We Don’t Have the Swine…

…but we do have something. We’re getting better but neither of us have much energy. What little energy we do have today is reserved for getting packed so we can drag ourselves out of bed and into a minicab at 6 am tomorrow. We are both excited to be coming to Texas, but neither of us are excited about flying. The flight from London to Dallas is tolerable at best but couple it with a hacking cough and sinus pressure, it’s pretty much just going to suck. I am sitting on the couch right now making myself think of dinner at Nana’s to try and make myself get up and go pack (no, I haven’t started, don’t look at me like that). I will keep blogging while we are in Texas but probably only around once a week. If you’re a London friend, we’ll miss you and see you again soon. If you’re a Texas friend call/email/facebook me and we’ll go get some Whataburger!

See you soon!

Lookie What We Got!!

This is now about 250ish yards away from our door! There are already Domino’s all over London but there is not one that will deliver to us. Until now! There are other pizza places that will deliver to us. We LOVE Firezza and we get fresh artisan pizza cooked in a wood burning oven and topped with things like feta cheese, buffalo mozzarella, pancetta, rocket, etc etc. But sometimes you just want some pizza pizza. Does that make sense? Of all of the American pizza chains that have made it over here (Pizza Hut, Domino’s, Papa Johns) Domino’s tastes the most like what we would get in Texas. So by the time we get back it should be up and running. “When we get back” you say? Where are we going?

We’re coming to Texas for 3 WEEKS!!! We leave next Wednesday at dark thirty in the morning and fly non-stop (praise Jesus) to DFW! Mike hasn’t been home since last Christmas and we are both counting the hours until departure. We would also like to take this time to apologize to everyone that we are going to visit. We won’t get to spend as much time with anyone as we would like to. Please don’t hate us for it. 3 weeks is a long time, but we have two full wedding weekends, Mike will be working the whole time, and we have a list of people to see/places to go/fajitas to eat that is a mile long.

Although now that we don’t have to go to Domino’s, we may have some more free time.

Help for Women Abroad

For the past few months, I have been volunteering as the representative for the American Women’s Club to FAWCO (Federation of American Women’s Clubs Overseas). FAWCO is a great organization that does many things to better the lives of expats and women everywhere. One of the causes this year is Americans Overseas Domestic Violence Crisis Center. On behalf of the AWC, I got to go to an awareness meeting on Saturday to learn about the organization as well as learn how to pass the information to others.

Dealing with everything from banking to housing is more complicated when you are living in a foreign country and so it is no surprise to learn that getting out of a domestic violence situation would also be more difficult. Truthfully, luckily, thankfully, I have never given any thought to having to get out of an abusive home, but I have seen movies and know that if you need to get away you pack your stuff and your kids, put them in the car and drive to your mama’s house. Obviously, most situations are more complicated than that but LEGALLY there is nothing stopping someone in the US from leaving and filing for divorce. Overseas, the typical reaction to flee the country with your children is sometimes impossible and often wrong. Many women overseas are either trailing spouses or have moved to her husband’s country and only have money that is provided to them and would have no means of purchasing a ticket away. The founder of the Crisis Hotline was delayed leaving her abusive husband for years because he had hidden their three sons’ passports and it takes both parents to get another one issued. Read her story here. Sometimes leaving the country is possible but not advisable because of the Hague Convention treaty on child custody. You can be forced to bring your children back to the country of ‘habitual residence’ in order for custody to be determined as well as face criminal international kidnapping charges. For many women in foreign countries there is also a language barrier that prevents then from getting the proper help.

The Americans Overseas Domestic Violence Crisis Center is a hotline that is available from almost every country in the world and they are staffed with people who are familiar with how to handle the complications that arise from escaping while living abroad. They have international family lawyers who donate hour long legal advisory meetings, and if leaving the country is possible, they (with the help of Virgin Airlines) can help get families to the US. It is an amazing service run by an amazing woman by the name of Paula Lucas.

