The Randomness of a Logically Creative Mind

Rome: Day One

2012-01-28T13:16:00.000-08:00

My apologies for how long this is taking me! I have a video in pictures of our first day in Rome, but before we get there (since my slideshow didn't allow text) I'll tell you a little bit about it.

Zack and I left for the airport in the wee hours of Tuesday morning the 10th. I don't think either one of us got much sleep that night in anticipation for our trip. We rode the bus to London where in order to get to Stansted Airport we needed to board another bus. Fun, I know right?! Anywho, we arrive with ample enough time at the airport (3 hours to spare) to board our plane. We bought cheap tickets through the discount airline Ryanair and were curious as to how the process works in comparison to American flight standards and ways. We expected most things to be the same, but were shocked by how it was so different! As soon as you hand over your ticket to the stewardess at the terminal, it's literally a free for all. People shoving and pushing to get to the plane. We were so confused! Why the mad rush. We soon realized that there were no assigned seating and it's a first come first served situation. Crazy. Luckily we had no problem finding seats together, but what a crazy rush!

The flight itself lasted only about two and a half hours and was pretty uneventful. We arrived into Rome around 7pm and took a bus from the airport to Rome's city center where we walked to our hotel. There were still tons of people out and about going places which was nice since everything in Oxford closes down for the night around 6pm. Once we found our hotel and checked in, we immediately went outside to explore the nightlife around us. It was amazing to say the least. We got a little taste of what morning would bring.

Day One: The Forum, Colosseum, Piazza del Campidoglio, and General walking around...

We rose quite early Wednesday morning to begin our day. We immediately headed for the Colosseum, Forum, and Piazza del Campidoglio. I was amazed at how here were busy streets filled with the morning traffic and on either side were toppled columns from the Forum. The Piazza del Campidoglio was an incredible site. It stands on the summit of Capitoline Hill, once the spiritual heart of Ancient Rome where triumphant generals made sacrifices to the gods for giving them victories, and it a site to behold as it's massive.

I was able to grab a few shots of the Forum on our way to the Colosseum. We had tickets to see it on Friday, so those pictures will come on Day Three.

The Colosseum was astounding. I mean, I knew what to expect, but didn't expect to be completely blown away. We spent the money to go inside and I was in awe the whole time. Imagining what it was like during it's time of use, seeing the tunnels in the floor used by the slaves and fighters preparing for battle, and of course just the architecture. So beautiful and yet so horrible.

We spent most of the day just tackling those three places and after going back to the hotel and freshening up a bit, we were back on the town looking for good food and the Trevi Fountain. We found both and I say, I could sit there staring at the masterpiece the Fountain is for hours. I didn't bring the camera at this point and so was able to suck it all in.

Needless to say, we slept well that night and were ready for Day Two.

Untitled from Jessica Purvis on Vimeo.

Sneak Peek: Rome

2012-01-19T10:01:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I'm slowly sifting through the hundreds of photos I took while in Rome. It's going to be a while before I can put together a slideshow. Ugh, I'm not even halfway there and I've spent all afternoon doing this!

So, in order to tide you over, here are a couple of photos:

Random Things of Late

2012-01-08T14:11:00.000-08:00

Just some amusing things...

I see this ad every day walking home from work and just love the fine print at the bottom! See next photo

Seriously?! Did people really think they'd get him? :P

Someone painting this hilarious plate at Unique Creations the other day. I've never seen alpacas as super heros.

Costa Coffee is hosting their own version of the X-Factor. And no, I'm not entering. ;)

Being bored at the laundry mat can lead to very interesting things. Such as being dared by your husband to plank on the washers and dryers. I did without a second thought! I know, nerd right?!

For all who don't know what planking is, here is wikipedia's definition:

PLANKING: (Fad)

Not to be confused with Plank (exercise).

Person planking in a field

Planking (or the Lying Down Game) is an activity consisting of lying face down in an unusual or incongruous location. Both hands must touch the sides of the body and having a photograph of the participant taken and posted on the Internet is an integral part of the game.^[1] Players compete to find the most unusual and original location in which to play.^[1] The term planking refers to mimicking a wooden plank. Rigidity of the body must be maintained to constitute good planking.

Since early 2011, many participants in planking have photographed the activity on unusual locations such as atop poles, roofs and vehicles. Planking can include lying flat on a flat surface, or holding the body flat while it's supported in only some regions, with other parts of the body suspended.

A Little Tour of the Places I Work

2012-01-08T14:02:00.000-08:00

The first small tour is of Unique Creations. Unique Creations is a gift store and a paint your own pottery store. You can come in to buy gifts, craft items, and paint! The painting is very popular and keeps us quite busy. The owner, Pricilla, started this little store out of her home 8 years ago and now it's booming here in Summertown!

In this shot you're looking at the painting tables. Each table has to have clean paper, a cup of water, a cup of paint brushes, and a full box of the different paints. All of the pottery you see hanging on the wall was done by Pricilla. She claims she's not artistic in any way, but all of that begs to differ.

In this picture you see the bisque. These are all of the different items you can choose to paint. Pricilla always keeps a wide variety of items so that all ages find a unique creation to paint.

This section here is the craft section. You will find ribbon, paint, clay, beads, thread, needles, kits for decoupage, pipe cleaners, stickers, candle making....ect...

This section is part of the gifts section. We sell balloons, games, ornaments, home decor, candles, jewelry, and so much more. Pricilla is very good about always having something new on the shelves.

This here is the lovely decoupage cash counter. I stand here most of the time ringing people up and making drinks (the machine is all button based so I don't get to put my Costa experience to work).

This is the front of the store where more gifts are. The shelves are always full of fun things and I always make sure I don't have any money on me or I'd come home with new things every week!

Well that's all on the Unique Creations side. I love this store. I love working here. The environment is great, my boss is great, and the people are great. Sometimes it's a little stressful when a dozen moms come in looking to get their baby's footprints or handprints done. I'm getting better at that, and I get to interact with tons of lovely cute children with the sweetest English accents!

On to Costa Coffee. Costa Coffee is like Starbucks is to the States. This particular store I work at is an incredibly insanely busy spot because our store is quite large. Sorry for the blurriness of some of the shots. All of them were taken on my phone after we closed up for the night. :)

Okay, this shot is particularly blurry. Sorry! But this is what you see when you walk into our doors. You are met by our "savory" display. Here we keep a wide variety of panini's, cold sandwiches, salads, soft drinks, juice, and yogurts.

In this shot I'm starting to pan around the room. This just gives you the feel of the size of the place, and there's more you can't see!

In the front of the store, we have different seating. We have bar stools, comfy seats, and arm chairs. Kids love the bar stool seating!

The striped chairs are the most popular seating during the day as you get a good view of the busy street outside.

I do a wide variety of tasks while at work. One of them is sweeping up.

(Yes, cheesy photo, I know)

Our uniforms that we are required to wear are black pants, a button down shirt that we are given upon starting, and a long black apron that ties at the waist. I kinda like the apron as it reminds me of the fancy ones worn by waiters in nice restaurants.

This is my typical station. I man the til most days. To my leftt is part of our pastry displays. We have currently, lemon muffins, chocolate muffins, apple muffins, lemon cake, coffee cake, shortbread cookies, granola bars, brownies, crossants, cinnamon twists, raspberry bakes, and tiffins. (Tiffins are like a chocolate bar filled with nuts and fruit) Behind me is our menu. We are currently offering "Happy Hour" where every coffee drink is 1/3 off between 3-5pm.

On occasion I will make some coffee. This is our beautiful coffee machine stocked with cups and ready to go! We offer a wide variety of syrups to go in your drinks as well. Praline, cinnamon, gingerbread, vanilla, hazelnut, caramel, and mint.

A shot of the whole counter....

The til area...

Coffee area...

Now this is looking to the back of the shop. I believe we can seat easily over 60 people in here.

This is the back section of the store. People LOVE sitting back here. Even when we try to close it up as it get closer to closing, people will push aside any barrier to sit here.

Typically to deter people from sitting here when it's close to closing so we can clean, I put napkins on the table saying, "reserved." It's worked great so far!

This here is the small messy office. This is where we find out our shifts, have our breaks, and work out with our boss anything we might need.

We also have a basement where we keep all of our cups, extra chairs, tables and the like. It was freezing down there so I didn't take any pictures. :)

The following shots are a panorama of the kitchen. In this shot you see our fridges where we store our cold milk and sandwiches.

Here is the ice maker and the garbage bins in front of it.

Shelves with our sugar, stir sticks and the like. The aluminum table to the left is where dirty dishes are put until put in the dishwasher.

There is our lovely dishwasher, sink, and the dish racks.

More dish racks to put dirty dishes.

Okay, so there's a funny story revolving around this door. This is the door to the kitchen and on the other side, the green strips you see are mirrors, and as you can guess, kids LOVE looking at themselves in it. The other day, two little girls (oblivious to my presence inside) started making the most hilarious faces into the mirror! I was laughing so hard as they had no idea anyone could see them!

Looking from the back of the store to the front.

Looking to the front again.

And that's Costa for you!

I hope you enjoyed getting a glimpse of where I work and if you have any questions feel free to ask!

Happy New Year's Eve

2012-01-01T07:21:00.000-08:00

Happy New's Years from the Purvis'

Christmas in England

2011-12-26T07:22:00.000-08:00

Well, first off, Christmas here wasn't anything different really from being home with the exception of not having any family to spend it with. :( On Christmas Eve we had dinner with friends of our that we knew from back in the States and we had a great time! We opened gifts later that evening as we had church the next morning. Here are some shots...

The Buhrmaster Package

Our very Charlie Brown Christmas tree with our gifts sent from afar

My best friend representing their family even sent a little something!

Something from the Anger family!

(The family I nannied for)

My Parents

We had mentioned during a skype call to the Buhrmasters how we missed good Mexican food and in their Christmas package were these! YUM!

More Buhrmaster goodies

Thanks Chelsea! I can't wait to use this!

She also sent a Christmas decoration!

The Buhrmasters also included an ornament of Ike... :P

We also received: A notebook, magnetic notepad, tobacco, Forgotten English calendar, and notecards from my family! Thanks! The Angers sent wonderful cards the kids made (not pictured) the No Bake Jello Cheesecake, and the See's truffles! YUM! The Coasters are from Chelsea, and the scarf is from my boss Pracilla from Unique Creations

Christmas London Trip 2011

2011-12-19T13:59:00.001-08:00

Just to warn you, this post is going to be a biggin' as I took over 300 pictures.... :) I've weeded through all of my shots and compiled these

Looking out the bus window on our early ride to London

Snow!

When we arrived in London we took the "Tube" or subway to get coffee

in downtown

Beautiful scene while sipping coffee

Trafalgar Square with Big Ben in the background

It was raining when we arrived so we decided to go to the art galleries

(they're free!)

No flash photography was allowed so I shot this with my iPhone

More Trafalgar Square

We bought a day pass for the underground and it was fun!

I would love to spend a day down here taking pictures...

Holding the camera down low so people didn't feel uncomfortable with me taking their picture

The Tower of London....there's not really any tower, just a castle

Zack and I bought ice-skating tickets to skate here by the tower, but it was pouring so we didn't go. We waited until it was dry and took out picture by it instead.

London Bridge

The walk along the river Thames

It was strange to see the architecture of the tower against the modernized buildings of downtown

The clouds were really dramatic behind the skyline...

Huge tourist attraction. This sign has five different languages!

Just having fun

Shots of walking across the bridge

Awkward moment when you catch someone doing a funny pose...then they stop and see you...so you start to talk really loud and act as if you were shooting a picture of something behind them....

Looking out onto the Thames

I love shooting architecture

After walking across the bridge, we walked along the river front

Lots of cute side streets!

Looking back to the river

Interesting architecture...

So pretty!

Christmas lights

Lots of red double deckers...

Wandering around downtown as the sun sets

Can you imagine working in front of this bright wall all day?

That evening Zack and I went to see the Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty's Theatre

It was incredible! Unfortunately, no photography was allowed so you'll have to take my word for it!

After the Opera we stopped for dessert! Cinnabon!

We found a nice place to stay for the night for not to much $$ and the next morning walked down Oxford Street. Famous for all of its shops and it didn't disappoint!

Every store was packed with Christmas shoppers

We didn't try one of these this time, but we've heard they're incredible!

I forget what this department store was called but it was huge and had the biggest shoe department I've ever seen!

The clothes are hung to look like a fashion runway!

Zack and I could not believe this when we saw it. A shoe advent calendar for miniature shoes!

Tons of interesting shoes...

Prada heels...

These could be used as weapons!

Busy shopping day..

I'm sure the shopping mob told themselves this while frantically grabbing every item they saw..

The London Apple Store

Picadilly Circus: This was supposed to be like New York's Times Square, but paled in comparison..

Architectural shot crossing a bridge to walk along the river Thames

The huge ferris wheel type thing is called the London Eye. From the looks of it, you can get at least a dozen people into one of it's pods and you can see the London landscape.

It's around £40 per person, so we're not going anytime soon!

The End

Snapshots

2011-12-13T04:07:00.000-08:00

More Snapshots...

First time playing a piano in 3 months @ Regent's Park

Zack's desk in the graduate study room

Old Theology Books @ Regent's

British Keyboard: the @ is moved so the £ sign can be where our $ sign usually is

Old Theology Books @ Regent's

You Haven't Seen England Until You've Seen One of These Mini's

Free Stuff Left by People Moving Out of the Apartments

More Free Stuff... Sandwich Press and Pans

Random iPhone Shots

2011-12-08T06:04:00.000-08:00

Walking around one Saturday afternoon

Beautiful Oxford fall weather

My little bedroom window

We find a bottle almost every day in the Costa loo garbage

Speaking of Costa, two of my Polish coworkers: Magdalena & Jaga

Polish for: No deliveries in here

(Written on Costa's kitchen fridge)

Laundrymatting is how I roll....

