17 July 2007 - My reflection of the last three years in England

All good things must come to an end, huh? I don't really believe that, but our adventurous life in England has come to a halt. We moved back to Arizona, full of many, many memories from the past few years. Thinking back to the beginning of our journey in England creates quite a lot of laughter. See, the things that 'drove' us absolutely insane somewhat ended up being what we loved most about our life in England. While it took us well over one month to get a bank account opened in Durham, that lackadaisical, slower pace of life somewhat grew on us. Don't get me wrong now. I am not saying that it was acceptable to only open two accounts per day at the bank, but I am saying that we learned how to slow down and truly enjoy each other and life.

James and I moved to England without a place to live, only a hotel room for a few days. We moved with so many question marks ahead of us. But what we did know is that we could do anything with each other. Or, at least, we thought we knew we could do anything together. I think we learned that we truly CAN do anything together, as long as we are by one another's side. Each day we grew closer. We did not go crazy with three years of only each other (and Scrabble, and the friends who we now consider family). We lived in a way we had never lived, or dreamed that we would live before. We lived without a car. We lived without any full time employment. We lived as two full time students. We lived in a tiny 700 square foot house. And we survived! Life, for us, was not about all these things which we now realise are pure luxuries. I think that a lot of life in America is about luxuries. - big houses, big cars and so on. We now know that there is a lot more to be thankful for. We may not have had all these materialistic things, but we did have a wonderful adventure over the past few years.

We traveled! Man did we travel! We went to Scotland, Ireland, Northern Ireland, France, Italy, Sweden, Germany, Wales, Prague, and so many places within England. We were blessed with visits from friends and family. We even learned about so many different cultures as we gained wonderful friendships with people from England, Belgium, Portugal, Northern Ireland, Germany, France, Italy, South Korea, Mexico and more. I like to think that we have become much more open minded about several aspects of life through learning and seeing how other people in the world live. Many of these thoughts and experiences will be carried with James, Jimmy and I throughout the rest of our lives.

So what did we leave with from England, which we did not have when we arrived? The most amazing person is little Jimmy! He is certainly our biggest and 'forever' memory of England. Then, James received his Masters in Business Administration from the prestigious Durham University. What a task that was. I will actually brag for a quick second and say that not only did he receive his MBA, but he received a distinction (high honours) on his dissertation (in England it is a Master's dissertation and a doctoral thesis, yes the opposite of in the States). I am on my way to finishing my PhD and one day, hopefully near to the beginning of 2008, I will be able to say that I received my PhD in England. On a humorous note, I left England with really long hair! This is not because I intentionally wanted super long hair. This is purely an issue of how costly it is to get a cut and colour in England. Ha! Lastly though, Durham, England has sent us home with a whole new extended family and wonderful memories. Nothing in life can replace the lessons we learned and the special memories we have from living abroad.

Now, as a silly note I am going to write about some of the things I miss from England. I know I used to blog about all the things I absolutely missed from America and how crazy I thought it was that I could not get these things in England. Who would have thought that it would be reversed? I miss Vennels, our favourite tea house in Durham. I miss the Castle. I miss the cobblestones, even if I did trip all the while. I miss white cheddar cheese. I miss having hot tea all the while. I miss brown sugar cubes. I do not miss PG Tips yet as we brought home a massive box, but I will miss it one day. Nearly every week there is something I say I miss from England. I miss the friendly chats with some of our neighbours. Most of all though, I miss our friends in Durham!

What an amazing experience James and I shared in England! I wonder what the next chapter in our lives will hold and where our future adventures will take us?

27 May 2007

Oops! Have not blogged again in FOREVER! Quite a lot has changed since the holidays... we have our adorable son, Jimmy! He is just four months old now. It is so hard to believe how quickly the time has passed. I am back to work on my PhD, nearly finished with my parent analysis chapter. That means only like five or six more chapters to write! (Only!) James graduated in January with his MBA and we had a wonderful celebration. James' parents visited us for a couple weeks around that time. Other than that we are just trucking along, enjoying watching Jimmy grow. Jimmy is playing in his crib now after having a nap, so I think we'll go into town to kill some time this afternoon. Hugs!

30 December 2006

Happy Holidays! Christmas has come and gone already and we hope that everyone has enjoyed a lovely holiday season. James and I enjoyed a very quiet Christmas at home. We were able to share some time on the telephone with our families. On Christmas Eve we went to the Durham Cathedral for their '9 Lessons and Carols' service. It was absolutely packed. I was lucky to find a seat in one of the arches in the back walls. Even though it was crowded it was absolutely amazing to hear the choir singing in the cathedral. This is the second event I have attended there, listening to organs and singing. What an amazing experience it is! I am really looking forward to James' graduation ceremony in the Cathedral. It shall be fabulous!

Anyway, after the service at the Cathedral we came home and ate our Christmas dinner. James made a leg of lamb and some vegetables. I had made James' favorite peanut butter bon-bons (his grandmother's recipe) as well as some decorated sugar cookies. I missed my little helper Adrian this year, who was able to go home to Mexico for the holidays. He was a lot of fun last year decorating cookies! We did pretty much all of our Christmas festivities on Christmas Eve just as James' family does back at home. It was nice. James and I had filled stockings for each other, stockings that I knit especially for us. Next year I will get to knit one for our little one! We had a lot of fun.

On Christmas day we were very lazy and pretty much stayed in our pajamas all day long. It was too much fun! We watched some movies and we played games. It was really nice. Our friend Simon popped by for a bit as well. We also walked Mattie a bit, of course. Then on boxing day, the day after Christmas, we had our friend Katie (& Jazz) over to watch a movie (and play with Mattie). All in all, this was a very special and wonderful holiday season!

James has been working quite a lot at the pub lately and I have been trying to concentrate on my analysis and writing. It is sure a lot harder to concentrate lately. I think they call it 'baby brain'. I am still trying though and getting places slowly. James' parents will be arriving in about a week for James' graduation. He will be graduating with his Master's degree in Business. It will be good to see his parents though. We have not seen our parents in about 14 months now - yikes! Time disappears quickly, yet slowly at the same time. It should be a pretty quiet visit full of plenty of relaxation. I sure cannot get around the same as I used to. This bump makes for a sleepy Cubby!

We do not have any plans for New Year's this year, I don't think. I am not sure just yet if James has to work on New Year's Eve. If so I will keep working on Baby G's blanket that I am knitting. James is putting the pressure on to finish it! Ha! I go through crazy knitting phases and then it will sit for a while. I will finish it though. At least I now have the other color of yarn to do the other half.

So Baby G is due in less than 7 weeks now. Unbelievable! The count down is on! I am growing a bigger belly quickly but still have not put on too much weight. It is so interesting how our bodies react to carrying babies. James and I went into Durham yesterday and hit up several of the charity shops (these are like second hand stores). We found some great deals on some baby clothes. For £7 we were able to get 5 different outfits and a bath towel for baby. We got a really warm 'snow suit' that the baby can wear from the time of birth over clothes to stay really warm. It is so cute. It is white and puffy and has little button in places mitts and feet. Baby will stay warm! There are just a few things that we need to get yet for baby before she or he arrives, but we are pretty well set on clothes to last until we visit America in March I think. We are always doing laundry anyway, so it will be easy enough to wash every couple days what we need to. And with it being winter with the heat on, things dry quickly on the radiators.

We had our friends KC and Ashley here for several days in November. It was so great to see them! We definitely have some wonderful friends. (Thanks to KC and Ashley for taking time out of their European treks to see us up in Durham) We also have some friends planning to come in May. Too much fun! It should be pretty quiet for us for a bit now though since baby is arriving soon. Then we'll have our visit to America! And our friend Simon, here in England, is joining us for our visit home. We have lots of fun things planned for him!

Well, that is all for now. I figured that I should write since it has been a few months... oops!

1 October 2006

It's a pretty gloomy day here in Durham. It started out sunny, but now it is very overcast and spitting. I thankfully made it into town to grab some groceries before the rain started. Gotta love England!

I have spent most of the weekend scrap booking. I officially started the baby's album. I am honestly having SO MUCH FUN doing this. I cannot wait to meet this little Baby G! I have some really cute papers that my mother-in-law sent to us after announcing our pregnancy and I have the best ever stickers which my friend Brittany sent. Just after James and I found out about Baby G we were on a regular Costco trip. They had this little 'Guess How Much I Love You' scrap book album kit. I knew that this was the baby's album instantly! It is super cute and came with fun little pages and stickers. It is really turning out great. I figure that I will get most of the album started with the important bits (like baby's arrival, first bath, sleeping, first trip, meeting Mattie, first smile, and so on) so that after baby is born it will be rather simple to just stick the photos in the album. I am guessing that I will not have so much scrap booking time once baby arrives!

We started reading to the baby this week. It is around this time that the baby can start to hear and recognize mum and dad's voices. It is fun to read to this little person in my belly!

James has been sick this weekend with flu, or something of the sort. Poor guy. I am really hoping that I don't catch it! At least he can take some good drugs when he is ill (thanks to Dad for sending NyQuil our way - the English similar drug just doesn't work like NyQuil).

Only a few more days until our scan! We are super excited. The baby is now about 6.5 inches long from head to rump and weighs like 7-8 ounces, or so. Crazy! There is a lot of growing to be done in the next four plus months .I just posted an updated photo of my bump from yesterday, our 20 week mark. The angle I think makes it look bigger, but I do feel that huge. It is so fun!

That is about all that is going on with us right now. Hope that you're having a FABULOUS weekend!

22 September 2006

Wow, I am blogging twice in one month!

I have been sitting here messing around on the internet. To be truthful, I was playing around with silly quizzes and Chinese gender predictor calendars. (hee, hee) It is so funny to read old wives tales about whether you will have a boy or girl. According to the Chinese gender predictor calendar, we will be having a girl. Both quizzes indicated a girl as well. One actually broke it down by percentages, so it said that there is a 63% chance it will be a girl and a 37% it will be a boy. Hmmm... only several more months will tell. I have to say that I just LOVE feeling Baby G moving around in my belly. It is the most fascinating thing ever! I think that we have an active one! Pregnancy does do weird things to you though. I seem to have developed a bit of eczema near my mouth, which is strange. I have only been sick twice in the last three weeks, which is not too bad. I am still jogging (not as regularly as I should), which feels really good. Oh, here is a fun thing. It is about time to start reading to our little one! Research has shown that this can be comforting to baby, like if you read the same book to the baby after birth, the baby might respond well to this. Or maybe it will give Baby G a jumpstart to being little mr/miss smarty pants. Who knows. It is also just another way for the baby to hear the reassuring sound of mummy and daddy's voices.

We went down to Bristol this past weekend and had a look at that Victorian bungalow. It is definitely in a fantastic area, only about 10 minutes walk from the University. However, this house is in the process of being remodeled, which we knew. When we had a look at the house, it had NOTHING - no floors, no sinks, no toilet, no kitchen, no anything. It is absolutely at the beginning stages of being remodeled I have my doubts about whether it will actually be done by the middle of October. There were a lot of strange things about the whole situation to be honest, but I will not elaborate on this right now. Needless to say, we ended up contacting our landlord here in Durham and extended our lease for another month. This will get us through the middle of November at least. There are various rental agencies which we can go through to rent other properties, but we really need to have jobs in order to meet their requirements. So, there are a few things pending over the next couple of months. I know that James will find a great job, which will then help us to figure out where and when we'll live in Bristol.

While we were down in Bristol I had the chance to meet with my supervisor, John, It was really good to have a meeting with him! I have to admit that having this distance between where we live and where I am student has not been the most ideal, but I am still plugging away with my research more than fine. I have interviewed 20 families now for my research data, which is sufficient for the research analysis and findings. YAY! That marks stage two of this PhD finished! I am still trying to get a couple more families that expressed some interest, but if I am unable to get in touch with them it will be alright. While meeting with John, I felt the need to seek some reassurance about when I might actually finish this PhD... he confirmed my thoughts that I should be able to still finish by September of 2007! That was comforting to hear. I was thinking this all along, but you start to hear people's horror stories that their lives just came to a halt once baby was born, or people look at me and ask how on earth I will finish my PhD with a baby. Then there have been a couple people (who know me well and how I work) who have said things like, 'I can see you writing up chapters in between feedings', or 'you will get on with your work just fine, you are that type of person who just gets done what needs to be done'. Thank you to these people! I know that baby G will definitely change our lives in so many ways, ways in which I cannot even predict right now. We'll adjust and keep trucking though, I know that. I have actually just finished reading a book about getting a baby on a routine with feedings, sleeping and playtime so that the baby will hopefully sleep the entire night through by 12 weeks. One of my friends used this 'method' with her two children and one was sleeping the night through by 9 weeks and the other by 12 weeks. I hope that I am able to do this with Baby G! I think that it is just helpful for the baby to know what to expect and for us to know what to expect with feedings and sleep.

