Time warp!

Sof:
Hola mis amigos!

Lo siento por .....I mean, I am sorry about the massive time warps between blogs! Life has been super busy, which I suppose is a good thing!!

To follow on from my dearest husband, I did indeed visit the UK ( I am terribly sorry to all those I didn't get round to see. I really had NO time to myself and was exhausted by the end of it!) for 3 of my extremely good friends weddings, my nieces 18th birthday and to help my friend in London move house....although actually she arranged that for the day after I flew in cos I was there! Love you Charlotte! But although I was a ZOMBIE for the day (I seriously didn't appreciate being woken at 9am, with my body doth protesting it was indeed 4am) and we worked our balls off, it was amazing to see Charlotte and Mr Moff and to spend some quality time in her new flat with A ROOF TERRACE!!! In London - so cool! And it was certainly appreciated that Miss Simmonds also sleep deprived herself to come visit on Sunday morning to partake of breakfast with us. Thank you people.

I had the wedding of Ali and Howard, make a new friend - hey Rachel! - and had a cracking time - HOW HOT!!???? I really think I brought the weather with me - it was soooo hot for the two weeks I came over - lovely!

Charlotte's 18th birthday was the following day, fab time spent with the family and a BBQ in the evening where I put my OT skills to use to prevent all the food being charcoal after 5 seconds! hehe!

I travelled up to Stoke on Trent for Claire and Ian's wedding - such a lovely and intimate affair. Thanks sweetie for allowing me to be a part of your special day! You must remember to send me photos / DVDs of the day!

And finally Ed and Becky's wedding. One of my oldest friends, finally being all grown up....HAHA that's a joke! Ed is a s grown up as me (love you!) Another amazing day, catching up with old school friends (Leann, we MUST stay in touch better). It was such a fantastic day, I was sad to have to leave early to drive back!

And with seeing all my other wonderful friends, and them feeding me and giving me a bed - I am so LUCKY to have these people in my life. You all know who you are. Thank you. And DAMN YOU!! It made it so much harder to leave!!

But, the good thing to hear is that I wanted to come back - I really feel like the US is my home. I think Paul being here was part of that (as he technically is my home!), but I wasn't ready to come back to the UK. People kept asking "was it strange to see your house", and I was like - no - this isn't my house, it is Rachel's, and I don't feel a connection to it right now. SO all is GOOD!

So coming back to the US, well, I had a job interview the following day (luckily jet lag isn't so bad coming over here - returning to the UK is a bitch) at the British Embassy. Well, that was certainly a funny interview. Got there, they took me upstairs, and detailed the job. They asked me if I had any questions. I said no, as I had asked most of what I wanted to know when I spoke to them on the phone. I then said, do you have any questions for me. My boss then said, well, I suppose I had better ask a question and asked me how I dealt with difficult callers!!! How funny. I think the interview was obviously a courtesy. I had a feeling it was, as they contacted me the day before I flew to the UK in response to my CV and offered me an interview the following week. I cursed (not on the phone!) as i thought I had missed my opportunity by flying back. I explained the situation, and the call was terminated. That's it. I thought, no fecking job for me....imagine my surprise when 10 minutes later I had a call back to tell me that they would interview me when I get back...and by the way could I start straight away if I was successful?! RIGHT ON!!

So I got the job, and started that Thursday. But in the meantime, Sheila (Paul's mum) and her partner, Bob, flew in the next day, to stay with us for a month. So we had a hectic household! Needless to say my sax practise went down the pan! And the weather became impossible. Humidity reaching 90% with temperatures reaching 101 degrees - we are still in the 'heat wave' although it is tropical raining today as I type. Made doing the touristy things quite difficult, but we had such a fantastic time! I did things that I hadn't yet done or seen, we had a road trip up to Canada, dropping the parents off at Niagara Falls for them to do their own thing. They got a train from there to NYC and then trained back to us a few days after. We went up to Canada for BBQ's, pool parties and fun fun fun! It is a 9 hour drive, so completely doable. Fuel is so cheap it only cost us around $60 to drive there (about 40GBP). We can't wait to go back in Aug to spend some time with the Munro's and their friends at their cottage by the lake - Canadians call this type of holiday 'cottaging'. Please don't laugh!!!! You dirty people! And Jacob will be with us: even better!

We have joined a local outdoor pool, 5 min drive down the road, and it is really nice. The parents and Paul have enjoyed it, but I haven't yet - planning on that tomorrow if the weather is OK! Mainly joined for Jacob's benefit, as he is a water baby, and August will be so bloody hot (although, in all honesty, it is August weather right now!) so a pool was ideal!

I am really enjoying my job. Working on the switchboard (yes - phones, I know) but it is different. I am not surgically attached to the headset, my calls aren't monitored, I have other duties to attend to (admin stuff) and I am my own boss. Really relaxed, and 2 days a week. Lovely!

We celebrated the 4th July with Terry and Brenda (Paul worked with Terry in the UK). I am not sure if we have mentioned them, they are an American family based in Maryland. I have become friends with their daughter - Megan. We had a 'cook-off' (BBQ) and they lit fireworks in their back yard / field! Fun fun fun again! The only bad thing was forgetting they had a pool and not bringing our swim suits!

The fireworks here are, I would say, TOO BLOODY LOUD! Honestly, it was like being in a war zone. The British were back to reclaim their territory! hehe! Seriously though, never heard anything like it!

So the last thing I will say is that I have signed up for the Bristol half marathon again in September. Which, in hindsight, was so foolish. The weather out here is not very conducive to training - so humid and hot. I am not sure I I will manage it, but I will give it a go! Bloody chafing!!

Anyway - that is it for now. I will try to keep up with this more regularly (I know we say that every time!).

Love you all xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx