Happy Anniversary to us!

Unbelievably, we've reached our first anniversary out here and we're amazed at how quickly we've made it through the first third of our time here. Well, I guess no one could suggest that we've not been trying to make the most of it. To celebrate, we went out with Annalie's team to a new noodle restaurant in Hartford. We'd seen it reveiwed and it is reminiscint of Wagamama in the UK, so we thought we'd give it a go. Sadly it was pretty disappointing, so we vowed to avoid it in the future. At least we can't say that it was reminiscint of our first year!

The next opportunity to eat out in Hartford came just two days later, when we had tickets to go and see the Harlem Globetrotters at the XL Center We went with Dan and Fi, and decided to go for a safe option of eating Thai, but we did risk another new restaurant. This time it paid off though as the food was amazing and there was plenty of it.

The Globetrotters themselves were great fun! Although I think we found the most hilarity from the "foam" characters that kept popping up every now and then as part of the entertainment. Annalie did get some photos which have been uploaded into our photo albums, and some of the video footage can be viewed here - although we can't upload one of the funniest videos as the file size is too big. If we can get it compressed we'll get it on there.

Just as all of this eating out has started, Annalie's team has also just started a "Biggest Loser" competition amongst themselves to try and inspire some weight loss amongst those of us that need it. So this week Annalie has managed to force herself back into her early morning gym routine, making sure that there are two 5.30s in a day On top of this there's been the diet as well so she's been staying clear of her usual non-healthy likes It seems to be working though as there does appear to have been a small drop on the scales already.

As the first weigh in was on Monday, Annalie made the most of the previous weekend to ensure a final feast was had As part of this we cooked a proper roast dinner for Dan and Fi, including real roast tatties and some lovely roast chicken, including the skin Dessert was a fab home-made crumble provided by our guests, so there were plenty of culinary skills on display all round.

There was yet more eating out for Annalie this week as she went out with her Pratt & Whitney colleagues who were hosting a media day dinner at an Italian in Hartford. She was very thankful for the "doggy bag" culture at the end of it as she only ate half, but at least it meant there was some for lunch on Friday

Ian has also been joining forces with his "workmates" from the fire house for some extra curriculur activities! This week his DIY skills have been put to the test again as he's been helping to put some stone cladding on a wall outside the fire house. Then on Saturday a few of the guys were laying some block paving to install a granite bench that has been donated to the fire department. They installed it in the front "garden" and it took them about seven hours to do a job that should have taken no more than three, thanks to all the other members stopping by to chat and see how they were doing.

As a reward for his hard work, and some of Annalie's studying too, we took a trip down to the Mohegan Sun casino for some fun respite. Every time we've been there, or to the other casino Foxwoods, there have never been any card tables with a minimum of less than $10, even during off-peak times. So when you're not betting high stakes, which we don't, you can be out very quickly and we weren't even expecting to find $10 tables on a Saturday night.

However, it seems that the economic slowdown has taken its toll - which we knew about anyway because both casinos had reported heavy earnings falls. But we weren't expecting to find a whole area where all the tables were a $5 minimum, so that was a bonus. We set about trying to find a spot at a table, but considering the cheap minimum, the tables were pretty packed. Still, in time we both managed to grab spaces, on separate tables mind, and play commenced. At the end of it all, Annalie was the only winner and decided to walk away $10 up and only because it was getting late and she wanted to get to the gym early on Sunday!

Elsewhere, we also went to see Slumdog Millionaire which, if you haven't already seen it, is well worth the admission fee. It is easy to see why it won at the Oscars and Golden Globes.

We've also finally got round to putting some of our pictures up on the walls, which considering we've been here a year, is long overdue. I would say that it's made it more like home, but I think it's a bit late for that!