Let me count the ways...

Today has been a great day. I've been busy almost the entire day- working out, helping Mick with stuff, cleaning the kitchen then making it dirty again cooking dinner. I'm sitting here on the couch looking at Mick and just keep smiling at him. I can't help but think how much I not only love him, but also our relationship. We always have fun, and a few people have commented on how fun they find our banter. It's one of my favorite things about us, for sure.
So, let's embarrass Mick and talk about him. Yes? Yes.

One of the things I love most about this guy is that he always looks slightly surprised in his photos, like above.
But let's focus on the banter. Now, we're both pretty quick witty people so I can't share every conversation, but I can share a couple.

A few months back, just a couple days after we got engaged, we were texting back and forth while I was on my planning period at work. It was just after Rebecca Black's God awful song came out. We love to make fun of that song.

Mick: Are we going out tonight?
Me: Yeah for a bit.
Mick: ok, well we should talk to my mum first so shall I tell her we'll talk at 3.30? ( I hadn't spoken to her since he popped the question)
Me: Yeah I wasn't planning on going out until after dinner anyway.
Mick: Why so late?
Me: Because it's friday friday. We gettin down on friday
Mick: But will we kick in the front seat or kick it in the back seat?
Me: We gotta make our mind up!
Mick: Which seat shall I choose?
Me: Got your best friend on your right.
Mick: but if neither of us know where to sit, we'll still be confused...
Me: Wait....weren't  we going to take the bus?
Mick: ohhh yeah. good job you remembered otherwise i'd be in the car looking
like a right idiot
Me: This is why I'm marrying you.

More recently, tonight in fact, another one happened. I was walking down the the corner shop while Mick hopped in the shower. We're having movie night and we wanted some snacks. As I was walking, a man was walking towards me. I noticed right away that he looked like Gerard Butler. Gerard Butler is on my "list." You know if you've seen Friends.
I pulled out my phone and sent Mick a text. "Just saw Gerard Butler's twin. May not come home to you." A few minutes later, I got a reply. "Drop the popcorn off first."
Sigh. I need to be better at keeping him on his toes.

Anyways, I love the guy. I'm really happy that we're still as crazy about each other as we were a year ago. It gives me high hopes for a marriage where we won't end up just feeling like roommates after a while. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to snuggle him.

Mick and Pepsi and wiggly noses, these are a few of my favorite things!

Sorry for the lack of interesting posts lately. To be honest, not much is going on really. Wedding planning is dwindling down because most of it is taken care of, just a few finishing touches to take care of- fittings, pay the flower deposit, book a photographer, burn the disc for the ceremony music. Stuff like that.

We got two beautiful days of warm golden sunshine and blue skies. Today I got out of bed to pull open the curtains and find another grey sky. I don't mind this so much. It's nice for a change to not know what the weather will be like. It's more fun than knowing it's going to be hot. Then hot. And hot again. And oh, my! Hot once more! It breaks up the monotony.

The other day, Mick's mum made me feel great about all the hard work I've been doing with calorie counting and exercising. Mick and I had gone out to get hay for Harley and Truffles and when we got back she said hello and looked me up and down while talking and stopped herself mid-sentence and said, "you've lost weight!" I think that is vital in working on losing weight or just getting in better shape. When people start noticing the differences in your body and compliment you on it, it makes you work even harder. You feel like it's paying off and you want it more. I've been using a website to track my calories eaten and burned through exercise. If you're interested, check it out. It's called Shapeup Club.

We're having fun with the bunbuns. Each day Harley comes out of his shell a little bit more. Last night we put the blanket on the bed and watched a movie while they played around, jumping in the air and twisting (which is happy bunny body language) and eating carrot tops. Harley was peeking over the edge of the bed and slipped off. At first all he would do was hide behind a pillow. I'm happy to see that he's getting braver! Truffles is doing great. They're both starting to know who we are, I think. When we go up to the cage they come over to see us. I think it's mostly because we've been feeding them veggies by hand a lot so they think we have treats. Here are a couple videos I thought you'd like of them eating treats!

