My last day in the UK

It's my last day in the UK....it's been a terribly busy week. I arrived last Sunday, went to Mum and Dad's, had dinner, made it to 11pm hanging out with Tim (which is amazing when you're struggling with jetlag). Monday, more of hanging out - went to Kesgrave Kitchen for a greasy spoon and a tad of shopping but amazingly didn't buy a thing. Tuesday I went to London for work - the hotel was weird...didn't sleep a wink as the bed backed onto the hallway meaning everytime a guest walked past the door slammed. Had great meetings all week and met loads of people. I think I'll like my new job too.

This weekend has been great too. Met Jenny and Frankie on Friday night for Chinese and Diana for Thai on Sat night.....Fabulous! Sunday my friend Debbie and I made it to Felixstowe for their market although it was bitingly cold. The waves were amazing - crashing against all the beach huts and high too. Had my last portion of chips wrapped in paper looking at the sea.....how traditional is that???!?

I'm now sitting at Tim's having done most of my packing, checking email, cooking a chicken in the crockpot (slow cooker to you brits) for dinner. Mum and Dad are coming over later. Will be a good last evening. I leave tomorrow morning for Heathrow - I'm really looking forward to being home and seeing Trev again although he'l be leaving for Chicago on Tues morning. ....will update when I'm back the other side of the Atlantic.

Four things

Thanks Penny for this.....i've missed this exchange. So, here goes:

Four jobs I've had:
1. Project Manager
2. Client Training Manager
3. Application Development Manager
4. Secretary/Clerical Assistant

Four movies I can watch over and over:
1. Rocky Horror Picture Show
2. 007 Movies (not George Lazenby or Roger Moore though...)
3. Formula 51
4. Fierce Creatures

Four places I've lived:
1. Cedar Rapids, IA USA
2. St Louis, MO USA
3. Ipswich, England
4. Stowmarket, England

Four TV shows I love (only 4 is very very hard....I have loads and loads and loads):
1. CSI (Las Vegas)
2. House
3. Wire in the Blood (BBC America)
4. Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps (only in the UK, have the DVDs....blinking brilliant)

Four highly-touted TV shows I detest:
1. American Idol
2. Grey's Anatomy (I really really don't get this one)
3. Apprentice (it was good the first time around, maybe even the second....but c'mon, it gets old)
4. Extreme Makeover (regular or home addition...)

Four books I'd recommend to anyone, anytime:
1. Tom Peters - the Brand You 50
2. I can make you thin (new on my list, I'm trying it with the CD hypnotist....it's working)
3. Angels and Demons/Da'Vinci Code (angels and demons is the pre-cursor to DaVinci....and I think it's better personally but both worth a read)
4. Richard North Patterson books (most of them anyway)

Four places I've vacationed:
1. Australia
2. France (Brittany - north west coast)
3. Majorca
4. England

Four of my favorite dishes:
1. Toad in the hole
2. Full English Roast Dinner
3. Trifle
4. Chocolate cake (well, actually....ANYTHING chocolatey)

Four sites I visit daily:

1. Blogger
2. Bank/Credit cards
3. www.thesun.co.uk - tabloid UK newspaper website for all the juicy UK gossip
4. www.reuters.com or www.reuters.co.uk - for "proper" news

Four places I would rather be right now:

1. Heron Island, Australia
2. In the bar with good friends sinking back a few drinks (remember the ol' days in Cedar Rapids....fabulous)
3. Hanging out with Trev at home
4. Same as #2 but with my UK friends and family

Four bloggers I am tagging: (another toughie - I've only got two friends reading my blog and blogging themselves and one of them tagged me!)
1. Penny (so glad you're well enough to blog again)
2. Jenness and Trienne
3. Tim (doesn't blog...although trying to convince him to)
4. Mum and Dad (doesn't blog.....want them to)

Not much to report...

...but going crazy nonetheless. I've been back in St Louis for a week - got over the jetlag (I hate it), have cleared out the study, closet, kitchen ready for moving. My darling husband is of the mind that "we'll just pack it all up and worry about it later"....however I'm not. The thought of paying to move stuff to NYC only to pitch it is more than my mind can cope with. Trev's gone off to chicago for work now so I'll be taking pics of the red sofas, big ass book cases, PC, monitor, plus a whole host of other stuff to get rid of. My plan before I leave for the UK is to have cleared out the remaining closets and boxed up the books. We've already had about 4 boxes for Goodwill.....yeah!

Friday I'm off to Chicago until Saturday night when I travel back to the UK. I'm working Tues-Fri but will at least be able to hang out with my family and friends. Mum's doing great - she's recovering well. Had a bit of a scare with an infection but all seems to be good now which is fabulous.

Valentines day was cute - I got a very squishy teddy bear (not Trev's usual choice of gift) and card. We went for cocktails at Cafe Bellagio and then for dinner at the Tachibana for sushi etc. Was fabulous.

I'm finally getting excited about the move to NY and the job. All now sorted out about who I'm working for and what I'm doing. Had my first meeting yesterday - and sounds right up my street. It's been a long time since I've been on the front line with clients....so we'll see how this goes. HOpefully my market and finance knowledge will grow leaps and bounds.

Oh yeah, and my friend Penny who's really sick right now is hanging in there. If you know her blog you can get the details there. Really must call her.........

OK, I really realy must work as I'm supposed to be finishing my monthly report for January (yeah I know, I'm really really late).

What a relief!

Today was the day to find out the results of Mum's surgery. Phew! What a relief...she was given the all clear. Now the road to recovery from a hysterectomy but other than that - nothing! She had a mass removed that was huge which is great - but no cancer. We'll be celebrating tonight.

I'm flying back on Tuesday and even though I had a couple of weeks in England at the end of Feb it's possible that I can change that now. I have even allowed myself to start thinking about the move to New York again.

On a totally different subject, i haven't heard from Penny yet - she had a doc's appointment this past week and she's not updated her blog. Hopefully they're sorting her out.... when I'm back home next week i'll catch up with her.