xkcd

I found this comic randomly on the internet while searching for guitar hero images. Most of the comics are funny but this one is a little on the funny-serious side. A new distraction...I always need more.

Just for fun

Kellen just posted a video that I love and it reminded me of OK Go. So if you've never watched this you should. They are great!

Salisbury

I totally forgot about photos on my camera from when my dad and step mom came to visit! Here are some great photos of Salisbury Cathedral. I would love to go back there!

You can see Dad, Martha and Victor standing in front of the door in the center...you might need to put your face up against the computer screen.

They installed this baptismal font last year. It is one of the most amazing fonts I have ever seen.

There are shrines all over the cathedral for people from the town who have died. This is one of the more colorful ones. Also buried in this cathedral are many knights from the crusades. Ah, history.

The steeple on this cathedral is very famous. It weighs so much that when it was finished, the stone supports on the inside of the church actually bowed. I have a photo of that and it's freaky but they reinforced it so it's safe...sort of.

And of course, where would we be without Starbucks. My sister Meghan said that she has photos of her mom in front of Starbucks all over the world. I guess we all think alike.

The best birthday present ever!

Last night I went to Southampton to meet up with a knitting group and left before Victor got home from work. I was gone about four hours and left him instructions on how to put together the pizza I prepared earlier that day for dinner. Victor does not really like to cook so I figured this was a really good idea. On my walk back from the train station he calls the cell phone wondering when I'll be home because he just put the pizza in the oven. I thought it was nice of him to wait for me to get home for dinner.

We ate dinner and watched back episodes of Heroes: good times. Then Vic clears the plates and asks if I want dessert. Well, I wasn't very hungry, but who says no to dessert? So he dims the lights and brings out a beautiful cake with candles! I just started to laugh because it was such a surprise. On closer inspection I notice that it's homemade...by Victor! He decided, since I was gone for the evening, he would have time to bake my favorite cake: red velvet. You have to understand that this cake is quite difficult to make and usually takes much time and effort. He had to go to the store after work and buy specific ingredients and even cake pans! It was wonderful and also tasted yummy. I was so proud of him for tackling such a feat of baking. And for someone who has most likely never baked anything from scratch in his life, he did a wonderful job. The only thing he got wrong was that he didn't add the right amount of food coloring and the cake turned out a little brown...but then again, I've been known to make my red cakes brown as well. I have the best husband in the whole world.

Post Election WHAT?

Last night we went over to Cosham for bonfire night and it was pretty fun. Fireworks, HUGE bonfire, trees almost going up in flames...you know, the usual. We met up with one of Vic's US coworkers and his local girlfriend. We had a pretty good time hanging out but what I thought was funny was our small conversation with the local about the election. She was wondering why the new president elect waits until January to take office. You know, I wonder the same thing? Why does it take so long for the USA to install it's political leaders? This is the short story of how they do it in England (explained to me my the spinners):

Step 1: People not happy with government/Prime minister term is up
Step 2: Hold election the next week
Step 3: New person (or same person) takes office the next week

Doesn't that sound so lovely? I vote we do it that way next time. They don't have political commercials like we do. Now that is a country I want to live in!! HA HA HA!!

My dad, the inventor

If there is one thing my dad has taught me it's never say "it can't be done". I have featured his invention in a previous post but this time it's the big time. It seems that telling my dad "it can't be done" has lead to something big. Way to go DAD!

Click here for the full story

The ancient city of Winchester

This Starbucks is in one of the oldest, if not the oldest, cities in England: Winchester. It was the original capital city of England. This street was the main shopping area of town but I just had to take a photo of this one! HA! Although, I will have to say that Starbucks in England is very eco friendly and socially conscious. I love living here.

I have been commissioned!

A friend of mine who has recently been ordained, asked me to make her a stole for Advent. Today I went to get some fabric for the project and now I can't wait to get out the sewing machine. It's nice to have a project to work on. Well, I have been knitting and spinning but I really like to have a project that is going toward something important. Plus I get to be creative and make what ever I want!

I should have enough fabric to create more than one so maybe I'll be giving out more than one this year. They are super easy to make and so fun to create. I made a pink one for my internship supervisor so that when I left, he could wear it to have some female representation up front. Pink isn't exactly a seasonal color, nor a color I identify with, but it was fun to make.

It's creative time!

Join the Army....of Women!

