Finally Victor finds Facebook!

Yes ladies and gents, Victor is on Facebook. It only took him forever but he finally caved. So last night we went through all the bits and bobs of how Facebook becomes the crack you have always wanted to be addicted to. Oh it was a joyous time and I could hardly believe that anyone could be so clueless about one of the most popular cultural phenomenon to happen this millennium.

Other than that it's been work, work, work! Mostly it's going over all the risk assessments but we did get to play with bows and arrows yesterday. I hit the inner yellow ring once (out of seven tries!) Tomorrow it's mountain biking. Maybe I'll try and bring the camera.

I don't know how well this photo will turn out but it is from last Friday at work. Frost, frost, frost!!! And today it was rain, rain, rain!! I just love this weather.

So the job is going well but it's still at the talk, talk, talk stage. But tomorrow we're doing some staff training on low ropes and then on Thursday we get to go mountain biking.

Rough life.

Maybe some of you are up on what's happening in the world of communication but I just learned about Skype. So any of you using Skype? Because now we can chat and look at each other. Sweet.

It took a while

but I finished the book this afternoon. It was great! I recommend that you read it now. So step away from the computer and read!!

My late night

I've been really proud of my self recently because I have been going to bed at very early hours and getting tons of sleep:) However, I am posting this at 12:16am. Not cool.

I just started reading A Thousand Splendid Suns this morning and I'm already half way through. When will I learn that I shouldn't read so fast because then I can enjoy a book for a longer period of time? Well, I won't start now because this book is so good I can't put it down.

The Spinsters...as Vic likes to call them

Here are photos from the Christmas party with the Spinsters. As you can see we are a rowdy group. Now that I have a job, I won't get to spin with them on Wednesday mornings anymore. That really does make me a little sad.
Eating it up! We had a pretty good spread for the amount of people we had. It's just so hard to drag us away from the wheels....
This is Jo and she is just a riot! She tells some of the greatest stories. I don't know exactly where she's from but her accent is sort of rough and when she starts telling her stories it just cracks me up!I bought the same type of wheel Jean has and it's wonderful. She's sort of the leader of the group when it comes to learning. She wasn't there the first day I showed up but right away everyone said I needed to start learning from Jean. Pippa lives at the end of my street and she lent me my first wheel. It was great to learn on! She also has helped me with planning trips to France since she goes there a lot. YAY!!Pell, I'm sure, is telling us all a great story of some importance...not true, actually she's telling us trivia about Star Wars. She's from Scotland and we've sort of bonded over the fact that we're both foreigners. Plus, she teaching me all about what not to say. This is the wheel of another Jean and I just love how she put little sheep stickers around the bottom.

I've had so much fun with these ladies and I think that at times I provide them with some amusement. And when my job is over next year I can return to them...the Portchester Spinners have been a group for, I think, 30 years. They're not going anywhere any time soon.

The Kinder Egg Issue

Yes it's the chocking hazard! But seriously, we'll give our kids lead painted toys from China but not Kinder eggs? If parents would take the responsibility of teaching their kids not to eat the toy in the middle then this might not be a problem. After living in England for just four months I have learned that the USA is WAY too over protective. It's like we live under the false notion that NOTHING CAN GO WRONG EVER!! And when or if something goes wrong everyone has the right to sue the pants of whoever they like.

Now don't get me wrong, I do believe that if someone does something wrong then we all have the right to sue the pants off of them. But if you are dumb enough to put hot coffee between your legs while you drive, burn yourself and then blame McDonald's for your injury then you are STUPID!! You should not win your case. However, we live in a society where that person DID win their case which opened up the door to the ridiculous.

ARUGH!!

NO WAY!

So I've been obsessed with Doctor Who recently and BBC has been playing all the reruns from series four which I record and then watch for hours. Now that all the shows have been watched, I just realized that the Doctor isn't on quite as often as every day...BOOOOO!!!

This new season is the last for David Tennant (love him!) and the new Doctor will be Matt Smith (don't know him). BUT the saddest news for me is that Donna's days with the Doctor are over! Of course, everyone in the UK already knew that but I just watched that episode the other day and it was SAD! She is totally my favorite Doctor Girl! She was so normal and really funny and she didn't totally fall in love with the Doctor (like the other two).

