Being home and photos

It has been a week since I finally made it home. And what a week! It had, admittedly, taken some getting used to. I have never been so glad to see my own bed! Though when I woke up one time on my first night, I wasn't sure where I was! Which is funny because this never happened in Russia or England! It has been nice to be back to normal food stuffs. Knowing what to expect for meals, being able to drink out of the tap (which I could do in England, it just tasted funny).

I spent most of the day Tuesday going over all the things that happened in Russia and England with Mum. Then that afternoon I went over to visit my friend Melody. It was so good to see her! I had really missed my friends while I was gone. Even though I made some good friends in Russia, they can never replace to dear friends I have here!

I've spent this past week recovering, getting pictures printed, and catching up with friends. Sunday was fun because all the girls were at church at it is such a rare thing for us all to be in the same place at once, we took a picture! It was so much fun getting to see everyone and catch up on all the things that have been going on since I left.

Yesterday and today I went back to work. Hadn't changed too much. :-) Had to remember how to do a couple of things, and sometimes I can't find things that have moved or that we no longer have. Currently we have this awesome new Studio Collection set that I adore. The only problem is everything is white... but the designs are great. (I work at the Disney Store for those of you who don't know) And actually, we now have a website www.disneystore.com You can see the cool new stuff there. I love working for that place! (well...most of the time) ;-)

Any way... sorry for that side sales plug. HeeHee.

As I type I am uploading England pictures for you all to see. However it is taking longer on this computer than it did in Russia! How crazy is that? So hopefully I'll be able to get a lot up...
Okay, I did not get all of them posted, but it is taking forever and I have stuff to do... so here are some I did get up.


I saw this on the way back from the Harry Potter premiere, it had been raining and I looked down this little side road and wow!


A little town that I had tea in with the Job's.


Tower Bridge in London... saw this on my first Thursday


Big Ben


Guard outside Buckingham Palace


On July 7, the Westwoods and I went out to Saffron-Waldon where Cheryl and her family live. It was Cheryl's 21st Birthday. Before her party started, Cheryl, Steph and Cheryly's brother, Adam and I went into Caimbridge. We went punting on a small river to see all the colleges

Steph and Cheryl

Kings College and the punts


On July 10, the Westwoods and I went out to Oxford. My goal for that day was to see as much Tolkien and Lewis related things as I could. Our first stop was Tolkien's grave...




This is the very famous pub where the 'Inklings' met. The writing/discussion group that Tolkien and Lewis started. Robert, Janice and I had lunch here. :-)


This picture was taken at the pond behind the Kilns. The home of C.S. Lewis. Evidently there is a picture of both Tolkien and Lewis sitting on this very same bench! Gotta find that pic...


This is The Kilns



And those are all the pictures I have up at the moment. You can find a few more plus pictures from the Order of the Phoenix premiere at http://www.flickr.com/photos/lils_photos/
Hopefully I can get some more up tomorrow... it is just taking a long time for them to load!

Home!

Well I finally made it home! I cannot even begin to tell you how nice it is to be back! I was supposed to land yesterday about 3pm, and didn't land till 9pm! Lufthansa had overbooked my flight home, so I had to take a different one into Washington DC, and then a connecting flight to Atlanta. It was a crazy day yesterday. But hey, I can say I've been to DC. ;-)

I don't have the time at the moment to go into all the stuff that has happened since my last update, but I hope to soon! Plus I have a bunch of England pictures to share. So keep checking back! Just because I'm home, doesn't mean the blog stops. :-)

I can't wait to see everyone!

A good week so far...

Again I must apologize for not having any pictures. It takes a long time to upload them to the net from the Jobs computer, so I'm afraid you all will have to wait until I get home. But I do promise I have them and I will put them up on the net for everyone to see!

I have had a very good week so far. I think I mentioned that on Monday I spent the day in London. That was so much fun. It was quite exciting to walk around and realize that I was in England!! And it was nice to be able to be bymyself and not worry about whether or not the locals spoke English. That is a very comforting thought.

