Disney Baby!

So it has been a while since I wrote on here last.  Sorry about that to those of you who keep coming here to see what is new.  The lack of blogging should tell you two things....1. not much is new...
2. things are crazy busy.  Let me see if I can recap the last month for you.

Thanksgiving was really strange this year for me.  Obviously they don't celebrate Thanksgiving in the UK so it is just like any other Thursday.  Strange if you are use to eating more than you should and just hanging out for an extra long weekend.  I was in the UK last year at this time of year, but it didn't seem to effect me as much as it did this year.  It was so strange to be going to work on Thanksgiving and not being in a food coma after eating and eating and eating.  It was nice to be able to explain what Thanksgiving was to some of my co-workers but still...just strange to know what was going on back home and not having any one else around you be able to commiserate with about it.

Per my own little tradition Mark and I put up our Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving.  I use to do it on my day off, Black Friday, but since that was a normal working day again...the weekend was going to have to do this year.  We debated wether or not to go through the hassle of putting it up or not since we were going to be gone for Christmas but decided it just wasn't right not having a tree.  So the tree is up and well I think looks pretty stinking good! lol

So the title says it all.  My parents have planned a family vacation for us all....yep Jeff is here too...to Disney World.  Now you might be thinking aren't you all a bit old for Disney?  And well the answer should be yes but in this case it is a big NO!  We are a Disney freak family, although Jeff won't admit it he is, and so we are here for 10 days.  It is so much fun to be here seeing my parents act like little kids and being able to reminisce with my brother about what it was like 19 years ago when we were here as kids.  Some things have changed and others have stayed just the same.  I think Mark thinks we are all a bit wacky but by now he knows that so he just sits back and enjoys the show.  It is nice to be in the warm weather and sunshine as both are extremely lacking in the UK.   In fact I am about to put this computer to the side and go to the pool.

Today the family wanted to go see the Hobbit and well I just don't get why you would want to be in a dark theater on a day like today so the privilege of being an adult and being here is you can say NO!  So they all went off to the movie and I am going to go lay by the pool.  A win win for all of us I think.  I have to meet up with them all at Epcot later on but it makes all five of us all get to do what we want.  And for that I am one happy camper.

I still need to do my Christmas letter....so that might get worked on a bit later too....we shall see how good the sunshine feels.  So if your Christmas letter winds up being more like a January hello letter you know why.  Hope you are all enjoying this season and counting your blessings.  Love from Disney World... Peace....Im going to the pool! EEEEE!!!!!!

Dinners...

So this post will be mostly about dinner...well dinners.  You see I have decided to get brave and start cooking a "traditional" Sunday dinner.  I really didn't know people still did that until I got over here cause Sunday back home was always eating out after church.  Considering I hadn't cooked anything for myself other than mac and cheese or the occasional frozen pizza the thought of a huge meal seemed really overwhelming to me.  I have been here over a year now though and know how much Mark enjoys his huge Sunday dinner when we go up to his parents, so I thought I would give it a try.  What do I have to lose?

So the past 2 Sundays we have had HUGE meals.  Like Thanksgiving style huge meals.  The first one was a turkey, with roasted potatoes, mash potatoes with spring onions in them, yorkshire puddings, veggies, stuffing, cranberry sauce...and one over filled hubby! lol  The second one was a roast (beef) with most of the same minus the stuffing and cranberry sauce.  They were delicious if I do say so myself and I had a more than happy hubby on my hands.  I think cooking is all about having confidence.  I would have never tried doing that a year ago...ok lets be honest 3 months ago. But confidence in your own kitchen...knowing how long things take and just working with food makes big things seem so much smaller.  I knew how to do most everything I cooked on its own it was just putting it together.  I guess I am just thankful that cooking has come more naturally than I thought.  While I am no Betty Crocker or Chef Boiardi? (the spaghetti O's guy) I can feed the two of us...more than feed us lol which is a wonderful surprise!

Speaking of dinners...  Mark and I went out to dinner 2 weekends ago now.  We went to a restaurant where you sit right next to another couple...kind of like in the Oakbrook Cheesecake Factory.  Where you have to slide in and out and hope you don't knock over the drink on the table next to you as you and your coat, purse, or big body in my case squeeze through the tiny gap in the tables.  Well we were about half way through our dinner when the most random thing happened.  These 2 Asian women start coming our way...dressed in well...not much.  They are not speaking a word of English and are followed but two older gentlemen.  The girls seems to be in there 30's/40's while the guys in there upper 60's.  Now the guys where British...spoke only English and all four had wedding bands on.  I was SO confused.  The girls were talking to each other...and then the one would try her English out...chicken.....wig...wi...wing....Mind I could probably have touched this girl if I stretched my arm out all the way.  I get the giggles because it is so random...I can't look at Mark cause that just makes me laugh harder and everyone in the restaurant is now staring at these people.  The men are pointing at pictures and saying words loudly while the girls are giggling and trying out random English words.  Lets just say Mark and I didn't stay much longer cause I couldn't keep it together.  Once we got outside Mark said they were purchased brides. Shipped over to Britain from their homeland to marry these older guys... So crazy to me...so crazy.  But we had the giggles the rest of the night with the whole chicken wig...I mean wing scene.

Not much else is new here.  Christmas is going to be here before we know it.  My grocery store had Christmas music on yesterday which just seemed strange.  I mean I love Christmas music but to know they don't have another holiday until then is just wrong.  I wish we could be coming home for Thanksgiving but that just wasn't in the plans.  I am super excited to be going to Disney soon with the rents...to see them and Jeff but also to see the SUN and feel what warm weather actually feels like.  So much to do before then it is ridiculous but I guess that is part of what makes Christmas time so fun.  Well I am off to go to work...hope this finds you well.  Till the next time!

Fall is here

Well bye bye summer...although here in the UK it doesn't really seem like we even had one...but hello fall.  Unlike Chicago, where the sky is almost always pretty blue in October it has been mostly rain and mist here in the UK.  The leaves on the trees are changing and it has definitely gotten colder.  Hopefully we will have a few more nice days before the really cold stuff gets here.  Work is still going really well.  I have learned how to do a few more things...like audio/dvds and newspapers/magazines.  I feel a bit guilty saying how much I love it cause I know I could be doing so much more but it is so nice to have an easy job.  Yeah I have to move a lot more...like big boxes and stuff to stock the shelves.  But the lack of stress (even if that means less pay) and lack of any real responsibility is glorious.  I couldn't do this for forever but for now it sure is nice.  Work 4 days off 3...and have yet to work a weekend in 2 months on the job.  I don't know many retail people that can say that and for that I am more than thankful!

A few weekends ago Mark and I went up to his parents house to celebrate Mark's dad, Eric's birthday.  I decided I would bake a cake for him as part of our present.  That is what I call stress.  The Tetchner's all seemed to think it was great and it did taste ok...moist and well how a cake should taste.  But I knew how silly it looked compared to what it could have been.  I tried to ice it but didn't have an icing bag...so had to use a ziplock bag.  It worked ok but an 8year old probably would have done about the same job. lol  The part that made me laugh even harder was the grocery store shop to try and buy cake mix and icing.  They literally only have 3 kinds of cake mix and 2 kinds of icing.  If I remember correctly we have like half of an isle full of just that stuff.  It made me laugh and also stressed me out cause while sometimes too many choices is hard...the lack of choice in what I wanted to do but couldn't do was almost worse.  O well...cake was yummy and I guess that is all that really counts.

The past week and a half or so I have been sick...first time in a REALLY long time.  I am immune to most things in the states because of being a teacher...or so I think.  I can't honestly remember the last time I had a cold or a cough.  Well I must not be immune to whatever strand of ick was going around in the UK cause I was down for the count for a few days.  Mark got me to take this horrible (tasted like it was from 1920) cough medicine.  It made me gag...but he still managed to get the second spoonful in me like I was a small child.  Yes head going side ways to stop him and everything...it was comical after the fact but left such a horrible taste.  I decided I had to get real cough medicine so went to the UK version of Walgreens.  All I really wanted was NyQuil but they don't do that or any kind of cold stuff that I even recognized.  I eventually got something that at least said Robitusion on it...even though it was still different from stuff in the states and that seemed to help me not cough every 2 minutes.  Thankfully I much better now.  The flowers brought home to me by my hubby were a nice get better surprise which makes me think being sick wasn't all that bad if I always get flowers from him in order to help me get better.

Mark has been on a course all this week and I have been working the really...really early shift at work.  I think we are both really looking forward to the weekend.  I have the house spotless which will soon change with his walk through the door but I am glad I finally have the roommate I always wanted. ;)  While the alone time and quiet is nice for the first little bit I miss having someone to talk to after a while.  I find it hard to believe that I spent many a years living by myself with such quiet on most evenings.  It seems so strange now...funny how time changes things.

