2010 in Review

In January we went to pick out our little German Shorthaired Pointer Puppy.  I finished my first house project - redecorating the spare bedroom in Nick's London house, Cecilia came to visit, we went to Sheffield for Nick's job interview and to pick up Heidi and take her home.  I went to the theater twice - Avenue Q, then Nick took me to Cirque du Soleil.. where he dropped his phone down a gutter.  We also found out that we were moving to Sheffield!

In February we took our picture a lot, we went up to Sheffield to house hunt, took "Meadow Lane Marlene" for her first walk (of shame), we redid the conservatory, and we ate at Borough Market.

In March we felt homeless, because no one would let us take our puppy into rented accommodation.  We started to look a like.  I got muffins, hash browns, and okra published on foodie websites.  On the 25th we said goodbye to Nick's childhood London home and moved up North to become Yorkshire folks.

London house...

Sheffield rental.

In April we really adjusted to country life,  celebrated Easter,  we were thrilled to discover a place that did Mexican food, I continued on my unsuccessful quest to make vegetarian marshmallows. and I wrote my first Bucket List.

In May we were loving the neighborhood in the spring, I joined a rowing team,  Heidi got spayed, and I donated blood.

In June, Heidi learned how to pick up her toys, Nick and I joined (and admittedly soon quit) a cougar club, but not before going on a chocolate tasting with them.  I started painting again, won a race at a regatta, and my generous parents bought me a plane ticket home!

In July, my good friend Sarah came to visit, and we went to Chatsworth and played dress up, drank tea, and ate ice cream.  I also ran 7 miles and updated my playlist, , painted Heidi, and climbed a tree.

In August I packed for Chicago, went on a cupcake crawl, got to be a bridesmaid for Amy's wedding, fulfilled a college dream to go to the cubs game with Liza, said goodbye to my Uncle Johnny, and Nick bought our first house while I was in America.

In September we did LOTS and LOTS of DIY.  Before moving into our half finished house.  There's not really many pictures, but I promise they are soon to be on their way.

In October I was reunited with my good Australian friend Ebony in London, we painted our bedroom to match our dog, and I started a Day Zero list.  I also experienced Halloween  creepy English style.

In November we did more DIY, went to Keeley and Ed's wedding, Nick surprised me with a Thanksgiving feast,  and we celebrated Nick and Heidi's birthday.  I drank a lot of water for H20-vember, and wore my hair in 7 ways for 7 days.

In December we got a ton of snow and my good friend Stuart, from Australia, came to visit, my birthday finally did not suck (pictures still need to be developed from my diana mini!) and we hosted our very first Christmas, complete with Nick's first real tree, and I got news that I would be employed in 2011!

Whew!  If you have made it this far - thanks for sticking around, and thanks for sticking around with me in general this year.  Your kind and thoughtful comments have continuously picked me up throughout this very difficult year and I appreciate all of you who stop by.  I'm wishing you all the best for 2011!!

Christmas 2010

My first Christmas away from home....

Nick cooked for me...

Heidi got to sample chicken, a rarity in our mostly vegetarian house...

My mother-in-law came to visit...

We finished decorating our living room, and Nick got his first real tree that he can remember, just in time for Christmas.

I wore sparkle gold nail polish 

and drank enough bailey's and coffee to make me jittery until next year....

I kicked ass in scrabble.  

Nick thought he had us beat with "urinal" 

but I seemed to surpass him with a few clever placements of words like "debt" and "Jew"...

(even if they did accuse me of cheating...sore losers if you ask me)

Santa came...

Nick's mum got Heidi a snuggie, which she ate.

I made Cincinnati's favorite Christmas morning breakfast, 

Virginia Bakery's Schnecken... with lots of love and butter; 

which rose more than I thought it would...

But it still turned out alright, though it seemed to need MORE butter.  

Honestly, what doesn't need more butter - right?

I hope you had a very Merry Christmas too!

It's Been A Long December....

And there's reason to believe,

maybe this year will be better than the last.

