Tag Archives: Moving

Thank You, England

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There will be an entry sometime soon about what I will miss, my favorite memories, images and dreams of England. For now, I just want to say – Thank You, England (and the wider Great Britain and Ireland).

Thank you for giving me this opportunity to write my novel.

Thank you for slowing me down from the pace of Los Angeles life – for bringing me back to basics, for remembering what life is all about. Without this time, I may have become the vapid vampire that there were shades of lurking beneath my surface – 8 years in LA can do that to a gal.

Thank you for seducing me with your seemingly illusory emerald landscapes and creaky country pubs.

Thank you for introducing me to Pimms, cider, roast dinners and jacket potatoes.

Thank you for finally giving me time to learn how to cook. Remarkably, I’m quite good.

Thank you for reminding me what I love about my own country, what I miss about it and for showing me there are other ways to live.

Thank you for reminding me to waste not. We are incredible lavish squanderers in the states.

Thank you for introducing me to running – to allow my body to become the lean, healthy being I knew it could be and for providing a landscape on the Downs that I never once took for granted.

Thank you for reminding me to not take myself so seriously, to giving me my sense of humor back and that taking the piss out of myself is truly good for the soul.

Thank you for letting me borrow Jock’s family – they’re not mine, but they did a pretty damn good job of making me feel at home. I love each and every one of them with all my heart.

Thank you for The Ladies Who...without them and our monthly book chats, gossip and random girl moments, I may have turned into a man. Women are my breath of fresh air…reminding me of why I love being one of them.

Thank you for all the friends who are having babies. They show me how much I love children and how not ready I am to have one.

Thank you for Royal Mail and Skype, without you I would not get the much needed phone calls, packages and postcards from home. You kept me going.

And most of all – thank you Jock for showing me your country. It is truly fabulous. I look forward to coming back one day.

We’re Moving!

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Tis the end of the lady who lunches era/reign/bubble…she will soon be a lady who busts her ass at a wonderful job in writing that she adores in Chicago (that’s the idea, at least). In six weeks, we will be on our flight back to Baltimore!

We’re ready to try America out for a while. It’s been a year and a half in lovely England, and it just feels like the right time to move. We’ve gone back and forth on this decision for many months, hence my lack of discussion on here.

I am ecstatic!

Jock will be doing his same job in the states, and I will have to find something new. Don’t particularly fancy going back to casting (although for the right job, maybe), and now that I’ve started my career in writing, I’d like to continue – magazine or newspaper would be ideal.

If I can get a book deal in the next couple of months, obviously that would help majorly. As you know from my previous post, I am working hard at getting that done. Any contacts or advice from the Chicagoans would be greatly appreciated!

Meanwhile, the first couple of months in America will simply be relaxing and traveling. Jock and I have managed to save up a good deal of money so we don’t have to worry about finding work right away.

We’re thinking – uncle’s house in Las Vegas, grandpa’s cabin in North Carolina, best friend’s apartment in NYC, perhaps the beach in Ocean City, MD, a friend’s wedding in Chicago and maybe grandparent’s house in Miami, oh and of course Baltimore for a couple of weeks!

So, although our flight home is in just six weeks, we won’t actually be living in Chicago until September. (Chicago is the place where Jock and I fell in love nearly two years ago. We considered moving back to LA, but I kind of feel like I’ve been there, done that. Plus, he has a lot of friends in Chicago, and it’s right in between my hometown of Baltimore and my college town of Los Angeles.)

Never thought I would say that about moving back to the states, but I can’t wait to have my family and friends around me, grab a big gulp at 7Eleven, dry my clothes in a machine and wrap myself in a freshly dried, soft, warm towel, sunbathe in the SUN on a sandy beach, and eat a butterfinger, buy cheap intercontinental flights to Miami, LA, NYC, Baltimore, etc., and to talk to strangers in the street.

Things I am not looking forward to: American television, every girl and their mother asking my boyfriend where he’s from (and then batting their eyelashes and swooning – I will knock them out with a bat if I have to! *random aggressive feeling*), portion sizes, American radio (except your show Tyler, I will tune in for country just for you), country music, that feeling I always get in America that I’m not doing enough and can always do better, talking to strangers in the street.

P.S. Watch out Chicago ladies, because I will be starting another ladies group when I get there. Need my women around me! But of course, I will miss the original Ladies Who…!

Jamie Oliver Cosy Tea Mugs

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These are the tea mugs I was rattling on about in my previous entry, and as some of you asked to see what they looked like, here they are. (Well, here’s one of them.)

It’s not just me, either. The previous tenants (our friends S and L) also agreed that for some reason, these tea mugs have special powers – they keep the water warmer for longer, they fit perfectly in your palm, and something about the smoothness of the porcelain against your lips…I know, it’s gay. But so true! They don’t look like anything special, but they are. And, for £9 a mug at House of Fraser, they better be! (And no, I’m not being paid to endorse these buggers.)

Our New Place

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Two of the three main rooms are finished, so without further ado, I present you: Our New Place! (In other words, if you are visiting me in England, this is where you will be staying. You have your own bedroom and bath. Hope you like it!)  First, our kitchen.

Then, our living area:

And, Finally, the only part of the bedroom that matters (No, not that area) – the wardrobe and vanity area. These are all my clothes, by the way. Jock now has his very own bathroom and closet. We are truly moving up in the world. I can’t tell you good it feels to have the room and living area organized. This place feels more like us – more modern and open. I loved the other house, but it just wasn’t quite…well, us.

My other favorite part of the place? The tea mugs. Seriously, it’s something about the way they keep the water hot and the way they feel in my hands. Can’t explain it. Just amazing.

On that note, I’ll leave you with a Mitch Hedberg quote:

“It’s very dangerous to wave to people you don’t know because what if they don’t have hands? They’ll think you’re cocky.”

That Middle Area

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I sit here tonight waiting for my boyfriend to get ready upstairs. Waiting for him to come downstairs and tell me he is ready to pick up his friend from the bus station. This was our first home together. And tonight is our last night with this home as our own. His friend will be moving in for three weeks and then we will move on. We will move to another apartment to call our second home. We had a first home. It was in Los Angeles, but that was my home before it was his so therefore cannot be called “our” first home.

I can’t help but wonder how many times I will have this feeling of leaving a place. Our particular situation won’t allow us much time to get settled anywhere…at least not for many years.

So as I sit here in the last hour of this being truly “our” home, I read the book “Committed” by Elizabeth Gilbert about her memoir on making peace with marriage. And I look forward to something to start happening for us again. Not this in between place we are in. I’d rather be moving and traveling constantly OR be settled. I don’t know how much I like this in between place that is like the 13th floor…almost feeling like it doesn’t exist.

Then again. If I were Haitian, imagine how I would feel. This is nothing compared to that. For that, I am grateful.