Not much else is new.  Hope you all are doing well.  Seems so strange that I never know who reads this yet you know who you are... and know what is going on in my life.  Wonders of the internet.  Well Happy Halloween...go eat some candy...and enjoy the outdoors before winter comes! Blessings.

In a year...

So a year ago I wondered where I would be...well I knew I would be here...but how I would be doing?  Would I survive the new culture?  Would I make friends?  Would Mark and I still be so happy to just be with each other after dating so long from so far away?  Would I be able to cook?  Would I fit all my "stuff" into an English house?  Would I find my way around town?  And many....many more questions.
Well the answer is YES!  I am still super happy to be with my hubby all of the time.  Going from seeing each other only a few days out of the year to everyday is a most wonderful change!  We truly enjoy each others company and I am so thankful for that.  I can cook, and drive, and find my way just about anywhere.  I am working and making friends.  I have gotten our house set up and by gosh with a little effort all of our (I mean mostly my extra clothes) fit...somewhere.  While I do miss home, the food, the people, being some place I know...I feel like I have really done well in settling here in just one year.  I am so thankful for this experience and how supportive all of you have been for me.  So a year in...all is well.

In fact the last 2 weeks have really been encouraging to me.  We have a way we do things and it is so great to have someone to share my weekends with...even if it is just staying in our pjs all day.  This past weekend we pulled out the bushes in our front yard.  They were mostly dead and looking horrible so we finally got permission to take them out.  It was a project...but it was so fun to be able to do it together and get it done.  Funny moments were had...Mark and I jumping in garbage bins to make it fit in to be hauled away...both of us being afraid of the ridiculously big spiders that we found...showing Mark how strong I really am...tehe...even though he is still stronger.  Ya know it was just good. We also moved our bedroom around which gives the room a new (nice and free) look.

Honestly I just can say enough how thankful I am for Mark and how easy he has made this transition for me.  I mean I knew this would be a big change and I prepared myself for it...but it is so awesome to see how a year has gone by and that really I don't have one regret about it.  Mark has been amazing at reading my moods and listening to me go on and on about how food in the states is better and how I would do it this way if I were home.  He is a rock star in my book....(but don't tell him that cause we don't want him wanting another bike out of this ok!)  He will always say well this is our home now and when we go back to the states you will feel my pain when I want fish and chips. I don't mean to be cheesy I just have to say he is the best.

With that I need to get myself ready for work.  I hope all of you are enjoying the start of fall.  The leaves are just beginning to change here at it is so pretty!  Hope you all are well.

The interesting world of retail...

So my job has been keeping me busy.  I actually like it quite a bit.  I am working 30hrs a week...over 4 days.  It is perfect for me and I love how EASY it is!  At first my feet had to readjust to things...and they daily reminded me of how much they would rather be sitting than standing...but they have gotten back into standing all day shape which makes me a very happy girl.  I work as a home and leisure assistant.  Really I stock shelves most of the time and help out on the "till" aka register when the lines get too long.  Yes...over here when there are lines of 2 or more people they open all the checkouts!  I don't think I have ever seen all the checkouts open anywhere in the states...but over here we use all 20 of ours.

It has been really interesting to me to see the ins and outs of behind the scenes at a grocery store.  How fast stuff comes in and then goes out to the public...how much people buy of things that you think I only buy this once a month.  One of my jobs is to shelve garbage bags...seriously everyday in the morning they are almost empty...who knew that grocery stores stock those types of things daily!  Not me!  It has also been really interesting to see my near OCD level of cleaning/organizing come out.  I am super organized and love making things organized....and well obviously that is helpful when you are putting things out on shelves and making it look nice.  I won't lie I am in a bit of heaven cause I like getting it all to fit and to look pretty...it is constant instant gratification for me.  Sad as that sounds I really do enjoy it.

What surprised me the most was how much I am appreciated and told that I am doing a good job.  In my 9 years of being an educator...especially while I was at District 227...Rich Township...I was very rarely if at all thanked for my hard work in teaching some rough kids, or going out of my way for helping students in need.  I don't think I ever got a genuine compliment on my classroom and or a thanks for going out of my way when I spent my own money on supplies.  All they wanted was more for nothing and treated me like crap.  Here...I do a less important...or less skilled job...and receive more thanks/praise for doing a great job.  Sad statement on reality for teachers and sad that it is the truth.  I love being a teacher and did it cause that is what it took to do my job I thought well...but to be thanked which takes little time but means the world really isn't all that hard to do.  For those of you on the "boss" side of things...it makes a world of difference to those who work for you....to little words that will get you more of what you want for free than anything else....thank you!

Work had filled up my days so the weekends are really great to just kick back and relax.  A few weekends ago I went to go see Gemma, a good friend of mine...married to the guy who was are best man.  Daz, her husband, is away in Afghanistan so I went to keep her company and spend some long over due girl time together.  It was Fabulous!  We went to Cambridge for one day and looked around and went into shops that neither of our hubbies would.  Meanwhile Mark was chilling with his boys back at our house and got to do boys things...which I am more than willing to let him do all on his own.  We both had great weekends and I think made us appreciate the other person just a lil bit more.

With my day off...usually Mondays...I get to catch up on things.  Finish washing clothes here, do the grocery shop, clean house...you know do all that kind of stuff.  It is great to have a day to get it done without interruption (cause Mark usually has other ideas of how to spend the weekend like looking at cycle stuff and what not).  Speaking of cycles Mark is still cycling to work.  He does about 25 miles total in a day to and from work...just over 12 miles one way.  Because he has proved to me that this isn't just a phase...we bought the most expensive thing we have ever bought as a married couple....Mark's new baby...a Giant TCR Composite 3 bicycle.  For those of you who know anything about cycling this is a nice bike.  I honestly am impressed with just remembering the name of it there...see I do pay attention...but it is REALLY nice.  Mark was like a kid at Christmas...almost shaking when he got his hands on it.  I said it earns me best wife status for a good few months...he agreed and lets just say I haven't cooked in 2 days. lol  Worth it for us both!  So yeah...guess it does pay off to have a second income coming in.

Really not much else is new.  The cold weather has come in with full force here....heat is on and coats are needed.  Hard for me to believe that I have been here almost a year!  If you would have told me half of what this past year was going to contain a year ago I would have laughed...it has been an excellent adventure so far and I can't wait to see what year two brings.  Well enough rambling from me...and spelling errors too.  Im off to do the grocery shopping.  Hope you all are well!

Working woman again...

So tomorrow it is back to reality.  It has been a great year off.   Truly...while I have sometimes been so bored I make up things that need to be done, or have gone on crazy cleaning sprees, I have learned to chill out a little bit.  As of tomorrow that will all be over.  I officially go back to work...not as a teacher...but as a Morrison's sales assistant.  In other words I will soon be working in a grocery store.  Funny place when I sit here and type that out considering a year ago I had never really taken notice of one before.  As a single lady living in the burbs I ate most of my meals out or over at my rents...so why would I need a grocery store.  This year changed all of that.  I actually know where things are in our grocery store, can cook, and actually ...yes...I admit it...clip coupons to use at the grocery store.  I am not saying I will never go back to teaching, and I am not saying I will stay at Morrison's forever, but I wanted to try something new and not work the crazy hours that a school teacher does when I am still adjusting to life here and while Mark and I are still foot lose and fancy free.  With school you have set vacation times and just the number of hours I wasn't will to commit to again.  So now I have a job that I can leave when the day is over...take vacation when I want to...and best of all get a discount on my groceries for.  So that is it.  Tomorrow I start and we shall see how it goes.  I am not sure what to expect nor if I will be able to handle how different it is from being in a classroom full of kids...but I will try and if worse comes to worse... the best part is...you can always quit mid way through unlike teaching.  So here is to tomorrow...earning money...and a discount on my groceries which makes me smile.

Tell next week...

All quiet on the English front...