I think spinach is definitely their favorite, though the carrot tops are more fun to watch them eat. It's like Lady and the Tramp with the pasta. I should edit some romantic Italian music into the background of the second video.

Harley going to town on carrot tops. Oddly, they don't seem interested in the actual carrot just yet.

Oh, Truffles. You even eat with attitude.

And lastly, here are two of my favorite things.

Mick and Diet Pepsi <3

I need to kick myself in gear and get on the elliptical machine for 35 minutes. But I feel so lazy today...

Houston, we have bunnies!

Today we drove back to Ditchling to pick up our bunnies. They were waiting for us in their own little hutch, because apparently their mom wasn't being nice to them anymore. We tucked Harley and Truffles into the carrier and off we went. They were pretty nervous- I kept looking through the holes in the carrier and could see their eyes were all big. I held the carrier in my lap part of the way (Mick held it the other part) and could feel Harley sliiiiiding back and forth on sharp turns. We got them home and put them into their Bunny Condo.

Welcome home, Harley and Truffles! (Harley- greyish, Truffles- black)

We let them chill in their condo for a couple hours so they could get their bearings and kind of calm down a bit. We checked on them a few times to see how they were doing. After while we took a blanket and spread it out on the bed and got them out explore and get used to us a bit.

 

Meet Harley. I saw this little guy online a few weeks ago and fell in love with his coloring right away (his coloring is called "harlequin," which is where we got his name). I even talked my future in-laws into driving us an hour to visit him, and then again today to pick him up. So far, he's pretty shy and takes a little while to step out of his comfort zone, but he's very sweet, gentle and docile. For a while he just hid behind a pillow, but Mick held him for a bit and he started to come out of his shell.

Here's Truffles. Originally, she was just a bonus bunny. I had only planned on getting one, Harley. But the more we thought about it, we thought it would be best to get two. Rabbits are social animals and can often get lonely. We read that brother/sister pairs were the best, and this little one was the only girl in the litter. As it turns out, I absolutely love her. Truffles is very adventurous, brave and so friendly! The minute we put her out on the bed she began bobbing her head and hopping around. It only took her a minute to find this perch- on my bedside table! It seems to be her favorite spot! She likes to lick the lamp and nibble on my book.

Now that we've got them home, I'm so glad we decided to get two in the end. They're lots of fun to watch. They're adorable and do funny little things. 

 

A few photos

I got my camera back out of the wardrobe (what they call closets here) the other day and charged up my battery. I had to wait a few days to actually use it because it's been raining and my lense was getting wet. I've managed to snap a few, so I thought I share just a few photos of life around the house with Mick and Sasha, who keeps me company while Mick works.

Is there anything more beautiful than a flower with raindrops?

Lady Sasha

I adore the way Mick looks in this photo.

More wedding details and lovey goo

Today Mick and I went into town to pick out the suits for he and the groomsmen at Moss Bros.! We picked out a really nice grey suit with a creme and green waistcoat and matching cravat. Take a looksie!

Waistcoat and cravat in our chosen colors

Morning suit (both images from moss.co.uk)

He and his two groomsmen (who are wonderful guys) are all going to look so handsome. But of course, I'm most excited to see Mick in it. While we were in town, I also picked up his ring after having it engraved with a special message.

Also, we're going to be doing M&Ms as wedding favours! I thought this was a great idea because, duh, who doesn't love M&Ms! And also because Mick and I had a ball when we were at the M&M store in Vegas, looking at all the awesome merchandise. The favors will look something like this-

image from mymms.co.uk

Annnd for the wedding car.... a white London Taxi! How much more English can it get?! There are options that are a lot fancier- Royce, Jaguar, Diamlier... but there's something that's just so cute and classic and unique to us about the Taxi. They also decorate it with flowers and ribbons matching your theme, so we'll get pink and green.

image from cars4weddings.co.uk

Okay, enough wedding stuff for now, I've been cramming it down everyone's throat lately. I also want to just talk about how Mick and I are doing because, obviously, that's the whole reason all of this is happening. And while I never want this blog to become a place for my mushy love monologues, I do want to address it a bit, because this is our love story, after all.

I am so happy. I've always loved waking up in Bognor, hearing the seagulls and snuggling with Mick. I really just can't tell you how *insert powerful word here* it is to look at him and know we never have to worry about the logistics anymore. And even though we have our scuffles (but what passionate relationship doesn't?), everything about him makes me want to spend forever with him- his smell, smile, eyes and just the fantastic guy he is.

This is happiness, and this is love.

Me and Mick at his sister's birthday dinner a few weeks ago

Wedding bits!

We've had a very productive weekend here in England! Friday, Mick's mom and I ran around Kent making wedding arrangements. We went and saw a florist about bouquets, centerpieces, corsages and various other arrangements. We showed them the following picture as inspiration:

I did find this online, ages ago, but I don't remember where from!

Unfortunately, the big fluffy pink and white flowers (peonies) are not going to be available in September, so they are going to find me some roses that look similar. The centerpieces and pedestal arrangements will be made up of the same flowers, but the corsages for the Mother of the Bride and Mother of the Groom will be cream colored orchids with pink edges.

We also booked a venue for the reception! It will be at The Village Maidstone Hotel.

Image from maidstonehotels.co.uk

 

 

 

 We also met with a cake decorator who is going to be making the cake. Mick and I picked out these cakes for the inspiration:

We like the shape of the cake itself, as well as the color of the blossoms.

But we like the more delicate branch and the pearl accents on this one.

So the lady said she could kind of go in the middle with the branch and give us edible pearls on the bottom of each tier. Our tiers will all be different flavors- vanilla, chocolate, and lemon!



All in all, things are coming along nicely for the White Wedding. We even picked out invitation and announcement materials yesterday, which will continue the pink and green color scheme. Just need to work out some more details, like our wedding car and suits for Mick and his two groomsmen. And party favors, too.




It was so good to see Mick after spending the weekend apart. Kind of adds a new spark to things, sometimes.

Yesterday we went out and got some stuff for the bunnies. We get to bring them home this weekend. We picked up water bottles and food dishes and a few treats and some litter. Need to get shavings and food, then we're ready to have them! Looking forward to having a snuggly little pet :)

That's all for now, I have lots of stuff to do. Hope everything is well with you guys!

The Philosophies of Mom and Dr. Seuss

Today has been kind of rough. I'm in Kent for the weekend with Mick's mom for wedding planning while he's having a boy's weekend back home with his buddy Gus. I'm not so silly as to miss him already, but being without him makes me suddenly realize how very far away from home I am. Since he was able to spend six months with me in America, it felt like, with him, I had a bit of America here with me. Familiarity, someone who knows my family and has grown to care for them. Now I feel very much on my own. It made me feel rather homesick. It's a weird psychological thing. Bottom line is, I'm fine, just a little low.
This evening after dinner I came up to the room I'm staying in at the house in Kent and called my mom. I told her of my worries with money (I'm not working but I still have expenses. I have savings, but those don't last forever!) and just that I was feeling bummed out. It was nice to hear her talk about normal, every day stuff that she's been doing around the house. It made me feel like I was there. She told me she found our old copy of Oh, the Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss. She listened to my worries and said "I'm going to read this to you."
"You're going to read me a story?" I chuckled through tears.
"Yes, it's story time."

And it was amazing how much that book corresponds with what I'm going through. Here is the story, complete with my wonderfully silly mother's commentary in red....

Oh! The Places You’ll Go!
by the incomparable Dr. Seuss

Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You’re off to Great Places!
You’re off and away!
You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.

You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go. (You decided to go to England!)
You’ll look up and down streets. Look’em over with care. About some you will say, “I don’t choose to go there.” With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet, you’re too smart to go down a not-so-good street.

And you may not find any you’ll want to go down. In that case, of course, you’ll head straight out of town. It’s opener there in the wide open air. (Yeah, you're out there in the wide open!)

