Dame Pasty

My Mom

2009-03-20T09:16:00.007-04:00

May 6th, 1940-March 17th, 2009

May the road rise to meet you,

may the wind be ever at your back,

may the sunshine warm upon your face,

and the rain fall soft upon your fields,

And until we meet again, may God hold you,

ever in the palm of her hand

There Are No Words to Describe This Moment in Time

2008-11-06T13:23:00.033-05:00

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time - to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth--that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people.

Yes We Can. Thank you, God bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.

This is totally disgusting.....

2008-10-30T08:56:00.004-04:00

What kind of country do we live in when we are all struggling to pay bills, rent, gas, medical insurance, health care costs, etc and simultaneously this is happening. I am really hoping the election results next week can begin to restore some of my faith.

CONGRATULATIONS CONNECTICUT!

2008-10-10T16:24:00.004-04:00

story

Thank You Alaska

2008-09-22T10:08:00.008-04:00

Just when all my hope in this beautiful state had been dashed and all images of Northern Exposure has become falsities, I found this:

Got Hope?

2008-09-02T20:30:00.019-04:00

whooooaaa nellie...it dun been a long time y'all. where did the summer go? i can't believe september is here already. sorry for the long delay. kind of seems like i never had a summer between taking classes until a week ago and the weather being so crappy it seemed more like march.

we are back from spending a very lovely few days at the cape for labor day weekend, and i don't have one complaint about the weather..beautiful, sunny, warm, 70's...poifecto. it was a much needed short break between classes...i start up again tomorrow sadly.

the biggest news of all (i'm sure most people reading this already know..sorry for the repeat)is that my mistah is gainfully employed now for at least the next year. this place gave him a year long contract complete with a very nice salary and all the fixings, and we both could not be more thrilled. it's a bit of a commute but hopefully it will all be worth it in the end :)

i took the next few days off of work to write two papers for a summer class that i Had to take an incomplete on thanks to my migraine saga. it's hard enough writing papers during the class, let alone two months after it ended....oiiiiy vey...needless to say this is one of my many procrastination techniques.

in fact this evening i have found several creative ways to procrastinate. one was to make pizzas for the hubby after his first day of work, one was to actually wash, dry, fold and put away all of our laundry for once, and another was the discovery of ?this website which is hopefully the website of our future president. considering i have two close friends that have sworn they will leave the US once and for all if he is not elected in November, I am trying to do everything to get him elected. and i also think he's wicked cool. so go on...look around...buy some t-shirts, bumper stickers, posters, ring tones, wallpapers, etc.

meanwhile...no words can say how ridiculous this this is...unreal...and to think people still might vote for them...after all, she does hunt moose and drive a snow mobile...she's just like us plan folk, right?

Bermuda

2008-07-13T15:28:00.006-04:00

Here are a few pics from our recent trip.

only a British colony could come up with that look for business attire....

click here to see the rest.

my big adventure to the ER

2008-06-23T09:08:00.007-04:00

i ended up in the ER on saturday afternoon after 12 hours of vomiting and not being able to keep anything (even a few sips of water) down. i figured it was food poisoning from our friday lunch at this juncture. and i learned why we shouldn't self-diagnose.

after talking to 3 doctors, having 2 IV bags of anti-nasea meds, 1 cat scan, one very lovely lumbar puncture,and being poked and prodded in every which way, it turns out i had a migraine. who knew? i never thought i got migraines and it never would have occurred to me that's what i had. i guess there's a reason why doctor's have to go to school for 10 years, huh? thank god for migraine medication. i am bringing it with me everywhere now. it was all pretty scary, especially since they were testing for things like meningitis and aneurysms (yikes!).

they think it was stress induced.....what stress? i only work full time, go to graduate school, have no supervisor at work, have a mother in a nursing home, and work for a company where the CEO says the f-bomb every second and shoots dead animals which hang in the conference room (not kidding). here are some photos i took once i was finally feeling better and the meds had kicked in. thank god sandra was there with me (the hubby is still away in England). i never would have made it through the lumbar puncture without being able to squeeze the shit out of her poor hands. and she kept me laughing. thank god for good friends, huh?

shoes

2008-06-23T08:56:00.005-04:00

my niece gracie is obsessed with shoes. she LOVES them (i think she is future CEO of DSW). when i went to visit last weekend, she kept trying to put my shoes on her tiny feet and walk around in them. it was a mess because she would get all tangled up in them, trip and fall over, cry and then start it all over again (children are cyclical creatures, aren't they???). i tried to get a photo on my cell phone of her tiny 17 month old self in my big shoes. it didn't really come out.....

speaking of nieces and nephews growing so fast....

2008-06-02T21:34:00.006-04:00

i still cannot believe this little guy:

and this little guy:

and this little guy

and this getting bigger guy:

is now this young man and has graduated from high school! i am still wondering how i could have gone from toting him around on my hip all the time to watching him make his way into the world and off to college. i am so proud of him even if i am feeling like a very old lady as a result.

Whada Cutie

2008-05-21T09:00:00.001-04:00

my niece Gracie is getting so big, and cuter by the day :)

cape curse...

2008-05-12T21:21:00.023-04:00

i am starting to think i am cursed by cape cod. j and i had a lovely relaxing weekend away there. i took monday off from work to have an extra day and we spent 3 glorious days sleeping, eating, walking, and reading.

as we were loading up the car this afternoon, i managed to trip over the front step with two bags in my hand and land on my ankle just in time to hear a loud crack. i lay there moaning in my now ripped jeans (which i only bought a few months ago) until the shocked hubby came to retrieve me. Within 5 minutes, it looked as if my ankle was trying to give birth to a tennis ball :(

oyyy vei. after concluding that it most likely wasn't broken, i managed to drive back to boston (it was thankfully my left ankle, not the driving one), hobble onto the sofa, and haven't moved since. i don't think i'll be moving for a couple of days at least. and i can't even say it's from something cool like playing soccor, or skiiing....i am so cool.

so, why the curse? after we returned from the cape a few weeks ago, i came down with the flu for 3 weeks, and am still fighting a lingering nightly cough leftover from that. i have barely excercised in weeks and i have only just started to feel normal again from the flu and now.... so much for yoga tomorrow. we are going back to the cape this coming weekend to help the parents with some work on the house. wish me luck.

here's some photos from the weekend prior to my medical emergency. the rest are here on flick r

Violence Transformed

2008-04-24T12:34:00.004-04:00

If you happen to be in the Boston area next week, come and see this exhibit about the ways people have used art to heal from violence. It's gonna be GREAT!!!!

two more weeks....

2008-04-20T10:16:00.003-04:00

i was looking at the date of my last post and realized that it's been an entire month already. what have i been doing for the last month? being sick, getting well for one week, and then getting the flu. it is only the last few days my appetite has gotten back to normal and i am able to normally function again. next year i am definitely going to add myself to the flu shot list.

so what's worse then getting sick twice in a month, once with the flu? getting the flu when your hubby also has it. NOT FUN :( But we survived to tell the tale, just about. we can happily say the house is finally cleaned and vacuumed after being turned into a sick ward for two weeks.

the weather has turned from winter to spring while we've been sick and i cannot tell you how awesome it is to see everything growing and turning color again. i can hardly wait to get out the flower boxes and pots for our deck in a couple of weeks. only the end of the semester stands in the way....two more weeks and counting. this semester has been a huge struggle with being sick and taking at least one awful class and one fairly boring class. i don't deserve good grades this semester after skipping most of the readings due to boredom or over the top headiness...i will be happy if i pass. now i'm just trying to rile up the troops to get through the next two weeks....

back with a vengence

2008-03-18T18:19:00.011-04:00

we are back from california and i managed to catch some sort of lurgy-cootie-snotty-stomch grumbling-queasy bug while i was away. i am now tucked up in bed with tons of tea trying to mend myself before facing at least 4 projects and papers for school due over the next week, not to mention the piles that built up at work while i was away. UGH. i am not a happy camper. we had a great time visiting my bro, his wife and my adorbale niece out in san francisco for a few days.here are some photos. back to bed now :(

out with the old...

2008-03-06T10:31:00.005-05:00

i've been trying to do some spring cleaning by changing my blog around. i was craving green, as you can see. but in the process i managed to delete all of my archived posts, and i don't know how i did that or if i can get them back. i am really hoping it isn't a case of "in with the old, and out with the new". wish me luck.

speaking of in with the new, and greenery....
i was on my way to work this morning bright and early at 6:15am when i noticed some flowers poking their noses through the ground. i thought i was hallucinating as the snow has only just melted over the last few days (and i hadn't had coffee yet), but they were definitely snow drops. i could hardly contain my excitement. there is nothing like the first few signs of spring in Boston, and i had forgotten the joy it can bring (at least for a few days until it snows again). as my friend at work said, "what are they the stupid flowers coming up, the ones who don't know any better?". but still...i will definitely take it. i don't mind the cold and the snow, but the sheer length of winter in these parts means we have to grab onto these things when we see them, even if they are the dumb flowers :)

in like a lion....

2008-03-02T11:01:00.003-05:00

happy march :)

i am wondering how it got to be march 1st already and the semester is almost half way over? it still feels like the end of january....

still, i'll take it is it brings us one step closer to springtime. this must be the worst time of year in Boston. everyone complains about the winter here, but having spent so many winters in this city now, i can honestly say this is by far the worst month. the snow starts to melt, everything turns brown and ugly and muddy, it gets greyer then ever, and it's still freezing cold. it's the path we have to take in order to make it to the other side....the other side being spring, but it's a long road.

this is why we decided to plan a trip away every march. it doesn't have to be somewhere warm, but it has to be somewhere warmer then here, where there will be growing things, and some semblance of greenery. this shouldn't be hard right? i mean, even in england, land of perpetual rain and cold, spring has already spring, and the in laws keep babbling about all the flowers coming up everywhere.

so a week from wednesday we are off to san fran to visit the bro, his wife, and that cute little ladt you see from the previous post. yay!!!

where does the time go?

2008-02-11T10:19:00.000-05:00

i cannot believe it's been 204 days since my last post. they say time goes by faster as you get older. i am a little scared to see what it's like in 10 years then! quick update on the last 7 months: i started grad school 2/3 time and am still working full time, j and i celebreated our 3rd wedding anniverary on Feb 4th, we celebrated gar's 30th birthday on jan. 27th in Cape Cod with a weekend of eating and drinking in mass amounts, my bro and his wife had an adorable little girl named Aya in September, we went back to England for Christmas and had a wonderfully relaxing time, I managed by some miracle to begin my first semester with strait A's after 8+ years out of school, j's parents came to visit us in late September and ran us ragged into the ground, our friends howard and mary came from England to visit in early September and we had an amazing time, and j's sister came in November for Thanksgiving and despite crazy relatives and all she had a fantastic time with the highlight being a late fall visit to Cape Cod. i am still getting photos on for everything but here are a few:

click to view all

click to view all

Race Day

2007-07-22T21:29:00.000-04:00

happy sunday. hope your weekends were longer then mine was. unfortunately i had to work yesterday and it's back to work tomorrow again. thankfully the pay off is a nice short week followed by a long weekend of camping and wilderness and lots and lots of music. more on this when i return next weekend.

so the highlight of last week was definitely watching the hubby and a few friends run in their first race in many years. despite the crap weather (pouring with rain, windy and only lower 60's) they all finished with very good times. the hubby even almost made the 7 minute minute mile mark (finishing in just under 36 minutes) so i was beaming with pride. i was the designated cheerleader, and photographer, because let's face it; running is just not my thing. i could power walk my way through many miles but as soon as i try to run, my body creaks and moans and wines and throws a temper tantrum and it's all over in about 5 minutes max.

unfortunately i didn't have my nice camera but here are a few pics that i smapped with my cell phone:

before....we tried to get jon to run in his union jack thong, amy in her very short shorts and john in his american flag nipple protectors (these actually double as sparklers) but no such luck :( too cold and rainy i guess. maybe next year.

amy's pre-race jive....work it baby work it :)

post race with medals in toe...they all tied for first place..can you believe it?

to live...