Well, James just got home from work, so I will get off the computer now. Have a fab weekend!

7 September 2006

Well, I have not written in here in FOREVER! The forum is good for doing quick updates on little things, but I figured that I would sit down and really update you on what's happening in our lives.

Last night was a wonderful celebration dinner for James' MBA programme, since yesterday was the hand-in date for their dissertations. James was relieved to have handed his in a day early, and actually had taken it to the printing company to be bound two days before the due date. Last night was a well deserved celebration for all of the MBA students. It was great to see the relief on their faces, everyone dressed up VERY nicely and everyone really enjoying themselves. Anyway, here is a photo of us from last night - I think that James and I looked so cute! Oh, I have to comment on the nice remarks James was getting from the dean / director of the programme last night. They are very impressed with the hard work which James has put into his dissertation, particularly the major task James set out to do for his research and the response rate that he has received. In fact, aside from the two comments that the dean made last night, he was kind enough to pull James aside in the office last week and compliment him there as well. I am so proud of my James! Now we just wait until January for James' graduation, which is in the Durham Cathedral!

James left this afternoon to fly down to Bristol. Simon is working down there this week on a business trip and James opted to go down there to check out the job scene at some places. He is staying with Simon tonight and then tomorrow night they will drive back up to Durham. Hopefully James has some luck with his job search. I know that this is a stressful time for him, but I am confident that he will find something! And something better than bar work at that!

We have been looking for housing down in Bristol, which is another stressful matter... our only option at the minute is to go through the University postings for housing because neither of us will have employment down there. To go through letting agencies, you have to have proof of income (makes sense). Anyway, there are few options through the University for housing that is for families / mature post grad students since a lot of students share houses and such. We also don't want to live in a student-infested area. Students tend to live the partying life over here pretty well.

We found one house which sounds absolutely PERFECT! It is a Victorian bungalow (meaning single level home) which is like 100 years old. It is located on a street which has only 8 homes, is a couple minutes walk from a grocery store as well as a fruit / vegetable market and a massive park which has loads of walking trails. It is about 15 minutes walk from the University. It has three bedrooms, a back garden with a pond and a separate laundry room in the back with 'drying facilities'. I am not sure what exactly that means. But it just sounds ideal in that it is in a nice, quiet neighborhood. My supervisor John also drove through the area and looked at the street and said that he thinks it would be great for us. The rent is twice as much as what we pay in Durham, but it is the 'posh South'. When we contacted the landlady she was already working with a couple of lads who were interested in the property, but apparently now these lads do not have the third person needed - see, they were going to have three guys renting the three rooms. I am thinking that this means good things for us.... Anyway, James and I are going to fly down to Bristol next weekend on the 17th to meet the landlady and check out the property. The landlady has been quite interested in us since I contacted her. I think that she would prefer to see a family living there, especially a female given the fact that she has fully remodeled the home and plans to live in it once she retires. She wants it to be well cared for. She is also willing to accept Mattie, which is a huge plus. We'll see what ends up working out, but it is a start for us at least!

My research is coming along slowly, but it is coming. I have been in touch with my supervisor about the whole upgrade process at Bristol again, so that ball is rolling again (thankfully). I have interviewed 17 families at this point, which is good. I want about eight more, if I am lucky. Hopefully I can get this done before we leave to Bristol!

Last, but definitely not least, Baby G! Baby G is doing fantastic. I am moving along with the pregnancy just as the 'week by week' guides show. We're 16 weeks, 5 days along today. We had an appointment with the midwife this afternoon and we heard the baby's heart beat. What fun! We have a scan / ultrasound again on October the 4th, which is when they can tell us the baby's gender if we want. The midwife was telling us today that if I do not want to find out, they may not actually tell my husband (uh-oh, James would be devastated). We will have to see what happens. It all depends on whether the baby is cooperating as well - there are so many things that can get in the way of seeing whether it is a boy or girl. We are so excited to see how much the baby has grown at the next ultrasound. Baby G has definitely been very active this week. I started to feel the fluttering this past weekend. At first I was not sure if it was the baby, but then it has been the same feeling every night since then. It is really neat that this little life is moving around inside of me, a life that James and I created. What an amazing experience this is! I have to admit, it is much more enjoyable when I am not experiencing morning sickness as well. As you can see on our home-page, I am starting to show a bit now. It is not super obvious in my clothes, but it is definitely becoming more obvious. I notice that my belly is starting to peak through a lot of my shirts. It is an awkward stage, where I am not really big enough for maternity clothes but I am not quite so comfie in my regular clothes. Oh goodness!

Well, I think that is a pretty good update of what's going on over here in England with James and I, and Baby G of course!

24 July 2006

Where has the time gone? We have been having too much fun, it seems! We have sure been keeping busy. James is working on his MBA business project, counting down (while biting his nails) the days until his final report / dissertation is due, which is about six weeks away now. Nothing ever seems to go as planned, which is a continuing life lesson in our journeys. I have been trying to keep busy with my research, which has its ups and downs. Lately it has been a bit quiet, but that is par for the course I think. I did some lecturing last week as well, which was great.

Visitors - we have had lots of visitors! My Mom, Aunt Carol and Uncle Joe were here around my birthday. It was so nice to see them. They were up in Durham for about 9 days. Brandon, my 13-year old brother, arrived yesterday. It is SO good to see him! He will be with us for about four weeks. We have various small trips planned while he is here. My grandparents, Aunt Richelle and cousin Lucas arrive in a couple weeks, so we will be able to do some trekking about with them. It should be good fun.

As I have complained and written about for nearly ever now, I am quite happy to announce that I will get to see an allergy specialist on Thursday this week! I have been waiting and waiting and waiting since winter time for this! Patience is everything over here. Hopefully the appointment will be useful. It is not exactly the worst time of year now for my allergies, but they are still present. The worst part is that it's been so warm outside that we have to keep all windows open and a fan on at night in order to stay comfortable, but that just blows the pollen and stuff in which starts sneezing fits. Oh well. We'll see what Thursday's appointment holds.

We recently booked our next trip - to AMALFI, Italy. We are so excited. A really good friend of my family, Cindy, is getting married there at the end of September. Amalfi is on the southwest coast of Italy. It is supposed to be in the high 70s / low 80s while we are there. We opted to stay for an entire week since James will have just recently submitted his dissertation and it is just before we move to Bristol. We are going to relax. That is all we have planned! Laying around on the beach and by the pool for a week sounds perfect to us!

I better go hang some more clothes on the line. I'm getting laundry done this morning while my brother is sleeping the day away! (It's 11.15 and counting)

17 June 2006

Time just keeps disappearing! Yesterday James spent the day in London for his business project, which was fun for him I think. He got to go to his favourite, Camden town! There are all kinds of fun little shops there. He grabbed a very cute little journal book for me. I love it! He also bought my birthday present. I am very curious what that is. Hmm...

Last weekend we ended up with a bit of a crazy bbq at our house. A lot more people showed up than we thought, but it was a good time. I think that we had about 20 people here. James was able to wear his special 'American BBQ apron' (from Marty Jo) and he bbq'd nearly the entire night. It was lovely weather so we were able to keep the whole thing in the back garden. We apologized (with a bottle of wine) to our neighbors about any noise that may have been distracting since this went on until midnight. Thankfully the neighbors on both sides said that the noise was not a distraction at all. Whew! We would hate to be those LOUD neighbors. See, we live in a pretty nice, quiet, more mature area - you know, where there are families and professionals and some retired folks as well. Anyway, the BBQ was a lot of fun.

James is getting geared up for Germany in a couple days. The boys should have an interesting, fun time. Hopefully they are not around any crazy fights or anything. And I am getting ready to go down to London on Wednesday to meet my family. Yay! It will be so much fun!

I am trying to think of some 'crazy' experiences that we've had lately. I know that there was a few things that happened in the last couple weeks, you know, just observations and cultural differences. This morning my mind is not fully there I guess, all this hay fever (allergies) is getting to my brain. Since we have not really had rain in a LONG time, the pollen is floating everywhere and attacking my nose. It is torture. I never thought I would be asking for the rain here, but at least it calms down the pollen. I only have one and a half more months now until my allergy specialist appointment comes up. Some days I think it would be worth flying home to Arizona and paying privately to see my allergy specialist from home. I been waiting FOREVER to see a specialist here. Oh well. My allergies will probably be gone by the end of July, by the time my appointment finally comes due. You sometimes just have to roll with the punches when you are in another country! What else can you do, really?

Well, I better eat my breakfast. Have a fantastic weekend!

8 June 2006

We are sure busy right now - trying to get ready for family to arrive, you know, working a bit extra on things to help free up some time while they are here. My interviewing is coming along rather well. And Jeff found out today that his business project was approved! Yay!! As usual things seem to keep working out with our journeys (academic) here in England.

Many of you have heard that we were planning to get a car coming soon. It was working out really great as far as planning goes, but today a kink in the process happened. I called to coordinate the insurance so we could get the car this afternoon. Based on the quote, it was going to be really inexpensive. So it was something that we could handle without it throwing off our monthly budget. But when I called today to 'make it a go', the guy asked another question - 'HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN IN ENGLAND'? Well, since September 2004. He then said that because we have been here longer than 12 months, they cannot offer the no claims in 5+ years discount, even though my insurance company from Arizona is sending a letter stating that I have not had claims. The price more than doubled! EEK! We so cannot comfortably afford that! It is more for one year of insurance, at that price, than it is for the car. I called some more places to get other quotes, and got absolutely nothing good. A couple places refused since we don't have UK driver's licenses (makes sense, I suppose). Other places quoted the same expensive price. I guess that some things just are not meant to be. Besides, we have gotten on this long relying on the buses, what is another several months in Durham using buses? We'll survive just fine!

The weather has been really nice - near to the 70s this past few days. James has been bbq'ing lots and we've been sitting outside in the back garden eating dinner. It is just lovely. Right now we are borrowing our friend Simon's picnic table and some garden chairs because we are having a big bbq on Sunday. The picnic bench is super cute in the back garden! It is like a little get-away in our own back yard! How cute is that?

Alright, need to get back to some work. Cheerio!

2 June 2006

How on earth is it already June? The time sure keeps flying. We have been in England for like 20 months now. That means only like 15 more months until I hope to turn in my thesis. Yikes! School is actually coming along pretty well. I have interviewed 7 families now and am really enjoying it. They are all being so wonderful about taking part in my research. I know that it can be asking a lot for a family to give up a couple hours of their time to participate in my research, where the only benefit is for their 'voices' to be heard about their experiences. I am so thankful, that is all I can say. I am equally eager to analyse what I have learned from these families, to start to develop all the meaning around their experiences. It will be interesting. Interesting to me at least. I guess that is why I am doing it, huh?

The weather was absolutely beautiful today. We had a high of like 68 - the sun was out and everything. What fun is that! It felt really warm and nice, reminding me of a good spring day (if we even have such a season) at home in Arizona.

Today I met with a nice gal from the MSW programme here who is going to be moving to America next summer. She is marrying an American guy there and was curious about how practicing as a social worker is in the States. It was interesting to hear someone else's perspectives about going to live in another country, just the opposite direction as James and I did. She was saying how friendly everyone is there and she wishes that it were the same here. I laughed, sharing with her that we feel that everyone has been great up here in the North of England. I explained how anyone will give directions, but will stop what they are doing and have a good chat with you before giving directions. I left out the part about when I was 'happy slapped' and hit with water when running... just kidding. I do not hold those experiences as a reflection of how things are here. Nearly everyone has been wonderful that we have interacted with here. She was glad to hear that this is how we view it. I was happy to hear that she thought the same of Americans, where my opinion being from Phoenix is that most people are always on a mission and in their cars, so they just go on with their lives. It is interesting how we hold our own perceptions of our 'own'.

Tomorrow I am going into Newcastle to do some shopping with my friend, Adriana. Carlos graduates at the end of the month (that's her husband by the way) and she needs to find a nice dress to wear for his graduation ceremony. I hope that we have a successful day! Really though, just having a girls day out is always a success! I am really looking forward to it.

I think that we are going to have visitors here around Thanksgiving time now - YAY! It will be so nice to celebrate Thanksgiving with a couple of our friends from home. KC and Ashley are now planning to visit us at the end of November. They will be our first visitors in Bristol, which should be exciting. We'll be able to do some exploring around the South that not even James and I have done.

Alright, I am off to bed now.