And now I have to wait until EASTER for the next episode! How will I survive? Not sure:)

Ok, so it's been a while...

but seriously, I've been busy! We got back into town on Thursday and I just needed a few days to chillax before posting to the blog. Christmas in Sweden was a fantastic trip! I totally love Vic's brother's family (aka the Swedes). We had such a great time with them and the kids are so fun to be around. It's funny because they are the same age and genders of my niece and nephew back in Ohio and they are SO similar. It's a little scary.

And since I took a buttload (can't believe that's not in the dictionary) of photos, I'm only going to post my top four. To see the rest you need to check out my albums on facebook. And if you're not on facebook then what is your problem?

Sledding was AWESOME!! The Swedes live literally next to a ski hill. Since it was closed until January, we had free reign over the whole hill. This photo is of Calvin and me at the TOP! It was a very scary ride down the hill in which I did a lot of screaming. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I went to IKEA!! While it was not the original store it was the Northern most...well, that's a claim I can't support technically but it is just below the Arctic Circle and I know there isn't one in Russia so that would leave Fairbanks, Alaska.... And the funny part about this photo is that my grandma's name is Rhea and rea in Svenska means "sale"...they are pronounced the same.
Christmas Eve was an interesting event to witness. Santa comes and you get to open ALL your presents that night. And even though I don't speak Svenska, I did think that he translated to be a very funny man. And the classic angel on the top of the tree. How precious is this kid, seriously.


So that was my top four photos from the trip. I just loved being there and after ten days I was ready to go home, too. On our way back to England I began to think about how this place is becoming my home. I longed for my own couch, kitchen and bed and when I thought of those things, I thought of England. In church on Sunday I looked around and felt that this was really my home. It's only been four months! However, we still have some more boxes to unpack...BOO!!

The weird about being in Sweden this Christmas is that from about the age of 16+ I've spent most of my Christmas Eve's with my good friends the Hedlunds. Ok that's not the weird part. The weird part is that they come from Swedish descent and all those Swedish themed Christmases sort of prepared me for this epic event. I was sort of like an adopted daughter (or at least the Italian exchange student) to the Hedlunds and I felt that I was totally returning to something that was part of my own family history. As if I was a Hedlund going back to the mother land. I should have called them on Christmas Eve...what was I thinking!

And yes, I said I would only post four photos but I just had to add this last one. If you know anything about Kinder Eggs you will appriciate this one....unless you live in the United States.Kinder Eggs: Illegal in all 50 States.
Total bummer.

This is fantastic!

Jag är i Sverje!

And I'm exhausted! It's been non stop since we landed on the 20th. We'll be spending time with Vic's brother and family: Justin, Veronica, Calvin and Julia. They are so fun to be around and it's great to see them again at their house. We spent our first day at Justin's photography studio to help out with Christmas orders. On Monday we went to Luleä for some historical sites in Gammelstad but they were all closed. The snow was pretty thick so everything looked all wintery. I took some good photos that you'll have to wait until I get home to see.
Then today we went up to the ski hill behind their house to go sledding. The hill isn't open for skiing yet so we had the whole thing to our selves. CRAZY!! It was seriously insane and I'm still sore from crashing on all of my attempts. We went out when the sun was up and it was gorgeous! Of course the sun was only up for about an hour or so. It gets light at about 7am, then the sun comes up over the horizon just a bit and then goes back down. By 2pm it's dusk and by 3 it's dark. It's insane. But the days are getting longer so that's good. Maybe tonight I'll bust out the X-country skis and head over to the ski track behind the house. This is like a winter wonder land.

I know we always said...

that even if it's raining we'll get out on the weekends but today is NUTS! We booked tickets to go ice skating at Winchester Cathedral and it's just pouring outside. So here we go anyway. I'm not sure if I'll even get to take photos:)

Ahhhhhh, the adventure of it all.

Finally!

Today I finally found a pair of jeans that fit my body!! YAY!! I think there are others out there who agree with me: it's hard to find a good pair of pants these days.

Oh, and P.S.- "pants" in England means underwear. So imagine the looks I get when I enter a store and someone asks what I'm looking for and I say "I really need a new pair of pants!" It's one of those words I still can't stop saying.

Photos from the weekend

Here are a few photos for all the places we went. It was a long weekend for only traveling on Saturday and Sunday.

