November is flying by!

Usually, I’d be decorated for Christmas by now and Christmas music would’ve been playing for weeks.  This year, however, when I walk in a store and see Christmas decorations, I am actually shocked.  Surely we’re still months away from Christmas, right?  How is Thanksgiving next Thursday?

Today when I realized how time seems to be slipping away, I decided to do something: I made a batch of soup to freeze for when Baby arrives in the coming weeks.  This is the first time ever I have made something with the intention of freezing it for later.  I am feeling incredibly grown up right about now and on my way to feeling incredibly prepared.  Just the simple act of making this turkey/vegetable/cheese soup was theraputic for me.  I felt like I had purpose as I stood at the cutting board chopping up carrots and onions and celery and potatoes. 

Because November has practically come and gone and CK and I didn’t do our big fakesgiving that we hoped to, and we didn’t paint the living room a pale purple like we planned to before we decorated for Christmas (not to mention, we haven’t even decorated for Christmas), and I haven’t spent weeks getting Christmas presents together and making a Christmas compilation to give to family again this year, I feel like I’ve missed out on the fun anticipation that November usually holds for me.

But, dumping those vegetables in the pot and spooning out portions into our new freezer storage containers felt almost as good as trimming the Christmas tree and setting up a nativity set.  In making this pot of soup, I was participating in a bit of anticipation – not the kind of anticipation that I usually experience in November, the kind leading up to the wonderful holidays of Thanksgivng and Christmas, but a different kind of anticipation.  In making this pot of soup, I was participating in a bit of preparation – again, not the kind of preparation that I usually experience in November, the kind leading up to a wonderful Thanksgiving meal or fabulous family Christmas, but a different kind of preparation. 

I have been, of course, anticipating and preparing for the birth of our son for a while now – precisely since March 23 when we found out he was on his way!  Today just felt a bit more real to me – like he is coming.  And even though I love Thanksgiving and I have been a bit sad about missing it this year (we don’t have an oven, have I complained about this before?  It’s true.  I can’t make a pumpkin pie and we can’t cook a turkey), making this soup today made me focus on how we’re getting something much better than an oven!  And even though I love Christmas and I just haven’t been on the ball with music and decorations and presents and cards, making this soup today made me focus on how we may not be decorated for Christmas (yet), but we’ve decorated a bit of space we’ve managed to carve our for Baby.

So, after the soup cooled a bit and I was able to split it among our new storage containers, I was feeling pretty good and hopeful about things.  Next Thursday, CK won’t be able to take off work since his class is from 4-6 pm, but we’ll enjoy green bean casserole and mashed potatoes - our little version of Thanksgiving this year.  We’ll count our blessings and stay away from counting our disappointments.  And then we’ll begin to decorate for Christmas and worry about painting the walls purple after the new year.

 

Because I Don’t Want To Miss A Day

It’s well after 10 pm here and both CK and I are beat!  I should be in bed, but I didn’t want the day to slip by without posting a blog – no matter how meaningless – because I wanted to post every day in November.

We did something today that I NEVER would’ve guessed we’d EVER do!  We went on a private walking tour of Harry Potter movie locations in London.  A friend of mine and her ten year old son came to London for the weekend, booked the tour, and invited us along for the ride (or, walk).  I have only seen two of the movies and I saw them both only once and I’m pretty sure I fell asleep half way through one of them.  I don’t really know anything about Harry Potter and never heard the word muggle before today.  So, I am probably not the type of person who usually would be on one of these tours – but, surprisingly enough, I rather enjoyed it and am now thinking about watching all the movies..maybe!

The circumstances of today’s tour were definitely less than ideal – remember, I am 38 weeks pregnant and that’s nine months, you guys!  And this was a WALKING tour – all throughout London – and it lasted 3 hours and 15 minutes!  Can you even believe I’m still alive?  As the tour went on, my waddle became more pronounced and I’m not sure my feet have ever hurt so bad!  But, I made it, and feel like I’ve earned some bragging rights (just like I feel like I earned bragging rights over painting my toenails a couple days ago).  Also, it rained.  It rained for the entire tour.  And, it got progressively colder as the tour went on.  And still, I survived!

It was great to see my friend AND we have some Laduree macarons to look forward to for a tea party tomorrow.

Oh, and this morning on the way to the bus stop, CK and I saw my doctor jogging in the park near our house.  AND SHE SAW US!!  She smiled and waved and it pretty much made my day!!

 

Five on Friday

I saw someone else do this kind of post on her blog and so I thought it’d be a quick way just for me to post something.