19 May 2006

Let me tell you about the most amazing anniversary celebration we had yesterday. I think that it is probably better described as a complete spoiling session for me! Yesterday was our fourth wedding anniversary. Where on earth does the time go? So we went to 'Europe's largest mall' in the morning to walk around and see a movie. James mentioned that we had to be back in Durham by 4 o'clock for his big surprise to me. So once we arrived in Durham, we went to a little tea place where he gave me envelope no. 1 and left me. I was on a scavenger hunt!! It took three clues, one of which included a word find, to lead me to a little beauty place where I received an hour long full body massage! They then gave me clue no. 4, which led me to a fantastic restaurant in Durham (which we have been wanting to try). James was there with white roses waiting for me. We had a really nice, romantic meal! What an amazing James I have! It was such a dream. He put so much effort, thought and love into the scavenger hunt - what a lovely surprise that was! I feel so special! I think that I am still glowing!

11 May 2006

Well, we are finally up again! There was some technical problem with our 'host', or whatever you call them. At least it is up now.

I have just discovered Skype and am in love!! For only $0.02 or £0.01 per minute I can call my family and friends at home, through my computer. It works crystal clear and I am absolutely amazed.

So let me tell you a story about yet another experience with drunken people here. Over the weekend, at about 8 o'clock at night, James and I walked to the local petrol station to get something the drink. We were walking back and there were three lads ahead of us walking. They were obviously drunk and one stopped to use the fence as a restroom real quickly. James and I slowed down as to try to not catch up with them. Then one of them turned around and stood there trying to focus his non-functioning eyes (which were floating in alcohol, I think) on us. He then grabbed James' arm and put his chest up against James'. James had me grab the umbrella and continue to walk away towards home. I thought that there was going to be a throw down, man! This guy was saying 'who are you' and 'what are you going on about' to James. One of his friends, thankfully, went and put his arms around him, telling him he had had way too much to drink. They apparently had been kicked out of the local pub on that street and were heading to the other local pub. What a state that guy was in! I really just do not understand the state that people get themselves into. I have never seen anything like it. It is just like some people drink so much that their eyes are floating, and then for some the alcohol seems to ignite testosterone into unsafe levels where all they want to do is fight and be jerks. Seriously!

Not even one day later, I was waiting for a bus to go home at the bus station, at three in the afternoon. This lady, if you want to call her that, was very drunk and smelled of vodka quite badly. Let me try to explain the state that she was in. She had taken her shirt, from the bottom-front, and pulled it up and then down through the collar area. So, this created like a little knot in between her chest, revealing quite a lot of her very ugly bra. YUCK! I was sitting on a bench which had quite a lot of space on it. She sat down next to me with her shoulder touching mine and was asking about buses. Thankfully when I did not know the answer to her question she got up and moved on. She kept walking around with a very scary laugh though - I was worried that she might turn all supernatural or something. Just kidding.

Alright, aside from drunk people watching, we do have some real-responsible life happenings here as well. I was supposed to carry out my second pilot interview on Monday, but the young person was ill so we have to reschedule. It is always a guessing game as to how all of this will work out. Oh well. I spoke to my supervisor this week though and I am allowed to officially start recruiting all potential participants now. I am really thrilled about that! I will go to the agency where I am recruiting on Tuesday next week in order to send out all these pamphlets and such. I am looking forward to that.

I had a really long meeting at Durham University yesterday, just one of those annual review things for the Master's programme. If it works out, I might actually start teaching a module on research methods for the Master's cohort for one week in July (just before my little brother comes). Last year this portion lasted for three days. If this works out, I will be excited! It will be very good experience and yet another bit of teaching to add to my CV. Hmm...

Right, I had better head into the library now. Have a fantastic day - it is very sunny here and we are supposed to have a high of about 64 degrees F. YAY!

29 April 2006

It is a pretty nice weekend here in Durham. The sun is out but the cool breeze is very present! As you are getting used to hearing, it is good for drying clothes though, which makes for a happy me!

Not too much is happening here. Mattie just finished playing in the back garden with her friend Snoopy for several hours. She really needs a bath now - she smells way too much like grass and dirt which is no good for my allergies. My honeymoon period in England is over with allergies - they are in full bloom now! I actually went to the doctors about it because I don't think that the allergy pill and nasal spray are cutting it. I don't know why I even bother to be honest. It is such a fight to get help sometimes. The advice was this (I think memorized straight from a textbook): 'Most people are able to identify triggers for their allergies and can then avoid those triggers'. I then explained that I have had allergy tests done and know that I am allergic to all pollens, all plants, all dust, etc. So, for me I think that the trigger would be going outside where the wind is blowing all this around causing me to sneeze. The doctor looked at me as if I were crazy and said: 'We do not rely on those allergy tests because research shows that it is not helpful, blah, blah, blah'. I stupidly inquired about getting allergy shots, but the doctor said: 'in the UK we stopped doing allergy shots over 15 years ago because they have proven in research to not be effective'. Well, research has a lot to say about allergies apparently. I am going through one more treatment at the moment, which is a steroid nasal drop. I can use it for only two weeks and then go back to the doctor. If this has not helped to relieve the problem, then I can have a referral to an allergy specialist at hospital. I sure learned a lot about what 'research says' nonetheless. In the meantime, the sneezing continues and the other things that go along with these darn allergies (hay fever as they say here). I think that what I am learning, from listening to other foreigner's experiences as well, is that if it is not emergency women's care or children's care, the services are just not the best here. I could be wrong though, it's just a perception I am making right now.

Our friends' Colin and Katie recently got a cute new puppy, a cocker spaniel. Katie and Jazz (the dog) came over early this week, which was way fun. The dogs played together so well! They were cute. Mattie looked absolutely huge and the puppy just jumped up at Mattie's head. It was fun. They both slept very well after their play!

The big news of the week is that we are invited to take advantage of a special opportunity of ordering a special £5 coin which celebrates the Queen's 80th birthday. I guess that only certain household's were invited to do this and we were one of them!! I don't think that we will get one though...

I did have a very interesting meeting with a professor from America who is doing some research here in the UK for a bit. I have mentioned the couple before, both visiting professors. Anyway, I took part in the research study about 'social work practice ethics and values' which is going to contribute towards a new social work practice text book. It was really nice to sit down and think through various ethical dilemmas that I remember from my social work practice in Arizona as well as where social work values were evidenced from my practice experiences. Sometimes I really miss the practice and the people that I was able to help. It was sure a lot of great experiences, which have all contributed and led to where I am now. It's interesting to look at (or think about) the 'puzzle pieces' which have started to piece together towards a coordinated picture of why I am doing the research I am doing now and where I hope to end up later. Gosh, personal reflection is sure interesting! Anyway, I think that we are going to have the visiting professors over for a bbq next weekend.

Well, I think that is all I have to write for now. Enjoy your weekend!

23 April 2006

It is a sunny, beautiful 52 degree day here in West Rainton. You know what that means? I can dry laundry outside! Get this though. A bird had the nerve to poo on my pants (or trousers as they would say here in England, where pants = underwear). One step forward, two steps backwards! That is how it goes. James even spent a while this morning mowing our lawn and the neighbors lawn! We all know how he loves to do that.

We took Charity to the train station today, as she heads back over the pond to hot Phoenix tomorrow. I hope that she enjoyed seeing various bits of the UK! We took her to Edinburgh, Scotland for a quick day trip yesterday. This past week we went to Dublin, Ireland for a couple days, and the week prior we went to York for a few days. She also got to see the Durham Cathedral. Last night she even got a taste of the drinking culture, when we got in from Edinburgh. By a taste, I mean that she got to see how people dress when they go out, where they go, and she even got to listen to a drunk 19 year old Geordie boy talking a bunch of junk on train. Funny times! It sounds like her favorite was York though. It was nice to share a bit of our lives in England with someone from home!

Back to Dublin... James did the Guinness Storehouse tour and really enjoyed that. Charity and I did the hop on hop off bus tour, then went to two cathedrals and the castle. The best part though was going out to eat at an Irish food restaurant called Gallagher's. We made a reservation there for the night when our friends were there. Remember that I mentioned that Danika and Pete were going to be there? I went to NAU with Danika several years ago and have not seen them in nearly three years, if my math is right. They just so happened to be travelling through Dublin at the same time as us, so we arranged to meet up. After dinner we went to the Tempe Bar and listened to some really fun Irish music - you know, with the fiddle and harmonica and everything. It was an absolute blast! What a fun way to catch up with old friends! I wish that the night had not ended! The night prior, Charity, James and I went out to a different pub and listened to The Rafferty Boys sing traditional Irish folk songs while they played their guitars. It was absolutely fantastic! We absolutely loved the music!

I think that we will be taking it rather easy for a while now. James has his dissertation to get working on and I have my PhD stuff to keep plowing through. On the 22nd of May we will head to Prague for four days. We are so excited for that! Prague is really cheap (thank goodness)!

Let me tell you what a fun afternoon I just had. My father and little brother meet me in our chatroom every weekend, but today we were able to get another visitor - my Uncle in Florida!! Good times! It sure makes it feel like we all are not so far apart! Well, I better get finishing a batch of papers I need to mark. Will write more later (and if we're lucky, James might blog)!

16 April 2006

Happy Easter! I have not figured out quite yet how this holiday is regarded here in England. We were home in Arizona last year for Easter and this whole weekend has been interesting. Friday was Good Friday, which is huge here. The buses ran on a limited schedule and the University shut down from Thursday through to Tuesday. I have never experienced a limited anything on Good Friday before. Saturday, or 'Easter Saturday' as they say here, was just a normal day with everything running and open as normal, at least as I noticed. I assumed though that the buses would not be running today because it is Easter. It's not the case though! The buses run as normal today, on Easter Sunday!! However, tomorrow is a bank holiday (one of those frequent holidays that people get just to have time off work, I think - there is not special significance that I am aware of). So, the buses will be running on a limited schedule again. So, based on this little observation, Easter runs as just another day essentially, but bank holidays are big because they affect the normal working schedule of many people. Hmm...

Charity has been with us for just about one week now and we have had several little adventures with her. She was able to explore London for a couple days, and then it was Durham! We went to York for a few days, which was fantastic. The house we stayed at was absolutely gorgeous, just a quaint little village called Nether Poppleton with this little house behind a lovely barn. We did tour through a Viking Museum in York called Jorvik. It was interesting to see how things were back in the 900s and such, but I have to say that the smells in this museum were not pleasant! You sit down and go through this museum mostly like a ride at Disney Land and you see little villages and such to portray life back in the day. They have smells to match what is happening though and the smells are not good. Our clothes even smelled when we left. It was interesting but I think that we decided it was not worth our £6.50 each. We also went through the minster in York. This church is absolutely beautiful! It is Gothic in style, so it is quite different than Durham's Cathedral. (Durham is still our favourite though) Other than those two stops, we mostly did a lot of walking around shops and such. Remember from our pictures the road called Shambles where the second levels (or first as they call it here) are settling down on top of the first (ground) level, making it appear very zig-zagged, or in Shambles! Very cute!

Yesterday we did a little walking around Durham, which ended up with Charity and I going into the Cathedral for a bit. I never get tired of going in there! They opened up another part which I had not seen before, called the Galilee Chapel and it has all the tributes to St. Bede. It was nice.

On Tuesday we are leaving for Dublin and I am SO excited about that! A place that we have not trekked through before! We are starting to figure out what exactly we will do while we are there. Unfortunately the discount airline that we booked through has changed our return time on Thursday to early morning instead of afternoon, so our tourist time has been decreased. Oh well! We will arrive on Tuesday afternoon and I am assuming that we will be able to squeeze one thing in that afternoon. We are staying right next to the Dublin Castle, so perhaps we will be able to do that. We will be doing the Guinness Storehouse Tour which offers a complimentary Guinness at the conclusion - I will try it but do not anticipate that I will be a huge fan. It looks so thick here! I am sure that we will see one of the churches in Dublin as well. But here is the exciting part. Are you ready? Okay, one of my old University friends from NAU emailed me last week to tell that she and her husband are going on vacation and they will arrive to Dublin on Wednesday. What luck! James and I have not seen Danika and Pete in several years now. We are going to meet up with them for dinner on Wednesday night. It should be great fun!

I think that the other places which we will visit over the next week will be a day trip to Newcastle, including the coast perhaps, and a day trip to Edinburgh in Scotland this next weekend.

Speaking of exciting news, this past week was full of excitement! On the same morning that I heard from Danika, I had an email from my dear friend Lindsay telling that she and Brian are engaged. This called for a good chin wag and tea! We had to be flexible with the time difference and the fact that there is a big pond between us, so we each brought tea and chatted on the telephone for a while. It was perfect! The other exciting news is that another couple of our friends announced that they are going to have a baby in October! What fun and fabulous news from home!

