I'm HERE!!!

That's right! I'm in ENGLAND!

I was flying on standby on both of my flights, and luckily I made it on to both of them. I had to RUN through the Washington Dulles Airport, but I made it!!! I was actually a little worried when I got to Cleveland because there were storms in DC and my flight was delayed, but I made it just in time. While we flew to DC we passed the storm, and there was a HUGE beautiful cloud that had the sun setting on the west side of it, and as we passed it to the north you could see that it was a lightning cloud. It was pretty long and so I watched that for a long time as it lit up. SO COOL!
I had a business class seat from DC to London [first time I've ever not been in coach] and it was AWESOME. I slept a few hours, but also played some sudoku on the 15" tv screen, watched Toy Story 2 and an episode of Psych.

I landed yesterday morning [Friday], and came home with Penny, Kari and Ellie. Ellie helped me unpack everything and get settled. We had different kinds of chicken for lunch with chips.
Later on Kari and Harry went to High Wycombe [about a 15 minute train ride] with me to exchange money and try to get an iPhone. We managed to exchange my money, but by the time that was done, none of the stores were open anymore. A few were just closing their doors and we asked about the phone, but they said if I don't want a contract [which I don't], that I have to actually go to an Apple Store, who are probably sold out for at least 3 weeks...BUMMER. Might have to order it online...
We had "fish and chips" for dinner...and by fish and chips I mean we went to a fish and chips store and I ordered chicken nuggets and "chips." Got to talk to Mom, then Dad on video chats which was really nice. 

Today Penny, Kari and I walked to Ellie's tennis tournament, and sat out in the rain for a bit before Ellie slipped and fell on her knee and didn't feel like she could walk/play anymore, so we headed home. The tennis courts she plays at are JUST across the street from the house, which is pretty nice!
We had bacon sandwiches today, which weren't what I was expecting since the bacon here is more like "Canadian bacon" than "American bacon," but they were still good. Ellie and I played hide and seek and she played some online games on my computer while I took a nap [I blame jet lag, but she says Marj did that too, and told her that as you get older you need to sleep more...Very true!;)]. Penny's mom, Sue, sister & nephew, Katie & Cassidy, were here briefly. Cassidy is about 2 or 3 was singing and "dancing" along with the radio that was on which was hilarious. We had Chinese for dinner that was interesting because of how it comes packaged as well as the sauces they were cooked in...I asked for Cashew Chicken, but I couldn't even tell you what kind of sauce it was in. Just video chatted with my parents [and Sparky] and Ellie is playing Mario Kart online with some friends.

A few Skype screen shots:

Better picture of the humans.

But in this one, Sparky is looking like "hey, where is she?!?!"


It's been cold and rainy for the past two days but it's not predicted for tomorrow so hopefully it's right!

Last US Night!!

I left California Sunday night for Ohio to visit some family before I leave for England. Got in EARLY Monday morning and have had a great stay EXCEPT for the fact that I am apparently the tastiest thing EVER to mosquitoes. I have 30 bug bites, at least. Feet, legs, hands, arms and ESPECIALLY my back. I have about 15 on my back alone. It's horrible. Luckily I'm not too itchy, but the presence of them is still annoying! I also had some new shoes I wore while I was here that gave me some bad blisters that I'm not excited about either. I just want the bites and blisters to go away!!

Other than that I've been visiting with some cousins and my grandma, who's in a nursing home and is about to move into assisted living. She broke her hip about two months ago and seems to be doing great, she's walking again and I'm really glad I got to see her before I left.

Nothing else to report, just wanted to talk about my trip to Ohio a little bit before I leave the country. My next post should be from ENGLAND!!!! Some pictures should be included from there too!!

Last California Night

This is my last night at my parent's house in Orange County. Tomorrow I leave on a red eye flight for Ohio to visit family for a few days, then I leave from Cleveland on Thursday evening for LONDON.

I can't believe the time is here already! Back in April this seemed soooooooo far away! Heck, it still seemed far away when I came home from San Francisco at the end of July!

I've been finishing up cleaning out all the junk in my room since I've been home [and I had a LOT of junk], and I'm STILL NOT QUITE DONE! I should be done before I leave, but it's been nerve-wracking to just have piles of STUFF everywhere!

I sold my car today. Little Blue Car/Dory [like the fish in Finding Nemo]/Baby Blue is no longer mine, but belongs to Vincent, a guy about my age who's black Honda Fit was totaled in an accident. I'm sad that the car isn't mine, but no one was going to use it for a year and we certainly wouldn't get MORE money a year from now, so selling it was for the best. Basically I spent all day driving around with my dad dealing with selling it, so most of the afternoon was gone to that [meaning no room cleaning happened all afternoon].

But I spent most of the evening working on cleaning my room and helping mom organize all her cables that she has in her office that she wasn't sure about. Oh, and ripping movies on THREE computers at once since I figured out how to do it too late and had too many more that I wanted to take with me on my trip! It's definitely a lot easier than I thought but SLOW, which is kind of annoying.

"Brotherface" called me last night to say bye since he went to Honduras with his GF and her mom for a week and he wouldn't be able to call while he was there. We had a nice chat and he even told mom & dad to forward his "Day 1 of trip summary email" to me. I'm glad to see we're getting along pretty well now that I'm leaving the country for a year or so. [Mom & Dad say a year at most, we'll see though...Summer Olympics in 2012 are in London, which would be AWESOME, right???]

My current movie imports are done so I'm going to go set up a few more and SLEEP! I can't believe I leave tomorrow!!!!!!!

Initial Posting!

Hello out there!
Some background to start out with: I'm a 21 [22 at the end of the month]-year-old recent college grad. I majored in journalism with an emphasis in photojournalism. Just before I graduated [late April], a friend & classmate of mine mentioned that her sister was looking for someone to take over her AMAZING job in London as an au pair [like a nanny]. Sounded cool, right??
Later that day I asked about the job, and two weeks later was for sure leaving sometime in August for LONDON for at least a year. Super-fast life decision! [And if you know me at all, you know I'm not a fast decision maker, so really that's a miracle.]

I'm leaving in two and a half days for my trips, and I'm not nearly ready! I leave home Sunday night for Ohio, where I arrive Monday morning. Spend Monday-Thursday afternoon there, then head to the airport for London!
Before then, I need to finish packing up/cleaning out my room at mom & dad's, AND finish sorting out my packing [stupid 50 lbs. airline baggage limits....]! SO MUCH TO DO.

This'll be my first foray into public blogging, hopefully I don't disappoint!
Hopefully I remember to update this!

Here's me after the department graduation ceremony, super stoked [this is also me testing picture posting...]