1. CK left for work today and I got busy taping the walls and painting them yellow!  I managed to get both coats done all by myself – something I’m quite proud of.  While I was in the closet painting, I kept imagining how Baby would soon fill the empty space.  It was exciting.  So, curtains need to be ironed and hung in the door way and Baby’s things need to be arranged, but everything’s mostly done!  Pictures will follow.

2. I just found out that pumpkin spice Hershy kisses exisit.  They make me miss the US more than usual.

3. I’m on a decorating kick.  I don’t believe it has anything to do, really, with being pregnant and all that jazz about nesting.  I just think that this is the first time in 31 years where I’m able to choose paint colors for rooms and decorate!  And, it’s fun.  Plus, for practically the whole time we’ve been in the UK, we were in “temporary mode” – we knew we were here for just two years and neither of the two previous apartments gave us the freedom to paint walls and replace furtniture.  But now that we’re living in church friends’ garage apartment and we know we can stay here for the next two years, we both feel the need to make this place our home.  Now that the bedroom is just about set, my attention has been turned toward the living room.  We ordered a rocker/glider that we got in early August that I’m not too fond of – the hazards of buying online – and just this week we got a delivery of a fabulous arm chair/recliner that I’ve taken over as mine (even though it was supposed to be CK’s).  Now my mind is consumed with decorative pillows and paint colors (I’ve decided on purple, believe it or not, and my sweet husband just goes along!).

4. You won’t believe how long it took to make a quick and easy Betty Crocker cake mix today.  I wanted to have a little something for CK and a cake popped into my mind.  Given our lack of a proper kitchen, I didn’t want to make anything from scratch and so I bought my first boxed cake mix in…well, as long as I can remember.  The cooking instructions were for 2 round cake tins at 22-25 minutes.  Well, our ridiculous excuse for an oven can only fit one cake tin at a time, and would you like to know how long it took to cook up both layers of that silly cake?  THREE HOURS.  Yes, an hour and a half PER cake.  I felt the need to complain…and, just like those pumpkin spice Hershy kisses, today’s baking experience has made me a little more homesick than usual.

5. And, for nummber 5, how fitting: Always remember the fifith of November!  It’s raining right now and I couldn’t be happier because it means the neighborhood fireworks in honor of bonfire night/Guy Fawkes Day are being thwrated!  I do not like fireworks.  This is one reason why I’ve never like the 4th of July.  I’ll take the watermelon and leave all the rest of it!

 

Time Out

One of the things I was most looking forward to about starting maternity leave was being able to join Time Out, a Thursday morning gathering of the women of my church.  I bravely called the woman in charge on the first Monday of my maternity leave and announced my intention of beginning that very week.  And then I had a few days where I wasn’t so sure – maybe I’d just prefer to stay at home, what if I was placed in a small group of women I didn’t connect with?  But my sweet CK urged me to just go and have fun and so I did. 

I was super nervous about the group that I would be placed in.  You see, our church is pretty big – not US mega church big, but definitely big for the UK.  There aren’t any Sunday school classes, but there are home groups (or small groups or cell groups – whatever you want to call them).  CK and I began attending church the first week of November and it wasn’t until the middle of January that we worked up the courage to approach someone to ask if we could get in a home group.  A few weeks later and we were on our way to our first home group and it didn’t take us long to discover that it just wasn’t quite the right fit for us.  We liked all the people in our group, that wasn’t the problem.  Things just seemed…a bit disorganized, and I crave structure.  Our group also happened to be the only one of its kind in our church, one without an actual leader.  And, I crave shepherding and a figure head.  Also, our group was always wrapping things up way past 10 pm, which would put us getting home close to 10:30.  On a school/work night?!  One last thing: though we really did (and do) like everyone in our group, no one is in a similar age bracket or in a similar life circumstane.  Initially we thought it was kind of fun to the young ones, but it got old kind of quick.  So, slowly, we kind of fizzled out of our home group – though we still show up for social things and have still kept some connections going.  We even tried speaking to someone about our disappointments and asking to be placed in a group that fit our needs more.  This was last September, as in 2009.  The person said, “Right, I think I understand exactly what you are looking for.  I’ll have a think and get back to you.”  Well, he never got back to us and we just let it go.