2007-07-16T15:03:00.000-04:00

yes,i know it's a little bit heavy for a Monday afternoon. sorry about that. in case you couldn't tell by the title of the post, i went to visit my mom yesterday. most of you have all the background on this situation, but if you don't here's the long story short: my mom's in a nursing home and has been for 5 years. the reason she's there is because she had cancer (lymphoma) in her brain that she was treated successfully for 8 and a 1/2 years ago. she was treated with radiation that left permanent scar tissue in her brain causing dementia, and severe physical limitations. she has reached the point where she cannot hear, cannot use the phone, cannot read, cannot get out of bed, and really has no sense of reality what so ever.

the only element to the situation that sometimes makes it less heartbreaking for my family is that she has absolutely no idea what has happened to her and is happening to her. every time i talk to her, she tells me the is going to go by plane to see my sister in Washington DC, and that she is looking for a house to buy in Connecticut where she will retire. she says she is going to buy a dog and have a nice house with a garden where we can all come to visit, and she will find a job teaching at the university again (she was a full professor with tenure prior to this incident). i actually believe that she believes she's been in the nursing home for a only week or two and she has no sense of time at all.

so yesterday, jon and i made our usual visit to go and see her. we always bring the same things; a dunkin donuts coffee coolatta with whip cream and a poppy seed bagel toasted with chive cream cheese. there aren't many things that she can derive pleasure from these days but she LOVES these. even though she's a slow eater, she usually sucks them down with gusto. but yesterday something hit me about the reality of her situation. for the first time she couldn't drink the coolatta on her own, unless i was holding it, and she barely touched the bagel. in other words, she was having trouble feeding herself. then she told me to put on some music, and when i put on one of her favorite Cd's, regardless of how loud i turned it up, she could not hear it.

and i guess that made me think, what is the point? she has no quality of life left, and she is only going to continue along this downward spiral until death. she will never get her place in the country, and she will probably never leave the nursing home. but the process is all so painfully slow that it's hard not to wonder if we all would have been better off had the cancer not been treated so aggressively. isn't it better to be in another world with the trees and the flowers and the birds she loved so much then to stay in this world surrounded by the smell of urine and disinfectant of the nursing home, unable to hear music, read, speak to your friends and family, or even watch TV? i know if she had any semblance of what was happening to her, she would not want to live like this. i know she never wanted her life savings to go to her care in a nursing home. so sometimes i can't decide whether it's better or worse that she is unaware of her situation. it is simultaneously more and less heartbreaking at once. and the only certainty in this is that it is slow and painful for everyone involved. i just hope for all of our sakes and for hers she will leave this world painlessly and peacefully dreaming of flowers and birds and dogs, and endless coffee coolattas.

I Heart Dogs

2007-07-02T10:53:00.000-04:00

There are so rarely any happy stories in the news anymore. I read this yesterday morning and it made my day. Just another reason why dogs are the coolest animals around :)

TGIF

2007-06-29T15:54:00.000-04:00

happppppeeeeyy friday everyone (i am still in denial that no one reads this thing anymore, so I have to pretend there is still an "everyone" out there somewhere). this week has lasted forrrreverrrrr. without going into detail, it seems my days are becoming numbered here at my current job. it isn't that there are any concrete plans for me to leave, or any reason i know of that they'd want me to leave. i know i do a very good job. i always take pride in doing jobs well even if i am not crazy about them. but let's just say there has been a shift in my thinking about the security of this crazy circus over the last few weeks. it is hard to trust in and rely on a company (which shall remain nameless) that basically doesn't trust you.

there are countless examples, but the latest is the decision to change to a new health insurance plan (i'm sure it's all about $$$) in addition to a mandatory pee test. yes, you heard right, we literally had to pee in a cup (in the CEO's office, no less) to show that we are non-smokers and could qualify for the reduced rates, which by the way are still $50 more a month then we were paying before. oi vey...

so on that note, we are off to see Sicko tonight. I heard it's v good...but I have a feeling it might make me v mad too...nothing a large pint or two won't fix though ;)

the last few months

2007-06-19T14:59:00.000-04:00

i'm back! i know. i can hardly believe it myself. i think my months of silence probably means no one really reads this thing anymore anyway, but at least i can try. so where exactly does one start when it's been so long? i gave the brief lowdown last time, but it's impossible to sum up the last 6 months. here are some highlights though:

my sister and her partner adopted a beautiful baby girl in february. her name is Gracie and needless to say, i am totally in love with her.

and so is her big brother!

it turns out i became an aunt twice in one week. a few days after gracie was adopted, i found out that my brother and his wife are expecting a baby girl in spetember. so it's baby girls galore in my family right now which is a good thing since i am very broody at the moment.
i will have to settle for getting my baby fixes elsewhere as i am beginning grad school in september. i will be taking 2 classes (2/3 time) and working full time, so i don't see how a baby would fit in. let me know if you have any ideas aside from getting rid of my hubby and marrying a millionaire.

jon and i celebrated our 2nd anniversary in february. we went out to western massachusetts and stayed over night at this very cool hotel this very cool that i would highly recommend to everyone. we went to the Mass MOCA, and took a long hike through the mountains amidst perfecly white snow, warmed by a luckily mild winter sunshine. we managed to get a soak in the outdoor jacuzzi, followed by a lie down in a sage scented sauna, and then onto a cozy little restaurant for some terrifically delish food. oh, how i wish we were back there now.....

in march we finally turned our attention to some full on apartment hunting and here are some photos of our happy little abode. wow, it is seriously lovely to have our own home again after over 2 years of sharing :)

we moved in april and spent most of the month buying things, decorating and unpacking. i am totally obsesseed with birds and plants now! Boston feels living in the country side compared to London and New York. all we got there were weeds and fat pigeons.

last month we went back to the UK to visit. i cannot believe it had been almost 9 months since we moved back here. it was the first real vacation i've had in a long time and i spent it with family and friends taking long walks in the hills of kent, eating lots of cadbury's, and sleeping lusciously long hours every night, (with a few afternoon naps thrown in). i realized it is a lot more relaxing to take a vacation when you have something to go back to, i.e. a home and a job ;)

and that brings us to June...last weekend was Jon's birthday and we went to the Cape. beautiful weather, good company, deliciously fresh fish, gorgeous beaches and scenery....coming home was painful on Sunday evening and coming in to work on Monday was like getting a shot at the doctor's over and over all day long. 2 days is just not long enough...but we still had a lovely time :)

where have you been young lady?

2007-06-11T12:29:00.000-04:00

i was just browsing various blogs when i decided to look at my own, noticed there was a comment from my friend john and realized i have absolutely no idea when he left it. the comment was word for word: "January? Your last post was in January? We need some new material Mags :)"

hmmm....that could have been written in february or yesterday. maybe it is time for a new post. yeah, mag, YA THINK? then i also realized when I'd read john's blog the other day, it had been so long that i couldn't even remember my username or password to leave a comment on his blog.

so that brings me here. after tons of fiddling around and resetting of mistaken account info and typing 15 of the passwords i normally use, i managed to get one to work and here i am typing away for the first time in....141 days exactly. Yes, I just did the math on my computer. wow, that's almost half a year!

so, how've y'all been?

when i was reading johns's blog the other day, i got to thinking about the "Blogger Blah's" myself. and I suppose thart's what I've had for the past 6 months, thus why I haven't written. well, that's one of the reasons anyway, in combination with many others i.e. a long apartment search, moving into a new apartment, struggling with depression and anxiety, and most recently being overseas for a trip back to land of pasties aka the UK.

so, yes, in case you haven't noticed, i don't have much of an excuse. blogging is hard to do when you are feeling blah. thankfully, i am now on the mend with the help from a little glorious bottle of celexa, a gorgeous new apartment, and the excitement of a career change beginning in the fall when i start graduate school, finally, after 18 months of deferring it due to our circumstances being forever changing.

i know you don't believe me, and i'm not even sure i believe myself, but i will TRY to write more soon must get back to work ;)

surviving football

2007-01-21T21:52:00.000-05:00

in an attempt to survive yet another weekend of watching football with the hubby, i decided to update my blog (rather then talk his ear off with my dumb questions about the game....even though i never listen to the answers anyway as my eyes glaze over and think about what i am going to wear tomorrow). seriously people, i have watched almost the entire patiots vs colts game without picking one split end, asking any dumb questions (well okay maybe i asked one), and without stuffing myself silly with junkfood to overcome my boredom. and this folks is major progress. i really do want the pats to win....so i don't have to listen to my hubby moan all night about how they lost AND new orleans lost and life sucks. lucky me that the super bowl falls on the exact date of our two year anniversary this year..... at least it's not cricket which is by far the most boring sport on earth :)

despite my little rant just now, we have had a very fun, yet relaxing weekend. today we went out to concord and lincoln and walked 5 1/2 miles in Minuteman National Park. i wanted to show my Brit just exactly where it was we kicked his pasty ass centuries ago when the Brits invaded. it was freezing all weekend, as winter has finally arrived in it's proper form now. but at least today we didn't have the 45mph artic wind that was yesterday. even though it was cold, it was beautiful and sunny and i take sunny and cold any day over coolish grey drear that is london's winter (i know i amgoing to eat those worlds later). yesterday we went to the decordova museum. if you haven't been there....go go go! it is a lot of fun, they have some great photography, the building itself is great, the view is fantastic, and best of all is the sculpture garden. jon was particularly fascinated with the "trojan chicken", while i personally loved the sharks hanging from the trees and the "musical wall" where you got to take a big old stick and wack the silver bars to make it sound like chimes ringing.

here are some pics from my cell phone:

Summer in January Part 2

2007-01-07T17:53:00.000-05:00

on our way to run a bunch of errands yesterday (in the spirit of Saturday) we drove along memorial drive which takes you right along the charles river. it is one of the most beautiful spots in the Boston area. and yesterday was like a spring day with everyone out rollerblading and jogging in shorts and t-shirts. except it's January, and spring is not due for 3 more months. the irony of it all was getting in the way of my ability to appreciate the weather. and then i noticed two very disturbing things. 1) the trees were beginning to flower, as they normally do in April and 2) there are crocuses and dafodils starting to spring up all over the place, poking their little green noses out of the earth.

so in response to my horror at the complete dysfunction of our seasons, last night we brought ourselves to watch An Inconvenient Truth. to be honest, even though i had heard good things about this movie, i had been putting off watching it because i was convinced it would send me spiralling into a total depression....i.e, the earth is rapidly disintegrating from global warming thanks in large part to a bunch of greedy corporate assholes and the politicians who support them who refuse to take any action, and there is not a god damn thing any of us can do about it.

but it turns out this is exactly the kind of thinking this movie is trying to combat. it was an absolutely amazing film, and also devestating at the same time. i think everyone should be forced to watch this movie and i am convinced now (thanks to Mr. Gore) that every little thing each of us does will make a difference to stopping global warming. please please please check out the link to read about all of the little things we can do to help stop global warming. and for christ sake people, stop buying cars that get shit milage. i am shocked at the number of people I know and love, people who describe themselves as concerned about the earth and global warming, people who may even call themselves environmentalists, who are buying cars that routinely get 10-20 miles to the gallon. if you stop to think about it, that means with every mile you drive, you are doing 2-4 times more damage to the environment then if you were to own a car that gets 30-40 miles to the gallon. that's a whole lotta damage....

that's my preaching done for the day (and thank you for listening to it, if you happen to make it this far). thank you Al Gore for making this amazing film, and for having the balls to say what most of corporate america doesn't want us to know.

Summer in January

2007-01-06T10:04:00.000-05:00

I have been warning Sir Pasty about Boston winters for some time now. I wanted him to be prepared for the artic temperatures, the weekly snow storms, the sheer grumpiness that takes over every Bostonian, and certainly the fact that the winters here can last from October to April.

But it turns out all my preperation was a total waste of time (and probably a crock of shit in his opinion) because it is January 6th, the temperature is 63 degrees (fahrenheit) and rising at 10am, and we slept with our windows open last night. We have had all of one snowstorm (if you can call it that) which brought 1 measily inch of snow that melted within a few hours. I can count on one hand the number of days the temperature has gone below freezing since October. Neither of us has invested in a proper New England style winter coat thus far, and I am still wearing my "spring coat".

This aint the Boston I remember.....

Call it global warming, call it unusually warm jet streams, call it whatever, but it freaks me out.

nothin' says new years like a little kick in the ass...