Unfortunately, there are some things I cannot do whilst living in England. But YOU can do them! Join the Army of Women and do your part to help researchers find out more about breast cancer. I plead with you, as someone who can't join for the next two years, do it for me! You could call it a birthday gift...since my birthday is coming up:)

Click here to join the Army of Women

Our first visitors!

Today my dad and step mom are coming today for a little visit:) YAY!! I love visitors!

I'm Dyeing...My Handspun!

Yum! Doesn't that look like a nice pot of purple noodles? Well, it's my first batch of Kool Aid dyed yarn. I used grape and black cherry. We'll see how it turned out soon enough! And my kitchen smells like fruit...well, chemically altered fruit.
This is my second batch and I used cherry, lemonade, and orange. It's on the stove right now. I think this one will go to my friend Kellen who was the first person to request my hand spun yarn. And I didn't even know he was a knitter! Brilliance.

This one is for Sarah...yes, that's you, Montana girl!

Take a look at this!

And a little closer just for clarification....
That's right! I found the grave of Jane Austen! Well, I had read somewhere that she was buried in the Winchester Cathedral but when I was there I forgot. But thanks to Victor for reading the brochure and finding this special occasion. So now, Sarah, when you come visit, we have yet another Jane Austen sight to see! And make sure you bring Kari and Katy with you.
And here's a photo of the Cathedral from the front:

I figured out a solution to my problem...ok, my dad figured it out

Yes I am a 29 year old independant woman but sometimes I do get good advice from my dad. I was talking to him yesterday about the outrageous cost of notarization in the UK and he wondered out loud if the nearest AFB could just do it for me. So I made the call this morning and even though I need to drive two hours there and two hours back, it won't cost me much more.

I really need to get into miliatry mode!

You're not going to believe this

I got my voting ballot the other day via email like I requested but that isn't the unbelievable part of this post. I have to get the ballot notarized in order for it to count. Seems legal, right? Well, to have anything notarized in the UK it will cost me 141.00 Pounds. Now let's do the math:
141.00 x 1.71949= 242.447

Yes. ladies and gentlemen, it will cost me $242.45 to vote in this November's election. And believe it or not, and exchange rate of 1.71949 is REALLY GOOD! So, should I pay up or succumb to the fact that my one little vote isn't really going to make a difference?

The Victorage

Well, I don't have inside photos yet because it's still a mess, but here are some outside photos of the house. We live in a semi-detached and our front door is on the side through a little gate.

Our front/side door.

This is our back yard (or back garden) and it's a bit overgrown in this photo but we have recently had it trimmed. Now, it looks nothing like this.

This is just one of the MANY spiders that hang around our house. I hear that they come inside during the cold weather!! The number one fear in England is spiders. However, none of them are poisonous but I wouldn't want them hanging around my living room either. YIKES!

Bristol, Bath and Nottingham

What a weekend! We went to a few places and they were all pretty fantastic. I have a few photos and I've been thinking that I should set up a photo gallery on one of those photo hosting site. I have a Flickr account but I only have knitting on it to upload to Ravelry. But I'll see what I can do. Here are a few of my favorite photos of Bath:
I didn't actually go into the Jane Austen center because I'm waiting for Sarah to come visit. But until then I'll be reading my first Austen novel:)

This was a beautiful day!

The Abby with Jacob's ladder on either side. It was ginormous.

And now Nottingham photos! We met up with a friend who spent the last two years in Germany for the Robin Hood Beer Fest. His sister and her husband live in Nottingham and they were great hosts. I have a feeling we're going to be meeting up with them on a regular basis.

Andrea, John, Katie, Victor and Robin

At the Beer fest! Victor, Katie, Bryan, Andrea, Penny and .... this is horrible that I can't remember this girl's name!!!

England's oldest pub: 1189! The guys would have a drink here before heading off to the Crusades...which is also sort of sad.

Yes, sir. Yes, sir, three bags full!