Tuesday I went out to Oxford and had a really wonderful time. First we went to Wolvercote Cemetary and I got to see where Tolkien was burried. That was really special for me. Though I wish I thought to bring a flower or something.

After that we went to the Eagle and the Child and had lunch. Sadly there were already people in the Rabbit Room, so we couldn't sit in the room the Inklings did, but it was the same pub! And I did take some pictures of the place. Plus there is a letter on the wall from the Inklings to the owner of the Pub thanking them for such good drink! Signed by Tolkien, Christopher T, CSL, Warnie Lewis and some others. Very neat!

After that we took some time to walk around Oxford and I picked up an Oxford University shirt. Actually I picked up two, but one of them just says Oxford England and has the Union Jack on it. It is awesome. (i'm wearing it today!)

Then we went to The Kilns, the home of C. S. Lewis and got a tour. It is still in use today as a residence for scholars, so we couldn't see the whole house, but we got to see a lot of it and to hear a lot of history. It was actually just Robert, Janice and I! Our own private little tour. :-) They usually do the bigger tours during the school year, and not so many during the summer. The funny thing is, the house is own and run by Americans!!! I got some really nice pictures there.

After that it was time to come back. But I really enjoyed my day in Oxford and would have loved to spend a lot more time there.


Today I spent the day with the Jobs and we went to South End which is a costal area. It is where the Thames meets the sea. It was really nice and we had a nice time. Got to see the worlds longest pier! (and walk down it!)
I have really been enjoying my time with the Jobs, especially after having them come to America so much, it is nice to spend time with them in their country! Today at lunch we talked a lot about when the first came, and then how much people have grown up. (Especially the Ack boys! :-p Really made me miss you guys!!)

Tonight the Westwoods are having a bar-b-q. This means a cookout for us Americans. :-) Not actualy BBQ.

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As it gets closer and closer for me to leave, I am ready to come home. I've had such an amazing time abroad, yet I am really missing everyone so much. Especially today talking with the Jobs, and last night looking at some pictures the westwoods had from when they were in America a few years ago. I miss all my dear friends back at home! I cannot wait to see everyone! I'm even looking forward to the seeing everyone back at work! Well....at least most of them. :-D Actually made it to the Disney Store here in Essex. However I couldn't get my discount because they are still owned by Disney here. (In America we are owned by The Children's Place)

Well I must be going. Lots of love to you all! I miss you!

No time!

Sorry I haven't updated in awhile! My computer access isn't as readily avalibe here!

 

I've done a lot the past couple of days!

 

I saw Les Mis on the West End!!! It was amazing!!! As a stage play, I think I liked it better than Phantom.... Can you believe it? I can't wait to get home and get the music. The signers at the Queens theater were amazing. Wonder how the original cast sounded... We weren't supposed to go on Friday, but the play we were going to see ended up having the power cut at the theater! So we dashed over to Les Mis. I'm so glad we did!!! (I got a t-shirt!)

 

Saturday I went to Caimbridge. But didn't get to spend a lot of time there.

 

Today I spent the day in London. It was awesome! I managed not to get lost once. (i was bymyself) Went to Harrods!

 

Tomorrow we are going to Oxford!!! I cannot wait.

 

Thursday is Bath! How cool is that?

 

 

Any way, I must run. I'm at an internet cafe and my time is almost out! Love to you all!

Guess what???

I have JK Rowlings autograph!!!!

No, I'm not kidding, and yes it really is her!

The premire yesterday was a blast. It was a long wait, I got the Leichester Square at one and stars didn't start coming till about 530 or so. But it was totally worth the wait. The first person to come along was Tom Felton (Draco) however it was raining pretty hard when he came along, and I didn't get a good picture of him at all.
Next was Evanna Lynch. She was absolutely gorgeous. I got some moderately good pics of her.

Sometimes it was hard to take pictures, because it did rain hard a couple times. By the end of the night, my right arm was soaking wet. I wasn't able to keep it under the umbrella of my neighbor. But my camera stayed dry, and that was the most importat thing!