I have been telling myself for the last 2 weeks that I need to write on my blog....but honestly not that much has happened...and yet every time I think, "oh I'll write something now" I get side tracked and well you know the result.  So really not that much is going on.  I had 2 interviews a few weeks ago.  The first one went well.  I got offered the job...but lets just say I decided it probably wasn't worth it.  It was a minimum of 6 hrs. a week with up to 15 and I think I might have driven myself mad with the way things seemed to run.  My interview was entertaining to me...in fact I probably could have interviewed myself better than they did.  They were quite young, which isn't a big deal to me...but when then ask questions like, "Do you think you can handle being busy?" and then follow it up after my long answer about teaching, coaching, and overall being a busy freak with, "Do you think you can multi task?" you have to ask yourself is this really where I want to be working?  My second interview went really well and I am hoping for full time employment.  I haven't officially got the job...but I have an offer pending my background check.  Well, we all know that while I pretend to be tough, my background is as squeaky clean as well...my kitchen floor. lol

Yes, I have a bit of time on my hands in waiting for job two... so with Mark being on nights this week I have had to find things to do to keep me entertained.  One of them was washing all of our floors on my hands and knees to make sure they were...you got it...squeaky clean.  I am a bit obsessed with cleaning my house...it just looks so nice when it is all fresh and clean.  I have a friend that comes over sometimes and keeps saying, "just wait till you have kids....it will all change."  I don't know if she is trying to scare me off from the lil ones or what but I dread not having everything in its place...it looks so nice.  lol
I know...see this is what happens when you live on your own for too long...get married late in life...get stuck in your habits...and then people say, lets just have some fun and through kids into the mix and toss everything planned, organized, carefree, and sharp edged out the window for a pooping, feeding, crying machine...and then wonder when I look at them like... Really?  Really?  You want me to give this all up?  Now mom don't have a cow....I am not saying we won't have kids nor that I don't want them...I just am saying I am enjoying married, kid free life and thinking do we really want to rush changing this?  Again...mom...and dad for that matter...keep calm....and as the queens says...carry on.

Speaking of kids and carrying on....we have these peacocks in our backyard or back garden as they say here.  The lil one has grown so much since he first made his/her appearance on the scene.  Kido is about the size of a duck now...growing fast.  They are in our back yard just about everyday...while I love to watch them from behind my safe window viewing...they do my head in when it is time to go hang the laundry up outside....they come WAY to close!  Way to close!  The fact that mommas wing span is about the size of me standing up doesn't sit very well with the anti bird Shara.

Other than that...not much is new...hope all is well for those of you who read my ramblings... till later
...me

Wake up call...

So yesterday morning I had quite the surprise when I woke up.  There was a nice big "friendly" spider looking at me from my bed post.  Now this was all of about 6 inches away from my face so I had to blink a few times for me to be sure that A.  I wasn't still sleeping/dreaming.  B. Holy cow what do I do now there is a spider this close to me!  Lets just say I panicked.  Instant sweating and adrenaline running through me body!  I got of bed on the other side...the right side obviously that day...and went to get something to kill my lil "friend".  Now I will admit I do always feel bad about killing things but this one I couldn't let live that close to my bed...nor carry outside cause it was too big!  So when I got back to smash the thing I missed in my panicked state and he dropped to the floor.  Screaming begins...I freaked out.  I really don't like spiders and now he was ANYWHERE on my floor...but maybe on me bed...maybe on me...AHHHHHHHHH!!!!  Well eventually I saw him and he for sure was a goner this time around.  Needless to say it was a rather entertaining start to my day.

This past week has gone by so fast!  Last weekend Mark and I went away for one night to a cute little town, Richmond, to celebrate our one year anniversary!  Crazy right!  It seems like yesterday...ok well like a month or a few ago that we got married, not a whole year!  All the planning was done a year ago and I still have nightmares about it.  (Tehe not really but well maybe a few here and there ;)  We both feel so blessed that so many people were there for us on our big day and that really marriage has gone really smoothly so far.  And for that we are both REALLY thankful!  The whole being on the same continent thing is still such a wonderful thing that maybe this year it will finally sink in that neither one of us has to eventually leave.

I put a lot of resumes out last week as well to try and find a shop job...something simple to keep me busy and bring some money in for us.  I mean I went to like 15-20 different places...I was on a mission.  Well that mission has paid off.  I have two interviews for next week which I am super excited about, so you can pray that those go well for me.  Now we are not talking about anything career orientated here...these are jobs at a grocery store and a catalog store...but money is money and I am not to proud to work for it just about anywhere....so here is to working along side kids I could have taught if I was back in the states and I am sure will have some entertaining stories to tell because of it.

Mark and I have been watching the Olympics....well me more like screaming go USA at the tv and Mark shaking his head.  He doesn't get the sports crazy me quite yet....especially when we watch sports I use to coach.  He keeps reminding me that we are not in the USA anymore and that they can't hear me but obviously I just can't help it.  It is fun to watch it all live here and well I can honestly say I get a lil lump in my throat every time I sing the national anthem as we win gold.  So proud...so proud.  Go USA!

Not so proud to have Romney over here last week making us all look stupid.  There is not one Brit that I saw who heard my accent in the past week who didn't make some comment to me about his insulting remarks toward the Brits and how they were "doing" the Olympics.  I really don't care about politics...I don't.  I like history but politicians I hate.  I don't care what "side" you are on...but please when you are overseas don't make the rest of us normal....level headed...not arrogant Americans look bad....some of us have to live where you travel to even after you go home.  So embarrassing...so embarrassing.  Just think before you speak...is it really that hard.  Lets just say Romney lost all of my respect...what was there in the first place...and lets just say the Brits really don't like him.

So that is all my friends...another week down.  Hopefully next week this time I will have some good news about being hired for sure somewhere.  Until then have a wonderful weekend and enjoy summer. I will just add that I am writing this in pants and a sweatshirt...so really....really...enjoy summer for me!  I miss it!  Adios.  Go USA!!!

It has been a while....

SO...I have taken a break from my weekly updates.  I will be back in action in the coming weeks but it was just too much to blog when I was home in the states.  Lets go back in time for a moment and I will give you a very brief...well at least I will try and be brief, update of the past month or two.
Chicago bound...
Week 1:
The first thing we did when we got to Chicago is say goodbye to grandma.  She had pasted away at the end of May and we were fortunate enough to be able to make in home in time for her memorial service.  She would have been beaming, grinning from ear to ear, at what was said about her at the service.  I had the opportunity to speak and was grateful to do gma justice.  She would have loved how much Jesus was talked about and well it just was a good day...sad of course, but really glorifying to the Lord which is what counts the most.  Mark and I did a BUNCH of shopping that first week as well which was way over due for me.  I feel like I got a years worth of shopping done in 3 days lol.  At the end of week one I got to go to a good friends wedding (Keller) with Mark and we had a blast!

Week 2:
Ate so much food that the thought of eating again made me almost sick.  While I loved every minute of it the amount that we ate is what I think most people would call gluttony.  But mmmmmm it was good. Mark and I went downtown and looked around and just really had a good time chilling out with my family.  Had a Duffy's night out downtown which is well a story in and of itself...if you haven't heard you prob. don't want to.  Lets just say both Mark and I were shaking our heads and repeated the phrase..."we are too old for this!"

Week 3:
Mark left mid week.  It was strange to say bye in the airport, like we had done so many times before, but this time he was going home to our home...and well if we are both honest we both were excited to have some "alone" time.  Don't get me wrong we both missed each other...but time with our respective girl/guy friends is priceless to us both and so it was good to catch up.  I got to hang out with old high school friends and also got to go to another wedding (Ellison) at Brookfield zoo.  A bit on the warm side but cool to see a kid I babysat for get married.  Crazy!

Week 4:
A blur...I saw so many friends it seriously was a blur.  Got to see old camp friends...amazing, school friends...brilliant, and just about everybody in-between.  It is sooo good to know I have life long friends and that it doesn't matter where in the world I am...they will always be there for me.  You have no idea how wickedly awesome that is!  Thanks to all of you who made time to hang out with me...it meant the world to me!

Week 5:
My friends Katie and Dave, with son Matty, and Rebecca came in from Cali to see me.  Plus I got the bonus of Marcy coming up from Florida to chill too.  Ahh....life was good.  Hung out downtown with the girls, and again saw so many more people.  Becca stayed with me at my parents house which was great cause we got to have some amazing girl talk.  Nothing like a best friend chat...it is good for the soul.  And with that I was off again.  Flew back to England after being in the states for 5 full weeks.  The time went by crazy fast but I will say it was good to come back to my house and my stuff and do things my way. Lol.

Mark picked me up from the airport...and ready....are you sitting down for this....he brought me flowers!  This is a first out of all the times I have flown over the pond to see him.  It caught me totally by surprise.  In fact I think I might have been speechless for a few seconds!  Imagine that!  That was a for sure sign he missed me and for that I felt like the queen of my castle.  While I know he appreciates all that I do in the house and for him while he is at work...I think he REALLY appreciates it now.  You never know just how good it is until it is gone for a week...or in this case 2 1/2.  My fav. line was....and I quote, "This house is just so big when you are gone, and man I make a mess."  Ahhhhh music to my ears.  It is nice to know you are needed and well...I missed him too.

