Happy 14th Blogiversary to the Yellow House

 

Today is my blog's 14th birthday, or blogiversary!

The Yellow House has made it to its second year of teenager-hood! Woohoo!

I know that it's Tumbleweed City around here sometimes, but I still have a great love for this space. Especially in the earlier years, I shared so much about my life as I tried to fit in in a new country, so this blog has a special place in my heart forever. Sometimes I'll come here as a reader of my own blog and I'll read about this woman from Georgia who came across the pond several years ago and I marvel at just how much has changed in my life and in the world. There is a comforting innocence when I go back to read from the earlier years of my blog. Even though I stumbled with adjusting quite a lot sometimes, looking back now, I see that those were still some of the sweetest days of my life. I never thought I'd say that (smile). There were some tough days back then, but little did I know that life would throw so many challenges my way. None of us ever know. I guess it's like they say though...that's life. 

This isn't meant to be a sad post or one of regret. It's not that at all. I guess that I'm at one of those points in my life when I'm pausing for a moment to look back briefly before I continue on my journey ahead. I guess that this pandemic has brought things into sharp focus for many of us. So I guess that what I'm trying to say is that I look back on some of the more innocent past times with gratitude in a way that I didn't appreciate before. And through this, it also makes me grateful for the beautiful things that I've experienced in my life and it leaves hope in my heart for beautiful things to happen now and onward (smile).

So I will continue writing here as I have off and on for fourteen years. As I've mentioned previously, I don't know if anyone reads my blog anymore since I'm so sporadic and nowadays there's social media, Netflix, and so much more for people to give their time to. However, if anyone still visits me here, I thank you gratefully (smile). And if I'm just talking (writing) to myself, well I imagine it makes a cool echo in here (smile).

I'll be back to write more, even though I don't know what to write about here anymore. Ha ha! I'll think of something though. I hope you'll join me just to see what I come up with. Thank you for reading this to the meandering end! Ha ha!

Happy 14th Birthday Yellow House....let's keep this going! Mwah!!💋

Revisiting and Renewal

Image courtesy of Pixabay

 

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been thinking back about how much I used to enjoy writing here at my blog. I still enjoy it when I come here, but I’ve been sporadic over the past couple of years or so and I’ve lost my way a bit on the blogging front. To be fair, my life has been a real rollercoaster over the past year or so, not even counting the pandemic which we’ve all been going through, so I’m realizing that I need to cut myself some slack in regard to how much of a sporadic blogger I’ve become. 

Still, all kinds of questions come to mind like…Does anyone still read “this” blog? – Do people still even read blogs or is it better to have a podcast? – Do I have anything left to say here? etc. There are SO MANY questions that cross my mind. I haven’t been able to come up with any definitive, smart, or clever answers, however, I’ve changed my perspective when thinking about all of the questions that I have. 

Basically, I’ve decided that I should just not worry about the questions and just do what makes me happy. Life was hellish for me personally and for the world in general during 2020 and 2021 is still messing with us all. But I think that the earnest pursuit of what makes me happy, despite all the crap of the world, is a definitive act and I need that to get back on track and to rescue my mental health. It’s like they say, two things can be true at the same time. The world can be crazy “and” I can be aware of that, but alongside that, I can celebrate some good in this life. I can’t let “this or that” take me over so much. I’m going to do my best to have more “and” in my life. 

I’m not a Pollyanna by any stretch of the imagination, but I want to get back to some brighter things here at my blog again. I know that there will be times when I will write about something tougher or sad, but life is about balance and I’ve been out of balance here for a while. I started this blog several years ago to have fun and I did, but then I lost my way. I know that I can’t go back to writing the same things that I wrote back in 2008 because it is a different time now. When I started out back then I was in the early days of my expat experience. However, now in 2021, it’s still a good time to revisit this space that I’ve cherished so much over the years. 

As I mentioned earlier in this post, I don’t have any answers to those questions, but I’m not going to worry. If anyone is still reading this blog, thank you for still visiting me. If I pick up new readers that would be fantastic and I would be so grateful, but if no one reads I’ll just come here as a kind of “I was here world!” exercise. 😊 I don’t know if it’s better to have a podcast nowadays. Maybe it is and perhaps I’ll give that a go someday soon as another creative experiment. As for having anything left to say, well I guess this long post is proof that I can still ramble with the best of them 😉 Sidenote: If you’ve read this far God bless you for humoring me! This post is way too long, but it has been cathartic for me. It has given me the chance to think things through as I have written. I haven’t been this candid here in a long time. 

So here’s to revisiting this space…this blog…and here’s to renewal on a few fronts. I’ll be back to write and ramble more about a little bit of everything way more often. I hope you’ll join me.

12th Blogiversary

Courtesy of Pixabay

Today is my 12th Blogiversary!  

I can't believe that I've been blogging for twelve years off and on. Time does fly. I admit that my blogging has been quite sporadic over the past couple of years, but I'm always operating in the hope that I can get back to blogging much more. When I show up here at my blog, I'm instantly happy and it brings back good memories when I scroll back over older posts. 

On this blogiversary day each year, I always look back at that very first post in 2008 and I'm instantly nostalgic. When I wrote that first post I was very actively trying to figure out how to "be" here in this new land. I have to admit that I was struggling a lot back then and I still do sometimes, but I firmly believe that this blog has changed the trajectory of my life in so many good ways. I love that I began this blogging journey on March 4th, which always makes me think of marching forth. 

Typing those first words on my very first post really opened up a new path in my life, that I am still exploring. I've been given great opportunities through blogging, but the most important thing that blogging has given me has been simply to give me an outlet, especially during a time when I needed it the most. 

