Merry post-Christmas

Today Steve and I celebrated Christmas. I got a British cookbook, a Stephen Fry biography, pyjamas, shower and bath soaps (Lush!) and all sorts of cool things.

Last night we went to the Metro Centre, shopped for presents, ate chicken at Nando's then came home to wrap what would go under the tree. Today I'm making the turkey and mashed potatoes.

It's been easier than I though to get use to being here. I've been here for one week and already I know how to get to the store on my own. I still have to figure out how to get to Retail World and the Metro Centre on the bus alone. At least I can get a taxi if I absolutely need to.

I've had a wonderful post-Christmas so far. Jake is getting use to the place too. He's bonded with Steve more now and we have a nice little family life going on here. Soon I'll go to my interview to see if they'll let me in to the university to start teacher training in the Fall. They sent me a letter to fill out, making sure they charged me the right amount for tuition. That has to be a good sign that they plan on letting me in.

Four more days

It's my last weekend in Florida for a while. I cleaned up some but I've lounged more than anything. There's the kitchen garbage to be thrown out and a few boxes for donating to the charity shop. My box of handbags is the main donation.

Jake will visit the vet one last time on Monday to get his tick and tapeworm vaccine before we head across the pond Wednesday night. I have my new, (additional) big suitcase so I can manage things easier than having a bunch of small bags to cart through London.

There won't be a lot of touristy-ness going on next week. While I'd love to see London, with two 28" suitcases, a garnet bag, a carry-on, a cat and an 8 & 1/2 hour flight just completed, I think my sight seeing trip will have to be done one weekend in the near future.

These next four days will be just getting everything I absolutely need done, done. Cancel the utilities for February, pack, store, toss. I have to back up the computer with my new, fancy 1T external hard drive too.

Writing in the dark

The electricity's been off for almost two hours now. Luckily it's not a super hot (or cold) night. It was supposed to be back on by 9PM but it's now 8:55 and, nope, no power.

I have my plane tickets (one for Jake too) so we'll be heading to England next week. I'm so excited! I won't have to sit in dark rooms by myself anymore. Plus, we can have our own Christmas in January. We'll do the tree, movies, turkey, stockings, shopping and all as if it were December. I'm sure this will be a great story for the grandkids one day.

I now have electricity (FPL says a vehicle hit a power pole - Ohno!) and have the evening to study up for my Elem Ed test I'm taking on Friday.

I'm headed across the pond next week! Finally! I have Jake's pet passport to get finalized but his cargo ticket has been booked. My ticket is set too; Premium Economy this time so I can have more luggage allowance hopefully. So my adventures will be more adventurous very soon. Now I can post pictures and talk about my trips to museums and art galleries rather than shopping at the grocery store.

I was glad to see my back in the day friend, Crystal, for lunch last week too. There's a big part of me here and a big part of me that has a whole new beginning.

Time to make the list

Resolutions and things I want to accomplish in 2011:

Get packed up and across the pond with the cat.
Get into teacher training so I can teach in England.
Get back into an exercise routine.
Go back to Weight Watchers.
Take trips around the UK.
Visit Steve's folks.
Have 1st anniversary at Disney World.
Take Education classes online in the summer.
Get a television for our bedroom.
Have an awesome post-Christmas.
Have an awesome Christmas in Dec together.
Keep up on my blogs.
Graduate from TWU with my Master's in Library Science.
Get a Windows 7 phone once my iPhone contract is up.
Have a great first year as a married woman.

Feels like Christmas

I love that it's 79F degrees again. I want to enjoy my Floridian lifestyle the right way for the next six weeks. I'm fine with having a sunny Christmas this year.

I also found out that one of the UK colleges where I applied for the teacher training courses has offered me an interview. (If you'll recall, the first place I sent my application was all worried about their high school test scores, which may be the case with all their college entry requirements.) Anyway, I'll have to request a rescheduling of the interview as they want to conduct it on the day I'll get to England. But if I can get it for a couple days after, Steve showed me how easy it will be to get on the bus and take a 30 minute trip to the University. The idea of learning to ride the bus, not to mention the metro, will be a whole adventure in itself.

Right now Steve's at his Christmas work dinner and I'm contemplating what to have for dinner myself. I tried to get to the gym yesterday but I did my Christmas shopping instead. (Got Mom a green Christmas sweatshirt for her to wear now though.) I knew that school was out today and more people would be in Wal-mart and Target. I have what I want for everyone now. I still have a few things to get Dad for his birthday and Steve for our post-Christmas (both in January.)

I'm still working on setting up my online education classes too. I still like the idea of taking classes that count toward an MEd degree.