Christmas cups!

English version of Fun Dip

The English are very literal. "Kilkof = Kill Cough"

My family wittily sent small baking cups for my miniature muffin pan!

They also sent a normal muffin pan!

More Blenheim Palace

2011-12-05T14:16:00.000-08:00

Blenheim Palace is the seat of the Dukes of Marlborough. The Palace, one of England's largest houses, was built between 1705 and circa 1724. It is most notably known for being the birthplace of Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill.

The grounds walking to the Palace entrance were beautiful!

The view of the Palace from the entrance...

Beautiful gates...

Inside the side courtyard where you buy your passes...

The architecture was designed in the English Baroque style.

Walking out of the side courtyard into the main courtyard and entrance into the actual Palace

It was so amazing to see it!

There were lots of Grecian style statues all throughout the property

The doors leading inside the Palace

Proving we were there...

Hey look! The photographer for once!

Looking up before walking inside

While looking up, I noticed these eyes staring back...

Unfortunately there was no photography allowed inside the Palace. It was very grand and beautiful!

We were able however, to take pictures of the chapel on site

The following pictures are from the grounds out back of the Palace.

They were beautiful and hard to capture the essence on camera.

Fountains

Lots of statues around the pond

This is the lower garden out back looking onto the river Thames

Looking at the rear view of the Palace

There is a small Cafe and restaurant on site, and luckily the cafe wasn't too expensive! They had so many yummy treats!

So we bought some tea and shortbread and enjoyed the view while sipping away.

The shortcake was amazing!

Our view. Not bad, eh?

There were lots of families there as well. Lots of cute chubby English kids!

Statues on the wall of the lower garden

This was the weirdest statue of them all. What is she? A bird lion thing?

The English countryside...how beautiful

I wish this picture could properly convey how vast this section of property is. Think many football fields long.

While wondering around on the property we came across what was named the "Secret Garden"

Beautiful!

Haha! Just had to take a picture of the fancy car

More of the property

On part of the property is a huge statue/monument called the Column of Victory.

It commemorates the battle of Blenheim.

The sun was setting as we trekked out to see the monument

My handsome man

The monument was enclosed in an area surrounded by an electrical fence and we soon found out why. Sheep roam freely there! They didn't like to be approached as this lady tried. They run and grunt!

It was so tall!

More English countryside...

Walking back to the Palace as the sun set.

The amazing part is is that we didn't even get to see half of the attractions here! There is a butterfly house, more gardens, more farm animals, and such. We're definitely going to have to go back!

Blenheim Palace

2011-12-04T14:08:00.000-08:00

Zack and I went to Blenheim Palace this past Saturday and had a wonderful time! More pictures and an in depth post to come.

Side view of the palace. The birthplace of Winston Churchill

Relaxing Sunday Afternoon

2011-11-21T15:09:00.000-08:00

Relaxing, reading "Watching the English" while sipping good coffee at the Wine Bar

Also, this is what our speed limit signs look like:

My Day at the Museums

2011-11-21T14:59:00.000-08:00

On Saturday while Zack was at class with his advisor for most of the day, I decided to check out the local free museums and had a total blast!

I went to the Natural History Museum first and felt just like a child again when I caught myself saying to myself, "Cool! Look at that!" and looking over to see children half my age doing the exact same thing with the same excitement in their eyes. Those kids and I. We had a moment together. We understood each other. We were both excited and the only thing we could get out of our mouths were, "cool!"

Awesome bone casts of a real life sized T-Rex

(Input childlike exclamations here...)

The T-Rex claw as compared to my hand...

Sent this picture to my husband via my phone to show him all the fun he was missing.

And that I was being attacked!

Gross fact: this museum has dead things in jars for you to gross out too. :|

This is actually called the "Umbrella Squid" aka the cock-eyed squid because the right eye is normal sized, round, blue, and sunken, whereas the left eye is at least twice the size in diameter of the right eye, tubular, yellow-green, faces upwards, and bulges out of the head.

You learn something new everyday....

Like I said, more dead things in jars....

They also have real stuffed birds that look almost alive!

A Triceratops skull!

As part of the Natural History Museum is a section called the Pitt-River's Museum.

This section is mainly on Anthropology and the study of culture

Here we have old playing cards as seen through the years...

Jewelry....

Combs used in different cultures through the years...

Cool old skeleton keys!

The historian walked me through different armor used by different tribes like this alligator skin breast plate used in Egypt.

I forget where this one is from, but the historian loved the bullet hole seen having gone through the "armor."

Helmut worn by Chinese warlords

Samurai gear!

Ancient blades

An old Luger!

The view from the second story (there are three) looking at the first floor of artifacts

Beads were used as currency and this is an original chart used to determine the value

A neat shot

The type of microscope use on ships when travelling to new places

Final shot before heading to the next Museum

The Museum of the History of Science was my next stop.

Here I saw beautiful old globes!

8ft. Mural Quadrant

Lawrence of Arabia's archeological camera

Before his military career, T. E. Lawrence worked for the British Museum at Carchemish in Syria from 1910-14. This camera was particularly versatile, allowing him to take high quality photographs of large and small objects.

The Einstein Blackboard

Einseins original blackboard with his writing still intact!

My last stop of the day was the Ashmolean Museum which is huge!

Marble statue of Athena

Mask depicting drama...

Syrian tunic

A plaster cast taken shortly after Oliver Cromwell's death

There's quite a few of these "lovely" masks around

Bronze head of Roman emperor Marcus Auralius

Anne Lucy, Baroness Nugent

Portait head of emperor Nero

Laocoon, Rome

The Trojan priest Laocoon and his sons struggle with two flesh-eating snakes that had been sent as a devine punishment for the priest's crimes.

Bronze statue of a roman boxer

Lintel with kala face

Volcanic stone, Central Java AD 800-900

In Japanese religious architecture a kala face or monster mask, like the Indian kirttimukha or 'face of glory,' was placed above temple doorways and niches to protect the shrines within from evil forces.

Church artifacts from Constantinople

Islamic art

There was a special event where this trumpet player interprets the artwork in front of him

Calligraphy

More Samurai

An old chess board

Paintings from the 1700's

I took quite a few pictures that are not posted, but then it would take you days to view this whole post! I hope you enjoy and don't mind the poorer quality of the photos than usual as they were all taken with my iPhone camera.

The Quirky English

2011-11-18T05:09:00.000-08:00

Just was trying to compile some of the different words used here to describe food, items, and such and thought I'd share them with you!

Afters: What's for afters? When you hear a kid ask this they are meaning dessert.

Beer Mat: What we American's call coasters. This is what pubs call their coasters they set your beer on.

Bevvy: When you're asked to "go out for a bevvy" this means typically a beer, but in general a beverage.

Biscuit: Cookies as we know them to be in America, but also can mean "crackers" as well. So confusing!

Bitter: When someone asks for a bitter, that's the common word for beer even if it's a lager or stout.