Since being back I have restored the garden to its former beauty.  5 weeks gone will give you just a FEW (million) weeds.  I have cleaned the house...bless him he tried to do it while I was gone...but yeah...just not the same.  I have applied for like 15 different store jobs...something to get me out of the house and money in the bank.  And well...that is really about it.  I have done better at adjusting back to life in England than I thought I was going to and honestly I think it was exactly the right amount of time to be gone.  My daily amusement is the peacocks here.  They had babies while I was gone.  While there is only one left...he sure is cute!  They scared me today...literally sitting at my back door when I opened it to go hang laundry up...about had a heart attack but regained composure.  Only to walk up my stairs to see they had moved to the top of the garage/ perch of my front door.  Again thought...are you trying to kill me here birds...but got some really great pics of the happy family of 3.  So cool...who would have thought peacocks...so yeah.

Enough rambling...I am sure there are some spelling mistakes mom...so deal...and grammar too but I can't bother to read through it so sorry if that annoys you readers but I got errands to run.  Hope you all are well and thank you for making coming home so amazing.  I feel truly blessed to have friends and family...yes even you my crazy mama to come home too.  Love to you all...

Operation America!

WOW!!!  I didn't think this day would ever come!  I have been waiting for it...well...since I stepped off the plane over here.  Don't get me wrong, I think I have adjusted quite well and really do love living in our home...its just that England still isn't home.  I am getting giddy just thinking about what I am going to eat, drink, shop, do in the next month.  I mean like little kid, I could squeal kind of giddy!  As I type this it is 50 degrees and pouring rain...the British version of summer...which makes the sun and 80 degree weather of Chicago sound like a tropical paradise.  eeeeeee!!!!!!!

The past two weeks have flown by.  I have been writing lists of things I want to do, or things I need to get in the states.  I know...go figure.  The weather was nice 2 weekends ago...so we were outside for a bit.  I got some gardening done...ya know.  This past weekend was the Queen's Diamond Jubilee so the country had both Mon. and Tues. off work.  God save the Queen!  We went to Mark's parents to celebrate and watched hours on end of the coverage of the big events.  The river pageant was nice...the concert ok...but the speech Charles gave to his mom, the Queen was priceless.  And the fireworks/ show at the end made me proud to live here.  Well not as proud as I will be on the 4th of July...which it reminded me of...but I didn't tell them that ;)

The last 2 days have been spent doing everything under the sun to get ready for Operation America!  Washing clothes, cleaning the house, packing for both of us cause I am by FAR the better packer, cooking meals for Mark so he has something to eat when he gets back, mowing the lawn....and the list goes on.  It has been mental...but totally worth it!  Did I tell you I come HOME TOMORROW!!!!  O my goodness I am so excited!  So with that I hope to see you ALL soon!  Prayers for us as we have grandma's funeral on Sat. morning...

I'm coming home...I'm coming home....tell the world I'm coming home.....
(A lil tribute to P.Diddy...one of his songs for you people who don't listen to ghetto music...but I am getting back in my Chi-town ghetto spirit! lol)

What do you say?

Well, it has been an interesting 2 weeks.  On Mother's Day (in the states that is...) grandma fell.  Mom had always told her one more fall and it could be the point of no return.  And that was exactly it.  Gma fell and well her body just couldn't cope.  She hung on for a week and a bit but on Tuesday got to meet the man of her dreams....Jesus.  While it is sad that she isn't here anymore, it is so amazing to know that she is with the Lord singing her little lungs out for Him.  It has made me really thankful to come from such a great line of Christian woman.  You don't really think about that when you are growing up...but how lucky was I.  While at times it was embarrassing to have gma tell random people "Jesus loves you" or hear her pray or give her faith story...what an example!  She was a simple woman but she knew what mattered most...Jesus!  And she wasn't about to let anyone she knew go away not knowing she loved Him and that they should too!  I am so thankful to be able to say she was MY grandma!  I have more to say about her...but that is for my bit at the memorial service.

The rest of life has continued on....We had a great weekend celebrating our friend Gemma's 32nd birthday.  Met some fabulous new friends and really enjoyed our time down at Marham.  (That is the old base Mark use to be on when we first met.)  This week Gemma came up to help me clean out my closet...in other words to try and get all of my American size closet fit in my new WAY smaller British closet.  lol  It was nice to have her here when gma did pass...and even got to give my faith story to her which was really special to me.  The window fitters have been here and at the end of today Mark and I will have all new windows and doors.  Very nice!  So that is what is going on here.  Hope all of you are well.  As gma would say....Jesus loves you... and so do I.

Banging around...

So it has been an interesting week or so.  I am excited that the end result will be better, new, safe and secure windows and doors to our house and a new gutter system...however...the process ANNOYING!  They have been drilling our house, banging and really who knows what for the past week!  It is like living inside a construction site!  I hate it.  The t.v./ Internet goes out every other minute not to mention the power.  So frustrating....but like I said we will have nice new windows and doors when it is done so I guess I can't complain too much.  There will be pictures attached at the end.  Other than that I have been doing the usual...not much, yet staying busy.  This weeks grocery store shop was much more successful than the last...pin number remembered and all is well.  Driving is going well too.  I love my new found freedom.  Although last week I was used as a taxi service to take the boys in to work.  They had been out all night for one of their co-workers leaving party.  Lets just say I am glad I drove them in and that they didn't get behind the wheel of a car to go to work Friday morning.  It was amusing to say the least...funny enough they were all named Mark.  3 Marks and 1 Shara.  I got the good wife of the day title and was treated to a nice dinner later on...so hey...I can be a taxi service anyway if I get good food cooked for me at the end!

 This past weekend Mark along with his friend, the best man at our wedding, Daz and another guy he works with Zac, did a HUGE bike ride.  They were signed up to do 75 miles but the course got changed last minute so they only wound up doing 63miles.  I say "only" cause it makes Mark go crazy "...only...only...you do 63 miles..."that is his response lol.  Makes me giggle.  Anyways...they had a good time and finished which is the main thing!  Gemma, Daz's wife, came down and so we hung out in town while the boys were riding.  Much more my idea of a nice Saturday afternoon, ya know, sitting at Starbucks rather than pedaling but to each their own.  Gemma is the best!  She is someone I feel like I have known my entire life but haven't.  It is so nice to find a couple where I like Gemma as much as Mark enjoys Darren's company.  We are really so much alike...so it is nice to just spend time with them and laugh at each other.  Good times!

 Daz (Darren), Mark in middle, Zac in all black.

The most important news I have is that I will be home in less than a MONTH!!! 

OOOOOOO I am so excited!  Officially 29 days now but who is counting....oh yeah that's right me! lol  Looking forward to seeing a lot of you whether it be at church or some other event!  You might want to start making reservations at your local restaurants since I think I might be hitting one up every night I am home.  Oh...American food how I have missed you!  So just a heads up...Jimmy John's get your #4 sandwiches ready, Portillo's your beef, Panera your half Cesar salad half french onion soup, and Starbucks your ICETEA!  Cause I am coming!!! LOL Just a bit excited.  So that is that.  Hope to see you all soon!  Over and Out x

OH!  I almost forgot...the Peacock!  So we come home from town Sunday with Gemma and Darren and this is what we have in our drive.  A PEACOCK!  What on earth!  Literally was like less than 5 feet away from it.  Went to feed it some bread and it ruffled its feathers and kind of lunged forward.  I screamed and ran in the house. lol  But of all the things...a peacock on our drive.  Only in England...

But I know it in the states!!!

Ahhhh....So I had the most embarrassing, awful, wanted to run away screaming experience this past week.  Let me first say that Tuesday was a big day for me.  You see, I finally had the car to myself.  Mark had rode his pedal bike to work and I was left with the car to go grocery shopping and then out for coffee with a girl friend.  I was super pumped because this meant the return of my freedom.  Not like Mark has had me locked in the house...lol...but to be able to drive by myself and be self sufficient FINALLY is a huge deal to me!  So...day begins great.  I go for a good workout, I shower and am ready to go.  List in hand, I take my time, filling the cart to the brink cause it has been almost 2 weeks since we last went grocery shopping.  As I am unloading our goods on to the conveyor belt thingy I think....what is my pin?  You see over here in order to use a debit card you also have to enter your pin number.  So with no pin coming to mind I start to freak out.  I figure it will come to me with the keypad in front of me.  Well it didn't!  I try 3 times to get the number right with no success!  I go bright red, and break out into a full on sweat.  I tell the cashier I can't remember it.  She says do you have anything else to pay with?  I say no.  I don't have a credit card here and all my US ones are back at the house.  Meanwhile all the little old ladies who are behind me in line are giving me evil looks.  The things they must have thought...yeah right she has the money, foreigner  probably stole that card, you're holding up the line...shaking their heads.  So I panic...seriously freak out.  The cashier says, "Do you have anyone here you can call?"  I say, "I have no friends here...and my husband rode his bike to work so he can't even come help me!"  She gives me the pity look.  I say then..."But I know my pin in the states!"  Not much help here though...so I had to leave my groceries behind.  So embarrassing....absolutely mortified!  I found the humor later though.

