We are almost home!!!!

Okay so it is 3:00 a.m. here in Canterbury. We have spent the day packing and cleaning and we are pooped! If you are wondering why we are up this late, we are night owls. For the life of me, I can't get on a normal sleep schedule if I don't have a place the I am obligated to be early in the morning. So that means I stay up late and sleep late. I'm sure that will all end soon. But back to being almost home, we are all ready to leave for London in the morning. We are so ready!!!!! On Tuesday we will be flying back to the US at 7:30 a.m. (ugh, early flights are trying to kill me. We have to leave the hotel at 5:15) I am so excited to be going back. 

I have had a lot of setbacks this time, especially over this weekend, and I am just ready for it to be over. I had a crisis on Saturday that involved a closed library, a carrel full of my primary sources, and me standing outside crying. I guess the short version is that the library decided to take a long weekend because Monday is a holiday. Well, I didn't know about it. So when I showed up on campus Saturday with a copier card ready to make copies of the parts of the books in my carrel, I was sadly disappointed. I went into panic mode, all the work I had done was locked in the library with no hopes of me getting it before I leave, all the note cards tucked into their respective books. So I went back home after breaking down at the university and tried to contact people to see if I could find anyone who would be gracious enough to let me in, but that did not happen. The administrator for our department, Claire, or as I call her the miracle worker, has agreed to go and collect my notes and return the library books for me. And thankfully I have located the 10 books I need to make copies from. The bad part is that they are in 4 different libraries spread throughout Alabama, so I will be doing some traveling and re-researching. So yeah, now I have to do a lot of work over again, which does not help me make the deadline. But I am going to get through this. 

Okay so I know that I haven't written that list of things that we are looking forward to and things that we will miss, but time has escaped me. Maybe I can do that while I am sitting in one of the 3 airports I will be visiting on Tuesday. We will just have to see. 

Well, I guess this is the last official UK post! Next time I write, I will be back the the good ole' USA. Until then......

Plagiarism is so not cool...

So I don't know if you are like me, but I like to read a lot of craft, design, and fashion blogs. They have so many beautiful things for me to become interested in. But it makes me very sad that sometimes those writers and bloggers get ripped off. One of the blogs that I follow daily through my RSS feed is English Muse. Sadly for Tina someone has been ripping off her blog word for word and picture for picture. She has now found the person and has exposed them on her site. 

Blogs are supposed to be fun! They are supposed to be an extension of yourself and your creativity. Don't take someone else's creativity without giving them credit. It's just a really horrible thing to do. Unfortunately sharing your inspirations and ideas can be taken advantage of. Hope you all can enjoy blogging and not have this happen to you. 

Worth watching- The Garden

If you haven't seen a film lately that made you think honestly about political motives and how they affect the common citizens of the US, you need to see the documentary The Garden. I know, some of you are thinking 'Ugh a documentary', but hear me out. The Garden is about 13 acres of land in Central Los Angeles that was given by the city to the people for farming. Several years later, the city decided to sale it back to the original owner (after many court battles) without the farmers knowledge. The movie details the struggle that the farmers went through to continue to use the land in the face of lies and deceit. It was one of those movies that really makes you think about what government is doing to protect you. It was well worth the rental price on iTunes!

In other news, everything is back in working order. I am trying to get as much done before we leave in one week!!! I am so ready to be home. I am trying to stay focused on reading, but the excitement is starting to build. Our boxes were delivered today which made it feel more real now and I can't wait. Andy has been preparing for our move by sending out his website to various advertising agencies in Birmingham and getting ready to work again. He is excited about the prospect of a new job.

Okay well, that's all for now, short I know. I am going to post again before the end of the week about all the things we are looking forward to and all the things that we are going to miss. 

The clouds are clearing

So I am finally feeling better. I went back to the doctor on Friday and they told me I was probably transitioning from the flu into the 'after effects' that appear as cold/sinus infection like symptoms that show up after your immune system is completely sacked. But at least I'm getting better. And with less than two weeks before we go home, it's about time. I am supposed to find out on Friday how long of an extension that I am going to get. The rule is if you are sick for more than 7 days the medical centre writes an official letter telling how long you get an extension for. So now I am just waiting on the department signing off on it as well. Despite the extension, I have a lot of work to do and over a slightly more stressful time. 

Let me preface this with the fact that I am not writing this for comments or sympathy, but because I just need to vent and get past it. At the moment this blog is a way to do that. -----Right now I am extremely frustrated. I just don't feel very encouraged. I really want to just write this paper and have it all finished with but it is not just something you can write overnight. I just want to wake up and feel like I can do this today, I can close this chapter of my life and move on to the next. But most of all I want to feel supported and like people believe in me. And at the moment I don't even really believe in myself. I am just tired and don't really have the energy to put in 16 hours of reading and writing. But I am going to because I have to and I want to be able to have a normal life again. Soon, very soon.

A little under the weather

So, things just keep going wrong. I now have the flu and have had since Friday. Great time to be sick huh! This paper is not going to be done because I just don't have the strength to do it. Actually, the doctor told me that I should not work on it and stress myself---- that is the one thing that my husband took away from the appointment "you can't do work". So as you can probably guess, I am bored staying in bed all day and doing nothing, especially when I need to write 12000 words before the 28th. I must say I am really thankful that Andy is here and did not go back early. I have been so weak and he has done so much. He is the most amazing husband!

As far as our plane tickets go. We changed them..... well we had to make a quick decision honestly. Andy was doing research on moving our tickets and accidently canceled them. So there was a quick scramble to call orbitz and get our tickets back. We had to pay but we decided to change the ticket because there is no reason to stay longer. We need to get back to the US and back to having normal lives. Well, as normal as it can be I guess. So now the stress is finding jobs once we get back to the US. I just hope our connections in Birmingham allow us to find something quickly. 

Frustration

So right now we are dealing with a lot. We are trying to decide if we are going to pay the extra money to go home early or pay the extra money to stay here for an extra month. This is all money we don't really have to play with. Even though I bought trip insurance.... doesn't help in this situation. So much for buying it. I hate having to deal with this, like the stress of school isn't enough. But it looks like we are going to try to come home September 1st, if it doesn't cost us another $1000. This is not even taking into account the fact that neither one of us have jobs in Birmingham yet!!! FRUSTRATED!!! Please pray for this all to work because we have run out of options!!!

Crisis week

It has been a tough week. I guess I will try to start with the good.

Well, last Monday we actually made it to Battle Abbey! Yeah!!! We left the apartment around 9:00 to pick up a few things and we were on our way. Unfortunately we had to go through Hastings again and then take an additional bus to Battle. But we made it there on a drizzly Monday. We packed a picnic lunch and were able to sit and eat it because the rain had slacked off once we got there. So after lunch, we were on our way with our audio guide. We took the long route walking all around the battlefield and the ponds. Most of the year they have sheep all over the place, but on our visit they were nowhere to be found. But we did find some nice blackberry brambles! Yum! After we finished touring the fields we toured the abbey ruins and buildings. I think Andy had a really great time and I was so happy for it. After we saw everything we decided to go to the corner grocery because it was about 5:30. We sat at the bus stop and ate discounted salads and the crushed cherries we had gotten in Canterbury before we left (they didn't fare very well in my bag) After that we were back on our way home and on the bus with all the terrible people again. 

Well after Monday I spent the rest of the week in the library, as usual. On Friday, I decided to stop by the department office to see if they had any information about formatting and binding my thesis. It is there that I found out that my thesis is not due in the middle of September.... it is due the last Friday of August!!!! AUGUST!!!!!!! I had a panic attack. It was the most depressing news ever. I felt like I was on the perfect tract to complete in September with 2 weeks to proof and bind and all that fun stuff. But no, I barely have 4 weeks. So this weekend was spent stressing. And when I get stressed I clean. So Sunday (the day the library is closed) I spent the day scrubbing my kitchen from top to bottom! And sadly that means scrubbing the floor on my hands and knees. But I guess it made me feel a little more in control. 

So now Andy and I are trying to make some decisions about what we need to do. Our flight is scheduled for September 22nd, but we think we are going to move that. So I might be home the very first week in September. We also talked about Andy going home next week and trying to find a job and get everything set up, but he doesn't want me to have to take care of the apartment by myself before I leave. And that's another thing, our lease runs out August 2oth, so we are hoping they will extend it for us for a week. 

I did feel a little better today because I had a nice long talk with the head of my department. She gave me some great resources to work with and some good words of encouragement. Unfortunately, my advisor is out of town this week and half of next week. I am going to try to email him to hopefully find out what he thinks about everything. We will see how it all goes. I have a revised plan and it is now into action.

Another stress is about money. It is really expensive to pay for things here. That is another benefit of going home earlier. It means we have more money to furnish our place when we get to Birmingham. Right now, we have a set of mattresses that Mark and April are giving back to us, a tv cabinet and dresser from my mom (which we have no idea how to get to Birmingham), a shower curtain with French words on it, a milkglass compote and vase, and a set of pots and pans from our wedding registry. That's about it. So I am trying to wrap my head around living in Birmingham with no furniture and praying that we get jobs quickly. I actually have been searching a lot on etsy for simple things that can go in my place. I am thinking that most everything we have is going to be white because it's simple. I am going to try to add color with different accessories so I can change everything with the seasons. Right now I am thinking about doing my kitchen in white, black, and grey. So I have picked out a few things that I would love (because it makes me feel a little better to get some ideas).

I love these dishes!!! I think I am in a tree phase right now. And it also has to do with Andy. When we were in college, Andy had to do a lot of sketching for school. I would love to sit and watch him draw trees. He is a really good artist and it was my favorite subject to see him do. 

Along with the tree theme, I found these tree kitchen towels.

I also really love these hand towels (another thing that I am into at the moment) 

I love the fact that this person takes old bottles and smashes them. I am really enticed by the amazing blue color.

I love this persons tea towels. They have several in their shop that I would love to have. They have one that is a full English breakfast menu. If you ever have been to England, you know how seriously they take breakfast.

I love, love, love these prints. I was them to be the art for my kitchen/dinning room. I also love the fact that they are in French, which is a big thing at our house. 

We will see what happens. Just a start to putting our home back together. I have tons more ideas but don't really have time to explore them, we will see what happens when I get back home.