Crackling: The skin of the pork joint, scored with a knife, rubbed with salt and roasted so that it crunches around the outside of the meat. It's quite yummy!

Gherkin: A pickle as we know them to be.

Haggis: One of the best known and most misunderstood Scottish inventions. Haggis is made from offal and grain and is held together in a sheep's stomach. It can be grilled, fried, or boiled whole. Traditionally served with neaps and tattles (turnips and mashed potato).

Jacket Potatoes: Baked potato in America. Also referred to as "potatoes in their jackets, meaning skins, not little tuxedos!

Lemonade: Lemonade in England is a clear, sparkling, lemon flavored drink that is either drunk as it is or added to beer. Seven-Up and Sprite both qualify as lemonade here.

Mince Pie: At Christmas these are served at cafes and restaurants. They are small pies filled with mincemeat and topped off with cream or served hot with brandy butter. Mincemeat is a sweet product made from dried fuit and suet (a dry form of beef fat) and is used as a filling for mince pies, eaten at Christmas. Yuck!

Off License: Beer, wine, and spirits are sold in supermarkets here in England, though the off license still thrives. It is the place that you go to buy all of these items in the same way we American's would from a liquor store. Also called the "offy" here.

Pudding: Any sort of dessert here.

Savoury: In come cafes and tea shops you might see savouries on the menu or the black board. This is just a term for pastries that are savoury rather than sweet. They might have cheese or meat in them. Also, known as sandwiches. I was so confused the first time someone asked where our savouries were in Costa!

Semi-Skimmed: 2% milk as we call it.

It sure has been very interesting figuring all of these out by default or by kind friends! The English way of things can be quite quirky, but I'm sure they think the same of us!

Muffins!

2011-11-15T03:54:00.000-08:00

My Mom and AnnaLynn made Snicker-doodle muffins for their "Muffin Monday" and I was inspired to give it a try.

My only muffin tin

When I ordered it online, they failed to inform me that the regular size muffin pan makes mini muffins. The depth of the indentation is only 3/4 inch deep.

What a regular sized muffin wrapper looks like in comparison

Our funky little stove

I'm still getting used to having to convert recipes from fahrenheit to celsius...

Our oven rattles in such a terrible way that it sounded as if it was preparing to take off like a rocket.

This here is my homemade remedy to make it stop.

Pot + Cardboard = No Rattle...

My small messy counter

Just in case you accidentally grabbed the "American" flour, they make sure you know it's "British."

They actually don't have "American" flour, just thought it was funny to call it "British Flour"

In comparison to a tablespoon

12 miniature muffins!

(Well technically 12 - 3 = 9 miniature muffins. I had to make sure they tasted good!)

Funny....

2011-11-11T11:58:00.000-08:00

So funny and so true!

Quotes from "Watching the English"

2011-11-04T16:03:00.000-07:00

Just a few funny quotes regarding the English's sense of humor:

"What is unique about English humor is the pervasiveness of irony and the importance we attach to it. The English are conceived in irony. We float in it from the womb. It's amniotic fluid...joking but not joking. Caring but not caring. Serious but not serious. "

"The reasons for our prolific understating are not hard to discover: our strict prohibitions on earnestness, gushing, emoting and boasting require almost constant use of understatement. Rather than risk exhibiting any hint of forbidden solemnity, unseemly emotion, or excessive zeal, we go to the opposite extreme and feign dry, deadpan indifference. "

Interesting reading for sure.... :)

Saturday Afternoon...

2011-10-30T11:20:00.000-07:00

Saturday afternoon we decided to take a walk to a nearby field/park.

Zack was perfectly dressed to take shots of a pipe smoking, tweed wearing, Ray Ban sporting, Englishman.

This field is so beautiful. It's also used as a dog park...

During the summer, I'm told you can punt down this river

Taking shots of my handsom man while he was strolling.

Love this one~

I also love texture shots...

One of my favorites

Tweed against the beautiful backdrop

Chalkboard

2011-10-25T06:43:00.000-07:00

Thank you to Pattie Gowing for sending me chalkboard items as I have put them to good use!

On the left is my two week calendar and on the right are my notes...

Thankfulness

2011-10-24T02:02:00.000-07:00

I cannot even begin to express my thankfulness this past week, especially in regards to a certain thing.

First off, I would like to thank Zack's and my Mom. :)

They, in their undying and unselfish love for us, put together the idea of the care package!

We love you!

Secondly, I would like to thank all of those who contributed. :)

Even though you think you sent kitchen towels, spices, and other fun items, you really sent us your love and support.

Thank you!

All of you, you have no idea how much it meant to me to receive all of these needed items! Somethings so basic, but you all so generously gave. You are too sweet!

I am overwhelmed by the love that was contained in these items. I truly am. Thank you so much. Someday I'll be able to come home and give you all a great hug for all you've done for us!

We love you all!

Progress

2011-10-21T09:30:00.000-07:00

I found a creative way to hang my earrings!

Materials used:

Ribbon that came with our towel pack

Miniature clothes pins from Unique Creations

It's hanging from wall strips sent to us from family

Because the back of the earrings are so sharp, it easily went through the ribbon

Happy Birthday AnnaLynn

2011-10-21T03:56:00.000-07:00

My little sister is no longer little. *Snif* She turned 11 on Wednesday and from what I've been told, she had a wonderful Birthday dinner with family! Zack and I wish we could have been there.

Anna,

You are a special girl to me and Zack. I know you know this because I've told this to you ever since you could undertand what I was saying. :) You're sweet ways and beautiful smile has always melted my heart! You are growing up so fast and I just wish I could be there in person to hug you, kiss your cheek, and tell you how much I love you. But, I'll have to settle with Dad and Mom doing that for me.

We love you, Annalynn! Happy Birthday from Jess and Zack!

Just Sitting Here....

2011-10-20T07:14:00.000-07:00

Just sitting here looking out of Starbuck's top floor window at the passerby slowly flooding Corn Market street like ants that have just emerged from their nest. The sun is shining, manipulating the mind to believe that it might be warm, but alas, it is cold. Very cold. The nip of the gentle breeze is enough to send people into stores they normally wouldn't go into just to find an escape even if for a moment.

Here I am sitting at my computer letting my music seep into my soul and lift my spirit. I'm editing photos I took early this morning while waiting for our bank to open. My fingers are still burning as they eagerly try to warm themselves up on my once hot vanilla latte. There was something refreshing about wandering around in the cold not having anything I had to do, but just taking my time framing each shot and trying to not bump into the aggressive passerby as they head off to school and work.

Sometimes when I get lost in the daily activity of what I have to do (go to work, earn money, cook dinner, clean our apartment) I lose sight of the things I love to do. Even though my photo session only lasted about a half hour, I felt energized, like I had accomplished something, and put one more piece of me together again. I look at my art, my photography, my music, and my songwriting as a sort of removable hair arrangement. These aspects of who I am adorn me and compliment who I am, but there are times when that beautiful hair arrangement has to come off when it's time to get down to work. Most people don't forget about their beautiful adornment, but for some reason once mine is off, I have a hard time picking it back up. But once I do, I wonder how I could forget how this adornment makes me feel! God gave me these talents and interests and they are a huge part of me. I feel like someone who isn't just another Jane Doe. I feel like I'm set apart. There is more to me than simple housewife and supportive wife to her studious husband. Not that I don't take those roles seriously, but there is more.