Torre Abbey- TorquayBrass Rubbings at Torre AbbeyMaiden Castle-not actually a castle but a REALLY HUGE hill that was a fort a LONG time agoDorchester- Old Almshouse now a pub and wine barLyme ReisLyme Regis View from Dartmouth CastleDartmouth Castle looking up riverAfter a long day Victor was going a little crazySt. Savior's church in Dartmouth

Last Minute Travels

Well, for some reason this weekend was all about where to go at the last minute. So we got in the car and headed to the English Riviera. Yes, this place actually exists. But I'll upload some photos soon because it was an amazing weekend!

I'm such a slob!

Well, I slept pretty good last night but it might be because I was EXHAUSTED after two nights of no sleep. But Victor comes back today and I'll get to sleep earlier.

I have learned that when Vic goes out of town I tend to get a little sloppy. I came downstairs this morning and realized that the kitchen was a disaster area! And the TV room is the knitting and spinning capital of England. However, the thing is that when Vic is home I usually pick up after myself, clean my dishes right away and try to keep things tidy. Also, I tend to make Vic feel guilty for not doing these things. What a hypocrite I am. So now I'm spending the day cleaning up after the tornado that is me for the past four days.

The sun is out and that gives me the energy to get things done:) I better start working because the sun's gong down in about five hours.

Why I can't sleep at night

I've lived alone before, right? So why am I having so much trouble sleeping when Victor is out of town? At first I thought it was all in my head...the creaks and bumps in the night. Finally last night I decided to get up to bed before midnight! My theory in the past was the later I go to sleep the quicker the morning will come. Bad theory for a person who needs at least seven good hours.

Before drifting off to sleep I play a few word games to make me tired and finally my eyelids become heavy enough to close. Then, about an hour into the REM cycle I awake to a knocking as if someone is at my front door. I thought maybe it was in a dream so I just stayed in bed and didn't worry about it. Then I heard a noise like someone was opening my mail slot on my front door...NOT COOL!! Ok, it could have been the wind, no big deal. But the final bit that put me over the edge was when I heard the entry gate to the front door bang closed (note the photo to the right: when I'm home alone I keep the gate closed because you can hear when it opens and closes from our bedroom). That's when I sort of freaked out. Our bedroom faces the front so I jumped up to see if I could see that anyone was walking away from our house. Of course not. So I turned the light on and looked down stairs to see if someone had dropped something in the mail slot. Nope.

At that moment it was 12:45am and I didn't get myself back to sleep until 2am. It was aweful. I plan on taking a huge nap today.

Bournemouth Solo

Well I went off to Bournemouth yesterday while Victor is at work...sucker. And when I left the house it was fairly sunny and by the time I got half way it was pouring rain! Once I got off the train at my destination it was only a light drizzle. Rather than be discouraged I found my way to the ocean and had a great time. Bournemouth is really a lovely place and I will be thrilled to return there when the sun comes out with my Frisbee! Here are a few photos of the trip.




I tried to take this photo of myself and I really had no idea what it was going to look like. But it's not so bad:)

















The grave of Mary Shelley--I seriously considered the fact that she might pop out of that grave with bolts in her neck. I wonder what she would have thought of Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein? "My, what big knockers!"









The coast reminded me of Northern California! It was so beautiful but the waves were really small. Apparently people do surf here so the waves must get bigger at some point.

Home Alone

Maybe I shouldn't post that I'm home alone this week but it ties in to what I was going to blog about.

What to do when you're alone on a sunny day? I feel like I want to get out, take the train somewhere new and explore. But Victor is working and I feel a little guilty for going somewhere he hasn't been yet. Of course, while typing I just realized that whilst on a business trip, Victor went to Wales and visited a really cool castle without me.

Ok, guilt gone.

This was one of those days....

We've been told that if you wait for a sunny day to explore England, you'll never see anything. Today was one of those days. We decided to head over to Portsmouth for the Victorian Christmas at the historic dockyards. It was worth the cold and drizzle and we really should have left the house much earlier. But it was still a good time. Here are some photos of our adventure.
They had snow machines and it was almost cold enough for real snow anyway. But it was very charming.All through the dockyards were people performing skits in Victorian costume. It was greatThere were two historic ships for us to tour. We only had time to see the HMS Warrior.

I think Victor is thinking he joined the wrong military branch!

Photo updates

This is the Weld and Down Museum near Chichester. It was a cloudy day but still fun. There was a Christmas Fayre the day we went and it was pretty cool.