My life is a bit more complicated than it was when I wrote that very first post back in 2008 and right now I'm working on making it a bit less complicated again. I know that I can never go back to that time and that looking back too much can be toxic, but I think that reflection once in a while is a very helpful way of checking in with myself. I think cutting down on some of the complication in my current life starts with getting back to square one with myself and doing the things that I love. I've been running on fumes for the last while and my tank is ready to give out if I don't help myself. I've come to realize lately that I don't really do much that I love anymore. I just do what needs to be done and not much else (I know I'm not alone in feeling this way). That has to change. Life is to be lived. 

Only I can make the changes that are needed to get me back on track in life. This blog offered me a great outlet in the beginning, so now it is time to let it do its quiet magic again, to help me look within. I am ready to do this. Here goes :)

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.

~ President Barack Obama

Friday Flowers

Happy Friday!

I have another flower post today, but then I love flowers...I imagine many of us do though. What's not to love, huh? :)  These photos are actually taken from the same bouquet, but just on different days. The top photo is the most recent. I had to capture the beauty of the lily and share it once it bloomed out. Isn't it gorgeous?

Nature is extraordinary!

Have a great weekend :)

Visiting Bath Once Again

This past Saturday, my hubby and I took a trip to Bath. It's not too far away and we love visiting there when we get the chance. While we were there enjoying ourselves, we wondered why we don't visit more often. We've decided that we'll definitely be visiting more often and enjoying more of what that beautiful city has to offer :)

The photo above is one of my favorite views of Bath along the River Avon. It's so beautiful. A great deal of Bath is constructed out of Bath stone, which has that lovely honey-colored hue to it.

The photo below is from lunch...nachos!!  ;-) Nachos are always a good idea in my book. Lol.

It was an overcast day for the most part, but it didn't matter because we had a fantastic time!

If you'd like to check out a few of my past posts about Bath, you can see them here and here.

A Decade of Experiences

Today is a big day in my life. Ten years ago today, I stepped off the plane and started this journey of living in England. I can hardly believe that it's been a decade, but it has been. When I think about these years, one line comes to mind from Charles Dickens...

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..."

(From A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, 1859)

Don't get me wrong with that worst part, but it just resonates with me. Life is a balance of the good and the bad and in ten years we as human beings go through a lot. The thing that makes me rejoice though is that despite the ups and downs, I'm still standing :)

My gratitude for this experience of living away from where I was born is surrounding me as I type these words. I've wrestled quite a bit with being away from my family, but on the other hand I've been having this gift of great experiences. So in the end, I can't complain at all. All is well :)

I look forward to seeing what's next. Onward to ten years plus...let's go!

Seven Years and Counting

Seven years ago today, I arrived on these shores to start a new chapter of my life. I had flown through the night from the southeastern United States to this lovely island where I live now.

This is a picture of the beautiful blossoms that I left behind back home in Georgia. They were at the edge of a field that I had played in all of my life. So right before I left I took a picture of them so that I could freeze them in time and remember them just as they were right before I left. I guess it was my way of holding onto a bit of my roots as I was preparing to move so far away. Also, we had just lost my mom so it seemed like I was leaving everything behind and it was a tough time. When I saw these beautiful pink flowers I felt happy and calm because nature can always do its work on me in times of stress. It's hard for me to worry about anything when I see God's beautiful work right in front of my face :-)

I knew that I was setting off on a journey in more ways than one and I was intrigued to see what would come...

***

When I flew over here to England, I left in the dark of night on one side of the Atlantic Ocean and arrived on the other side of the ocean in the light of the morning. I was glad to see Brit Boy and I was glad that I had arrived safely. We drove home from the airport and I walked into our little yellow house here. The first thing that I did was to go and look out of the window and this is what I saw in the backyard.

There were beautiful pink flowers here to greet me on the other side of the world and I smiled.

 

As always, nature brought me peace :-)

It's been an eventful seven years. I can hardly believe that that much time has passed. I've gained some things, I've lost some things, but I can honestly say...it's all good. I can't complain. I'm grateful for life and I can't wait to see what the next seven years will bring and the next and the next...

Lovely Bath

Today I'm finally sharing my photos that I took during our recent trip to beautiful Bath. It was a bit of an overcast day and near the end it rained, but that city is a gorgeous place to visit in mostly any weather. There are many things that I love about Bath...it's architecturally beautiful, it's just the right size, and I always feel a difference when I visit. I'll explain. I've been living here for a bit over six and a half years now, and even though it is great to live here, after a while I've gotten used to it because I'm living a normal life everyday. I know that it's a treat to get a chance to live outside one's homeland, but for me when I'm let's say, washing dishes, I could be anywhere as I get dishpan hands :-) I guess that what I'm trying to say is that after this while and simply getting on with life, I don't think daily about the fact that I live in another country. But from time to time, when I'm least expecting it, I have this realization that "hey, I'm in a totally different country". And in those moments I'm truly grateful for the opportunity to have this experience. I try to be grateful generally in my life, but I do get those moments when I stop in the middle in my life and take a look around. I guess you could say that momentarily I stop and smell the roses. When I have those moments I tell myself that I have to take notice more...I'm working on it...I'm a work in progress :-) Anyway, back to my story. So when I'm in Bath I have those moments of realization and I feel the difference, like "yeah, I'm somewhere else". Bath is probably my favorite place so far that I've visited in England.

We went to Bath that day to simply have a lovely day out and it was great! Brit Boy and I always enjoy having a stroll around the city and this is where Brit Boy attended university, so it holds a special place in his heart. Since I've been so wordy already, I'll just make the rest of this more of a photo post with very few words ;-)

Left: This is a rather blurry pic that I took from the car as we were waiting to get off at the exit. Bath is beautifully laid out within the rolling hills.