Well, I am going to start getting ready for the day. I might actually wear a cute linen skirt today, it is supposed to reach 51 again! What beautiful weather! We have Charity with us and our friends Carlos, Adriana and Adrian are going to come over at 2 o'clock for Easter dinner. It is so nice to have friends to share the holidays with when you are so far from family. We have sure developed our little extended family over here in England. This is vital for survival, I think. Well, Happy Easter!

5 April 2006

I have just put Dreamweaver on my laptop, allowing me to now blog when James' computer is not handy. Charity arrives in only two days now and we are super excited!

James did another training in Nottingham on Monday and my schedule finally permitted me to join him. Nottingham was nice, what I saw of it anyway. We were just there one night. We went to eat on Sunday night at our favorite, TGI Fridays. To remind me of my little brother, Brandon, I had chicken fingers. The city centre area is quite nice with lots and lots of shopping. James even gave me some money and told me to go shopping while he was working! I found some great sales and was able to get a couple tops. I actually discovered about four malls while walking around and am sure there are more. There are so many shops. Nottingham is interesting though. First, it has a ratio of men to women something like one man to every four women. Crazy! Yet it also has the highest gun violence rate in England! Weird! I did not see any guns, just lots of women. After my morning couple hours of shopping I sat at various places with my laptop doing school work and drinking tea. It's nice to change the environment where I am working sometimes!

Get this! There is a bar / club in Durham called DH1 (which, by the way, is the beginning of the post code for the centre of Durham). James got a advertisement flyer which states 'The ultimate clubbing experience for 13-17 year olds every Friday night from 6-9 pm'. YIKES! What a way to get young kids familiar with a bar. No, they do not serve alcohol to youngsters, but they are getting these kids more than familiar with their bar so that once they are 18 hopefully they will go back. There are differing perspectives on this, of course. It is one way to keep these young kids off the streets and drinking on the streets. Hmmm... interesting.

I have finally healed, I think, from something called Chilblains. About one month ago one of my little toes (the fourth toe to be specific) started to swell, become quite red and was extremely tender to the touch. I started to become concerned that it might be gout because of my family history, but that is typically in the big toe and has other symptoms which I did not have. After one week of this I contacted my GP. She diagnosed this as chilblains. This is a reaction to the cold where blood vessels shrink when cold and then get irritated when trying to open back up. There is a medication commonly used for people with angina and heart / circulatory problems which can be used for chilblains. I tried it and it did not do anything but make me very tired. Eventually though my chilblains healed. I bought super warm wool socks and started to be more careful about keeping my feet warm. It is sometimes a hopeless task though because my hands and feet are almost always cold, no matter what I have on. Regardless I am healed! My toe is normal again and it does not hurt! Go figure - this never happened in Phoenix. Ha!

Well that is enough for this evening.

29 March 2006

Well hello there, blog readers! We are back online! It only took 1.5 months for our English Internet Provider to get us sorted out... now that is fabulous customer service!! (and let me mention that my father had internet troubles at his house in Phoenix - the internet company was at his house and had the problem fixed in only 2 hours, now there is customer service for you!) Now that is all the complaining I am going share with you. We have the internet working wirelessly at our house now and feel like we are living in luxury.

We had a fantastic time in Italy at the end of February, visiting Rome and Venice. Rome was great for the historical bits and Venice was just an amazing environment. We happened to be there for Carnival, which was interesting and really fun. I particularly enjoyed the gondola ride (of course; it's romantic), walking around the back alley / canal ways, and the 18th century tea rooms. What a fantastic experience. I really want to go back! I think that we say that about everywhere, but I really want to go back to Venice!

Anyhow, our friend Charity is arriving in only one week and we are super excited! While she is visiting we will go to Dublin for two nights and then we will also spend 2 nights in York. It will be so much fun to share bits of our lives and experiences with another friend.

A lot has happened since the 13th of February, and I am only going to write a few paragraphs. I have to write a congrats to Marty & Ryan on their engagement, Janelle and Jason with their new baby girl, Sadie, and Dan and Kim with their baby boy, Luca. (I told you a lot has happened)

I honestly have a lot of my own re-writing to work on and I want to get the new bits of the internet site posted. James is finishing his last paper for his MBA (Yay James!), he has finished classes, and is working towards figuring out for sure what he will do for his dissertation. I did finally have my first interview for my research and am trying to get the second one scheduled. Thus our studies are moving forward and getting us closer to that point of finishing.

Take care and we look forward to being back in touch with everyone.

13 February 2006

It's almost Valentine's Day! All you boys out there better hurry up and get those roses for your ladies! I am totally kidding. There is nothing worse than thinking about the small fortune that was wasted on the jacked up price of flowers for Valentine's Day. I would much rather prefer the sweet thoughts and flowers on regular ol days... which James is very good at, by the way!

Only 3 more days until we leave for Italy!! We are going to have so much fun! Of course I have the itinerary all mapped out, but it is good. We are planning to do an average of two things per day, as to not be running around like crazy. See, we learned something absolutely wonderful during our second trip to Paris. It is way more fun to be able to sit down at a cafe and drink wine, eating cheese (the Parisian way), absorbing some of the culture than it is to run around like crazy trying to see all the sights. However, I do know that spending a few days in Rome and a few days in Venice will not offer us any real strong opportunities to absorb culture. At least we'll be taking it a bit easy while we are there, taking a couple things in. It is such a dilemma, really, isn't it? Traveling around trying to see so many parts of the world within a few days, or spending more days in less places. I guess it is all personal preference. Fortunately James and I have the chances to go places and spend three or more days at a time at each location, spread out over several years.

Our calendars are filling up this year, which means that the year will fly by before our eyes! In February we are going to Italy; in March we are probably going to Stonehenge (quite near to Bristol) with the International Students' Association at the Uni. of Bristol; in April Charity is visiting and we are going to spend a few days in Dublin, Ireland, as well as some little places around our part of England and London; in May we are officially booked to go to Prague for four days; in June family is visiting; in July my little brother is coming; in August family is visiting; in September KC and Ashley are probably visiting and we'll go to Cindy's wedding in Italy; and finally in October or November we will probably move to Bristol!! YOWSERS! Right, we will be studying and doing our University work through all these adventures. We are here for school you know!!

With all this said, it will be 2007 before we know it, which is the year when I am scheduled to submit my PhD thesis, which means that we will then be moving on to whatever location calls us when we enter the 'real' world again! Hawaii seems to be getting all the votes. I am not sure how realistic this option will be though - isn't it paradise, not a working / living place? We will see where our careers take us.

Well, I need to get some things done here. James just left to the library and I want to finish a couple things before he gets back. I am not sure if I will write again before we leave. If not, have a fantastic week and a brilliant weekend! We'll be back on the 21st, with plenty of beautiful pictures to share I am sure!

9 February 2006

I have Caldicott approval!!!!! I know that means next to nothing to nearly everyone in the world, but to me it means everything! It was the final bit of approval I was waiting on to be able to send leaflets to children and families about my research. I am beyond thrilled! This is one more hurdle that I have finally made it over. And let me tell you, I am not good at getting over real hurdles, let alone my patience for jumping through all these hoops for approvals in my research study. Everything is a growing experience though, and as long as we remember to view good and bad experiences that way, things move forward just fine.

I just got back from the gym and need to get through some more work before I have tea with the gal from Texas that we met. Have a great day!

8 February 2006

It is freak'n 58 degrees in the downstairs of our house right now. Sometimes I think that I am being a huge wimp, but I was just noticing that my little fingers were not working so well with typing. Ugh! I just brought the portable heater downstairs and set it to make the temperature in this room 70 degrees. That ought to feel real good, until the electricity bill arrives! Mattie just went and laid down right in front of it. I think that she is dreaming about the warmth that she used to feel in Arizona. Wait, that is me! James is going to laugh at me when he gets home because I am already in my 'pajamas' at 5 o'clock. I can justify this though. See, my pajama pants are actually sweat pants, so they keep me warm. I also have on a sweatshirt. I look like a regular ol University girl!

I have to share a great story about how wonderful James is to me. I will spare you ALL of the details, but basically when I was a kid I saved quarters in a glass teddy bear jar. Someone took my quarters and it was empty from then on because I did not feel that my money was safe from being taken. (like I said, long story) Anyway, James heard about this story several months back and started his search for a glass teddy bear jar like the one I had. Some of you from home might remember these... they came with Skippy peanut butter in them from Price Club. Well, James found one and got it for me, and he assures me that he will never take my money from it. I am beyond touched! Every day James does something more to make me feel loved and special. Every year it just gets better - we just hit nine years since we started dating, yikes we're old! Aw, it is great though.

We leave for Italy one week from tomorrow. I am so excited that I can hardly concentrate. Actually, I have been working really hard lately with some recommendations that were made at a meeting I had in Bristol a couple weeks ago. Yesterday I sat at my computer for nearly nine hours straight, with a 30 minute break when my mother called. Sometimes I get on these writing and reading streaks and there is nothing to stop me. (James was at school, so the house was super quiet)

I just called to set up an appointment to get my hair cut. This is at yet another new place. I have not been thrilled with one place in Durham that I have let touch my hair. I have not had my hair done since October when I was home in AZ - I wish that my Dad could just fly over and pick me up for hair appointments. That pond between us is just a bit too big though. Anyway, this place is apparently awarded 5 stars, whatever that means. It is within our posh health club. The prices are not any different than what I have paid in Durham. They actually have a range of experienced staff, so I picked the most experienced one. If this does not work I will have to go back to Jesmond where we lived when we first moved to the country. They were super expensive, but they did a good job. Why is it so complicated to get a girl's hair done right?

This past Sunday James and I went into Newcastle for lunch at the Director of the Master's in Social Work programme's house. She had invited us and a couple of American professors that are visiting Durham Uni for six months. It was great fun to have a chat with fellow Americans for a bit. There were some interesting conversations. By the way, it was absolutely amazing to have 'adult' conversation with other adults for several hours. It reminded me a lot of the dinner parties we used to have with friends back at home. Here is another 'it's a small world' line. The female professor knows my favourite old professor from ASU West. I couldn't believe it! We go all the way to a small town in North England and meet people from Phoenix or who know the same people in Arizona. Strangest thing. The other day we had some papers shipped to James' Dad. The guy that picked up the papers used to be based at Luke Air Force Base and was asking what on earth was in Goodyear where we were shipping to. James explained that it is all houses and businesses and such now near Luke AFB. He had not been there in years. It is fascinating how we all cross paths at some point. Hmmm...

1 February 2006

Happy February! I have to say that January seemed to last forever, so I am happy to be in another month now. It's still rather cold outside though. Mattie's water freezes between every visit she has to the back garden. Brrr!

I was finally successful in getting this final interview completed for my research job with the University of York. What a nightmare it was trying to get this scheduled! I am just now realising that I absolutely reek of cigarette smoke though, so I will be brief so I can hop in the shower. I have to comment on how cool it can be to wander around the back roads of Durham County first though. I was trying to get to a small village which is about 20 minutes from our house for this interview. I got lost, but knew if I kept going in the same direction I would reach signs at some point which could direct me in the right direction. Anyway, while driving I noticed this really cool old structure, called Ludworth Tower (pictured below). This was apparently a medieval fortified manor house, with few bits of the house still remaining. See, at home in Arizona I could drive around rarely getting lost since the roads are all on a grid, but I would never find such cool old pieces of history. So, I don't mind driving these 'back hills' in the middle of nowhere and seeing what I can discover, while still arriving at my destination early!

We had quite the excitement with Adrian two nights ago! He was with us for nearly 24 hours, which was James' first time having a rather young one stay with us for an overnight slumber party. He (both Adrian and James, ha!) were very good. I must compliment Adriana and Carlos first because Adrian is a very well behaved boy. It was a piece of cake to get him to bed - got ready, read a story and he was out within an hour. James was impressed. This was even Adrian's first time every staying anywhere without his parents. He is really a fun kid! We watched lots of Spongebob Square Pants, which is a favourite for both Adrian and James, I think. We had lots of fun and sure slept good last night. Four year olds have loads of energy!

Well, I have to go bathe because I cannot handle smelling my hair and such in this cigarette smokey state it is presently in any longer! Yuck!

30 January 2006

It is freeeezing today, literally! There is ice and frost all over the place outside. I am saying this from the almost warm comfort of my home. Truthfully though, I just cannot get warm enough at the moment. I apologise for any typos which occur as a result of my shivering fingers. Alright, I am exaggerating a bit. I really hate though how the cold air makes your nose turn into a faucet of sorts. It's just a nuisance really.