Please don’t hesitate to pass on this information to anyone you know who is living overseas that may need help. You can call them with the country’s AT&T access code followed by 866-USWOMEN. Email them at crisis@866uswomen.org or go to their live chat on their website 866uswomen.org.

I’ll be back to blogging about happier topics on the next entry but sometimes information can be too important to be left unsaid/unblogged.

Happy 30th Mikey!!

My darling husband is turning 30 today. THIRTY. Since I showed cute recent pictures of him last year for his birthday, I thought I would show some from his younger days! Really younger days.

I love pictures of Mike when he was little. I think he is absolutely and completely adorable, though I may be a tiny bit biased.

Happy Birthday Mike! You’re my best friend in the whole world. You are the most wonderful husband I could ask for and I can’t wait to spend your next 30 years together. Love you.

A Nice Cold Brew

I really don’t know how to measure adjustment to a new place. The cultural training we took before we moved here gave us a cycle to go by, but it really seemed more like a grief cycle than adjustment. I think you have moments when you realize that you are adjusting. One thing that I like to look at is what we bring back to London with us from Texas. I went for a quick visit about a month after we moved. It was for a wedding which means that the trip was fast and crazy and yet I managed to bring back an entire suitcase full of things that I thought we DESPERATELY needed. I didn’t think that we could live without them. Each time I go home there is less and less that I feel I must bring back and less and less I feel like asking for people to bring us when they come visit. I love when our parents come visit and bring us lots of goodies from home but that has become a treat rather than a necessity. We have adapted and learned how to cook things that we used to buy and learned that even though the packaging looks different some things over here make a pretty good substitute for things from home. There are also things that we just don’t make over here. I attempted to make banana pudding with some British biscuits (cookies) and it just wasn’t right, apparently Nilla Wafers are crucial to the success of said pudding. But I think we are ok living a banana pudding-less life for a few years. I was pondering the things that I want to bring back when we go for our visit in less than two weeks (!) and realized that my list was shorter than ever. I bought a bunch of things on my trip home over the summer that I ended up leaving in Corsicana because they weighed down my already to heavy bags and I never even missed them. I was feeling very proud of myself for my short list of goodies to bring back and then I went out with my friend Lindsey for lunch and now I have something new to add that I have never even bought before. I have to say though: she’s a genius.

The stereotype of Brits drinking all the time is not very far off at all. But I think I have pinpointed a reason: there is nothing else to drink. If you go to a restaurant you may either get a drink (wine or beer), pay several pounds for a tiny bottle of coke that does not get refills or drink tap water. Really, beer just makes more sense. England needs iced tea. Liver failure would drop tremendously if they would just serve big glasses of iced tea at restaurants. I have found one place that serves it but they don’t have Sweet-n-low and everyone knows that sugar doesn’t dissolve in cold tea! So when Lindsey and I were having lunch with some other women from the AWC on Tuesday, we all ordered tap water and Lindsey whips out her bag and starts passing these bad boys around and low and behold my life has changed:

I will be buying several boxes of these beautiful little things and carting them back to London with me. I will also become someone I make fun of- the woman who carries sweet-n-low in her purse. Don’t even care a little bit. Make fun all you want because I’ll be drinking iced tea in England!

See you in two weeks!!!

Autumn Snapshots

I think this may be a controversial view but I’ll tell you anyway: I like the weather in London. Right now we have fall. Real fall. Not Texas fall. It’s chilly and windy and the leaves are falling and it is getting dark earlier and I love it! We stayed in this weekend and cooked and watched movies and just enjoyed the newly chilly weather. Here’s what fall looks like in the Fish and Chips and Salsa Casa.

Mike loves carving pumpkins!

Pretty fall colored roses!

Roasted pumpkin seeds. Yum.

Green Chile and Cheese Cornbread

Stuffed Poblano Peppers with Cheese Sauce. Got the recipe from Paula Deen and it only reaffirmed my love for her.

Pumpkin Bread. I didn’t realize how much the recipe made when I started mixing so now I have four loaves of pumpkin bread sitting on my stove. Any takers? I would appreciate someone taking it from me so I don’t eat it all. Thanks.

