Oh my goodness gracious! I have been soooo busy that I have completely forgotten about Throw Back Thursday And since Thursday was yesterday, that means today is Flash Back Friday!!!
First, let me say that I think it is HIGH-LARIOUS when someone posts a TBT or FBF picture from like 3 months ago. Um, my facebook cover picture is from 5 months ago, and my actual profile picture is from 6 months. So, I guess I live everyday on facebook as if I am "back in the gap" (<-- one of Luke's favorite phrases). Anyway, there is nothing TB or FB about a few months ago. It's gotta be years people, yeeeeaaars!
Uh oh, Debbie Downer is back. Moving on...
Senior Picture 2001
One of a few different senior pictures that I took. You know, the nice pictures. No one wants to revisit their school senior picture. Ick! I think this picture was my favorite of all of the ones I took. I remember my mom liking the one where I smiled without showing my teeth. Um no. And then she made me do that again for prom. Mom!!! Stop that! Thankfully, I did not have to do that for my wedding.
Let's see...
-the ring on my right hand's middle finger was from my friend Kelli (see her in this post here) when I was a freshman I think, and I still wear that ring to this day. Going on 16 years now! Wow, I am old.
-I believe I am wearing silver eye liner because I ALWAYS wore silver eye liner. And I am awkwardly wearing lipstick.
-I am wearing an American Eagle shirt that had a little pocket on the sleeve you cannot see which everyone the boys always called the condom pocket. Kids have such imaginations!
-And I believe my sister took pictures in the exact same location, on a swing of flowers!! Becca, true or false??
People always say, "oh what I would give to go back to those days." Senior year was for sure fun times, but I would not stop living my life now to go back to those days. It is just too good right now, and I mean that honestly!!
Yay! Debbie Upper is back!!!!!
RANDOM FACT:
My ring from Kelli was from James Avery Craftsman, which was founded in 1954 in Kerrville, Texas.
I have got to keep Debbie Upper alive!!! In continuing with the positive attitude, I will continue with positive posts. Shall we take bets for how long this will last?? I give it until Tuesday... after our guests leave, and I am stuck with an messy home that must be arranged.
If you have not already read about our House Hunting Experience in London, you can do that here and here.
For now, our home looks like this:
Our Building
Above: The bus stop at the bottom left takes you straight to Wimbledon Station in approx 8 minutes but for £1.40.
Below: I have that whole area on the right to lay out in for a tan. Hahaha, yeah right!!
Entry & Hallway
Above left: entry door
Above Right: standing by entry door, the double doors is a closet, the door you see just passed are the bedrooms
Above Left: standing at the double door closet, that is the master bedroom door on the right
Above Right: Looking into the reception room, the double doors is a second closet
Below: showing master bedroom on the left, guest bedroom in the center, guest closet on the right
Guest Bathroom
You can't really tell in this picture, but there is no shower, only the tub. We asked the landlord to mount a shower head, but he didn't want to do it. And now that I am looking at it, the walls are only tiled up to the waist, so our guests either have to take a bath or shower in the master bathroom. Not a big deal to us if it isn't a big deal to you.
Guest Bedroom
If you are my guest, you will have a great view of me laying out in the sun!! Why don't you join me for a margarita?
Master Bedroom
Master Bathroom
Reception Room
aka an open dining and living area
Above right: both sets of windows are doors to the patio
Above right: I would LOVE if that wall had a peak through window or something from the kitchen
Below: Dining area
Patio
It wraps around the other side, but is only as long as the doors on the other side. I plan for us to keep our bikes in this area where I am standing to take this picture. It is a fairly private little patio. We are covered up by some trees and bushes, but the building next to us does look down onto the balcony a bit. Hey, if they wanna see me drinking coffee and blogging in my pj's with no teeth brushed, then that is their problem.
Kitchen
Includes: full fridge/freezer but not to the American-size, microwave, oven, combo washer-dryer, GARBAGE DISPOSAL for real for real for real, dishwasher but not to the American-size, and electric stove top (gotta get used to that again!)
