It's What Gets Me Through the Day

As you may have read yesterday, life behind my work desk isn't all that exciting.  However, there are some things that aren't so bad.  For instance, I get to blog while I am not doing anything at work. Or I can Google Chat with friends in the States. I can text my friends while at work. But one of the things that get me through my days at this desk...my friend Owen.  Ladies and gentlemen, by no means have I been bullied by Owen Thomas into writing this post. By no means has he sent me emails saying I "post mildly insulting comments(that’s right I took it personally)" I am writing this post dedicated to Owen solely on my own accord.  And why wouldn't now?  Owen passes me at my desk on his way to the shop and asks if I would like anything.  Now I don't want to take advantage of him, but he practically forces me to let him buy me coffee or chocolate.  Today, he popped to the shop and brought me back this...

Honestly, how good is he! 

Its these little things that get me through my day behind this desk.

Owen...this one is for you!
Oh, and I forgot to mention...I'm Owens pimp for the single ladies out there.

A Day in the Life

This is my daily view....

Actually this is my view for half the day. The other half of the day I am in the dungeon, its a room with one window that overlooks and alley and a building and I see the same 5-10 people over and over again.  That is the life of being a receptionist at my place of business.  Its pretty boring.  I answer calls, push a button to open the door and sit on Gmail, Facebook and Blogger all day long.  Sometimes I read, if I'm in the dungeon. 

This is probably the only thing that really sucks about London right now.  Yes, I am lucky to have a job and believe me I know, but some days it really puts a damper on my mood.  Ah, onwards and upwards right? I will eventually get that dream job that I'm always hoping for.  I know I will :) 

What I've Been Up To

I've been MIA again, I'm sorry. I haven't really been up to a hell of a lot, its just that I feel like I haven't done anything so exciting to post about. However, I have been playing with my camera quite a bit. I bought myself a beautiful Nikon D90 a few years back after seeing what my friend Barrie could do with it. I didn't quite play with it very much in the first year, but I have played with it over this past year.  I'm no pro, I'm very much a novice photographer, but I have been pretty pleased with someone of the photos I have taken with it.

Happy Belated Birthday To Me

I know I'm really a bit late to post this but it happens...

On the 1st of August I celebrated my 33rd birthday.  I didn't have any qualms about turning 33, I guess when "they" say that once you hit 30, you stop caring.  Well, 33 came and I rang it in with style!  I had quite a memorable birthday due to some cheeky planning by my flatmate.

My great day began when I woke up to drawing on the mirror in the hallway.

Then two dear friends of mine (Caroline and Laura) had given me gift cards to Zara to purchase this dress I had been lusting after so the weekend before my birthday I got the dress and planned to wear it on my day.  Its a beautiful, bright orange, tennis-ish dress that made me stand out and makes me very happy as my friends knew how much I wanted this dress, but couldn't work it into my budget.

After work I met up with Tom who had given me a choice of three options the week before.  The options were, comedy, a musical or a classic film.  I told him that I would pick either comedy or a musical, but he gets the final decision as I wanted to be surprised.  We met up and I followed his lead to an undisclosed location. Along the way we "bumped into" my friend Emma and come to find out, the two of them were conspiring via Facebook to make plans.  We headed to Jamie's Italian where I heard Tom say he wanted a table for five.  I'm thinking "there are only 3 of us here, who are the other 2?"  So we head to a pub to get a drink and wait. As we are waiting in walks my friend Michael (who I was chatting with on Facebook earlier and I had no clue he would be there.)  Tom hands me a card which held a Groupon voucher for 8 sessions of boot camp which made me very happy as I am trying to lose some weight and get back into shape.  We finished our drinks and went back to the restaurant, but the wait was over an hour so we headed to Browns and when we walked in, Tom already had a table booked (as a backup to Jamie's which doesn't take reservations) my fifth guest arrived (with flowers!) and it was Adrienne, one of Tom's work friends and we indulged in a lovely meal.  However, that was not the end of the night, we were still booked to see a show...a comedy show above a local pub.  It was quite intimate with only about 25 people and the acts were good, well minus the very angry American ex-war journalist who thought dropping F-bombs into his rants about the Daily Mail were funny.  We parted ways after the show and when I arrived home there was a box sitting at my bedroom door.  I opened it and found the newest member of the flat, Cecil (pronounced Cee-cil) inside.  He props my door open each day and does an excellent job at it if I do say so myself!

Before calling it a night, Tom tells me I have one more gift and places another wrapped package on my bed.  I go to open it and notice its really heavy.  Upon opening it I see that in contains a bag with Tip Tree Tomato Ketchup and Tip Tree Barbecue Sauce.  You are probably thinking, what a random present, but there is a story.  Long story short, I went to a restaurant one night and they had Tip Tree Ketchup on the table.  This ketchup is DAMN good and in fine fashion I borrowed* it from the table and brought it home.  Much to Tom's chagrin he realized that the nicked ketchup was really good. We were running out of it so I decided to "borrow" another bottle the week earlier. Well, in order to put an end to my thieving, he purchased another bottle of it.  I cannot tell you how much I laughed as I opened that gift! 

