Shower the people you love with love

I know I haven't blogged in a while...four months to be exact, but who's counting?! Without even being sure that anyone reads my blog, I have been meaning to update it for a while, but I haven't quite known where to start. Funnily enough, I created the darn thing so that my family and friends could keep up to date with everything that's happening here in the good old UK.

I guess I'll start with saying, when I first got here in August, Cat helped me join the NHS bank for temporary work and I accepted a position in her building as an HR Assistant at the end of September. Since I haven't really (ever?) had a routine schedule with work, I had to start getting used to having a bed time again (11:30pm) and waking up early again (between 6:30-6:45am). My new routine was to take the 7:40 bus into Canterbury and walk up to work to start at 9:00 and end at 5:00. For a few weeks it was really hard for me to be tucked away in an office without enough work to keep me from checking the clock every five minutes. After a while though, I started looking forward to my walk up the hill each morning and having a laid back day spent mostly researching. The job ended mid-December, as it was temporary, but has just re-opened for me as part time with a slight pay increase, too! After spending a few months in there, I realize now that Human Resources is actually quite an interesting department to be in, and I look forward to heading back!

The next exciting event on our agenda this fall was carving our pumpkins for Halloween! Since Halloween isn't really celebrated much over here, it shouldn't be to much surprise that Peter had never carved a pumpkin before--or, you may actually be just as surprised as I was. He is such a fun and festive boy too, I knew he'd love it! The day we made plans to pick them up, we emailed each other at work discussing the faces we were going to carve, he even had a few ideas printed out! Here are the little beauts:

Next was our trip to London to see JOSHUA RADIN in concert! It's a funny story how this came about, but basically, if you know Peter and I, then you'll know we listened to Joshua Radin's first album non stop when we first met. I think we had him in the car for two weeks straight! He means a lot to us. So obviously I was desperate to see him, but because I hadn't quite gotten a paycheck yet, Peter didn't think it was the best idea. That night, I had a dream that I got a £20 tip at the golf club (tickets were £17 each), but Peter still wouldn't let us go see him! I woke up and told him about my dream, and being the sweet softie he is, finally gave in. We both took the day off and spent the day wandering around London. We stopped in the Science museum, saw the PARENT TRAP House, had a wonderful cup of tea while people watching in a cute cafe, walked through Kensington Gardens until we spotten Pan the Man, had a very below average dinner at KFC (sticking to our tight budget!) and spent our last achy hours worshiping our beloved JR. That was one special day I won't ever forget :-)

Our next days off together were over Thanksgiving. Since it's definitely one holiday I'm a little sad to miss, Peter took that Thursday and Friday off so we could cook and have a few friends over. Last year I was in the UK for Thanksgiving too, but only cooked for two extra boys. It was the first time I'd ever roasted a chicken, and that's what I did instead of attempting a turkey. This year though, I wanted to stick to tradition, so I cooked up 3 big turkey breasts for the 6 of us. I kind of wanted to go all out, since now I had money to contribute to ingredients, and a few days off to perfect my recipes. I spent a few weeks looking at different recipes and videos and narrowing our menu down. Here's what we had; all from scratch :-) 

Herb roasted turkey breast, roasted asparagus, mashed sweet potatoes with a kick (cayenne and cinnamon), potato casserole, stuffing, honey lemon carrots, cranberry sauce and bread rolls.

For dessert I made a chocolate pecan pie, along with a traditional pumpkin pie and vanilla ice cream. All in all, I think I spent about 8-10 hours preparing, baking and cooking--no exaggeration--the longest I've ever been in the kitchen. But the hard work definitely paid off! By the way, that was the best potato casserole I've ever tried! Click HERE for the recipe!

