7 Months

Seven months ago, I was sitting in a room in England and I got some of the most unexpected news of my life: my mom had been diagnosed with colon cancer. Friday, December 3 and the next 11 days before I left to fly to Ohio to meet her were some of the most emotionally trying days of my life.

Seven months later, I'm sitting in my room in Lake Forest, in the house that my mom and I rent now. A lot has happened in the last seven months. The house that we lived in for almost 14 years sold. We moved. My dad doesn't live with us anymore. My parents' divorce is almost finalized. Nathan went through a whole semester of school, and is spending his summer in Ohio playing baseball. I've visited Texas and Ohio for a week each. I spent a weekend in San Diego. I made some trips to LA to visit my friend Ashley and see a friends' band play a few gigs. I booked a flight to visit San Francisco for the first time in over a year. Sparky stopped using his back legs, and then started using one again [he's like the comeback kid, really]. I've applied to over 70 jobs via Craigslist. I got three of them [and am GLADLY only working one now]. I watched two girls who are wild and drove me a little crazy, but are so much fun. I worked 3 photo gigs. I registered for two online classes through a community college that started the same week we moved and I started working a second job. I dropped them a week into them, coming to terms with the fact that I didn't need to do EVERYTHING at once. Mom and I went to a Ducks game [and they won!]. I stopped blogging. My mom and Nate both started. I reconnected with home and people from home. I reconnected with ranch dressing [clearly the most important part]. I've started to learn how to navigate through the world of divorcing parents. I realized that I still own way too much stuff. I bought a new car.

But most importantly, my mom went through six months of every other week chemotherapy treatments, sold a house, moved, and is working on finalizing a divorce. She has been so brave, positive, and calm [at least outwardly] throughout all of it. She amazes me all the time with her strength through everything that the universe has thrown at her in the last year and a half. Through my frequent job changes, "Nate being Nate," Sparky's last-minute miracle recovery, and getting a divorce she hasn't lost her mind completely. I probably would have. Several times over.

It hasn't exactly been 100% rainbows and butterflies though, either. The move was a hard transition. Mom lamented that she wasn't completely unpacked a few weeks after we moved. I told her "anyone who comes over and has a problem with the fact that we haven't finished unpacking can just leave and never come back. They don't need to be in our lives." And, what do you know, no one said a word. We're adjusting to small-neighborhood living, where we have an ice cream truck and a dozen or so kids play outside most afternoons. Chemo for colon cancer hasn't been as brutal as we've heard that it can be for breast cancer. Mom didn't lose all her hair [but it thinned out, and looks wonderful!]. She's lost a lot of her appetite, but has handled it well on non-chemo weeks. She's still working, still sees friends, and still gardens. She naps a lot, but family has always been full of excellent nappers. Napping is one of my many inherited traits that I'm very proud of.

My dad has done really well too. He's learning to do things for himself [*ahem* most of the time *ahem*] and is really putting in an effort to still see me...even when I'm not so open to it. Plus, I can be a little scatterbrained, so it helps when someone else tells me to do something! He has his own independent schedule going on and is working really hard and doing really well over all. I know moving isn't his favorite thing to do in the world, but he got it done. Now, to work on sorting through all this STUFF that we all have in storage! Also, if any of you know him, ask him to tell you about the episode of True Blood that he watched. His description is absolutely hilarious.

Nate is doing great too. He's had an awesome summer full of baseball in Ohio in our dad's hometown. A lot of our family still lives there, so he's been staying with them, and from what we can tell they're loving having him. He's played really well, and I'm incredibly proud to be his little-big sister. He'll be home again for a few weeks before his LAST school year starts. He's smart and good and nice, and he has a good head on his shoulders. I'm interested to see what he does after he graduates.

I guess, when it comes down to it, there are a few reasons why I'm writing this now. One is to say how incredibly proud I am of my momma, on the eve of her LAST CHEMO TREATMENT. Another is to record just how much things have changed since that day seven months ago. And finally, I'm writing this to officially finish posting on Amanda Abroad. Hopefully my mom and I will make a trip to Paris and maybe a few other places in the near future, and I'll maybe blog here then. But right now, home is where the heart is, and that's where I'm at.

