September 2010 - Ohio and early Christmas

So many things happened in September! It was quite a busy month, but mostly in the good way, fortunately not too much with work. On the very first day of September, James and I went to the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London. I had booked us to go several months before as they have a very archaic system of reserving tickets where you have to send a letter in the post (not email, nor phone) in which you suggest several dates that you can go and they send a reply letter with your tickets for one of those days. My family and I had gone last summer during their visit to London, and I thought it was a unique way to see the Tower and wanted James to experience it as well. I thought the yeoman who did the introduction and tour wasn't as good as the one last year, but it was still quite interesting and fun, and James seemed to enjoy it.

That weekend James and I met up with a small group for his friend Nicola's birthday – just a few drinks in the pub, and then we ended up in this weird underground bar where all of the furniture was concrete. Very edgy and industrial. In the end we couldn't find a place around the area that stayed open past midnight so we all went home early! Quite nice to get a good night's sleep. Oh gosh I can't belive I just said that – I'm getting so old!

The following Wednesday (date night), James and I went to see a Canadian band called Wintersleep for the second time in a pub near my place. Once again I felt slightly out of place amongst all of the British as I was the only one properly dancing to any of the songs – and God forbid you put your hands in the air! The band even made a joke about how the crowd was loud “for London”. Ah well, I am quite happy to be the freak who dances at concerts :)

That Friday James and I left for a week long holiday in Ohio! We had planned this trip to revolve around the Ohio State football game that my parents had tickets to, and it just so happened that my mom's birthday fell within the week as well. Actually the game was for her birthday – I'm not that terrible of a daughter. As this was James' first trip to Ohio (the poor guy – his first trips to the States have been KC and Ohio – not the most glamorous of places, but some of the best in my book!), we had a lot of people to see and things to eat. But first was the game – the morning after we arrived we headed to Columbus for a tailgate breakfast/lunch, then headed into the Horseshoe for the game. We played Miami FL and fortunately we won, otherwise it would have been a very poor start to the week. Although I've tried to explain the rules during the few games that we've watched together on TV, James still printed out 11 pages from the internet on American football rules! He did seem to understand what was going on during the game a little better though, so it was worth it. I had an awesome time cheering on the Buckeyes and was so pleased to be there with James and my parents.

The next day one of my grandma's friends invited us to her lake house, and I jumped at the chance – it was still hot in Ohio at the time and I wanted to enjoy the sun while I was away from dreary London! We all spent the day there after church – James, Megan, my dad and I all took turns on the jetski (it was James's first time on a jetski and now he can't stop talking about it!), and at the end of the day we all took a lazy ride in her pontoon boat. Brilliant, relaxing day.

That Tuesday was mom's birthday, and a massive group of us went to the local Mexican restaurant to celebrate. The food was so good – I wolfed it down about twice as fast as I normally eat. At the end of the meal the waiters brought out the sombrero for mom to wear while we all sang happy birthday - she looked hilarious but awesome of course! Apparently she only agreed to the sombrero b/c we were in the back room of the restaurant where no one could see her, and then James posted the pictures on facebook – brilliant!

During our trip James and I also went to observe my dad in surgery, we watched two cataract surgeries and this time they had little cameras set up so that we could see exactly what my dad was seeing – last time I had to use the second set of microscopes to see the detail. It was just as cool as last time and made me feel so proud of my dad. The rest of the time at home James and I spent playing wii, sleeping, and eating – very relaxing and stress-free. The night before we left my mom organised a little party so that she could show James off to our friends who hadn't had the chance to meet him yet. :) It was really good to see everyone and spend the time gossiping and catching up.

We flew back to London the next day and I spent an hour and a half in the longest line I've ever seen at the UK border. Of course my registration for the iris scan (which gets me in without the queue) had just expired the week before with my original visa, and the last two times I had been to the airport the offices had been closed for me to re-register. Helpfully, the office is past security in the terminals so you can only register on your flight out. I was so frustrated, and felt bad for James, who just had to wait for me in baggage claim since there had barely been anyone in the UK/EU line. Oh well, all's well that ends well I suppose.

The first Monday back at work I got the good news that I had been promoted, along with a meager raise and bonus! I was pleased about the promotion, but also somewhat reluctant – in exchange for the better title I had agreed to go back to mainstream audit from the consulting role I had been doing, to manage audits. So far in London my most miserable times at work have been while doing audits, so I wasn't too keen on it but played the game anyway and now I'm an ultra-important Assistant Manager. As I write, a month and a half into the promotion, I'm even less keen on the role but hey, the title looks better on a CV right? :) However, in spite of my deep-rooted bitterness about my job it was still very nice to be recognised for my hard work.

The last weekend in September we had the McClea Christmas do. It was odd to have a Christmas celebration three months in advance of the actual holiday, but since James's parents are in New Zealand for half of the year, they decided that this was the only time of year when they could get the extended family together to celebrate. I met the last of the McCleas that I hadn't yet met (other than the Kiwi relatives, whom I will have to wait to meet – at least those who haven't come to London) – cousins Charlie and Olivia, and Charlie's gf Miranda. Also got to meet SJ's new boyfriend Tony, who was really good fun and felt like he fit right into the family. We did a secret santa gift exchange with the theme of “green”, and luckily the presents weren't too awful! I ended up with some pepper and lettuce seeds that I can grow at home. The best was the green martian t-shirt that James's posh solicitor uncle ended up with – this is the guy who shows up to everything in a suit and tie! He did try it on for everyone for a laugh, and I'm sure that is the first and last time he's ever worn a t-shirt. We also played charades and my turn was rather embarrassing – I got “Jane Eyre”, and I was trying to have them guess it by how it sounds, but I thought Eyre was pronounced “eyer”, and the British say it “air”. So it was a bit of a disaster and James's dad had to help me, but we got there in the end. I'm still not sure whether it was a difference in American-British pronunciation or if I just didn't know how to say it! You can bet on the day I chalked it all up to British-American differences though! :)

That's about it for September, pretty busy month but happy busy.

Hope all is well back home, lots of love!

Heather

PS – photos on facebook of Ohio if you fancy a look...