I need a piano. I feel a song coming on....

Well, enough of my broken rabbit trail musings for the day. :)

Here are some shots from this morning...

One of my favorite places to shoot: St. Mary's Church

Two of these figures adorned a doorway opposite of St. Mary's Church

That's one way to keep birds away....or keep students in... :P

The Radcliff Camera

Some sort of vines growing on St. Mary's

A clever sign for the cafe inside of St. Mary's

First Item On My Wall

2011-10-17T02:07:00.000-07:00

Since I have a couple days in between my job at the craft store and the coffee shop, I have plenty of time at home. But since I'm not the idle type, I couldn't keep myself from creating something even if I didn't have much. So I pulled any resources I had and with the little money I had and created the below wall decoration.

Materials used:
Free brown packaging paper (found in a box of free stuff outside our apartments)
Tape (£1 at Poundland)
Felt Markers (Also £1 at Poundland for 45 of them)
Cardboard (From the toaster box)
Fine point sharpie (I brought this from home)

Everything was drawn free handed...

Drawing all of the boxes took the most time....

My messy crafting desk

I love these!

I have a project in mind for these cute miniature clothes pins....Hopefully that will be coming soon!

Other things of late: Hmmmnnn

*I'm going into town today to pick up a kettle, bath towels, and a bath mat. Tomorrow I pick up cups! Yay! We've been using three plastic Starbuck's cups and three mugs.

*I'm meeting a friend for coffee this afternoon to catch up

*Zack and I are planning on attending "Black Tie Night" at Regent's Park this Friday night. He will have to wear his finest suit and bow tie, and I will have to wear my fanciest dress!

*I work my first full day shift at Costa tomorrow. I'm not really looking forward to it.

*My interview with the store Laura Ashley was rescheduled again for Thursday of this week.

*Zack is studying away and slowly getting used to not having a set schedule

*Band-Aids are called "Plasters" here.

*Cuffs (like on dress pants or "trousers") are called "turn ups."

*Onesies for babies are called "Baby suits."

*If you order bacon here or see it on a menu, it's not like our bacon back home, but rather a slice of ham.

*"Puddings" are desserts. Even if it's not a pudding like we know it to be.

*"Are you alright?" means "How are you."

Until next time.....

Matriculation - Oxford University - Regent's Park College 2011

2011-10-16T07:43:00.000-07:00

Matriculation as described by Wikipedia:

Matriculation, in the broadest sense, means to be registered or added to a list, from the Latin matricula – little list. In Scottish heraldry, for instance, a matriculation is a registration of armorial bearings. The most common meaning, however, refers to the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by acquiring the meeting prerequisites.

In the English universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Bristol and Durham, the term is used for the ceremony at which new students are entered into the register (in Latin matricula) of the university, at which point they become members of the university. Oxford requires matriculands to wear academic dress with sub fusc during the ceremony.

At Oxford and Cambridge, matriculation was formerly associated with entrance examinations taken before or shortly after matriculation, known as Responsions at Oxford and the Previous Examination at Cambridge, both abolished in 1960. University-wide entrance examinations were subsequently re-introduced at both universities, but abolished in 1995. More limited subject-based tests have since been introduced.

Zack in his academic regalia (or sub fusc)

Waiting in the cold morning for pictures to begin

Keeping myself busy...

Scott and Zack

(Scott is a fellow student at Regent's and is from Portland)

The line up for the group picture placement...

Everyone adjusting hair and clothes in preparation for the photo

The best shot ever!

"Everyone get in your places"

Regent's Park's incoming students of 2011

Since guests (and or spouses) weren't allowed to attend the actual Matriculation ceremony, I went to Starbuck's to grab a cup of tea and edit photos

My view of Corn Market Street

My delicious cup of Vanilla Rooibos tea

Here is a video of the actual Matriculation Ceremony that Zack attended found on youtube, taken from someone's phone. Enjoy!

New Friends, A New Book, and Good Coffee

2011-10-08T08:38:00.000-07:00

We're sitting here at Greens Cafe in city center, Oxford enjoying good coffee and the pleasant environment of banter between everyone around us. Zack is studying German and I'm enjoying the company of an intriguing book.

But first, lets start with the first of three items in my title post. New Friends.

Last night Zack and I attended "Formal Hall" at his college Regent's Park. Formal Hall is a fancy dinner for all students and faculty plus a guest of their choice, held every Friday night, where everyone dresses up. (formal wear is required. Men must wear suits and women must wear dresses.) There is a cocktail hour held half an hour before the dinner where wine and beer are served to encourage one another to meet fellow students and spouses. This was quite fun as we met a lovely (using the English term for nice) couple , Luke and Ellie. Luke is from the states originally (Kentucky to be exact) and attended Oxford University as a visiting student one year and ended up meeting his wife (originally from Geneva) Ellie. Ellie is now pursuing her DPhil in theology here at Regent's while, Luke is looking for work. Zack and Ellie immediately had something to talk about since they share their advisor. We had great conversation with them and at least weren't standing around looking bored!

At dinner I was seated next to Zack and Nathan, a new Dphil student studying theology with the hopes of going into the ministry. He was a very friendly fellow who encouraged Zack and me to explore outside of Oxford as there are tons of little pubs and beautiful biking/walking paths in the country. Dinner consisted of our first course, a type of potato soup with a small loaf of bread. It was quite tasty even though I believe I tasted a hint of sweet potato! (yuck in general, but this time it was good) Our main course was fish (not quite sure which kind, but a bland kind for certain) served with potatoes and fresh green beans, and dessert was creme brule! Yummy!

Afterwards, everyone returned to the cocktail lounge and this is where we were introduced to Michael, Andrew, and Andrew's wife, Elf. (That is exactly how they introduced her, so I'm assuming it's a nickname) We all hit it off right away. Michael and his wife, who was not there that evening, are from Northern California, and Andrew and his wife are from Australia. Michael and Andrew are both entering their 3rd year here and seem to have a great friendship already formed. They were quite hilarious and witty and Elf and I had a great time laughing at them. :) We were invited back to Michael's flat where his wife was and enjoyed another hour of talking and getting to know each other. I really do hope that we can get together with those two couples again as we had a great time and really enjoyed their company!

It is from Michael's wife (Her name has slipped my memory) that I was allowed to borrow this great book called "Watching the English" by Kate Fox.

I have gotten through two chapters, but it is so entertaining! It's about the hidden rules of the English behavior as explained by a native English woman.

Here's an example from the first two chapters:

Weather Speak:
Many observers notice that English people speak a lot about the weather. This is not an inherent infatuation, but rather a conversation piece. It's used as a simple greeting like our American "Hello!" It's used as a sort of code to say, "I'd like to chat with you." The weather is an ice-breaker and the proper way to engage someone in conversation. You are to never contradict anyone when discussing the weather as it is seen as very bad etiquette, and foreigners are absolutely never allowed to criticize it! The English treat the weather as if it was a member of their family, and since you would never criticize someone's father, so you should never criticize the weather! Funny!