That is what our fall is looking like so far. I can’t wait to indulge in a little high school football in a few weeks so that my fall experience is complete!

To everyone in Corsicana, you are in our thoughts and prayers this week. Once again, our hearts are with you even though we can’t be. Love you all.

80s Night!!

People here love their theme parties. You can’t go on any form of public transportation on a Friday or Saturday night without seeing groups of girls all dressed up in some theme or a bunch of guys with crazy tshirts and wigs. Many times it is bachelor/bachelorette parties (the call them hen parties and stag dos here). There are also several 80s bars/clubs in London. I think you see where I am going with this. My friends and I have talked about doing an 80s night forever but just hadn’t done it, until a few weeks ago. It was Tamara’s birthday so we all decided to put on our best leg warmers and stretchy pants and party it up 80 style! One thing that I did not consider was that because none of us live really close to each other we were just going to meet at the club. That, of course, means that I would have to ride public transportation dressed in my 80 get up. Awesome. The actual club was interesting. It has posters of 80 bands and Top Gun was playing on a loop at random tvs scattered out around the bar area. The dj played 80s music and we danced and danced and danced. Let me take you through some of the better pictures.

The awesome dance floor. It lit up and changed colors. Rad.

Who knows what I was doing? Don’t you love the crimped hair!

Clockwise from top: Katie, Bridgette, Taiya and Tamara and Andrea.

Awesome dance moves.

Jeanne bought me these rocking leggings and I had no idea where I would ever wear them. Now I know. And they were rockin’.

Giving our feet a break and playing with the 80s paraphernalia that we bought.

Goofing with Taiya, who is Tamara’s friend who came to see her from Seattle!

I love this picture. I think it is hilarious. Embarrassing but hilarious.

Fun night. Fun girls. Fun pictures. I hope we have more fun girls nights like this soon!!

Howdy Folks, I’m Big Tex

I am having corny dog cravings so bad that I can barely function. Every time I get on facebook, someone is talking about the state fair. I love the fair. Love love love love the fair. Even the parts I hate (the bird show), I love because they are part of the experience. I still go to the bird show every year- I don’t know why. I feel like I am always telling people that something of mine is better than yours, but I am going to do it again. Why do I think that the Texas State Fair is better than your state fair? Two Words: Corny Dog. The corny dog’s origin is somewhat debatable (as is most food’s origin) but most agree that the Fletchers stand at the Texas State Fair gets the credit. I love corny dogs. They are truly one of my favorite foods in the world. I will eat them in all shapes and sizes. I took Morningstar Farms Veggie/Tofu corn dogs in my lunch almost every day of high school. But the best corny dog experience is getting one from the Fletchers stand right by Big Tex, covering it in mustard and then washing it down with fresh squeezed lemonade. Please let me know if you don’t eat mustard on your corn dog so I can block you from this website and our life in general- seriously, it’s that important.

Other than the corny dogs there is so much to do at the fair! I like the auto show and the concept cars, walking the Midway, the giant slide rides, the exhibits, the pig races, the pavilions that are basically late night infomercials come to life and the Ferris wheel. The Ferris wheel still makes me nervous and I have ridden it several times. It is the biggest Ferris Wheel in North America and looking down from the top scares the crap out of me. But the reason that there has to be so much to do at the fair is because they have to give you something to do between eating and eating again. Seriously, the sheer amount of awesome food is ridiculous. It is getting to the point of insanity with what they will fry. There is a contest each year for new food. Here are the winners from the past several years in most creative and best taste:

2005 Most Creative Viva Las Vegas Fried Ice Cream
2005 Best Taste             Fried PB, Jelly and Banana Sandwich
2006 Most Creative         Fried Coke
2006 Best Taste             Fried Praline Perfection
2007 Most Creative         Deep Fried Latte
2007 Best Taste             Texas Fried Cookie Dough
2008 Most Creative         Fried Banana Split
2008 Best Taste             Chicken Fried Bacon
2009 Most Creative        Deep Fried Butter
2009 Best Taste             Fernie’s Deep Fried Peaches & Cream