Musicians playing Christmas songs. A little early in the season (it's not even Advent yet) but still nice to hear.
This was the Christmas Fayre at my church on Nov 22. I helped out at the Arts and Crafts booth. It was fun to be a part of a community.
Father Christmas was at our church and these were his little helpers. It's too bad I didn't get a photo of his grotto. It was almost scary.
Our church, St. Mary's, has it's own brew and held a contest to name it. A 17 year old won with "Ale Mary".
This is Blenheim Palace where Winston Churchill was born and sort of raised. He spent most of his life away at boarding schools but none the less, this is the family home. We learned quite a lot here!
And finally, me and Vic at the back of the palace. I was a chilly day but at least the sun was out. It only began to pour on our walk back to our car in the muddy field!! Good times.

All things new

Two new things today:
1) I got a JOB! I'll start in January at the Tile Barn Center in Brockenhurst as an instructor on the Aim High program. I'll be working with students who need a little extra help with becoming themselves. Of course we all could use a little help in that department but these students just need a little extra help. It's been such a success that they needed to hire more instructors: hense, I have a job. YEAH!! However, I think this means no more spinning on Wed mornings with my friends...boooo!

2) I started a new blog. It's sort of my spiritual side where I'll be reflecting on the weekly text. Of course now that I'll be starting a job in the new year, I'm not sure how long it will last. Plus, we'll be out of town for Christmas so I'm not sure if I'll be posting then either. Well, it's something to but on Google Reader. And if you haven't set up a Google Reader account you should. The new blog is: Lady in Waiting. So check it out and feel free to use it as a place to put your thoughts as well.

Tonight we're having tacos. I love tacos.

I haven't blogged all week!

What have I been doing? Well, lots of stuff. But maybe it has to do with the weather. It's been really weird all week and I'm not sure how I feel about it.

My sister and I were talking about Christmas presents this year and she told me the kids might enjoy knitted hats if they are Ohio State or Cleveland Browns colors. So today I whipped up some yarn and dyed it red with Kool-Aid. (sorry no photos yet) and it looks great!! I can't wait to make it into something the kids will love. But you never know with kids and hand made stuff. Hopefully they'll cherish these gifts when they are older.

This is one of the coolest things I have ever seen

Seriously Cool!

What do you think?

After playing Guitar Hero for a few weeks now, Victor and I have decided that we really don't know many of the songs and it's getting annoying. We've come to the conclusion that they need to come out with a new version of Guitar Hero. Let's call it the lighter side of Guitar Hero. Let's call it Guitar Hero: John Denver. Who's with us?

I have a job interview!

How cool is that? Next Friday I'll travel over to Brockenhurst to interview at Tile Barn Centre for the instructor position. I'll be pulling on all my past endevors for this job. I'm not sure if I'm what they're looking for but I have so much random experience that hopefully I can be flexible enough to fit in.

It's fun to think that I'll be working outside again and helping people with group building, wilderness survival and outdoor activity. I always loved the jobs I had that involved these activites. Plus, it will be a chance to get out of the house and be in the fresh air, rather than a office, or some sort of store. Of course, I will have to get through the interview first!

Working has been a strange journey since I've moved here. On one hand I've really been doing some creative stuff at home (spinning, knittig, quilting...) and work just means more time away from those things. But on the other hand I NEED TO GET OUT OF THIS HOUSE!! So there you go.

Of course I cen get out of the house when ever I like but I think it's more the idea that I have such little purpose outside of my self. The things that I do center all around me and Victor. It would be nice to get away from working for myself, and back to working for others. I was reading about servant leadership today and it started my thinking wheels. I frequently find myself in jobs where I posess the role of the servant leader and when I'm not in one of those positions, I feel a bit empty. It's not that I need to be needed but I need to be in a position to help and guide.

So wish me luck on Firday the 28th and I'll keep you updated on the progress.

I finally finished this quilt I started in 2005! It's made out of scraps from skirts I made while in seminary and I pieced it together on the sewing machine but decided to hand quilt all the layers together. This is why it took me so long...well, that and I moved three times since I started it and didn't really unpack it each time.
Rather than the quick and easy method of quilt making I decided to go for the hand method to honor my great grandma Gladys. Of course, she would have made the whole thing by hand but who's going to tell her?
And while I was finishing the boarder I noticed that I forgot to quilt one corner. So rather than the old method I decided to quilt in the names of my mom's family as sort of a family tree also in honor of Gladys. I hope none of them read this because I'm sending it to them for Thanksgiving to celebrate my grandparents move to their new home. I'm sure I'll get it back some day but for now it will be like a reminder of the kids living in England.