"Indeed, the weather may be one of the few things about which the English are still unselfconsciously and unashamedly patriotic. " - Quote from the author

Grooming Talk:
After you've initiated a conversation using the segway of the weather, you are allowed to engage in grooming talk. Grooming talk begins with a series of awkward introductions as no one is sure exactly what to say.

"This is excruciatingly English: over-formality is embarrassing, but so is an inappropriate degree of informality." - Quote from the author

"In fact, the only correct way to introduce yourself, is to not introduce yourself at all, but to find some other way of initiating a conversation, such as commenting on the weather. " - quote from the author

"The 'Brash American' approach: 'Hi, I'm Bill from Iowa,' particularly if accompanied by an out stretched hand and beaming smile, makes the English wince and cringe as they do not want to know your name or tell you their's, until a greater degree of intimacy has been established - like maybe marrying their daughter!"

This book is a fun read and I would recommend it so far! it's quite insightful and so humorously written that it's bound to make you laugh out loud like I did on many occasions!

So that being said, that is all for now.....

Random Shots....

2011-10-03T08:43:00.000-07:00

Just found some shots that I never posted.....

(My birthday dessert I picked out for myself from the store)

(My dinner one night Zack was out: Milestrone Soup and fresh baguette)

(List for kitchen items while shopping online)

(My first home decorations! Picture: gift from my Mom, little ceramic bowls holding tealights also from Mom, stones from Daniel, an old sauce jar with fresh greenery from outside)

(Zack and I made a deal: I get the top shelf of the bookcase, the rest is for Zack's school stuff)

(The leaves are turning colors and looking so fallish!)

(Just one of my typical texture shots. This is the pole outside out backdoor window)

Simple Things Make Me Happy

2011-10-03T03:34:00.000-07:00

The other night I Skyped with Daniel and AnnaLynn for over two hours and it was great! We played Scattegories and even made it to the 9th list! The kids read me the lists, I would write them down, and then we'd start.

Thanks guys for making my evening! I love you VERY MUCH!

Things of Late....

2011-10-03T03:31:00.000-07:00

Sorry that's there's no pictures in this post, I just haven't had time to take the camera out this weekend, but I thought I'd update you all the best I could. :)

I'm not sure if I mentioned before that I was looking for some sort of job, but I have updates on that front. Two weeks ago I grabbed my resume's and headed out to town to see if there were any jobs available by popping in and out of local stores in Summertown. There were quite a few positions available and quite a few people told me they'd get back to me. I heard nothing for the rest of the week and was thinking that maybe this process was going to be harder than I had thought. Zack was very reassuring and told me to wait until Monday morning and someone was bound to call. He really is sweet.

Monday morning rolled around and I received a call from Pricilla from a pottery painting/gift shop in town called "Unique Creations" and she asked me if I could come in for a small chat. I was out the door in half an hour to meet her. She ran me through the position she was looking to fill (someone capable to run the store alone on Wednesdays from 10am-5pm. A one day a week job that pays £60 for the day). I would be running the gift shop, helping people with painting pottery, decoupage, scheduling birthday parties, making people coffee, and the like. Pricilla offered me the job on the spot saying that I came across as very capable young lady. I immediately accepted, excited that I had landed my first part time job here in England. So I start that job this week and she'll be with me the first couple of weeks so that I get the hang of it before she leaves me to fend for myself.

Also, I landed a part time at Costa (the English version of Starbucks) which I start next Monday. I spent two days training last week and it was a blast! I was trained with another lady who was going to be working with me eventually. Her name is Erica, she's 35, Hungarian, and fun to hang around! We clicked right away and had fun learning the process together. The first half of our first day of training, we were trained by the assistant manager, Ansar (a very loud Indian). He was very funny and was always making fun of picky people. The barista who was also a part of the team was Nina, and the other worker on the til was a Nubian named David. When the manager did finally show up, he was a 23 year old Brit with boundless energy. A very eclectic environment. An Indian, a Brit, a Hungarian, an American, a Nubian, and a Spaniard. Erica and I had a great time and after two days were told that our training at this location was finished and that we were to finish the training at our location in Summertown. I can't wait to start as it will be whole different world for me.

As far as school is concerned, Zack hasn't officially started but has been attending all sorts of orientation meetings, meet and greets, and general welcome classes before he starts. He went to his college's orientation last Friday and had a great time meeting some interesting people. I met a man from Portland, Oregon and Encinitas, California. How ironic that he meets two people from where we lived in the same college! Everyone who attended went out for beer afterward and Zack had a great time.

Keep him in your prayers as he has a German evaluation coming up as part of applying for the Fullbright scholarship. He's pretty nervous as the woman who'll be giving it to him has mentioned that it is quite hard, and he's been studying like crazy.

We went to church this Sunday at an anglican church called St. Ebbs and it was interesting. Our friend's Josh and Erin told us that they were going to the 11:45 service, which is more college aged people, and so we decided to join them. It was like a Crossroads youth group meeting. It was 3/4ths singing praise songs and not really any good liturgy taught. So I think we might go back to St. Andrew's. This is a hard decision because the three couples we know here are all going to St. Ebbs and we don't want to be the outsiders. We'd love to worship with friends, but we think hearing the word preached right is more important. so what if the service we attend at St. Andrew's is full of elderly people. Maybe we'll be invited to join the Bridge Club! :P

Other than that, we're just trying to slowly collect household items and making our home "home." Well, that's more me than Zack. :) It's been in the high 70's here and been wonderful. Our forecast says to expect downpours this weekend, so I'm trying to soak up the last bit of sun I can! Goodbye California tan and hello pastiness!

More updates to come. I hope to get out tomorrow or Thursday with the camera.

Three Years

2011-09-27T03:55:00.000-07:00

It's been three years exactly today. About this time on September 27th 2008, I was probably finishing up pictures with the bridesmaids, fussing over my hair, and anxiously anticipating when the time would come for me to hold my father's arm and be given to the man of my dreams. As I think back on that day, it seems just like yesterday. The feelings are still fresh and I remember every single second.

It's been three wonderfully busy years today. Three years filled with all sorts of adventures, personal growth, and most importantly our learning to trust, love, and lean on each other. I wouldn't take back a single event, emotion, or situation. I'm loving every second of our life together and thank God every day that He gave me the most amazing gift He could have given a lost soul (besides salvation of course) was a loving husband in Zack.

I find it amazing how God knows just what you need in a spouse. God knows that I am stubborn and so He gave me a man with incredible patience. God knows that I'm fragile at times and gave me a man who can handle tears and knows just how to make it better. God knows that I need a protector and a fellow fighter to make this marriage work, and He gave me a warrior.

