We found a place in London!!

We found a little studio apartment in London! Yeah!! It's tiny- and expensive considering it's the same price we paid for our two-bedroom flat in Oxford, but cheap for London- and near the tube, so we're happy :) Only three more weeks to go in Oxford ... and so the countdown begins ...

Who hoovered up the last four months?

Ok, first of all, I thought it was Americans that had the "silly" habit of naming things after brand names, e.g., scotch tape, kleenex, etc. In the last few months, I've come to realize that the Brits may actually do more of this than they may like to think. A few weeks ago, I was sitting at my desk (update: I have a new job as an Editor at an ELT publishing house) when the other editor asked me if I had a pritt stick. "A what?" "a prit stick." "Excuse me?" "a pritt stick..." "ah, I don't mean to be thick [n.b. I love this phrase, and being a stupid American, I get to use it a lot], but I have no idea what you are talking about."

And then the admin assistant produced a glue stick. Right, a glue stick, of course!

In addition to "pritt sticks", there's also "hoover" as both a noun and a verb, and well, it's early and that's all I can think of for now. But anyway, expect a long list in the future (and feel free to add to it if you like).

So, a few things have happened since my parents were here in July:

1. We moved into a shared house with a seemingly nice couple in Oxford but have come to realize our landlord is a complete fruitcake. Harmless, but a bit nutty. Definitely ocd.
2. I finished my dissertation.
3. I got a job (see above).
4. Rich and I finally went on our belated honeymoon to Marakesh, Morocco (check out our five star hotel below).



5. We met up with Rich's parents and brother and Claire for a meal at Raymond Blanc's restaurant in Oxford. Rich's parents were in the UK for a few days and his brother was nice enough to drive up to see us (I'm still getting used to how distances seem to be much further away in the UK than they would be in the US).
6. Rich put in his notice at work (cause for celebration!).
7. We've started to look for flats in London- hopefully we'll move in by mid-December.
8. We celebrated Thanksiving with curry and a pub quiz with some friends.



Last week, we went to one of the greatest concerts ever: Arcade Fire. It was a really powerful and emotional performance. It left us speechless. Listen for yourself and tell me what you think: http://www.arcadefire.com/flash.html

That's about it for now; once we get settled in London and get a routine started up again, I'll have more time to update this blog more often.

In the mean time, to all my preggie friends out there (there seem to be quite a few at the moment!!) - good luck!!