2007-01-01T16:19:00.000-05:00

boo! yes, it's really me. i knew it had been a while since i last updated (maybe two or three weeks). but when i stumbled upon my poor neglected blog today i realized not only have i missed thanksgiving and christmas, but i am on the verge of missing new years. 6 weeks since my last post is one thing, but last year is another thing....

so, happy new years everyone :) i hope it is a healthy and happy year for everyone. and i hope everyone survived the familial bliss that the holidays inevitably bring. i know i am breathing a sigh of relief that it's all over and life can go back to the semi normal state that it is for us these days. i cannot say i am sad to see 2006 come to an end. i think it's been the hardest year of my adult life so far...we won't count childhood because there's just no comparison to there :)

but there is nothing like a difficult year to put things into perspective with what's important in life, right? over the past few weeks and months, through all of the ups and downs and turmoil, i have been reminded over and over that if we can appreciate what is infront of us right now then the rest will fall into place. the universe has a way of taking care of what's meant to be, and in the meantime, i am grateful for today and what there is, not what there isn't. i guess that is all you can ever really expect from life. although these past few weeks have been a manic blur of rushing, shopping, cleaning and general holiday frenzy, i am very grateful to have a had a chance to spend some happy time with the people who mean the most to me in life.....

now, i just need another kick in the ass all the way to the gym :)

a day at the beach...

2006-11-18T20:49:00.000-05:00

it may be november but it's never too cold to go to the beach, right? that's where we headed this afternoon up in newburyport, massachusetts. we went to a nature reserve on plum island and it was gorgeous even if that cold winter wind was startin' to blow. i snapped a few pics on my cell phone. next time i definitely need to bring the real camera....

our drugs are better then yours...

2006-11-14T08:22:00.000-05:00

while eating breakfast this morning i opened up the Guardian website to get an update on the latest UK and world news, and i almost choked on my cereal when i read this article. and we wonder why no one likes us around the world. it just so american to assume our way of doing things is best. nevermind the fact that millions of us don't have healthcare, and the rest of us that do are paying thousands of dollars a year for it. yes, taxes are lower here, but when you add in the cost of healthcare, which is free in the UK, i know i'm going home with a lot less money. and don't even get me started with the drug advertising. i am sure endless commercials for viagra and zoloft is just what millions of brits would love to see during their commercial break especially when they are already paying $50 a month just to be able to watch the 5 channels offered. i say mr blair sends an NHS rep over here to lecture our government about the importance of nationalized healthcare and accessibility for all. and don't forget to throw in a few words about how wrong it is to advertise drugs on television like they are the newest cereal :) a little rydalin for breakfast anyone?

when it rains it pours

2006-11-02T19:29:00.000-05:00

i have been trying so hard to keep an upbeat attitude about everything lately, despite the fact that luck has not been on our side since moving back here. i wont bore you with the details of the many things gone wrong, but take my word it's been one drama after another. a lot of culture shock and upheaval plus a car accident, a family member whose ill, a crazy mom in a nursing home then add to that one person whose jobless the other who is miserable at work and there you have one perty picture of where we're at. it is one thing to have your own struggles, but the hardest thing is to watch the person you love most in the whole world struggle. and it is even harder when that person is struggling with being at home in your own country, especailly when you yourself are struggling with feeling at home in your own country after having been gone so long. i guess this is our cross to bear as they say, and i hope we will one day get to the point where one of us doesn't always have to bear it.

and for some reason today it has finally all caught up with me. another day at work having gone by in which no one really bothered to talk to me let alone train me or even attempt to show me what the hell i am supposed to be doing all day, and i am just throwing my hands in the air to surrender now. i guess i had been hoping that work could at the very least be a distraction and something to focus on. i am sure it will be eventually but right now it is just another lonely struggle.

so i quit. you win life. i have absolutely no idea why we decided to come back to this strange land, and that is heartbreaking to admit after the amount of time and energy (not to mention money) we spent getting here. and all i know is i hope time will tell the reason. i always believe everything happens for a reason, even when i am down in the dumps as i am now. the hard part sometimes is being patient enough to wait for that reason to reveal itself.

sorry to be such a downer if you happen to be reading this. selfishly, i do feel better having gotten that off my chest and admitting it to the world. it is like this dirty secret i have been harboring. so thank you for listening and please say a little prayer to buddah or allah or god or mother nature or whoever for us right now, cause we will need it.

boo!

2006-11-01T18:37:00.000-05:00

happy belated holloween. was just checking my email and came across this story. it is really weird, but on the other hand, there's something oddly touching about the fact that her hubby just died recently. perhaps she wanted to go with him....i am always the romantic you know :) hope everyone gorged on as much chocolate as we did last night.

surviving week one

2006-10-29T20:58:00.000-05:00

yes, i did survive week one, just about. i know week one is always the hardest part of starting a new job, and let's fact it, week one always SUCKS, even in it is the dream job you have always wanted forever and ever. (and this certainly is not that). but it was nice to have a routine again, and also nice to know there will be a few more pennies in the bank account, so i guess that will have to do for now. it is too soon to judge the job itself as i had so little training. for the first three days i basically sat around while everyone else in our department ran around like maniacs and had no time to train me. there is nothing i hate more then being bored at work. i would rather be manically busy then watching the clock tick, so that was hard for me. but by thursday they were throwing stuff my way, thank god, and i am sure soon i will regret complaining that i didn't have much to do :)

meanwhile, i am also trying not to think about the fact that as temp in london, i was earning the same amount as i am now, with 2 more weeks of vacation a year, and working 5 hours less per week, with no money taken out for healthcare (cause it's free there), and i paid exactly the same percentage in taxes as i pay here. allst i know it, why on earth can't we get it together in this country to provide national healthcare? all this bitching and moaning about the government getting our tax money and meanwhile people are happy to hand over thousands, sometimes 10's of thousands a year for healthcare? WTF?

well, that's my sunday evening bitch session out of the way. hope everyone has a good week. think good thoughts for me this week 2 cause i will need it!

on to better pumpkins (hopefully)

2006-10-22T12:33:00.000-04:00

so tomorrow is my first day of work at my third job in the last year. wish me luck. i will need it with my job seeking history :) i will be working for a travel tour company booking all of the flights for their clients. the best part of it is very little customer contact, no customer service ie no people moaning at you day in and day out. after almost 3 months off of work, most of which were spent packing, unpacking, shipping, sorting out car insurance, unsorting out car insurance, arguing with the car insurance people about the worth of the car that was totalled, i am more then ready for a little routine. i am sure working again will be a shock to the system, but i am hoping i can adjust and even like being back on a regular schedule. it is definitely something that both of us need right now.

meanwhile, i have been doing my best to enjoy my last weekend of freedom. one nice thing about having been off work for the last month or so was that we have been able to enjoy fall in new england, without a doubt my favorite time of year. we have been able to spend a alot of time outdoors walking and looking at the foliage. and the weather has been absolutely gorgeous. cool nights, warm sunny days, and clear skies all around with the exception of one or two days. so given that it was my last chance for freedom this weekend, i decided to brave boston's pumpkin festival with some friends of mine yesterday. basically, the city of boston decided to carve and light 30,000 pumpkins in one afternoon in order to break the world record. needless to say it was a total madhouse abundent with large carving knives and barbecue lighters galore. i was a little disappointed in the pumpkin pie (which was frozen) but it was a beautiful afternoon, and i had fun looking at all the pumkins. here's a few photos:

road trip recap

2006-10-20T15:13:00.000-04:00

so after leaving santa fe, we headed northwest through colorado to utah to meet my brother and his wife in moab. on the way we stopped in pagosa springs to spend the evening in wonderfully relaxing hot springs and then onto mesa verde national park for some camping. we spent a day seeing arches national park and then onto canyonlands national park for an 11 mile hike through one tiny little bit of the huge park with my bro and chie. then we made our way from moab, accross utah and into capital reef national park. we headed south toward bryce canyon and down toward antelpope canyon in northern arizona. then we headed east (finally in the right direction of boston) into new mexico and back up through colorado's san juan mountains and eventually the rockies. that "little square" of driving that we did throught the south west was about 1500 miles worth of driving, so at that point we were definitely ready to start heading in the right direction toward home.

driving through the rockies was definitely the most challenging part of the road trip because it was pouring with rain that eventually turned to snow. every other car besides ours was a HUGE truck or SUV which meant when they passed us we could barely see because the ater from their tires splashed onto our windshield. then on top of that, because the altitude was so incredibly high (about 12000 feet) and because our car doesn't have a very powerful engine, we really struggled to get up to more then 40 miles an hour on the hills. meanwhile, it was freezing but we had to have the airconditioning on for the defroster to work well enough to see, but that takes power from the engine, so yeah, fun times! i have never been so happy to get onto flat land in kansas in my life. and that probably explains why depite the amazingly striking landscapes of the southwest, i found liked kansas best as a state out of all the ones we went to. and to be fair to kansas, it is the only one in which we didn't pass any stripmalls, and few chain stores. instead it was filled with tiny working class farm towns with the name written on water towers and one main st with a bank, a post office, and a few local stores. and of course there was a ton of very green farmland that was indeed flat as a pancake. it was so nice to have a break from seeing the same hotels, the same ugly strip malls, the same arby's or denny's restaurants to eat it. we were beginning to wonder if there was such thing as a real town anymore or if the entire US have become sprawling stripmalls.

having said that, i cannnot put into words the striking beauty that is the vast landscape of the southwest. it was amzaing and strange and unlike anything i could have ever imagines. but everything was dry and hot and dead at the same time. i am glad to have visited the desert, and it was great not having mosquitos around, but i think jon and i are both more at home in "wet" landscapes, where it rains and snow, where there is green grass and trees and lakes and ponds and ocean.

through kansas and onto missouri to visit my friend elissa in st louis for a few days. then back through illinois indiana, ohio, pennsylvania, new york, connecticut and finally back into massachusetts.

and then the inevitable happened. 50 miles from boston, just over the state border, we stopped in sturbridge to get our state inspection sticker for our car. when we were heading back to the highway on the main st., some dude decided he is impatient with waiting to turn left and runs a stop sign, jumping right in front of us. we had to slam on the breaks. the good news is we didn't hit him. the bad news is, we were hit from behind. and after all that driving, our car is pronounced totalled. by by little red horse. even though it drove just fine, the insurance company says the damage costs more to fix then what the car is worth. my first two days back in boston were spent in bed with a very bad case of whiplash in my neck and back. needless to say, it was not a very good start to our new life here. but we are both safe and in one piece, and at the end of the day, that is what matters. thankfully no one else was hurt either.

i am still sorting through the hundreds of photos that i took on our trip but i promise i will put add a link asap.

one fine autumn day.....

2006-10-13T22:21:00.000-04:00

what's that lurking below this circle pattern among the waves you say?

it's a bird, it's a plane, it's a:

WHALE!

i took jon on his first ever whale watch today, and we had the most magical time. i hadn't been on a whale watch since i was a kid, and it made me feel like a kid all over again, worlds away from stresses of moving and cars and apartments and jobs, and visas. the weather was gorgeous, the whales were amazing and it was one of those days you don't want to end. here are a few other random pics i took today:

a few pics from santa fe

2006-10-09T21:55:00.000-04:00

Well, It's about Frickin' Time (Part 2)

2006-10-08T11:02:00.000-04:00

so, here's how our road trip began. we flew into albaquerque, new mexico and then caught an hour long shuttle bus to santa fe, new mexico where my aunt lives, and where we were to pick up the car. our first introduction to the sheer enormity of this vast country, was that it took us MUCH longer to get from boston to santa fe (via a 3 hour connection in chicago), then it does to get from boston to london. the flying time was exactly the same, thus the lack of non stop flights.

we spent a week in santa fe seeing the city, hanging with the auntie, and attempting to prepare our little red horse for the road trip ahead. how to sum up santa fe: a rediculously expensive large town that tries to be a city, dripping with oodles of very kitch native american memorobilia (i.e extra leather fringe, cowboy hats, fake turquiose, and pastel colored prints of cayotes howling to the moon) amidst incredibly old and beautiful adobe architecture, surrounded by strip malls on all sides. it is a mixture of retirees with too much money and extremely poor mestizos still reeling from colonization. throw in a few young idealists artist and outdoorsy types and there you have the weird place that is santa fe. i was shocked to find the cost of living there is significantly higher then in boston, and fairly close to that of new york city.

stay tuned for the next installment....

