Family, Fullers, and Fast-alseep Rosie

What a fantastic visit we had with Mum, Dad, and Rosie!
Sean and I always love spending time with everyone and, of course, taking photos of Rosie when she falls asleep in public.

This girl can fall asleep anywhere!

We had a number of adventures during the fam's visit... beginning with a trip to Portsmouth to eat some delish fish and chips and walk down Mum's memory lane! Rosie and I were glued to one another for two reasons: long overdue sister catch-up AND freezing windy rain! We took a selfie to help share the experience:

If you look closely, you can see Mum and Dad weathering the weather.

Continuing the family journeying, we all went out to Cambridge for a day to meet up with one of Mum's relatives and to see the sites.

Punting on the river Cam.

Inside the Fitzwilliam Museum

One of the Cambridge highlights for me was seeing King's College. I love the choral music recorded there so greatly, yet somehow didn't think about it being in Cambridge. As such, when we happened upon it during a walk- I was jubilant!

Me, outside of King's College- and poor Sean taking this photo in the rain!

The Cambridge trip was full of great sites, but one of the best had to be our surprise discovery of cows hanging out by the river.

Moo

Before Dad returned to the States, we had an early Birthday/Father's Day celebration for him. When I say celebration, I mean brewery-tour. That's right! We all went to The Fuller's Brewery in Chiswick and enjoyed a very informative experience!

Mum, Rosie, and Dad outside the Fuller's Brewery

Despite all of the information, however, there was no question which part Dad enjoyed the most: THE BAR WITH NO TILL!

Thirsty?

We had such a lovely visit together and it was sad to say goodbye. I threatened to cut up everyone's passports on numerous occasions, but I never had the guts to do so based on the hassle it would create for my family and the waste of perfectly-good microchipped government documents.

Before I sign off, I will leave you with one more sleeping Rosie photo; because I know that's why you read to the end of this entry! :)

Rosie asleep at a lunch party...

Even the drug-sniffing dog has a job!

I must start today's blog entry telling you about the picnic Sean and I had today! The sun is shining brightly, there is plenty of blue in the sky, and there is even a gentle breeze which meant Sean and I, picnic blanket in hand, went to Marks and Spencer's to buy ready-made sandwiches, crisps, grapes, and limeade. From there, we walked a harrowing 4 minutes to the beautiful Rosebury Park. It was glorious.

 

A fine lunch indeed

And there weren't even any bugs!

I haven't submitted an entry in a while.... mostly due to being wrapped-up in applying for jobs and preparing for interviews. Oh yeah, and also a bit due to drinking cider. Have I mentioned how many ciders there are to try here? Actually, I don't know how many- but if you really do know how many- it probably means you're spending too much time studying the matter and not enough time tasting it.

I made Sean prolong his first sip in order to photograph mine...

Speaking of cider, while in search of a new one a few weeks ago, we also enjoyed the musical stylings of random people at pub-based open mic night. We chatted to a few people, one of whom even told us the secret location of another pub, The Barley Mow, in the area... just what we needed!

This was meant to be a pic of the open mic performer...but my cider insisted it be featured

Cider-drinking aside, I actually have been fairly busy preparing presentations for panel interviews... I was walking to my first interview and as it turns out- interviewing in London feels strangely similar to being a tourist.....

The unreknowned area near my job interview

I've really been enjoying my interviews, despite worrying a bit about my American-accent being off-putting. Also, in interview 2 this week, I learned that to "get one's feet wet" is NOT a British term. Thankfully, it was appreciated nonetheless.

I'm sure many of you have been worried about how we're doing without Tex Mex and BBQ.... well- thankfully, my Aunt Judy sent us a great article from The Houston Chronicle which tells us about Texan BBQ places in London. Our Summer goal is to get to each of them! Until then, we're doing fine with food we find locally. There is great variety- which is fantastic!

Our lunch at the recent "Epsom Thai Market"

A very English breakfast, complete with beans!

This week promises to be great as Mum, Dad, and Rosie are headed over for holiday! In addition to taking them to several pubs- we will also be sure they eat at our fav Indian Restaurant, Blue Mint. I'm sure we will do some things other than eating.... but you know- we are mostly Pliszkas... so dining will feature in the reunion.

Hopefully, I will be employed by the next time I blog. This week, I found myself envying a police drug-sniffing dog as he had a job. I completely get what everyone is saying about "waiting for the right opportunity" but if I don't have a job offer in the next few weeks- I'm ready to start bagging groceries. I really hate being unemployed!