The best part is I call the bank cause my card was then blocked.  The guy says he has to ask a few security questions.  Sure I say...he asks 1.  How much was deposited into your account yesterday?  I respond, "I don't know...it was my husbands paycheck."  2.  When did you open this account?  I say,
"Well I got here Sept. 30 so a week or 2 after that...but if you are asking when my husband did, since it is a joint account...I don't know...he was a teenager."  3.  How many accounts do you have here?  I say, "Well we have a checking, savings, and a credit card...but do you count the credit card?"  He says, "I need a number miss."  Me, "Ummm....3?"  Him, "I am sorry but you have not answered enough security questions right."  I freak out on the phone....saying things like... but I can tell you when my hubby was born, and our id number and password.  He responds calmly to my rant....just call again miss.

So I call again.  This time the person asks different questions...and so I am getting a new pin sent to my house.  I know there was a 7, a 5, and a 2 in my old pin...one of the numbers was used twice...don't know which....and I have not the slightest clue in what order they go in.  O well...that is what happens when you move countries when you are too old to be trying to memorize new things.  We had a good laugh about it when Mark came in.  I had called him numerous times panicked...he said he did all he could not to laugh....good thing he didn't laugh till I was laughing too.  Even though we have the same account our pin numbers are different...go figure.  So that was my entertainment for the day!

On another note...we are in a drought here.  Funny cause it has rained everyday for the last...well since before my parents came.  I also find it funny that the past April was the rainiest April in recorded history here in England.  Yet we still have a watering ban.  Not that any one needs to water...since it comes from the sky everyday but humorous non the less.

So yep.  Off to get the house ready for our weekend house guests, the Tetchner's.  Hope you all are well and can enjoy the humor of my recent story.  Only me...I swear!  Happy May!

And.....ahhhhh quiet.

The title is just for you mom!  So...it has been awhile since my last update.  This is due to the fact that my rents were here for THREE weeks!  Yes, count them...1, 2, 3 weeks!  I was curious how it would go with them being here for that long and if I am totally honest, it was just the right amount of time.  Any less would have seemed rushed and any more we might not be on speaking terms.  It was just about perfect.  I am sure those of you who read this and are in hearing distance of my mother have already gotten a play by play of our activities.  She was busily writing in her journal the whole time, so I am sure she can give a more accurate account of our where a bouts.  But this is mine....so here we go... 

The first week we spent away from our house.  Mark and I went down to Heathrow to pick them up and then stayed in London for the first 3 days.  It was usual British weather...rain and all...Dad thought it was charming, Mark and I just thought it was wet!  We went to Harrods...what an experience.  It was like Black Friday shopping on the Mag Mile!  Total madness!  Lets just stay we didn't stay too long!  We then walked to Buckingham Palace and had a nice dinner in TGIFridays.  I true highlight for me!  No lie!  Also had a look in Covent Gardens.  The next day we did Churchill's War Rooms.  SO cool!  I had done it over the summer when I was with a group of school kids and thought...I need to come back here and spend more time.  So we did.  Also did the Big Red Bus Tour of London which lets you see everything without having to walk everywhere.  A major perk when pops really can't walk too far anymore.  Next day did the Tower of London and well that is always just neat to me.  So yeah...London was great.  I love it there...my hubby not so much...but it is a must if you have never been before.  We then came home for one night to re-group and then went to the Tetchner's for a long weekend.  My rents LOVED their time with them.  I mean I think I could have left them there for all 3 weeks and they would have been quite happy.  It is nice that they all get along so well...although a bit scary too.  You never do know what they talk about when you leave the room???  Hmmmm.

Week two was all about seeing Lincoln.  We went to the castle where one of the real Magna Carta's is and the cathedral too.  Although I must say the one at Mark's parents house...or near there in Durham is so much better than the one here.  Did the high street, where all the shops are, and just saw where we live.  We also went to York for the weekend which I think was a highlight for my rents.  Proper old English streets and stuff.  Very cool.  

Week three was house work time.  Mom helped me garden while dad took it easy.  We got 3/4 of the garden/back yard done.  I think we would have gotten more if it wasn't hailing every other minute.  lol Ridiculous weather!  Got pictures put up as well.  Dad was our test subject for our new BBQ and so yeah that was good.  Not that we ate him...but made him cook on it first to make sure we had put it together correctly and had the propane hooked up right.  Oh and I passed my drivers test as well so I can finally drive around.  That was a highlight...not so much for the rents but for me. lol  

Honestly it was just a really good time.  I think it put the rents at ease with me being here.  I really can function all on my own in a "foreign" land.  tehe.  It was nice to serve them instead of the other way around and give them a break from home too.  I don't know if it will always be such service but I think they liked being treated like a king and queen even it was for only a few weeks.  In fact I think my dad will be glad I am not asking him if he wants something to drink every 10 mins. lol  Speaking of drinking...well a different kind.  Mom came out of her shell and actually had a drink on her trip!  That was a highlight for us all!  She discovered cider with a kick!  So funny to hear her say, and I quote, "Bring on the cider!"  LOL  I was rolling with laughter.  She will kill me for writing this but o well...its true!

So that is really it in a nut shell.  It was good to see them and have them here for a while...but it is nice to have my house back to myself too.  I got an email yesterday saying it took them 2 hrs to go through the mail.  LOL  Guess they were gone for quite some time.  So yeah...not much else is new.  I will be home in exactly 7 weeks!!!  Not that I am counting...yeah right.  It wasn't hard saying goodbye to the rents cause I will see them so soon...but what was annoying was that fact that I couldn't get on the plane and fly back home with them.  Here is good...don't get me wrong but man...that American food is sure calling my name!  So USA get ready for me...I am coming soon....Hopefully I will get to see most of you when I am home.  Signing off for now...

6 months ago today!

6 months ago today I left the states!  Can you believe it!?!  If I am honest I am still in a bit of shock.  I don't really know if shock can last that long or not but go with me here.  I am in shock.  Shock that I have moved to a different county, that I am a married woman, that I haven't done a day of work in months (well other than house work), that I still can't drive, and that I am here period.  Home is still LaGrange, IL to me...while I love our new home together it seems like it is in the wrong place.  It should be on Elm, or Peck, or Spring Ave. ya know?  I think it is totally nuts that I am living in England!  While I have done really well at adjusting to buying things in the store and understanding where you go for what...it still really hasn't settled in that I am going to be here for a while...a LONG while.  It is like college in some strange way.  You get use to it being a different kind of home away from home.  You know what I mean?  The only exception is my plane tickets home are a heck of a lot more expensive!  I do enjoy it here, please don't get me wrong.  I just can't say that it feels like home yet...my house does but once I walk out the front door it is like huh? And my head just can't put things right.  I know I have ONLY been here 6 months and it will take years before I fully comprehend what I have done.  I am positive though that I made the right choice and I guess in the long run that is what counts the most.  I am so thankful that I have my best friend beside me every step of the way.  Mark has been outstanding in letting me "dis" his country and patient when I say things like "this place is so weird, or what do you do things like they did in the 1950's?"  He is a superstar in my book...and even though you don't read my blog hunni...thank you.  I also really appreciate all the support from my good friends and family.  Care packages from Cali are like winning the lotto to me along with birthday wishes on Facebook and such.  I couldn't have asked for more from my family either.  They have been supportive of my move from the start, although I don't think Bon Bon (mom) or Pops where ever thrilled I was moving so far away.  Face time has been an amazing telephone/video feed and well...I am sure the rents will get their fill of me in a few days.  Literally...in a few days they will be here and we will see how long it takes for one of us to think...mmm...how long do I have to spend under one roof with______? Ah...yes...so off to getting things ready for my rents.  Happy 6 months in England to me!

Ahhh spring is in the air!

So lets go back in time for a bit.  As a junior high kid I absolutely hated running.  I was the chubby kid and didn't like sweating in gym class.  In high school I was less chubby and enjoyed sports but still thought running was the most ridiculous thing a person could do.  Fast forward to the past six months and that is all I have done.  lol  How times change.

So this past weekend Mark and I ran a 10K.  That is 6.25 miles for those of you who think in miles like I do.  I have been on a training program since New Years in order to "get ready" for the big event.  To be honest I was actually starting to enjoy running.  It is nice to see progress as a result of your own hard work.  I was a bit nervous since all of my training has been inside on a treadmill...but it paid off.  I had gotten my mile times down from when I started quite a bit.  I was at a 14:30 mile pace and now can run a mile at a comfortable 11:30 pace.  Not too shabby for the self proclaimed fat kid.  The race went really well.  I know my mom had visions of Mark and I running hand in hand...so not reality.  Mark started off in a faster coral than me so I never saw him until the finish line.  I was really pumped by the end tho.  To run the whole thing...keep my pace throughout...and finish strong was amazing!  It was wonderful to know that the effort paid off.  I seriously have never run that far, for that long before in all of my life and I was quite excited to get my time of 1:09:18.  While I know a lot of people can run a lot faster than I can...it was sheer bliss to me.  We celebrated with a nice meal out as well.  If you burn 1,000 calories you might as well put them back on with something nice ;)  So that was our weekend.