Well, It's about Frickin' Time

2006-10-06T17:31:00.000-04:00

you say. I have been making excuse after excuse after excuse not to update my little bloggie. And I finally got to the point where even I wasn't buying my excuses, let alone anyone else. I am no longer on my road trip, (have been back over two weeks now), we finally got a wireless card for the old iBook, I am now officially (almost) employed so there goes the "busy searching for job" excuse. I guess it is just hard to know where to begin once you've been away for so long, and really so much has happened. so forgive me if this is disheveled gobbly gook as i attept to recap the last 2 months of my life starting with post Londonness, per Bostoness :)

after moving out of the lovely luxury london flat (yeah, right), we made it to canterbury, home of the in laws, who kindly offered to store a whole apartment in their used to feel big but now is totally stuffed house. we did however, finally get our very own double bed after years of being forced to sleep in separate single beds when visiting them. this was mostly due to the fact that there was just nowhere else to put the damn thing. and i think they were doing their best to encourage us to come and visit whenever possible. it was just the best thing to be able to decorate our room there with all of our things, knowing we always have it to go back to. it made it a lot easier to get on that plane. so major cudos to john and marion, the best in-laws in the world, hands down.

speaking of getting on that plane. we were lucky enough to be flying on august 11th, the day after august 10th, which is also the day that suicide bombers were planning to blow up 5 planes travelling from london heathrow to various US airports. oh my god. not only was i scared shitless that we were going to die, and suspicious of any person who spent a little too long in the bathroom on the plane, or smuggled in a magazine, but i have also never seen security like that in my life. for those of you who've been to heathrow, the line to get through security was over 2 hours long and wound all of the way through the airport into the entire plaza where all the stores are. this was only line number two. line number one was another 2 hours waiting to check in at the desk. then there was line number 3 at the gate. we were not allowed to wait in the gate, and instead had to wait in line to go into the gate, at which point our passports were scrutinized. then line number 4 was full on strip search (before boarding the plane), and getting frisked, along with the emptying out the entire contents of our little clear plastic bags. we were allowed to bring eyeglasses, not in the case, wallets (and the contents were emptied and sorted through), and a passport. that was it. 7 hours with no water, no lipbalm, no books, no magazines, no snacks. oh lordy, there are no words to describe. the water was the hardest thing for me as i usually drink about a gallon on the plane!

and looking back now it's hard not to feel like that was the beginning of our being jinxed. the road trip was amazing and incredibly hard at the same time. i think jon and i both had sort of romantsized "jack keroac"-esk kind of ideas about what it would be. we pictured lots of camping and hiking and cute little towns and lots of nature. in reality, we saw some amazing national parks, and some absolutely beautiful and strange landscapes. but this was mixed with strip malls, chain hotels, chain restaurants, and lots of old unhealthy looking very fat white people. and the bottom line is this is one god damn huge country. we all know it cognitively, but it isn't something you can really fathom until you attempt to drive accross it. i am a new england girl, used to being able to drive accross 3-4 states in a day. so getting used to the fact that it took us all day to drive accross one state was hard. aside from that, i was not prepared for the sheer size of our national parks. i kind of assumed that once we reached the parks, we could park the car and hike our was around to see them. WRONG. not only do you spend all day driving to the park, but then you spend all day driving in the park to see it.

so realizing that i have naively attempted to squeeze 8 weeks of posts into one, i think i will end here for now and fill you in on part two in a separate post. stay tuned.....

hello and goodbye

2006-08-24T22:26:00.000-04:00

okay, so i slightly went over the 2 weeks of blogging i excused myself from last time around. many appologies. not only have i had my head up my arse, but i have been running around like a maniac trying to see everyone and sort everything out for stage two of our return to the good ole US of A. sorting everything out like car insurance, plane tickets to new mexico, house and dog sitting for my sister who had to go to a funeral, teaching my hubby to drive (on the correct side of the road), getting cell phones, unpacking and repacking......whew, makes me feel sleepy just thinking about it. and this is all not to mention the severe culture shock i have felt returning to what is supposed to feel like my homeland. more on this later, i promise.

well, stay tuned because my severe culture shock is about to get even more severe as we hit middle america driving next week. i will now excuse myself from another 6 weeks of blogging as internet access will be limited. but i do say this with the most sincere intentions of posting a few pics here and there along the way! anyone want a postcard? email me your address and i will send it along :)

the second goodbye

2006-08-01T09:38:00.000-04:00

we've spent the last few days saying goodbye to london in various ways. friday evening was our final day of work celebrated with a summer barbecue and a few drinks with friends and coworkers. on saturday we took a ten mile walk along the Thames river out near Greenwich. sunday morning we took our favorite stroll along the thames from waterloo to london bridge via the Tate modern. and by sunday afternoon, after weeks of denial about the move, we finally realized we better get on to the packing or we were going to be sorry. so now we are knee deep in brown boxes and packing tape and all that good stuff.

after a month of hot weather and no rain, the heavens finally opened last night, though it did little for the poor yellow, dead grass that now looks like hay. it has been so dry here that the leaves are beginning to fall off the trees. and as the temperature has dropped into the 60's, it feels like october. it all seems rather in sync with all of our changes afoot. and i really feel like a little kid with a huge heavy backpack setting out into the unknown world of school at the beginning of the year, wondering if i'll make new friends, if i'll be able to find the bathroom, if my teacher will be nice.

tomorrow we'll be making our way to canterbury for the next 10 days. we will have limited internet access in canterbury (as the inlaws have not yet embraced the whole cyberspace thang). and once we arrive in boston, i have a strong feeling i am going to have my head up my arse with severe shock for at least 3-4 days. so i will excuse myself now from the next couple weeks of blogging :)

the first goodbye

2006-07-27T12:48:00.000-04:00

life is so strange the way it works out sometimes. i am on my second to last day of work and i have been feeling very sad about leaving all day. my job is boring but it pays well and i love the people i work with. and i am really going to miss them all. who would have ever thought i would feel like this about leaving 6 months ago? they always say everything happens for a reason, and if this past year and a half is anything to go by, it must be true. we have been waiting for jon's visa to come through for so long and now it's finally here, and we are both feeling sad to leave. perhaps we were meant to be stuck so we could prove to ourselves we could be happy here. don't get me wrong. we are both behind our decision to leave 100% but that doesn't mean we will not miss it here terribly:( weird how it can be the right thing to do but still not easy, huh? and weird how that is the case for so much of life. the right decision never seems to be the easy decision, but the universe has a way of proving it is the best decision in the end.

monday morning joys

2006-07-24T09:57:00.000-04:00

oh lordy. monday was in full swing before i even arrived at work. i was making my way off the tube at moorgate station with the masses of other people doing the same thing as i do every morning. i work in an area of london called "the city" and it is as close to "wallstreet" as you can get in this part of the world (ie wanker banker central). so as i made my way off the tube and over to the escalator, it was the usaul pushing and shoving to get ahead of one another. after letting a good 15 people cut in front of me in their hurried state, i got sick of waiting and decided to make a go for it.

this was just as one woman behind me decided to try and sneak up from behind me to my right hand side and onto the escalator. cause god forbid she be patient and wait her turn like every one else. so as i was about to get on the escalator i put my arm in front of her, both to block her and also to grab the railing so i didn't fall.

oh my lordy. you would have thought i spit on her, pulled her hair and pushed her on the ground from the way she reacted. i got the biggest earfull have ever gotten from the usually reserved and polite londoners. she lectured me on my behavior and how i shouldn't be so rude and how my behavior was unacceptable and how i pushed in front of her. she kept on this all the way up the escaltor.

when i could finally get a word in, i said "oh, i pushed you, did i? well that's funny because i was in front of you, and i saw it as you pushing me."

this set her off on another rant all over again. realizing that she was a crazy monday morning bitch from hell, i decided just to let her rant.

when she finally stopped and there were a few moments of silence, i turned around, and with the biggest grin i could muster, i said "have a nice day". then she says "i can't hear you. i mean i really can't hear you", just like a little child sticking her fingers in her ears and tongue out. so i asked her how old she was, with an even bigger grin. because by this point i was beginning to think it was very funny. and i am sure everyone else around us did too.

after what seemed like an eternity, we reached the platform to leave the escalator. she was staring at me with her crazy disheveled hair, and glaring witch eyes decked out in her designer clothes and matching shoes and purse. i turned around and said, very loudly just in case she was still having trouble hearing, "smile, life's too short as it is". and it is too short. life is too fleeting to get so worked up about something that is an everyday occurance on some of the most crowded trains in the world. good luck lady. you are going to have one long miserable life ahead of you.

Van's my Man

2006-07-21T12:20:00.000-04:00

This dude is so awesome. We went to see him play last night in this great place over looking the Thames River in London. We watched him play while the sun set over the river behind him, and it was one of those occasions that makes you think that life can't get any better then this. We were given ticketmaster vouchers as a wedding present and we were debating about whether or not to use the vouchers to see him or do something else. I can't even believe we thought twice about it. He is so great in concert, I could have happily sat there all night and listened.

it's all in the perspective

2006-07-21T07:06:00.000-04:00

without going into unnecessary details, there are times when you realize just how skewed the US media is. like this morning, i opened the news on guardian.co.uk and i see this as the headline news story. i think to myself how scary that is because a very close friend of mine is Lebanese and though she is no longer living there, much of her family is still there.

and then i open boston globe and i see this. nothing about an israeli ground invasion at all here. scroll down to the "world" section, and the main headline is this story. so everyone can breathe a sigh of relief, because surely if a peace worker thinks this is justified, then it must be. just in case you had any doubts at all, you can rest assured that it's all about having a right to defend yourself and your loved ones from those "terrorists" and that makes it all okay. click on all of today's world stories and still nothing about a ground invasion. and i guess they also forgot to mention the number of 300 plus civilians who have been killed by israeli bombs and the number of buildings hit that have nothing to to with terrorists too. all this after decades of work spent rebuilding those buildings following a long civil war there. and all this after the country had finally been declared safe and had begun to build up it's economy and tourism industry.

so i am going to stop myself here from going on a long drawn out and boring rant about this. instead, i would like to point out how cool it is that we are able to read these different perpectives on a daily basis, thanks to the internet. thank god for that.

you just have to laugh

2006-07-20T05:10:00.000-04:00

if you read the link below, you know that we are in the middle of an enormous heat wave here. and there is nothing that cracks me up more then witnessing the change from all the moaning about the rain and cold to all the moaning about the heat. don't get me wrong; there are a lot of reasons to moan about the heat here. the number one reason being the lack of any airconditioning on the tubes and buses. apparently the temps were 117Fon the tubes yesterday afternoon.

and i can't help but think the suing culture in the US (that everyone "takes the piss out of" here) does have its advantages. in the US, how long would it take for someone to get heat stroke, pass out and bang their head and then take those bastards to court until some judge orders them to put airconditioning in to prevent it from happening again.

and on a separate note, peoples of london though i love you, you pong to no end these days. wonder if a judge could order people to add some deoderant to their morning routines?

We Do Go A Bit Mad In The Sun

2006-07-20T05:01:00.000-04:00

Karma

2006-07-17T10:59:00.000-04:00

Karma is the good ole rule that what goes around eventually comes around. In other words, since I have already poisoned a few dozen mice in my lifetime, I am bound to be trampled to death by an emormous rabid mouse brigade ready to make me pay for my sins. Sorry guys. I can't help it if I'm not allowed cats where I live. And come on, the way you leave your little pellet poohs everywhere is just totally unsanitary in the kitchen.....

But seriously. I am beginning to believe in Karma, based on a glorious piece of info we've just received. Our flatmate and friend Anna, is also the owner of our flat. And she happens to be headed overseas to Canada and then to Costa Rica, meaning that all 3 of us will be abandoning our posts in our South London abode in early August. Who should be moving in to replace us?

Two. Single. Young. Men. DJ's by night, and by the sounds of it, slackers on loads of drugs by day. One of their demands upon moving in was that they had room in the basement for two huge decks. Two huge decks where they can mix their tracks for the clubs. Two huge decks blaring and thumping away in our basement, where only a paper thin wall separates our apartment from our neighbors bedroom. Remember them? Neighbors From Hell?

Oh sweet bliss. If that ain't karma then I don't know what is. I hear coming back as a mouse isn't really so bad. And I hear all that mouse poison actually tastes pretty damn good even if it kills you.

30 and still alive

2006-07-14T12:29:00.000-04:00

hellllllooooooo!!! i am still alive and kicking. really i am. i have to admit that my lack of bloggin has been a combination of being rediculously busy and having to come to terms with the fact that i am no longer a spring chicken. i kept meaning to write, but then at the back of my mind it would always gnaw away at me that writing would mean admitting that yes, i have actually reached and surpassed the big 30.