As you may have heard, British Airways is having some kind of winter sale which ends on the 2nd of February. My Aunt Carol, Uncle Joe, Mom and Julie (we'll say cousin of sorts) are planning a visit in June now. They will be here for my birthday! This should be great fun! I also looked a little bit at the location for our friend's wedding in Italy. Cindy and Doug will be getting married in Amalfi, Italy, which is towards the south on the coast. I came up with this brilliant idea this morning to look in the Italy book which we have for our upcoming Rome and Venice trip. I swear, sometimes I really act quite blonde. Why did I not think to look in this book last week? Oh well. By the end of the week my little brother, Brandon, will have his plane tickets booked to visit us in July. I am just really excited! Brandon wants to go to Scotland mostly, so we will be working on some sort of Scotland itinerary full of adventures of all sorts! If anyone has seen much of Scotland and has recommendations, we are open to them. We also talked to our friends, KC and Ashley, this past weekend about their planned visit in September, probably. They're planning a trip and want to make sure that we have time in our schedules to have fun with them (isn't that so nice?) We will see where their visit takes them over here in Europe! I know that you are thinking, 'what about our school work', right? Of course I will have some work to be doing this summer for my school, but I am really hoping that all my field work interviews for my research will be finished by July (latest), so I will be working at transcribing and analysing a bit. James will be working on his dissertation which is due in September, but he will not have classes. He just emailed and said that he is really enjoying the class he is in today, which is focused around dissertations and research. James really hopes to finish his dissertation a bit earlier than September. He has a bit of an advantage in that he is finishing his courses much earlier than a lot of people do, so he will have more time outside of classes to focus on his dissertation.

James and I are really making great use of the health club! And even better, we are ever so motivated to eat better now that we are working out. Some friends gave took us to Costco yesterday, so we were able to stock up again with chicken and tuna (not crazy amounts of laundry detergent, Dad). We just love 'Chicken of the Sea' tuna. In fact, it is really the only kind of tuna that I will eat without turning my nose up, as James says. It is amazing how much better you feel when you get high amounts of protein back in your diet, mixed with less fat and carbs. We got pita bread as well - yummy! Let me tell you how big of 'dorks' we are. We are thinking of going to a little dinner at the health club (they have a little restaurant thing) and then hang out in the jacuzzi for Valentine's day. See, our true celebration will be in Italy since we leave on the 16th of Feb for Rome. Anyway, I think it will be nice to just relax on Valentine's Day at the gym with James. :)

This reminded me of something at the gym. They have this restaurant, like I mentioned. Here's the saddest deal though. When we were getting our tour before we signed up, the manager took us to the restaurant area, which has a big screen television and so forth. He said that after working out, we are welcome to go down there and have a pint (beer) or some food. I started to ask about protein drinks or healthy food because he was mentioning chips (french fries) and beers. I think that my facial expression said a lot, as I was thinking about how eating french fries and drinking beer after working out kind of defeats the whole purpose of working out. The manager said that they mostly sell the unhealthy bits of food and drinks in the gym (as a business it makes sense to keep selling these things), followed by this statement: 'we are quite fickle, aren't we'. Interesting! James said that he talked to some bloke who was heading down to have a pint of beer after working out. The man said that he had to drink something, so why not beer?

Tonight we might have company! Adrian (remember, the 4-year old) may stay the night with us so his parents can celebrate their 8th wedding anniversary. Adrian has never stayed the night anywhere else besides with his parents, but he said yesterday that he wants to come stay with us. So, hopefully that will go well! I am sure that we will watch the same movies over and over again with lots of 'why' questions. Too cute!

I finally finished knitting a lovely surprise for my friend, whose baby is due by the end of February. I am so excited to be shipping it off to her today. I cannot wait for her to get it! I also cannot wait for the baby to be born, to find out if it is baby boy or baby girl. Anyway, I will post pictures of it once she has received it.

Back to my thesis writing now. Have a great week everyone!

28 January 2006

Gosh, how did I let ten days slip by without blogging? That is just not acceptable! I was busy marking papers last week and then I was in Bristol on Monday and Tuesday this week. We also joined the gym, as James mentioned, which has been excellent! We just joined this past Saturday and I think that I have been like five times since then. It really feels great to be able to go work out regularly again! And they have a very nice steam room / sauna area, which is a big bonus after a hard work out.

I have us all booked for out Italy trip. Initially we were going to try to do Rome, Pisa, Florence and Venice, but then we woke up and realized that would be absolutely insane! We would not have time to really enjoy any part of any of the cities if we run from one place to another like that. We ended up deciding to spend a few days in Rome and a few days in Venice. I am very, very excited! We are planning to do Vatican City and other bits in Rome, but are not planning too much so we can sit and enjoy the surroundings a bit. I just learned that we might have the opportunity to go back to Italy in September because a wonderful family friend of mine is getting married there! Wouldn't that be spectacular?

Well, I have a lot to get done this morning, so am going to keep moving. I just looked at the time... have a fab weekend!

18 January 2006

Gloomy days sure make me feel sleepy! So, yes, I do feel sleepy quite a lot here. I was all ready for an interview this morning, but called the parent to confirm the appointment and she was unable to make it. This meant that James and I were able to go into Durham together this morning and make the long trek up to the University library (and he to the business school) at the same time. There were some books that I needed to check out and James needed to return some Master's dissertations that he was reviewing. He is trying to get his mind around what he wants to do his dissertation on. In preparation for this he has also been reviewing dissertations which received distinctions, so he can have some idea of what they consider to be a 'good' dissertation. What a guy... preparing for his dissertation.

Last week was the January graduation ceremonies at Durham. James was working the day shift on Thursday and I popped in to hang out a bit. I was actually sitting in the upstairs part by myself marking some of my Master's students ethics proposals. Anyway, a couple from Mexico stopped into the pub for a drink and we all started to talk. They were so nice. Their nephew was graduating from Durham with his Master's in some area around business, so they were in town for the graduation. Their daughter lives in Surprise, AZ though. I sat with them for about 30 minutes just talking a bit about life in general and their travels. They were so nice! Our world is truly very small, it is just amazing. Today James and I went into the pub to grab lunch off their 3 pound menu and a 'cheerleader' came in. I was thinking, 'cheerleading in England?'. But, she is from Houston, Texas and is working on her bachelor degree in finance and german. She apparently finished high school in 3 years, worked on pre-med for 2 years in America, quit that and then lived in Switzerland for 2 years and is now here in Durham for the second year in a row. Very interesting! Anyway, she said that she was looking for a PhD student who can proofread some of her papers for her in March. She took my number and will give me a call later on. We have a fellow American here in Durham!! It was great to have a quick chat with her. Oh, she is the president of the cheerleading club at Durham Uni, so she was at the Walkabout pub working on sponsorship stuff.

I had the follow up appointment yesterday afternoon for that biopsy which was done on my arm in November. Remember... the one where I had to wait like eight weeks to get biopsy results back on. Ugh! Anyway, I can joke about the matter now because the biopsy results came back completely normal. They have diagnosed it as DERMATOFIBROMA. Hmmm... James and I busted out laughing yesterday as we were leaving hospital because they gave me a handout on dermatofibroma. At the top of the page is the emblem for the dermatology association. It is called British Association of Dermatologists, established 1920. Anyway, these words are encompassed in a circle, of which the center has very large letters spelling BAD (for the British Assoc. of Derm.). Well, that sums it up quite well. I am joking, slightly. What a riot though! Who wants their acronym use to be BAD?

My time has been quite full with work lately (both paid work and my own PhD work). I have all the approval letters needed for my research. I contacted one of the agencies about a form which was submitted in August 2005, which they apparently lost or something. So, they are expediting the processing of it now. Then I can interview. I say this with a confused look on my face, since the process just seems to carry on and on. I only have one interview left for my research job with the University of York. I was due to finish that this morning, but the parent had to cancel for very valid reasons. Maybe next week I will finish this. However, the University of York has asked that we meet sometime soon to discuss the possibility of me carrying on with additional research for them which begins in a couple months. Yay - more paid research opportunities! I am still working with my now nine Master's in Social Work students at Durham University. I also have volunteered for a teaching opportunity. At the moment I am screaming 'Aahhhh' about it, but am really happy because it will be great experience. There was a situation where a professor or someone backed out on five weeks of teaching a course and I agreed to cover one of the sessions. So, I have about 2.5 hours with first year Master's in social work students. I am starting to prepare for that now. On a more critical note, I have a 'mock viva' next week on Tuesday in Bristol. I might have explained before, but the University of Bristol does not start students as PhD students. So, I technically carry the status of being a Master's in Philosophy student there at the moment. You have to submit loads of documentation requesting to be upgraded to a PhD student as well as take part in an upgrade meeting which lasts up to a couple hours (I think). This meeting is where I basically answer questions and defend my research approach, etc. It will be great practice for the real defense which happens at the end of my PhD, which is called a 'viva'. We are going to tape record this meeting next week so John (my supervisor) and I can listen to it and talk about any areas which I might need to strengthen or whatever. It will all be good, but is honestly a bit nerve wrecking at the moment.

Okay, getting emails which I must respond to and deal with at the moment. Hope that everyone is great!

10 January 2006

I had a wonderful day! I met with a student this morning, but the best part is that James and I had an afternoon in Newcastle! We met with Ai Ling for lunch at a little Italian food restaurant, then we saw a movie (Just Friends). It was really just nice to be dressed up nicely (as if we worked professional jobs for a living, ha!) and having a mini-date with my husband. My mind has been 'ticking' a bit this evening about some of the things we encountered today. At the movie theater, which is really a nice theatre, we encountered some difficulties with charver kids. They were in the very back row of the theatre, as most trouble-making kids tend to be, and they were yelling and saying things. Some of these things were just flat out inappropriate. James ended up getting up to say something to an employee after they started to throw things and something hit James. Really, we just wanted to either have someone nicely ask these kids (early teens) to behave or for us to get our money back so we could go at another time when we could enjoy the movie without such nuisances. Well, the staff went and said something. The sad part is that this all happened before the movie was even playing for 5 minutes. Keep in mind that there are now about 30 minutes of previews. Anyway, about half way through the film, the staff ended up kicking out the kids. When we went to leave the theatre, the staff member asked if he could talk with James for a minute. He gave us a voucher for two tickets to a future film. We felt bad - we really did not want vouchers, we just wanted the kids to be dealt with, which did happen. Oh, another thing to mention is that we were walking and found a twenty pound note! And nobody was around for us to purchase train tickets, so we did not have the opportunity to pay for our train ride back to Durham. So, our little date was virtually free! I can handle these kinds of dates with my beau any day!

Anyway, while waiting for the bus back to West Rainton from Durham, I started to realize a very sad issue. See, I can recall at almost every point today (my visit on University grounds excluded) seeing an incredibly drunk person no matter which direction I turned. These instances include walking in Durham, just before entering my student's placement agency, while sitting in Starbucks in Newcastle (looking out the window), while at the Gate (where the movie theatre is), while walking to the train station, while at the train station and again while waiting for the bus at Durham's bus station. Keep in mind that this is on a Tuesday, all instances before 5.15 in the evening. I understand that I am sometimes a rather perceptive person, but I wonder if I am just noticing this because I am an outsider and do not consider being surrounded by drunk people a 'normal thing'. Do people from this part of the world (Durham & Newcastle) think anything about this? Is it just something that exists, so you become blind to it? This then made me think further about what things in life do I consider normal, which perhaps outsiders would not consider normal? What things happened in my everyday life in Arizona which I did not think twice about?

Further to the issue of public drunkenness, James and I were giggling after being reminded of something we witnessed about one month ago. The last time that we were in Newcastle together, we were walking back to the train station. Right across the street from the station is a couple of statues, per se. One is placed upon a cement 'box' that is about set up four feet. This is of a man who is (if you can use your imagination for a moment) lying on his side, but is holding himself up in the air solely by leaning his hand on his head and using his elbow to keep him raised in the air. Okay, so who can really balance themselves in the air, on their side by their elbow. Well, there was a very drunk man standing there in front of the statue. He was yelling at the statue and was really upset. He was angry, saying things like 'who do you think you are?', 'you cannot do that', 'you think you are a big shot, don't you' and 'just get down'. He was really mad that this 'man' was holding himself up like that. You have to be pretty drunk to think that a statue is a real person. While this was amusing, it is at the same time very sad to me.

Anyway, this is what is on my mind tonight. I really need to change gears and finish preparing for the presentation I am giving tomorrow. For those of you who know who Carol Vessy is (from the hit television show 'Ed'), I have to share that I found an amazing deal on an outfit which is very 'Carol Vessy'! I am very excited to wear it tomorrow. And James will absolutely love it!! See, he is a big fan of the style that Carol Vessy portrays... for those of you who are not familiar, it is typically a wool skirt, which is below the knee length worn with mid-upper calf length boots. Then this is paired with an adorable sweater! So, I have the cutest black wool skirt with pleats, to be paired with a very pale pink v-neck wool knit sweater, which has a fabulous pink knit flower just under one of the shoulders. Hope you can picture it because it is really the cutest ever!

