Hit the Ground Running

Team, the Brians are back in business.

Last week, for example, Will returned to his research group meetings, started physical therapy for his recent knee injury, received his TA assignments, and selflessly juggled (literally) most of the cooking and cleaning. Why the sudden swap to housewifery? Because I was sick on Monday, worked Tuesday-Thursday, hosted two dinners, met one new friend and one old for coffee(s), started and studied for two new Bible Studies, had a doctor's appointment, and felt like a bad friend for all of the other friend-y requests I had to say "no" to in the span of five days.

Can we Skype? No.
Can we meet up on Saturday? No.
Can we have tea this week? No.

All lovely offers from equally lovely people, mind you, but I was feeling a wee bit overwhelmed and congested, probably due to my lack of sleep and the recent chilly temperatures.

Sidenote: have I mentioned it's a cool 54˚ outside today? Yes, fall has arrived. Can you document the fall foliage on this blog? No! Yes. Eventually.

Back to my ramblings. My crazy schedule and my body's protests and my lack of snuggling with Willis were turning me into a rather crabby person when, flipping through old Oxford pictures in search of who-knows-what, I came across the pictures from our first month here.

Ah yes! You mean that time when you blogged weekly, Skyped every other day, hiked through the English countryside, drank tea at your leisure and generally had new adventures to retell to your readers?

Not exactly.

Not as glamorous as you thought, eh?

I mean that time when I didn't have enough friends (or dishes) to host two dinner parties in one week. Or a job to provide us with the money for that much food. Or a strong connection to a church that would enable me to be involved with two Bible studies. Team, this rather unflattering picture of myself was a reminder to me that, in all of this week's business, I am doing life here. The Caitlin in that picture was hoping and praying for a week like this. And she'll be very unhappy with me if I don't enjoy it to the fullest. So no. No fall foliage pictures or stories of hikes (see second paragraph where Will hurt his knee). But maybe next week. :)



P.S. In searching through those old photos I found this. There are no words.

One Year Ago Today

One year ago today we were still homeless. Which means that one year ago today I was definitely grumpy.

One year ago today our England friends could be counted on one hand. Or maybe just two fingers.

One year ago today I was jobless.

One year ago today I was homesick.


We've come miles since one year ago today. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.



And yes, this does mean I'm back in the blogging business. Year Two, here I come.

Lately

Lately, life has been a little crazy.

Crazy parents.

Crazy in lurve.

Crazy statue?

Crazy Metaphysics.

Crazy cute!

Crazy nerds.

But we're down with crazy.

Whatchu lookin' at, Willis?

Lately, we've turned our living room into a 2nd bedroom of sorts.

You will just have to take my word that that is Laura...

The Embry's were our next air mattress victims.

Lately, we've been spoiled by hanging out with family and dear friends in the most charming city ever.

Sissy-face and I in Christ Church Gardens.

Chillin' with the Embry's on Trinity's lawn.

Technically, this was in London, which is still pretty charming.

Lately, we've been allllll over England.

The fam at Salisbury Cathedral.

Cute parents (do I really have to tell you where they are?).

The English Channel.

Avon Castle, where we stayed (!) for 3 nights.

Lately (and back in the States), this guy graduated from the USMC Officer Candidates School.

Proud parents!

My good-lookin' siblings. Wish I could have been there, too!

Lately, we've been working like mad to make up for all of the company time. Lately, Will traveled to Belfast for a Maths Conference and didn't take any pictures of Ireland because he was stuck in lectures all day.

Lately, we're exhausted...

Up next: America!

The View From My iPhone

This is what life looks like for the Brians these past 48 hours:

Our neighbors, Josh and Erin, are celebrating their 10-year wedding anniversary in Germany (yeah, go marriage!) and Will and I are watching their cutie pies, Ella and Jackson.

Our foray into fake-parenting thus far:

Day 1: Easy Peasy. Busy, but easy. Will had to work, so the kiddos and I went to the library, played at the park, read books, and ran around outside until he came home.

Day 2 (today): Revenge of the stomach. My stomach. I am happy to report that after ridding my body of absolutely all it's prior contents (and possibly a little stomach lining), I'm feeling better. Not awesome, but better.