Zachary James, I am amazed and so blessed to be your wife. May the Lord bless us with many more to come! I want to grow old with you. I want to go through all of life's motions with you. All of the ups and the downs. I want to be able to someday look at our great grandchildren with you.

I will love you forever.

Some pictures of our time these past two years:

First Year Anniversary

At Aaron and Tatiana James's Wedding 2010

Photo Shoot Near Our House in CA

Graduation from Westminster Seminary 2011

Enjoying Our Last Couple of Months in CA

Hiking Multnomah Falls While Visiting Home 2011

Now Life Has Brought Us Here: England

Slideshow of our Trip to London

2011-09-26T11:15:00.001-07:00

*Correction: 2012 Olympic Games

Slideshow of Sights in Oxford

2011-09-20T14:53:00.000-07:00

Untitled from Jessica Purvis on Vimeo.

Sorry for the partial music that ends halfway through! I haven't quite mastered the slideshow/movie maker yet. :) Enjoy!

Flat Tour

2011-09-18T09:39:00.001-07:00

Untitled from Jessica Purvis on Vimeo.

Update on Oxford Life

2011-09-18T08:17:00.000-07:00

Okay, so this post is a biggen’ so please bear with me!

Well we’ve officially settled in. Our flight from LAX to Heathrow was long, but we were comfortable. Our plane was huge compared to the smaller planes we’ve been on for shorter flights and was equipped with screens on the back of each seat for entertainment. We were able to watch movies, tv, play games, watch youtubes, listen to music, order food, and track where our plane was at any chosen moment. Haha! I sound like a kid in a candy store, completely enthralled by its surroundings. :)

Boarding....

Looking out the window to LAX airport

Somewhere above the states

The cloud covering England as we flew in...

The food served for dinner was okay. I mean, we weren’t expecting much anyways, but when your mashed potatoes looks like a rectangular cube from the game Tetris; I think anyone would have reservations! I ate it all though. I was most excited about the cute little Haggen Daz chocolate ice-cream that was for dessert. Along with dinner, we were offered complimentary drinks. Zack went with a glass of Merlot (which they came and refilled for him) and I went with champagne. Yum! So we toasted to our new journey and settled in for the long haul.

Daniel, here is a list of games they offered on the plane. Just as promised!

Tetris

Battleship

Pacman

A racing game (Sorry, I don’t remember the title)

Poker

The neat thing about the games was that you could play with anyone else on the plane. Zack and I played each other on battleship and passed maybe 20 minutes in total.

Upon touching down in Heathrow, we now had the task of figuring out how to get all 5 bags plus 2 carry ons to the bus. Luckily, the trollys were free here and not $4 each like at PDX, so we loaded up two of them and had a fun adventure trying to get them down the ramps that led us to the bus station! I’m sure you can imagine the fun involved going down ramps with 50 pound bags seriously attempting to smash you into the walls!

Finding our bus wasn’t hard and we waited only 10 minutes before we were loaded up and on our way to Oxford. The bus ride lasted an hour and 20 minutes, but in no time we were off the bus and getting into a taxi (or “Coach” here) that took us right to our flat.

Scenes of England on our bus ride...

Small cars everywhere...

Driving on the right hand side...

Beautiful countryside...

The following pictures are from the nearby town of Headington...

During this whole time of getting to our flat, we were blessed with wonderful weather and no rain!

While our flat is small and a little quirky, it has grown on me. We were furnished with a small dining table and three chairs, a three shelf bookcase, a desk, a love seat, two end tables, a small set of drawers (for the living room), a bed, three small dressers, a floor lamp, and a small desk lamp. All are in great condition and once again we are truly blessed for not needing to go buy these items. The bed will take getting used to as you can feel the boxspring through the mattress, but hey, such is life eh? I’m hoping to find a slip cover for the love seat as it’s....not gross.....but could use a little facelift. :)

The first night was terrible. We didn’t have sheets or blankets to sleep on, so we used jackets and sweatshirts for pillows and covers. To say the least, we didn’t sleep and were up and outta there by 7am the following morning. After grabbing some much needed warm coffee, we headed out on a mission to buy sheets, a duvet, pillows, toilet paper, and other essentials. We ended up making two trips into Oxford’s city center which is a round trip of 4 miles. So in total we walked around 8 miles that day carting home goods back to our apartment. It was a good workout and I was shamefully confronted with how out of shape I have become.

That evening we had dinner with some friends we knew from Escondido. The husband is studying here and they’ve been here for a year already. It was nice to not cook--we hadn’t made it to the grocery store yet--and connect with familiar faces. The wife, Erin, filled me in on all sorts of wifely things to know. Such as, the best places to shop, where to find the best deals, and how cooking here is different. We had a great time.

Today we went to an Anglican church called St. Andrews and heard a great short sermon. The service was a mix of traditional anglicanism with contemporary evangelicalism. The acoustics were amazing and it was strange to see modern sound equipment in an old English church. We were introduced upon arrival to an older British couple who insisted we sit with them. They told us that they had a friend who went to Oxford and were really interested in hearing what Zack was studying. They were very sweet and said that if they weren’t heading to Denver in two days they would’ve offered to have us over for lunch, but since that couldn’t happen this week they took our email and said to keep in touch. Hopefully we hear back from them soon.

Other than that, we’re slowly adjusting to seeing people driving on the wrong side of the road, hearing people call umbrellas “Brolleys”, taxi cabs “coaches”, vacations “holidays”, whipped cream “squirty cream”, and non packaged vegetables as “loose veggies”.

We are going to be walking back into town tomorrow and I plan on taking pictures, so stay tuned!

We love you all so much!

Just a few random shots:

The first meal we made here...

A scale that the previous tenant left! Yay!

My handsome hubby after church....

Family Photos

2011-09-17T13:09:00.000-07:00

The night before we left the United States, we got together with our families one last time....

A rousing game of volleyball with the kids....

(Daniel and Jackson)

(Mattea and Ryon)

(Ryon and Austin)

Anna serving...

Family photos...

Funny photo time!

Me and my sister-in-law Christina goofing around...

What we look like when we're behaving... :)

Me and both my sisters-in-law, Cali and Christina

What we look like when we're misbehaving... :)

Zack and his brothers-in-law, Brian and Jeff

Boys will be boys...

Our parents...

Our misbehaving parents... :P

And of course, all of the kids....being kids!

We love you all!

More Pictures from Home

2011-09-17T13:01:00.000-07:00

While at the Seiferts:

We went to Lewisville for the afternoon...

The kids swam in the river...

It was a beautiful day and Mom and I had great conversation!

Family pictures one day that Jeff and Christina came out...

There always has to be one of these....

I was honored to be asked to be the photographer for mom's famous Muffin Monday post....

She's a great baker!

The ladies of the house...

My parent's new kitten...

Oops! This should have been first, Labor Day....

My cousin Mary with her new baby Sofia ...

Caught in the act...

Family pictures with my (starting from the left) Aunt Shelly, Uncle Eddie, Mom, and Aunt Beth

All of them with their mom, my Grandma Lorraine

All of them with their dad, my Grandpa Ed

Still more to come!

