Abbey Road

baking the best cookies ever... they were like reverse chocholate chip yum yum

outside of abbey road studio just after we signed the wall

recreating the abbey road album cover, the best we could

Even thought I've been here for over 3 months today was the first day I've managed to suceeded at a life goal of mine: which was going to abbey road. Rita and I have a list of things to do here and even thought we do something new EVERY weekend it was only this weekend I got to live the dream of going and recreating the picture and I had a blast taking it all in. Its funny when you think about it really its just a street and a building (that your not allowed in) but it encompasses so much meaning. It was the definiate highlight of the weekend!!!

Friday night wasn't so much fun tho... it was a hard day in the Jack family household for me. Olivia bent the necklace that dan bought me before I left and thus I was in a horrible mood. So it was the first time since I've been here that I cried infront of Sara. It all kind of got to me and I had a break down but then I also found out that South Woodford isn't a nice spot during the Christmas holidays... because its a more swanky side of town the people from the poorer areas come shopping in town. On monday the house across the street from us was broken into and then when David went to pick up Sara from the station on Friday they interupted a car jacking! So Friday was kind of event overload, but don't feel bad/scared for me... i'll watch my back and my neck <3

Saturday, Rita was so nice and joined me in babysitting. We decided to bake reverse chocholate chip cookies with the girls and they were honestly the best damn cookies I've ever made! Then once the girls were in bed we made a very romantic dinner including chicken parmasan and pesto pasta and yummy cookies for dessert, and we spent the night in watching CHRISTMAS movies.

David has been on holidays all last week, then the week before that his mom was home and the week before that he was on holidays again and today was his LAST day of holidays and althought he was sad I am honestly joyful! I am so excited to be alone with the girls at night again. Its really weird having him or anyone else around when your responsible for thier kids, for two reasons: one being the fact that they are there parents and thus the girls dont listen to me at all, and two because I dont know what im incharge of or what they are. This especially comes into play because they dont punish the girls... its more like the girls run the house but with me they get punished but its really awkward punishing someone elses kids infront of them! So it will be nice to get back to it just being the 3 of us.

DECEMBER IS IN ONE WEEK!!! have a good last week of november.

Roxanne

Above are the promised pictures from my road trip last Sunday... my internet is now working properly and lets hope it stays that way!

Rita and I took initiative and we booked our trip to AMSTERDAM!!!

We leave next Friday the 28th and are staying till the Sunday... and I can't wait. We have decided we need to boost up our party lifestyle before we go because we have been told we aren't "wild" enough... and I can't decide if thats a good thing or a bad thing haha

I can't wait and I also realised that as soon as I get back its DECEMBER and that means I get to start my advent calendar... and its CADBURY (sp) woot woot haha once again its the little things in life that you get the most enjoyment out of!

Have a good Weekend!

Its a low key weekend... having to save money for the big WILD trip haha and I'm babysitting on Saturday night and Rita is nice enough to join me. We are going to bake christmas cookie with the girls and then show them some christmas movies!

Enjoy the Snow... its Sunny here (at least for now the weather changes constantly)!

Chillin at Castles, Hangin with the Queen

HEY HEY HEY...

Before I start out explaining my weekend like I do at the beginning of every new week, I first must let you all in on my new news of the day... are you ready...

I start working monday - friday as a midday assistant!
I know i explained this job a while back but they kinda shuffled me around a little and I was only their go to girl but now they want me full time, so I get to start on monday! This is awesome because a little extra money would go a long way over here, and it will let me live the swanky life i dream about haha and keep me out of debt from my parents. And needless to say it will look pretty sweet on my resume to say I was employed by the London School Board!

Anyway back to the grind.
This weekend was fun but nothing to exciting but my definate hightlight was on Sunday.
Saturday Rita and I got our hair done and we had a romantic dinner with Silvio her roommate and we spent our night watching movies. I slept over at her house because Silvio had the day off and so he decided to take us on a ROAD TRIP! First we started off with a driving tour of Central London which when in a car is really nice but quick to see... it really put its into perspective how close everything is. Then we headed on our way to Windor... Windor Castle is one of Silvs favourite spots and he was nice enough to take us there! The Queen was actually there too, but contrary to what my tagline suggests in no way did I hang out with or even see her, the castle was actually closed, and Silvs said hes gone 4 times and has never actually been aloud in. However it was still an awesome day. Windor is a really cute typical London country town... (like any of the ones of TV). We spent the day shopping althought none of us bought anything and eatting fabulous Tapas and Sangria.