I went to bed that night a very happy girl.  Tom really went out of his way to make my birthday a memorable one.  All my friends and family made it a special day and turning 33 was a piece of cake. It was a great start to a new year and I am really looking forward to whats in store for me!


*I do not condone stealing from restaurants.

September 11th

I can recall so much about September 11, 2001 as I look back 10 years later.  At the time I was living in Massachusetts. That morning I woke up early as I had a dentist appointment. I went about my daily routine...took a shower, put on my makeup, tied my wet hair back in a low bun. I remember I put on a coral coloured halter top from JCrew, a pair of LEI jeans and my coral striped flip flops from Old Navy. I headed out to my electric blue Dodge Neon, started the car and the Britney Spears Oops I Did It Again album was playing on repeat in my CD player.  I drove the 15 minutes to the dentist...for my 9:30am root canal (yep, root canal) appointment, got out of my car, took the lift up to the dentist and sat in the waiting room. I was the only person waiting that morning and as I waited, I flipped through a magazine while I waited to be called and tried to ignore the talk radio that they were listening to. I thought it was NPR or something 23 year old Jean found very dull.  As I waited, I heard the 2 women behind the desk saying things like...
"I cannot believe that this is going on"
"It just doesn't seem real" 
"It has to be a terrorist attack"
It wasn't until I was eavesdropping that I decided to tune into what was being said on the radio.  It was at this point that the Pentagon had been hit, I still did not know a thing about the Twin Towers.  My ears immediately perked up as my cousin Michael, who was in the US Air Force at the time, worked at the Pentagon.  I listened intently trying to find out what was going on and it wasn't until a few minutes later that I found out about the Twin Towers having been hit. My level of nerves went up! It was then that I vividly remembered hearing my friend Emilee talk about how she had the most amazing view out her dorm window of the World Trade Towers.  Needless to say I was sufficiently freaked...my cousin and my best friend affected by this!?!?

I was called into the office and prepped for my root canal. Meanwhile, the dentist and the dental assistant were talking about what it going on, but I couldn't ask any questions as I had all sorts of needles, tools and hands in my mouth.  I was forced to sit there and listen to the events unfold and I was completely helpless.  I kept thinking, what if my cousin is dead? What is something happened to my friend?  Then as I was laying there I hear the words over the radio "The South Tower is collapsing!!!" 

I listened to reports of both towers collapsing, I listened to the news reporters talk of people jumping out of the windows 90 stories up, I listened to the report of the plane crashing in the field in Pennsylvania.  I listened for 2+ hours and it wasn't until I got home that I SAW the what was happening in my country.  On my way home from the dentist I called my mom to see if she knew anything about my cousin and she delivered the good news that he was OK.  We later found out that his office was in fact in the area that was hit, but that section was being refurbished so he was relocated somewhere else.  I was able to get in touch with Emilee, who was audibly shaken.  I remember her saying "Jeanie, I watched it happen out my window. I watched it happen."  I knew she would be getting inundated with calls all day and I didn't want to clog up her line, but I told her I loved her and we hung up.  I breathed a sigh of relief knowing that these 2 people were safe.

When I got home I remember making myself a bowl of instant mashed potatoes (it was soft so I could eat it) and I sat in the green chair in my living room and was glued to the television for the rest of the day.  I watched in horror the images of Tower 1 burning as the plane flew directly into Tower 2, the images of the Towers collapsing are images I will never forget.  I couldn't pull myself away from the television.  I had to watch it over and over again.  And not once did I ask what is wrong with me...because I knew that everyone around the country was doing the same thing as me.

It was a day I will never forget.  It happened 10 years ago and it's one of those things where I feel like it happened only yesterday. I've only ever been down near Ground Zero once, it was the second winter I lived in New York City.  I was on one of those hop on/off bus tours with a friend in town and it drove down that way.  I always felt like it was forbidden area to go to.  To me it was never an attraction.  I just seemed taboo.  I can recall the first time I took the subway downtown and the stop I needed to get off as was World Trade Center, it just seemed a little spooky.

I was one of the lucky ones.  I didn't lose anyone I know on that day, but every year on the anniversary I think about the thousands of innocent lives lost.  September 11th is a day I will never in my lifetime forget.

 

London Riots

Unless you are living under a rock somewhere, you will know that there have been riots in London and other major cities in England.  I'm going to be incredibly lazy and link a great post written by one of my fellow ex-pat, blog friends Betsy.  I think it gives you a good summary of whats been happening across the pond...