Where in the world is Amanda Tom?

I'm currently, believe it or not, sitting in my bedroom at my parents' house. This is not somewhere I thought I'd be for a year when I left in August, but 4 and a half short months later, here I sit...And here's why:

The last time I posted, Penny and Kevin were out of town on a week long trip, and so it was me and the girls at home for a week. Like I had said, it was snowing, which was great. I loved it, I've never lived somewhere that it snowed before, only visited, so I thought it was really, really awesome. On Friday the 3rd, I Skyped with my mom and she dropped the biggest news on me that I've heard since she and my dad told me in April that they were getting a divorce...she had a colonoscopy a few days before, and they discovered a mass that looked bad. She had a doctor's appointment, and while she did that, Selena and Kiv were over and we did holiday arts and crafts with the girls and started a super long Star Wars Monopoly game. When I talked to my mom the second time that night, she told me that the doctors told her the mass was malignant...my mom has colon cancer. And I immediately hated that I wasn't close enough to give my mommy a hug right away and be there for her.

I had an emotionally tough week and a half between that time and when I was scheduled to fly to Ohio for Christmas. My mom's doctors thought that the had caught it early, and that she should be "cured" by just having one operation to take out the mass, and that she could wait until after Christmas, since my mom and I had plans to maybe go to Washington, DC or New York sometime after Christmas before I went back to England on January 4. We didn't really see much of a reason to change those plans, so on December 14th I flew to Ohio, and was there until December 29th. We decided to come back a little earlier than planned [January 4th], because there was worry that there might be something in my mom's liver too, but she had an ultrasound and the doctors said they're just cysts, nothing to worry about. Over the time we were in Ohio, someone made an [really, ridiculously low] offer on our house, which is for sale. They ended up not liking our counter offer, and moved on, but with that and cancer, my mom and I wanted to be home sooner than January 4th, since her surgery was scheduled for January 7th. We just relaxed and enjoyed being in our own house before the surgery.

I had a great time in Ohio for Christmas. We went to Chicago for a few days to visit some cousins, and got to see my grandma a lot, who is doing absolutely phenomenal. She has come really far from where she was when I saw her in August. She's walking with a walker, and has leg exercises that she does every day...she nearly gave my dad a heart attack I think when she started to do them one day while we visited! But, it is hilarious to see her standing next to my brother, who also sort of looks like a woolly mammoth right now. Also, I got to meet a new baby cousin, and see almost all of my other cousins, plus almost all my aunts and uncles from both sides of the family.



I'm only saying this because Grandma called herself a shrimp after she saw this...
"The Woolly Mammoth and the Shrimp"


Me, Grandma and Nate!


My mom had her surgery almost a week ago now. It was about 4 hours long, which was on the long side of their estimates of how long it would take, but the doctor said it went well. It was Nate's last weekend at home, and we visited mom the last days he was home. Monday came and we were expecting the pathology report, and Nate flew back to Texas that day, so I went to see mom alone and we waited...and waited...and waited...for the doctor to come in and tell us what the report said. We had been told that the report was there, but that "he who removed it has to tell you about it" and her doctor was in surgery. Patience is not our strong suit, but we waited 6 hours before finding out he was gone for the day, but he'd come Tuesday.

I'll be adding Tuesday to my list of "days I heard news I was not at all expecting." We were really hopeful that the surgical cure we were waiting for had happened. But, that's not the news we got. The mass had gone through the colon wall, and 2 of the 14 lymph nodes they took out were not clear. Since it went through the wall, that made the cancer Stage 3, which was scary to hear. The doctor didn't think the cancer had spread anywhere else, but, in "an abundance of caution," my mom will be getting chemo starting in about 4-6 weeks. She has to go back to the doctor next week to talk more about it, but it's looking like probably 4-6 months of treatment. This chemo is supposed to be very well tolerated, and he said she probably won't lose her hair, which is good. Although I did volunteer to donate some of mine if she did. ;)

So, what does this mean for my time abroad?
Well, in short, it means that for now, it's over. Very well tolerated or not, I don't think mom's going to be driving herself around while she's getting chemo. Of course, I also am just feeling that this is where I need to be right now, with my mom, while she goes through this. So, I'm home, for good. And I will say, it's great to be home with my mom again, there's nothing quite like your mom!

