England

I'd love to be able to post more than I will here, but it would take hours. I already have 325 pictures! Of course, since I'm working during the week, it's not likely I'll get many pictures for the next few days.

It's been fun so far, but there's no question I already miss home. I got a very strange feeling today when my colleague headed out, and I was all-of-a-sudden on my own. We had gone to Windsor this morning and I loved it, so I dropped him at the train station, and went back for more than four hours. I was very anxious, though, and I think it was because I was now here alone. There are pictures, but I'll start in order.

Oh, and my boss comes into town tomorrow for the rest of the week, so that will be good. Strange, but good. I'm not used to working with him in the same office.

Pictures ...

Our office building

Abandoned 3M building in lovely Bracknell

Clever pub name (out of focus; taken from car)

London Eye

"Look kids! Parlaiment. Big Ben."

Monkey says hi from Big Ben

Leaving Canary Wharf station

Camden (the place Little Five Points fantasizes about)

Locks on the Thames in Camden; check out all the people on the bridge ahead and the overlook to the left. The place is unbelievable.

First time watching an English Premier League team play. Arsenal vs. Paris St. Germaine.

Check out these seats! Unbelievable.

Windsor town

Windsor Castle

More of the town.

There are so many American things, here, but I think seeing this on someone's truck has been my favorite, so far.

More castle



For Beer Pong

The apartment. There's another bedroom and bathroom, too.



Sorry about the crappy placement on the captions, but I still haven't figured out how to make it work.

Killing the earth?

OK, I'm not quite sure how much this blog of I can get behind - yet. Where the environmental movement is way too extreme for me, I can certainly get behind the idea of "don't waste so much." Things like print on the front and back of paper, don't leave all the lights on in the house all day long, and eat local produce when you can.

Planet Gore is entirely in the other direction. But, it sure makes for some interesting reading - reading you're not likely to see in Newsweek, Time, or your local newspaper. Maybe that's because the PG contributors are all crackpots, but maybe, just maybe, it's because the greens have gone a bit over the edge and are taking traditional journalists who are paid to be skeptics, or at least objective, with them.

Hat tip: dad

goals and stuff

In the last couple of days, I have made it my new goal to get to bed by 10 every night during the week. Mainly, this means that I have to be very diligent about not starting movies at 10pm anymore. 5-6 hours of sleep every night is really catching up with me.

Along those lines, for the next two+ weeks, starting Wednesday, I'll be going to bed at 10pm GMT. And on Tuesday, I'll be going to "bed" at about 7pm in the hopes of getting a few hours sleep in time to wake up at Gatwick Airport at 7:30am, ready to go to work.

Things I plan/hope to do while I'm there:
Arsenal match (Liverpool's not playing at home while I'm there)
revisit Oxford
tour Anfield, since there aren't any games
still to decide [maybe Windsor Castle, Stonehenge - "one of the biggest henges in the world!," or Warwick Castle (um, they have a trebuchet, seriously). The Warwick Castle thing looks a bit ren-festy, but I guess you can get away with being ren-festy if you were actually around during the ren-time. It also may be a bit far. Bath is another option, pretty close by.]

So we'll see how this trip goes. I'll be on my own most of it, and Dave won't be able to visit, so I'm pretty nervous about that. We haven't spent this much time apart since we got married (or engaged, for that matter). So, while I'm pretty excited to be going back to a place I absolutely love, I do wish I could be there with the one I love. It would be so much better that way.

I will most definitely try to blog and post pictures while I'm there.

Can't sleep can't sleep can't sleep can't sleep

I'm soooo tired. There's so much going on, and I desperately need to be sleeping. But my mind just won't stop. And now it's too late to take anything cause I have to wake up. Ah, the insomnia delimma.

I haven't had this problem since college, but this is the second night in a row. There's just too much going on.

And I thought I'd be done with one thing and moving onto another this week, but I'm not. I have another week, and potentially more, if I don't do well on my make-up test next week.

We did see Harry Potter tonight. My favorite so far. Very dark. And much more of a character study than any of the others. This is the first movie that's made me care to read the books. Apparently I'll have plenty of extra time on my hands when I go to England in a couple weeks, so maybe I'll take the first one or two.

Watching Pretty in Pink right now. Andrew McCarthy really was cute. Actually, he still is.

Let's see. What else can I ramble on about? Nothing that I can think of that anyone would really be interested in.

Latest kitchen update, maybe?

Countertops before (a mess, I know!)


No countertops

Countertops after




They will look so much better when we finish painting the cabinets, but you get the gist. Also, I can't say how much I LOVE the new deep sink. It's wonderful for cleaning dishes. Even our largest pots/pans (the turkey roasting pan) fit in there! And while we were at it, we replaced the disposal. I truly thank God for my wonderfully handy husband, who over the course of two days (and several trips to Ace Hardware and Home Depot) completely replumbed our kitchen sink.

I think that's about it for now. I'm really tired. Maybe I can get to sleep.

This almost had no title

That's becasue Blogger wouldn't let me enter a title at first. Mayhaps something to do with the IE 7 someone downloaded onto this machine? Mayhaps not, but mayhaps so. Who knows?

So, it started around the weekend of May 20. That was Boston.
Then the next weekend was Birmingham.
Then the next was Dave in Chicago.
Then two weekends home, but one spent working after a couple weeks of 10-12 hour days.
Then four days in Hilton Head
Then five in Minneapolis
And finally back home this past weekend in time for my best friend's wedding festivities, which were amazing. I couldn't be happier for her.
Whew. I'm tired. And am still trying to get over a cold that's been hanging on for a while now.

Oh, and we got new granite countertops this morning. They look great, but will look better when we've finally painted our cabinets.

This weekend is all about studying for a final on Tuesday night, and cleaning the house during study breaks.

And there's more still ...

At the end of July, I'll be going to the UK for a little more than two weeks. While I'm very excited about the trip because I LOVE the UK, I'm also very stressed about it. My wonderful and loving husband will not be able to come and visit, and that will be the longest we've been apart since getting married. Right now the record is only five days, and at three I was more than ready for him to come home.