A Revival & October Horror Challange

So here we are again. I'm staring at my laptop wondering how it has been nearly two years since I last visited this blog. However it came to be, it did, so let's just move on. Let's pick up where we left off.

So much has happened in the past two years, I don't really know where to start. The last time I wrote, Christmas 2013 was nearly upon us. We had a brief but very enjoyable visit from my mom, and I told you all about our new kitten, Hugo. About a month later, Hugo sadly disappeared. It was very sad timing, because just a week before, we adopted this mug.

This is Alfie, better known as Fred, Alfredo, Pickle, or my little Pickle-Biscuit. He's the worst, most lovable dog there ever was. He's disobedient and sneaky, greedy and stubborn. He's gorgeous, sweet, hilarious and very snuggly. He's my little best buddy, even despite the fact that he arrived in our home a week before the cat disappeared and I think this is rather suspicious, considering the cat didn't seem particularly fond of this stocky little barking nugget. Basically, I think the cat thought "what the hell have you brought into MY house? See you'se guys later" and found another, pug free home. It took me ages to get over the loss of little Hugo, but Alfie kept me company and now we are inseparable. Unless someone else is holding the food. He is loyal to she/he who holds the food.

Since I last wrote, Mick also took a new job. He still dabbles in freelance writing and has various projects going on with his interests, but he's also got a pretty sweet gig working in PR for a local budding organisation. Work is the same for me - good and busy, still in the same place.

About 10 months after Hugo decided to disappear and break my heart, I felt ready to get another kitten. Enter our gorgeous Isla.

She wasn't the most pleasant kitten, not like Hugo was. But she's beautiful and grew up to be lovely and fluffy with amazing markings and the bushiest tail you ever did see. She puts up with a lot from her Puggy brother, and loves to bring moths in the house from the garden and massacre them in the lounge while we watch TV. I know, gross right? But you've got to support their interests, I suppose.

The end of 2014 had wonderful cause for celebration - Mick and I returned to America to celebrate Christmas and New Years with my family. It had been two years since I had seen anyone, apart from my mom, and it was long overdue. We had a fantastic time enjoying the beautiful weather, seeing my favourite people and places, and just soaking up California goodness.

The biggest event of 2015 by far though, and the biggest step so far for myself and Mick, was becoming homeowners! After returning from America we decided it was time to start looking, even though at the time I was horribly homesick, falling from the high of being home and enjoying the many splendors that California has to offer - and as such, had absolutely no interest in setting any further roots in this grey and damp country that put so many miles between me and my loved ones.  We viewed a house or two, but my heart was not in it. And then we found it - a beautiful little three bedroom semi-detached on a quiet street, close to all our favourite stores and in the area we wanted to live. The owners showed us around on the evening we went to view, and when the lady went to turn on the light in the cupboard under the stairs and ducked out of sight, I glanced at Mick with that look on my face that he knows so well - the look that clearly states "I want it."
We fell in love with the house. It's a 1930's build so it has all kinds of character and charm, but it's also open and airy and bright, which satisfies my American tastes.
Everything went smoothly, and in April, we got our keys and spent a week getting ourselves moved in and all settled.

Home sweet home! We love it here and even though I was hesitant to buy, it's done wonders for me. I finally feel HOME. This is the sixth place I have lived since I moved to England 5 years ago, and it's such a wonderful feeling to finally know that this is it - we will be here for a long time and its OURS. Since this photo was taken, Mick really freshened things up by giving the garage a fresh coat of white glossy paint, my little trees decided to die (they've been disposed of) and I tucked the curtain back in the window upstairs (it was only that way for an hour or so!)

The summer of 2015 was a rainy one, but did bring with it a brief heat wave with temperatures that made me very happy my office is air conditioned and that our house seems to stay quite cool. In August, Mick surprised me massively with a weekend in Paris for my birthday. He got me all the way to the train station where you hop on the EuroStar before he gave me the tickets and clued me in on things. I of course got all teary and touched. We spent three and a half days in the City of Love seeing all the sights. I for one enjoyed the coffee and pastry far too much.