Out there things can happen and frequently do to people as brainy and footsy as you.
And when things start to happen, don’t worry. Don’t stew. Just go right along. You’ll start happening too.

Oh! The Places You’ll Go!
You’ll be on your way up!
You’ll be seeing great sights!
You’ll join the high fliers who soar to high heights.

You won’t lag behind, because you’ll have the speed. You’ll pass the whole gang and you’ll soon take the lead. Wherever you fly, you’ll be best of the best. Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.
Except when you don’t.
Because, sometimes, you won’t.

I’m sorry to say so but, sadly, it’s true that Bang-ups and Hang-ups can happen to you.
You can get all hung up in a prickle-ly perch. And your gang will fly on. You’ll be left in a Lurch.
You’ll come down from the Lurch with an unpleasant bump. And the chances are, then, that you’ll be in a Slump.

And when you’re in a Slump, you’re not in for much fun. Un-slumping yourself is not easily done.
You will come to a place where the streets are not marked. Some windows are lighted. But mostly they’re darked. (He has such poor grammar!) A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin! Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in? How much can you lose? How much can you win?

And if you go in, should you turn left or right…or right-and-three-quarters? Or, maybe, not quite? Or go around back and sneak in from behind? Simple it’s not, I’m afraid you will find, for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.

You can get so confused that you’ll start in to race down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space, headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place…for people just waiting.

Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, or a plane to go or the mail to come, or the rain to go or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow or waiting around for a Yes or No or waiting for their hair to grow. Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for wind to fly a kite or waiting around for Friday night or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake or a pot to boil, or a Better Break or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants or a wig with curls, or Another Chance. Everyone is just waiting.
No! That’s not for you!

Somehow you’ll escape all that waiting and staying. You’ll find the bright places where Boom Bands are playing. With banner flip-flapping, once more you’ll ride high! Ready for anything under the sky. Ready because you’re that kind of a guy!

Oh, the places you’ll go! There is fun to be done! There are points to be scored. There are games to be won. And the magical things you can do with that ball will make you the winning-est winner of all. Fame! You’ll be famous as famous can be, with the whole wide world watching you win on TV.
Except when they don’t. Because, sometimes, they won’t.

I’m afraid that some times you’ll play lonely games too. Games you can’t win ‘cause you’ll play against you.
All Alone!
Whether you like it or not, Alone will be something you’ll be quite a lot.
And when you’re alone, there’s a very good chance you’ll meet things that scare you right out of your pants. There are some, down the road between hither and yon, that can scare you so much you won’t want to go on.

But on you will go though the weather be foul. On you will go though your enemies prowl. On you will go though the Hakken-Kraks howl. Onward up many a frightening creek, though your arms may get sore and your sneakers may leak. On and on you will hike. And I know you’ll hike far and face up to your problems whatever they are.

You’ll get mixed up, of course, as you already know. You’ll get mixed up with many strange birds as you go. So be sure when you step. Step with care and great tact and remember that Life’s a Great Balancing Act. Just never forget to be dexterous and deft. And never mix up your right foot with your left.

And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and ¾ percent guaranteed.)
Kid, you’ll move mountains!
So…be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray or Mordecai Ale Van Allen O’Shea, you’re off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So…get on your way!

Sometimes, you just need mom. And Dr. Seuss.

Why I Love my Brother

Exhibit A:
Yesterday we were talking on the phone for the first time since I moved out here. I told him I'd lost 6 pounds and he asks, "How many stones is that?" (In England it's typical to state your weight in stones. Each stone is 14 pounds. So if you weigh 140lbs, you're 14 stone.)
"That's about half a stone."
He chuckles. "I like stones. They make me giggle."
"Well that's good, because you've probably got about 12 or 13 of your own."
We then begin discussing his weight and what he would be in stones. The line goes quiet. I'm using Skype on my phone, so I wonder if the call has been dropped.
"You there?" I ask, stepping to the left, then right.
"Yeah, I'm just thinking about my stones."
And I laughed a big hearty laugh.

I love that no matter the distance, your family still does the things they always did. My mom helps me in so many ways, my dad makes me feel safe even if we just talk for a few minutes. I haven't gotten to talk to my sister yet, but hopefully soon, and my brother makes me laugh with his silliness.

Miss you, Ryan!

With my brother on my 21st Birthday. What a fun night!

----

In a couple hours Mick and I are catching the train up to London. We're meeting the Best Man, Rich, for dinner, then Mick and I are going to an event for pro-choice smoking stuff. We'll be on a Mississippi River Boat on the Thames, so I should have some cool pictures for you the next time I update. We also get to dress up, which is fun.
Thanks for stopping by!

How Many Firemen Does it Take....?

Yesterday was such an interesting day! A couple things I wasn't expecting actually ended up happening. For starters, I found a wedding dress at the first shop we looked in! Mick's mum took me to the shop in Chichester where she bought her wedding dress a couple years ago. The shop was in a cute little arcade of shops and was called Confetti & Lace (if you're getting married in West Sussex, check it out. Great selection of gowns and really friendly staff!) We picked out a few that I really liked and put them aside. The lovely girl running the shop said she was swamped and couldn't help me in and out of any dresses (seriously, you need a pro for this. Who knew?) so we could come back in a couple hours. That worked fine, because Karen and I both had a few other errands we needed to run. Before too long, the girl from the shop called back and said she was free, so we headed back down. I tried on a couple dresses but nothing was looking quite right, or they just wouldn't fit at all.
There was one hanging up that didn't really catch my eye, but the girl said I really should try it. She had a good feeling about it and it's true that lots of times, what you don't like on the hanger looks amazing on. Well, that was the case here. As she was getting me into it and getting everything hooked up, I started to see it taking shape and I could tell that it was going to look good. "Natalie..." I said. "Before you do anymore, tell me the price. I don't want to get my heart set on it and find out I can't afford it!" The price was right. And I could tell by the look on Karen's face the minute I stepped out from behind the curtain that it was the one. We took pictures to send my mom and I bought it then and there. It was a discontinued style so we got it for over 50% off. We played with veils and tiaras and it was so much fun! I wanted to keep the tiara on so nobody would forget how special I am during this time!
Now, obviously I can't show you the dress. But here is a shot of a few that I liked but didn't work out!

Eenie meenie miney mo...

As we were chatting about the dress and general wedding plans, we noticed the gates that lead out of the shopping arcade (I don't mean arcade as in video games, I mean it as in a passage or walkway which contains retailers.) were being closed up for the evening. Natalie had stayed after hours to help us out. There were three gates and we could see that one or two of them were locked. Natalie said not to worry because they always leave one open longer.
We paid and set up dates for the fittings. She put my dress in the back to save until then. We thanked her and walked out the door and headed for the gate she said would still be open. Um. It wasn't. So we went back and let her know. "Oh, no problem," she reassured us. "I have the key to the big roll-up gate, let me get it." It didn't fit in the lock. The poor girl has only been back to work for a week after having a baby so I think she hasn't completely been briefed on everything. So we went back to the shop and sat on the couch while she called the Caretaker who locked us in without CHECKING TO MAKE SURE THE SHOP WAS EMPTY! No answer. No answer. No answer. So she tried the landlord. Out of the country for the next week and a half. She tried a coworker, no luck, no key. She tried the shop owner. No lock, no key. At this point she was getting really upset because what if there had been a fire or something? We were completely and utterly trapped in a tiny row of shops with no restrooms (they were on the other side of the gates, of course). And we were supposed to be meeting friends for dinner. When Karen called to tell the friends, they laughed and said "only you, Karen!" Which makes me pretty nervous because I'm going to be spending lots of time with this woman, as she's about to be my mother-in-law! :P
Karen called Andy and he said he and Mick would head home, feed the dog, and bring back his bolt cutters to see if he could cut one of the padlocks on a gate. Mick didn't seem all that concerned. Finally, Natalie called the police. Twenty minutes later, we heard sirens. We ventured out of the shop to see a bobby and three fireman fiddling with the lock. They talked about the pros and cons of cutting the bolt (no protection after they cut it because of course there was no replacement lock and all the shops are old and the doors aren't very strong, nor the locks). A minute later Mick and Andy showed up. The first thing Mick did was look at me through the bars like I'd done something wrong and said "it's a nice dress, is it?" Let me tell you, it's a good thing there were bars between us because he deserved a bollocking for that cheek! No "you ok babe? Been worried!" NO. Just sarcasm!