The upside of my stomach removal is that I got to listen to Will go into solo parenting mode as I lay in bed, afraid of any horizontal movement. I listened as he navigated breakfast, Ella's outfit choices, Jackson's packed lunch for preschool, teeth brushing and the occasional stern discipline voice like a pro. Smart and kid-friendly? Jackpot.

After the porcelain god had been appeased, I eavesdropped on Ella and Will as they "worked" in the living room. The conversation went something like this:

Ella: "dat Daddy's puter?"

Will: "No, this is my computer."

Ella: "das Daddy's puter--you can use it!"

Will: "This is my computer--it has topology on it." Pause. "Ella, can you say topology?"

Ella: "polgy"

Will: "Top-ol-o-gy"

Ella: "pology"

Ella soon grew tired of topology and decided that Will's work was over.

We are also big believers in buying children's love (although I do feel a little cheap... sometimes) and purchased a bubble kit at the grocery story today. I'd like to believe that for those 45 minutes of blissful bubble blowing they loved us that much more.

We have the kids until Tuesday morning and, so far, our goal to keep them accident-free has been a great success! Now if only my stomach will cooperate we'll be set.

Oh, and I know that I owe you all one hefty blog post about my family's visit... but I am waiting for a certain unnamed family member to send me her pictures. Want a hint? Her name rhymes with Fwisten. :) Once the pictures have arrived, I'll bore you to tears with pictures of English flowers and streets and buildings and the Hesses, of course. It's a promise.

On the Eve of 24...

23 Things For Year 23

As a 23-year-old I...

1. Moved to England. Homeless. Not our best planning situation ever.

2. Reverted to my 15-year-old, car-less self after said move to England and had to re-learn how to ride a bike. So far the current standing is Bike-17, Caitlin-12. I'm workin' on it.

3. Traveled to Mallorca, Spain.

4. Wrote my first will-and-testament in preparation for number 3. Something along the lines of "if you are reading this, we have been eaten by sharks, captured by pirates, or succumbed to food poisoning..." Oh, and Laura gets my engagement ring.

5. Started this blog. :)

6. Started running. So far, so good.

7. Attended the biggest wedding of the century.

8. Celebrated my own 2 year wedding anniversary with Willis.

9. Toured Edinburgh, Scotland, with new Oxford friends.

10. Became famous. For example, this situation JUST HAPPENED at church last Sunday. Will introduces himself to one of the pastors: "Hi, I'm Will." "Ohhhh like Will&Caitlin Will?" That's right--we are legendary.

11. Saw these guys in London. They sound amazing live.

12. Spent Christmas away from the clan for the first time. Just me and the husband.

13. Had my own "Home Alone" moment in London TWICE in the same day. First, I got off a bus while Will was still in the bus bathroom. Second, I jumped onto the Underground and Will didn't quite make it in time. I arrived at the next station only to discover that my phone had just died. We held hands for the rest of that trip.

14. FINALLY found use for all of my extensive Sound of Music knowledge. The children I nanny are obsessed with this movie and I am frequently called upon to 1) pretend to be Maria, 2) recite the children's names, 3) explain for the 500th time why the Nazis (or the "Naughties", as they call them) are chasing the children, 4) retell the entire story--start to finish, 5) build puppets so that they can re-enact the puppet show.

15. Pulled my second all-nighter. The first was my senior prom night 6 years ago, and the second was in Gatwick waiting for a flight. That's right--I graduated from college all-nighter free! And after all-nighter number 2 I remembered why I was always the one of my friends that went to bed instead of studying.

16. Finally began to make good on my offer to learn Greek for Will. I haven't made it past the alphabet yet, but it's better than nothing... right? Maybe by year 5 of marriage I will have some basic vocabulary down. Maybe.

17. Became "Aunt Caitlin" to our neighbors' kids. I love that.

18. Became more like my mother. This is a yearly occurrence. Last year it was deep cleaning the house before going on a trip. This year I noticed it when I started making our bed in the mornings. What? Yes. I know. I fought her on this for years and, now that I'm on my own, she's winning.

19. Discovered my inner chef. I've always been able to cook but this year I've been forced to try new recipes with new ingredients as the British supermarket is no HEB. So far, we've had mostly wins... there was this one soup that Will ate "just so that we wouldn't be throwing money down the drain" but I say that it's just part of the discovery process.