SNOW!

That's right, it's started SNOWING here in England!!

It started just after Thanksgiving in parts of the UK, but didn't snow here until Monday night. Kari got REALLY excited that she might not have school on Tuesday, but so far it hasn't been that bad. It snowed more last night, my guess is about an inch, but I really have NO idea.
I've been bundling up when I go outside...today I wore knitted tights under my jeans, AND socks. Plus a beanie, gloves, arm warmers, a scarf, and a coat over my shirt and cardigan.

Kari's out for the night for a school thing, and it's just me and Ellie at home tonight, so we had a snowball fight after school, it was awesome. We had one on Tuesday too, and she got me right in the eye, but we've since discussed snowball fight etiquette, which in my world includes NOT hitting people in the face. Much better efforts today, no one got hit in the face.

Other than snow, not a lot out of the ordinary has been happening here...I got to have "Thanksgiving" here, Penny and Kevin were both out that night, so Selena and Kiv very kindly brought over turkey, carrots, cranberry sauce, and some non-Thanksgiving foods like sausages and yorkshire puddings. I made corn bread [my favorite!] and rainbow chip cupcakes...Which I ALMOST messed up so bad. I added 1 1/3 cups of oil instead of 1/3 of a cup of oil, and since it was a box mix, I wasn't sure how to fix it! I ended up putting regular flour in until the consistency looked better, and they turned out pretty good, so hooray for an avoided catastrophe!

I've been doing lots of exploring on walks with Bindi, and there are SO MANY gorgeous green areas around here.

I'm flying back to Ohio on December 14th, I'm super excited!!! My momma and Nate will be at the airport when I get there, the plan is for them to meet me at my gate, I'm really getting impatient! I want to start packing already but know it's still just a LITTLE too soon!

And with that, I leave you with pictures!

The last month or so

I feel like a horrible blogger, it's been almost a month since my last post, and that one was pretty boring [no pictures. I know about 80% of my friends are "visual" people, so they probably didn't read that last post...come to think of it they might not read this one either!]. Sorry!

I'm making up for it though, lots of pictures for this post, in slideshow form again. I'm going to try to talk about everything that I have pictures of, so either skip to the end to watch that first, or read it all first. Either way. =]

My brother turned 20 on October 10th, he got the best birthday ever this year: 10-10-10. Seriously. Not fair. On his birthday, I went into London with Selena and her friends Lauren and Kiv. We were going to see a band from Beaconsfield [not far from here] play a show that night, but also wanted to hang out in the city while we were out there. We went to a couple arcade-type places, which was cool because I got to see all the games that are the same here and at home, and the ones that are different.
We had lunch at a TGI Friday's, which is one of my favorite restaurants back home, so I was THRILLED! And, it was decorated with a ton of American sports stuff, like a old-school Mighty Ducks logo. I was a happy camper there!
One of the best parts was getting to meet up with Allister, an old friend from home who is studying for a year in London. Allister and I probably haven't seen each other in 5 or 6 or more years [since sometime in high school], but it was so great to meet up with someone else who "gets it" about what I'm missing. And I couldn't have met up with anyone who "got it" more than Allister, since he lives about 6 streets away from my family at home!