Right: The view as we drove along into town to get to the parking. I love the way the houses hug the curve of the road.

           

                 




        Left: The view driving into town and down the hill

Above: I love the shape of this building

Above: Street Scene...Bath is full of cozy little areas like this

Above: Pretty side street. I don't know the name of the church, but I love how it is nestled just right there

Above: A view of Bath Abbey and to the right are the Roman Baths

Above: Which way do we go???? LOL

Above: My delicious lunch...a spinach & cheese ravioli garnished with cheese and salad and the glorious bread. Yum!!!! Wish I had some now! It was SO good! We ate at a department store restaurant and were floored that the food was so nice and tasty and reasonably priced!

Above: Brit Boy's lasagna

Above: Last but not least, the sweet shop where I got my Nerds candy that I mentioned in my previous post. It was such a cute shop...old fashioned and just perfect!

And that's all folks! I have about a thousand more photos of Bath because every time we go I just can't help myself. It is that beautiful! I always feel at home there. And I LOVE getting the chance to share it with all of you. I will share some more photos in the future because I want everyone to get the chance to experience this interesting place. So I hope that you'll indulge any future photo posts that I do ;-)  These photos don't even scratch the surface. More to come...

If you'd like to know more about Bath, just let me know in the comments. I could talk about it forever and I'm not being paid by the city, I just love this beautiful place. LOL.

Until next time...

Memories Through Cornbread

It’s been a while since I did a cooking post, so it just seemed like a good idea for today’s post, since I need to get back into the blogging hot tub. I don’t love to cook, but I like it pretty well and hey, we've all gotta eat don’t we? For those times when I don’t want to cook, a frozen dinner is my best friend ;-)

There are times when I like cooking and times when I loathe it. It’s all about balance ;-) In those times of enjoyment, the thing that pulls me in is the chance to be creative, so that aspect is right up my alley.

I truly enjoy watching cooking shows, especially Barefoot Contessa. Her food inspires me to want to cook EVERYTHING and do it well. Her variety of dishes that she cooks always inspires me to try something new and I’ve learned lots of cooking techniques from her, so I love me some Contessa :-) And as a fellow Georgia girl, I love to watch Paula Deen when I’m back home visiting. I can see the Barefoot Contessa on the Food Network over here, but they don’t show Paula Deen here. So that’s where the website comes in handy. Anyway, that’s enough of my TV favorites for today. Pardon my detour ;-)

So this past weekend I cooked cornbread muffins…well actually cheese cornbread muffins. I had a taste for some. I’m not a really big fan of cornbread or any bread really, but sometimes I get the taste for it. It usually coincides with me thinking about home or back to the times when my parents were still alive. When I was growing up, my mom made cornbread everyday and I used to love to watch her make it. The memories that I have of watching her make cornbread stick firmly in my mind. I don’t know why. I guess it’s the everyday normal things that you may take for granted at the time, but when you look back, those are the things that are burned into your memory forever. As time goes by I realize that memories are TRULY the beautiful things in life :-) The simplest, beautiful things…

Over the Christmas holidays, I received a package from my sisters and I had mentioned to them when we were Skyping once that I couldn’t get cornmeal very readily where I live. So I’d asked them to send me a small bag if they could. Well, in the Christmas package there was the cornmeal…just like my mom used to use :-) The sight of the bag instantly filled me with nostalgia. Here it is:



Yeah, I took a picture of the bag of cornmeal…it’s an expat thing. LOL. Anyway, I made some cheese cornbread muffins and they turned out pretty good. My mom was strictly old school though…she just made straight cornbread and hers was great, but I love to play around with a recipe from time to time.



I’ve been nibbling on these muffins all week and yesterday I crumbled some up in a bowl of soup…mmmmmm. Now that was good! Next time I may try putting some other flavor in there to see how it turns out. See, it’s that creativity thing again ;-)

I realized the other day how much I used to love posting about my culinary creations in the earlier days of this blog and I realized that I don’t do that much anymore. Well that will definitely be a returning feature here. I’m no chef or even a really great cook, but I just love mixing stuff up and seeing what happens. And also I love photographing things…and that includes food, so I hope you’ll come back and see what I cook next :-)

Until next time…

Foods That I Eat Here #1

Usually on this blog I share photos and descriptions of the many places that Brit Boy and I go to or I will tell you what I’ve been doing around the Yellow House. But I don’t very often tell you about some of the foods that I’ve taken to eating since I moved to England. By the way, on Friday, I will have been living here four years!!! I know it’s cliché to say this, but time really does fly. The fact that it’s four years is really wild to me.

Anyway, back to my story. Okay so…different foods in England. Well, usually I just eat things that I ate back home in the United States since I can get an equivalent here sometimes. And I’ve become very good at adapting recipes from home now, so I still can have some of my favorite dishes from back home. Then there are some things that I just have to enjoy when I'm back home in Georgia. I guess that's the beauty of adapting :-) The rest of the time I'm just enjoying the different tastes here.

From time to time I’m going to share some of my favorite foods that I’ve taken to eating here. I guess I'll call the series...ah, "Foods That I Eat Here" ;-) I hope this will give you all more of a picture of my life here…on the food side of things.

I’m not much of a bread lover and I’ve never really been one. But I must admit that I have developed an interest in bread, especially when it’s topped with one of my favorite foods…cheese!!



This is a cheese bap and from time to time I will buy some of these when we’re at the supermarket. It’s not something I could eat every day, but every now and then, I’ll buy a few.