Above: not sure why the wood is different colors in the pics, but it is actually all the same color
Below left: view out of the window
Below: standing in the kitchen looking back at the hallway
Thermostats
The whole flat is electric, so there is no gas which means no radiators. We have in-floor heating, or something like that, so each room has its own temperature control. I am curious if in-floor heating is better cheaper than radiators.
Keys
We received a total of 19. Nineteen. NINETEEN. 1-9. ONE-NINE. 19 keys for our place. Yes, nineteen. There is the key into the flat, the key for the parking garage, three different keys for windows, the mailbox, two different building doors, and the electrical room. We have two sets of those, and then an extra flat key. Cray cray y'all!!
There isn't too much to the place, but that is because London is spansive! Luke and I are happy with our choice, and that is what matters! We wish it could be a little closer to the train station, but I have tracked it, and for me, it takes 8.5 minutes to walk. For speedy Luke, it should only take about 7 minutes. We also wish it was a bit brighter in terms of natural light, but when the natural light is shining, we shouldn't be inside anyway! And everything inside of it will be OURS, so there will be no confusions when we move out. Let's hope we will be here for a few years!
We hope that one day you will come stay with us! And maybe, just maybe, we will actually have our shipment by then! (kidding - we are supposed to be getting it today at 11am GMT)
Most toilets in the UK have two flush buttons. One button is for a full flush and the other is for a half flush. I will let you determine when you should use each button.
I have been such a Debbie Downer for the past week or so. For once in my life, I have lived up to this name! That deserves no explanation point as no one likes a Debbie Downer. But after some news yesterday, I might be back to Debbie Upper!!
While going through tough times, people always have advice for you. They try to give you encouraging words, be supportive, listen to your rants, and at times even punch a wall/face for you. Throughout this relocation, I have received kindness and positive thoughts. And I thank each of you for that!
A common piece of advice received during a rough patch is "one day, you will look back at all of this and laugh". Well yesterday was that day for me. Yep, yesterday! I'm sure you are thinking I have now gone nutzo since yesterday I went on and on about the difficulties we have experienced so far (it's been difficult, but after all, we are in London, so it could be a bajillion times worse)... How on Earth can I be laughing at all of this madness already? It usually take weeks or even years before anyone gets over something. True, but sometimes it gets to the point where it's easier to just laugh.
Yesterday afternoon, Luke and I received word that our shipment truck was on its way to London to be delivered this morning. While still in Scotland, the truck broke down. Of course it did! Why WOULDN'T the truck break down? Why on Earth would something go just the way it should? This is where I started laughing. So hard that after taking a sip of water, I almost spit it out. It's all just funny now! How can it not be funny? It's okay to laugh - please, I want you to laugh!
Luke asked when we should expect The truck to arrive. Lady said possibly this afternoon, maybe 3pm. Naturally, Luke asked if they will actually unload the things if it arrives today. She said "they are willing to work until a reasonable hour." These are Glaswegians we are talking about. The Scots. And I'm pretty much done with being polite, so I'll just be upfront about this, the Scots don't have the best work ethic. A reasonable hour to them is like 4pm. So Luke asks the lady what is considered a reasonable hour. She begins to tell/ask him that this is up to us and what time we consider reasonable, but before she can even finish what she is saying, Luke says "midnight".
We just received word that the truck will not make it today. We are hoping that we will get our things tomorrow morning. We are hoping that we can get our house into a somewhat livable state for this weekend as Jillian and Kristin will be staying with us since Jill is running in the London Marathon(!!!!). While hoping at that, we are all hoping that we will all be safe while running/spectating at the London Marathon. Luke and I are hoping that Jill and Kristin believe us when we say that we WANT them to stay with us and that their arrival is the ONLY (not literally, but almost) thing that will keep our minds off of this mess and that we will be heart broken if they don't stay with us. We are hoping that I can keep my laughs to myself as Luke is not at that point yet and me laughing is not making him feel better. But for now, I will laugh to all of you!