30 is not so bad really. except for the days when conversations make there way to being about something that happened while i was in high school, and at first i think that was like 5 years ago. and then i think "holy shit, that was 15 years ago"! i guess this is how it is when you are truly a grown up. and i am realizing that truly being a grown up is actually coming to terms with the fact that one is never really grown up, even once we have jobs, kids, cars, mortgages, investments, husbands and all those other good things that we confuse with meaning we are grown up, we never really are. and there is something inherantly cool about that :)

i had a great time with my parents coming to visit for my birthday. it was a perfect day and mostly i forgot about that fact that it was my birthday, which is just what i wanted. we took a river boat down the Thames river and spent the day at Kew Gardens. we ate dinner at a propah English pub, and sat outside drinking lagah, talkign and laughing till late in the evening while the sun set. the weather has been gorgeous and sunny and warm fairly steadily for the last month or so. grey? rain? cold? what's that? this is england people. didn't you know the sun always shines here? i mean we aren't in Boston :)

and now that 30 is another "been there, done that" for me and my hubby, we have turned our attention toward bigger and better things. like preparing for our road trip, and returning to beantown in less then a month now. yes, visa has been issued, stamped, licked, wiped and handed over to us sealed with a kiss (yeah right!)
it was all topped off with a wall-poster sized x-ray of sir pasty's chest along with a 5 inch thick, 5lb envelope we have been told we are not allowed to open. all of this "must" be handed over to US immigration officials upon arrival in the US. hmmmmm....i am already contemplating what i will tell the airlines when they ask if we are carrying anything we haven't packed ourselves and if we have been given anything to carry for anyone else....... and needless to say, my hubby thinks the x-ray of his chest is the coolest thing in the world. i did at least talk him out of putting it up on our bedroom wall for the next month.

the red sox in the world cup?

2006-07-03T05:12:00.000-04:00

after spending nearly 2 hours watching england slog it out against portugal, i realized that the england team is the actually the red sox team of the of the world cup, cursed on penalties and doomed to make it to the quarter final year after year, just to finally blow it completely. who to route for now? i'm thinking france....

did you know?

2006-06-28T11:52:00.000-04:00

Today is National Siesta Day? Well then, allst I have to say is, where's my damn nap?

world cup update

2006-06-28T06:35:00.000-04:00

the world cup is in full swing here. the england flags are flying, the pubs and cars are decorated in red and white, and everywhere you look you see england shirts. but everywhere you look you also see something else: hordes of fans from every nation decorated in their own team colors. after all this is london, one of the most international cities in the world. there are 32 teams playing in the world cup. at my office alone, there is at least one person from each of those countries (meaning there is someone who actually cares if trinidad and tobago get through to the next round). so while i am not normally a huge soccor fan, i can more then appreciate the value of international football, and i like everyone else have been glued to the telly, keeping track of all the scores, and bonding over all the latest action.

but when you get a bunch of people together from all over the world for the world's most favorite competitive sport, there's always, shall we say, the odd hiccup. we could call team USA one of those odd hiccups. as they are surrounded with the most (expensive) sercurity of any of the 32 world cup teams, and driven around in the only bus that does not state which country they are from, there are those that say they should not be aloud to play in the world cup. after all, they employ so many trade embargoes to the very countries they are competing against, not too mention all the other stuff. and let's face it: to put it mildly, the USA is not exactly in good standing with the rest of the world.

so while i can relate to and understand that attitude about team USA (hey, i am from the US and i often feel that way about it too), I also feel it goes against the general principal of the world cup ie friendly competition that unites people depite their differences.

last night we all settled down to watch a key world cup game between spain and france. this was a big one as the winner was to land one of 8 spots in the quarter finals. and the rivalry between the two countries goes back decades. we were sitting around having the usual dinner time conversation about who we were going to route for and why. jon had decided he wanted france to win because he likes a lot of their players, and even though france has won the world cup before, they have been playing badly and are really the underdog. me, well i know nothing about football, but i know i much prefer a weekend in spain to a weekend in france (never did get on too well with the french, and have always found the spanish much warmer), and i also know that spain has never won the world cup before. so i decided to go for spain all the way.

that is until i learned this. honestly, should this dude really be able to coach spain after saying that?

needless to say, i became france's biggest fan pretty damn quick. and france won, which just goes to show that this hottie put Mr. Aragones in his propah place.

visas, weddings and getting old

2006-06-26T12:12:00.000-04:00

oooowey. where on earth do i begin? perhaps gar and john should have got married sooner as it seems while i was back in beantown for their wedding, my hubby not only passed the visa interview with flying colors, but received his passport back equipped with visa in hand the next day. suddenly things seem to be moving very quickly on this end after over a year at snail's pace. but i do think this calls for one huge HOOOOOORAYYYYYY!

also while i was back in boston, my hubby turned 30. so yes, being the nice wife that i am, i left him alone on his big day in addition to coping with the joys of US immigration. poor guy. but in true sir pasty style, he decided to spend his big day with some proper male bonding time, and to bring in his 30th with some severe and painful physical acticity (that he knew i would never survive). he and his best mate tom walked 26 miles from some tiny little place outside london all the way to canterbury. who says 30 is old?

500 Times Richer

2006-06-13T12:28:00.000-04:00

one of the things i have to do at my "very boring but paying the bills for now" job is to load our new client profiles into our system. these profiles contain information about travel preferences, credit cards they want to use to pay for things, pasport details, blah blah blah blah blah. BORING.

i often entertain myself by imagining who these people are and what it's like to do a corporate job where all you do is work, but in turn get to travel the world in first class, be whisked around in fancy chauffeur driven cars from one 5 star hotel to another, and earn shitloads of money so you can afford to retire at the age of 40. i think the reason i get so curious about these people is because it is something i decided i would NEVER be able to cope with even if i had the choice (which is why instead i am poor and will probably work until i am 85).

so one piece of information that we ask for on this profile form is an emergency contact name and phone number. and most people take this bit quite seriously including several names and phone numbers of wives/husbands and other family members. this is understandable because obviously if something bad happens to you, you want your loved one to be contacted ASAP.

the other day i came accross one profile and i noticed this dude's date of birth was in 1981. hmmmmm....slightly annoying cause he is 5 years younger them me and 500 times richer then i will ever be. and then i noticed one other interesting thing:

he had put his own name and phone number as the emergency contact.

not to worry dude. you can sleep coundly at night now because i will be absolutely sure to give you a call on your mobile to let you know if your plane crashes, or if you are seriously injured in the hospital.

500 times richer, 5 years younger, and 5 times dumber. one thing i have learned from years of working in the travel industry is that there are way too many people who should not be allowed out of the country. i can only imagine what happens to some of these people once they reach their destinations......

see this for a laugh :)

Why Grey Drizzle Works Here

2006-06-13T11:13:00.000-04:00

for the past two weeks it has been sunny and hot here in london. two whole weeks of pure summer bliss without having to book a ticket with Cho Mama's Flights R Us to Greece or Spain. for the first 3 days everyone was loving it, lapping it up like puppies with milk. in true British fashion, people went and fried themselves to crisp in the sunshine, because in these parts, you never know when you are gonna get whole days of sunshine again. if you ever wondered why Brits don't have gorgeous skin despite the lack of sunshine, well now you know.

so after 4 days of summer heat, with the temperatures soaring above 75, let the complaining begin. first it's "oh this is just terrible for the plants, they are going to shrivel up and die in this sort of weather" or "oh, dear, now we will really a need city-wide drought order, and isn't that just awful for businesses who depend on the water like golf coarses and car washes", or "oh dear, soon we won't be able to have our evening bath".

over the last few days the complaining has escalated to a whole new level i didn't think Brits were capable of. full on american style moaning and huffing and grunting "it is soooooo hot out there. it is just horrible." while the hands thrash around in desperate waving movements in an attempt to get even the littlest bit of air circulating. my coworkers suddenly bring constant cups of water instead of the usual cup of tea. the boss comes round with icecreams in a desperate attempt to keep us from moaning. meanwhile everyone has decided the air conditioning doesn't work in our office, so they all open their windows. brilliant peoples. just brilliant. you ever think the air con doesn't work because you are constantly letting in the hot air from outside?

so today it was all supposed to end. the heavens were predicted to open up with showers and thunderstorms and the air was supposed to be cleared of all the heat and humidity once and for all. you could just feel the excitement in the air as the sky begins to turn black and the rain begins to fall. "just think of how good this will be for all the plants".

and then the rain fell like london has never seen before. not drizzle, not steady rain, but soaking downpours and thrashing winds that the brolley just can't cope with. and the fear sets in. "oh dear, this is really going to mess up the trains and tubes. the old tracks just can't cope with it" and "just think of the flooding that is going to happen now. how terrible!" they are already unleashing reports of london griding to a halt as a result of well, some heavy rain.

and this is exactly why when the weather returns to the usual "dull and grey with a few spots of rain and some sunny spells mixed in with a high of 18C (64 F)" everyone here will be absolutely thrilled.

Allst I Know Id..........

2006-06-08T12:55:00.000-04:00

If da weddah do dis in boston (like it has been) when i come home next week:

while da weddah do dis in london while i am way like it is right now:

i am gonna do dis:

Apparently

2006-06-08T12:39:00.000-04:00

Jelly shoes are back in fashion:

And just as fugly as evah. There are many fashions better left back in the 80's where they belong.

2006-06-06T05:04:00.000-04:00

THIS just totally depresses me. AND it pisses me off. AND it makes me question our decision to return to a country with such a fucked up president.

2006-06-05T10:54:00.000-04:00

one I130 application: $330

one I864 application: $350

one visa processing fee: $135

UK bank fee to change dollars to pounds: $50

4 passport photos: $35

one medical examination fee: $300

1 MMR jab: $75

1 tetnus jab: $75

passing your US immigration medical exam: priceless

GO ENGLAND!

2006-06-03T09:12:00.000-04:00

happy saturday! i know it seems as if i have been neglecting you, but i did actually spend a long time writing a post yesterday. i was dumbly trying to work at the same time and of course right as i went to publish my post, the sight went down.

i am sitting in a gorgeous puddle of sunshine as i write this, and if you can believe it, there is not one single cloud in the sky today here. it is 75 and gorgeous and i am soaking it up. amazing what a little sunshine does for the soul. i mean i feel like the neighbors could crank up their music and it would roll off me like watah.

it is one of those days when the air is filled with change afoot and promise. anna (our flatmate and dear friend who introduced jon to me) is turning 30 tomorrow and we are all preparing for a huge bash this evening. her job in london is coming to an end after 5 years, and she has been offered a very cool position that will take her to central america to do women's rights work. she is leaving around the same time hubby and i will head back to the US.

and of course jon and i are both turning 30 as well over the next month and preparing for our own changes. after 2 weeks spent in a blind panic and depression about turning 30, facing another big move overseas, realizing that neither of us have jobs, kids, a house, or any of the things you are supposed to have at this point, realizing that i have finally found a job i don't mind and will have to give it up soon and begin all over again, i can honestly say i have come full circle. i would not want it any other way, and i am more then happy to be wiping the slate clean with a brand new decade to embrace and my whole life ahead of me, with the love of my life. one day we probably will have a house, a dog, some pasty jr's and jobs and we will be tied to these things forever. but for right now, we can enjoy the freedom that i am sure one day we will long for. and thank buddah for this!

and one other reason the air is filled with promise is the impending world cup. there is no place like england during the world cup. every time it comes around, everyone decides that this is their year to win. they decorate every inch of every pub and car with england flags and banners, they skip work to watch the games in the pubs, they put everything they have into routing for their team. and every year they lose after making it into the semi final rounds. it is like a whole country of redsox fans. and like the redsox, it rubs off on you after a while. GO ENGLAND!

cars and tumble dryers

2006-05-24T03:01:00.000-04:00

i woke up this morning feeling bright eyed and bushy tailed, all ready to tackle the day. only one problem: it was 5:15am. as i tried to will myself back to sleep, my mind became a whirlwind of the many things we are going to have to face over the next few months: finding jobs (again), a place to live, a car, buying furntiture, taking out car insurance, what the hell we are going to do with no medical insurance before we find jobs, ahhhhhhhhhhhhh. and then it suddenly dawned on me that i couldn't actually do anything productive and concrete about these worries at that precise moment in time.

so then i started to think about the one thing we do know we have to look forward to when we return stateside. seems my sweet old aunt, bless her heart, has decided to donate to the "maggie and jon charity fund". you know the one that helps people out who are turning 30, but still jobless, houseless, and medical care-less? she has offered to give us her approximately 9 year old red Saturn sedan (sorry John, do not know exact model, make and age) when we return to the US in August. The car only has 62,000 miles on it, brand new by my standards. I have had 3 cars in my life: a piece of crap rusted out white station wagon 1986 Ford Escort with 80,000 miles on it, (picture this one but as a white wagon covered in brown rust): sorry for the crap photos

a 1989 (I think) white Oldsmobile aka granny-mobile with 85,000 miles on it, (kind of looked like this):

and then the light of my life, a 1993 red Geo Prism.

