a place to eat and drink some cider. We ended up in a really stupid arguement, fueled by jet lag and emotion. I pulled out all the stops on the mama-drama and take 90% responsibility for the squabble. I miss my mom so much today - I want to tell her about meeting some of Team Teal and how lovely they all were. My time with these ladies went from anticipation to a wonderful memory in the blink of an eye, and it all got the best of me. Tomorrow is a new day - we're going to Liverpool and my girl will be very happy about that!"

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You can visit my sweet blog friends by using the following links:

 ~ Alison ~ Becky ~ Denise ~ Helena ~ Jacky ~ Karen ~ Mel ~ Rhona ~ Ruth ~ 

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