How many firemen does it take to bust a lock? In the end, about five.

The firemen (who are sexy even in England, let me say. It must be a universal thing!) tried using their bolt cutters, but they weren't strong enough. They tried automatic ones, but no luck. One of them had a screwdriver and was trying to unscrew the gate from the wall. Finally they pulled out what I think are the jaws of life (nobody here knows that term, but I heard one of the firemen say that they use it to open car doors so I'm pretty sure that's what they were) to pry the gate open wide enough to slip the padlock through and viola! Freedom! After two hours! We thanked the men for their help and headed to dinner. I needed the bathroom and a drink of water badly!

Thinking back, I remember turning to Karen and Natalie as we watched our rescuers struggle with the lock and saying "I really hope this isn't foreshadowing how the rest of my wedding planning is going to go..." And I really, really do hope that!

Time for a quick Sunday quote...

"I've never worn stockings and suspenders though. I think I'll save them to wear under my wedding dress."
-Jennifer Ellison

Ain't it the truth? All the equipment that goes into wearing a wedding dress!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, everyone! :)

Laughing at this post is prohibited

So much news in just a couple of days! Since the wedding was booked, my mom and dad went ahead and purchased their tickets to fly out here. I'm very excited that they are coming! So now wedding plans are in swing and today Mick's mum is taking me to look at wedding dresses. I'd like to get flowers and a cake sorted when we are in Kent next weekend. We're looking for a venue to hold the dinner/mini reception thing.

Yesterday was a very odd day. During the night my upper lip swelled up to enormous and comical proportions. I could feel how huge it was and Mick said I didn't even look like myself. I gathered the courage to get up out of bed and look at it. It was no longer all that comical, because I was freaking out. We aren't sure what caused it, but considering the fact that I've had some hives and swelling in the recent past, I'm not shocked. Bemused, but not shocked. It is against my better judgement that I share the following picture. I know I can't control it either way, but please. Please don't laugh. It was actually painful from being so swollen. It felt like my skin was being stretched and could tear. I'm sure it wouldn't have, but it felt like it.
We went to the doctor and he basically was no help. At all. It went down throughout the day and when I woke up this morning it was pretty much normal.

A sweet little girl.

Yesterday evening we drove to the charming village of Ditchling near Brighton to look at the bunny rabbits. We've decided to get two so that one won't get lonely. We decided on the little snuggles to the left.

A cute little boy.

We're going to have the boy fixed once they are old enough to, ahem. Be like rabbits, if you catch my drift. That way we won't have billions. We looked into getting two boys or two girls but apparently they fight. The best match is a brother and sister with one fixed. So that's what we're doing. They will be ready to come home with us in a couple weeks. We're thinking of Harley for the boy and Truffle for the girl.

After the rabbits we had dinner in a restaurant on the waterfront. It made me want seafood. So I had a whole sea bass with the head and eyes and everything. Never done that before.

Today we're going into Chichester, a town I really love to get some things done and check out dresses as I mentioned. We're also going to play snooker (learn more here). Tonight we are meeting some friends of Karen and Andy's (Mick's mum and step-dad) and having dinner with them.

Okay, time to hop in the shower and get this day rolling. Have a great weekend everybody.

Dead fish on a plate. Clearly.

Dum, dum dah-dum!

In case you silly people couldn't tell, the title is the tune from the Bridal March.