The past week has gone by quickly.  I have been practicing driving for my upcoming driving test.  Say a little prayer on Th. for me if you think of it.  I have been getting the house in order for my parents to come. And really that is about it.  Mark and I had a wonderful night out in town together for my birthday.  Fajita dinner all dressed up and then into town for a night out.  It was nice to feel like a grown up.  Still can't wrap my head around what that really means...but ya know.

This weekend we also bought a lawn mower.  Now for those of you who don't know the Griffin tradition, lawn mowing is an essential part of the home.  You see you have to get perfect lines in the lawn or dad will make you do it again.  Well, that craziness I guess rubbed off on to me and so now I am the Griffin lawn mowing psycho...except with the Tetchner name.  We couldn't afford the mower of my dreams...so I settled on the next best thing.  Over here few people have gas mowers...most are electric which means you have to deal with the silly cord all the time.  Whatever...different but ok...anyways... I was like a kid with my new mower.  I say mine because Mark will never have the chance to use the thing.  I love it.  Skip the shoes and purse I got for my birthday...the lawn mower was my real present!  I was like a kid in a candy store with eyes a glow and everything.  As soon as we got it home I was mowing!  I love it...nice pretty lines...oh how I love thee.  It looks wonderful.  I can't wait for it to grow so I can cut it again!  I know...I'm crazy, you can thank my pops for that.  In the mean time I will look out my kitchen window on to my nicely cut lawn.  ahhhhh

And that is all...hope you all are enjoying the 80 degree weather in Chicago...I wish I was there for that!

I'm getting old!

Haha...so I can officially say this is my first blog as a 32 year old.  tehe.  It is so crazy to think I have been here for 32 years.  I remember my 16th birthday like it was yesterday and that was half my life ago!?!  Now I know some of you who read this are a bit older than me but I think we can all relate.  I mean how does time go by so fast?  I feel like I am still young on the inside but I look back at some of those pictures and think wow...no that is what young really looks like.  Yesterday was a good day. (my bday)  Different from the normal bday back home but good.  It was so sweet for everyone to wish me happy birthday on fb.  It made me feel so blessed to have so many people think of me.  A bit sad too cause I miss my friends but really sweet of everyone.  Mark got me a nice new pair of nude heels and a matching clutch for my birthday so we are going out on the town tonight to celebrate.

I wish I could say I have some exciting new news but I really don't lol.  Last weekend we went to IKEA again to get a butchers block cart type thing for our kitchen.  That was good...more ikea stuff to build...but good.  I swear our house is an ikea advertisement.  Literally lol.  Mark has been riding his bike to work lately.  Makes me a bit nervous but he absolutely loves it.  It is healthier for him and the environment so I guess I can't complain.  He has only fallen off a few times, and luckily in rather safe spots...no big injuries yet.  It is about an 11 mile ride to work and then the same back.  So he definitely gets his workout for the day in.  I still go to the gym just about everyday.  I am close to race day so I am putting in the miles.  Tomorrow it up to 5 miles so we shall see.  Next Sunday is race day!

I am looking forward to my parents coming.  They will be here in about 2 1/2 weeks.  I have some ideas of what I want to do with them but I need to come up with a list.  Really I am getting sick of looking at these 4 walls and need to find a job.  But o well.  I have been looking but no luck so far.  So that is our update.  Hope you all are well.

This is gonna be a long one...

Numero uno...
So last week...actually the week before last, Mark was on a course.  This means I had my first "home alone" experience as a married woman.  He was gone from Mon.-Thurs.  I didn't really know what to expect.  I mean I have lived on my own before so how different could this be?  Was I going to freak out in the house by myself, or was I going to love a bit of me time.  Well, the answer is both!  While I don't like hearing all the bumps and noises that go "boo" in the night, having a whole bed to myself again was a super treat!  Yes, I definitely slept diagonally and enjoyed every minute of it.  I was glad to see him again though Thursday cause I was in need of talking to another human being again! lol

Safety first!....
So on the Tuesday night of Mark being gone Penny and I decided to have girls night.  She put her 2 girls to bed and then the fun began.  We ordered pizzas and watched the Brits.  (They are the British version of the Grammys.)  Because it was late at night, and I would be coming home alone, I decided to drive the car.   I didn't want to walk through a pitch black field at 10:30 by myself, but I don't have my license yet either.  I figured driving was my safest bet and I was right.  I was so glad I got home in one piece that I rushed into the house to text Mark I had gotten in and was safe.  I bolted the door and went to bed.  Well at 2AM I hear a knock on the door!  WHAT!  You have got to be kidding me!?!  I was sure I was going to die right then and there!  I didn't want to be the stupid girl who goes down to see who it is and get murdered, so I laid in my bed as stiff as a board.  I then saw some lights and thought this is it...I am a goner.  Can you hear my heart beating!!!!????  Nothing came of it but I heard every noise the house could possible make from then until about 4 am when I finally fell back asleep.  Well, Wed. morning came and I had a driving lesson.  I couldn't find my keys anywhere!  I knew I had them in order to get in the house but what on earth did I do with them!?!  Genius me had left them in the front door.  Yeah...not to safe!  I know what the knocking was now too...somebody from the military patrol that drives around every night must have seen them and wanted to let us know but I was too afraid to answer the door to actually be safe.  Oh the joys of being Shara.  Mark got back on Thurs. and we had a nice relaxing weekend.

This past week was beautiful here.  Penny and I went into town and did some shopping.  It was nice to get out of the house.  On Friday I ran 4 miles!  I was so excited!  I am still training for the Lincoln 10K that is coming up.  I have never run 4 miles without stopping before and at the pace I was going.  Still not super fast but for me super exciting!  I am glad I got it in as well because Mark and I had a weekend of major eating ahead.  Mark's parents took us to a Bed and Breakfast in Skipton to celebrate his mom's birthday.  It was a really great weekend with the Tetchner's.  We hung out a lot  and ate like Kings and Queens.  Now if you know how I feel about British food, normally this would be so so.  But the food at the B&B was amazing...American tasting...good...wow...yummy...food!  We saw Skipton's castle and even went on a cave tour with his rents.  It was a really great time.  So thankful I get along so well with the in-laws!

It was a really special weekend as well because it was also the weekend in which I met Mark 5 years ago in Vegas!  It was Friday night, March 2, that my life would change in a million ways.  It is so cool to see how God's plan is bigger and better than your own.  I always had an idea of how I wanted to meet someone, or what that person would be like, and how my life would go.  God had an even better plan, and an incredible love story that I have gotten to see first hand.  5 years ago I had almost given up on finding a guy that I thought was good for me.  I was told I had too high of standards if I ever wanted to get married and so I went to Vegas to say screw boys and I will have fun as a single lady for the rest of my life.  Well low and behold God had a way of saying "not so fast missy" I got plans for you.  Thank you so much Lord for the past 5 years...Mark is more than I ever dreamed of and I am so thrilled at how amazingly you have written my love story.  God are pretty stinking awesome!  God is good!

So with that I will say adios.  I hope you all are well.  I am getting excited to come home for the summer and even more excited for my rents to come in a few weeks.  Peace out!

Socialized Medicine/ Faith...etc.

Ah....yes...a few things to chat about today.
Number 1:  Socialized Medicine...known here as the NHS (National Healthcare System)  This is the concept that everyone deserves to get medical treatment and where the rich insurance companies don't get richer.  Where people, all people, get to have the needed medicine they need and get it just as fast and free as the rich.  Now...I have grown up in the states where people pay crazy amounts of money for healthcare and insurance.  Neither is well done or fair.  I have waited FOREVER to get an appointment back in the states and usually wait another hour in a waiting room to only see a nurse ( I love you nurses and you are most likely smarter than most doctors) but still.  It is not the nicest waiting room and usually the nurses are so over worked that they aren't always the friendliest and 9 times out of 10 you only see the doc/nurse for about 30 seconds.  We all have waiting room stories or have left more agitated then when arriving from a doctors office.  Well, I am here to tell you it doesn't have to be that way!  Now yes, they pay higher taxes here, but, they actually have a system that serves its people.  I wanted to have some blood work done to see what is up with my system (whole different story all together) so I called on a late Tuesday afternoon.  They had a choice of appointments for me to pick from for the NEXT day!  My jaw about hit the floor...when I went, the staff was extremely friendly, I didn't have to fill out some 10 million crazy forms where you never know exactly if you are doing it right.  I saw a doctor who apologized profusely for being 2 minutes late...2!!!  We had a conversation...she took her time...and when she agreed I needed some blood work done she asked if I minded waiting 15 minutes to do it.  Now back home you would have to make a whole other appointment!  The lady who drew my blood apologized for my less than 15 minute wait.  I told her that this experience was truly bliss.  She smiled and said we get that lots from people who come over from the states.  I asked her some questions while she was drawing my blood.  She had worked in the states as well, as a nurse, and she was shocked that we hadn't come to have more socialized medicine like here.  I just can't tell you how great of an experience it was.  For all of you people who think socialized medicine is bad....look at it again with new eyes.  I really am impressed with it here.  And maybe it would help even the ever growing gap of rich people and the average American.  Just a thought.  Nothing political just my experience.  (And once again a shout out to all you nurses...I def. think you should get paid more! Along with teachers of course ;))

