Christmas in England

We started off the day wearing our new winter accessories Linda bought us :)
Here is the family around the fancy Christmas table- you'll see it all clean shortly! Don't you love our 2008 glasses :)

After you get up and have some family time someone hosts everyone over for drinks- either beer or something like a mimosa. I don't know how to spell it so I won't even try. Then, we all go to the pub until its time for Christmas lunch. The picture above is at Matt and Rachel's house- they hosted this year.

There is a "Cracker" on every plate- two people pull on opposite ends and it pops! Inside are these hats and a silly little toy. I liked the hats!

Above is the fancy Christmas table :)

More to come soon!

To everything there IS a season...

My first post LIVE from England :) I am only two days away from heading back to the US. Mark has been back at work since last Wednesday so that has left me with a lot of alone time for my own thoughts. Dangerous? YES.

I will post again with pictures soon. Mark lost the lead for the camera so we'll have to take the camera in somewhere and put the pics on a disk. So all you see for now is us on New Years Eve.

I titled this "To everything there is a season" because this statement has been reinforced in my life recently. I attribute my rediscovery of this simple truth to a book I read early in my trip. It's titled Eat Pray Love and is written by Elizabeth Gilbert. I highly recommend you read it. Its about a woman who "sets out to examine three different cultures: pleasure in Italy, devotion in India, and on the Indonesian island of Bali, a balance of wordly enjoyment and divine transcendence." She sets out on this journey after an ugly divorce and depression. As I read I started to realize I could relate, and not to the fun parts of the book but the parts that talked about depression. I had to finally accept what I've been feeling so that I can work through it!

ENOUGH about that. This past month has been a season of barely ANY exercise I am sad to say. Well, it was actually quite nice not having to worry about that while on vacation but since I am in the land where you can't get fat free milk and near a nana who makes the best toffee sauce ever..my waist line is really the sad one. However, I am feeling better finally- I had a 10 day cough/cold/flu thing and am ready to take on the exercise world again. I'll show my waistline whose boss again ;) Afterall, I am getting married in 10 months, this is NOT the time for extra weight. I start my Healthy Bride program next week :) I will be working out with a group of women- the only requirement being you have to be IN a wedding to join. Its a way to work while being around people who won't get annoyed when ALL you talk about is your wedding!

Christmas was very nice. His family traditions are different from mine so that was fun to experience. I will explain more when I have pictures, its more fun with the visual aids.

We booked our church for the blessing in England. Its over 1,000 years old..its going to be beautiful. I am pretty lucky that I get to wear my wedding dress twice! We'll have the Seattle festivities on October 4th and the England ones just two weeks later. One wedding, honeymoon, then second blessing and reception. Will be FUN :)

I will write again soon! Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season.

Oh the weather outside is frightful...

In a little over an hour I went from this beautiful (slightly annoying for a commute) winter wonderland to rainy snowless Seattle.

I am only 10 days away from my month long trip to England! I cannot wait! We've got all sorts of Christmas parties to attend- some for his work, one for his dad's work, and many family gatherings. It will by my first "Boxing Day" event as well. A day I still don't quite understand. The month will also be packed with wedding plans. We're going to meet with the church vicar where we will be having a blessing after our wedding here. Speaking of that- Our wedding will be:

October 4th, 2008 at The Canal in Ballard, Wa.

More details, save the date cards, and invitations coming soon :)

A few things have changed since I last blogged. My old office, where I did vision therapy, came into a bind and needed someone to help. They offered me enough money that I decided to go back there just two days a week until the end of March. That leaves me working 4 days downtown Seattle at my main job, the one I LOVE, and two days back in Lynnwood. Its already been VERY interesting but with an upcoming wedding, making extra money is not a bad idea.

Besides working a lot I plan to spend the next year taking in all that is around me.... family, friends, Seattle...everything I have known my entire life. Since October 4th marks the beginning of my life in England, I want to spend the next year not taking for granted anything or anyone. If there is one thing I have learned in the past months, especially after Jacob's death, is that life is fleeting. At any given moment something can change drastically... Death is not the only thing that has taught me that this year. Our family is having a hard time with the holidays... we have three people missing. One from a death and two from impending divorce. Unfortunetly, one of those divorces is in my own home. While I know we'll make it and the first year is maybe the hardest..its hard not to think back with regret. If I had known last year were it for our little 5 part family, I would have been different. I don't want to say that a year from now... I want to have no regrets no matter what happens.

Its funny how life is as you get older... I used to long for this stage of life and now I can't help but miss the days that were far less complicated.

Will write again soon..most likely from England.

New York New York

Hello Everyone! New York treated us quite well!

So well in fact we just can't stop smiling :)

We stayed in Manhattan with his Aunt Carol. She has a great apartment with really nice doormen! We saw most of the sites but did not go up the Empire State Building because it was either too cloudy or the line was WAY too long.

We had pizza in Brooklyn, breakfast in the meat packing district, lunch in Little Italy, we shopped on 5th avenue, wandered around Central Park, spent an evening in Times Square... it was all wonderful.

However, the best part had to have been when Mark proposed! It was actually a two part series! He asked me on Friday night and then took me to Tiffany's on Monday to get the ring. It was so fun and amazing. It happened in two parts because Mark wasn't sure if this was the BEST time for the proposal because of what happened a few weeks earlier. If you have seen the post before this, you know what I am talking about. A good friend of mine suddenly died on October 18th and its really shook all of us up!

However, I love Mark and his proposal WAS perfect. October was definetly the most bittersweet month of my life... its a very wierd feeling to be SO happy about one part of your life but still have a deep sadness for another part.

So what are the wedding plans?? This isn't completely finalized yet but October 4th, 2008 in Ballard, WA is the tentative plan. Once our budget is all finished we will be putting the deposit down! I will keep you all posted :)

In loving Memory

This is Jacob Dillow, a very dear friend of mine. He died this past Thursday October 18th. It was the craziest thing I have ever heard of. Jacob got his wisdom teeth out last Monday and developed an infection on Wednesday. They realized too late that it was Necrotizing Fasciitis-the flesh eating bacteria. He died in surgery. There is a void left in our little group of friends that will never be replaced. On October 18th each year we will toast him his favorite shot-the prarie fire. Beyond that.. we don't really know how to be without him.

It will be Christmas in England!

I may be getting into the spirit a little early but I can't help myself! I am so excited to go there and spend an entire month! I leave December 12th and return January 9th. While we still have no set plan for ending the long distance we do have a short term solution. We see each other next month in New York. Then I go for a month in December and he comes here (Lord willing...cross your fingers, say your prayers, send your thoughts..etc) in February to work for awhile! That buys us time to figure things out with BOTH of us working and NOT going more than just over a month without seeing each other. We are both encouraged by this and know that something WILL work out. We just need to be patient.

I will be spending Christmas and New Years in his hometown of Clitheroe.

Its a really cute place. Never do much driving there, its a small enough town you can walk everywhere. A few of the Underwood's closest friends actually live on the same street as Mark's parents. If there is one thing I loved most about this town and his family is that their family extends into their large group of friends. I have never experienced this before. Everyone has such a great time together. There is a local pub all of these people go to and when I was there they had a "do" (what we'd call a party) and EVERYONE was there! We danced all night! It was by far one of the most fun nights I have ever had. I was welcomed right in and thrown around the dance floor by many family friends! I felt at home. Actually, it was this night that I realized that I could move to England. I had a peace about it that is hard to explain but was really wonderful.

One set of grandparents live in a cute tiny town called Slaidburn (yet pronounced Slaben-they like to trick me with these).

See it out there? That tiny little town. It has a lot of character and holds many of Mark's childhood memories. His grandparents used to own a farm out there but now live in town. Its a really cute place.

I hope to see London at Christmas time as well. I found this picture of the Tower Bridge and what could be more romantic? It looks so beautiful!
I will keep you up to date if anything else changes. I will definetly post after I go to New York. I am sure we'll get some GREAT photos there. If anything else exciting happens between now and then I'll let you know :)

The Adventure Continues :)

The trip to New York is all planned :) We're taking a long weekend at the end of October, arriving on a Thursday and leaving early Monday morning. This way we can both get some work hours in Monday afternoon/evening.

Mark's aunt works for Louis Vuitton and lives in New York. She's being so generous and letting us stay at her place. From what Mark has said it's an amazing apartment. You walk out the door (that a doorman opens for you!) and there is Central Park. I am really looking forward to seeing New York in the fall, especially Central Park (pictured above).

As for our "new plan." Nothing is set in stone yet but we are tossing around a few ideas. His project that was to start in December over in Renton has been pushed to February :( It may also be only one month instead of three! So, our tentative plan is for me to work as much as I can between now and December, then I will go over to England as a visitor and stay until he comes here in February. I will be working a lot between now and then so that I can save money to live off of over there for a couple months. We'll see if this even works out. Quitting the job I have now will not be easy. Its a great job with wonderful benefits that I don't want to give up unless we have a really really great plan :) ESPECIALLY since I cannot work in England at this point.

I know something will work out, I just wish I knew when, what, where?? All those important questions :)