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:)