Number 2:  Church...in particular the song Shout to the Lord...aka My Jesus, My Savior.
So on Sunday morning in church we sang that song.  It brought back SO many memories.  It took me back to my senior year in high school when I learned the song on our youth group service trip to Mexico.  I got to think back to what I thought life would be and where I would be in the "future".  I thought about all of my friends who were there and where they are in life now.  I remember singing it in front of church for Marty and Deanna's last Sunday...um totally emotional.  I remember singing it at college and then again back at WSBC.  The thought that I was now singing it so many years later with my husband by my side and in England, none the less, was just an extra ordinary moment for me.  It was like a flash back of my life as I sang and then the thought of WOW what is God going to do next?!  When the chubby girl who saw everyone else get married thought "God are you really going to give me my dreams of being a wife"...he answered in His time and provided such an amazing man.  And when I said "God are you really going to get me through this whole moving ordeal"...He provided.  It was just so cool.  These words can't fully describe what I felt or even what I feel now but man thank you God for it.  It gave me hope and an awesome feeling about the future.  And just this peace that God is in control even when I think man what is He doing now?!?  It just was a God moment ya know.  And what a great song!

So yeah...lots of ramblings...some other side notes.  The dead flowers I got for Valentine's Day got fully reimbursed from Intraflora with a very sincere apology letter no questions asked.  Impressed!  I ran the longest I have ever ran 3.5 miles...no stopping and was pretty pumped about that last Sat.  I get the results from my blood work on Monday...so that should be interesting.  And...if you made it this far you must be as bored as I am.  LOL  Sorry this was a long one.  Hope all is well.  Later.

Just Chillin...

Ahhh lets see.  Life is pretty much the same over here.  Last week Mark's gout started to act up again.  Now I am not one to give much sympathy usually, but I was extra nice to him this time...breakfast in bed...ya know.  Poor guy could hardly walk it was so bad...bless him he did come to the grocery store with me since I still can't drive on my own.  That turned out to be an adventure so we really just stayed in the house most of the weekend.

On Friday I got an awesome package from my parents.  It was filled with all kinds of yummy American food I can't get over here.  They spent way too much on sending it but it felt like Christmas all over again to me!  It was wonderful.  Mark got to try Jell-o chocolate pudding for the first time and I think it was love at first taste lol.  Speaking of taste I tried to make Italian beef for the first time.  I used the crock pot and it came out...ok...man I miss Italian beef.  So for those of you who are in the vicinity of a Portillo's eat one for me and enjoy every minute of it!

What else...Valentine's Day was good.  So great to be on the same continent as your Valentine!  I actually got flowers this year, which is a story in and of itself.  Flowers came half dead....now how to you tell your hubby that you love the flowers and the thought but that he should call and complain.  Well it was entertaining and we both got a good laugh out of it.  I really do love them...I just didn't want him to have to pay for dead flowers ya know.  So we are still in the process of dealing with that.  Never a dull moment.  His gout had gone by Tuesday...but we hadn't made plans cause we both just couldn't see the point in going out.  So I made dinner here...spaghetti and garlic bread and we ate by candle light.  It was nice...really nice.

That really is the excitement over here....I have continued with driving lessons and those are going well.  I got to make a super hero with the Fazal girls on Monday which was fun.  In fact I am going swimming, indoors of course, in a bit with them because it is half term break...meaning no school for a week.  I have heard back from a few jobs that I have applied for with no luck.  I really wasn't qualified for them but figured I would still try.  MMM yeah...OH best news ever....I am coming home for a MONTH!!!  Mark will be there with me for the 1st two weeks but then he has to come back to work.  tehe  Then I get to stay for another 2 and half weeks.  I am so excited!  So that is our news.  Hope you all are well...peace out.

Great weekend!

So this past week has been fun!  We didn't do a ton but I actually felt like wow...we are a married couple doing something out and about and wow...this is fun!  lol  We have been doing really good recently about eating healthy and such.  Which in turn means we haven't been eating out AT ALL!  Now this might not sound like a big deal to most but to me it is huge!  Most of my life has consisted of eating out and even once I got to the U.K. at least once a week we would get something...even just a pizza or kebab or whatever.  So we decided that Friday night we would have "date night".  It was awesome!  We went out to dinner!  Yahoo for me...no cooking!  It is one of our favorite places but on the pricey side but it was a nice treat.  They serve better for you kind of food so we both did well with our choices and enjoyed each others company.  We then went and got coffee...being that we were an hour and half early for our movie.  (tehe...guess that means we ate dinner just a wee bit fast lol) Movie was a Mark pick...the 2nd Sherlock Holmes film?  It was ok...Im not a huge movie kind of person...but he really enjoyed it.  Good date night!

Sat. I got up and ran...I know...that is not a normal thing for Shara to do on a Sat. morning!  But it was good.  Bettered my mile time by like a minute...I was thrilled!  Working hard for that 10K come the end of March.  We then did some shopping and it was just a good Sat.  Sat. night was our first snow fall here.  It wasn't a ton...well by my Chicago standards...but for here it was a lot.  We got about 7 or 8 cm so like 2-3 inches.  You would have thought it was 2 feet!  Hilarious.  I of course was out there shoveling as soon as we got up on Sunday.  Gotta get the snow of the drive before you roll the car over it...makes it a mess!  (Yes that is for you pops!!! I did pick that up even though I use to think you were crazy about it!)  So there I was....no one else shoveling... and I mean no one...eventually some of the guys came out when they saw me out there doing it.  Where was Mark you ask?  The deal was I shovel he does breakfast.  Deal for me every time!  When all was said and done our driveway was the cleanest.  Doesn't make much of a difference cause they don't plow the roads here...or anywhere in England.  One big ice rink on the roads...so crazy.  No parking lots get plowed nothing!  Oh the money I could make if I could drive a big truck like that!  Anyways...entertaining.  Because of the snow we didn't venture out to church.

The rest of the week...well...was back to normal.  They say it is super cold here...I don't think so but I guess I am use to it.  It was "soooo" cold...brrr...a whole 32 F or 0C.  Bring it on....at night it has gone down to about 20F but again you would think the place was the North Pole.  I walked to the gym and the worker lady looked at me like I had 6 heads...."too cold to be out there."  Oh...if they only knew what Chicago usually gets like in the winter.  It's called a real winter coat, hat, gloves....ya know???
Anyways.  Hope you all are warm and well.  adios!

This is fricking amazing...

So I tried to make something new last night for dinner.  You never know exactly how it is going to go but you hope for the best.  Mark and I both love kebabs.  Not the ones on a stick but the ones you eat in a pita...kind of like our gyros in the states but with chicken.  I looked up a recipe online and then made a few changes to it not knowing if that was a good thing or if it would taste terrible.  I was nervous when Mark got in....didn't want dinner to taste like crap.  SO....we sit down and I don't tell him that I had changed it a bit.  The first words out of his mouth were and I quote, "this is fricking amazing!"  I was thrilled.  Like I said before we are trying to be healthier so this was a healthy way to eat something that is not normally healthy.  I am thrilled...like did a lil dance in the kitchen after dinner thrilled.  Just thought I would boast a bit here cause I can tehe.  Now I am not a chef nor do I claim that I can cook BUT I have come a loooonnnngggg way since Sept.  Tehe.  Yahoo!!!

6 months today....

Six months ago today I was getting ready for the biggest day of my life.  I was surrounded by all of my friends and family and thinking, "Is this really happening?"  I was a tad bit excited...ok bursting at the seams excited, as some of you witnessed on that very important day.  Well a few things have changed since that awesome day...I live in a different country, I have brown hair, I don't have a job, I have had to learn to drive, I learned how to cook, to name a few.  But the best part is that I get to live with my best friend.  And while people sometimes say the first year is the hardest....I say rubbish!  (tehe my new fav. British word!)  If this is the toughest year than by all means bring it on!  If we can conquer all of the craziness and change that has happened for us both in the last 6 months then anyone can!  So Happy 6 month Anniversary!