Some of you from back home or elsewhere may be wondering about the name ‘bap’ when it looks like a roll. Well here they call this type of roll a bap. The name ‘bap’ is often used to describe a soft roll and it can come in different shapes and flavors depending on the region. They also sell plain baps without cheese here. Apparently, the word ‘bap’ dates from the 16th century. I wasn't able to find out the word's origin though.

This one I have in the picture is from this morning and it’s my last one for a while. Boo hoo! LOL. Oh well, it was good and I’m sure that if I had them all the time I’d get truly sick of them and I wouldn’t be able to get my hips down the stairs ;-)

A little piece of wonderful….one of my new favorites and it incorporates cheese…I was a happy woman this morning ;-) I’ll share more new favorites in the future!

P.S. – Please check out my other blog. I have a post there about a company that’s selling t-shirts and the proceeds go to help those in Haiti.

Making Expat Life More Interesting

At the end of March, I will have been living here in England for four years. Sometimes it feels like I just arrived, and sometimes I wonder where the time has gone :-) I’m asked by friends from time to time what it’s like to live this expat life and they imagine that it's like being on vacation everyday. I give them what I call a 50/50 answer. I tell them that half of the time, it’s an adventure to make a life elsewhere and I relish it. I still get wide-eyed about new things I discover. And the other half of the time I’ll say honestly that it can get lonely and I have the uneasy feeling of being an outsider. However, I enjoy this in-between space that I inhabit :-) I get to be a part of two places and that is a blessing. But I think that in many ways this is how life is. Life is multi-layered and that’s the fascination in it all. Some days it's good, some days it's not so good. Frankly, I’m just living my life like anyone anywhere would do. I’m just enjoying wherever this journey is taking me in my life and I’m taking lots of pictures to share it with you all! :-)

The good news is that I’m getting rather settled in these days. From time to time I come across groups that help foster a sense of community for expats like myself and I enjoy looking at what they have to offer. I’m always interested in ways to more thoroughly enjoy my experiences here :-) So when I was invited to join the InterNations community, I was really intrigued.

Here's a link to the London group "InterNations Expat Community London" . I enjoy sharing interesting info like this :)



First of all, I love that its tag line reads “the network for expatriates and global minds”. This to me is great because it is so inclusive and does make for a feeling of belonging. I’m very excited about the possibilities! :-)

Here’s a bit of information about InterNations for my fellow expats out there or anyone who is interested in learning more about this community. InterNations is a social network, started in September 2007, for expatriates and has a varied membership of over 140,000 in over 230 cities worldwide. The membership includes people from many walks of life. The site is a German startup and was awarded the Land der Ideen award, which means "land of ideas", by the German government and the Federation of German Industries for their business concept in creating a web-based solution to the challenges of the expat life.

What I really love about InterNations is the opportunity for members to meet in real life at monthly events. This is so crucial I think, because as I said before, even though it’s really wonderful to have this experience, it can be lonely at times. So having a chance to meet with others who are in the similar situation would be ideal. Expatriates and their families can connect with others and receive advice on the expat life in various countries. Also there’s additional information and resources in the InterNations city guides.

Membership is by invitation only, so I was very flattered to be asked to join the community. If anyone is interested in joining, you can request your personal invitation at the site. It just sounds like a really cool site to me. I look forward to exploring what the network has to offer. Very soon my answer to the expat question may change from 50/50 to 75/25! Wish me luck! :-)

Trooping the Colour, Here We Come!

I have some fabulous news! Brit Boy and I are going to see Queen Elizabeth in June. We’re going to Trooping the Colour. This celebration is the Queen’s official birthday parade and is held on a Saturday in June, every year. The Queen’s actual birthday is April 21st. This is a wonderful display of true pageantry and I can’t wait to be there to watch it all unfold. I sometimes can’t believe how things have been turning out for this American girl who still feels like a tourist sometimes :-) I come across to the other side of the Atlantic with no wish lists and through Brit Boy and me giving everything a try, we get in to see all the things I would have wanted to see if I’d had a wish list when I arrived. Who knew that being a plucky couple got you this far :-) Sometimes I feel like we ought to have our own reality show. LOL. Anyway, I’m very grateful that we are getting a chance to go experience something else great together. What a blessing. We definitely know how lucky this all is. Often when we get opportunities like this, it reminds me what happens when you put the effort out there in life to go for what you want...you never know what can happen :-)

Our tickets arrived yesterday. So when Brit Boy came home from work, I sprung the envelope on him. He blogged about it last night. We had to apply for the tickets through a public ballot, which is very similar to how we got tickets to Wimbledon. Here's the post about that. When we originally thought about going, we had figured that we would just turn up on the day and stand along The Mall, and see what we could see. But then we figured that we may as well apply to be put into the public ballot and see what came of it. Well, we got in and our tickets are ready and waiting for June :-)

This should be very cool, because we will see the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, and some of the other royals. Brit Boy and I saw Princes William and Harry back in 2007 at the Concert for Diana, so we may add to our list of royal sightings substantially in June. We have to dress up for the occasion, so Brit Boy will have to get all suited up and I will be getting to work on my outfit. Wish me luck! ;-)

So it’s an exciting time around the yellow house. I’ll definitely be sharing all the details from our day out on June 13th! Have a great day :-)

Just a Bit Blah

I’ve just been feeling kind of blah about everything lately. I can’t decide if I’m homesick or just burnt out…maybe it’s a bit of both. I’ve been falling behind with my blogging, because I haven’t known what to write really. I just don’t want you all to think that I’m abandoning things here. I’m not…I’m just a bit out of synch at the moment, but I’ll be okay. I appreciate those of you who visit me here, so just know, I’m giving my blogging another try today. (smile) Wish me luck ;-)

The Obamas in London

So I’ve been searching my mind for what to write about…anything that will get me out of the mini doldrums I’ve been in lately. In that vein of reviving myself, I immediately thought of one thing that’s brighten things for me this past week…the President and First Lady visiting London for the summit.