So, that’s where I was when I went to Time Out for the first time – more than just a little nervous that the group I’d be placed in would be less than ideal.  However, oh my!  Of the 8 small groups that comprise Time Out, I was placed in just the right one – the absolute perfect one.  One with women who are definitely in their thirties, too!  One with two other pregnant women!  One with three moms with babies under 9 months old!  One with a woman I’ve already met and really liked!  However, I tried to hold back my immediate excitement for being placed in THE very perfect group – because just because we were in similar life situations didn’t mean that I was going to click with them and that I was going to find the friends that I’ve so desperately craved…since college!

If I’m honest, I don’t think I’ve really made any true friends since my four years in college.  Now, I have made a friend here and there – and the internet has helped, believe it or not.  But, I haven’t found a community of friends quite like I experienced in college.  I wanted to find that when I taught at the high school.  I wanted to find that when I worked at the library.  I wanted to find that when we found a church we loved.  But it never quite happened.  Making friends is just plain hard.  At least it is for me.  I didn’t think it’d be so hard in church though – but, two years of attending the same church has taught me that it kind of is.

Today I went to my second meeting of Time Out (last week was half term here, so there was no meeting) and the first part – the mingling and tea drinking and cake eating part – was a bit awkward.  I kept scanning the crowd for a familiar face, one that I met the last time in my specific group.  I stood there with my cup of tea (with no sugar because sometimes I’m embarrassed to ask for sugar) and my mini chooclate cupcake and I tried making eye contact with others, but everyone was paired up with someone and deep in conversation – the kind of conversation that stems from knowing each other already.  I was aching for the opening prayer to begin so that I could go find a chair in my specific group’s circle and just sit quietly.  And then it happened, I saw three women from my group – and they saw me.  We smiled at each other and I began walking over to them.  One woman said, “My goodness, you’re blooming!  You’ve grown in the last two weeks!”  This might not be something every pregnant woman loves to hear, but I sure do!  I want to be big!  Another said, “How long to go now, 3 weeks?”  She remembered.  Suddenly, the awkward feelings just kind of melted away as the third woman asked if I had packed my hospital bag yet (I have not!). 

I felt welcomed.  I felt part of something.  I don’t know where this Time Out is going to lead, I’m not sure if these women will become my best friends.  But, I’m looking forward to next week.  And the next.  And the next.  This past weekend we took a leap: we ordered a car seat.  Our plan all along was to simply borrow a car seat from a colleague who had a baby a few months ago and that’d be our ticket out of the hospital.  However, someone has offered to take me (and Baby) to and from Time Out every week, so we thought it’d be a good idea to have our own car seat.  This leap we took, a committment of sorts, is kind of exciting.  I may have found the community of friendship I’ve been longing for since college.

 

A Trip to Beale Park

Quite spontaneously, CK and I found ourselves headed to Beale Park on Saturday.  It was something we discovered when we first moved to Reading, but being that we were new and didn’t know anything about traveling locally and that we moved here just before the park closed for the winter, we never made it.  So, since pay day was this past week and our bank account was refreshed, we found ourselves itching to do something on Friday night.  And so, we decided to try to make it Beale Park.

After a disappointing breakfast at the Burger King in the train station (breakfast sandwiches in the UK do not come on nice, soft, flaky biscuits), a 7 minute train ride to near-by Pangbourne, and “mile” walk (the website advertised a mile walk from the station, but I swear it was at least twice that!), we arrived around 11:00 am.  The weather was absolutely fantastic (and seeing as though it rained for the better part of today, we were thrilled we went yesterday) and we knew immediately that it was going to be a superb “day out” because as we rounded the corner to make our way to the entrance, we saw these guys:

I was expecting Beale Park to be a bit bigger from the digging that I did on their website, but I was kind of pleasantly surprised to see how small an operation it is.  It is manageable in a day – when you look at the park’s map, you don’t feel overwhelmed, and everything seems like it’s on a smaller, friendlier scale than your average zoo.  We first walked through their water garden and saw beautiful willows

and came *this* close to a peacock!

I got a bit teary eyed after I took this picture because, silly as it may sound, whenever I see peafowl, I feel connected to Flannery O’Connor (had this baby turned out to be a girl, I would’ve had to fight hard against the urge to name her either Flannery or Elphaba).  Anyway, it seemed that the peafowl and various other water fowl were the lucky ones of the park as they had the right to roam.

We saw a cute little kid call, “Here, goaty, goaty, goaty,” to a tiny pygmy goat

and we marveled at a sweet deer’s eyelashes as CK scratched her head.

We took a tiny little train around goat mountain and saw wallabies and sheep (and plenty of goats, too).