I almost forgot! I have become a friend of Surrey Police Department! There was some youth after-school fight outside of the train station which I could, conveniently see from one of the windows in our flat. As I witnessed the teen testosterone fight... I called the police to report what I saw- two calls later and I was sincerely thanked as I was the only person who was not a friend of the boys to give a statement. Unrelated to this, I also communicated on FB with our local police inspector who welcomed Sean and I to the neighborhood.

Surry Police, our bff in Epsom

Something tells me I didn't mention cider enough in this post- so just in case you weren't sure if my post made you want a cider..... I'll leave you with this:

So refreshing....

Spiceworld... No, not the movie.

So this week has been eventful! Myself and a coworker headed into London Tuesday and Wednesday for Spiceworld London 2014! Sadly, to Anna's disappointment, this was not a Spice Girls reunion tour, but an I.T. conference put on by Spiceworks (an I.T. Management platform.)

Soooo many awkward nerds! All in all though, it was pretty informative, and I scored a bunch of free swag. The company is also based out of Austin, so I had a heathy dose of Texas for a couple days as well (I even called out one of the presenters on his liberal use of "y'all" at the after party.... Free drinks were involved.) Oh, and commuting into London is definitely not for me. So many people in such a small place, the rush hour underground is my own personal hell. Driving around Surrey is much nicer!

Let's see, what else. Last weekend was nice enough... We ventured into Wimbleton to buy Anna a new interview suit (she has 3 this week!) And while we were there, we found the nearest Chipotle... The menu is exactly the same, minus the huge American soda machines! Oh, and I think I had to sell a kidney to afford the guacamole, but it was worth it!

We also found a cool little market by the Wimbleton library, and Anna bought some jam (that's my jam,) and some handmade cards. Here's a semi-interesting picture of the library exterior!

Brick books!

Anyway, things continue to be pretty great here. We (eventually) managed to Skype with my mom and brother on Saturday, and Anna's mum on Sunday, so that was nice... To honor Mother's Day, we even had a double rainbow!

Leprechauns must live on The Ashley Center.

Yeah, the weather here changes. A lot. Still, this results in many amazing rainbows appearing directly out of our living room windows, which is awesome.

Tomorrow we get to celebrate Combat Stress' 95th anniversary by having a pig roast and casual Friday at the office. Yeah, I have no idea what to expect, but I bet it will be interesting, no matter what!

Anna has an interview with the Ramblers tomorrow, so wish her luck! She founded the Ramblers Group at her college, and as we all know she kicks large amounts of butt, so really they'd be crazy not to offer her a position! :-)

Updates to follow!

Time keeps on slipplin, slippin...

Whoa, it's been nearly a month since our last post? Sorry about that folks, we hate do disappoint our faithful readers (all three of you.)

A lot has been happening. I'm driving now, and at this point, I'm pretty comfortable with it all. Car parks still confuse me for some reason, but I think I've done ok. Here's our new (to us) car, named Jeff, at my brother's request.

I don't know what happened to the bottom of this picture. I blame Anna's phone.

Our Honda Jazz has taken us on many adventures now, we've driven to Box Hill, Penshurst Place, Bromley, and Esher... all without killing ourselves or anyone else on the road!

Speaking of Box Hill, here's some pictures from our hike. The views were pretty fantastic.

 

 



Penshurst place was also amazing, though we didn't really take any pictures. We met up with the Longhursts though for an excellent picnic after touring the grounds and garden, so if they send some pictures our way we'll be sure to post them.

 

Lets see, what else have we missed... we went to see a ridiculously amazing play called The Drowned Man near Paddington Station in London a couple weeks ago. It wasn't a play in the traditional sense though. The production is spread out over a number of floors of an old postal sorting facility, and you're free to wander and follow particular cast members throughout the performance. Audience members wear a mast to distinguish audience from cast, though it has the added benefit of making you feel very anonymous. The lighting, sound, and acting were all phenomenal, and I managed to have a one-on-one experience with one of the cast members. This was the result:

 

I got a bit of red on me.

Other than all of that, things continue to go well for us here. I'm really loving my job (despite us having to fire someone for literally drinking whiskey at his desk,) and Anna's job search continues to progress with more and more interesting opportunities (I'll let her touch on that.) We've continued to discover local pubs, the most recent being The Cricketers, where we met up with one of my coworkers and his girlfriend on Friday night. The night ended with a cab ride home at 2am, and a promise of Bushmills delivered directly from Belfast. All in all, a great night.

 

I suppose that's enough for now... we'll try to be a bit more regular in our updates, promise!





Office pools are weird here.

Hmm, I tried to post this last week... Oh well, better late than never!

Just a short one, because it's really Anna's turn to write... On Friday I joined my first English office pool. I paid my pound and drew a horse out of a hat for The Grand National.

I had no idea what the Grand National was, but it's actually a pretty crazy horse race with like 40 riders, covering 5 miles with something like 30 jumps. It was crazy to watch, about half of the jockeys get thrown from their horses (including mine, on like the 4th jump.) So yeah, I didn't win, but it was interesting to say the least.

Other than that, work continues to go well... I think I'm getting a good grasp on things now, and my staff will double in size (to 2) starting tomorrow. I'm really loving this new job so far, and I hope it continues.

Oh, and we bought a car this weekend! Can't pick it up until Thursday, but it's a Honda Jazz (or a Fit in the US.) I managed the test drive without harming persons or property, so I think I'm ready for my first expedition to the office on Friday. I did make the sales guy nervous at one point for being too close to the curb, but it's good to keep car salesmen on their toes, right? I'm sure I'll get the hang of it... Though I do plan on taking the "quiet route" to the office as directed by Sandie, at least until I get comfortable. It takes a bit longer, but just seems easier in general.

Full week ahead... New employee tomorrow, new car on Thursday, and Friday I get interviewed to obtain a national insurance number! Exciting!

That's my best thing

"A dog is the most enthusiastic thing on the planet, if you go - do you wanna do this? It goes - definitely, that's my best thing." - Derek

That quote is from the latest TV show I have binge-watched, Derek. It's another Ricky Gervais show which makes 4 of his I truly love- Extras, Life's Too Short, An Idiot Abroad, and now Derek. Derek, however, isn't just silly comedy- It's set in a senior living home (tug at my heart strings) and combines silly comedy with the importance of caring for and respecting the aged. The quote is from an episode where they bring shelter animals to the senior-living home- needless to say I cried like a baby.
 
It has been a while since I've blogged, mostly due to being busy- but in part due to being sick for a couple of days. I'm feeling great now, but my poor husband is down and out and spending the day in bed. As Mum says, we've got to get used to these British bugs. 

To pick up from Sean's last post, Chadwick is here! The poor thing made the journey well, as far as we could tell. He smelled a bit funny for a few days, but now has his usual kitters scent and is up to his old antics. He does miss his nighttime playmate, Uncle Nigel, and reminds us of this frequently in the form of loud meows at 2am. 

British Cat Beds aren't so bad...

It's been rather sunny here. Really! Even today, I went out without a jacket or umbrella!  It was remarkable! Perhaps Sean and I have reversed some old British rain curse by moving here. I challenge you to come up with a better (or more scientific) explanation.

Honest to goodness British sunlight

We've settled into a nice routine at present, Sean heads to work in the morning, I work on job applications and gather meal supplies and make daily trips to the bank to transfer money from our US account, Sean returns home, we talk about the day, and lastly (if we've both behaved ourselves) we sometimes head to The Assembly Rooms for a refreshment. (Don't worry, Dad- sometimes I do order half pints!)

Our local

 Perhaps my favourite news of late is our newly acquired memberships! Sean and I are now proud members of The National Trust and I have also joined the Ramblers! We really look forward to exploring Britain's sites and pathways. I even purchased proper shoes for my rambles (and Mum- I did get ones that come up to my ankles!)

The beginnings of many adventures

As Sean had a very long drive home from work on Friday, we opted to take the train into London yesterday morning for a walk along the Thames. Here were some of our views:

A familiar view

In front of The Garden Museum

The Imperial War Museum

Well, another week is upon us. Hopefully this one won't require a second trip to the Job Centre regarding our National Insurance Numbers- although the trip did give us the chance to see Mum's old stomping grounds of Tooting! We did purchase a car last week and this will be Sean's first full week of driving. He is becoming a roundabout master and can tell you the difference between puffin, zebra, and pelican crosswalks. (I didn't make that up.)

Jeff, Our Honda Jazz

Who wants a hairc- wait, what?

We've passed this place a few times now, and finally took a picture this evening. I don't even know.

Needless to say, this will not be my barber of choice.

Anyway, long before our journey past the above establishment, I had my first day of work! Things went very well, especially because my work day started with a mandatory cup of tea:

Anyway, it was a fantastic first day. Everyone has been incredibly welcoming, and I was able to begin to get a grasp on the types of projects I'll be handling. I'm really excited, because while the IT infrastructure is relatively solid, there is still a lot of room for improvement. Oh, and I got this swanky badge too!

Well, our little pain in the ass Chadwick will be boarding his plane in a few more hours. We're a little nervous about his flight, but we look forward to reuniting with him tomorrow. Wish him luck in his travels!