What's your best story that was absolutely terrible at the time, but can laugh at it now?
RANDOM FACT:
The London Marathon begins at Greenwich Park, then winds east and west a few times, and then ends at Buckingham Palace. Gooooo Jill!!!!
I am a firm believer in "what goes around, comes around". Karma is a bia, but it can also be your BFF! One time I turned in a $50 bill I found at work, and the next week, I received a $100 tip! What goes around, comes around! Well the purpose of my post today as such is to put all of you back in the loop!
Firstly, I want to apologize to my mom, my sister, my family, my friends, and all of you! Many of you have been emailing and texting and facebooking and asking how things are going. I have either given you bits of info, no info, completely ignored you, or probably went off on something that you were totally lost on. Things have gone up and down and up and down. We are waiting for the downs to end. So I am very sorry for being a horrible daughter, sister, and friend for the past week. It is not you, it is me!
Secondly, after the tragic events of the Boston Marathon yesterday, I am thankful for what I have, thankful for my life, thankful that my family and friends are all well. In no way am I saying that my events of the last few weeks are even comparable to what the runners and spectators have gone and are going through in Boston right now. Keeping all of them in my thoughts!
First, we had the fall out with our original home search :-( Then we stayed in 6 different places over the course of 9 nights. Aka packed up, loaded the car, and unloaded the car too many times :-( We got to eat Taco Bell and experience a little bit of Manchester :-) We got to do a third day of house hunting :-) We got to stay in a wonderful temporary flat :-) We had to wait over 4 days before we received word that our new home has been finalized :-( We received word that due to a miscommunication, not ours, we needed to be out of our temporary flat today :-( We had to scramble on a Friday afternoon to arrange for our shipment to be delivered tomorrow :-( We got to have a much needed fun Saturday in London :-) :-) We received the keys to our new home yesterday :-) We were told that we would need to stay in a hotel for a few days while waiting for our shipment to arrive and while sorting the house to livable conditions. We had to pack up, load the car, and unload the car with most of our belongings we have with us now, again :-( We had to check out of the temporary flat by 10am leaving me wandering around like a homeless person or a few hours before being able to check in to the hotel :-( The hotel is a 45 minute trek and not walking distance from our new flat door to door which is very inconvenient :-( Lastly, I have not been sleeping well, again, like 5 hours a night :-(
As you can see, I have more of these :-( than of these :-). What goes around, comes around though... We get to live in a wonderful place like London. We have had to deal with a big mess of a relocation but I am pretty sure all of this will be wonderful in the end!
Do you believe in "what goes around, comes around"?
RANDOM FACT:
Justin Timberlake's hit single "What Goes Around... Comes Around" was released in January of 2007.
Hey! Remember me?? So sorry for my absence the past few days. For various reasons, I was unable to blog but mostly because Luke was giving me a hard time and saying that I was jinxing our home stuff just by me mentioning the home on the blog. Anyway, I'm still not mentioning it, but possibly tomorrow. We'll see...
But today, I am going to tell you about our first weekend in London!!! OMG so exciting!!!!
If you are friends with me on Facebook, you may have noticed a post I made to a blogger called The Londoner last Friday. I found her blog a few months ago, after finding out we would be moving. I also found a few other contacts within London around the same time. So I was trying to put some feelers out there on Friday asking for help with our first weekend. This city is extremely overwhelming! Maybe as a visitor/tourist it isn't too bad because the attitude is "do the big stuff since we have limited time" and then plan accordingly. But as a resident, the attitude is "where in the h-e-double-hockey-sticks do we begin". I needed some guidance, and we sure got some!!