To be honest it seems like forever ago that it happened...and that stress of it all...phew...I am glad it is over. But wow...to say I have been married for 6 months now is a bit like...wow...really!?!  Anyways...on with the rest of life. lol

So not much has been new this past week.  Doing the same old thing.  Mark and I have been really trying hard to lose some weight and eat healthy and that is starting to pay off.  I fit in my "skinny" jeans for the first time since my wedding and wouldn't stop telling my hubby...over and over and over again...tehe!  Gotta love me!  It is nice to have hard work pay off.  While I won't tell you what size I am down to...lets just say it makes me one super duper happy woman!  I am by no means thin... and still in double digits but when you can wiggle your way in jeans you couldn't fit in at all a month before it is sheer bliss!!!

With our focus being on keeping healthy and fit, and of course trying to save money we bought our new big first purchase as a married couple.  A bike for Mark!  Now I know that might seem like well how on earth are you saving money if you buy something that expensive.  Well, with the price of gas over here it will literally pay itself off with in a month and a half on gas savings alone.  It will also keep the boy slim and trim and to be honest it was on sale and I just couldn't say no to someone so cute.  lol (Don't tell him that!)  It is a nice bike and hopefully it will do all we want it too.

Saying that, it means I get the car.  Not that I can drive it yet...but ya know in theory.  I have a few more driving lessons before I go for the big test.  But I am getting better everyday.  Mark and I have been out for a few drives and he says I get better every time.  The clutch and I still have our moments but I am slowly but surely gaining confidence with it all and where I need to be on the road.  Hopefully that will come quickly because I have started to apply for jobs.  Obviously it is kind of important to know how to drive in order to be able to get to work.  I am not finding much success in getting a "high school history" job.  So I am looking at other school related jobs and even some office manager type work.  Just really something to get me out of the house and earning some cash.  

So that is my little update.  Oh...started training today for the Lincoln 10K that Mark and I are going to do on March 25.  I am hoping to run most of it but we shall see.  So here is to 6 months.  Hope those of you who read this are well and enjoying what I hear is a wonderful winter so far back home.  Lots of love from over the pond....me

Second time is the charm!

So...I studied once again all day yesterday for my driving test.  If you recall I got 50/50 on the multiple choice test last time but I only got 43 when I needed 44 to pass the hazard part.  While this may not seem too frustrating to anyone else, it was beyond frustrating to this over achiever.  I made Mark do one of the practice tests and even he was like this is so not accurate and unfair.  So after studying all day yesterday and nearly having a panic attack upon walking in the test center, I PASSED my written and hazard driving test. I guess it was all that much more frustrating to me cause I did so well back in high school with drivers ed.  I was one of the lucky ones who passed everything "car" related at school so that all I had to do to get my license was show up, get my picture taken, and I had my license on my 16th birthday.  While I may have a lead foot and have gotten my fair share of speeding tickets, I never had an issue with driving.  I just couldn't wrap my head around missing a driving test by one tiny point.  But hey like I said...second time is the charm.  I am so thankful to have passed it today...I got 57 points which is way more than the needed 44.  I did however get one wrong on the multiple choice part but hey...only thing left standing in my way of getting a driving license is the road test.  A few more lessons and practice time with that stinking clutch and I should be terrorizing the streets of Lincoln.  tehe

Time is flying...

So honestly nothing is new.  LOL  It has just kind of dawned on me that it is already mid January and I have been here almost 4 months.  Crazy!  Things are getting a bit easier in the ways of grocery shopping and cooking and things like that.  My driving is coming along...my super hubby let me drive out to the park on Sunday (brave man) and all went well.  The gears are slowly becoming more familiar and I know what side of the road to turn on to which is always helpful.  Day to day seems the same.  I have nothing really to do but manage to stay entertained usually all day long.  Wether I am cleaning yet again, or watching the news, or working out, or who knows what.  I am impressed with my skills of entertaining myself. haha.  Mark and I both have committed to trying to live healthier this year and so we are both eating better and working out more.  I have gone to 2 new classes at the gym this past week...boxercise and spin.  While I thought spin was going to kick my butt, it was the boxing that literally knocked it out of me.  I was dead after it last week...hand killing me and arms like jello.  All totally worth it cause this week I am not in such a state.  Although my abs are a different story lol.  It really shouldn't be this hard for a 31 year old to do but I guess I am more out of shape than the military people I am doing it along side.  Those girls are buff!  I officially applied for a National Insurance number here (their equivalent of our social security number) so I am hoping that will come through quickly.  As soon as it does I am off to get a job!  Well that is the update...I wish I had something more entertaining to write about but I don't.  It does amaze me how a week can go by so fast though...it is totally beyond me.  Till the next time....

I'm back.....

So it has been 10 days...now 11 since I have updated "the" blog.  I was told this by my mother who I speak to regularly...she knows what is going on in my life but would just like to see it in the blog too.  Mom's are so strange sometimes and yet at the same time...I find myself being more and more like mine! Now that is truly scary!  (Just for you mom...I even save peanut butter jars to later use to make your salad dressing!....what have I become!)....anyways...

It has been busy here the past few weeks...not like the busy I was last year at this time...wedding planning getting into full swing, but busy none the less.  Christmas was chilled out...different than usual but good.  Boxing Day (the 26th) we went up to Mark's parents house and had more chill out time.  It mostly consisted of us sitting around watching full series of t.v. shows that different Tetchner's had gotten for Christmas.  Mark and I did make it down to the beach where we had gotten engaged last year.  Cool to go there exactly a year after he had proposed and see how crazy this past year has been as well as all the changes that have taken place.  It was a really good time!

We left the Tetchner's on the 28th because early on the 29th we had to drive down to Heathrow (3hrs. one way) to pick up my friends Andrea and Nick.  It was SO good to see and hear people that speak "proper" English.  Although they kept telling me I was saying things funny and would get the giggles sometimes at what I said.  I don't think I sound any different but the hubby tells me my harsh American accent is softening...yeah whatever that means...I still sound as Chicagoian as they come.  But it was really great to be able to spend time with them.  We went to the castle and cathedral in Lincoln...and some other touristy type stuff.  NYE another friend from Chicago was here, Jessi and her boyfriend Nick.  So the 6 of us had a good night out ringing in the New Year. (Pics on NY Day post)

 Andrea and I on the castle wall with cathedral in the background.

 Same thing but with Mark

 Thought the light rays were cool...on a beach in Mablethorpe.

 Mark and I.

 Me and Andrea....then the 4 of us.  Mark, Nick, Andrea, and I.

Sadly on Jan. 3 we had to take Andrea and Nick back to the airport.  You never appreciate how close Midway and O'Hare are until you make that 3 hr. journey one way.  They got back home safe and sound we got back into the routine of things here.  Mark went back to work on Wed. and somehow I lost track of time...wether cleaning the house or what not the week since then has just flown by.  There was a minor bleep on the radar on Saturday.  Sat. morning was my driving test here.  Now I had studied for it like I have never studied for a test before.  I could tell you just about everything there is to know about the rules of the road in Britain...but they have this hazard perception part.  Fine and dandy...I've driven now for 16 yrs....bring it on.

Well....not that easy.  I scored perfect on the multiple choice part of the test.  Yahoo!  But the hazard part is video clips.  In the clips you have to click every time you see a hazard.  If you click to much it thinks you are cheating and boots you out.  Well I got booted out on the first two clips.  There are 12 more but the issue is I have been a driver before.  I look ahead and see a hazard way before a new driver does.  It only gives you a small window to say it is a hazard.  My problem...I see it too soon and click before the computer says it is a hazard.  I don't see how that is a bad thing...it should be good that I see it before I have to take action but the computer doesn't grade like that.  So at the ripe old age of 31 almost 32 I failed my first test...EVER!!!  Lets just say I was a basket case the rest of the day...I didn't know what to do.  Maybe I should have failed something earlier in life to get that rejection over with cause lets just say it wasn't pretty.  Thanks to Mark I survived and booked another test.  But seriously...if I don't pass the next one I think the world might just end.  Ahhhh.....frustration.

This week so far consisted of taking down the Christmas tree, doing a boxercise class that has left me incredibly sore today, and washing clothes.  I know...what an exciting life I lead.

On a much more serious note...I do have a prayer request....My maid of honor, Rebecca's, little niece Courtney is about 2 months and a bit old.  She has gone to a bunch of doctors and they have been told that Courtney can't see.  They think it might be genetic DNA issues or a chemical imbalance.  They would really appreciate your prayers with what to do and where to go and the right doctors to treat little Courtney.  They haven't been told she is blind...and so they are just praying for a miracle.  I know God can to amazing things and so I am asking all of you to please pray for little Courtney and the whole DeHoog family.  I know they and myself would really appreciate it.  Thanks!

And with that...I will put a few pics up and call it a day. Peace I'm out.