It would take too long to go into all the details of the evening, and I don't want to bore you all with it. But the stars that I saw (and who came close enough for photos) were... Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint (I have several awesome pics of him), James and Oliver Phelps, David Heyman, Devon Murry, Bonnie Wright (ginny), Robbie Coltrain, Imalda Stauten, Warrwick Davis , Matthew Lewis, and of course, the woman herself, JK Rowling.

When we realized Jo was coming over, I begged a scrap of paper from some one, because I thought I would get close enough for anyones autograph. When in fact I was quite close. But that is the way it goes sometimes! But all that really matters, is I've "met"Jo and have her signature. And some good pictures as well!

So last night was totally worth the rain, the standing, the cold...
The only bummer was, I saw David Tennant (and in fact several of us all sreamed his name) but he didn't come around near enough for a pic or to sign. :-( Same for Helena Bonham Carter.
James and Oliver were really nice and among the stars, they probably spent the most time signing. Dan did quite a bit, but of course it got crazy every time he walked by. People didn't scream to much at Jo, it just didn't feel right! Jo is really pretty and was so nice to take the time to sign so many autographs!
Actually every one was really nice about it, but a couple times Emma looked a bit stressed out. She is really pretty, and so was Evanna. Dan's eyes are amazing! Very blue. I have a picture where Rupert looked right at my camera. *squeee!*
Didn't make an effort to speak to the Twins about D*C this year or two years ago. Decided that it was too much trouble. But both James and Oliver were over near our section. I actually remembered who was who!!


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Today was spent with the Jobs around Epping and the surrounding area. It was very nice. Though I'm still not recovered from my 36 hour day. (yup...thats how long it ended up being) but we took it easy and I've enjoyed it very much. Tomorrow Janice and I are going to go down to London and take a city tour. I'm really looking forward to that. She bought our HP 5 movie tickets yesterday. So we have that set for the 12th at 730. Next Tuesday we are going to go up to Oxford. Yay!!

I'll try and get some pics up soon. I have to use the computer from the Jobs because the Westwoods currently have no internet. I don't have my camera cable with me, so it'll have to wait for another day.

All the best...

in england

hello from england! Actually, hello from the jobs house! it is so funny to actually be at their home after having them in america so much! really feels like i'm in england now.

 

sorry about lack of capitalization. i'm not used to beresfords computer, and i can't find the shift button. oh well. not sure how much i'll be able to update and post pics from here. but i'll try when i can. england might be the thing that will have to wait until i get home.

 

i'm dead tired because i've been up since 10am yesterday. up, that is like 30 hours or so. i'm crazy tired!!! the  plane flight wasn't bad, the layover was long... i was so glad to finally make it to the westwood. however i am really missing all the people from russia. Rob, faith, april, mama april, tracey, justin.... the city seems almost strange without them! i spent so much time with all of them, that it seems weird not to be with them any more.

 

well i'm going to sign off. love to you all...

England....Here I come!

So it is 5:30 for me. In an hour we will all be going to our farewell dinner at the Stragonov Palace.

It is so hard to believe, that before long, I'll be getting ready to fly out and leave Russia behind! I have had such a wonderful time here, and have gotten so used to it... It is hard to imagine leaving. Justin, Rob and I went to exchange some money, and on the way back we were talking about how hard it is realize it is actually time to leave. Two weeks ago, even four weeks ago, seemed so long. And now its over!

I did a lot of packing yesterday, so I didn't have to do as much today, but I still had to figure out where to stick things! Thankfully Stephanie had extra room and is able to take back some of my larger souvies. Yay!

We are leaving here tomorrow morning about 3:30 or 4am. Our plane takes off at about 6 I believe. Then I sit in the airport in Frankfurt for almost 8 hours before my plane leaves at 3 for London. I'll land there about 3:45/4pm.

I'll probably not be on the computer till Wed or Thursday. Because on Tuesday I'm going to go down to the HP preimire. Yes I'm crazy.

Any way... I guess I'll sign off.
Love to you all!!!