Confessions of a Jobless Expat

You may have seen this blog title in a social media post hashtag or two recently. Back in the states, I led a fairly busy lifestyle - staying busy keeps me sane and tolerable to both those who work with me and those forced to live with me (former roommates and Adam can attest).  I've had a job and been somewhat overcommitted to extracurricular activities since I was 15, so to say this move has been a transition for me is somewhat of an understatement. I went from utilizing 220% of my time to utilizing about 40% of non-sleeping hours performing tasks that aren't exactly first nature to me.

So, I thought I'd share some of the fun activities that take up one's time when you're unemployed, in a foreign country, and transitioning from being a habitually busy person. I'd like to throw in the disclaimer that I do not look down upon any of these activities, or those that choose to fill their days with such and/or enjoy them. I actually really like cleaning, and have come to love cooking. It's just amazing how much of it I find myself doing now that I have more time on my hands. Also, most of these activities look a little different in the UK, and I've had to relearn how to do some things. Consider this blog a guide to some of the daily activities of an expat housewife.

Expectation v. Reality

Trip Planning - When you have such easy access to most of Europe, you have to take advantage of it, right? Well, it's not as easy as saying "Paris this weekend, Barcelona the next," though we wish it was, and sometimes act like it is via social media (sorry for all of the humble brags).  Whether by planes, trains, or automobiles, it takes some thought and research to choose the best way to reach your destination, much less find a place to stay and plan out what you'd like to do with your time.  Many of our trips are only 2-4 days so we want to spend our time wisely.  We're still learning, but I've shared a few sites below that we've utilized and hope these are helpful to any future Euro travelers.

www.skyscanner.net - Like Expedia and friends, this site pools together the best prices from all of the airlines and gives you the best prices and options.  It's quite comprehensive and makes searching significantly easier and faster.

www.eurostar.com - We haven'e used the Eurostar train line yet as it doesn't travel from Brum, but it's famous for it's extremely cheap train rides off the island.  If booked at the right time, you can get from London to Paris for as cheap as 25 pounds.

www.airbnb.com - I've mentioned this on a previous blog and reiterate it's awesomeness.  I'm hopeful I'll have even more good things to say after our trip to Paris at the end of the month.  I was reminded how crazy good the lodging deals are when a friend sent me the link to the home she booked for her trip to Santorini Greece in October - picture luxury resort for the price of a good steak.

www.holidaypirates.com - One of Adam's coworkers sent him the link to this site and we're anxiously sifting through the deals to see which we'll try first.  From what I understand, it finds all of the good deals from flights, lodging and sometimes meals and puts them together for suggested trips for you.  A website that serves as a personal travel agent? Sign me up.

Grocery Shopping - This one's a doozy.  I hated going to Kroger in Jackson even though I knew where most everything was and knew the speedy path to take through the store.  Here, things are all over the place, and go by different names (i.e. - cilantro v. coriander).  It probably doesn't help that I cook out of American v. British cookbooks for the most part, but either way I think I'd still feel the challenge.  My first few trips took over two hours, at least.  It's gotten better, and my planning in this area has improved.  Recently I've taken advantage of the delivery service our local store offers since Adam has been using the car, and I may never go back.  Some days I come home successful, some days I come home feeling the sting of spending 4 pounds on Aunt Jemima (the British maple syrup just wasn't as good, I swear). One plus in this category is that there's a store on every corner - most are the mini-marts and don't carry full selections, but you're rarely ever more than a mile from a full grocery store or two blocks from it's express version which makes running out for coffee or eggs quite convenient.

Cooking - As I said, I've been utilizing my trusted American cookbook, specifically Skinny Taste as it's a trusted simple source for good clean meals.  I'm wary of Pinterest or Google as a source for recipes, unless they come from the Pioneer Woman, but England doesn't have enough butter to make most of her recipes.  We tried Chicken Tikka Massala (via Google) last week, and it turned out decently. I think cooking Indian food is a practiced skill. We may grab a local cookbook soon just for the sake of making the grocery list fully attainable.  I plan to expand my sweets horizon soon as we started watching the highly popular BBC show The Great British Bake Off when the newest series (they call a season of a show a series) premiered last week.  I ordered an accompanying cookbook this week and have high hopes for my first madeira cake.