Yay! Finally some concrete wedding news! I was able to book a date this morning, which is a huge relief! We will be married Friday, September 2 in the afternoon. We are getting married at the Archbishop's Palace (learn about it here) which looks like this:

The room where our ceremony will take place.

We are getting married in a room where I can have my dad walk me down the aisle, which makes me very happy. Beyond these details, I don't really know anything yet. The lady I spoke to on the phone said they are going to send us a ceremony package where we will be able to personalize the ceremony more but I won't have that for a few days. I'm just happy because now it feels like this is all really going to happen!
Now, unfortunately for my female friends on here, I won't be able to show you pictures of the dress and my hairstyle once I figure it out because of course Mick reads this blog. But I'll find some way to share it all with you!





Time to go work for a good Bride Bod and burn some calories. Have a great Thursday, everyone! The weekend is almost here :D

Sneaky McSneaky Pants

"England is better only because I stand out there as 'unusual.'"
-Emo Philips 

This morning I took my first solo outing in England. It wasn't an exciting adventure- I walked a few blocks up to Morrison's (super market) to get yogurt for Mick and fruit for myself. I couldn't help feeling like I was being very sneaky, because if you look at me, it's quite believable that I've lived all my life in England. Fair skin, features from the general area (my family's ancestry is Irish). Little do the people walking past me know that behind this closed mouth is a think yank accent and I'm fresh off the boat. And because I blend in when my mouth is shut, I have them fooled! Mwahahahahahahahaaa!
Now, I don't completely agree with that quote. I don't really even think that England is necessarily better than America. There are things here in England that I didn't have back home (the love of my life, ancient history, beautiful scenery and weather) and things I wish I could have brought with me from America (my family, great friends, my car,  etc.). But there is a bit of fun in feeling like I have a little bit of a secret and I'm fooling everybody.

It's been rainy this afternoon, which is one of my favorite things about being here. I've been doing odds and ends around the house and looking at things like this that make me laugh.

Have a great Tuesday, everybody!

Out of the Mouths of Brits, Volume II

 Alright, a lot of people really liked my English Slang post from last week, so I spent a few days compiling more sayings and phrases and words to share with you! Here goes.

Knob- a slang word for male genitalia, often used for an insult. "Don't be such a knob!" It's not as offensive as it seems. 

Stroppy- this is used when someone is being very moody. Sometimes when I'm being bratty and throw a sassy line at Mick he looks at me all exasperated and says in a high-pitched voice, "Alright, stroppy!"


Got a cob on- A way of saying you're in a bad mood or sulking. Again, Mick has asked me "why have you got a cob on?" I'm not entirely sure where it comes from. And for the record, I'm not always in a bad mood!


Thick- Stupid, unintelligent.

Innit- A chavy way of saying "isn't it." Example, "that car is well fast, innit?!"

Trolly- grocery cart

Lorry- Large truck, like an eighteen wheeler.

Pikey- common, low class, trailer trash. Can describe a thing, area or a person. "This place is full of pikeys." or "This neighborhood is so pikey!" It's kind of how they describe gypsies and pikey comes from the term "turnpike" which is the side of the road and where lots of gypsies would camp out.

Chav- This one took me ages to understand. I still find it difficult to explain, so read here.

Holiday- what they call vacation. "Oh, I'd love a holiday on the beach!"

Cheers- Thanks.

Plonker- comes from Only Fools and Horses. Stupid, idiot. Del Boy always told his brother Rodney "don' be a plonka awl ya life!"

Tart- promiscuous woman or slutty dressers

Biscuit/Cookie- Okay, this is a huge debate between Americans and Brits. In America, we have cookies. It's a pretty broad range of tasty snacks. In England, it's broken down into two categories- cookies and biscuits. In England, this is a cookie, just like it is in America:

image from cookiedelivery.com

And in England these would be considered biscuits, even though in America they'd just be more cookies:

image from buchnknight.blogspot.com

Bobby- from kaboodle.com

So, all very cookie type things. The best way I can think to describe the difference is that fluffy more home-made type things are considered to be cookies, while harder, more compressed baked goods are considered biscuits.