We enjoyed a very nice, relaxing hour in the Peacock Restaurant where we had afternoon tea.  The scones weren’t too dry or crumbly, but were most and sweet – and even though they had run out of plain scones, the sultanas weren’t too numerous to be annoying.  The jam and cream were delicious, and I could have easily gone for another serving!

Right out that window I’m sitting in front of, were beautiful willows that just couldn’t be ignored!  So, of course, we had to take a few photos with the pretty, droopy branches as our background.

(By the way, I’m 28 weeks pregnant in that picture.  It seems like in the last 3 weeks or so I have really begun to show – and I love it.  Just for a little comparison, here I am 10 weeks ago when I was 18 weeks pregnant.  I wanted to be showing so badly then…ha!)

After afternoon tea and picture taking, we headed to the owlery – one of the main reasons we wanted to go to Beale Park.  We were not disappointed with the owls – AND – we got a pretty amazing (and a bit gruesome) show when we witnessed their feeding!

There’s a pipe in every cage and at 4:00 every day, a bunch of dead chicks get dumped in their cages through the pipe.  What ensues after is truly fascinating.

Practically all of Beale Park was being fed dinner between 4 and 5, so we really got a show – not just from the owls, but from the lemurs, coatis, meerkats, a couple of raccoons, and a mongoose.   It was a wonderful way to end our fun (but tiring! lots of walking, guys!) day at Beale Park.

There’s quite a few mores pictures (and tons more of all the different owls) on my flickr – including some pretty awesome videos of the feedings.

 

A bit of a recap…

It’s hard to believe I let two months go by without writing anything on this space — mostly because I was feeling overwhelmed!  I deliberately took a break for the month of December (there were tea parties with Linda and visits to castles and trips to the opera and country rambles through snow) and by the time January rolled around, there was too much: too much to write about, too much to report, too much to think through.  And so, I kept quiet and I struggled my way through the first month of 2010 — thinking through “resolutions” and trying to read something for a “book club.”

So, here we are, in February, and I will ease back into blogging by sharing some highlights from the last two months.

Linda came for two weeks and we wore matching socks and painted our nails the same color and saw Mamma Mia!, went to the opera, visited Windsor, had lots of tea parties with sweet treats and Laduree tea, tracked down the Tailor of Gloucester, and ate many glorious meals together.  Oh, and while she was here, she taught me how to crochet:

Since our time was limited and we spent most of it eating good things or drinking tea, I really was only able to master one basic stitch.  But, it’s good enough for me!  It’s a start!

Shortly after the new year began, this happened:

My brother and sister-in-law had a baby!  He’ll probably be in kindergarten before I get a chance to meet him, but thank goodness for facebook (which is where I stole the photos).  Because we’re talking about a baby, I will share another photo of my new nephew:

I love a bald baby!!

The month of January was a pretty quiet month for us.  It seemed extra quiet since December was so busy and fun with preparing for Linda’s visit and then galavanting around for the two weeks she was here.  It was good to have a month where we laid low and stayed in every weekend except for the weekly trip to the grocery store and Sunday morning church.  This is what we did:

We’ve enjoyed renting movies on iTunes with a Christmas gift card from my brother.  We’ve enjoyed eating up all the American goodies Linda brought over in an extraordinarily heavy suitcase.  We’ve enjoyed each other’s company, cuddled up together in an extraordinarily cold living room.  We’ve enjoyed a few more weeks with Christmas decorations up as we didn’t take them down until January 24!

And, we’ve succeeded in keeping a resolution of sorts in the first month: eating out only twice a month plus special occasions (such as Valentine’s Day, birthdays, anniversary).  There’s been lots of extra attention given to menu planning and I’ve had fun going through my new Christmas cook books.  We ate out 115 times in the year 2009.  Actually, I ate out 115 times — since Matt had three business trips and two visits to the US, he ate out quite a few more times than I did.  BUT STILL!  115 times?  That’s a lot, guys!  That’s roughly 15%!  So, in an effort to be healthier and better stewards of our money, we’re going to try to stick to our resolution.

Tomorrow I might tell you about this book I had to read…

 

I just remembered that I love picnics.

All I wanted for my 13th birthday was a picnic basket.  Linda came through for me and I got a cute, square, wicker picnic basket complete with a set of pastel picnic dishes.  I even got one of those quintessential red and white check picnic blankets (except mine was a tablecloth).  And for that one glorious summer, we picnicked.  We picnicked on the beach with fried chicken and potato salad.  We picnicked in Grant and brought along homemade ice cream packed in a cooler.  Then, the picnicking seemed to stop.   For the next many years, my picnic basket lived in the “back room” and then the outside storage room.  Then it moved out and lived in the storage closet in my apartment before finally ending up in Uncle Bob’s storage.  (However, though it mostly lived in out of the way and out of sight, it was used on a few very special picnics over the years, this one being the most special.)