It is such a relief to be done with it because I have so many other projects I would love to work on now that I have so much time on my hands. I'm really trying to get the creative juices flowing whilst I have some down time.

This is for all of my Bay Area friends

How cool is that?

Double Dipping

We'll see how this turns out! I think I'll even add some more colors just for fun:)

Another blog to be born soon

I've made the decision to start another blog that will hopefully fill some what of an empty space in my daily life.
Start date? Not sure yet. If I can get it up this week then that will be fantastic.
New Name? Well, I checked and Lady in Waiting is taken. But I think that Katie in Waiting is just as good.
I'll let you know what to look for.

In other news, I made a new friend down the street...well, not literally, but pretty damn close. Yay for cool people, seriously. I've been in need to someone to chat with and of course I met her through Ravelry: the best website on the face of the earth. Plus, I've been going to knit with a group in Southampton for the past two weeks on Thursday nights. I get to take the train and everything:) I love public transportation.

iCan'tbelieveit

This is the first photo I took with my iPhone. I'm not sure why I have one but I do and they are quite a bit cheaper in the UK than in the States. I think Victor sort of convinced me that I will get a lot of use out of an iPhone because it really does a TON of stuff. I like the idea of being in any city and having sat nav at my finger tips. Gone are the days when I wore a compass on my watch. That's how I found my way around the last time I lived in Europe. Oh how times have changed.

I think I'm going to start a new blog.

This video has nothing to do with the new blog I am thinking of starting but it does have something to do with new. You might think that these guys are old time dancers and dancing a dance that has been around for ages but you are wrong. Men dressed up in weird outfits with bells on their legs is not as old as you would think. So what does this have to do with new? Well, I think I'm going to start a new blog. And for clarification sake I should mention that I'm not closing down the one I have now, just adding another.

Back when I was questioning my spirituality (yesterday) I had a few friends suggest we get together on the internet for some lively discussion of theological topics. Now as much as that sounds like a good time to everyone out there, I must say that it got some wheels turning. I think I'm going to start a blog where I study the weekly lectionary and give a short reflection on the text. This might sound a bit boring to most of you out there but I promise for the ones who think this could be interesting, I promise not to be too far off the wall.

Not sure how this will all pan out, I'm thinking about having a different theme every week. Or for the month of December, try to relate every week to a theme in Harry Potter. On top of this I hope to start reading more books but staying away from websites (other than text week because I love it).

So, how does that sound?

And I'm thinking of calling it: Lady in Waiting

Kids need a mom and a dad?

I check in to my friend Kellen's blog on a regular basis and he always has something interesting to think about. To understand the rest of this post, check out this video he posted.

So, our country is coming to a point where gay marriage is becoming legal in various states (finally). Tony Perkins says that gay marriage would basically destroy the American family because all kids need a mom and a dad; not a mom and a mom or a dad and a dad. Ok, so if this is the case then shouldn't the courts outlaw divorce? If a mom and a dad are so important then don't you think that the courts should to everything in their power so kids get two parents of different genders?

It is just ridiculous to argue against gay marriage because it destroys the model family life. Why don't they just come out and say what they really think about the issue rather than hide behind the legal talk of the court system? Why are people so dumb?

I've been wondering lately about my own spirituality. Since moving to England I've been attending an Anglican church on Sundays and at least twice a week, morning prayer. It's a lovely church and I really like the people there but there is just something different about how this effects what I consider my spirituality. I've never considered my self to be "spiritual" but there are things that I miss from my past life as being directly involved with churches. I think that working for congregations has always helped me keep up with reading the Bible, studying theology and thinking about how this is working in my life. Now that I'm not responsible for Bible studies and the like, I feel the hole. And this is now my life. So what am I going to do about it? No idea.

Happy Birthday to me...

With a few bucks for my birthday I decided to go for a new spinning wheel. I have appreciated the loner I have now but I think that this is going to be a long term love enough to make the purchase. Plus, I found a used on online at a local dealer that is about $250 cheaper than anything I can get in the USA. This photo is just something I found online. The one I'm getting is a double treadle. I'm a total geek.

Ok, I had to add this one too

I had to add this one for all the math geeks out there who need to use their heart instead of their heads to find love. You know who you are.

PS- I married one so I know there is hope.