This past weekend, Marika and I went to London to go to the Tower of London, which I know I went to when I was here with People to People when I was 12, but I don't remember a lot of. It was great to get to go back as an adult and see it all again, and maybe this time I'll actually remember more of it! =] Another reason that going here was such a big deal to me was that my Aunt Monica, whom I stayed with while I was in Ohio this summer, LOVES King Henry VIII, and I've been on a mission since getting here to find her a great Henry postcard. Since the Tower of London was where Henry kept his prisoners [including a number of his wives], there were BOUND to be postcards and souvenirs of him aplenty there...and there were! There were some really cool ones, but I stuck with the post cards for her and a charm for my charm bracelet for me. I did see some postcards that I'm positive are in my People to People scrapbook in a box at my parent's house, which goes to show you that they keep the same ones for at least 10 years. King Henry VIII's armor was there, which was super cool to see, because he was rather large for his time.
Anyway, the Tower is spooky, pretty much all the way through. When you think about the loooooong history the place has, it's hard to not realize how spooky it is! So many people were prisoners there [a lot probably for reasons that wouldn't be considered "good" nowadays]. One part that really stuck with me was The Princes in the Tower, which I don't remember hearing about before. Supposedly, these brothers were taken to the tower after their dad, the king, died, and they were seen a few times after that, but never again. There are 3 people who are suspected of possibly killing them, if they were actually killed. I like mystery things, so this was super-interesting to me. But I also like solid, for-sure endings, so I don't like that there's no conclusion about how these poor boys died. Also, it's confusing to read about because everyone had the same names, and people have a lot of titles that are used to identify them. I feel like I'm still in school when I read about these kinds of things!
I also have always been really interested in Henry VIII and all his wives, and this kind of history was always so cool to me, from a social perspective, not from a fighting and political aspect. It's nice to be able to "study" things the way you want to and not the way schools and textbooks force you too. =]
Anyway, the Tower was a lot of fun, but now my cousins Jason and Dawn are mad at me for not going to a cheese sandwich place near there that they went to and insisted was life changing. Sorry guys!!!

In other news, fall has definitely started here, but I think it might be confused with winter, because it has been COLD here recently! We had a few weeks where it barely got above 40 or 50F during the day, and the nights are obviously colder than that! Taking Bindi for a walk has involved a lot more layering up, including but not limited to coats, scarves, gloves, arm warmers and beanies. BRR. I asked Penny and she said it's not usually quite this cold this early in the year, so I'm guessing winter will only get worse. No snow [yet] but I'm kind of hoping that it snows before the end of the month, at least once. Of course, once it starts I'll want it to stop, but oh well!

While taking Bindi for walks wasn't 100% my favorite thing at first, I've really started to enjoy it because it gives me a chance to explore new places around where I live. There's a great area just down the street that's all enclosed where I can let her off her lead and she can run around. It's beautiful right now with all the leaves, but I've been told it's even better in the spring, so I'm excited for that. I've gone the other direction with her a few times too, and found a HUGE wooded area/open area that is absolutely beautiful. We just don't have these kinds of things in California...they're all "national parks" or trails, at least where I'm from. Plus, going on long, meandering walks has been some great exercise! That's my excuse for not working out, at least! =]

Halloween was pretty low-key. Ellie decorated a LOT a few days before, and we just took the decorations down today. We carved pumpkins and Selena was here for that too, so she did one. Penny's a HUGE Elvis fan, so Selena made an Elvis pumpkin for her that turned out pretty awesome. I was really impressed with what Harry, Kari and Ellie did with theirs, I think all 8 pumpkins looked great. The kids got two each, and then Selena and I each did one. Harry ended up staying at a friend's house on Halloween night, and both of the girls decided they didn't want to trick or treat, so we stayed in.

The past week, Penny and Kevin have been in California/Las Vegas, so I've been in charge. No one has been injured and nothing is broken, so I'm feeling that it's gone well. =] Ellie's been a little sad, but we've made it and Mum & Dad come home tomorrow, she's very excited! Ellie had "Roman Day" at school today, and she got to wear a cool costume to school for it. She liked it so much she didn't want to change when she got home! There are a few pictures of her goofing off before school this morning [which I'm sure she'll be mad about when she sees, but oh well!] Selena's been over most days while Penny and Kevin have been gone, she's been great in providing me with grown-up company. Also, we're determined to finish the 1,000 piece puzzle the girls started on the kitchen table a few weeks ago, so secretly, I think that's why she keeps coming back! ;-] We decided we HAVE to finish it before I leave for Christmas...December 14 is the deadline! I think we'll be done before then because we [mostly Selena] made awesome progress on it this past weekend and week.