Anyway, Clark Kent suggested we take advantage of the last few days of summer (just look at those changing leaves!  I wish they’d stay green until October 1) and head into town to picnic in Forbury Park this past Saturday.  We didn’t have a picnic basket, but we loaded up the backpack with all sorts of goodies (our favorites: fresh jam doughnuts and baguettes from the bakery and brie) and walked into town.  The sky was blue, the sun was out, the park was full, and it was an all round perfect day for a picnic.  We had such a good time, in fact, that we decided to go on another picnic on Monday (we both took the day off!).  We loaded up the backpack again (with all the leftover goodies from Saturday’s picnic) and this time walked into campus and picnicked by the lake.  The sky wasn’t as blue  and the sun wasn’t as bright, but the picnic was every bit as enjoyable.

And so, as long as the weather will allow us to, we’ll be going on a few more picnics.  There’s just something so lovely about the intention of it all – choosing special picnic foods and choosing a special picnic spot and spreading out a special picnic sheet.

 

SO MUCH GOODNESS!

 

Oh, these last nineteen days have been the most exciting and happiest since the nineteenth of July!  Allow me to recap:

June 14th

• Clark Kent cooked me a delicious breakfast and did a great job (as he does on just any old day, too) of making me feel loved and special and the luckiest girl in the world.
• I got to dress up and wear new sandals with brightly painted toes!
• We went to church where it was communion Sunday – always a favorite. 
• A McDonald’s lunch always hits the spot, especially on one’s 30th birthday. 
• CK did a fantastic job with my birthday cake request: a true pound cake with fresh strawberries and vanilla ice cream!
  
• A walk around the lake was an enjoyable way to spend the afternoon!  Lots of pretty scenery, water fowl, AND AND AND, I found a pound coin!
• A dinner out on the town at Giraffe wrapped up a lovely day.

June 15th

• MOVING DAY!  Our friends arrived to help us move at noon and we were COMPLETELY finished and in our new flat ready to unpack boxes by 1:00 pm!  Now, I know we didn’t have tons of stuff, but we certainly had a fair amount AND we moved into a third floor apartment.  So, the fact that we were completely finished in one hour speaks volumes about the good friends we have!
• Our new flat has been completely awesome!  We love just about everything about it AND the lack of counter space really hasn’t bothered me too much.
• My favorite silly things about living here are definitely the buzzer (which has only been used once by someone other than CK – and that was by the Papa John’s delivery man) and the LETTER slot in our red front door.alisab

June 20th

 

• Our joint birthday celebration in London began at Laduree.  Since you only turn 30 once, I got to order TWO tasty treats: my usual rose and raspberry St. Honore AND AND AND ice cream macarons – four macarons with ice cream filling instead of the buttercreamesque filling that is usually between the cookies WITH a scoop of rose ice cream.  Everything was fantastic AND we got 6 macarons to go so we had a lovely tea party the following day on our new couch. 
• I got to surprise CK with a trip to the London Zoo.  The zoo turned out to be absolutely delightful in every way!  We both had such a good time.  Definitely click the June 20th link if you’d like to see adorable videos of otters and meerkats!
• We had a wonderful dinner at ASK Italian and a stroll through a few second hand bookstores before a surprise dessert stop at Cinnabon!  

 

 

we loved that we had to wear sweaters at the zoo in the middle of June!

June 28th

 

• Shortly after arriving in the UK, I found a coach touring company called GoGoldline!  I thought it was a fantastic way to get out and about and kept it in the back of my mind.  Since this is the summer of birthday and anniversary celebrations, I thought it might be time to test them out so CK and I looked through their summer brochure and decided to book their trip to Hever Castle, the former home of Anne Boleyn – second wife of Henry VIII and the first of two to be beheaded.
• We were the youngest on the trip – which was fun!  We listened to the The Lion King broadway soundtrack on the way Hever Castle and the Wicked soundtrack on the way home!  Oh, how I love my iPod!
• We LOVED LOVED LOVED the gardens and grounds around Hever Castle (do check out the June 28th link to see the pictures from the day).