Copper- A police officer. Not to be mistaken for a bobby.

Bobby- A certain type of police officer that wears a helmet.

Ickle- small, tiny. On at least one occasion Mick has called me "ickle sleepy head."

Petal- An affectionate nickname, generally for a woman. If I'm lucky I get called this.

Plank- a stupid person.

Ponce- Someone who dresses and acts fancier than they probably are.

Posh-  Classy and sophisticated

Sod- Meaning sodomite, but that is in the old fashioned context. More commonly used as a gentle form of fool, bastard, or idiot. "You cheeky sod!"

Blow off- To break wind

Bog roll- Toilet paper. The restroom here is sometimes called the bog.

Chuffed- Pleased, stoked, proud. "I was really chuffed that everyone liked the cookies I made!"

Toilet- The restroom. You don't really ever hear someone say "I need to use the restroom" over here. It's generally "I need the toilet," which kind of grosses me out, because it makes me think of the actual bowl and it's just yucky.

Fit- sexy, attractive

Fiver/tenner- Five or ten pound note (money).

Frog- What the English people call the French. The French and the English don't like each other much, but then again, who really likes the french?

Gogglebox- This one I haven't heard too often, but it means television. "Turn on the old gogglebox, will you?"

Kip- Sleep. "I'm going to try to catch some kip."

Taking the piss- Messing with someone, joking around. A less offensive way of saying it is "taking the mickey." I got Mick his favorite television series on DVD for Christmas and he looked up at me shocked and said "are you taking the piss?!" In this case he pretty much meant "are you serious?!"

Skint- broke, no money. "I'd love to go, but I'm skint."


That's probably all I'll do for a while, because for now that's all I know! But if I learn more I will post them.

Mick and I have been talking and we (I) really want to get a rabbit. We both want a pet- I haven't had one since my childhood dog, Bailey, passed away a few years ago and Mick misses his rats. Where we live we can't really have a dog or a cat and they're a bit more of a financial obligation than we're looking for, so we decided a rabbit would be nice. It seems to be alright with Mick's mum and step-dad. I've fallen in love with a little guy an hour away who looks something like this:

image from petrabbitworld.com

He's a Dwarf Lop baby and I have to have him so I can schnoz all over his little face.We're going to go see him later in the week and put down a deposit.

Other than that, I've been just doing odds and ends. I had my first adventure in drying clothes on the line

 

And bonding with the dog 

Last week was nice. Mick and I were able have a belated anniversary celebration. I took him out for an English Fry Up, his favorite thing about being English.

My first English fry up at the Hobgoblin Pub in Canterbury last summer. I've had a few more since then...

And he made a really nice pasta dinner and we exchanged cards. Nothing big this year because we've spent a lot of money on flights and rings for the wedding and stuff.
And oh yeah, news on the wedding. I've gone back and forth a bit but we've decided to just do one wedding rather than a legal one and then a big fancy one. I really want all my family to be able to be there, but I kind of feel like having the two weddings, they end up stealing thunder from each other. The first isn't fancy, but it's the real deal. And the second one would be pretty and formal and a big party, but we'd already be married. So we're just going to do a small but elegant wedding in September. I'm waiting to hear back from the place, but I think it will be September 2nd. Which will make a very busy three weeks for me and Mick! My birthday is August 23, our anniversary will be September 2, and his birthday is September 12!
We spent the weekend in Kent and got to go to a friend's housewarming party. It was a very cute older house and made me really look forward to a time when Mick and I will be able to do the same thing. Now we are back in Bognor for a couple of weeks. I have to say I'm glad to not be back and forth for a bit. I keep forgetting things at one house or the other, this week I forgot my razor!

A very Happy 4th of July to all my friends and family back in America. I always feel like such a traitor when I'm here on this particular holiday. Inside I'm waving a little flag. I'm going to miss the hotdogs and fireworks, though. Perhaps I can stream a live firework display or something.

That's all for now. Hope everyone had a great weekend and a not too miserable Monday. :)