another day, another year older.

Yesterday was my 23rd birthday! And as I'm a bit cynical about birthdays and the singing in general, it all went really well! I hadn't told anybody at work about it mostly because I didn't want people to make a big deal out of it. But Lou went ahead and informed my boss and my friend Karl. And go figure, round 4:00pm there was cake and singing. I'll admit now that it was nice. I was more interested in the card to be honest!

Then Lou was gracious (and awesome) enough to take me out for dinner. Katie came and met us here and we all headed off to T.G.I.Fridays (yes, TGIFridays, the same as in the states - they serve "American" food). We had a great meal and loads of cocktails.

Finished off the night with a quick stop at our local pub in Tooting. We mostly just wanted to reassure the landlord (Lindsey met him while she was here!) that we were alive. Had a couple birthday shots and headed home.

All in all it was a great birthday. Just like Christmas, it wasn't the same as back home. But it's a new year, I live in a new country and have some wonderful new friends. At the end of the day, you just want to be with people you love on your birthday and I got just that - so I'm not complaining. (Don't think that means I didn't miss you all!)

ringing in the new year.

me and lou at carat's christmas party.

hello 2010! i hope everyone had a great new year's, because i surely did! me, lou and some friends went out for a nice dinner in covent garden. we then did a bit of dancing and then round 11:00 headed off to waterloo to catch the fireworks. unfortunately, we didn't really get to see the fireworks because the bridge was far too full with people! nevertheless, we brought bottles of champagne and were surrounded by people and patiently waited for big ben to strike 12!

i frantically called everyone back home to wish them a happy new year's! it was a great time. the journey home was ridiculous but was well worth it. it was by far one of the best new year's eves i've ever had. lots of fun.

here's to hoping that 2010 is as good as 2009.

It's been a while since I posted - December has been manic! The picture above is the front of the London Evening Standard - one of the free papers they have here. And yes, -6° made front page news! What I thought was the funniest part were the posters with headlines saying "The BIG freeze tonight!". I suppose that it is cold for London, but still. I don't think any of them would survive a day in Saskatchewan in December!

Moving on. As I said, December has been a very hectic month. Very busy at work with work in general and loads of Christmas parties. I had 3 Christmas parties for work alone and then a bunch of lunches out with clients. It kept us going I suppose but I felt battered by the end of it! I can't even begin to explain how much English people drink. But it's a cultural thing - as odd as that sounds. Going to the pub after work is as common as taking the tube.

Needless to say I was happy to have a couple days off at Christmas - just to get a break from it all really! I went out to Surrey to spend Christmas with Lou and her family. And as far as my first Christmas away from home, it was the best it could be!

We spent Christmas Eve at the pub - an English tradition from what I understand. Then Christmas day we went over to Lou's cousin's cottage (which was beautiful by the way) and just chatted over champagne and canapés. Then we went back to her's for a proper Christmas dinner. It was good but not near as good as back home.

An added bonus was that Mom got the family a webcam and I had a bit of a breakdown when I saw them! I think it was more than likely because I haven't physically seen Mom and Dad in close to six months. It was nice though - it almost felt like I was there. Not quite, but as close as we could get. Seeing all of you on Christmas Night was also a weird occurence - waving hello to everyone was a bit odd! But I managed.

I'm now back at work - and it's slowed down. There's very few people in the office so it's quite quiet. But I'm sure next week it'll start to pick up.

New Year's Eve is this week - a few friends and I are going out for dinner and then heading to the bridge to watch the fireworks. Should be a pretty tame way to ring in the New Year, but I'm happy with this choice!

Miss you all and hope you had a great Christmas and an even better New Year's!

baby please come home for christmas.

So it's been a few days since Lindsey left and I already miss her! Sunday was harder than I can begin to explain. It was the first time since I've been here (and in my life in general) that I've ever been homesick. I think bringing her here was awesome but I also knew that she was just gonna leave!

Now that we're in December, and Christmas is fast approaching, it gets harder being away from my friends and family. I am happy though. Work has been going really well and I love everybody I work with. And I've realised that December gets busier and busier as you get older. When you're a kid, you only have Christmas Eve to wait for. Now it's dinner parties, get togethers and work parties. And I'm not complaining!

This weekend I'm off to Surrey with Lou. Her parents are away in China so she's stealing their house for a dinner party. And I'm very excited! She's planned this crazy menu and I can't wait to try it all.

Anyway, I gotta head to work now! Just wanted to let you all know that I love you and miss you - now more than ever.

xx

time flies.

I can't believe it's already almost December! Where has the time even gone?

Lindsey is leaving tomorrow. We've had a fantastic time. We started with a trip to Paris and tired ourselves out for four days. On Day 1 we visited the Louvres, which was amazing. I can't even begin to understand how big it is. Just getting around the building took over 2 hours. I think Lindsey really enjoyed it, as did I. We topped off the day by trekking up the Cathedral of Notre Dame. And what a trek it was! We climbed what seemed to be endless stairwells but it was beautiful once we got to the top. We were promptly in bed by 9 that night - Paris had tired us out! But it didn't stop there. We went to Versailles for the day on Tuesday and than that night climbed up the Arc de Triomphe. It was beautiful. And tiring! I seriously don't think we've walked so much in 2 days before! The Wednesday was probably the highlight of our vacation. In true UnRuh style, we went out to EuroDisney for the day! It was amazing! Obviously it didn't really compare to California or Florida but it was still quite good. We capped it off by going to the Eiffel Tower. Absolutely amazing little vacation.

The rest of Lindsey's trip has been filled with lots of shopping, a couple of musicals (Avenue Q and Wicked), The Eye and the cinema. It's been great and I'm sad to see her leave tomorrow!

Can't wait to come home and visit eventually. It won't be for a while, but I'm still excited!

We're gonna finish today with a trip to Marks and Spencer and then heading to the cinema tonight.

Love and miss you all. xoxo

It has been a VERY long time since I've posted and I'm trying to recollect what's been going on since then. Work has been going great. It gets busier everyday which is a good thing. The first couple weeks were really slow but we're getting more and more stuff to do on a daily basis.

I love the people that I work with and the company that I work for. So, all in all I think it's a win.

I'm excited because tomorrow Lindsey's gonna be here! It's going to be amazing to get a little piece of home. She's also bringing me loads of stuff but all in all I'm just excited to see her. It's crazy to think that I've been here for 4 months already - part of me doesn't even really understand that I've been gone that long! On one hand, it feels like it has only been a couple weeks but on the other it feels like I've lived here forever.

I have all of next week off and Lindsey and I are going to Paris for four days! I know I live in London and it's been amazing, but words can't describe how stoked I am to go back to Paris.

Anyway, just thought I'd give a quick update. Will try and keep more regular with this thing. Expect a few posts over the next few weeks considering Lindsey and I will be adventuring around London (and Paris!).

xoxo