Enough gabbing for the night. I must do my real work now. Oh, our special matress topper arrived today, so we are excited for the cozy night of comfortable sleeping which awaits us! :-)

7 January 2006

Day 9, not much improvement. I am so ready to just feel normal. I tried to leave the house today, but started sneezing and then sniffling uncontrollably by the end of the cul-da-sac. By the time that we made it half-way to the bus stop, Jeff convinced me that I really needed to be in the house taking it easy and not going into town. This is how perfect of a husband he is though - he continued to wait another 30 minutes for the bus. He is on his way into town to get me some girly movies to watch today and tonight. See, he has to work at the pub tonight so I will be alone. Fortunately, James decided that tonight is the last night shift that he will work at the pub. He will continue to work a couple day shifts each week, but the night stuff is no longer for him. It will be nice to have a normal sleeping schedule together again!

Speaking of sleep, very soon our uncomfortable bed situation will be fixed. I found a memory foam mattress topper on e-bay for about 60% less than the price of one at Costco. Not bad! By Tuesday we will be sleeping in utter comfort...

Last night we went to Adriana and Carlos' house for a 6th of January celebration! In Spanish cultures (I believe that I understood this correctly) the 6th of January is the day of Three Kings (or wise men). When they lived in Mexico, they traditionally celebrated by eating a very sweet bread and drinking hot chocolate. The bread is baked in a big donut shape and there are little dolls of baby Jesus hidden in the bread. The guests each cut their own piece of bread from wherever in the loaf that they want. Then the people who get a piece of bread with a doll in it get to host (or contribute) towards another celebration on the 2nd of February. Well, there some minor alterations to the process for our gathering last night. Adriana placed three pieces of little paper in the loaf of bread and we each cut away for our piece of sweet bread. James cut first. He was in the clear - no paper. I cut next, but managed to get the first piece of paper. Adrian was in the clear. Then Adriana cut a piece with a piece of paper. Carlos was in the clear! When we went for seconds, James managed to get a piece with the final bit of paper. So, it is a gathering at our house on the 2nd of February! How fun! I just love learning about other cultural practices and traditions.

I remember now what I forgot to write about yesterday - New Year's Eve! James had to work at the pub again this year, so I went to Carlos and Adriana's house. We had an amazing Mexican food dinner, which included molee (I have no idea how that is spelled). It was all so delicious! Then we sat around and talked, which involved a lot of Adrian asking me to tickle him. He is so funny! Anyway, as it neared midnight we got ready for some champagne and grapes while watching the television prepare to announce the New Year. As the clock (Big Ben) chimed twelve times to indicate midnight, we ate a single grape and made a wish with each chime. Yes, we ate 12 grapes and made 12 wishes at the stroke of midnight on New Years! It was really fun. This is a tradition that I really enjoyed. I think that it is something that James and I should do for every New Years to come! What an amazing experience it has been to live in England and meet people from other parts of the world, including the ability to share holidays and fun times with these special friends.

I am really, really excited about something. Our friends KC and Ashley are planning a visit to England to see us! It sounds like they will visit sometime this year. How fun! If it works out, we may even be able to do a little bit of travelling with them.

6 January 2006

Happy New Year! It is DAY 8 of my ailment. I officially have my first sinus infection in England. Really, this might be considered a success - if it were in discussion with Dr. Jeff at the Arizona Asthma and Allergy Institute. An entire year, plus some, sinus infection free! Yet somehow it does not feel like a success at this moment. I have been just miserable and unable to breathe through my nose. Apparently I even sound more American with my cold (ha!). Yesterday the local GP managed to squeeze me in and I have amoxicillin! They spell it amoxycillin here in England. Either way I should start to notice some relief in a couple days. I cannot wait! James went to the GP this afternoon and he has amoxicillin now too. We might actually be a healthy couple soon!

I had lots of other things which I wanted to blog about, but for some reason my clogged up head cannot remember what those things were. Oh well. Marty Jo just called us - YAY! Have a nice weekend!

30 December 2005

I am super sick! I was lovingly taking care of my James and managed to catch his cold as well. Now we are both absolutely pathetically ill; it is just sad! We spent most of today laying in our bed (which we put the futon mattress on top of in an attempt to make it more comfortable), watching a movie on James' laptop. I did sneak in a 45 minute nap, but it is really hard to sleep when you cannot breathe very well and your nose will not stop running! James is on day 4 of the cold and has not noticed any relief yet, so I am not hopeful that I'll be better soon. James did make an amazing soup today, using the bones from our Christmas roast for the broth. It is exactly what the cold needs! It is really sad to see our counter of medicines! We have been trying Night Nurse (the closest equivalent to NyQuil from home), Sudafed, cough syrup, throat lozenges, Tylenol PM, a pharmacy brand of the equivalent to DayQuil, and finally Vitamin C. Do not worry, we are not taking all of these together. We are careful not to mix meds that you should not mix. Although an overdose feeling at this stage in the game sounds much more pleasant than the medicine head feeling with a nasty cold feeling. Oh well, what are ya gonna do? James has been doing his best to take care of me while I am sick, but we are both just not well. He is so sweet - making me soup, made me a nice hot bath earlier and still thinks I am cute when I am 'oh so sick'.

It has been snowing on and off for a couple days and has been absolutely freezing! I have had to wear my slippers to walk on the kitchen floor (linoleum or vinyl, depending on what country you are from). The cold in the floor just goes right through my socks. I have been blow drying my hair instantly after showering to ensure that I am not walking around with wet hair. I have been living in my comfie pants for a few days as well. Thank goodness for low waist Champion sweat pants! They are my absolutely favorite!

One thing to mention is something that was on the news yesterday... the issue of maternity leave for women in England. There are concerns over women (30,000) losing their jobs because they are pregnant. The first thing that came to my mind was blatant discrimination. How could this be permitted? As the news story continued, it discussed that women are given 6 months leave from work when they have their baby (or adopt, etc). Then the government can subsidize (if I understood correctly) an additional six months. So, some women are given up to one year for maternity leave with the combination of public and private benefits. Small businesses just cannot afford to subsidize women on maternity leave for an entire year, plus have to pay someone to fill the position. This sounds like a serious glitch in the way maternity leave is given, if you ask me. I know, nobody asks me! It is really interesting how long women get for maternity leave. I think that it must be wonderful to have that long off work to spend with the baby, but I am not sure that I think it should be subsidized for that long period of time. In America, I think that women are given like six or eight weeks. Then women, if they can afford to, take additional weeks through use of their vacation time and through unpaid leave. This was just an issue that made me scratch my head thinking yesterday, in my sickly stupor.

A friend gave me the BEST smelling perfume for Christmas. I have to tell you because James and I are in love with the smell. It is Giorgio Armani, Aqua di Gio. It is absolutely fabulous! It was kind of funny because every time we saw her, we would comment on how good she smelled. So, now I smell like her all the while...

Well, I finally updated our web-calendars for 2006! So, if you want to visit us, you can now plan away! Back to the couch for me now.

28 December 2005

It is almost like a white Christmas, just a couple days late! I absolutely love the snowy views outside. It is just beautiful! James was right, I was absolutely excited to awake to more snow. I had looked outside shortly after five this morning and fell back asleep around seven or eight, waking up at ten. There was more snow! Yay!

My poor husband is just ill and I feel so bad for him. We are dying for our old bed from home in Arizona. See, a lot of the beds that we have seen here have wooden slats that go underneath the mattress. There are not box springs, just mattresses laying on these rows of slats. There are probably 15 slats underneath each James and I in our bed. The mattress is thin and James feels the slats on his back. Our backs are just starting to really bother us. I am not sure what we are going to do with this situation. I am looking at specialized mattress toppers at the moment and considering one of those. Ugh! We have a blow up mattress that we use for guests, which is probably more comfie than our own bed. We blow it up downstairs on occasion to watch movies or when we are poorly (how the English say ill). I dislike blow up mattresses because I just roll to the middle. All I can do now is 'drool' over the thought of our old king size mattress, which had a pillow top and a box spring, from a proper mattress store, which cost less than the horrible bed we have here! Alright, enough complaining...

I think that I am going to get ready for the day (although nothing is happening) and maybe head into Durham for some photos of the pretty snow, maybe around the Cathedral and such. Then I want Christmas dinner left overs - James made the most amazing dinner! I am salivating already!

24 December 2005

Happy Christmas Eve! Today is the day that feels like Christmas to my dear husband, since his family has always celebrated Christmas on this day. I have to say, we both worked the last two nights at the pub and are barely moving around the house just after mid-day (noon). We are definitely much more settled and comfortable in England this year for the holidays than we were last... thinking back to last year when we were waiting for the UPS truck to pick up wine for my aunt's company last minute gift extravaganza, to waiting for lost Christmas presents in the post! This year we have quite the arrangement for sharing time with friends in Durham.

We made my favorite sugar cookies, decorated with icing, as I mentioned earlier. We gave a plate of these cookies and some peppermint (American) brownies to one of the pub taxi drivers, Dave. He has been very good to us with giving us rides and helping with information for the tour that we did when James' family was here. He just texted us and said, 'Treats were totally different to anything I've tasted before and totally excellent! Pure magic as we say in Scotland. Thank you so much!' He is really a very nice guy and we are thrilled that he enjoyed our American Christmas treats, and that he actually ate them!

Alright, to mention a few words about working at the pub this past couple nights. They were very busy and the manager asked if I would work the cloak-room (where coats are stored) for Thursday and Friday nights, since James was working. I agreed to the task. It is honestly a very boring thing to sit in a room with a half door dealing with drunk people for 5-6 hours, collecting coats. Last night only 43 people turned in coats to be held. I finished my book 'Watching the English' and am nearly finished with another book. I have to say that it was very amusing to be sitting in a pub full of completely drunk fools, reading a book chapter about the drinking and pub 'rituals' of the English. Fortunately, I had a radio to call the managers if anything were to go wrong while I was up there, but for the most part people were harmless. The pathetic 'pick up' lines that blokes used were just hilarious! Even more interesting is the role that James has had during the nights at the pub recently. The manager asked James to act as an 'undercover security' person. So, James dresses as though he is out for a good time (jeans and regular shirt, underneath of which he wears his walkabout shirt). James cards people who look too young and kicks out people who are too drunk, with the assistance of bouncers of course. He sure puts up with a lot of abuse from people, making for interesting stories! Just before we left last night, the taxi rank for walkabout was still running. Suddenly these two blokes start fighting, then one stands around looking really helpless while he is bleeding all over the sidewalk. The lads who punched him ran away and about 2 minutes later the police had an afterthought to start chasing the runners (um, just a little late). I don't think that they caught anybody - there is honestly no respect for police officers here and it is interesting to see how the police role works in Durham. One final thing to mention is this young (maybe 18 years old) girl who was wearing a tiny dress, strapless and really short. She was walking along the sidewalk barefoot, stepping in the blood. She must not be the smartest gal around, there is broken glass on the ground as well. She looked like she had been strangled, but then I realised that all of her skin was that red, probably from the freezing cold temps! It didn't seem to phase her. Oh, watching humans who drink too much in Durham!

I just updated some of our pictures on the site, including night photos of the Durham Cathedral and Castle and our day trip to York from November. There are also a couple of new ones posted in the 'good times' page. I am slowly trying to get the pictures updated, but I am hopeless with it! Just kidding. We did just book our next excursion for February. We are going to Rome!!! We are so excited... we will be in Italy for 5 nights and are planning quite the trip, hoping to see Rome, the Vatican, leaning tower of Pisa and hopefully do a gondola ride in Venice. We will see what sort of schedule we're able to fit in and arrange.

The last thing to mention is that my (not so) little cousin, Lucas, turns 16 today! Yikes! I remember going to San Francisco when he was less than a year old and it sure does not seem like 15 years ago. Wow! We received a Christmas card with a photo the other day. He is now 6 foot 1 inch! He definitely towers over me, let alone my aunt! Happy Birthday, Luuuuke!

Off to town we go to get our last ingredients for our Christmas dinner. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!!

20 December 2005

Good morning! I am finally better. You did not know it probably, but I was rather ill for a couple weeks with a cough, stuffy nose and just feeling plain tired. It was horrible. James ended up quarantining me to the house for a few days so that I would rest and get better. He was so sweet though - rented movies, picked up over the counter medications including an amazing vicks nasal spray and just took care of me. I have not coughed in two days now. What an accomplishment!