 

June 30th

 

• Matt got to turn THIRTY on the THIRTIETH!  So much fun!  The day began with a chocolate birthday cake breakfast.  He paid me the biggest compliment by comparing his cake to PF Chang’s Great Wall of Chocolate Cake.
• Thanks to his dear friends and family, he got 30 birthday cards on his 30th birthday!
• We went book shopping in town and each of us found the first of our THIRTY books that we’re planning to read in our thirtieth year.
• Lunch was positively out of this world!  We went to a newly opened Latin Restaurant, Las Iguanas.
• Transformers 2 got crossed off CK’s “MUST SEE” movie list.
• We ordered pizza for the first time in nearly 10 months.  And, it was from Papa John’s!  

 

 

July 2nd

 

• We saw our first show together in London – or ever, for that matter.  When we were in London on June 20th, I saw a poster advertising Peter Pan playing in Kensington Gardens.  I investigated it and we decided there was no way we could pass this opportunity up (it’s a bit of history, really – it’s the first time in 100 years that a production has been staged in Kensington Gardens, the place where it all began).  The show was fantastic!!
• We had an absolutely delicious lunch AND dinner out!

 

 

In the snack area of the theatre, there is a board displayed where children can write a message or a Magical Moment from the play.

 

 

 

 

30 things to do the weekend I turn 30

1. paint my toenails

2. do a million loads of laundry

3. return the Henry VIII books to the library

4. make a list of 30 things to do while I’m 30

5. make sure all the pound cake ingredients are good to go

6. change our address with the bank and Compassion

7. balance the checkbook

8. walk around Whiteknights Lake and check up on the baby water fowl

9. go to CK’s office to print up the buy one/get one voucher for Giraffe 

10. send off our contract with Virgin Media

11. buy strawberries (to go on top of the pound cake)

12. pack the kitchen

13. clean the bathroom

14. charge the double As

15. charge the cell phone

16. walk through Harris Garden 

17. take pictures of the campus trees and try to tell Clark Kent what I learned about them at work today

18. go to church 

19. shave my legs (too much information, I know) because I’m going to wear a dress!

20. lunch at McDonald’s!

21. watch 24 and laugh at CK’s impersonation of Tony Almeida (it’s so good, you guys!)

22. wear my new sandals (as long as the rain stays away this weekend)

23. pack the big green suitcase

24. pay our Paris balance (only 54 more days!)

25. do our Marriage Course homework

26. watch Clark Kent bake my birthday pound cake

27. vacuum

28. take the garbage out – and drop the black pants and sweater vest in the Oxfam Clothes Bin

29. eat pound cake and strawberries and homemade whipped cream and vanilla ice cream

30. eat more pound cake

 

The list seemed like a good idea, but by number ten, I was pretty much done.  It’s almost time for me to turn 30 and for us to move.  I can’t wait!

 

London’s calling

For the past hour and a half, I have been searching the internet with the private browsing feature on (something that Clark Kent didn’t even know existed – and he wonders how I’m so much more sneaky than he is?) as I continue to do research and plan for our upcoming joint 30th birthday celebration in London!  I just about have the itinerary down – right down to the times.  I am THRILLED that two places are open past 7 pm.  That just about NEVER happens here.  If something stays open until 7 pm, we count ourselves lucky!  (There’s this line in Bill Bryson’s Notes from a Small Island  that comes to mind about how after twenty years of living in the UK, he thought it was time to move back to the US for two reasons: to offer his children the experience of growing up in the US and so that his wife could shop after 7 pm if she wanted to.)

 

I had a confrontation with a bunch of idiotic college kids near the residence hall where we all live.  This is kind of what happened:

Me, as I’m staring down the idiotic college students who are walking away from their broken bottles of alcohol that are in the middle of the sidewalk: You’re just going to leave the broken glass there?  You can’t pick up after yourselves? 

(they had grocery bags in their hands)

The guys stopped walking, guiltily looked at me (as I stopped dead in my tracks), and I could tell they were *this* close to bending down and picking up the glass when a really trashy girl (because SO many of the girls here are trashy with their ridiculous foot wide elastic belts situated right underneath their boobs in an effort to give shape to their already too tight SHIRT they are trying to pass off as a dress over tights or leggings stuffed into their most ridiculous furry boots) retorted: No, but you can!

Then the crowd busted into hysterical fits of laughter and they all turned and walked away.

 

I CANNOT WAIT TO MOVE!!!  Just one week from today I will most happily bid the loud foreigner who lives above us and passes his entire day and night on his phone (talking unbelievably loudly) AND all of the irritating students who call this place home FAREWELL! 

 

I ALSO CAN’T WAIT TO GO TO LONDON WITH CLARK KENT!