I know this was a LONG post again, but here's your reward: Pictures!

Change is hard: Things I'm adjusting to and what's going on in my life right now

While I do have a weekend-recap post to write at some point this week [I think], I've been really caught up lately thinking about just how much things have changed for me in the last six months. Because really, if I want to remember everything, I have to write about things other than weekend trips to London, right? Really, if you don't want to, you don't have to read all this.

The most obvious, based on this blog, is the fact that I'm living in a foreign country. Moving to a country where you only know about 3 people that you've met face-to-face [that aren't even the people you're going to live with] is tough, no joke. The only people I "knew" coming here were a few co-workers of my dad's. I was flying across an ocean to live with people I had never met...It was terrifying! Luckily, everything is going EXTREMELY well, I'm loving it here, the family is incredibly nice [hi guys! :)], I've met a load of other au pairs who are awesome, an old friend from home recently moved to London as well, and I've met some random people along the way also. Having the chance to learn about another culture and travel at this age is amazing, I'm so excited to be here. But with all good things come some bad...

The biggest change for me, though, is that my parents are in the process of getting a divorce after over 20 years of marriage. Learning about that was, quite frankly, the biggest shock of my life. They flew me home about a week after I found out about this job, and told me, since they wanted me to know before I made my final decision about coming here. That was one of the worst weekends of my life. I had just broken up with the boy I'd been dating for almost a year because of the fact that I wanted to come to England, and now my parents were telling me that they were getting divorced. Oh, and my mom wanted me to come home for part of the summer...to the house they were both still living in...At that point, ANYTHING sounded better than that. Especially running away to a country about 5,000 miles away from all that. Sounded good to me! I may be gone for now, but they both know I'm coming back...eventually. My current favorite phrase is "it is what it is" because there's nothing I can do but accept that it's happening. I'm not thrilled, but I'm less angry than I was when I first found out. I know I can't run from it forever, so going home and facing that again is going to be another major adjustment. I'll deal with that when I have to though.

Being done with school for good is a hard transition. When you've been in school at least 9 months out of the year for the last 16 or so years, every time you realize you're not going back again, it's a weird feeling. I never HAVE to read a book again. I never HAVE to shoot a photo assignment again. I never HAVE to write anything again. I never HAVE to be in the lab again. I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss it. School was fun, and I do miss it, but not enough to want to go back and do it all again, or any more.

Two weeks ago, I was the most homesick I've been the whole time I've been here [just over two months this week!]. I spent a good hour on Skype with my mom one night crying because I just was so upset. I didn't want to go home, but I was feeling very, very alone. Being around all new people is HARD. It's hard to tell someone your entire background story of your life in a few weeks, so I was feeling very much like I didn't have a lot of people around here that I could talk to candidly about a lot of things going on in my life..stuff with my parents and other random things from home. Don't get me wrong, the friends I'm making here are great, but you have to admit that nothing compares to the people that you know and that know you without having to dive in to a ton of background story for everything. Combine that with feeling like people from home were getting to the point of "out of sight, out of mind" with me, and I was really sad. I'm not mad at anyone, not at all. I know I've done it before, it's easy and I get that. I just was feeling very alone and missing a lot of people. Not to mention, I had been trying to nail down Christmas plans, and I wasn't feeling like I was getting a ton of response from my parents, which was hard for me to handle. It's all sorted now, but at the time, I was having a tough, tough week.

Time differences are so hard to get used to...especially 8 hours. Yeah, that's the time difference from here to California. All through college I called my mom almost every day at some point or another [and some days multiple times] just to talk and say hi. It was easy, because generally speaking, if I was up, so was she, because it was the same time where she was and where I was. But that doesn't work anymore, for a few obvious reasons. I'm 8 hours ahead of home, so the best time for me to talk to people from home is in the evening here, which is around noon there. Usually I talk to my dad a few days a week around lunch time, and my mom too. Right now my mom is traveling, visiting my brother and her brother, and my dad leaves on Monday for a big huge work trip, which unfortunately doesn't take him to England this year.

And those are just the "big" differences that are coming to mind right away. There are also a ton of little things that are different. Speaking the same language as everyone but still missing so much through accents and slight language differences. Right now I'd have to say the biggest one for me is the word "pants," which to me means anything that's not a skirt or shorts that I wear on my legs, but here means underwear. Yup, that's not embarrassing to say wrong. Not at all. Or the fact that I don't think I'll ever quite get used to the steering wheel being on the other side of the car, or that cars are driving on the other side of the road from what I'm used to. But, dealing with these things is nothing compared to the good times I'm having and the things I'm learning...like not to say pants. ;]

I have met a lot of really nice people here, especially the family I live with. I'm so, so glad I decided to do this, because I just know that if I hadn't, I would have spent the rest of my life thinking "what if?". Which would suck. I would have never had this opportunity again...to be able to experience so many new things at once is a once-in-a-lifetime thing.

Oh, and to all my family members reading, we'll be in Ohio for Christmas this year. My mom and I will be there December 14-January 5, but I'm not sure when my dad and Nathan will be there. California people...I'm sorry to say I won't be "home" [unless things change] until summer time.

I think that's enough rambling for now. Hopefully I didn't lose EVERYONE...but thanks for making it to the end, you didn't really have to read that all. =]

London Weekend + I Grew A Monkey

Hello there blogworld! Thanks for being here today!

On that note, I never know how to start a blog. Any tips would be greatly appreciated...here goes!

Last weekend I went to London on Sunday with Marika, the Finnish au pair who drives a Fit aka Jazz. We also went out on Saturday night to Beaconsfield, to meet up with a Canadian au pair named Stephanie that we met. [This is relevant, I swear...] Saturday night we got to the train station to take the train ONE station up, and found out that there were NO TRAINS running this weekend out here. They had planned closures for repairs to the lines, so they were running buses that left once every 20 minutes, which was kind of lame.

Anyway, in the early afternoon on Sunday we trekked back to the station to take a bus out to Hillingdon, where we would be able to get on the tube to take to London.
It had been raining a LOT last week....this is what the road near my house looked like Sunday morning on the way to the station...flooded all the way across both sidewalks and the whole street:

And just for some reference, here's an extended map of the tube station, and I put a big X where GX is, just so everyone can see!

The tube system has SO many lines that go so many different ways and have different ending points/offshoots. It's going to take me a while to get this one down the way I have Muni down...I *think* that if you click on this it will get bigger...or it might just go to the site I got the map from in the first place, where you can make it bigger anyway!


Instead of a 30-45 minute ride on one train, we had a 15-20 minute ride on a bus, then a 30-45 minute train ride. Oh well. While we were on the bus, another passenger caught our attention. While we walked into the train station I told Marika that I thought she was an au pair, because I'd over heard her at the station and on the bus that she was an Australian and she wasn't sure if she was going to move to GX or not, and she wasn't familiar with the area yet. We ended up talking to her at the Hillingdon station and it turns out she was going to be an au pair in GX pretty soon. We exchanged contact information and are now Facebook friends, and I'm excited to have someone else near by who is an au pair!

So, Marika and I had plans to meet up with her friend Caroline, also an au pair, who is from Germany. Caroline wasn't/isn't happy with her house family, so she's actually leaving this weekend to work in France instead. Marika and I both wanted to go to the Tower of London since I haven't been since my People to People trip nine years ago and she's never been. It turns out Caroline had been already, so she didn't want to go, but we decided to go to Harrod's, a huge, fancier-than-Nordstrom's department store, which is a biiiiiiig deal, just to look around. We got there after a number of train changes and waiting, and also ended up eating at McDonald's. It's cheap and fast and the same in every country, what can I say! =]


Marika outside Harrod's


Me and Caroline outside Harrod's. [Hi mom, see, I am here! ;)]


Some of the sweets in Harrod's...SO MUCH CANDY EVERYWHERE!


Santa candy already!


Cupcakes!


Marika resting on a display in the store.