On Saturday morning, Luke and I hopped on the Waterloo train from Wimbledon. This train makes 4 stops before arriving to Waterloo and takes 17 minutes. It sounds like a good amount of time, but it goes by pretty quick! After that, we got on the Jubilee line and went 2 stops to London Bridge. We could have taken the Northern line right into London Bridge, but we are trying to feel out this CityMapper app which told us the route we took was cheaper. We have yet to check our Oyster account and see if that is correct.
We decided to begin by checking out the Borough Market which is right next to the London Bridge station. We grabbed a few smoked sausages and a pretzel stick (which by far beats all of the pretzels in Bavaria by far) for lunch and walked around while checking out the different booths. It is a great little market, although very packed! Luke and I really need to make use of these kinds of things more often, but his irritation with crowds kicks in and we never stay for too long.
If it were me, from there we would have headed toward St Pauls Cathedral, but instead we checked out some skyscrapers. Yes. Skyscrapers. Guess whose idea this was? We saw The Shard which gets its name because it looks like a shard of glass.
We headed across the River Thames by way of the London Bridge which gave us views of the Tower Bridge. Remember, the London Bridge and the Tower Bridge are two different bridges and the Tower Bridge is the pretty and famous one!
ABOVE: London Bridge, exciting eh?
BELOW: Tower Bridge in the background
On the London Bridge with The Shard in the background
Luke, with the pea-sized bladder, was demanding to stop in a pub. We came across O'Neills on Cannon Street, and stopped for a Doom Bar, one of England's delicious ales brewed by Sharp's.
Apparently we weren't done looking at skyscrapers, so next we found The Gherkin (actually named 30 St Mary Axe) which gets its name because it looks like a pickle. I think it looks like a torpedo or.....
We also passed a building that looked like a factory. It was strange, but pretty neat. Okay, maybe I like skyscrapers, too. Anyway, I discovered just now that this is the Lloyd's building.
Right Center building is the Lloyd's building. Looks like a factory, huh?
A girl named Lauren, who has lived in London for a few years, but from England, told me to go to the Heron Tower, go up to the 38th floor and get a drink at Sushi Samba. This was probably the best advice! Drinks were expensive, but you're paying for the view! Thanks, Lauren!
Luke was getting antsy, so we made our way to Shoreditch to go to BrewDog. We love BrewDog! Along the way, we passed a row of shops on Bethnal Green (off the Shoreditch High Street) that looked really unique.
While in BrewDog, Luke began communicating with Geoff, whom we met a few months ago through Falene who also went skiing with us, and he is Canadian... if that means anything to you. JK :-) He lives in London, so we made plans to meet up with him. Luke and I took the bus to the Blackfriars Station since it was almost 2.5 miles from where we were. This is where things begin to get a little hazy... at 4pm... but hey, it's Saturday and we NEEDED a fun day! The rest of the afternoon and evening was raining pretty good, but it went a little something like this
-drink at The Blackfriar on Queen Victoria Street
-drink at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese on Fleet Street
-drink at Tipperary on Fleet Street - HIGHLY recommend this place as it is really really fun with a really crazy couple of bartenders
-drink and food at Ye Olde Cock Tavern on Fleet Street where we had a marching band pound in our ears... seriously, we sat down for food and then they swarmed us, not cool, not cool (see video below)
Seriously about to play in my ears. Come on! I had to move to another seat at the table.
-attempted to go into a bar that is located in an old underground toilet station but couldn't get in for we may have been too "normal"... something I will tell you about if you ask, but I can't get myself to say it on the internet
-drink at Nell Gwynne Tavern on Bull Inn Court off Strand
By that point, it was 9pm, and I was fading fast. Luke and I hiked from the Charing Cross Station over the Waterloo Bridge to Waterloo Station which trained us back home. Super fun day! I can't wait to have more days of exploring in the future!! But it would be much more fun if our friends joined us - hint hint, come visit!!!
RANDOM FACT:
The Gherkin was built in 2001, and The Shard was built in 2009. The Shard is the tallest building in London standing at 310 meters tall.