After Thanksgiving comes...Christmas!! The weather hasn't been anywhere near as cold and snowy as last years, but I think the gloomy weather was the reason for my home sickness starting to creep up. And I think due to the change in...pretty much everything. It's not that I'm unhappy or don't appreciate what I have here, but the end of November and early December made me really start to miss my own family. It's natural isn't it? Especially because I can't just hop on a plane and fly to SD like its no big deal! Peter could see this and decided to make up a plan with Miranda. I knew nothing about this. So mid-December Peter had his work dinner and while we were having drinks his boss leaned over and asked if he was still willing to teach her husband how to golf the next morning? Peter then asked me if I minded, and of course I didn't. So the next morning Peter woke up pretty early to "teach" golf, but I was cozy and warm in bed so I wouldn't have known otherwise. After a few hours and telling me that he was "hitting it so far now!" Peter got back. Only a few minutes after he got home, the door bell rang, but not just once, so I was a little suspicious...He asked me to open the door because he had to go to the bathroom, conveniently, so when I did, no one was there at first, and then a few seconds later, MIRANDA popped out from around the corner!  But before Peter got home, I had taken a short nap, so I actually thought I was still dreaming. I could not believe Miranda was here! I freaked out a few more minutes, shed a few happy tears and could hardly contain my excitement. It was exactly what I needed. Luckily I wasn't working, so I had time to show her around Canterbury and we took the train up to London one of the days. My work invited her to our dinner party (which was one of our favorite nights!), and on her last night we all went to dinner and then ice skating after. Best surprise e v e r! 

Sadly, we had to say "see ya later" to her on Christmas Eve. We spent Christmas and Boxing day at Peter's parents house with JP, as his parents were in Thailand over Christmas. Christmas morning was the perfect day. After a visit to see the grandparents, we went back to their house, with mimosas in hand and opened our presents. My best gifts were: tickets to see Wicked in London on January 6th, a Snow White Macbook decal from Dad, Mir and R, and an herb garden from Peter's parents! 

On December 28th, my friend Kirsten flew in from San Fran! She spent a week in England and I absolutely loved seeing her! We spent a day taking advantage of the after Christmas sales in Canterbury, and then took the train up to London where we were staying for New Years Eve weekend! Our hotel was perfectly placed on the Thames near Shakespeare's globe theater and just a 15 minute walk to Tower Bridge, St. Pauls, and Embankment. I was actually amazed at the view when we walked over the Millennium Bridge--stunning! Peter and JP took the train up after they finished work and met us at the hotel. We spent the weekend exploring the Tower of London (saw the crowned jewels), had a nice lunch, stopped in Whitechapel to see Dan and Vida's flat--FINALLY we saw each other now that we're both living in the same country and only about an hour away! Then around 7pm we started our walk to Embankment to get a spot for the fireworks. Peter and JP quickly found a Tesco's and stocked up on drinks, then we sat down on Westminster Bridge and anxiously waited til midnight! Watch the show HERE!!! I will never forget these fireworks and the immense feeling of appreciation when I watched them. I will admit that I'm moved to tears very easily and quite often, but I'd never experienced anything quite like this. What a beautiful ending to 2011. I feel incredibly loved and blessed!

 Cheers to the New Year! I can't wait to see what 2012 holds for us!

My Fancies

I know I have only been here for a month and two weeks, but there are certain people and things I can feel my heart yearning for and missing. When I first got here I was constantly missing them. Now that everything has been happening so quickly (moving, finding a job, etc), I am happy that I was able to take advantage of these things while I was home. I've realized now that the reason I miss them so much is because I made it a point to overindulge in them during my stay. If I hadn't have been leaving, I might not have seen these people as often, or repeated certain hobbies as much. I think I've started to miss certain things too because I know I simply can't have them. For example...Rhonda is sending me a little care package and I've asked her to throw in some Mexican candy. I barely even eat Mexican candy, but the fact that I can't get it here, makes me miss it more. I am so thankful for Peter and his whole family for welcoming me into theirs. They've kept me busy and happy and have made my move here entirely worth it. 

Here is what makes my heart full.

The Kiddies (and their Mamas!)

Chasito 

Elijah

Sadie

Friends

Fam

Uncle Jim

this sweet boy...again

OSAKA

Racquetball

RB with R! 