OMG I almost forgot this part of the day and I am now only adding it in before I finish this post... WE FOUND A TIM HORTONS!!!
We were headed home and BAM there it was Tim Hortons... now this may not be exciting to any of you who pass by at least 10 a day but for us it was heaven on earth. We went in and they had all the advertisment and cups and everything but when it came down to it their Tim Hortons was just a coffee machine that you self serve. It actually sucked and Silv called it Petro but none the less it was a nice sight to see the cups hahaha... I know it sounds sad but we are going as far as saving the cups we got, and then breaking Tims back with us at Christmas and re-using the cups for a little taste of home. I know minorly pathetic but its the little things that help us get by.

Rita and I decided that we are going to do a trip at the end of the month so in two weeks but it hasn't been planned yet... I think we are doing that tonight actually. Our goal desitination is Amsterdam!

Life is going good, I can't believe its a MONTH until im home!

Some exciting news that I dont know if you all know is that Kyle and Tricia have asked me to a reading at their wedding, and Tricia actually sent it to me last Friday and i'm so excited for that. Got to get practicing =)

Other updates... I found a perfect dress for new years but they didnt have my size so now I'm looking into getting it online. Everyone here orders their stuff online... everything too even grocerys! Sara says it because space is limited and its cheaper... I think its just being lazy but you all know me and I'm totally okay with that!

Pictures from Windor Castle will be posted soon but my internet is actually done so right now I'm at the library which is actually a nice way to get out of the house.

More update to come...
LOVE LOVE LOVE

Happy Anniversary Baby

I Heart E.S.L.

Hej Everyone! (thats Hey in Swedish... im becoming so cultured haha)

Hope you all had a nice weekend, I did despite the fact that its been typical England weather for the last week... which includes random changes from sunny to rainy to windy to all around shitty, but I learnt early on that here you just have to get on with your day because if you wait for the weather to be nice you won't be doing anything EVER.

I was out all weekend which was nice, I left Friday at 7:00 and didn't return home till Sunday at 5:00. Friday night I headed to Ritas so we could go out the Matildas birthday together and of course even heading to her house was an adventure, we never get a break here, but I can't really blame this one on bad luck. Rita and I (mainly me) have decided that we are no longer tourists and we are now locals, and with this decision I give myself a sense of confidence in getting myself from point A to B without assistance from a map and it got me in trouble on Friday. I was suppose to catch the D7 bus to Ritas house but 277 came around and I thought I could take it and needless to say I way wrong... so I got very lost and Ritas lovely roommate Silvio had to come and resuce me. Once the three of us got to their crib we had a few drinks and then headed out to WalkAbout in Covent Gardens for Matildas brithday, we told Dan (the America from before who came down this weekend) to meet us there by 11. When we got there no one was to be found, and we were a little nervous that this was the bar Matilda picked because there was no dance floor and it was more of a pub thats a club. Come 12 we got a call from Matilda saying she had arrived and she was asking where we were, at that very moment the lights turned on and WalkAbout was closing... Now Covent Gardens and Leicester Square are about 10 mins apart and we went to the wrong WalkAbout. So after all that we headed to Leicester Square WalkAbout which was much BIGGER and NICER and we found Matilda and everyone and got our dance on. WalkAbout was a great bar, it played all the classic oldie hits that one would find at a trailer dance: Cotton Eyed Joe, ABBA, Jackson Five and all the greatest hits... LOVED IT! However since we were over an hour later than we told Dan to be there we couldn't find him and we felt so bad, but luck was on our side and come 1:30 Dan came back to the bar and we danced the night away.