I've been quietly singing this Counting Crows song to myself all month long.  Because 2010 has been hard.  Really really hard.  A year of unemployment leaving me feeling lost, bored, worthless, and stressed.  On top of that the persistent feeling of homesickness, a lack of English friends, and my uncle's unexpected death - made 2010 one of the toughest on record.  All year I've been feeling more stagnant than ever, just trying, hoping and praying for something to happen to reignite my passion for life.  

But I can't stop thinking about this picture on the right that Nick took of me and Heidi on their birthday in November.  It reminded me of the one on the left which we took the day we went to pick her out from the breeder last January, when she was only 6 weeks old.  I can't believe how much she's grown in the past year and I'm sure she doesn't realize it at all.  And I guess maybe I've grown up a lot without realizing it too.  I've become more determined, I've set more goals, I've learned how to deal with stress without becoming an emotional basket case (most the time), when to spend money and when to save it (Nick swears my year of unemployment will actually save us more money than a years salary in the long run since I've finally learned how to budget), I've learned what's really important in my life - God, family and friends.  I'm most certainly a much better wife than I was this time last year.  So as much as I hate the phrase.... I guess 2010 was a "Character Builder".... 


On Christmas Eve I got a phone call, and it might as well have been God on the other end of the line because to be honest I was losing my religion this December, but the good news came that I finally got a job!  My prayers have been answered.  I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders, and I can visibly see the pressure being lifted off Nick.  I know this is going to make a massive difference to our life, and I am certainly looking forward to going into 2011 as a member of the workforce.  

Here's to this year being better than the last!

Merry Christmas!

Sunday Trading Hours

Dear England,


Let's be honest.  I've never liked you that much.  In fact, when I learned we had to live here rather than America, because of stupid immigration laws and such, I cried for about 3 days straight.  After that I picked myself up, dusted myself off, and I resigned myself to the fact that I could make the most of it.  Until I got here last July.  I walked in the front door of Nick's home in London and burst into tears all over again.  In fairness, England, that was his fault since he promised it would be freshly decorated and lets just say well... it was not.


Over the course of this year however, I think that we have for the most part made our peace with each other.  I no longer use the word "hate" when referring to this country, but you and I both know that I "prefer" America.  Sometimes I feel like we're colleagues that have to work together, so we're sucking it up and putting on a polite front, even though we both know that this relationship will never amount to a hardcore love affair or a forever friendship.


England, getting to this point in our relationship, it took a lot of work for me, you know?  But now I tolerate you, in fact I would go so far as to say that occasionally I even find you charming.  The views around here are pretty gorgeous if I'm going to be honest.


However, you went and effed it up yesterday.  Seriously, while I had great plans to schedule the most perfectly productive morning around a bus schedule that only runs ONCE an hour, YOUR stupid rules went and screwed up my meticulously planned morning.  My game plan was to catch the bus at 8:45, drop off our drycleaning, go to the DIY store, take a yoga class, and head home to spend the rest of the day working on our house.  Of course, I somehow manage to just barely miss the bus, making chasing it with my arms flailing like an asshole to catch it at the next stop seem feasible, but the bus driver failed to stop at the next stop and I was left in it's dust cursing public transportation.


Luckily, some woman named Janet took pity on my foolish looking self and offered me a ride to Morrisons, the grocery store where we get our dry cleaning done.  That was nice, and let me tell you England, you almost redeemed yourself there.  But When I got to Morrisons at around 9 am, I went inside, and tried to drop off my dry cleaning.  However, apparently, because it was Sunday, that means there are Sunday trading hours.  Meaning even though the store is OPEN at NINE, and there are PEOPLE working in the store, but you can't actually buy anything until TEN.  All you can do is BROWSE.  What the hell kind of sense does that make?  My plans were totally screwed up then and I just about threw a BF in the middle of the supermarket. Yes a Bitch Fit.


And you know what England, despite all the progress we have made together, this really made me want to punch you in your pasty, crooked toothed smiling face - if only you had a face, I think thats what it would look like.  Just one face to represent this wacky, backwards, wannabe version of the US.  Seriously, Sunday trading hours from 10-4?! Biggest crock of shit ever.