My Harbor Run

Dad

Tata & Nana

Mama

Auntie

Thank you for completing me and supporting me throughout my journey!

So much has happened in the month and a half that I've been here, I don't know where to start! The biggest news is that we made our move into the house in Boughton-Under-Blean on the 27th of August! Luckily we chose a three day weekend to move everything in, clean, and still make a trip to Ikea for the essential bits. The house came partly furnished, although that didn't include utensils, cups, plates, pots and pans, an iron, etc..

We turned our Ikea trip into a whole afternoon event and spent way less than we had budgeted for, but still got so much stuff. Just before Ikea, I'd met with a woman Peter used to work for at the golf club near his parents house. Now she works at the golf club just down the street from us, so we talked to her about a possible job for me, and the next day I had an interview. It was with the head woman of the golf company as well, but it went really well and my first day behind the bar was that Friday!

If you don't know our address yet and would like to, here it is

1 Old Bakery Mews

The Street

Boughton-Under-Blean

Faversham, Kent
ME13 9ET

Here is our new hill that's such a joy to run up :-) We've done it a handful of times now and I can definitely tell the difference in my leg muscles! The whole hill is about half a mile long & gets steeper just at the very top...it's a killer!

Since this photo is taken with my phone, you probably can't quite see our house. But from this street view, you can see our triangle window & it's when you know you're really close to home :-)

Here are just a few random other pictures of what we've been up to lately. Peter's grandparents had their 60th wedding anniversary, so we had a meal with them at a pub. We also ventured into the Folkestone Harbor for some fish n chips...and it was sunny! We took a drive into Sandwich for a walk and a few pictures. Many of our weekend adventures have been kind of random and spontaneous; some have been crazy busy while others have been lazy and unproductive. Obviously the weekend we moved in was a busy one, and then we took a while to unpack and make our house feel cozy. There was one weekend that I worked during a wedding serving food and drinks, so I only had a Sunday to spend with Peter. We've been playing badminton every week with Peter's mom and Cat which has been a lot of fun :-) In two weeks we are running a half marathon (Peter is definitely doing it, and I will as long as I can get in enough shape for it, I'm trying!) and on the same day Andrew comes to visit for a week! We've all been anxious for his arrival :-) We also have plans to use my Wedding Voucher fairly soon, which is a vineyard tour, wine tasting, and lunch--I think we are also going to link in another trip to Brighton since it's in the area. 

I've been in touch with my family, thankfully through Whatsapp! I've had a few Skype dates with Rhonda and a few phone calls with mir, mom, dad and auntie. I miss you guys!

Kick your knees up step in time!

I made it back to England!
My flight left from LAX at 430pm on Monday and arrived in London Heathrow around 11am Tuesday morning. The last few days prior to my flight, I have to admit, I was nervous. You may be wondering whether or not I had cold feet, and the answer is an honest yes. I can't stress how easy it was to get back into a comfortable routine when I was home. I was around my family, my friends, my interests. I learned how to play racquetball in last few months and have been totally hooked since. For my entire life up until this point, I have been a free and independent woman. The world has been my oyster, and I've done what I wanted without having to think twice. Yes, getting onto a plane that took me across the world to settle for the next two years was scary. Change is scary, and I felt that more in the past few days than I ever had before. Anticipation, fear, excitement, overwhelming anxiety, too many mixed emotions all at once. The thing is, I knew this day was coming. The problem was that it felt so far away, and it started to feel totally surreal as it got closer. I had been comparing it to a cliff jump I did at the river a few weeks ago. I watched everyone else conquer it, and I wasn't too afraid to try it myself since it didn't look so big from inside the boat. It was during the hike to the top that my stomach started to flutter. Then, standing at the top and looking down was terrifying and it hit me. I almost couldn't jump. My thoughts and emotions almost got the best of me, but I had to let go of everything and just go for it.
My feelings towards leaving were very similar. It was so far away, that I didn't need to worry about it until it got closer. The same thing happened, thoughts, emotions and fear entered my mind, but I had to let it all go and JUMP. And that's exactly what I did :-)