the geo had about 105,000 miles on it when I inherited it and I had it for another 5 years. When I moved to New York City almost 4 years ago, I sold it to my friend Ames who told me that as of February, "Carry" is still going strong despite a few minor (well, major) ailments. So, 9 years old, 62,000 miles is only a baby to me.

there is one catch about this car my aunt has offered up and it is the catch that is the best part about it. she lives in new mexico. so as i lay there wide awake at 5:15 this morning, i was getting giddier and giddier thinking about our road trip that we will be taking accross the US in August, planning the music we will bring, the national parks we want to stop at, what sort of camping gear we might need if we want to camp, which routes we want to take, the places we will see.

next thing i knew i was thinking about all of the other things i am looking forward to getting back to the US for. topping of the list are: huge American tumble dryers, food shopping in general, but particularly at trader joe's, and being able to drive again. (obviously this is in addition to obvious things like seeing friends and family, and getting to watch the Red Sox).

in my semi-concious state, i lay there drooling over the thought of warm clean clothes fresh out of the dryer, the feeling of putting them on when it is a freezing new england morning. ahhhhhhhh.....do you people know how much you take these wonderful inventions for granted? hardly anyone has what they call tumble dryers here. the ones that do have them will tell you they don't really work because they are tiny and it takes 90 minutes to dry 2 pieces of clothing. all winter we have been drying our clothes on the heaters, but now that it is too warm to use the heat, it is a real problem for us. we can hang clothes on the rack for 4 days and they are still just as wet as they were when we took them out of the washer. when i ask people what they do (because it isn't like we are alone in this situation), they say to put them outside. OUTSIDE? it has been raining for 10 days straight, and it's only 50 degrees and even when it isn't raining, it is still grey and damp. so i have decided british people secretly wear manky, damp, moldy clothes. and in true british fashion, they put up with it, never to complain, only to be greatful that the laundry can dry properly for once, when the sun does decide to show its face. bless them!

so wide awake at 5:15 this morning, i felt like a little kid on christmas day thinking of all of the wonderful things we have to look forward to. the only problem being it is not christmas day, and today I leave the house at 7am and come home at 9pm after spanish class. una dia muy largo. back to reality. mas cafe por favor.

one extreme to another

2006-05-23T09:20:00.000-04:00

oh my word, is it friday yet? i am ready to pass out right here on my desk. this is unfortunate as i have 3 hours and 10 minutes left of work. i am trying to keep myself entertained here but the whirlwind of passports and visas, chauffeur cars and hotels and car hire bookings is just not lighting my fire today. hmmmmmmmmm..... did it ever? let's face it. it's paying the bills and that's about it.

i know you probably haven't noticed a particular lapse in my blogging over the last week or so, but in case you have, i do actually have a good excuse for once in my life. our computer is sick, very sick. we have a gorgeous little white apple laptop and looks like 4 years lugging it back and forth oversees, through 4 different moves, it finally decided it had enough. the good news is it is fixable for a small fortune (thank god, because i have no idea how i would have been able to console sir pasty if we had to pull the plug and bin it, now there is a man who loves his computer). the bad news is we will be without it for another couple of weeks.

as i have made my excuses now and do not have time to recap our weekend agenda as a result, i will have to leave you with this little nugget of enlightenment. hmmmmmmm....you think there just might be something wrong with an immigration system that pays to house, clothe and feed london tube bombers? perhaps we should build a big fence around the UK, like with Texas? now that's a brilliant idea. from one extreme to another.

HALLELUJAH!

2006-05-19T05:09:00.000-04:00

JUNE 22, 2006 8:30 AM

What is so special about this date that is warrents it's very own line in big letters?

Praise Jesus, Praise Buddah, Praise Allah, hell, go on and praise em all because

deep breath......................

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get ready...........................................
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and..........................................
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ITS SIR PASTY'S INTERVIEW DATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(visa to be issued within one week of this marvelous day)

drought?

2006-05-15T11:58:00.000-04:00

yep, it's official. we are having a drought here in the UK. did i just say those words? i mean que pasa people? every other drought i have had the pleasure of witnessing is the result of months and months of hot, sunny, dry days with no rain or even clouds to be seen. but here, it is STILL grey, still cold, and still drizzley. WTF? sorry limeys but you may have to skip that daily evening bath in the oversized tub and you may actually have to boil the tea water more then once rather then tossing it out. and as is typical here, most people are primarily concerned about the plants and flowers. but not to worry as i have already seen at least 2 emergency newsbriefs on plants that thrive in dry weather.......

sometimes miracles do happen

2006-05-10T03:46:00.000-04:00

i phoned the US embassy last night to see if in fact our "case number" had been loaded onto their "system". i was fully expecting the usual run around of "no mam, it doesn't seem to be on there yet, but try calling back next week spending the usual $40 a call costs, so that we can tell you the same thing again". but what do you know, after answering 15 questions about my name and address, my husbands name and address, our case has indeed been loaded onto the system. not only that, but i was told that it had been loaded on as of 21 April, and we will know our interview date (ie around when Jon will be given his visa) within 12 weeks of this date. so in otherwords, come mid july we will know when we are able to come home). so HOOOOORAY for us!

best and worst

2006-05-07T15:57:00.000-04:00

did you know only 20% of Americans have a passport? and do you know how damn sick i am of getting quoted this statistic by people that aren't from the US? the first time i heard it, i thought, "really, wow, that's depressing". the second time i heard it, i thought, "oh, yeah, i know, can you believe it? shameful." the third time i heard it i thought, "here we go again" and now when i hear it, well, i am ready for a fight! don't get me wrong. i am as embarrassed about it as the next person.

but why is it only British people that know and love to quote this damn statistic? and once you've lived here for a while, you will realize how socailly unproper and unpolite and quentisentially un-British it is to begin a conversation with someone you've just met by slagging off their fellow citizens. but yet, it is perfectly normal and accpected here when it is an "American" you are talking to. and it is starting to piss me off, because it is always just the beginning of a longer conversation of slagging off the US and Americans, and blah blah blah blah blah. i am just as anti George W and Iraq war as the rest of them, but come on pasty brits, take some responsibility. you voted in Mr. Blair after he helped Mr. Bush back into the White house. and anyway, just because 80% of Brits have passports, you know it's only cause at least 50% of you want to be able to to to Spain and Greece to drink yourselves silly, lie on the beach and shag in the bushes....not exactly cultural travelling now is it?

on a totally different and shall i say pro UK note, i must share what i have decided my most favorite thing about the UK is. after living here a while, and having had many debates and conversations about what is good and bad about the UK and what is better and worse here then in the US, one thing is for sure, this is the best damn country to take walks in in the entire world. i love walking. it is probably the activity i love most (just after sex and eating of course) and the UK happens to have the most glorious countryside to walk in. there are endless paths along rivers, through valleys and mountains, through lush green fields dotted with sheep, cows, horses and goats and there are gorgeous flowers everywhere (result of the nations love affiar with gardening). the fields take you through land that in most other countries would be private. instead, they have spent millions here to keep it open to the public, clean, well kept and even signposted. did you know one can walk on these paths all the way from london to canterbury (over 60 miles). or that one can walk all the way from york (where we used to live in northern england) all the way to edinburgh and glasgow, scotland? and these aren't walks through the middle of nowhere. many of them use the same paths that horse and carriages used to use to get from place to place. as a result they go from village to village through the countryside. and it's no wonder, cause though Brits love to walk, they love a pint at the local pub just as much.

anyway, moral of the story being, if you haven't in your life had a ramble through the English countryside, i strongly recommend it. gotta focus on the good things about being here for a while now :) and where else can you walk side by side to sheep and cows?

oh my oh may.......

2006-05-07T14:49:00.004-04:00

is it really may? i know i know. i hang my head in shame. i have been neglectful and i am sorry. i will try and be better with the bloggin thang as i must admit i am missing it loads and feeling badly out of touch. i have lots to fill all you peeps on.

i have to admit, one reason for the continuous lack of bloggin is our visa situation, or shall i say the lack there of. i have been very depressed about it and couldn't fact writing about it, and have been putting it off cause it made me cry. jon and i were supposed to have been packing up our lives in london at this time, saying goodbye to nasty neighbors and elephant and castle shopping centre and our very overcrowded room, but instead we have been busy negotiating with our jobs to let us stay on longer as the visa has been delayed yet again. after paying about $4.00 per minute and waiting on hold for 20 minutes, we have been told by the lovely peeps at the US embassy in London, that our visa could take anohter 3-6 months once the visa "number" is loaded onto their system from the National Visa Center in the US (and this could take 4 weeks in and of itself). great, cause you know for us, their isn't really any difference between returning to Beantown in August or, going back in November/December, right? specially when i am temping and my job could end any day, and Jon is technically jobless after June 30th.

there is some good news though. jon has negotiated with his job to stay at least through July. and as for me, well, considering that we are so completely understaffed and have been for months, and considering the that the temp whose job i took over stayed for almost a year, i think my position is pretty safe. we will have to take a few deep breaths and hope and pray that the visa will be done closer to august then to december and keep plugging away (while continuing to hope the nieghbors will mysteriously disappear in a puff of smoke).

meanwhile, there is more good news! i have officially been accepted into grad school (in Boston)! i am busy sorting through the paper work and trying to figure out financial aid and how many classes to take and how we will pay for it, but i have decided one thing, come hell or highwater, i am starting in september. so gar, get our a-team lunch boxes ready and alert the press.

home away from home

2006-04-18T13:02:00.000-04:00

despite my rant about the lack of clippy hangers yesterday, there are times when i feel right at home in london.

for example, when i was walking home from work in the financial district of london today, i saw a bunch of pedestrians yelling "fuck you asshole" at the traffic that refused to let them cross at the cross walk. and when they nearly started a brawl with the driver, i looked up and saw someone wearing a boston redsox hat.

yep, just like boston but with a few more excuse me's and sorry's thrown in and without the ice scrapers and snow shovels.

clippy hangers?

2006-04-17T15:17:00.000-04:00

where are all the damn clippy hangers in this country? i mean, come on people, how hard can it be to find these things? i have been all over london, i have asked 10 different people, and no one knows. they all say "well woolworth's has hangers, but it's true they never have the clippy ones. hmmmm....well, i usually get them at the store when i buy a skirt cause it comes with it." well that's just great because i can really afford to go out and buy 15 new skirts just to have the damn hangers (plus then where would i put the new skirts?). urrrrrgh.....

welcome back big papi

2006-04-12T04:36:00.000-04:00

hoooray! baseball season has returned in style :)

Lard Queen

2006-04-12T03:26:00.000-04:00

lordy lordy lordy, where does the time go? has it really been almost two weeks since my last post? i mean we are talking march here. sorry for this. life seems to have taken on a new manic pace for us.

i am frantically trying to update my CV as i am preparing for yet another job search. but no, it's not what you are thinking. i am not leaving my temp job (which i am still at 6 and 1/2 weeks later mind you). instead i am gearing up for a job search in beantown and we are all smiles about this one as it means we will soon be heading home, we hope!

jon is just as frantically writing a lecture to deliver at one of the big ivy league universities in a few weeks. and he is getting paid for this one including airfare and hotel plus a fairly reasonable sum on top. but this means a he is freaking out even more then he would have otherwise. we all know he will be great though, as he always is with these things.

this weekend is easter which means that in this part of the world, we have 4 days off in a row as we get easter monday and good friday. so, thank you jesus for giving us four days off :) we are off to canterbury for the long weekend to visit the in laws and stuff ourselves with chocolate and roast dinner and no doubt tons of very unhealthy and probably lard filled english pastry.

speaking of, i know gar likes to call me the butter queen, but really he should change it to lard queen. surprisingly, no one uses butter here. they all use margarine to butter toast (and yes, sandwiches which is just all wrong and gross), but for cooking, there is good old fashinoned lard. i am still in denial about it. but i guess it does mean they can still call the pantry the larder.

work is work. you know, it's fine and it is nice to have money. but it is the usual understaffed undertrained underpaid chaos that is the travel industry these days. still, there is no alcoholic asshole boss that yells at us to be seen in these here parts, so i am happy. as you can tell, my standards have been lowered drastically by temping experience number one.

well, the time is getting on and all the peeps are crawling out of the woodwork here now that it is past 830am, so i better return to acting like i am doing something useful. more soon.....