Ok, maybe not three bags, but yes that is a full fleece in that garbage bag. Apparently I am the new spinning sensation in Portchester. I joined the Spinners and Wool Crafters association at the Portchester Parish Hall on Wednesday mornings. It is fantastic and I just love spinning. Today was my second day and the ladies were amazed that I've been picking it up fairly easily. I don't know why, but it really does come to me easily and I really like it. Plus, I bought some Kool Aid to dye my first yarn and I can't wait to see what it will become. Here's a photo of my wheel (on borrow) and the first skein of wool I've spun:
My handiwork up close. If you know anything about yarn you see that I have a bit to learn about ply:)
So this blue bit of fleese is in the new bundle I got today from the fellow Lutheran in the group. It's fresh off the sheep and I'm just wondering what this blue stuff is? My job is to clean the whole bunch and then I'll be able to run it through the barrel.
That's what I've got for today. I really love spinning and if you have a request for some hand spun yarn I would love to be able to fill some orders...who knows, I might just start my own business?! However, for you knitters that I know and love, you'll just have to put up postage!!

The Big Knit and Mock the Week: good times

I've been knitting little hats for The Big Knit! They will go on Innocent smoothies to be sold during the cold months and they will help keep old people warm this Winter. It's so fun and wonderful because I have all these little left over bits of yarn and nothing to do with them. I highly recommend checking it out!


Victor and I have been watching British TV and it's pretty amazing....well, not really amazing but sometimes it's really funny. Our favorite show by far is Mock the Week. Here is an example of one bit that is dear to my heart.



If you want to see more just go to YouTube and search Mock the Week. We love them.

I realize that I've posted this video twice already but I just realized the other day that Balloon Fiesta is coming up and I'm going to miss it. Bummer.

Now that we've been in England for a month I'm beginning to go through all those moving feelings again. The ones that I hate the worst are the "I don't have any friends" feelings. I tried to join up with a football club last night but the directions I got were not great at all. It's a long story of me driving around a neighborhood for a half hour trying to find the pitch. I was so frustrated I almost broke down crying in my car. But really, I just wanted to be around people my age who are involved in things I like to be involved in.
I joined the Spinners group in Portchester and they are a really nice group of ladies but they are older than my parents and some even able to be my grandparents. They're fun, they're nice but it's not the same as having friends from my own era.
And of course I know that it takes time to make friends. When I was in Albuquerque I had a friend through the Air Force who lived down the street and that was great! But we don't really have that here. On the other hand, I really like that we don't live near a base because it is great to live away from all things American.
Do I sound like I'm complaining? Well, I'm not really downhearted about the whole thing, I just would like some friends:) So that means that YOU have to come visit!! Unless, of course, I don't know you then that might be a little awkward.

Today is one of those days...

One of those wonderful days! You know, when the air is crisp and you can tell that Fall is on it's way. I love days like today.

Ever since we've moved in to our house (photos soon, I promise) I have been doing my shopping at the village (photos soon, I promise). I ride my bike up to the shops and go from store to store with my shopping list. We have two grocery chains in town Somerfield and Iceland. Now I'm not quite sure but Iceland is not the place I like to shop. Somerfield seems more inviting and also stocks more organic, earth friendly products. Plus Iceland just sound cold. But I tend to get all of my veggies, meats and bread from their respective shops in the village. And on Wednesdays there is a market in the center where I can get all sorts of fresh fruits and veggies!

Today I needed to get milk and decided that the front basket on my bike isn't condusive for heavy loads so I went to the bike shop to get a basket for the back. So I am now officially equiped for full on shopping in my village of Portchester. I feel so local.

Photos!

Here's the Castle from the view of the church's cemetary

This is the church I go to...morning prayer every day! I've become an Anglican, who would have guessed?

We went to the top of the Keep last weekend and the view is fantastic!

Here's the courtyard of the castle...and Victor!

We met up with Nikki in London and it was too much fun.

We took a bike tour around the city and it was so fun...even in the rain.

Me and Victor survived spending a whole month together...24 hours a day...non-stop...all the time...just the two of us

Another Bible lesson for Victor

As some of you may know, Victor didn't go to church when he was a kid. In fact, until he met me, the only time he went to church was for the occasional wedding. Every so often there are moments when he will say something or talk about a topic that has roots in Biblical stories but he doesn't understand where it comes from.

Yesterday he tried to tell me that "turn the other cheek" meant to look the other way.

I will use it in a sentence: I noticed that Victor was stealing a candy bar at the store but I turned the other cheek.

Right... so our little lesson consisted of me telling him that turning the other cheek was Christ's response to "eye for an eye". He had no idea what I was talking about. I love him.

I can't wait until I can upload photos

Yesterday we spent a beautiful day in Oxford and today is just as beautiful. But today we're doing laundry on base. We drove up to Croughton on Thursday to get some stuff done and pick up the mail.