It was nice to see them when they arrived and to know that they were in the same country as me for a time. Once I saw them coming down the steps of Air Force One, I started to smile. It was like reminders of home came down those stairs with them. Sometimes I feel so detached from home here, so I was more excited than I thought I would be. I have of course never met the Obamas, but it almost felt like family was coming to visit. I hope that that doesn’t sound crazy, but that’s how it felt. (smile) As an expat, you sometimes find yourself clinging onto anything or anyone from home just to stay afloat when the outsider feeling hits. So I guess this is why it made me so happy to see them.

The coverage was generally positive. I wasn’t looking for endless perfect stories about them, because they aren’t perfect, nobody is. I was just looking for home and they represented that to me. I know that there was that whole story about the First Lady touching the Queen, but from the reports I’ve read, the word from Buckingham Palace is that it was no big deal to the Queen. And some even report that the Queen reached out first. But at the end of the day, as long as the Queen didn’t mind, the media should just leave it alone. And apparently the Queen asked the First Lady to keep in touch now that they’ve met, so I think that closes that case. (smile)

As I mentioned, the coverage was pretty fair overall. The First Lady charmed her way around London. She visited cancer patients and they were touched by her caring way and down to earth manner. She dished out hugs and just watching her made me proud that this lady represents our country to the world.

I did think it was interesting on the second day when the First Lady spent the day with the other G20 wives and the Prime Minister’s wife, Mrs. Brown. One report that I read that morning went on about the First Lady’s outfit that day and they did the same about Mrs. Brown. Why do women have to be judged by what they wear first no matter what they are doing???? Anyway, this reporter tore into both of them…this person hated Mrs. Obama’s blue skirt and argyle cardigan and Mrs. Brown’s fitted dress, but who cares (rolling my eyes). I love fashion as much as the next person, but enough already with the snarky analysis every day. By the way, I thought they both looked fine that day. (smile)

That day was probably my favorite day of watching Mrs. Obama. She kept her own schedule whilst the President tended to his work. She spent a good bit of time with Mrs. Brown and the other wives, but on the day when this annoying reporter raked her and Mrs. Brown over the coals because of their clothes, I thought Mrs. Obama came into her own on the world stage. She did a visit to a girls’ school in London as I’m sure many of you have read about. This touched my heart.

Mrs. Obama gave a talk to these girls, just as I’ve seen her do back home and it was a moment when I realized that borders are irrelevant when you talk from the heart. She had an emotional change in her voice as she told those girls that she understands the humble beginnings that some of them have had because that is where she started in life. She told them that education is the key to getting where they want to go and that the world needs more strong women like them in the making. It just warmed my heart. I kept thinking, if only I had heard those words when I was their age…who knows ????(smile) I was just so happy for those girls. They were so excited to see her and she passed out loads of hugs again. There were some waves of nonsense in the papers about her hugging, but the people that she hugged didn’t mind, and one young girl afterwards met her mom outside the school and they showed her screeching to her that she’d had a hug from Mrs. Obama. So I just say to the haters…back off. LOL. Those hugs were for those girls…our future women. (smile) Sometimes you just need a hug…I wish I had one right now. (smile)

This moment at the school touched me most of all, because Mrs. Obama could have saved all of that inspiration for our young people back home, but she didn’t and I love that. She shared her story with these girls and reached out for that common denominator, and left behind nationality, and inspired those girls who will always carry that experience with them. I was SO proud of our First Lady that day. (smile)

My other favorite moment of this visit came from the President. He was walking into 10 Downing Street with the Prime Minister and along the way he greeted the policeman standing at the door and shook his hand. I just loved that. I love it when people are decent to each other, no matter who we are.

The Obamas left London on Friday and I hated to see them go, but I’m glad that they came here and brought such a good vibe with them. Quite indirectly, they helped this expat touch base with the folks from home. (smile) I needed that.

A Special Request

I was asked by Lyn, one of my readers, to share the name of where Brit Boy and I went last Friday. She grew up in Oxfordshire, which isn’t far from where we live, and she was interested in finding out where the garden centre was located. I think it's cool that she grew up not far from where I live now and she lives in Florida which is right next to Georgia where I come from. It's a small world. (smile) Well, this one’s for you Lyn, in the spirit of full disclosure (smile). The garden centre is a place called Dobbies and it is located on the outer edges of Cirencester…in the Cotswolds. I really love going there. They have a little bit of everything. The building where they are located was repurposed from a former factory and given its current barn ambiance. I love that.

It’s a nice place to visit on a spring or summer day :-)

My First Blogoversary

Today is my 1st blogoversary! When I started this blog a year ago, I had no idea how much I was going to love going on this journey. As I’ve written before, this blog came along at a time in my life when I needed an outlet and it has been a great catalyst in my life. I’ve also been able to connect with some fantastic people from all around the world. I’m a Georgia girl, who came across the Atlantic and settled in England, and then kept traveling around the world everyday on this magic carpet that we call the blogosphere. I've met some great friends. What a ride! (smile) 

During this past year, I have had lots of fun along with some low points, but in the end, it’s all been great to look back on the highs and lows. And it’s all been great to experience it all alongside my hubby Brit Boy. 

Here are some of the things that I experienced and enjoyed sharing here on my blog during this first year of blogging: 

April 2008 - I got my unlimited leave to remain visa, which allows me to settle here and that was a wonderful step. We celebrated our wedding anniversary and the visa by going to see the play “Speed the Plow” starring Jeff Goldblum. 

June 2008 – We went to Wimbledon... what a thrill that was. We attended the Nelson Mandela birthday concert and we were able to see him speak briefly which was very moving. 

August 2008 – We went to the Madonna concert in Wales. 

September 2008 – We went to the Stevie Wonder concert. He was amazing! Stevie Wonder is Brit Boy’s favorite singer, so my hubby’s grin was a mile wide during the concert (smile) 

October 2008 – I was in the thick of trying to get my absentee ballot in for the election and after many attempts I got it in. This showed me that I have more persistence than I ever imagined. LOL. 

December 2008 – We went to the Simply Red concert. And at the tail end of the month, I had my visit to the US Embassy and it turned out well. On that day, Brit Boy and I got separated twice and found each other again, but I discovered for the first time since I’ve been here that I’m still able to take care of myself. And that was a great turning point for me, since I’ve relied so heavily on my husband since I’ve been here. I loved that day! (smile) 

Since the start of 2009, the big events have slowed down a bit, but it’s still been fun to share my life experiences with all of you my dear readers and commenters who make my day when you come to visit me. So I want to say a big thank you to you all!!!! (smile) This blog wouldn’t be what it is without you all. And thank you to all of my fellow bloggers for welcoming me into this world….what a pleasure!

A Day of Going Forward

Today is the one year anniversary of the day when I passed my Life in the UK test. I loved that day a year ago. I had made it over a hurdle and I was one step closer to settling here in England. I felt good about myself that day because I was going into a territory where I couldn’t ask a friend what it was like, and I began to relish the unknown.

This was a great step ahead for me on my path back from being so depressed after my mom passed. I had just sort of checked out on my own life before this. So preparing for this test was a great help in getting my mind going forward again. It was a baby step and it took a string of baby steps before I was able to look in the mirror and see me again.

I think that January 30th will always be a special day for me. It was a day when I got my confidence back. It was a day when I reached a goal. It was a day when I started to ask myself ‘what next’ again. And to evolve in life, I realized that growing is what I’m here on Earth to do. And that’s what makes life exciting for me :-)

This is a day of reflection for me. It's the day when I remember stepping back into life again with both feet.

Back on My Journey

I’ve been a bit absent from my blog the last few days. Brit Boy and I have been wallowing a bit more in the afterglow of the holidays before we go along with everyone else into the first full week of the new year :-) So we chilled out this weekend and didn’t go anywhere and it was just great. Saturday we slept in and we relished just sitting around watching movies and just letting the day happen.

Then on Sunday we woke up at about 8am and turned on the TV and started watching this show about people going into the second act of their lives and doing something they always wanted to do. It was great. We ended up watching about three hour-long episodes from bed with one trip downstairs to get green tea and we so enjoyed both…the tea and the show.

They were showing episodes all day. We were so enthralled that we couldn’t tear ourselves away. So while we were getting dressed, we recorded what we were missing. We were hooked :-) But it was good to be hooked on this.

When we were dressed and were sitting down to have lunch, we picked up with watching again. I guess that we were both so into it because we were open to what it was saying…that it’s never too late to do something different with your life.

Brit Boy and I are at a point in our lives where we have been out of school a couple of decades, so we have experienced life a bit. But the way we look at it, there is more experience, life, happiness and fulfillment out there to be had. So I think that we both were very receptive to this show and ready to receive the message. Most of the people on the programs were a decade or two decades older than us, but age was irrelevant in the end. You don’t lose your passions in life just because you have counted more birthdays. What struck me was the underlying theme in all of the episodes, which was to do what you want with your life now, while you have your life to live. Most of the people profiled on the show had long held dreams of pursuing something else, but had to make a living at something else in order to raise their families. Then their kids grew up and they decided it was time for them to take on the second acts in their lives. You could see the twinkle in their eyes along with a bit of anxiety, but it was the greatest thing to see people rediscover a part of themselves.

Seeing this show was so timely for me personally. I wrote in my end of year post that getting separated from Brit Boy twice while we were in London was a good thing for me. Well I feel like the London experiences and how I have been feeling lately and even this show have all converged at this moment to pull me out of this sleep I’ve been in somewhat for quite a while. Sometimes clarity comes in roundabout ways :-)

In a couple of months, I will have been in England for three years and it’s only now that I am really starting to take a real look around. To be truthful, it has been scary. When I moved here, I was doing a whole lot of things at one time. I’ve read since that there are certain life experiences that knock us for a loop even when they are good things. This article said that death of course shakes you up, but the list also included: leaving a job/changing careers, getting married, and moving to name a few. Well, when I came over here in March of 2006, I had done all of them at the same time. I left my job right before Christmas in 2005; eight days later my mom passed away; then I was still trying to be optimistic about getting married (I loved Brit Boy and wanted to marry him, but I was so sad about my mom. I just wanted to go to bed); and then I moved away from the familiarity of home across the Atlantic and I was not myself. Like I said, there were happy things in there, except for my mom’s passing. The good things were things that I wanted, but grief turned everything so upside down.

So I arrived here seriously diluted, but it was sink or swim, so I tried to swim. That didn’t work out so good. I had been here before many times, but visiting is nothing like living somewhere and the culture shock that is normal, just hit me full on as it mixed with everything else. It was too much to take, so I shut down a lot of who I was before. I got married and then I became a lady in waiting…waiting for what I didn’t know.