Yeah, he got some epic bonus points for this trip. It was so exciting to finally get to see a little slice of Europe, and Paris was lovely. It has a similar feel to London but it's not nearly as big and their underground is so much easier to manage. I have some really happy and unforgettable memories here - including wandering around the Louvre, everything feeling so surreal. The Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo and so many others.

A few weeks later it was Micks birthday, and I had arranged a night away in Hertfordshire where we ate an amazing Italian dinner at a funky little restaurant and stayed in a little lodge in the country. The next morning was the real event though - a day as zookeepers. We got to feed otters, pick up alpaca poo, hang out with raccoons and a skunk, as well as the cutest lizard EVER.

So that brings us pretty much all the way through to the end of September. All I remember about October is that we watched lots and lots of horror movies. 30, to be exact. For some reason I thought it would be a great idea to give ourselves an October Horror Challenge, where we watched a Horror or Halloween themed film every night for the month. We did very well, only missing one night because of a cooking competition that Mick was taking part in for his department at work. As a result, we were up cooking until midnight, so didn't have a chance to do any movie-watchin'.

If you're interested in which films we watched - check out the list below. I've included a very very brief review of each, should you ever decide you want to commit to anything like this in the future.

Night 1: "Saw II" - unimpressive. I'm a fan of the first but this doesn't tempt me to finish the rest.
Night 2: "28 Days Later" - there's not much to say about this one, very solid zombie film.
Night 3:  "28 Weeks Later" - sequel to the above. I prefer this one to the original.
Nights 4-7: "Scream 1-4". Classic slasher films and you can't go wrong.
Night 8: "Dawn of the Dead" - another solid zombie movie that doesn't let down.
Night 9: "An American Haunting" - meh. It's hard to deliver with ghosty ones - this didn't.
Night 10: "American Mary"- twisted. Very interesting and unlike anything I've ever seen.
Night 11: "The Blair Witch Project" - just as bad as I remembered. Worse, actually.
Night 12: "Mirrors" - very different, I liked this one.
Night 13: "What Lies Beneath" - one of my all time favourites. Ever. Of all genres.
Night 14: "Friday the 13th" - the original. Couldn't get into this one. Also, ketchup blood.
Night 15: "Friday the 13th Part II" - slightly better than the first one.
Night 16: "Nightmare on Elm Street" - 2010 remake, one I really like, though I seem to be alone.
Night 17: "The Omen" - oh man, such a good movie. One of the gems of the 70s.
Night 18: "The Omen II" - also good, but not nearly as good as the first.
Night 19: "White Noise" - good but I fell asleep. Starting movies at 9 on a school night is hard.
Night 20: "Wrong Turn 2" - sick. Sick, sick, sick. But I liked it.
Night 21: "Pernicious" - could have been good... but don't even bother.
Night 22: "Insidious 3" we both nearly wet ourselves. So scary! Best movie of the month.
Night 23: "Eden Lake" - it's good but for some reason I don't really like it. 
Nights 24-26: "Hostels 1,2&3" - not at all what I expected and very, very good. Third one is meh.
Night 27: "The Devil's Rejects" - ugh. Waste of my night. Didn't even pay attention.
Night 28: missed due to cooking
Night 29: "Would You Rather?" - Not really a horror, but very interesting premise.
Night 30: "Hocus Pocus" for me (have to watch it every year with a girlfriend!) and "The Human Centipede" for Mick. I refuse to watch this one. Blech!

And for our final night, the original "Nightmare on Elm Street!" Which we didn't actually finish because it was very late and we were rather sleepy.

We are discussing perhaps taking part in a similar challenge for December, but with Christmas movies! A movie a night for a whole month is a bigger commitment than you might think, so I'm not sure if we will do it!

Well, that brings you up to speed on what we've been up to. You're going to be seeing a lot more of me. I've really missed writing in general, as well as working on this blog, so I've made a conscience decision to be more present here, as well as with other, personal writing projects. Writing has been a passion of mine since the tender age of 8, when my 4th grade teacher held Writing Workshop every morning to encourage our creativity. I have been hooked since then, until the past few years when I allowed life to get in the way. No more. No more.