Speaking of the mail: I got my first package from Knitpicks! I ordered some yarn, needles, a book and a pattern thing with magnets (this all excites me very much). So I've already cast on a baby blanket for my friend Beth and it's about 1/3 of the way done. I love my new needles that I want to be with them forever....ok, that might be a little overboard.

We move in to the house on Tuesday AND all of our stuff will be delivered by the end of the week too. Not that we have a lot of stuff but at least the place won't be so empty. What I'm really ready for is my computer. I would really like to download all the photos from my camera and start posting them. Soon...very soon.

WE FOUND A PLACE TO LIVE!! (no it's not the castle in the photo)

That's right kids! Today we ended our search of the perfect place to live. I didn't bring my camera so no photos yet (and I'm still working off of shared computers anyway) but hopefully in a few weeks you can see our house. It is the true British experience, let me tell you.

We live down the street from Portchester Castle (photo above or click here too) in a neighborhood that dates back to Medieval times. Our house, however, is not THAT old but it is quite charming and I love it!

Now that a house has been selected I am so relieved that I can hardly stand it. The owners are replacing carpet, painting and doing some renevations so right now it looks like total crap inside. But we love the layout and location so much that we decided to go ahead and get it off the market and hopefully sign the lease next week. Move in date will be in about two weeks but we don't even have any of our household goods right now anyway so it's not really a problem to wait a bit. So once I get the address I'll send it out to you all.

This weekend we're going to London to meet up with one of my friends from Camp Luther and it's going to be fantastic...yes, I already know. We're going on a bike tour of London on Saturday and there is a huge street fair on Regent St on Sunday I would love to go to.

AND I also found a church in Gosport that I totally love. We don't really live close to the church...actually, we live close, but I can't actually take a boat across the water to get there. I have to drive around the long way. But the Vicar is so cool and it's such a great community. Hopefully I'll be able to attend there or I heard there is a church on the Castle grounds too. It's nuts.

The fun of our in process

We're traveling this week to in process at various bases around England. First we're up by Oxford at RAF Croughton. And while I can hop on the internet for blogging and email checking, I can't log in to Facebook...seriously, what will I do?
Then tomorrow we head over to Lakenheath for more in processing fun. But not only will that be fun but we get to see our friends Jim and Jean while we're there! Jim has been a friend of mine since he first stumbled into the doors of Peace Lutheran Church as a lowly AFIT student and was immediately overtaken by the Hedlund family. It's a really long story BUT if it wasn't for Jim coming to church I would have never met Victor....it's a REALLY long story.
Today was also our first day to experience driving in England. We rented a car and it came manual (apparently you have to request automatic) and without blinking an eye, Victor took to it like a fish out of water! Ok, so it wasn't that bad and once you get used to the backwardness of it all, it's really not that scary. Of course, I haven't tried yet but maybe he'll let me drive on base. We pick up our car this week too so that will be strange to drive an American made car on the left side of the road.
So far I've been taking long naps during the day but sleeping well at night. Getting adjusted really takes some time. It will be a while before I can start posting photos but as soon as I get set up you'll see where we live from my point of view. However, we've been so exhausted we haven't even thought of getting out the camera.

We made it! And I edited the address because I had it wrong!!

Well kids, we're in England and it's fabulous! Yesterday two Yanks from Vic's office picked us up form the airport and really helped get us around. They live close to our hotel and showed us around Portsmouth. We went to the touristy area for dinner and mainly to stay awake. It was similar to the San Francisco Fisharman's Warf but also nothing like it. Maybe just the water part. And the weather is just like Seattle- yesterday it was really sunny and everyone was shocked and in love with the sun. Today is half as sunny (but the sun is still out) and big clouds. This is the EXACT opposite from where we just came from. I think we'll be suffering from weather shock more than culture shock.

Just to let you know, I totally forgot about where I was moving until I actually got here:
1) I live on an Island. Totally forgot that.
2) I live near the ocean. Totally forgot that too.
3) I'm the one with the accent. Yeah, it's not REAL until you actually get here.

So if you want to see where I live check out the official website on Portsmouth at http://www.visitportsmouth.co.uk/
And as for now we don't have a place to live but we do have a post box. So if you really want to send us something use this address:
PSC 50 Box 541
APO AE 09494
It's the mail box we have on the closest base about two hours away. If you send something there it's just like sending it in the US so there is NO extra postage.

That's it from the Island. I'll be keeping more updates when I have internet at home.

Are we there yet?

So we moved into a hotel on Thursday night and I'm just about ready to get on an airplane as soon as possible. However, there is the flip side of not really wanting to leave so soon after moving here. I'm really just starting to make some good friends and saying goodbye just isn't fun. Victor was teasing me the other day when he said that I should just be mean to everyone so it's easier to leave. Ummmmm, I don't think I can do that.

The plus side of living in a hotel is that we have cable and we can watch the Olympics! But we don't really spend much time here so that makes a difference.

We leave on Wednesday at 1pm and there is still a lot to do. Once we get to England I have a feeling that my internet access might be limited so let's hope that I'll keep up with the blog....and facebook....and ravelry!! Arugh, I think I'm addicted.

Olympics 2008: I can't believe I don't have a TV

I just watched the Men's 400m relay on NBC.com and it was so amazing I can hardly find the words. I read an article about the win on Yahoo but then decided to watch it because it sounded too amazing. Tears were in my eyes as I watched the final 50m. And I wonder if I'm sentimental because I have some hard core swimmer friends or because I'm moving out of the country in a week.

Seriously, if you haven't seen it then you must now!

Just click here!

Ou est la piscine?

This one is for my cousin Molly who loves French. Also, I love Flight of the Conchords. It's a good match. And if you don't like this video then you might want to catch FotC on HBO and see why they are hilarious.

What are those photos about?

Ok, so I didn't really explain any of my photos. Here's what they are about:

The first three are of me, Patric, James and Mark on our canoe trip to the Cranford Canoe Club for ice cream. We picked up the river in their back yard (how cool is that?!) and headed down stream about a mile to the boathouse. What a life!

The Snicker's cupcake was at Dylan's Candy Bar in NYC. Too amazing for words.

Next I have a photo of James in Central Park where I taught him how to knit. He turned out to be REALLY good! Must be in the genes.

Then there is the crew hanging out in Central Park on a gorgeous day. Elisabeth had a friend in town from Florida and we had an adventure in the City.

The next two are from when my grandma Judy and I went to Ft Wadsworth on Staten Island. Of all the years I've been to SI I have never been there.

And here's grandpa at Staten Island Historical Society Museum. We didn't actually go in but we did walk around Old Richmondtown. Good times.

Finally, the Alice Austin House.

I wrote about all these places a few posts ago but now you can see what I'm saying. For more photos, I'll be posting them on my facebook soon.

New York (Jersey) Adventure!

I heart NY

It feels like forever since I've been here but really it has only been one year. Last summer: about the same time. The past few days I've been hanging out with my grandparents and it's been GREAT! They live on Staten Island and even though I've been coming here my whole life, there are things I did on this trip I have never done before. At the end of Hylan Blvd, a few blocks from their front door, is the Alice Austin House. I've always known that it existed but never checked it out until this trip. You can also see this house in the movie: How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days....ok not the house but in the scene where he's teaching her how to ride a motorcycle, you can see a white picked fence in the background and a house...that's it! Then I went to Fort Wadsworth at the end of Bay St. also located very close to my grandparents house. It is right at the base of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. When my dad was a kid, my grandpa took him and his brother to watch that bridge be built. How cool is that? Also, we took a walk around Old Richmond Town and caught a glimpse of what life was like in 1780. I'm not sure when my family came over on the boat but I don't think they would have lived in any of these houses.

And since my grandpa got a new car, he let me drive all over the Island. We went up the hills and into neighborhoods I never kenw existed. And most of all we had a good time. I heard all the old stories over and over again along with a few new ones. Now that I'm married, my grandpa wanted to make sure I knew about the birds and the bees...a conversation I thought I would never have and not sure I ever want to repeat.

Now I'm in New Jersey visitng with my cousin and her kids. Tomorrow I'll go into the city and decided that since I have become a knitting fiend I'll check out the good yarn stores. So I emailed Kay from Mason Dixon Knitting to get some advice and she so brilliantly replied! Now I have a list of a few places that I'll be parusing tomorrow and see what I can come up with. I packed all the yarn and I'm running out of what I have stashed for the trip to England!! So, unfortunately (?) I might just have to get come NYC yarn. Good times.