As I’ve written previously, it’s taken some time, but now I’m finding my groove again. A LOT has challenged me in the last few years and day by day, the Dori I knew before has reappeared, and a lot of that started with beginning to write this blog. And I’m so grateful to all of you that come here to read what I write. It has been so therapeutic to just show up here. I’m more of who I used to be, but there is also change in me…one of the beautiful by-products of living life. We grow :-)

Now that I am getting more connected with myself again, I’m asking myself lately…”So what do you want to do now Dori?” Well, I have a few ideas, but they aren’t in full focus yet. However, that show yesterday showed me that you should just go for it in life. So I think I will :-) It's so true what they say...life is short. My favorite line out of “The Shawshank Redemption” is, we should…”get busy livin’ or get busy dying”.

So I’m back on my journey again and I hope to explore life more here on my blog in this brand new year.

London Adventure End of 2008

Hey there everybody! Well, Brit Boy and I made it safely to and from London yesterday. This time there was no nail-biting coach trip…lol. We took the train this time. I love making the journey on the train. You get to see the countryside on the way, with all of the little houses that are hidden if you drive in on the highway. And also the train takes half the time so it is my favorite.

We headed out early. We got up at about 5:30am so that we would have time to get dressed, scrape the ice off the car, and get to the train station which is a few miles away. According to Brit Boy the train used to stop here in our little neck of the woods, but they by-pass us now. So we have to drive into town to catch the train. But it’s not too far :-) Anyway, we have been having some really wintery weather the last few days and yesterday was the coldest by far. So we scraped the car and headed for town in the dark. We were catching the 7:40ish train to give us enough time.

We got to town, parked the car and then walked around to the train station. We had pre-booked tickets, which cuts the price considerably. We sat in the waiting room for a few minutes with the other passengers and then our train arrived soon after. We whisked off to London as the morning light slowly grew. It was beautiful to see everything quiet and peaceful as we sped towards London in those early hours.

Our trip to London was so that I could drop by the US Embassy. I went so that I could get some advice about tax filing and stuff like that. It can all get a bit complicated, let me tell you :-) But they answered my questions and I was able to pick up some handy pamphlets before I left, so I’m all information-ed up ;-) This was my first visit to the embassy, so it was one of those things that I figure will go in my catalogue of life experiences. We figured that a visit on a semi-off week would be the best time to visit and we were right. I got in and out in less than forty minutes. I’m sure that it is a lot more hectic during non-holiday weeks, so I was so grateful that I didn’t have to stand in line and could ask loads of questions without holding up a line or anything. It was great. They were kind and very helpful to me. There were maybe eight other people there at the time and we all got our own person to speak with.

It was a very unintimidating experience and it just felt like any other government office here or back home…I’ve been to both and it is the great unifier that they are so alike :-) I had to go in alone, since only the person seeking assistance comes in, which we found out ahead of time. I didn’t have any nerves about going in on my own. I just wanted to get it over with so that we could go do other stuff. I’ve had to deal with so much stuff like this in the last few years that now it’s nearly normal to me to do my grand tour of the government buildings on both sides of the pond :-) So Brit Boy went to have coffee and hang out while I was inside the embassy.

Here’s where our comedy life comes in…there’s always a sequence like this in our lives. LOL. I wasn’t allowed to take in any electronic devices so I didn’t have my cell phone which made it hard to contact Brit Boy and tell him to come meet me on my walk back. So we decided to synchronize our watches and check back at our meeting spot every half hour. Our spot was between two telephone boxes, one black and one the customary red, on Park Lane which runs alongside Hyde Park.

So Brit Boy walked me to the embassy and then I went in and got all sorted out. When I came back out, I glanced at my watch, and I realized that it was about seven minutes until ten. So I trotted along down the sidewalk trying to get back to our meeting spot by ten. I thought, how good that would be to make our rendezvous the first time and not have to wait a whole other half hour. Let’s just say, I had a nice morning run and the air was like ice as I ran that two or three blocks with my purse bouncing. LOL. I made it back to Park Lane and kept up my little morning run. My cheeks felt like they had ice as their new skin. LOL. As I got about half way down the street I saw Brit Boy in the distance. I was too far away to yell and the traffic was so noisy he wouldn’t have heard me. Then he turned and headed back the other way. I thought, “Noooo!!!” LOL. So by the time I made it to the corner he was already down the block and headed across the street at a quick pace. It was a cold day so everyone was hustling along. Then he disappeared in the crowd. By this time I gave up my run and thought, ‘I’ll catch him on the next time around.’ And I just laughed to myself. It was like a movie or something :-)

So I headed to get a cup of coffee and to take a trip to the ladies’ room. It was so nice to thaw out my cheeks. And the warm latte went down my throat like a river of warm life replenishing me. Heaven :-) I sat at the window and looked out. I felt good at that moment. The chill had left my cheeks and I was rejoicing because I didn’t get out of breath really during the whole run and I don’t exercise nearly enough. So I figured that hey, that was pretty good. Also I felt good because since I’ve been living here, I don’t feel as independent because I’m learning my way here. But yesterday was the first time in a long time where I felt, ‘hey you’ve got this Dori’. It’s very easy to become very dependent on your spouse when you are the one away from what you know. London is a huge city and it can be kind of daunting to someone who was new to it like me. But we’ve been many times now and I’m to the point where if I ever got dropped there while blindfolded and then released, I could find my way around the city pretty much and get myself back home all the way out here to Wiltshire. So this was a turning point for me in my mind. This was when I realized that the independent person that I always was is still in there :-) What a great thing to realize as we head into a new year. Full steam ahead! :-)

I finished slurping down my coffee and then headed back to our meeting spot. Then in a few minutes, there he was :-) And I thought to myself, he came back and found me as I found myself again.