In case this wasn't a totally obvious statement, moving is expensive. Especially when it's international. I had shipped 6 boxes to Peter through Fed Ex, since I had a friend who worked for them. He let me use his 75% off discount, so, like anyone else might think, I thought, "I'll just ship everything!!!!" Wrong. These 6 boxes, which aren't even that big, came out to cost me nearly $400. This means, without that discount....they would have been close to $1,200. Ridiculous. On top of that, I thought, "Well, now I only have clothes left!" And it started with me bringing only one luggage. Wrong again. It turned out I needed two luggages for my clothes and those turned out to be over the weight limit of 50 pounds, so they were $50 extra...EACH! Right now, I can't imagine doing this again and shipping everything back to San Diego should we move back in a few years. But I guess we'll see where life takes us.

In the meantime, my flight was great. Direct flights are definitely the way to go. It turned out that Heather Locklear was on my flight. Dad recognized her as she went through security and she took a picture with us :-) I only know her from an episode of Scrubs. That was kind of exciting. I sat next to a really cool couple who I think were drunk the entire flight. I wasn't able to sleep as much as I would have liked to--it's painfully awkward to sleep in such a cramped space. I traveled with Air New Zealand, and although Peter had been really impressed by them, I have to say that I think I like Virgin Atlantic more. Although, they had a great selection of movies. The first movie I watched was Tangled--which is now my new favorite movie! Then I watched Lost in Translation and a few others that I think I must have actually fallen asleep through.

Getting through immigration this time was a piece of cake and I didn't have a single ounce of worry :-)

The officer simply asked a few questions like, "Will this be your first time living in the UK? Is your husband traveling with you? When did you get married?...Thank you!" Beautiful, what a relief among other things. 

My boy was there waiting for me just outside the gates and it was great to finally see him again (duh!). We got all my luggage back to the car and decided to have brunch in Windsor, since it was close by and on the way to our hotel! It was a much better alternative to London since it was hot out and I was exhausted. We stopped at a cute little Greek restaurant and sat outside and literally marveled at the fact that we were back in each others presence. Then it was off to our HOTEL!! I must say, this hotel is stunning. Our room wasn't anything special, but that's okay. It reminded me a lot of the Hotel Del because of it's age, the creakiness of the floors, and how confusing it was finding our room (every time!!) After I took a short nap, we went to the bar for food and drinks. It took us a while but we finally decided to share a salad. Forty five minutes later, we asked where our salad was and found out that they'd run out of one of the main ingredients. So we cancelled our order and Peter went to the grocery store around the corner instead. I was taking a bath when he came back with a sandwich, sushi, fruit and a chocolate bar for dessert. He sat in the bathroom with me and we ate while listening to music--it couldn't have been a more perfect night together! The next morning we took full advantage of the complimentary breakfast and then we were off to play racquetball! The courts are actually squash courts, so it was a bit frustrating for me since they're 8 feet shorter and have ridges along every wall and beams at the ceilings. Either way, we both loved it and now Peter claims that he's hooked :-)

Later the same day, we had two flat viewings. One in Boughton Under-Blean, a little village just on the outskirts of Canterbury, and the other was one we had almost said yes to, just up the main road in Canterbury. Both of them are £750, but after seeing the size of the first one (in the small village), nothing would ever compare. The size and proportion was perfect, and to me, worth being a few minutes away from Canterbury. It's so crazy the difference in size that you have to sacrifice for location. So since the place in Boughton was a two bedroom, we have asked Peter's roommate JP if he'd like to join us, and he's said yes after seeing it today!! The agency called us yesterday to let us know that there were a few people interested and asked if we wanted to give them our information to be considered as well. So we did, and the land lord chose us!!! JP saw the place this afternoon and I am pretty sure I witnessed his jaw hit the floor when he saw the size. A very good sign. It's also about two minutes from the golf course which is perfect!! I'll leave it here with that bit of good news, and until next time....

Sneak Peek of the Place!