April 2010 - weekend trips, iPhone, and cheerleading tryouts

April was a whirlwind of lovely little trips, sightseeing, and hanging with family (well, James' family). The first weekend in April was Easter and James took me to Durham, the small town in northern England where he went to university. It was adorable and peaceful, and it was fun to see all of James' old haunts and listen to him reminisce. It did make me a little sad at times though to think about what it would have been like if we had gone to uni together. I often get sad about that – wishing that I had found James years ago so that I could have had that much longer to be in love with him. Sorry, I know you are probably vomiting right now, I will stop with the mush. Besides, if we had met when we were younger we might not have ended up together – Lord knows I needed to shop around before I knew the right guy when I found him! Anyway Durham was super, we had four days there since Good Friday and Easter Monday are holidays in the UK, and we mostly spent it pootling (remember this word?) around the town. We had a tour of the castle (originally built to defend England against the Scots, now a dorm for some of the students), and gave ourselves a tour of their immense cathedral, including the climb to the top of the bell tower. The cathedral is what Durham is known for – it's too small a town to have one really, but was at one point a seat of one of the prince-bishops. On Easter we even went to the morning service! It was amazing, I had never been to a proper service in a cathedral before. I can see why people back in the day would have been so awe-inspired by the building, when all they had to compare to were their tiny houses and huts. I was impressed myself and couldn't stop staring upwards at the stonework and stained-glass windows! The rest of the time in Durham was spent going on long walks and James showing me all of his favourite places, and eating and drinking really cheaply! The beer there was cheaper for two than it is for one in London – amazing and dangerous. Of course we also had dinner at James' favourite curry house!

The next week my mobile phone contract was due for an upgrade. I realise this isn't normally something one would get excited enough about to write in one's blog, but I am because I got – drumroll please – an iPhone, hurray! I was so excited b/c I had felt so left out for a few months. James got one in January and when we skyped my parents that evening they were showing theirs off too - they had all gotten one the same day! So I had to get on the bandwagon. And it is SUCH a bandwagon isn't it? A highly-functional, overpriced, super-slick bandwagon. I will admit that I secretly feel cooler when I get my phone out on the tube now to check the news or my email. And for those sad few months after James and the family had one when I didn't, I secretly felt ashamed of my poor inferior Nokia. I know I sound like an idiot rambling on about a silly phone, but it really is superb – if you don't have one you should get one. Trust me it will be like before you had a mobile and then got one for the first time – how did you ever live without it?! You know what I mean.

Ho hum back to more interesting things...the second weekend in April James and I went to Oxford on Saturday to see his parents and sister – his parents had arrived back in the UK after their six months in New Zealand so we hadn't seen them in ages! It was really good to catch up with them and have a quiet day doing loads of relaxing, chatting, and eating. We all took a walk in the park before dinner and happened to come across a hot air balloon being unloaded from a truck! We decided to stay and watch the excitement and got to see it inflated, loaded with people, and take off. It's surprising how big they are – you forget b/c you usually only see them when they're high in the sky. I was also surprised at how many people they managed to jam into the basket – I think there were about 12 or 14! It didn't look that comfortable really. I'd still like to do it someday, would be fun.

The following day James and I went to Burnham for his granny's 89^th birthday party. His aunts, uncles and cousins were all there as well (this was the little do where I met them all for the first time last year, remember?), it was beautiful weather and we had a lovely day. Although I didn't notice it, apparently it was also a bit quieter b/c per his aunt and uncle they live in one of the Heathrow airport flight paths but we happened to be there on a day when the erupting volcano had grounded all of the flights. Super! And no, it wasn't foggy or cloudy from the ash, it was too high in the sky. But yes the party was great with delicious food, I ate so much I thought I was going to have to have James roll me to the train station to get home.