I noticed that James mentioned that the charver Christmas carolers have begun. You open the door and they start to sing. I save them the hassle of continuing to sing by telling them, 'no thank you and Merry Chrimstas'. They usually roll their eyes and walk away. See, once they finish singing they want you to give them money. We are not going to give these kids money for singing at our door. I remember when I was young, we used to do hay rides and sing Christmas songs. That was fun and there was not any money involved in that!

On Sunday we had Adrian over. He is the 4-year-old son of Adrianna and Carlos (our friends that live in the same village as us). We figured that it would be fun to have some 'kid help' with decorating Christmas cookies. As it turns out, Adrianna and Carlos had not had alone time where someone watched their son for over a year. Yikes! Anyway, we had a great time with Adrian. He brought over the movie 'Polar Express' and assigned us each a character. He is just too cute! He helped us decorate the cookies (directed us really) and then we took some plates of goodies to a couple neighbors. This is the funny part. We had candy cane cookies, peanut butter bon bons and decorated sugar cookies. They were placed on cute reindeer plates and a card and candy cane. We quickly realised that our British neighbors have no clue what to do or think about us taking them baked goodies! They just kind of looked at us like we were crazy actually, but said thank you and were polite. The neighbors that our house is connected to (with Snoopy dog) caught on quickly and asked if this is something that Americans do. We explained it. Then last night she told us that she is not eating any of the treats because they are not replaceable and she wants them to harden so she can pull them out every holiday season to remember us. How cute! I told her that she cannot save the peanut butter bon bons though. I later asked Katie, one of my friends from England. She confirmed that English people would find it quite strange to receive a plate of cookies from your neighbor for the holidays. It is something that you would just do when someone moves in or something. So, here we go carrying on our 'crazy American' status again! Oh well.

I had an appointment at the hospital yesterday for my TB shot scar. They make you go back in to inspect your scar 6 weeks following the injection. Well, I passed! My scar is 'perfect' they say - whatever that means. They will now allow my honorary contract within the Trust to be approved, which is one of the final steps for my ethical approval bit. By the way, I received in the mail yesterday notification that the National Health System Ethics Committee has APPROVED my research! My eyes filled with tears when I heard last week that this letter was sent. I have been battling this for months and months and I so near the end. I can almost interview kids! I have to now wait for the Trust to send out the research and development approval, based on the ethics committee approval and the honorary contract and a couple other things.

I have also narrowed down with the agency that I am recruiting participants through for my research, 41 potential participants whom meet my criteria. I only need 25-30 families, so this is good. I will send out information to a few families towards the beginning of January and hope to pilot interviews sometime in January. I am so excited!

Oh, I have to mention that we have the best dog ever! When Adrian was over, Mattie and Adrian played like crazy! Adrian chased Mattie around, gave her kisses, laid on her, pulled up her lips to see her teeth, hugged her torso, poked her paws... you name it! Mattie just laid there and let him do whatever he pleased. She is so patient and such a good dog! We are so lucky to have a dog that is so gentle and patient with kids. She is really a hyper dog, but she knows when to take it easy (i.e. around kids). I will have to post some pictures later this week of the two of them. They are best buddies!

Christmas is almost here! We are so excited! We are sharing Christmas Eve and Christmas with Adrianna, Carlos and Adrian. One day at their house and one day at our house. It should be lots of fun. I cannot wait! It is still strange to not be home with family for the holidays, but I think that this year is easier than last year. Well, I am going to get ready for the day.

3 December 2005

There is something very important happening at Durham University. The actions of students (and others) while under the influence of alcohol is creating disturbances within the community of Durham. The University feels that it is time to take action - colleges and the student union are backing this 'drive' to increase the awareness of alcohol and the various problems with its misuse. It is honestly a wonderful concept and issue to stand for, as I have noted in previous blogs and conversations that the excessive level of drinking I have observed, as well as the aftermath, is just purely out of control. But, there is something interesting to me about this email, which was sent to all students and staff at the University. All I can say is, 'what a statement'! What follows is the email content that all students recently received:

PROBLEMS LINKED TO STUDENT ALCOHOL ABUSE

The issue of excessive student drinking has concerned me for a long time.

I am concerned in a professional medical capacity because excessive drinking has serious health implications, and that is a point I've attempted to emphasise at every matriculation ceremony and on other occasions as well. Binge drinking, which now seems much more prevalent among young people in general, can have serious - potentially fatal - long term effects on your health. But there is another consequence of excessive drinking which causes me very serious concern as
Vice-Chancellor. It relates specifically to Durham, but I hope that students throughout the University accept the general principles and follow them wherever
they are. Durham is a small city with a large student population. It is a great privilege to be able to study and work in such beautiful surroundings, and City and University enjoy good and close relations. Our students in particular contribute a great deal to the local communities through their voluntary activities such as educational mentoring, sports coaching, DUCK, and Student Community Action.

But all those successful and constructive relations can be negated by the actions of a few thoughtless individuals. Excess drink can, and often does, lead to loud, loutish behaviour, wilful damage and vandalism.

We have already taken robust action against students who have been unable to control their drinking and behaviour and keep them at acceptable levels. I want all students to be aware of the measures that will be taken against anti-social behaviour.

I welcome the fact that members of the student union (text changed to avoid abbreviations which are not relevant to blog readers) have taken the matter very seriously and have been discussing how best to get the message across to the minority of students who bring all the rest into disrepute. College (FYI - colleges are like dorms in America; and, yes, dorms here have at least one bar in them) and student union bars have taken steps to moderate drinking through pricing policies and a ban on drinks promotions and I welcome current moves by the students' representatives to involve city-wide licensees in a responsible drinking policy.

We've had numerous complaints about student behaviour from local residents, including members of the University. Their sleep, and that of their families, has been disturbed by noisy students at 2 or 3am wandering back to College from North Road and elsewhere. In some instances there has been worse behaviour. Vomit and discarded food debris have been left outside peoples' front doors, damage and vandalism has occurred, with garden flowers uprooted and plant pots or window boxes upturned and their contents thrown around.

The University - and that includes the Colleges and student officers - takes such incidents very seriously. Such behaviour is highly offensive. Students who engage in thoughtless and anti-social behaviour that brings the University into disrepute, need to be aware that they risk being fined, required to engage in community work, and confined to College. In extreme cases, they will be referred to the Senate Discipline Committee which can require students to leave Durham for a term, or expel them. Residents could well involve the police and this could lead to a criminal record.

We shall also ensure that the penalties imposed on the small minority of students responsible for this kind of behaviour are widely publicised both across and beyond the University. For the sake of everyone working and living in Durham we need to send out a strong, clear message that this kind of behaviour is simply unacceptable.

So, what do you think? Yet, the city council extended the opening time of some pubs to two o'clock in the morning, instead of one. It is interesting to see programmes on the television and the news which discuss the problems with the level of alcohol consumption in England. Then there is this email sent to students, talking about how to behave appropriately (as if people were young children who need discipline). Where does the addressing of the problem need to stem from? It seems quite contradictory to extend the hours of pubs when there are clearly noted problems with 'drunks'. But then, who are the people 'voting' on this issue? And truly, what are the repercussions of acting out so ridiculously (i.e. vomiting on people's doorsteps, destruction of property, violent acts)? Oh, so many questions... leads to so many explanations!

1 December 2005

Happy December, happy holidays! The holiday season has begun - see, we officially decorated our Christmas tree last night. It has red and gold 'baubles' on it. I learned from Simon, then noticed on the box of the 'ornaments', that in England they call round Christmas ornaments, baubles. How fun - yet another word to add to our vocabulary and to confuse our friends and family at home in America with.

Well, I had my biopsy done on Tuesday afternoon and I have my first stitches ever! They kind of freak me out, honestly. When I try to look at the side of my arm, it is all indented weird. James comforts me by advising that it is just because of the stitches and that my arm will not permanently be mis-shaped as it appears now. I do not remember if I blogged about this or not. I had what I thought was a mole on the side of my arm, bicep area. I have had it for years and it used to be near the same color as my skin. I had asked a doctor about it in America years ago and he said that it is just a mole. Anyhow, this 'mole' started to get bigger, harder and turn red in colour several months ago. After waiting on an NHS waiting list for a while, I finally saw a dermatologist at hospital early in November. The doctors here say that it is not a mole, but more like fibrous scar tissue which I should not worry about. But, they will remove it and biopsy it. Alright, I say - I am happy to get this checked out and biopsied since I am from AZ, where skin cancer is quite common. Again, they do not think that it is anything. I was fairly content with the 'service' up to this point. Here is where my story takes a turn.

James went with me to hospital (remember, they do not say 'the hospital' here, just 'hospital'), being the supportive caring husband that he is. We are quite used to always attending hospital / specialist appointments with each other. This is not only for support, but also to help ensure that all questions are asked to the doctors, to help remember answers, etc. They would not let James go into the room with me. I understand that there are concerns about other people getting ill with procedures where they cut into your skin. BUT, at home they would always go and get your significant other once the procedure was finished if you wanted. Not such an option here. Apparently several months ago James had a conversation with another bloke from another country who had to really fight to be in the room with his wife when she was going through appointments for her pregnancy. Anyway, the nurse was really nice to me in prepping for the procedure and she talked to me through the whole thing. The doctor was completely rude. She did not say hello. She asked why I was having this done because the scar will probably be worse than the 'thing' on my arm. I explained that it was a mole for several years and it has changed shape, colour, etc. She said that is was never a mole, but a reaction to a bug bite probably. Then she started to cut away. I am not a doctor, but have a hard time believing that what another doctor called a mole, is now a bug bite that took five years to develop into whatever this thing was on my arm.

But it gets better... I have to wait until January 17 to find out the results of the biopsy!! THAT IS 7 WEEKS! I am really not worried about the bump, since they don't think it is anything, but I still do not want to have to wait 7 weeks with the thought in the back of my mind. I have no choice in the matter though. I sure do miss my health insurance from America. Oh, a couple funny bits. First, the nurse thought my accent was from Ireland?? Second, when I smiled at the nurse, she said 'oh, I should have known you were American, you have such nice teeth'! Wow! What is this hang up about English versus American teeth? It's interesting.

Tonight we are going to a 'leaving do' for someone in the social work department. By the way, leaving do = going away party. I think that the word 'do' replaces 'party'. People ask if you are going to have a 'do'? So much vocabulary to learn! James and I should have a fun time though.

Oh, forgot to mention that it snowed early in the week. It was fabulous - it snowed all morning and early, early afternoon. Then by late afternoon it was mostly melting away. It was pretty though. Mattie was excited. Who would have known that our Phoenix dog would be a snow-dog? Since then it has been rainy and windy, and a tad warmer with highs in the high 30s.

The last thing I want to mention is Congrats to James for passing his Managing in the Global Environment class! The exam grade arrived in the post today and he passed! I do not say this out of surprise because I know that James is smart and he works hard on his school work. However, he always worries about exams. Who doesn't though? I think that we are waiting on one other grade now.

Alright, back to looking at post codes and their classification of rural versus urban for me. I am trying to narrow down participants for my research. Have a great Thursday!!

27 November 2005

I hope that all had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day! James and I were able to talk to all of our family, which was SO nice. They, of course, told us how nice the weather was in Arizona, with a high over 70 degrees (F). Ugh - and we have our highs in the mere 30s. Okay, there is the weather introduction! But our pumpkin pie was wonderful as well as the dinner James prepared. I made a cabbage crunch salad and it was, well, crunchy! We loved it! The chicken was fabulous too. It was nice to have a big dinner, though we were stuffed. Soon we will be thinking about Christmas dinner.

I have been reading a bunch of essays over the past few days, which is probably best since it is so COLD outside. Friday though, James and I went to York for the day. It is a lovely town, about 45 minutes away by train. The Georgian architecture is so pretty! There was even a little shopping road that has buildings which are sagging lower to the ground. The street was called 'shambles'! It was so cute though. We really enjoyed the day, even though we were freezing. The breaks for hot tea / hot chocolate helped.

We have had an interesting last couple of days with regards to individuals using the public transportation system. There was a lady on the train (when we were on our way to York). We are rather confident in saying that she has a problem with drugs. She paced up and down the aisle for a bit before settling in a seat that was at a table shared with a couple of 'posh' ladies. She proceeded to refill her plastic cup with beer from a 2-liter bottle held in one of her bags. Then she rolled a cigarette on the table and lit it right there! Just in August (this year) the train system changed all trains to fully non-smoking. I think that someone said something to this lady, because she at least put out the cigarette. I really do not do well in small spaces or anywhere surrounded by cigarette smoke. This leads to the other night on the bus, where, again, smoking is not allowed. We were heading home from Durham. This lady got on the bus and sat in front of us (2 seats facing each other) and asked if we minded that she was smoking. James told her that we do mind, so she took one more smoke and put it out on the floor of the bus. She was drunk and proceeded to talk to her friend for the duration of the bus ride about how she has been an alcoholic for 18 years and it is time for her life to change. I wish her the best, if she is going to change her life. It is really frustrating though that almost anytime we leave the house, when we get back home, our clothes reek of cigarette smoke. Not only does it make my allergies unhappy, it is just nasty for our coats and things to smell like smoke. Ugh! I miss the city of Tempe, where it is illegal to smoke anywhere in public; or at least other cities where non-smoking is the standard for all restaurants.