Olympics souvenirs...even though they're almost 2 years away...


I might have to go back and see if they make this shirt in my size...this was the kid's department. =]


What I thought was the best part about Harrod's was at one point while we were on the escalator, all of the sudden I thought the music changed a lot. It turned out there was a LIVE opera singer in one of the balconies singing. It was AMAZING. I'm crossing my fingers that this video uploads before I'm done writing this, because she was really good! [UPDATE: Okay this uploaded but I can't tell if it's working or not...someone let me know! Thanks to everyone who let me know it's working!]

My first video upload success!!!!! [I hope!]


We also went up to Notting Hill to see where the movie was filmed/set, even though I've never seen it. It was nice to see it without all the carnival madness going on! There was supposed to be a tube strike that night, so Marika and I needed to head back to GX before about 5, and we got home just fine, luckily. 


Clouds here were beautiful!


And the houses are so colorful!


Cute wellies I saw on Portobello Road!


Hi again Mom!

This week I had somewhat of an adventure with Bindi on Monday. I went to the wooded area down the street to take her for a walk. It's an enclosed area, and usually we let her off the lead when she's in there and she's pretty good about not going too far away from you...almost like she's afraid you're going to leave her there [which is a good reason to be afraid, I think!]. I was taking her lead off right outside the gate, and usually she walks right through the gate just fine, but this time she didn't, and ran off down the street. I felt like I was chasing Sparky, it was awful. Luckily she didn't go TOO far away, but it was still a nice little run I took!

This weekend both of my parents are in Texas to see Nate for his birthday...the big 2-0 for him this Sunday! My brother is living on his own for the first time this year, and he seems to be...well...he's surviving, but struggling. He hasn't had lights in his bathroom or half his kitchen since he moved in in early August because he had to flip surges and didn't know. That's my brother for you! I do miss him a lot and am excited that my parents are there for his birthday and the beginning of his baseball season. I'm looking forward to reporting highlights for everyone as Nate continues to kick butt on the diamond this season [last season he was the division record holder for doubles!]!!!

While Nate turns 20 on Sunday, I'll be going to London with Selena, who's also Ellie's tennis coach, to see a local band play a show. It turns out Selena and I have pretty similar music taste, so hopefully we find more shows to go to!

I also have dates for going to the States for Christmas. I'll be in Ohio/the east coast from December 11-January 4, and hopefully my mom and I are going to take some kind of little road trip while I'm out there. No California trips though, sorry guys!


Oh, and the "Amanda Grew A Monkey" bit...Ellie likes to hang on me like a monkey some days...see?










Then she falls and can't get up because she's laughing so hard.


And finally, one more picture for mom...Proof I'm here again! [I post ONE picture on Facebook mobile and suddenly she thinks I'm not here!] This one's by Ms. Ellie!

Best Skype Chat EVER!

My dad is spending this week and the two surrounding weekends on the East Coast. In Ohio both weekends to visit family, and in Toronto during the week for business. The BEST part of this for me is that I got to Skype with my Grandma, who is 88 years old. Just this past week, my cousins Matt and TerriLynn had a baby girl, Madison Lynn, bringing my grandma's great-grandchild count up to 9...Then more cousins, Lex and Lindsey, announced that they're expecting their second baby! Very exciting!!!

My dad's not 100% perfect at aiming the camera, so he cut Grandma's head off a few times, but honestly this was the best Skype chat I've ever had!!!
She didn't entirely know what to think, I think...She thought it was super expensive, then dad told her it was free..and she tired to kick me off a few times "okay well you have a lovely time and I miss you and I love you" type things, then we'd stop her and say I wasn't going anywhere yet. It was funny. Hopefully we'll get to do it again when dad is there next weekend.


Grandma and Dad.

Uncle Bob, Dad, Aunt Monica, Uncle Terry and Aunt Chris around Grandma's head.

Dad giving Grandma bunny ears...how rude! ;-]

And bonus: two shots of what I sent dad for his birthday...


He was moving it around in front of the camera and singing the Jaws theme song.....Yup, this is my father...