Later that week James and I went to an Idlewild concert on our traditional “date night” - Wednesday. See, it works out well b/c we spend all weekend together and then we see each other on Wednesday night to get us through the rest of the week without each other! Anyway this particular one was a gig – Idlewild, who is one of James' favourite bands. They are Scottish and fairly well known around Britain. The venue was small-ish – about the size of the Uptown in KC. James and I got there fairly early since we were coming from work, and as I was doing some people watching before the gig started I realised that there was a trend among the concert goers – they were all slightly geeky late-twenty somethings! So this must have been the fan base that Idlewild built up through their ten years of playing – let's just say that James fits the picture well. The concert itself was fantastic – I had been ordered by James to educate myself on the band about two weeks before the show, so for those two weeks I listened to nothing else. It worked though – I knew most of the words to the songs, or at least the chorus. James on the other hand knew every word to every song, and wished that they played more at the end of the show. He was happier than I think I've ever seen him – smiling ear to ear, belting out the songs at the top of his lungs, dancing with abandon. I've never seen anything like it from him and it made me so happy to see him that way! Honestly I think I spent more time watching him than I did the band!

One of the last weekends in April we went up to Harrogate for Lisa's (one of James' friends from the English equivalent of high school) birthday. Harrogate is the small-ish town in North Yorkshire where James grew up for those of you who don't remember. We went up on the Saturday via the very expensive train journey (nearly 100 pounds each!), met up with everyone at Lisa's for a light dinner and then went out dancing! While we were still at hers Lisa tried to make everyone a round of Irish coffees, except they turned out like warm milky whiskey, not that great and so strong I would barely drink a few sips at a time. As you can imagine the Harrogate clubbing scene is small potatoes compared to the London scene, but I didn't mind b/c it meant the dance floor wasn't that full. We danced the entire night, it was so much fun. Mark, James' flatmate in London, came up for the celebration and everyone mocked him all night b/c he never makes an effort for anyone's birthday and finally decided to show his face after years. I believe there was even a point where some of the girls were making fun of the fact that he's gotten a bit pudgy since they'd seen him and started stripping off his shirt to see his moobs! Pretty hilarious and slightly disturbing. All in all a good weekend, as it always is with that crew.

On the 22 of April I finally started my class at the London College of Fashion. I say finally b/c I signed up for this class in February – they book up rather far in advance. It was Fashion Buying and Retailing level 1, basically just an introduction to the industry and the roles of the buyer and the retailer. It was a short course, only five weeks long, but pretty insightful and gave me some inspiration. I signed up for it because I've been a bit bored with accounting lately (shocking I know) and am thinking about career changes. Actually, not bored so much as lacking passion. I would like to do something that I am more passionate about and work for a company that I feel more committed to instead of ever growing resentment. But anyway enough complaining about work. The class was actually really good fun, I met some great girls (there was only one guy in the class of 18, and surprisingly enough he wasn't gay!), and most importantly, as I said before, I gained some much needed inspiration for the career path I might take. The job market is terrible now and it's even harder for me with the visa issues, but perhaps one day I will no longer work in a public accounting firm. Let's hope so anyway.

Last but certainly not least, the last weekend in April was cheerleading tryouts for my sister! This was the first year that she could try out and she was nervous about the whole thing, but I did my best to help her through skype (point your toes, arms straight, sharp motions – that kind of thing), but in the end she was a star as usual and she made it! I was so excited that she wanted to tryout, of course I wanted her to since I was a cheerleader and loved it, but I wasn't going to pressure her. Very proud of my little sis for making it her first time! Oh as a side note – Brits love it that I was a cheerleader, and was in a sorority, since they have nothing like either of these things in Britain. Their only impressions of cheerleaders, sororities, and fraternities is through the movies and TV (groan). So they think cheerleaders are all bitchy and promiscuous like the girls on Glee. (I, along with most of the girls in Britain, am obsessed with Glee – it's just as big here as in the States I think).

Ok enough rambling, whew this was a long one! Love to you all, I miss you!

Heather xoxoxoxo

PS – there are pictures of all the weekend trips on facebook - on James' page, but you should be able to get to them through mine as I'm tagged in them. Hope you enjoy!