Monday 29 December 2008

I Need More Time!!

It's raining and people here are so happy to the weather has returned to normal from the snow that blanketed the city before I arrived.

Since I last wrote....

- My flight from Tucson to Phoenix was delayed by 3 hours, which means I had to be re-booked out of Phoenix to Seattle and arrived 4 hours later than what was planned. Steve met me at the airport and took me to Todd and Raechelle's. Finally, I met Todd and his kids. It felt like I already knew him as we've be virtual friends for a long time. Despite being weary from travel and lingering jet-lag, I had loads of fun. They are all lovely people. You can read a bit more about that here.

- Rae dropped me off along with her cat, Ruby, which I get to use while I'm here (Thank you Rae!) at Steph's and Steve, Steph and I caught up. I slumped off to bed and had my first full night's sleep. When I woke, I no longer felt hazy. The Jet-lag had gone. Hooray!

-Yesterday I went shopping with Steph and it was very successful. We both don't like shopping and discovered that when you put two women who don't like shopping together, it end up being enjoyable, fast and yielding fruitful results. Then in the evening we went to dinner at West 5 Lounge and Julia and Chris came down to meet us. There was much laughter and my face hurt by the end of the eve.

- Today I'm off to meet Sandra and eat and shop some more. I still have things I would like to get over here. Calls and plans also need to be made.

There are a load of people I would like to see, but I'm not certain how to make this happen. A week just isn't enough time. :-(

Friday 26 December 2008

Sunday 21 December 2008

Happy Solstice! Happy Happy!

So today on my side of the pond the sun rose at 8:05 and set tonight at 15:55. It is the shortest day of the year, and this year I hardly noticed. Normally the lack of sunlight really weighs on me, but not this year!

Things continue to go well aside from the fact that my personal laptop has gone all buggy. The jack where the power chord connects finally went kaput. So, no power gets to my laptop. This means no promised pictures.

Other than that all is going well (touch wood, touch wood). And, now the sun returns.

Oh and here is a funny anecdote from work:

One of my students came into homeroom the other day and announced loudly, "Miss Martin, my dad went to a Christmas Party last night and got so drunk that he accidentally pushed his contact to the back of his eye. He got it out eventually, but it was difficult." I informed my student that while I appreciated the story, I didn't think that his father would appreciate him telling it to me and the rest of the class. His response, "Oh my dad won't care. It was funny." This is one of the many reasons why I love my job, but I still need these next two weeks off.

I'm off on Tuesday to the US. I'm going to Tucson to my grandma and my parents will be there. Then I'm off to Seattle where I will be seeing many fabulous friends, among them Raechelle and her fiance Todd, who I've yet to actually meet face to face. Can't wait!

So, hooray and yay and Happy Solstice to all. Now, I need to break out some candels and give a little thanks before heading off to meet the boy.

Tuesday 9 December 2008

Why Worry?

I just spent the last four days (more or less) with J-. :-) All weird worries, feelings, etc. have dissipated. He got quite ill, however, which is why he stayed as long as he did, and I had to deal with a bit of 'man-flu'. I'll be seeing him Thursday and I've Friday off.

Oh deary me, I do like this man.

And I used the b-word and he used the g-word. Well, no I didn't actually say the word 'boyfriend'. To be honest I have a difficult time saying it, but I copped to it. On Friday, the bouncers of the club we were at jokingly pushed him outside the ropes because he supports Arsenal. One of the bouncers turned to me and in front of J- asked, "Is this your boyfriend?"

"Yes," I replied.

He pointed to the club. "Then you should go in there and find yourself a new one."

On Sunday, J- convinced me to upgrade my cable package (he's paying for it) so he could watch sports as well as other channels I didn't have since he is here so much. On the phone to my provider he said, "Actually, it's my girlfriend's cable."

We spoke a bit of things between us, clarified things, and I'm back to feeling happy with this whole thing once again. It's the distance that drives me nuts. Literally, it drives me nuts. My imagination goes a bit haywire. I just think too much. Something I've been told a myriad of times.

I think I'm going to return to keeping quiet about my feelings surrounding this again. It has been good for me to virtually vent, but he has no idea that I blog. I think it's just best if I return to writing about abstract things that strike me funny or entertaining occurrences in my life.

Again thank you for reading.

One more thing (as Columbo would say), I went to a Georgian masquerade ball this weekend for Khrisslyn's hen-do. I'll post some pics when I get a chance.

Friday 5 December 2008

Spoke Too Soon

Of course as soon as I put down in words my frustration, J- contacts me and asks me to join him in town tonight and go clubbing with him.

While this makes me feel better, it doesn't solve some of the issues I'm having with this relationship. However, I do really enjoy his company and fancy him quite a bit too. I will have fun this evening and take it as it comes, which is what I really should be doing anyway I know. Vamos a ver (we'll see)

And tomorrow is Khrisslyn's hen-do. Good times to be had. I just wish I wasn't still sick.

Thursday 4 December 2008

Higland Happiness, London Lonliness

Again, it's been a while- usual excuses.

This last weekend was James and Dawn's wedding. It was absolutely lovely and a spectacular time.

Stupidly, I left my camera at home, so these pictures were ll taken with my phone. Here are a few snaps from the wedding.


The Ben Wyvis Hotel in Strathpeffer, where it all took place:

A bit of Strathpeffer:

Me in my dress with the cape on:

Me in my dress with the cape off:
(I had this picture taken to send to J-, who replied with 'Stunning')

A young kilted lad. His kilt was 22 years older than he was:

The happy couple cutting cake:

Dawn and Em and some lovely gentlemen:
(They were quite a fun lot. It was by far the best singles table that I have ever sat at.)

The beautiful single gals:
(From left to right Em, Sarah, me, and Holy)

The happy couple's first dance as a married couple:Holly had hired a car and she was quite familiar with the area we were having spent some time there. So while we were at the reception, she offered to take us on a bit of a Highland tour the next day. Our flight back to London wasn't until 3:50, so we all agreed. Here are some pics from that drive.

I don't remember the name of these two lochs, but they were quite beautiful:



This is Eilean Donan castle located on Loch Duich

And this is certainly a loch whose name you've heard before, Loch Ness.
Unfortunately, by the time we arrived at Loch Ness we were short on time and just barely made it to Inverness to get our flight home. Thus, I was only able to grab a quick picture and didn't get any quality time for Nessie watching.

And so home in cold, dreary London where I subsequently became ill and had to take two days off work. Back also to my love life. After the entire disappearing incident where all was explained things seemed to be progressing well between us. However, in the last four days the distance, barely having a chance to see each other, and other factors which are private have begun to weigh heavily upon me. Part of me thinks that once I see J- again, I'll have a better idea of my feelings. The other part of me wants to cancel next week's plans with him (We're not going to see each other this weekend either-that will make three weeks in a row without seeing each other!) and just get over it and move on with my life. However, I know that's just my frustration with all the previous mentioned factors talking and has nothing whatsoever to do with how much I like him. After all if I didn't enjoy his company so much, it wouldn't upset me that I won't see him for a while.