Betsy Transatlantically

I do want to let you all know that as of last night nothing happened in London, but Manchester was hit pretty badly.  I am on high alert, being very cautious and just heading home after work.  The riots got a little to close for comfort on Monday night as it was happening about 10 minutes from my flat.  Needless to say, I hope this all stops soon. 

xoxo

Remember When I Was In Prague (Part 2)

Here is the second half of my amazing Prague trip...

The first full day I was there, that evening Laura had a work dinner at the Prague Castle so I headed up to there with them to check it out. At the point it was now pouring rain, but for fortunately Prague has a really beauty in the rain.

Sadly, I'd forgotten to bring by camera charger and my battery kicked it just after these photos, but not before I was able to shoot this quick video!

Remember When I Was In Prague (Part 1)

I promised you that I would write about my trip so here it is...

My friend Laura was going to be in Prague for a work conference and when she was booking her trip she mentioned staying with me for a week after she was done with her work thing.  Well, come to find out, she had a room all to herself at the hotel so he invited me to come stay.  I found incredibly cheap air fare on Wizz Air (a real no frills airline) and booked it.  Next thing I know I am traveling up to Luton Airport after work on the train and waiting for my flight.  After an hour delay we boarded and I was en route to Prague.

I arrived very late at night and when I got to the hotel I couldn't get in touch with Laura as her phone was dead. I waited in the lobby and I knew she would eventually come and find me, sure enough that happened.  On the first night we stayed up until 2am chatting.  She had to attend a lecture the next morning she gave me a map with some of the main sites to see and we planned to meet up in the afternoon.  This is what I saw...

Wenceslaw Square

The Powder Tower

Me in Prague :)

The Astronomical Clock

The Tyn Church

Old Town Square

When I met back up with Laura in the afternoon we headed to the Jewish Quarter.

And then crossed over Charles Bridge to the Lesser Quarter.

Stay tuned for the other part of my trip...

A Little Taste

To quote my friend Laura, who I have just spend the last 2 weeks with..."Hey Ya'll"
I'm back and will be sure to update you on all the fun and exciting things that have been going on in my life.  If you didn't know, I just got back from a mini holiday and a mini staycation. I was in Prague for 3 days and then upon returning from Prague (the above mentioned) Laura and I got to spend some great quality time together.  I ate amazing food, drank delicious beer, saw some incredible shows and laughed like it was nobody's business.  I'm at work right now so I don't have all my photos to put in this post, but I will be sure to write a separate post this weekend showing you all the great things I have been up to. For now though, here is a taster....

Stay tuned for the more detailed stuff :)

One Year Came and Went

Sunday was my one year Londoniversary. I can't believe it, honestly the year flew by.  I remember sitting at the airport waiting to board my plane and waiting to start my life in another country.  It's been an interesting year, there have been a lot of ups and honestly, there have been a lot of downs too.  But that's what happens when you make a major change, right?!

I'm not going to go into details, but I have been going through a lot of personal issues recently and these issues have recently gotten the best of me.  I will tell you the parts that I want to divulge and I am going to leave out the really personal stuff for privacy reasons.  You may know that I've been getting really down about my job (you may have read all about it here) well, I will be truthful and tell you that I have literally had full on sobbing meltdowns due to this job. Not because I am have a bad experience or anything, but because I am so bored and broke and it has been making me miserably unhappy.  The attitude that I have taken on has really be affecting how I handle my daily life.  Well my friends, this past week, I recently hit rock bottom and was ready to hang out there.  I even went as far as calling my mom and telling her I want to come home.  I thought that packing up all my things and hightailing it back to Massachusetts would solve all my problems.  Then I woke up the next morning with a clearer head and realized that this was not what I really wanted nor was running away from it all going to solve anything.

So pretty much, I had, with the help of my friends and family, an epiphany (for lack of a better word) of sorts.  I've come to realize that I'm always running away.  When the going get rough what do I do, I run home to mummy.  Well, I will be 33 in a couple weeks and I am now going to start taking responsibility for my life...about time right?  Also, a friend said something to me the other day that really resonated with me, she said that when I hit bottom, I am down and I don't want to get back up.  I can't say she is wrong.  So something else I  have thought about is pulling myself out of this rut and the others that I'm sure will eventually come my way.  Positivity and happiness can do wonders.  If I keep positive about things then things wont seem so catastrophic.  I've also adopted a new mantra, but for right now I am going to keep that to myself :)  It really seems to be working too, which is amazing! 

As for work, the only thing I can do is keep positive about it. I am fortunate to have a job right now and while I at work I can use my time wisely and seek out opportunities while I'm here.  All is not lost!  I will get a new job and being stuck will not stick.  I hope you will stick with me on this new journey and I look forward to taking you all along.  As for journeying...I am on my way to Prague tonight for a few days and then back to London for a bit of a staycation with the lovely Laura!  I cannot wait to explore this new city and see what is has in store for me. 

Oh and as for the day of my Londoniversary, I coincidentally spent with my old roommate from New York, Caroline. We ate Thai food in a pub and chatted over a beer.  It was a lovely day!