We headed off to the rest of our day. We went to have a bite to eat and went to the National Gallery. Before we went in though, we stood and watched some high school marching bands that were playing outside the museum. There were several taking turns playing. They were dressed up in their full uniforms and it brought back such fond memories for me. I was a marching band girl back in the 80s :-) They did a great job. I don’t know what was going on, but how cool is that to be a high school student who gets to go abroad and play.

Later we headed to Leicester Square and walked around. Then we ate again since we had walked the other food off hours earlier. We went to this place that specializes in fish dishes. It was really good. We both had crab cakes. It was so nice to get in from the cold.

We walked around and popped into places here and there and then headed to the tube station so that we could head to Paddington Station to catch our train home. Well, I got tested on my newfound comfort with the city. Brit Boy and I made it to the platform just as the train was about to head away and usually we jump on…no problem. Well, it was another one of our comedy moments. I was right with him, but all of a sudden a space came out of nowhere and he had hopped on and the door of the train closed :-) It was weird. So he mouthed, “I’ll wait for you”. And his little tube train sped away. I just shook my head and laughed. What an eventful day. So I hopped the next train and met him a couple of stations away. Thankfully the trains are close together.

It was cool. It just all seemed rather cinematic…two people…separated by the sliding doors of the tube…will they meet again in time….LOL. Classic Dori and Brit Boy! We reunited and headed to Paddington and waited for our train home to come. It was FREEZING!!!

Yesterday was a cold day and the night was even colder, but we huddled up with a warm drink and people watched. I love people watching at Paddington. A perfect winter evening.

When we got back to our car. It was frozen over with a thick layer of ice and it was only about 7:30pm. We scraped the ice off the outside and then scraped it from the inside of the window and it refroze. Now that’s cold!!! LOL. Then the defrost kicked in and we headed home…happy to see our little house and to know that there was a warm drink and a snack inside. It was an eventful and fun winter’s day and a great way to end the year! Happy New Year everyone! Many blessings to you all!!! :-)

A New Earth Revisited

Several days ago, I was tagged by Bas at Istanbul Expat. This tagging has to do with books, which I LOVE!!! (smile) Love my books! Anyway, when he tagged me, I wasn’t reading anything which is kinda rare for me. I usually am reading something. Of course with me that can mean something that I have been reading for months because I have this habit of reading more than one book at a time and the reading gets strung out. I will have about two or three books going at once and then I’ll hop from one to the other and then revisit the previous one and I’m still able to pick up where I left off. I’ve always done this even when I was a kid. It may sound like my mind would be frazzled by this, but it works for me. Can’t explain it, but to each his own, right? It’s sort of one of those march to your own tune things and my tune comes in stereo. (smile) I have heard of other people doing this, so after that I was like, okay, so I’m not alone. LOL. Gotta love it! Do any of you do this?

Anyway, he tagged me during a rare dry spot. I was taking a breather. The rules state that you pick up the nearest book for this tag, but for once there wasn’t a pile near my bed, because I had cleared the decks. So I put this tag on the back burner for a while. Well, in the last few days I have started to re-read a favorite book of mine, “A New Earth” by Eckhart Tolle because the time felt right. And I decided to take a chill pill and read just one book...a novelty ain't it? (wink) Then this morning, I looked at a note I had placed on the side table, right here next to the couch, it said, “Don’t forget the tag from Bas!” I said to myself, “Oh yeah, can’t forget,” and then I put the note back down. I turned to walk into the kitchen and kicked over a pile of books I had sitting on the floor next to the couch…my new “to read” pile. “A New Earth” singled itself out, so I took it as a sign.

The rules of this tag are:

1) Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages)
2) Open the book to page 123
3) Find the fifth complete sentence on the page
4) Post the next three sentences
5) Post a comment and tag five more people

So here it goes.

From “A New Earth” by Eckhart Tolle

‘The ego doesn’t know that the more you include others, the more smoothly things flow and the more easily things come to you. When you give little or no help to others or put obstacles in their path, the universe---in the form of people and circumstances---gives little or no help to you because you have cut yourself off from the whole. The ego’s unconscious core feeling of “not enough” causes it to react to someone else’s success as if that success had taken something away from “me”.’

I read this book earlier this year, and it, along with other things helped me out of a dark spot I was going through. I read it along with the Oprah book club webcast seminars and it was great to have the author on the webcast there every week to help me go through it. I won’t lie, it was a tough read for me when I started it initially, because so much was crowding my mind at that time and I couldn’t comprehend no matter how hard I tried. And also it is just a lot to take in. The book’s words were fighting for space within my head and they were up against some pretty stubborn sad thoughts in there. But once I participated in the first webcast and had Mr. Tolle to lay the groundwork, the trickle out of the old stagnant thoughts started. Maybe just a drip in the beginning, but anything was a help at that point. And by synchronicity, the next day, or later that morning for me in the UK, I started my blog. It was my first “step out” since I came here to England. This was a baby step that started me in forward motion again. (smile)

As for the quote, I haven’t come to this point during my re-read yet, but I remember it standing out to me before. It reminded me of the importance of simply sharing the spotlight with others. And it reminds me so much of my friend Kim that I lost recently. She personified this. Fear robs us of so much in life and keeping everything all for ourselves does cut us off from the whole. You can call it the whole of humanity in a spiritual sense or the whole person that you and I are meant to be. It doesn’t cost me anything to help someone or cheer them on along their path, but it costs me dearly to not do it. It diminishes us I think.

This book has so much more to it and it challenges me and I like that. I imagine that I will refer to it time and time again during my life. I love it when a book stays with you like that.

As for passing this one on, I will just open it up to you my dear readers. Please feel free to take this tag if you would like to participate. Have fun!