Posts of our Vist Home

2011-09-17T11:55:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I'll need you all to bare with me as I post my pictures I took while visiting family. :) Once I get through those, I'll post England pictures!

Our time with the Buhrmaster's consisted of:

Spending time with my sister Jaime....

Loving on this handsome dog....

Hanging out with cool people like my sister-in-law, Mattea

The look of death....Haha!

Hiking to Multnomah Falls....

Me and Sabina!

Pondering....

The smoke from the fires in Oregon....

I'm so out of shape that my legs were killing me by this time...

We had a great time staying with them and we miss them so much!

Song

2011-09-14T16:35:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting on the floor of our terminal in LA waiting for our flight and wanted to share a song I wrote. It's called goodbye.

Goodbye

I hate seeing it on their faces-
That look in their eyes-
As we all prepare to utter those words we despise-

The time is running out-
As we cherish these moments-
But sooner or later we will have to relent-

Chorus:
Here we are tonight-
Trying to hold our years in while we say goodbye-
Knowing that it's not forever-
These are ties you just can't sever-
Please don't cry tonight-
I hate saying goodbye-

This is not forever-
Not a permanent goodbye-
Just a "see you later" we'll be home on a little while-

It's a little sad-
But an exciting new journey-
We won't forget all our friends and our family-

Chorus:
Here we are tonight-
Surrounded by our friends and family-
All saying goodbye-

Knowing that it's not forever-
We'll be back and all be together-
Please don't cry tonight-
I hate saying goodbye-

Here's to our new beginning-
Let's raise a glass to our memories-
We moved to Cali, I became a nanny-
New friends have won their way into our heart-

Each an every one of you-
Holds a special part in our hearts-
Goodbyes are sad but also the beginning-
Of a new stage and new memories to be made-

Chorus

I love you everyone in our family!

Napa Valley

2011-09-08T23:32:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I'm way behind on my blog posting, but here are pictures from our two day stay with Zack's Aunt and Uncle.

Our first stop on our wine tasting tour: the Champagne Vintner

Inside the tasting room

Cool modern art display

They had beautiful grounds here

Yummy champagne

Zack's Uncle Rolf, Aunt Andrea, and himself

Zack's Uncle Rolf, Aunt Andrea, and myself

Another famous winery!

Grapes ready for harvest!

Another winery with gorgeous grounds!

Pictures outside!

V. Sattui Winery was one of the more historic looking buildings

Along with the wine, they sold many delicious looking desserts and pastries

Cheeses, garlic, and peppers all hung from the rafters

Fresh bread!

The grounds of yet another winery

St. Clements Winery. We ate lunch here and it was the most relaxing setting! Plus who can resist an old farm house with this gorgeous property?!

Castello di Amorosa winery was built exactly like a castle

Darioush Winery was pretty awesome looking!

All in all, Zack and I had a wonderful time visiting with Rolf and Andrea! We wish that we lived closer and could visit them more often. :)

Stay tuned for more to come of our stay with family in Vancouver!

Solvang

2011-08-30T19:26:00.000-07:00

While on our way to Napa Valley, we stopped in the little Danish town of Solvang to spend the night. When we awoke in the morning there was a huge old car show!

And then there was this beauty....

Yummy Danish Pastries!

Trying on hats that you would see worn to the horse races!

Hilarious baby onesies...

Old printing press...

Hans Christian Andersen

My Last Day at Work and on Our Way to Napa

2011-08-30T16:42:00.000-07:00

Last thursday was my last day at work. It was a bittersweet ending to a wonderful two years being a nanny. I couldn't have asked for a better family to work for than the Angers! Any nanny would be lucky to have them as their employers. :)

Here are some shots I took of my last day:

These are of the golf cart tunnels nearby...

Harrison and I having some one on one time before picking up Teagan for the day...

Before picking up Alex, Teagan and I went to the library to read books...

I had to grab a couple more absolutely adorable shots while walking back to the school...

She's just too cute!

My and Alex's turn at some photos...

Must have goofy ones too...

Her famous "duck" face. :)

Max's photo time!

Alex's hair after taking off his helmut...

I really miss these guys....

Our empty apartment. So strange...

Our Goodwill pile...

Goodbye California apartment and hello road trip to Napa....

In the tunnel on Highway 1 stuck in traffic...

We saw lots of fancy cars with expensive houses along the coastline...

And to pass the time, I decided to see how many people I could take pictures of without them noticing while stuck in traffic! Well, at least I kept myself entertained!

Stay tuned for more!!

The New Me

2011-08-18T20:20:00.000-07:00

So I decided to be brave and chop my hair. What do you think of the new me?

The bangs don't look very good in these shots because they're laying more flat than normal, but you get the general idea. :)

Oh, yeah. Moving is going well. It's been in the 90's here. So a cold one of these is nice in the evenings!

Things of Late

2011-08-13T17:05:00.000-07:00

Need I say more?

This is our rental car for the week! We booked a subcompact car, but when we arrived at Avis they were selling off their old fleet and only had this and two minivans available. The Avis lady offered it to us for the same price as the little Hyundai we were supposed to have and who could have said no! Cool, huh!?

Hanging out at Starbucks

Okay, so we have no idea what this is, but it's been in this tree outside of Starbucks for at least the past two years we've been here. Kinda like the friendly Starbucks Monster....

As far as packing goes....well, we're getting there. We only have a couch and Zack's desk chair in our living room, so selling things has gone well. Someone came and picked up a bunch of items we listed as "Take all for $30," which has made part of our packing easier.

Moving has really hit this past week. Hard. In ways, leaving California seems just like our vacations back home for Christmas. We're packing, we'll be home for two weeks, and then coming back. Except we're not. At least not back here to Escondido. Not back to the four amazing kids I nanny. To their parents, especially their Mom who I consider a great friend. This will be harder than I expected. I figure, as is a common pattern with me leaving loved ones, that my last day at work will arrive and the goodbyes at the moment won't be hard, but the drive back to our apartment will. I expect tears and deep sadness that I will no longer be a part of those kids lives. And man, I have enjoyed every moment of it! I will be sad that I won't get to see them everyday, but also hope that we will stay in contact through the years as the Anger family has won a very special part in my heart. They are a very special family and and mean a lot to me. I've been blessed to be a part of their lives for two years and they a part of mine. I will miss them terribly. :) I will definitely cherish my last week there.

What I've Been Up To....

2011-08-10T20:27:00.000-07:00

While Zack works these past evenings, I've been busy downloading all of our CD's to our iTunes library. It's been quite the task as we have a LOT of CD's. :)

Passing the time enjoying a sparkling cranberry drink from Trader Joe's

Writing utensils for....

...addressing all of our "We're Moving" cards

Do you remember the picture of all of our kitchen items we were selling? Well, here's what's left...

Slowly but Surely

2011-08-05T20:12:00.000-07:00

Slowly but surely we're chipping away at packing. The picture below is our sell/goodwill pile. All except the boxes on the end. Those are Zack's books we're bringing with us back home.

One day at a time. Three weeks to go.