20. Discovered my inner nature girl. Between the biking and the running and the hiking and the walking everywhere I've had no choice but to give up my lazy American habits and get outside. And I like it.

21. Discovered Dark Chocolate Digestives. They sort of undo all of the nature girl effect on my thighs.

22. Witnessed the Lord's provision first hand. Over and over and over again.

23. Made friends that we hope to know for the rest of our lives.

23, you've been an adventure. 24, let's see what you got.

Bienvenido a Mallorca

Well folks, we're back. We're a bit fatter (hellooooo amazing Mallorcan lasagna!), a bit tanner (ok that's just me), and a bit depressed to be back in the cold, rainy English climate. The good news is that we had an amazing time doing a whole bunch of nothin'! That's right--between the reading and the tanning and the eating and the tanning and the sleeping and the tanning we managed to relax and have an amazing time. But don't let our laziness fool you! Despite our best efforts to become one with our beach chairs we still managed to make some pretty great memories. Like the one time with the Spanish band who sang "Bad Moon Rising" and other such American classics in almost unintelligible English. Or the boobs. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Our trip officially started with Will's 600 meter sprint at midnight on Wednesday. We were taking the 12:00 am bus to Gatwick Airport to ensure us plenty of time to catch our 6 am flight. Yes, we realize NOW that we went a bit overboard with the precautions but at 11:56 pm Tuesday night it seemed like the right thing to do! We had brought £40 of cash with us to purchase said bus tickets, assuming that the bus fare from Oxford to Gatwick would be similar to the bus fare from Oxford to Heathrow. Wrong! Try £32 more expensive! We arrived at the stop with 4 minutes to spare... realizing our miscalculation and not wanting to sit around waiting for the 2 am bus, Will sprinted to the nearest ATM while I tried to chat up the bus driver in an attempt to stall the bus. Fortunately, Will's sprinting skills are better than my flirting skills and he arrived back at the bus station at 11:58 pm--sweaty, but successful! We were off.

Gatwick was (not surprisingly) empty at 2 am in the morning. We hung around, attempting to nap until our flight was called. I had originally gloated at being the one with the window seat ticket, but pride goeth before the fall--the seat directly behind the coveted window seat was occupied by a 2 year old terrorist with a piercing scream and surprisingly strong legs. I know this because she kicked the back of my seat for almost the entire three hour flight. I have never been so happy to get off a plane.

On the bus to our hotel. This is what a three hour flight in front of a manic two year old will do to you.

Fast forward through a power nap and shower and we were off to find some lunch before hitting the beach. Little did we know that we were about to taste the best lasagna known to mankind...

You might not be able to tell from the photo, but this lasagna is magical. Miraculous. Majestic.

So good we went back again on our last day! Also, my husband is a hottie. Just FYI.

Folks, that amazing lasagna has completely ruined us for any future lasagna eating. We both swore that not another lasagna would touch our lips after our first bite. It was life changing. I could do a whole post about that lasagna. Moving on...

The blooming hotel courtyard.

These pasty legs are ready to see some sun!

We wound our way through the small town of Cala D'or in search of the closest cove. I nearly jumped for joy when we walked onto the hot sand and gazed at the Mediterranean Sea for the first time.

Our view for three days.

The sun was hot, the water was cold, the sand was toasty, the sky was blue and, for the first time in months, I felt SO WARM! We basked in the sun with our books and when the beach grew too hot we'd wade out into the sea for a cool down. The water was so clear that you could see your shadow moving along on the white sand underneath you. Multiply this pattern of activity by three days and there you have our trip.

"Now's your moment, Floating in the blue lagoon..."

The handsomest, whitest man on that beach. :)

I could live in a villa...

I feel warm just looking at this picture.

But wait, you say! What about the crazy Spanish singers? And the boobs?

Yes, I said "boobs", Mother.

I'm just teasing. How could I leave out that part of our travels? We'll start with the boobs...