24 November 2005

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! (And Happy Birthday, Rich) James and I are celebrating Thanksgiving with a full meal today. I am so excited! Last year we could not do it because I had sign language class that evening; after all, it is just another day in England. For those of you who are not from America, here is a little story about Thanksgiving.

The Pilgrims who sailed to this country aboard the Mayflower were originally members of the English Separatist Church (a Puritan sect). They had earlier fled their home in England and sailed to Holland (The Netherlands) to escape religious persecution. There, they enjoyed more religious tolerance, but they eventually became disenchanted with the Dutch way of life, thinking it ungodly. Seeking a better life, the Separatists negotiated with a London stock company to finance a pilgrimage to America. Most of those making the trip aboard the Mayflower were non-Separatists, but were hired to protect the company's interests. Only about one-third of the original colonists were Separatists.

The Pilgrims set ground at Plymouth Rock on December 11, 1620. Their first winter was devastating. At the beginning of the following fall, they had lost 46 of the original 102 who sailed on the Mayflower. But the harvest of 1621 was a bountiful one. And the remaining colonists decided to celebrate with a feast -- including 91 Indians who had helped the Pilgrims survive their first year. It is believed that the Pilgrims would not have made it through the year without the help of the natives. The feast was more of a traditional English harvest festival than a true "thanksgiving" observance. It lasted three days.

Governor William Bradford sent "four men fowling" after wild ducks and geese. It is not certain that wild turkey was part of their feast. However, it is certain that they had venison. The term "turkey" was used by the Pilgrims to mean any sort of wild fowl.

Governor William Bradford sent "four men fowling" after wild ducks and geese. It is not certain that wild turkey was part of their feast. However, it is certain that they had venison. The term "turkey" was used by the Pilgrims to mean any sort of wild fowl.

Another modern staple at almost every Thanksgiving table is pumpkin pie. But it is unlikely that the first feast included that treat. The supply of flour had been long diminished, so there was no bread or pastries of any kind. However, they did eat boiled pumpkin, and they produced a type of fried bread from their corn crop. There was also no milk, cider, potatoes, or butter. There was no domestic cattle for dairy products, and the newly-discovered potato was still considered by many Europeans to be poisonous. But the feast did include fish, berries, watercress, lobster, dried fruit, clams, venison, and plums.

This "thanksgiving" feast was not repeated the following year. But in 1623, during a severe drought, the pilgrims gathered in a prayer service, praying for rain. When a long, steady rain followed the very next day, Governor Bradford proclaimed another day of Thanksgiving, again inviting their Indian friends. It wasn't until June of 1676 that another Day of Thanksgiving was proclaimed.

On June 20, 1676, the governing council of Charlestown, Massachusetts, held a meeting to determine how best to express thanks for the good fortune that had seen their community securely established. By unanimous vote they instructed Edward Rawson, the clerk, to proclaim June 29 as a day of thanksgiving. It is notable that this thanksgiving celebration probably did not include the Indians, as the celebration was meant partly to be in recognition of the colonists' recent victory over the "heathen natives".

October of 1777 marked the first time that all 13 colonies joined in a thanksgiving celebration. It also commemorated the patriotic victory over the British at Saratoga. But it was a one-time affair.

George Washington proclaimed a National Day of Thanksgiving in 1789, although some were opposed to it. There was discord among the colonies, many feeling the hardships of a few Pilgrims did not warrant a national holiday. And later, President Thomas Jefferson scoffed at the idea of having a day of thanksgiving.

It was Sarah Josepha Hale, a magazine editor, whose efforts eventually led to what we recognize as Thanksgiving. Hale wrote many editorials championing her cause in her Boston Ladies' Magazine, and later, in Godey's Lady's Book. Finally, after a 40-year campaign of writing editorials and letters to governors and presidents, Hale's obsession became a reality when, in 1863, President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November as a national day of Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving was proclaimed by every president after Lincoln. The date was changed a couple of times, most recently by Franklin Roosevelt, who set it up one week to the next-to-last Thursday in order to create a longer Christmas shopping season. Public uproar against this decision caused the president to move Thanksgiving back to its original date two years later. And in 1941, Thanksgiving was finally sanctioned by Congress as a legal holiday, as the fourth Thursday in November. (this is from http://wilstar.com/holidays/thankstr.htm)

So there we have it - Thanksgiving! Truly it is a day to give thanks!!

I am getting ready to leave to have lunch with one of my girlfriends, Katie. The pumpkin pie is nearly finished and I will pick up the rest of the necessary ingredients for our feast while I am in town. I think that I will make a cabbage salad and James is going to make a nice chicken and mashed potatoes. We will probably have some corn as well. Yummy! I cannot wait! We will talk on the phone to family this afternoon, which I cannot wait for. I would give anything to be at home celebrating the day with our families.

Alright, love to all and best Thanksgiving wishes!!

23 November 2005

The funniest thing just happened. Most of you know that James Jeffrey is a HUGE fan of the 'hit tv show, Ed'. James was just laying in the bed upstairs, soaking up the sunshine that is blaring through our bedroom window. We were having a conversation and all of a sudden he screams 'is that Ed?' and runs down the stairs. The theme song was playing as the introduction to the show and James knew straight away that his favourite show was on! He is so excited! I think that I know where James will be from now on at 12.30 in the afternoon on weekdays. He is so cute!

I had a meeting yesterday at the agency where I will be recruiting children and young people from for my PhD research. It went well. I think that the project is moving forward. We are narrowing down who will fit the criteria for the participants in my research and will soon send out information sheets to these kids and families. It is a good feeling! I still have to wait for the ethical bits of the research to go through before I can physically start to interview people.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving! James is all set to watch football tomorrow night with DR. Carlos (Carlos just passed his viva, oral defense, and is officially a Dr. now). I cannot wait for a good Thanksgiving dinner and pumpkin pie!

Well, I need to get back at my work. Have a great day all!

19 November 2005

Oops - have not blogged in quite a while! I could give excuses about how the programme was only on James' computer, which was with him in Barbados and is now with him at school, but you don't want to hear that. Honestly, it was a very busy first couple weeks back in England for me. I had a lot of meetings with my Master's tutees at their internships, interviews for my research job and several little things to get sorted for my own research. Speaking of which, I shall tell you about my fiasco with the TB (BCG) vaccination in England. So, in America they do Mantoux testing to find out if you have exposure to TB or not. This is where they inject a small bit of liquid right beneath your skin. Three days later they want to know whether or not you have a 'bump' beneath your skin. In America the goal is to NOT have a bump, meaning that you are fine. Well, when I did NOT develop a bump, that meant that I failed the test in England. The bump in the UK means that you have had the BCG vaccination and that you are safe to interact with people in the community without getting infected with TB. So, I had to get this BCG shot a couple weeks ago. The doctor was clear that this will probably cause confusion for doctors in the States when I return home, if tested; but he was clear that I could not pass the medical component of the contract (needed for my research) if I did not have the TB protection - BCG shot. Even more interesting is the way that your body reacts and the place where the injection was given mutates over several weeks. It started out as a very white circle when the injection was given. Then for a few days I could not tell where it was given. Now it is like a little bug bite and it itches. I guess that it will mutate further to a scab, then a scar. At the end of December I will go back to the doctor and he will assess the scar. So weird! Oh yes, I cannot forget to mention that I am not allowed to get this wet for 6 weeks time. What a process!

James really had a nice time in Barbados. His suitcase arrived home with sand and the smell of the beach - made me so jealous! His pictures are just amazing! I will try to get those posted online soon. He brought back the cutest earrings for me, I just love them! He scouted out the island and knows exactly where he is taking me when we visit, one day! He definitely wants to go back. There are just so many places in the world to see! We are actually in the midst of planning our next excursion. We are playing with either Rome, Budapest or Prague. It appears that the least expensive option I am locating at the moment is Rome. I think that we will go in January. We are waiting for the MBA programme to post the schedule of classes for next term before we book any dates though. I am not holding my breath for this information. Poor James is just getting thrown under the water with the MBA programme and the planning for him switching to the full-time group. What a mess! We do have one success though - the university's financial office only took from May through to November to get James' student loan sorted (sounds a bit like how it was with my student loan when we first moved here). Yet it only took Bristol's finance office less than two weeks to get my student loan sorted this year. Hmmm....

Thanksgiving is almost here! It is hard to believe that it will be our second Thanksgiving in England. We are much better prepared for it this year though. We have pumpkin pie ingredients this time around! At least we can have something that reminds us of home and Thanksgiving. I am sure that we will talk to family on the telephone as well. We have so much to be thankful for this year, that is for sure. We have seen and lived so much since moving to England, all with amazing support from family and friends.

Tonight is a birthday party for Carlos, so we are going over to Adrianna and Carlos' house after they finish at school. Adrianna is in the MBA programme as well. Carlos actually defends his PhD (viva) on Monday, so I am sure that he will enjoy the time away from preparing for this. They recently moved to West Rainton, the village where we also live. It has been great to have them nearby. Their little boy, Adrian, just loves James too. It is cute! Last week I went to Adrian's 4th birthday party. It was so fun to watch the kids run around and have a good time.

James and I have a new connection to America, but from England. Simon had an extra 'box' that gives you access to several digital channels, one is ABC! We can watch friends, home improvement and so many others. It is fabulous! James is SO thankful!

Oh, I have to tell you about KC and Ashley's wedding. First of all, we had the funnest time! Their wedding was just beautiful and it was lovely to spend some time with the both of them. James was so cute in his tux too. Anyway, the funniest thing happened after their reception ended. James and I gave the bride and groom a ride to the resort, which is up the road from where the reception was. Ashley and I were walking and accidentally walked into another wedding reception. We quickly turned around to walk out, but the DJ had already announced that 'you know your wedding reception is the best (or something like that) when another bride and groom show up)! Oops! So, we had to turn around and go back in. The brides' and grooms' did some quick chatting and dancing, had their pictures taken by the other bride's mother and called it a good time. It was hilarious! We crashed another wedding reception!! James gave that mother our email address, so we have pictures to remember the crazy event by. I think that KC and Ashley will always laugh about this one... (KC, if you are reading this, where have you been? I have been logging into the chatroom)

Alright, I think that I am going to pile on the layers and take Miss Mattie for a run. Hopefully I don't slip on the ice out there. Enjoy your weekend, friendly blog readers.

4 November 2005

Well, well, well... we are back in Durham! We arrived on Wednesday evening and are getting all settled. Let me tell you, there is nothing quite like diving back into the school life here. James had exams beginning less than 48 hours after getting back and I have been in Newcastle and Durham for meetings with my Masters tutees. It has been crazy!! It is probably better that way though, it keeps our minds off the fact that we left everyone at home again. For some reason I have a much harder time with this than James seems to, or maybe he just holds it together for the both of us. A couple nights before we left I gave my Dad a big hug and had tears welling up in my eyes. Then, just before we left I gave Marty Jo a great big hug and started to cry. And what a mess I was at the airport. I think that I was overly tired as well, which doesn't help. What it did help was sleeping on the plane. I practically slept the entire trip from Phoenix to London. Poor James studied most of the flight.

Anyway, let me tell you how much I love shoes! I had forgotten about my fun shoes at home. They are mostly heeled or 'tall' shoes, strappy and open toed. I love them! And I love pedicures! I took Katie (the English gal that visited us) for her first pedicure experience. We had so much fun with the chairs which massage you, the little foot spa, the massage up to your knee and the fabulous toe painting. I had a french pedicure with little diamonds (fake, of course) along the white bit. It was so fun, and perfect for wearing my fabulous shoes. This may sound super funny to those of you from home in America, but the life of wearing fun shoes all the time with the perfect pedicure is not something I can experience here in England at the moment. See, cobble stone roads and very cold breezes make open toed, tall shoes a bit difficult and uncomfortable. I was day dreaming about my shoes from home this afternoon as I was making a sad attempt at walking in my heeled boots this afternoon, walking on uneven blocks of cement (which is called a sidewalk) drenched with water from the rain, making a very slippery surface with the leaves which have been falling off the trees. Ha!

I am hungry and James just got home from studying, so I will call this a done blog entry for the moment. Hope that you are all great! And thank you so much to Simon for watching Mattie while we were away; and to the friends and family that took time away from their busy lives to spend time with us.