I'll also be taking part in 30 Days of Thanks over on my Instagram account by expressing thanks all throughout the month of November, and not just on Thanksgiving Day! Join me! Or simply just follow along as I rack my brains before bed each night, trying to find a photo I took throughout the day and reminding myself that really, life is wonderful and full of so many blessings

It's good to be back. xo

A Year of Change

Woot! We made it to England in one piece! The weather is beautiful and calls for a nice hoody. The sun and clouds have been fighting over the sky all day, but it's perfect, in my opinion!

Yesterday (Wednesday? It's weird, because I should have had two nights of sleep since then but I've only had one!) my parents dropped us off at LAX. I did very good and only got a little teary saying goodbye to them. It was still very hard, but I know I will see them again before too terribly long. The lady at the baggage counter set us up so I didn't have to pay extortionate fees for my many oversize suit cases. In the end, I only had to pay $100 for my three large bags that I checked. I carried a small roller suitcase and my laptop bag on the plane with me. It was a long flight, but thankfully Mick and I were able to get our tickets changed so that we were next to each other. We weren't able to see the seating chart before we purchased our tickets so we didn't know that there were only about 3 seats left on the plane and they were scattered all over. We were in the middle two seats of the center row, so we were squished, but together. I was pretty content because I got to watch about 5 hours of Glee.
After about 11 hours, we finally landed at Heathrow, walked about halfway across the airport, and got into separate lines for Passport Control. EU Passport holders, go this way, and non-EU passport holders, go that way! Mick went to the EU (European Union) line and I went the other way. He got through faster than I did and caught all our luggage at the carousel. I was really nervous waiting in line because I didn't know if they were going to interrogate me when they saw my marriage visa. But the guy who stamped my passport was really cool, just made sure than I knew I had to do more visa requirements after the wedding, which I already know about. I had my thumb print scanned and met Mick at the carousel. We were met by his mum and his step dad. His step dad had to run to work, so he grabbed a few suitcases and went on his way since not all the luggage would fit into one car. Then his mum helped us to the car with the rest of the stuff. We picked up ready meals and headed back to the house. I felt awful. When we had been walking through the airport I felt nauseous from lack of sleep. I felt like I wouldn't last five minutes without falling asleep. I hadn't slept at all on the plane and was paying for it!
But, after a bath and a sandwich, Mick and I both started to feel better. I dosed a bit on the couch throughout the afternoon, then we had our dinner and tried to stay awake until the sun went down, but since its summer, that means it doesn't go to bed until after 10pm! We finally went up at about 10:30 and it was still a bit twilight-y out. We slept hard and didn't wake until nearly 11am.

When I woke up this morning, Mick mumbled a sweet "happy anniversary" in my ear. I smiled and remembered it was our one year anniversary. A year ago, on this day, Mick picked me up at Heathrow Airport and we spent that magical month together. The past year has held a lot of ups and downs for our relationship, but more recently it has held a lot of ups. We're, of course, engaged, finally in the same place for good, and feeling very content with where we are. We didn't really do any celebrating today, because we were in charge of taking the dog out for a bit and we are leaving tonight (more travel, boo!). We did grab a quick lunch out, but that was about it. We will probably go down to the pub with his sister (Laura) tonight and grab a drink, as well. But we plan to celebrate for real next week once things have calmed down a bit.
Happy anniversary, babe. I love you more than ever and can't wait to be your wife soon! I'm so looking forward to building a home and family with you in the years to come.

Us almost exactly a year ago! (funny, he's wearing that same shirt today!)

Hope you guys all have a great weekend! We are heading to Kent this evening until the middle of next week to celebrate Mick's sister's birthday and see more of his family. I'll try to post while we are there and I promise to start taking pictures!

Just a quick note...

Hey everyone, just wanted to let you all know Mick and I are having a great time in Las Vegas! It sure is hot, but so much fun! Once I get to my sister's house I'll give you a nice long update about the Grand Canyon and here, with lots of photos. But for now I'll leave you with just one!

 

 

 

In front of the Bellagio Fountains

Now we're off to do more exploring. And sweating... boo!