Rambling Life Updates (Photo Free)

As much as I've been enjoying my newfound love of recording my life with pictures, my first love is writing. So here I am, once again, writing about my life. I have a few bits and pieces that I am editing into longer posts for this blog, but for now I just wanted to stop by for a brief update. No editing and agonising over the perfect wording and sentences that are a manageable length. Tonight it's just quick and dirty, bullet points and bad grammar.

- I now have a job nannying for two beautiful baby girls. Obviously I am very happy to have some money coming in as I am incapable of living frugally (In my mind money only exists to be spent...so why not wait to spend money on boring bills when I can spend it on a cute new dress today? Clearly, I have not yet grasped the concept of bills), but I am also very excited to be spending my days with such cuteness. If I ever experience cuteness withdrawal, I start to go a little crazy - like buying kittens or choosing baby names. So this job will keep me in constant supply of cuteness.

- I am once again attempting NaNoWriMo. You have to give me credit for trying after three consecutive failures, each one more pathetic than the one before. Last year I'm not even sure I made it to 5000 words. And yet here I am - another November and another attempt at writing a novel (or at least 50,000 words). I almost can't remember how I did it all those years in high school. This year I have enlisted Hugh to be my wordcount moderator and he has promised to hound me everyday until I make my quota.

- Speaking of Hugh, this whole having a boyfriend thing is actually pretty great. One of the best (and most useful) perks - I get a foolproof wake up call every morning. He knows that I lie when he asks if I'm out of bed so he makes me put the kettle on and brush my teeth while he's on the phone. I am someone who sleeps through multiple alarms and is so braindead before coffee that she will try to lie down 'just for 5 more minutes' even if she's already twenty minutes late for class. So the boyfriend-wake-up-call is just what I need.

- There really isn't that much else going on in my life. I now have 4 different London library cards. Kensington & Chelsea public libraries, Senate House University of London library, King's College library, and the British Library. As someone who loves libraries, I am quite proud of this. I am also proud of my growing number of university cards - Syracuse, Oxford, King's. As I plan on continuing in academia for my career, a collection of university cards is like a CV in my wallet.

- It's snowing in Munich. This isn't an update on my life as I live in London, but Hugh is currently living in Munich so he sent me pictures of his street all covered in snow. It definitely made me miss snow days on the farm - drinking hot cocoa while wrapped in a blanket and watching the snow fall outside the window. Unfortunately it doesn't really snow in London, maybe once a year and then only an inch or so. I guess I can hope for a white Christmas in Maryland. There has been some crazy weather in recent years (blizzards the past two winters and now Frankenstorm) so maybe it's not as unlikely as you would think.


Ok, I'm rambling now. It feels good. I miss this kind of blogging...well, not too much. I think it's still best to edit my rambling down to some coherent thoughts on a single theme. But the occasional ramble through my thicket of unedited thoughts is kind of nice.

I voted!

After waiting for weeks and weathering a small family drama, my absentee ballot made it to London and I have now voted in my first election. I felt so very American as I filled in the little boxes and never more proud to be one. So now I have done my civic duty and can feel assured that whatever the outcome next week, I cast my vote an did my part in serving our democracy.

Sprucing up the flat

Trying to make this little flat more homey - the Queen, Lady Liberty, and some florals. And now I can watch The West Wing on my new TV.

A weekend

Just some pictures from my wonderful weekend:

First, a few little things that made me happy (like the coffee table magazines, the seals on John Lewis bags, Tunnock's Caramel Wafer biscuits, and a cute outfit), 

Some good times with friends, driving by Buckingham palace all lit up at night, and (top right) the Pizza Express by my flat that is in a beautiful old building with an archway leading to the courtyard

Finally, a lovely Sunday spent in the country visiting my boyfriend's parents

Hugh and I took a nice long walk through the fields and I picked some wildflowers

Just half an hour on the train to Guildford and then a short drive to the village Shamley Green in the Surrey Hills

My Sunday - tea, Hamlet, and praying for a miracle

I'm still feeling quite ill and the mysterious rash on my arm is worse. I have been avoiding the Internet bc once I go online to check symptoms I will always end up convinced that I have some awful, fatal disease.

No sick day for me, though. I'm re-reading Hamlet for what feels like the millionth time. Not that I'm complaining. Except that I had to run up the street to Waterstones (while looking like I had just been released from an insane asylum bc my personal hygiene was so horrible) to buy a new copy as I didn't have one on hand in in England despite owning no less than four copies at home in Baltimore.

I'm also drinking tea from my lucky Lion mug (stolen 4 years ago from a diner on the last morning of Senior Week, the week-long high school graduation party at the beach), which is resting on my intimidatingly thick course pack including all of the required reading for my first module.

Oh, and the big news of the weekend...the Orioles made it through the Wild Card play off and are facing off with the damn Yankees in the ALDS! This is our magic season. And I'm not lying when I say that I've been praying to every god imaginable for the Orioles to keep on winning. That's how much I love this team...and even more than my own devotion, I'm praying for my brother and my dad and my grandfather bc to them Orioles baseball is a religion. And they could really use a miracle. So I'm wearing my Orioles cap and cheering for my team all the way from London.

Another day

Despite illness I ventured out to the library today. The mess in my flat is just too much to handle but I don't have anywhere to put my clothes and books until my furniture comes from Argos later this week.

I live a few doors down from the Chelsea library here in London, which I take to be sign that I need to stop spending so much money on books. So I registered for a library card and I can now borrow to my heart's content. Except today I only borrowed a CD and DVD.

I was also quite happy with my new comfy outfit. It's not exactly the Chelsea standard, i.e. Sloane Ranger haha

Londontown

Life is rushing past like the red double decker buses that squeeze past unbelievably close to pedestrians on the sidewalk. I am that pedestrian who jumps back and watches in horror as the passengers on the bus smirk at her through the window.

I have been taking more photos recently and would love to incorporate more visual storytelling on this blog. I made a collage, today. So here are some bits and pieces of my day:
Polite signage, tube reading, colourful socks peeking out, and my two addictions (Diet Coke and Orioles baseball).