I'm going to try to pretend this didn't happen so we can get on with being amicable.


Sincerely,
Kelly Leigh

Baby I Like You Just the Way You Are

So I was going to post some pretty before and after shots today and show you some of the hard work we have been doing to the house, my new hair do, and my birthday present, but apparently, my memory card is broken.  Boo.  You'll have to wait to see what a hipster I have turned into lately.  Anyways here is a run down of the past few days with some Etsy art I've had my eye on just to spruce this lame post up a little bit.

Stella Stars and Stripes... 

I wish I could have one of these made of me and Doodle.

My birthday was on Saturday and it was very very good.  Nick got me a diana mini and I love her.  Then our Ikea furniture arrived and we spent the day building furniture.  We went out to a restaurant in Sheffield that was actually decent, (these are hard to find here) and saw the new Harry Potter movie.  Nick didn't get it so he has ordered all the previous ones on Love Film (similar to netflix) so we can have a movie marathon.  I hate movie marathons because my butt gets numb, but I kinda want to rewatch all the movies too.  Anyways the best part of Saturday was NOTHING bad happened.  This is unusual for my birthday.  I was soooo pleased.

Heart and Key Print

I want this for our bedroom super bad.

On Monday we went to London and I took my diana for her first real spin.  I hope the pictures turned out!  We had a fabulous time.  We went out to lunch on Charlotte Street, and shopped till we dropped on Oxford and Regent Street.  I was SO happy to find Anthropologie has opened on Regent Street, and I got a little overwhelmed at Top Shop.  I think I've been living in the country too long because the crowds were getting on my nerves.  But we still had fun.  I must say though I was disappointed the Christmas lights were exactly the same as last year, Nick says they usually change them each year, so it must be a recession thing.  Also, Selfridges is my favorite place to shop in London, but they TOTALLY let me down.  We were planning on picking up decorations in their Christmas shop, but they were all effed up and picked over.  I bought a pair of boots there too, but they have a tear I didn't notice and now I need to figure out how to return them without going to London.  Luckily, Anthropologie made up for Selfridges' suckage.

Humpback Whale Painting

This would be perfect for Nick's study, too bad it's out of our price range.

In other news, I had my hair highlighted blonde, but you can barely tell.  We picked out a new fireplace, I ordered flooring for the downstairs, I got a job interview (eeek!), it's snowing again and I'm almost finished painting the living room.  Once I get a new memory card I'll have so much to show you!!


ps. I found out what my mom got me for Christmas today, and I knew what Nick got me for my birthday a few days before hand.  Online shops should be more careful not to ruin surprises.  Do you guys know what you're getting?

Total Randomnessssssssss

Just some random updates/thoughts/etc...

• I joined a gym today. 
• This is a very good thing.  When we lived in London gyms were really expensive and smelled of BO and curry so I never joined one.  (gag me right?)  I assumed we couldn't afford one here either, but turns out we can AND they don't smell bad.
• I wonder how many spinning classes till my thighs stop touching?
• I am excited for tomorrow.  Tomorrow is the day our Ikea furniture arrives.
• I am worried for tomorrow.  Tomorrow is my birthday and it has a habit of sucking.
• I already know some of what Nick got me.  I wish I could open it now.
• I made this pumpkin bread pudding again last week and it is a tried and true classic.

• I got my hair cut on Wednesday.  I got bangs.  I always find getting my haircut in England is very strange because they always ask if I want them to wash it.  Duh?  Click here for hilarious picture of me with a very bad haircut, and previous story of English haircuts.
• I wanted my bangs to look like Miss Pandora's, but who am I kidding, they look more disheveled like this hipster girl's.  ps.  I love said hipster's apartment a lot more than her hair.
• My hair is only blonde on top so when I get bangs it makes it look like I dyed my hair dark brown, but I didn't, even though some people can't recognize me now.
• I am getting highlights next week to fix this problem.
• Bangs = Fringe in England.  English people think bangs is a dirty word.  
• As in... Johnny bangs Susan.
• I am not ready for Christmas.
• This is going to be my first Christmas away from my family, and if I think about it too hard I start to cry.
• But I bought myself red glitter nail polish and that makes me feel a little festive.
• We are going to London on Monday.  I can't wait to see the lights and the window displays.
• I miss London a little sometimes even though I hated living there.  I wish when we lived there we lived in a less ghetto neighborhood.
• I think it's funny when people here remember me only because I am American, and for some reason it really bothers me when they mistake me for a Canadian.
• I called someone an asshole on Facebook the other day because they implied that all unemployed people were lazy, lived off the government and played video games all day.  I feel kind of guilty about this, but I don't think I've played any video games this year.
• I don't like wearing jeans.  I do like my high waisted Zara pants.  
• I'm not sure if British people will ever think I'm funny, and I watched a British Christmas comedy last weekend where the main character got CANCER.  This confirmed for me that it is the British sense of humor that is the problem, not mine.
• I don't get a pitter-pattering in my heart / butterflies when I see pretty things like some girls say they do, but I really really love this dress.
• I also really wish that I had a holiday party to wear it to, like this one I threw last year.  But we don't have any friends to invite us to one, and I don't have any friends to invite to one.   
• I'm really good at throwing parties, so this is unfortunate for our nonexistent friends.
• I just realized that most of these bullet points start with I, and that I am really self centered.
• But lately I have gotten a lot better at feigning interest in other people's lives.  Note : people love to talk about their kids.  And pets.
• I actually like talking to people so it's not really feigned interest, only sometimes, when the person's kids or pets are boring.
• I quit rowing.  Sometimes quitting something is as hard as starting it, but it wasn't very good for me, and I put the money towards a gym membership.
• I can't wait to be a skinny bitch again.
• I haven't edited out my sailor's mouth as much I usually do in this post.  Sorry mom, and any one else I offended, but truth be told, I think nothing of using the C word -thanks to a year of living in the criminal colony of Australia.  They just cuss more there and I picked up some bad habits.  Someone should wash my mouth out with soap.
• Lastly, I feel like there were a lot of things in this post that I could have taken a picture of ie : red nails, hair cut, joining the gym "Before" pictures and my FUPA (yeah right), etc.  So if you made it this far and you have any photo requests, by all means, request away!

The Big Freeze

I've totally been slacking on my blogging, but last week we had the most fabulous weather.  

It snowed like crazy!!

The first day Nick and I had a bit of a spat because when we woke up the roads were covered in snow and he wanted me to iron him a shirt for work... I, of course, am more experienced in snow and knew this would be unnecessary because there was no way he was getting to work... an hour later his work called to tell him they were shutting it down for the day!  How good is being right?  I think I like it more everyday.  He had to tell me "touche" and it was the best touche ever!

Sorry Neener.... you win some you lose some!

But even better than getting to say "I told you so..." 

was we got to have a snow day together!  

It was so fun!

Heidi had a really fantastic time with her dog friends too.

And then my friend Stuart came, from Australia.  I was pretty worried he wouldn't make it because lots of trains and buses were canceled, 

but he did and I don't think he's ever seen this much snow in his entire life.

We ate snow, and made snow angels, and tarnished untouched snow.  

I passed down my Grandma's favorite piece of snow day advice to him 

"Don't eat yellow snow"

 And then we did it again.

The day was even prettier because the skies cleared and it was nothing but blue for miles.  

We walked around the reservoirs and we hiked up a massive hill and went into this really old stone church that had tombstones from the 1700s.  But of course I forgot to put my memory card in my camera so there are no pictures of that.

The snow isn't so pretty anymore.  It's mostly just a lot of ice.

Oh well, Nothing gold can stay - right Pony Boy?

Since We're On the Topic.... of Gifts

Holiday Gift Guide - Gettin' Busy Style

The other day Nick asked me what I wanted for my birthday / Christmas.  Yes I'm a December baby, bring on the double whammies.  (You summer babies wouldn't understand, it's the type of gift us Christmas babies get that have a card on them that reads, "Happy Birthday/Merry Christmas")  Don't worry - this provided me with ample whoa is me moments to cherish over the past 23 years.

But truth be told, as much as I want things, I don't actually need anything.  And with all do respect to my fellow bloggers, a lot of these Holiday Gift Guides you've been compiling are filled with a bunch of crap.... eek did I just lose half my followers?  Look it's pretty and it's nice but do you actually need it or will it just add more clutter to your already over flowing life/house/closet?  Personally I am getting a little fed up with these fancy and expensive things that are showing up in my reader lately that people seem to be convincing me I need or need to give.  For what?  Knick knacks or barely used clothes that can sit on a shelf or in a closet gathering dust?  No thank you.  Call me Scrooge but this consumerism is out of control.

Now don't get me wrong, I think the act of giving a gift is great and I do love to receive gifts (even if I am notoriously hard to shop for and end up returning most of what is purchased for me - hello I'm just making sure you didn't waste your hard earned cash!)  

Anyways here are a few ideas up my sleeve that I would much rather see under the Christmas tree this year than a $40 shot glass or some other rubbish.

• Help Them Start A New Hobby or Add to an Old One...
• Camping gear for your Bear Grylls wannabe husband
• Running shorts, an itunes gift card, or a heart rate monitor for your sister who's in training for her next big race.
• A set of oil paints for a mother who wants to be a painter somewhere down the line - why not now?
• An empty notebook and a gift card to a fancy restaurant for a little sister who wants to be a restaurant critic.
• A day at the golf course for Dad... because all the other golf gadgets we buy him end up in the basement.  Might as well stick to the real deal.
• Canicross gear for an energetic puppy... Ok I would benefit from this too.
• Take A Class
• belly dancing, learn to sew, drawing/painting, beekeeping, cooking, survival skills, rock climbing, sailing, photography.... to name a few.
• Everyone has something they'd love to try - sometimes we all just need a little push! 
• Create an Adventure or a Memory Together
• My good friend Cecilia came to visit me last winter, and her family decided not to do presents that year, instead they all went on an adventure to Germany (where her brother was living at the time)!  I would love to start this as a Christmas tradition with my family.
• Obviously, it doesn't have to be that far - a weekend get away or mini road trip can work wonders!
• Or what about a day of playing tourist in your own city, going on a hot air balloon ride, bungee jumping, sky diving, going to a comedy, ballet, or concert; matching tattoos? (kidding mom....kinda)  These could probably mostly be done without traveling too far - depending on where you live of course!

I guess none of these specifically answered Nick's original question, so if you must know, my personal picks for a gettin busy Christmas would have to be.... 

A diana mini lomography camera (My inner hipster/photography lover has been lusting over it for 6+ months).  

Hunter Fleece Socks, to keep my toes warm while on Doodle adventures in all this snow...

A class in photography, sewing, bee keeping, mushroom gathering or rock climbing.

Via

Prismacolor pencils to unleash my inner artist.

A honeymoon anywhere that ticks off a goal on my Bucket List.

A holiday in Thailand is hands down my dream destination, 

but I would be content with something a little less exotic (and less expensive!)

Via

A ticket to see Mama Monster in person...

Via

A hybrid bike, so I can ride through the countryside AND run errands all while getting skinny, saving money on gas/bus fares and not complaining about my lack of transportation and cellulite.

Also, I would also be forever grateful if he took me dancing for the night.  

I've been begging for a year!

I hope that maybe this list has inspired you to think a little outside the box when it comes to gift giving this year!  I'd love to hear more of your non-dust collecting ideas!  Please do share!

ps.  Truth be told I am not immune to wanting stuff, and I will confess I've been lusting after Zoya's sparkly nail polish for quite some time, and I "need" a pair of brown knee high boots - the zipper on mine broke over a year ago.  

pss.  Sorry if I offended any bloggers who put together a gift guide, they're just not my thing.  Except I REALLY loved Krystal's idea of a 5 year diary.... eeek I can't find it now - where did it go Krystal??  So up my alley.

psss.  Sorry this is SUCH a long post.