it's official

2006-03-30T15:28:00.000-05:00

i am now in my fifth week at work and not considering quitting anytime soon! i think this boads well for us and the bank account :)

it's also official. jon's visa application is now "complete" according to the lovely national visa center processing plant. can't you just picture a huge factory with passports on a conveyor belt and little elves squealing away and busting out their big stamps? well, not just yet. the next step is for them to "process" it and then it all gets sent to the london us embassy. and then, all being well, we will be called in for an interview, and sir pasty will be called in for the lovely medical examination/vaccination fest. yep, the poor guy has to get poked with needles on top of everything else and is actually required to have a flu shot amongst others.....weird, i know.

so, it's almost friday already. amazing how time flies when you work, isn't it? we are busy planning things to do to keep us from harming our neighbors. this is increasingly becoming routine for us, and soon we will be pros. not that it's hard, cause there is so much fun stuff to do here in london. tomorrow evening we are off to see thismovie. saturday we have big plans for the london zoo (i hear they just got zebras) and drinks with some friends and sunday we plan have a nice walk along the thames, one of my favorite things to do here, and a few hours chilling out in by far the best starbucks in london.

i cannot give away too many details about where it is because the best thing about it is it is relatively undiscovered compared to the others. now, i never considered myself a stahbies girl before. i was always into the local corner coffee shops. but here in london, all of the alternatives have major issues, like shitloads of smoke due to the influx of italians, or lack of decaf options, or lack of soy milk, or shitty music, or like all the other stahbies, no where to sit for a good 30 minutes after ordering. but, this particular stahbies is not only smoke free like the rest of em, but i have never ever even once had to wait for a seat. and it gets better. every single seat in this one is a big comfy armchair or a sofa. and they always have music playing that may as well be from my own collection. so, yes, as you can see, i have been converted to yet another damn american chain.

another good thing about tomorrow being friday is apparently on the last friday of each month, we are given free drinks AT WORK, DURING WORK HOURS. now, if you ask me, that is a pretty damn cool idea. i could use it daily, or even weekly, but, hey, monthly is something that i won't be turning down :)

i hope everyone has a fantasic weekend. thanks for putting up with my much needed rant about you know who last time. it was very theraputic for me to get it out.

on a final note, many congratulations to the newest and cutest homeowners in massachusettstoday. soooo happy for you both :)

why we want to kill the neighbors

2006-03-26T12:49:00.000-05:00

i am warning you...this post is going to be a total bitch session. so don't say i didn't warn you. i know it isn't the most pleasant read for a mellow sunday afternoon, but i honestly cannot help it. i feel like i am going to burst and i have just got to let it out so here goes.

i have never ever felt i wanted someone or some people to actually kick the bucket before, but if someone out there wants to off our neighbors for us feel absolutely free. you will be doing the whole rest of our poor neighborhood and london a damn lotta good.

so we have been living here since september and from the first weekend we moved in, it became clear that we had encountered the neighbors from hell. it was a sunny saturday and they cranked up the stereo in their kitchen so they could hear it while sunbathing in their yard. they were completely and utterly oblivious or just too selfish to care about the fact that we could hear every word, every note, every damn beat of their crappy club techno music over our own music, over our television, over our conversations. they let it play all day for hours on god damn end while they sat in the yard fucking sunbathing.

this routine went on every weekend and at least 2-3 nights per week until jon and i started to ask them to turn it down. at first they tried to be semi civil about it but after we called time number 8 or so, they started givine us this huge attitude as if we are the ones with the problem. even though we have repeatedly invited them down to listen to how loud it is in our apartment, they refuse to come down and refuse to believe that the music is loud. "it doesn't sound loud to us" is what they say.

so i finally lost it with them when i came in one saturday afternoon desperate for some peace and solace after facing the pre christmas crowds in south london. when i entered the house, i could hear stairway to fucking heaven (yes, i know, a definite step up from techno at least) playing in every goddamn room in the house as if it was blasting on our own stereo. when i called them and asked them to turn it down, they responded, "even on a saturday". i lost it and told them when they played their music at the volume it was at it meant we had to listen to it and couldn't listen to our own and we didn't always want to listen to their music and why couldn't they just say sorry and turn it down like nice people? why? because they aren't nice people. they aren't even civil people or okay people. they are they work of some fucking techno devil that escaped from hell's worst club.

so after that whole interchange i have done everything i can not to have to deal with them as i am seriously afriad i might lose it and go at them with a pitchfork and off them. but last night, just when i thought it couldn't get worse, it did.

we sleep with a super loud noise machine and a fan to block out the noise upstairs. it is so loud that jon's mum always worries we won't hear the fire alarm if it goes off. it is so loud that when anna has friends over late at night we never hear them. but last night at 6 fucking am we were both awakened out of a very sound sleep by the blasting of their crap techno over the noice machine and fan. funny that we had both been dreaming that we were in a club......

basically they had been out and got totally fucked face on drugs, had a bunch of friends around and pumped up the music. and though they turned it down last night after i called them half asleep, as i write this now, they are blasting it again and still have shitloads of their mates over.

so, we are getting deperate now. any suggestions out there, besides death? we have got to find a way to survive this for 3 more months, and we have no idea what to do other then to try our best to ignore it even though we may as well be living underneath a club. we have tried to talk civilly to the, to explain that we understand the walls are thin, but we all need to be respesctful, we have tried to ignore them, we have tried every tactic and nothing works because they are fuckers. i have never had violent fantasies about hurting people before, but this is what we have been driven too. help us please. ideas anyone out there?

2006-03-23T14:28:00.000-05:00

sorry about the last one. seemed as if the coast was clear and then they all crawled out of no where.

happy almost friday everyone! i know i am glad because it is the first full weekend jon and i have had together in months. he has been so busy at work and had to work so many extra weekend hours because of events and it gets old after a while. right now the plan is to see capote tomorrow evening and make our way to this lovely place on either saturday or sunday. we went once before and it was gorgeous with acres and acres of walking paths, amazing flowers and some very cool wildlife. unfortunately i don't think we will be blessed with good weather.....

speaking of weather, what the hell is up? it has been in the 30's for the last 3 weeks now and every damn time i check the weather in boston it is warmer. honestly mama nature, give me a break soon soon soon please! the thing is, when you live in england you never really get a summer. i mean 70 degrees just isn't summer. you still wear long pants, you still need a sweatshirt or sweater, and you never really put away the winter clothes because it isn't uncommon for it to be in the 50's here in the summer. so, as a result, it seems like its been winter for me for about two years. TWO YEARS!! that is the last time i could wear tank tops and sandals and sit in the sunshine whenever i wanted for 3 months straight.

off to eat dinner now. hope everyone is well!

3 weeks and counting

2006-03-22T03:10:00.000-05:00

yes, i know. i've been neglectful again. but yesterday was the 3 week mark on my stint at work :) how cool am i?

i am at work now and definitely not supposed to be checking e mail, let alone blogging but since i am working the early shift today and most people are too lazy to ge their bums out of bed, it is nice and quiet here for once.

so over the last week, while i haven't been recovering from this sars/flu/cold thing, i have been hanging out with my friend elissa who came to visit all the way from st louis, and now has left with the sar/flu/cold thing too.

have to run. people have arrived. back to work

Buenos dias amigos

2006-03-15T12:40:00.000-05:00

guess who's not in Spanish class right now? soy un esudiante muy travieso. i am feeling only slightly guilty about it, just enough to give me that great high i used to get when skipping class in high school.

but i do have a good excuse, like my bout with birdflu/sars/cold # 8,569 this season. as per alyssa's comment, i am seriously afraid of what it gets like when you are toting around two germy kids with snotty noses who spend the majority of their time with hundreds of other kids with snotty noses. oh the germs...i can only imagine. and i thought london tubes were bad.

on the bright side, i figure i am doing a fantastic job of building up my immune system this winter, and will soon be able to be sneezed on, coughed at, and puked on, and the germs will roll off me and run for cover.

so this here chica has now survived 2 weeks and 2 days of work, and i am already to plan my retirement now :) only kidding. i have been hesitant to say this because i was worried i might jinx myself, but now that some time has gone by, i can honestly say, this job is pretty cool for a temp position. the people are all very nice, chilled out enough to have a laugh, and while the job itself isn't the most exciting job, it is just fine for a while. pay is good, two well stocked kitchens equipped with in house cleaners are fantastic, and still friggin love that damn coffee machine. hot chocolate, filter coffee, lattes, cappacino's, what more can you ask for? and all for free! so i am thanking some higher power profusely for finally giving me a little break from my trails and tribulations in london. i guess what i am saying, and i never thought i would say it, and don't hold me to this cause you know its me and it could change tomorrow, but i am actually enjoying working!

on another positive note, i think its high time to praise london for something, as i know i have done very little of that. the flowers are all coming up here and they are gorgeous! one of the things i love about this city, this country, is how much people love gardening. i mean we are in one of the poorest areas of london filled with tons of housing projects, and yet there are flowers everywhere even around here. the square i walk through in the mornings and evenings is filled entirely with tulips, crocuses, daffodils and you can hardly see the grass. london, britian, kicks ass with the whole green thumb, flowers, parks, gardening obsession. the weather may suck, it may be endlessly grey, cold, and damp but bring on los flores. que bonito!

where have i been?

2006-03-12T16:48:00.000-05:00

i know, i suck. i have been neglectful and absent and, well what can i say? i am a working woman now and have little time left over for bloggin'.

i have also just begin cold number 3 in 10 weeks. this is what happens when you spend 2 hours of every day squished onto london's tubes when half the people you are squished up against are sniffling and hacking away. and then you get to work and spend your day packed in corporate grub with more hacking people. i haven't had this many colds in the last 10 years put together. time to bust out the echinecea, the airbournes, the vitamin c. better yet, time to break out the surgical mask and anti bacterial hand cream.

more soon. i promise. time to grab another roll of tiolet paper now.....

the one week mark

2006-03-06T14:18:00.000-05:00

i don't really have time to post because we are eating dinner (and you all know where my priorities lie with that one). but i couldn't stand to look at that last depressing post anymore. soooo good news:

washing machine is fixed

jon finally has a day off tomorrow....meaning he gets to do some washing for us :)

the washing machine fiasco seems to have sufficiently scared away the mice for the time
being (though i found a mammouth rat sized pooh this morning)

and most importantly, i have survived an entire week of work.

a whole week! me! a whole week of getting paid and not quitting! i am very proud of myself as this is no small accomplishment for me.

will try to keep the posts coming. hope you are all well.

rant

2006-03-02T16:22:00.000-05:00

exhausted from new job.
still no washing machine after 3 weeks.
mice problem out of control.
neighbors rediculously loud.
jon's working all weekend ie fri 9-9, sat 9-10, and sun 10-4
still no word on visa
shit day.

nuff said.

the jury is still deliberating

2006-02-28T13:34:00.000-05:00

the verdict of temping round 2. BUT i have survived day one meaning in one day i have earned more then i have in 4 months! people seem nice, like the big kitchen, and LOVE the fancy shmancy coffee/hot chocolate/cappacino/espresso/latte machine that custom makes it for you. surviving day one on the job is a huge step for me. i am someone who can proudly say i have walked out on at least 4 jobs after only a few hours, so i reckon it bodes well. much better then the evil bitch at some certain chain movie rental company who yelled at me for not doing a better job of ironing my pants a few years back.....

It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside

2006-02-28T13:28:00.000-05:00

when good things happen to good people congratulations boys! have some champers for jon and i :)

one week just isn't enough:

2006-02-23T13:16:00.000-05:00

i have been racing around all week and still haven't even come close to talking to everyone on the phone, let alone trying to see them. my week has been like this:

dinner with the parents....check
lunch with the sister and nephew....check
finish writing personal statement for grad school.....check
sort out out taxes.......check
finish grad school application.....check
go to interview for grad school.....check
seeing sister number two.....check as of tonight
shop for random things that i can't buy in the UK.....check
go to grad school class to see if i like it.....check
do lots of laundry because our washing machine in london is broken.....check
drive all over like a maniac who never gets to drive anymore.....check

and no check on:
breathing.....
sleeping......
eating at Anna's Taqueria....
walking around the reservoir....
eating sushi.......
seeing nearly enough of the people in new england who i miss so much :(

at least it is fun to be back for a bit even if i am realizing there just aren't enough hours in the day to squeeze it all in. i still love coming home :)

Temping Round 2

2006-02-16T11:41:00.000-05:00

someone has just received word that one week from tuesday, she will join the world of the employed! i think it's going to be a bit of a shock to the system, and the bank account. but i have to say, it is nice to know when we get back from boston, i will be earning some money and some structure to my day. hopefully round 2 of temping will be better then round 1 which included lotsa men standing around looking at porn and an occasionally drunk boss who often yelled at us. wish me luck and think good thoughts for me :)

Frizzy

2006-02-15T13:42:00.000-05:00

So, ever since I cut my hair a few days ago, it seems to have developed a mind of its own and a new lease on life. This morning, it looked pretty much like this but brown of course.

Not a Moment too Soon

2006-02-15T05:47:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentine's

2006-02-14T10:18:00.000-05:00

It still makes me miss when we were little and got to open Valentine's from everyone in our class, and stuff our faces with pink cake and candy and coke at school. It's just not what it used to be when you are an adult. Still, Happy valentine's everyone :)

Takin' the Plunge

2006-02-13T12:37:00.000-05:00

Hellooooooo peepils. I hope everyone is having a happy Monday. Well, let's be honest, are Mondays ever happy, unless you win the lottery or something? I hope everyone is surviving Monday I guess. And I hope all you Bostonians weathered mother nature's latest challenge

We went to see Walk the Line this weekend. Very very good. And I must say, Mr Pheonix/Mr. Cash, you are one sexy dude in it. I can't speak for the guys, but my hubby seemed quite pleased with Ms. June Carter. Unlike the whole rest of the world, I somehow did not know the story of Johnny Cash and June Carter, and had no idea that they actually were married for 35 years. But you know, sometimes ignorance is bliss because that made the movie so much more fun for me i.e. the marriage proposal onstage scene. There I was thinking June was gonna dump him on his ass, and he'd overdose and die like in the usual rock and roll saga. Needless to say, I did shed a tear or two.....

The theme for me this week is takin' the plunge. I have just returned from having my very long hair chopped to above my shoulders. And I am in the midst of applying to graduate school. Yep, you heard right.....7 years after graduating college, I have decided it's time. I still have no idea if I will get in or if we are ever going to be able to afford it, or how exactly it is going to fit into our plans of ever having money again, let alone buying a house and having a few Pasty Juniors one day. But I figure one thing at a time. I just can't believe I actually found a program I feel is worth going back to school for, after thinking about it for 7 years. Thanks for the tip Gar!

We are headed back to beantown this weekend because Sir Pasty has a conference there. Hey, anyone else who's going, wanna give my hubby a job? He's really cool, very smart, handsome with gorgeous dimples.... you will not be disappointed if you hire him :)

It will be nice to be home for a few days, even if it means figuring out how on earth to file taxes when both of us have income from two different countries, when I have had two jobs this year, and Jon has had hmmmmmm, lemme count...... one, two, three, four jobs this year. I have just found out we are legally bound to show income earned outside of the US on the return. Since we are under serious scrutiny from US immigration, and since I have just given authorization for them to dig around in all of our tax records, I don't think it's the time to take any risks. No e returns for us this year, unless someone out there happens to have a computer tax program that lets you declare overseas income......anyone, anyone?

Oh, and last but not least, this chica actually passed her Examen de Espanol....the one I was convinced I was gonna fail a couple weeks ago. HOOOOOOOORAY!!!

Hope everyone has had a good weekend.

Yet Another Reason I Love My Hubby

2006-02-08T10:09:00.000-05:00

Because not only does he still bring home flowers for me, but he brings home flowers with funky decorations that look like they should be eaten:

He is the coolest!

Bonjour

2006-02-07T14:27:00.000-05:00

Paris was awesome! Very beautiful, even if the sun didn't poke it's head out for 3 days. We had wonderful food, took lovely long walks, and saw amazing art. We even got to stand about 2 feet from the Mona Lisa. I wasn't expecting much because everyone I have met whose seen it is nonplussed....but she was lovely. She definitely had something special about her up close, that doesn't exist in he reproductions. The French were actually polite to us, and seemd to take pity on out lack of even the most basic Fench. Here are some photos from the weekend.

One Year Ago...

2006-02-03T15:52:00.000-05:00

tomorrow was a very special day! Our first wedding day, to be followed by a wedding blessing on August 6th, and something on the other side of the pond that is yet to come. I can't believe how fast a year has gone by. Everyone says the first year of marriage is the hardest, and I think it's true. But then not everyone chooses to change jobs twice, move three times including one time internationally, and attept to sort our marriage visas in two different countries all in the first year of marriage. Whew.....I feel tired just writing it all. It's been a hard year my love, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I love you and Happy Anniversary! We are off to Paris tomorrow to celebrate, and we intend to leave all worries regarding visas, jobs, and money here in London. Bye Bye!!! Happy Weekend :) Stay tuned for some photos....

When you are cool enough to go to Oxford

2006-01-31T11:40:00.000-05:00

god forbid ya should actually HAVE to go to class.....

Hola

2006-01-31T10:52:00.000-05:00

I know it't been a little while since the last post. Sorry bout that. We have been too busy stuffing our faces with J & G :) We did have some yummy food, and since we hardly ever go out to eat, it was a real treat to try some new restaurants. We had the best time with them and it was so nice to relax with good friends and food. See here and here for more details of our fun filled weekend.

Now that the boys are gone, life has returned to normal :( El examen de espanol muy muy muy grande is this Friday and I have been attempting to prepare for it. It is proving difficult since we have covered over 100 hours of material. Job situation is dwindling by the moment. I Was doing some temping for my bro's company out in Cali and saying as it's been weeks since I heard from the boss there, I think that possibility is now dead. The story of my life. I had a possibility for another job that I never heard back from. And I got a message on my phone from one of the universities saying I should call them back regarding two possibilities for temping. Great! That sounds positive, right? This way I can temp for them directly without having to go through Cho Mama's Temps R Us agency. I just rung them back, and they basically said "they hadn't had anything materialize yet in the way of temp work" and the usual blah blah blah of how they have my CV on file and will call me in anything comes up. WHY one earth they couldn't have told me that when they left a message on my phone, I have no idea. I mean are you just trying to mess with my head on purpose? So I am back to Square 1 now, and feeling totally down about it. I think the hardest part of looking for jobs is the up and downess of it. You think you might have found the one and then it falls through....over and over and over again. It is all one big massive head fuck really.

Speaking of head fucks.... this story really cheered me up!

Cuppa Tea?

2006-01-25T11:06:00.000-05:00

I am glad to say my funk has lifted this lovely afternoon. Perhaps it is because I skipped Spanish, and actually got some sleep; something I hadn't had in about 3 days because everytime I would drift off, I would sneeze, not be able to breathe, or get that post nasal drippy kinda itchy feeling that makes you cough. So lucky for me, I got to stay in bed all day and rest up, while poor Sir Pasty has had to bring home the bacon. Since I have kept him up with my coughing, sneezing, nose blowing the past three nights, the poor guy hasn't slept in 3 days either. And to top it off, he has only been better from the last cold for a week, and now he has caught my new one.

Gar and John....don't forget to bring your travel masks this weekend :)

There are a number of reasons why today is cool despite our impending limitless flem. Tonight we have a visitor from the New England/New York area. This lovely lady has made her first trip overseas to visit us (and a few other fans) in England before she makes her was to France. You know she's cool because her name backwards spells "Rad". Because the concert is at 7:30, it means we have to eat dinner out. Fallafel yum, here we come!

Another reason why today is cool is because it is the day before the day before we have two gorgeous guys visiting us from Beantown. Because a large part of what we do when the 4 of us do together involves stuffing our faces, I could not be more thrilled. Time to bust out the overalls (yep, still got em), and bring on the endless beer and curry. Unfortunately, unlike the two of them, I do not have the superduper, speed of lightening, "I just ate 10 somosas but am still hungry" metabolism the two of them have, but I don't think it has stopped me before :)

So in honor of their visit, I have decided to share instructions for how to make a proper cuppa. This is something American's cannot do. I didn't belive there was a proper way, but if you've ever had tea in Enlgand and then tried it in the US, y'all will know what i'm talkin bout.

1) use an electric kettle cause the ones that go on the stove take to damn long
2) add a little bit of boiling water to the teapot to warm it up before you fill it
3) fill the electri kettle with cold water, not hot or luke warm
4) add the teabags (2-3) to the pot, but make sure pot is empty
5) at the precise moment the water comes to boil, pour it over the teabags into the pot (this is the key peeils...in skunkin donuts, they will often use luke warm water....YUCK)
6) let brew for about 5-6 minutes, but cover with one of these little babies to keep it warm....

7) add a little milk to the empty mug (if you drink it with milk) and then add the brewed tea
8) accompany tea with 10-15 cookies and/or pieces of chocolate and you are all ready to roll

You'd think with all this tea making knowledge, I would be at the top of the tea making hierarchy. But I still have not made my way up the ladder to make it when we go to Jon's parents. This is because despite my knowledge, I ALWAYS do something wrong in the process and one of the in-laws corrects me (and I swear I can hear them mutter "damn Americans" under their breath everytime I screw up). I have given up trying now.

warning: woe is me kind of a post

2006-01-24T12:33:00.000-05:00

hello peepils. don't say i didn't warn you ahead of time.

i have come down with cold number two in 4 weeks, and they are the kind that last about 2 weeks each. i haven't been able to sleep for 3 nights due to not being able to breathe.

this doesn't bode well for my impending Spanish exam, as I have absolutely no energy left over to study and it is all i can do just to make it to class. as the exam is 3 hours and covers material from 120 hours of classes, i don't think this chica is going to be moving up to the intermediate level.

my interview was crapola :( apparently a 3-4 year long commitment in a crappy entry level administrative position was not long enough for them. afterall, they want someone who will "grow" with the company. since i was lying to them about staying 3-4 years in the first place, it is probably not the job for me.

i am slowly realizing that I am most certainly going to have to face the temping world again and that SUCKS.

so i guess you could say i am having a "feeling sorry for myself" kind of a moment, or week, or month, or year, even though there really isn't anything terrible wrong. perhaps it is the impending year of turning the big 30 and not having any job. i always thought when i got to this age i would be all settled with a career and a couple kids and a house and a car. and here i am without even a temp job to speak of. how did i get here? i think i am having a pre midlife crisis, in case you can't already tell. why do we subconciously follow these invisible rule books that are supposed to go along with life?

sorry....at least i did warn you.

who's buying?

2006-01-23T12:35:00.000-05:00

perhaps G & J should move to blitey?

RIP Mr. Whale

2006-01-23T12:14:00.000-05:00

One of the most rediculous and endearing things about England is how much people love animals. There is almost always an animal story on the daily news. The love for animals is often to such extremes that they seem to care more about animals then people....aka why is every god damned pigeon in London overstuffed by constant feeders while there are people on the streets starving?

But I have to admit this story kept us (and the whole country) tuned in all weekend. How often do you have a whale swim right into the center of one of the world's biggest city? And I was so sad that the poor thing never made it. RIP Mr. Whales.

HOOOOOOORAY!!!

2006-01-20T04:32:00.000-05:00

Theo's comin' home :)

Mother Nature.....

2006-01-18T13:25:00.000-05:00

must be PMSing is Boston too by the looks of it. 60 degrees?

Miercoles Randomness

2006-01-18T12:56:00.000-05:00

Sir Pasty is finally feeling better and is actually braving the gym tonight, while I make his favorite dish (pita pizzas) as a reward.

I am preparing for job interview number 1,157 tomorrow. Well, that's what is feels like anyway. I am on autopilot where that is concerned. At least there is no Excel test, that I know of.

I should be doing my Spanish homework and I am completely procrastinating. After three hours of it in the morning, the motivation just isn't there. This work ethic doesn't bode well at all for going back to get my MA does it?

We have just learned not one, not two, but three versions of speaking in the past tense in Espanol! I think I am a nerd, because even though I have no idea how to use it yet, and have to look up the format for every verb tense, I LOVE IT! It is so liberating!!! :) I have been attempting to speak Spanish using the (very broken) present tense for years. Seriously, have you ever thought about how much basic conversation uses the past tense? Think about it....what did you have for dinner last night, what did you do over the weekend, have you seen a particular movie, what did you wear to the party, what did you cook, how was your day....I LOVE IT!!! Past tense rules.

Yes, I know, I need to get out more. A lot more.

We have received our Eurostar tickets and hotel vouchers to go to Paris for anniversary #1 coming up Feb 4th. HOOOOOOORAY!!!! Cannot believe it has been a year already. Perhaps by anniversary # 10 we will finally have had our US version of a wedding. At this rate, Sir Pasty and I will be having our US wedding with the AARP, equipped with canes, wheelchairs and reading glasses. Come on immigration, hurry it up....

Is Mother Nature PMSing?

2006-01-17T13:49:00.000-05:00

Are there supposed to be tulips coming up in mid January?