We had somehow forgotten all about, shall we say, "traditional Mediterranean beach apparel" (or lack thereof) when we booked this holiday. Imagine, if you can, Will's face when we first stepped out onto the beach and are greeted by the sight of 60 years or older, sunburned, wrinkled, topless ladies. Think "The Golden Girls" in bikini bottoms only and with 65 years of sun damage. Are you laughing yet? Because I sure did! The look of shock and horror was so hilarious that every now and then I'd have to point out another exceptionally worn pair just to watch his face and see him shudder! I'm a super supportive wife like that. As we were some of the youngest people on that beach (by a good 30 years or more) it wasn't as bad as it could have been. We'll be keeping that in mind the next beach vacation we plan. This is also the reason we have so few beach pictures. You're welcome.

On to the live entertainment. It was our first night in Mallorca and after pulling an all-nighter in Gatwick and then spending hours out in the sun I was ready to crash. There was a live band scheduled to play in the courtyard that evening and Will happened to catch the first song of theirs on his way up to our hotel room. Let me just say that one of the reasons I love my husband is his kind heart. The guy will literally give the shirt off of his back to you if he thinks you need it more than he does. So it should have come as no surprise to me when Will walked in to our hotel room and declared "Caitlin, we have to go down there. They are terrible and there is no one out there to support them--I feel bad!" I listened for a minute (they had found the volume on their speakers by now) and he was right. They were bad. Comically so. With a sigh I put my shoes back on and followed him down to the courtyard. The "band" was an older husband and wife duo--him on the guitar and her on the keyboard--and as we sat down the old gentleman, with his thick Spanish accent, leaned into the mic and said, "And now we haf a thong from de Joan Denther." He started singing: "Almoth heafen, Weth Firginya..." and I lost it! Not in the laughing way but in the crying way! I used to play that "Joan Denther" classic every time I would drive home from college, and hearing that first line on vacation in Mallorca, Spain was so unexpected that all of my homesick emotions surfaced in a second. We looked pretty comical--them, with their light-up keyboard, Will trying to stifle his laughter in his beer, and me--blubbering to "Country Roadth" sung by the most unAmerican band ever. I had fully intended to only give them a few courtesy minutes of listening and then go back to our room to sleep. We stayed for over an hour, singing and clapping along to "Imagine", "Bad Moon Rising", "Islands In The Stream", "Obladi Oblada" and "You Ain't Nothin' But A Hound Dog".

And that, readers, is our Mallorca trip in a nutshell. I hope you enjoyed reading about it as much as I enjoyed reliving it through writing it all down. :)

Short-Lived Guilt

Dearest Readers,

I have guilt.

It's mostly guilt from not blogging frequently enough, but there is also a teensy bit of guilt for not doing more exciting things that would justify a blog entry. Some of you have so kindly told me that you are living vicariously through our exciting European adventures, and I love that--I really do! But on non-adventurous weeks I hesitate to tell you of my mundane European adventures. Mundane adventures like navigating the tricky and political system that is Summertown House's laundry room or my failed attempt to follow a simple British recipe for Fairy Cakes. It's been one heckuva fast-paced week, my friends.

But the fact of the matter is that I like writing. I like the process of mentally noting interesting blog topics, of spilling my observations, thoughts and humor (my Mom tells me I'm funny!) onto this site, of chronicling our time in a foreign country for posterity... so I'm out of excuses. I am redoubling my efforts to post more often and I will not let the guilt win, I tell you!

In keeping with my new found efforts of brutal and sometimes boring honesty, this post was originally going to tell you of how yucky May has been and how yucky June is thus far... until an amazing European adventure presented itself!! Because...

WE ARE GOING TO SPAIN!!!! ON WEDNESDAY!!! YES, THIS WEDNESDAY!!! FOR MY BIRTHDAY!! AND BY SPAIN I MEAN THE TINY ISLAND OF MAJORCA OFF THE COAST OF SPAIN!! I HAVE THE BEST HUSBAND IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD!!!!!

I could almost cry at the thought of the warm sand!! It has been so COLD!

I am so beside myself with excitement that I can barely sit still long enough to finish typing this post!!!! Will found a cheap last minute deal online this morning while I was still asleep and we are spontaneously trading in this chilly island for a sunny get-away in just 4 days! We leave super early on Wednesday morning and return Saturday afternoon. Best birthday present ever. June, I apologize for my original intent to bad mouth you. You have made a sudden turn towards the fabulous and all is now forgiven.

Oh, and did I say that I had bloggers guilt? It's gone--all gone! I promise you exciting tales of sandy coves and blue Balearic waters when we return!