Now Saturday Morning was the Lord Mayor Show Parade that they have for Bon Fire Night which was Wednesday and it started at 11, but since we didnt get home till 4 we opted out and slept the day away. Saturday we spent the day with Ritas roomies Silvio and Marius who are both from Romania and are hilarious. The four of us send our time just laughing at the other culture slangs or language difficulties. Now I think these stories are hilarious and thus I'm going to tell you but Im warning you ahead of time that Dan didn't think is was as funny so I hope that it wasn't a "you had to be there sort of thing".

E.S.L. Lesson:
1. Silvio was trying to describe an infant and didnt know the word and he called it a "Fresh Baby" hahaha
2. We were talking about how in Sweden the word for Chef is Cock and he said is Cock what you call a "Husband of a Hen" hahaha LOVE IT

Canadian Slang they Love:
1. I told them I owned a video and they loved it so now we always say "Own It"
2. and they make fun of our positivity and now they make fun of us for saying "Best Ever" because to them nothing can ever be the Best and Ever in the same sentence.

(let me know if you find it as hilarious as I do)

So the four of us decided we'd go to the fireworks and have a BBQ afterwards. We all headed to the Blackheath fireworks that were on at 8 and they invited a few other Romania friends. The fireworks were amazing it was the longest fireworks show ive ever seen, and they played music to them (something I think columbia lake should think about). Surprisingly they had some firework I have never seen before. After the show it was cute because Silvio thanked Rita and I for taking them because on his own they would have never went and he hasn't seen fireworks in over 5 years. CRAZY

Then we went back to their house and we had a BBQ and drinks. Now I tired to remember what the drink was called because its the best drink I have ever tasted and Silv makes it for Rita and I every time I come but I've forgotten :(, but its Vodka, fresh lime and strawberry or kiwi, brown sugar and crushed ice. GLORIOUS. We spent the night playing Wii and I decovered I am pretty much the best Wii player EVER.

Sunday Rita and I went to Covert Garden to the market and walked around Trafalger Square and Westminster for some photo opts seeing that when either of us have gone we were alone and didn't have a picture partner. But seeing that my cameras flash isn't working (if anyone knows how to fix that help a sister out) all the pics are on Ritas camera and shes having computer difficulties so they can't be uploaded, so your poop out of luck.

And so ya thats pretty much my weekend in a nut shell... a big one, and I'll keep you posted on other life adventures.

Hope you had a good weekend <3
Staying Happy (keeping away from my old friend emo)

Anaylsis This

Some of you know that this week has been pretty bland in my life and so I've been thinking a lot of what I have gotten myself into; this mean making observations, and diving into some personal growth and understanding (you can just start calling D.Phil if you wish). None the less I have come to some conclusions about families.

Its quite interesting to watch from the sidelines of how a family functions... kind of like being a fly on the wall. I think that when your in a family you don't necessarily see how it functions, your so caught up within it that you get a false perception. With me playing the role of the fly it really make me think about what it would be like if someone was dropped into my family and all the little opinions they would create.

Its crazy when I think about it, I got up and left a life that had just gotten to a place that felt confortable, a place of love, happiness and familiarity. Nothing was wrong with what I had but yet I felt the need to spice it up and see the world. Now if I'm giving the the impression that I'm second guessing my decision that is not he case, I am just anaylsising it. With being thrown into this new world I haven't had much time to take a step back and look at what I have done and what I'm doing, I was in a survival state and now that this is becoming 'comfortable' I am able to looked at the good and bad. I am still boggled how one day I was sitting in my room on the computer playing around on aupairworld.com progressed into a conversation with mom in the living room about moving to England has now progessed full round into me being in London, England. I still have to stop and tell myself on a daily basis when I get emo as to what I'm doing I say it over and over in my head London, England. I have this one spot that I see on the way home from Isabellas nursary that makes me think... this is why I came here. The walk to her nursary is on a hill downwards towards our house and walking home from nursary your on the top of the hill looking down and you see a beautiful landscape with houses on both sides. It seems so simple but Im so grateful for it being there because it give me that little reminder on a daily basis that even in the harder times it is all worth it. And that the things that I'm missing back home will always be there for me and that i'm doing this for a reason.

I think that I need to step back and take the flys perspective on my own life, because right now althought on paper I am living my dream of travelling Europe, living in England and gaining independance I still am jealous of the basic K-Dub life you all call boring because you have the simple things we take for granted like dirrty Phils, the P.T., and each other. So take this emo blog message and appricate and love you life there :)

Even thought I'm sounding emo right now tomorrow is Friday and my weekend is coming and that is what I live for... and I know like all other weekends this one won't let me down and I will have a least one moment where I stop and think "wow this is exactly why i'm doing this" and it will hold me over until the next weekend.

But I should actually stop bitching because today when I was having a bad day, strangely enough Livy was the one who turned it around, so i'm done my rant... dont get worried about me from I think I wrote it just to makes all of us appriacate what we have instead of always desiring what others have.

Thanks to everyone who I've talk to this week <3
Love.

Living a Fairy Tale

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

So our week off has ended and im happy to say that, althought Livy and I had a great time together doing stuff all day it is nice to have a break from them. Friday we had a full out Halloween day which they have NEVER done. Nobody in this house had ever carved a pumpkin before... not even Sara and David which I thought was crazy, so Friday morning we all (minus David) carved their first pumpkin, and we even kept the seeds and roasted them in true Halloween fashion. Then we spend our day preparing for the party by making crafts and decorating cupcakes.

Sara, Jay (saras mom) and the three mice went to the halloween party which was nice for the girls but a lot to handle with tons of little people in one place. Livy cant handle social setting like that very well, but I was glad I got to observe her in it so see how she handles it. Another observation I made was the fact they everyone buys their costume... BORING.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Then after celebrating Halloween we hung up our costumes and got out of Christmas spirit and Rita and I woke up at 6:30 on our day off to attend the Harrods Christmas Parade. Now this parade isnt the town parade they hold this parade to bring Santa into Harrods. It was only about a half an hour long and it didnt have floats it just had bands and dancers and clowns etc. but they gave away tons of free stuff and it was a Cinderella Fairy Tale theme. At the end they had real reindeer and Santa got off his sled and walked into Harrod to find his spot on his chair.
After a day in central london we went back to Ritas and decorated her mini tree (which i have now set up in my room as well) and planned to watch a movie BUT we ended up having these fantastic drinks made by her roommates and we had a night of laughs with them instead.

Its really funny to see how other cultures percive Canadians... it makes for a good night of jokes on your behalf.

Side note: David and Sara were telling me last night about Davids deputie who is like his assiant whos name is Catherine but used to be named Paul. About 2 years about he decided to change sex and now in a few weeks will undergo the ENTIRE change. And i found it funny because when David told me about it he was explaining how the company sent around a memo to let everyone at work know and he did in a America asscent because when they think of sex changes they think of north america because everyone here is trying to improve their self and when they think of America they think of people seeing shrinks etc. haha i thought that was hilarious. They were hating the concept of D. Phil haha and Oparh


Sunday we continued on being tourists and went to the biggest market in London but I cant remember the name of it hahaha and then headed to Tower Bridge and London Tower which were both beautiful. (kyle i thought of you when I went because its the place you told me not to miss <3)

A hilarious hightlight of Sunday was a man playing a Kazoo for money on the streets with 5 empty tall boys beside him. It was awesome, some people have guitars or saxaphones but this classy man has a Kazoo LOVED IT!

David is on holidays right now and so last night David, Sara and I got to sit down for dinner which was so nice expecially because David is a great cook and we got to talk about my ideas about Livy. So we have decided to start a token systems so she doesnt get so many chances, because right now she never gets punished and she only gets warnings. So now she has 3 tokens a day that hang underneath her Golden Rules and if she break one of the rules she gets a token taken away... and once the tokens are gone she gets a punishment, three stikes and your out sort of thing. I also gave Sara a few more suggestions that she liked and she is now going to take them to Ms. Goodwin and use them. :)

This Wednesday is Bonfire Night, its a night to remember a guy who tried to blow up Parliment a really long time ago so they have fireworks every Nov. 5th and celebrate that he didnt succeed and remember how close they were to losing the Parliment building. So Saturday I think we will go to the festival and then maybe see Fireworks on Sunday because Saturday is Matildas birthday so we will be busy celebrating with dinner and dancing.

love.