DEEP FRIED BUTTER?!?!?!?! I am torn between utter disgust and feeling like I really need to try it, just to know. If you go to the fair, make it the one day that year in which you let yourself eat anything you want. Seriously, watch your weight on Christmas and eat salad at Thanksgiving but for the love of all that is holy, eat a fried Oreo and think of me. Mike and I love going together and we have a pattern. We get there and the first stop is a corny dog and lemonade for each of us and then the rest of the day, we share one thing at a time. It lets us try more things and we pretty much keep up the experimenting all day long. Then when we make it home we crash on the couch and talk about how we will never eat again. Here is a link to all the new foods this year click here. So if you are close to Dallas, head to the fair, eat yourself silly and look at pretty cars, ride rides and try not to barf, win $5 stuffed animals that it cost you $50 in tickets to win, and listen to the familiar twang of Big Tex. You won’t regret it.

In other news, Big Tex has a Twitter feed this year and I think that is hilarious. Also, I think I may go to the store and try and make some corn dogs at my house tonight! With Mustard.

Things I Never Thought I’d Say

Someone threw up on our house last night.

Not on the curb BY our flat, not on the sidewalk in front of our flat, ON our flat. Luckily (if there is a luckily in this situation) it wasn’t on the windows or the door. I was home making dinner waiting on Mike to come home and heard the unmistakable sound of retching (barfing? ralphing? heaving? there is no good word). The dogs went nuts. No, I did not go check it out- I try not to interrupt people barfing on the street, common courtesy and all. Mike got home and said, “did you know there’s puke on our house?” I told him yes but I didn’t want to go out without him home because what if The Puker decided to pop a squat and recover? I filled pots and pots of hot water and Mike went and poured it on and washed it off. (That’s real love and marriage, folks.)

Someone asked us in the comments a while back if we liked living somewhere without a car and being dependent on the public transportation system. I kind of lump this question in with just living in a giant crammed city in general because it is impossible to discuss one without the other. The answer is: it’s frustrating but we love it. On a day-to-day basis, I love using the public transport. I love the tube and I am getting better at figuring out the buses.  I love that we spend ZERO dollars on gas and car maintenance. I like that I can get anywhere and I never have to find a parking spot. I like that my calves look awesome because I have to walk a half mile to get to the tube every day. I really like the walking culture of getting somewhere on my own feet and meandering down roads I would never explore, go into shops I would have driven right past and walking the city at night with Mike. Lest you think it is all roses and unicorns there are also times when it is a giant pain. I hate when I need to buy things bigger than a regular shopping bag and I get stuck in the gate going into the tube. I hate when I have to pay for a cab to the airport because there is no way I am getting all my crap through three tube changes. I hate that I have to go to specialty shops for everything and it takes all day and I know I could knock it all out in an hour at SuperTarget. Right now though, we love the city. We love walking and eating at dives and walking to pubs with friends. We love late night cab rides and little shops and the freedom of not having a car even though it would come in handy sometimes. Right now the trade off is worth it. Maybe it won’t be one day but for now, most days it is.

But then again, some days someone pukes on your house.

The Zoo!

I suppose fall is in full swing these days. People are back in school. Leaves have started falling off the trees. And thank the Lord, all the tourists seem to have gone home! I like when people come visit us but sometimes in the summer it seems like the busy areas of London get taken over by giant groups of tourists! Now that they seem to have gone back home, it is fun to go do the touristy stuff as the crows aren’t bad anymore. Case and point? Thursday Sarah and I decided to go to the zoo! We had plans for a museum but tossed them for hours making faces at animals and eating ice cream! The day was absolutely beautiful!

I tend to not like life-size monkeys, but this one didn’t chase me!

Where’s Sarah? I definitely promised her I wouldn’t put this on here. I think she knew I was lying.

One of the worst signs ever.

In honor of the game tonight- Go Tigers!!!

Thought they were cute!

Scariest beasts in the Zoo: