In the Trees!

This past weekend was really fun! Matt and I went to Farnahm to spend the weekend with his cousin James, his girlfriend Rachel as well as his cousin Chris, his girlfriend Jo and a couple of James's friends. The reason for the trip up to Farnham was for James's birthday and to celebrate we went to one of the local outdoor activity centers and did this (http://www.goape.co.uk/). They have them all over the country and each one is different. So we spent the majority of the morning climbing through trees on high ropes courses and zip lines that were pretty high up. It was a lot of fun and I'd like to go to the one near Southampton in the New Forest. Saturday night was out for James's Birthday Dinner at a really nice and pretty authentic Italian restaurant. I've found that the Italian restaurants are very different than the American ones and what I'm used to. The sauces are sweeter, the meets are different and the fillings that go with the pastas are all very (what i would guess) authentic Italian. They even have Penne Arrabiata which I always thought was something Eddie Izzard made up for his Darth Vader joke, but it does actually exist haha!

Today we all slept in which was really nice and after getting over my little bit of a headache (too much wine me thinks!) we headed back to Southampton where Matt and I went to the Home Goods store that we have right next to our house to buy yet more stuff for our room. When my shoes arrived on Thursday they sat in their box because I had no where to put them, tragic! So today we bought a shelf unit to put all of my shoes and Matt's shoes on along with some other bits that we needed. Still can't wait to get our own place and fill the kitchen with everything we need!!

Random: I'm listening to BBC1 Radio and Kings of Leo's "Sex on Fire" is playing and I really enjoy the song :)

Update on my boxes! 2 have arrived and 2 should be on their way tomorrow. I didn't have to end up paying for anything because I filled out the forms and they realized that everything I was shipping was personal belongings. The other two boxes which i filled out the customs forms for on Wednesday were still floating around the airport on Friday. So I called and informed them of the problem and they said the other 2 boxes should be here tomorrow and I shouldn't have problems with paying or anything cause they have been cleared through customs.

Other than that things are good. I'll start looking for jobs this week and applying for them as well. Starting work over here is going to be really interesting.

:)

I stole this from Jackie!! Katology

*FOODOLOGY*

What is your salad dressing of choice?
Italian or Caesar from Panera!

What is your favorite sit-down restaurant?
Bella Itallia in Southampton City Center (Have yet to find another fave)

What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick of?
Pasta!!

What are your pizza toppings of choice?
Pepperoni and Italian Sausage

What do you like to put on your toast?
Strawberry jam


*TECHNOLOGY*

What is your wallpaper on your computer?
A picture of Greyback (one of the cats emi and I had in Cali)

How many televisions are in your house?
No idea... there are 6 bedrooms but not everyone has a TV in their room.

What color cell phone do you have?
Black... and it slides. I love it!


*BIOLOGY*

Are you right-handed or left-handed?
Right.

Have you ever had anything removed from your body?
Teeth

What is the last heavy item you lifted?
Boxes of my stuff that arrived yesterday

Have you ever been knocked unconscious?
Yep. Jumped when coming down a set of stairs at my Mom's old house and hit my head on the landing of the stairs... knocked me out for a minute or so and hurt really bad!!


*BULLCRAPOLOGY*

If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die?
No I'm good on not knowing

If you could change your name, what would you change it to?
Something a little less common

Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1,000?
Blah.. no thanks


*DUMBOLOGY*

How many pairs of flip flops do you own?
2, one black and one brown

Last time you had a run-in with the cops?
ummmmm. NEVER!

What do you want to be when you grow up?
Awesome! and an Account Executive for a major Advertising Firm

Last person you talked to?
The lady at the Post Office

Last person you hugged?
Matt, before he left for work this morning


FAVORITOLOGY*

Season?
Autumn

Holiday?
Christmas & New Years

Day of the week?
Saturday

Month?
September & December

*CURRENTOLOGY*

Missing someone?
All my friends from back home!!

Mood?
content

Listening to?
the TV

Watching?
"Should I Worry About..." hosted by Richard Hammond from Top Gear

Worrying about?
When my other boxes will arrive


*RANDOMOLOGY*

First place you went this morning?
Shirley High Street to go to the bank

What can you not wait to do?
The "Going Ape" high ropes and zip line Tomorrow with Matt's cousins!

What's the last movie you saw?
"Burn After Reading" an hour and a half of my life I won't get back!

Do you smile often?
yeah most of the time

I've been sitting at home today waiting for my boxes from the US to come via UPS. Around noon Matt calls me and says that the UPS office had contacted him asking that I fill out customs forms for my shipment. They email me the forms and I send them back. At this point I check the shipment of my boxes to see where they are. Two are at the Airport and 2 are in Southampton on route to being delivered... odd. At 3:00 the UPS man arrives with 2 of my boxes YEAH!!! Or so I thought! He tells me that he needs 125 pound (or $350) right then and there in order for him to physically give me my boxes. Having only a small amount of cash and no check on me he gives me the invoices and I call the office to sort it all out. He leaves with my boxes and says that he will be back tomorrow with my boxes after I sort everything else out with the UPS customs office.

The charges are for IMPORT TAX and DUTIES to be paid!!! ON MY OWN PERSONAL BELONGINGS!!!!! Something I shouldn't be paying for because non of what I sent is for resale. So now I'm wanting to know a)why I'm being charged and b) why two of my boxes were cleared without charges and why 2 were sent to my house with charges. I make the call and after speaking to about 5 different people who were Irish, English, and Italian I got someone who knew what to do. I explained to him that everything shipped were personal items and each box should have been treated the same and if someone would have told me I needed to fill out the form before I shipped them I would have.I understand paying for imports on items you wish to sell but shouldn't be charged for shipping photo albums and shoes which I'm keeping. So long story short I filled out all the forms for all of my boxes and they should come back tomorrow (hopefully).

I'm Here

Well, I'm here and so far so good!

I got in Friday afternoon about 12:30 and was greeted by Matt at the airport. From there we headed home where I unpacked ALL of my stuff in an hour and a half!! Thankfully Matt is awesome and cleared out some of his drawers and closet space for me :). Once unpacked we headed out to the City Center for dinner at an Italian restaurant which was good but not as good as the one that we went to before that was just on the other side of the city.

Saturday was spent grocery shopping and shopping for house stuff, how adult of us! Grocery shopping was interesting. Everyone must have been there and not only was it full of people shopping, it was also full of the store clerks restocking the shelves. So everyone is going every-which-way and there's me in the middle not knowing where anything is and what I'm exactly looking for... fun times! "House stuff" shopping was more fun. We just bought random things we needed but it was fun to look at everything else that we might by when we get out own place! Really excited for that. I always enjoy picking out furniture and things to decorate a room with, but now I have someone else to do that with which makes it even better.

Sunday, Matt and I went to one of the local pubs for drinks with Matt's cousin Abby and her boyfriend and some of their friends. It was Quiz Night, meaning that we all pay a pound and get to participate in a quiz with other teams at the pub. I've heard of them but never done one, so it was fun to actually participate in something that is very unique to English Culture.

Monday and today I've been finding my way around town since Matt is back to work. Yesterday I ventured on foot to the local High Street (shops and what not) where I set up my bank account and had a general look around. Then today I took the bus to the City Center (where we went for dinner the first night), went to the mall, people watched, bought a scarf thing... and then came home. Oh, also went to the job center and got some info about getting a job!

So things are going well and Matt and I are cooking dinner, well Matt is. I was helping but felt in the way and annoyed buy the lack of cooking supplies!! I miss my kitchen back home!! Between Emily, Jackie and I we had everything you could need to make anything you wanted. It will make getting all that stuff for our own place that much better!

4 days till take off!

With four days to go I've been saying my goodbyes to everyone and finishing up a what is left to do. I had my last day at work on friday and it was pretty much a regular work day, but when I left at the end of the day I made my rounds, said goodbye and turned in my keys. My bosses took me out for lunch and drinks (drinks after work!) which was pretty much a really good way to wrap things up with them. Both of them are two of the best bosses that you could ask for and I really enjoyed working with them and everyone else. Leaving work was bitter sweet and I think everything is going to be that way. It is sad that I'm leaving a place and people who I have grown to love but I don' really feel like I'm saying goodbye to everyone FOREVER... just until I come to visit again! And I'm so excited and happy for the new path I'm taking in life and to share it with everyone.

After leaving work on Friday I headed out for my "Going Away Party" with people from work and friends. Even though it was a party for saying goodbye to people I had such a great time! Everyone was chatting to one another and I made my rounds getting the chance to talk to everyone and say my goodbyes. We started at Heroes in Fullerton (the place where I met Matt and my favorite place for a casual night out) followed by Durty Nelly's (Irish Pub in Costa Mesa with Karaoke). It was an awesome night out and a really good way for me to see everyone as a group before I set off on Thursday.

Speaking of, I've started packing and think I have all my stuff packed. NOT looking forward to shipping all that stuff but it has to be done. The suitcases shouldn't be too much of a hassle (hopefully).

Well 4 more days to go!

a quick one

BIG SIGH!!!!!

I haven't updated in a while cause things have been major busy!! Work is busy because we have a big event on Saturday and Life is busy because.... well I'm moving 5,000 miles. My passport still isn't here so now I have a back up plan and have applied for a UK work visa just in case.

This is a really short update cause i've just been doing busy STUFF.

2 and a half weeks to go!