Cooking also proves a little tricky as we're working with limited kitchen tools.  We didn't ship over the plethora of wonderful wedding gifts we accumulated in those first years of marriage (those are safe in storage), and purchased the bare minimum for our flat.  Most nights it takes a little longer than it probably should, but I quite enjoy having the afternoon to prepare the ingredients and cook dinner at a decent hour. I now can get started between 4-6pm versus 7pm or later (the earliest either of us usually got home back in the states) and not be limited to throwing together easy staples like spaghetti or tacos.

Laundry - If you watched a video on one of my first blogs, you may have seen that it's very common for washers and dryers to be combined and in the kitchen.  Yep, the kitchen.  It's not very big or very powerful. It takes over 3 hours to finish one load, and it rarely comes out dry, much less wrinkle free (see next activity).  We realized quickly there is a reason our laundry hamper is so small - when it's full, you've easily got 3 loads and a full day's work ahead of you.

Ironing (Sheets) - So, apparently this is a thing.  Back home, my sheets came out soft and smooth, so I popped those bad boys on the bed and called it a day.  Maybe it's the quality and/or thread count of our sheets here, but they come out of the dryer ridiculously wrinkled and crisp (as do Adam's jeans).  I find myself hovering over my tiny table ironing board trying to make the sheets look and feel as smooth as possible, but typically give up after a few minutes or sometime around the bottom middle part of the sheets that I assume no guest would over see and that only our feet can feel.

Decorating/Nesting - I miss Home Goods.  We have TKMaxx (TJ's British cousin), but the home section isn't stellar and Brum doesn't boast a ton of smart home stores, at least that I've found.  Ikea does the trick sometimes, and I've had some luck on Joss and Main, but flat decorating is different than decorating your forever home, and it's a balance I just haven't mastered yet of finding decent pieces that don't feel and look cheap.

So, there you have it - an average day in the life. I've also been reading a fair amount and am extremely overly caught up on TV/Netflix. The job hunt is still on.  I spend a large part of most mornings sipping coffee and applying for gigs. More exciting adventures coming soon (including but not limited to Buckingham Palace, our first rugby match and Paris), so stay tuned!

So Posh

Today I'm inspired to write a bit on culture here in Britain, specifically Brum fashion and the social scene.  People watching takes on an all new art form when you move to a new country.  There's so much to take in, and I've been watching for trends, habits and trying to assess what's "cool" or "posh" as I've heard Adam mimic his coworkers.  This research is not to fill a need to fit in (I'm totally secure in my American-ness), but because it fascinates me.

Though my closet is much smaller here and many of my remaining loved pieces are stored away in Fairhope, I've maintained my deep love for fashion, even if my ability to express such has been relegated to how I can accessorize a black sweater.  Somewhat to my surprise, every girl here doesn't try to emulate Duchess Kate.  Weird, right? On the contrary, fashion here is quite eclectic.  It has a natural city vibe - a lot of black,  flats v. heels (practical for commuting/walking - though I'm  not sure I can get on board with the return of the Birkenstock which is happening on both sides of the pond), and mid sized leather bags (also good for working girls).  On the casual side, there are SO many crop tops! I saw these half shirts trying to make a come back in the US, and a somewhat tolerable one on teenage girls with undeveloped figures, but here, they're everywhere! I sometimes describe fashion here to Adam as having a lingering 90's flare.  Not the nasty grunge side, but the laid back casual freedom of expression side.  It's in patterns, faded jeans, and those bloody crop tops.

Here's a chic taste of the trends

While tagging along with Adam for a London trip recently, I went to the featured exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum, which fittingly happened to be on renowned and iconic British designer Alexander McQueen. It was incredible, and actually affirmed some of the previously mentioned trends I've noticed in British fashion.  McQueen's collections were edgy and a dark and the exhibit beautifully pieced together his work with intense light displays and appropriately accessorized Swarovski crystals.  I've always been a bit surprised that Kate is such a McQueen fan.  I'm sure part of it is her patriotism, but I like to think that it also speaks to the modern edge she brings to the monarchy. Granted, I think he's a favorite of many fashionistas, rightfully so.

A favorite from the exhibition

Speaking of classy and elegant style, I also had a chance to see an Audrey Hepburn exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery.  Seeing her iconic photos blown up and paired with behind the scenes images from her famous films was perfection.  You'd think those photos of her couldn't be any prettier, well they can - no wonder so many people wanted to make her a cover star.

Easy, breezy, beautiful

As for men's fashion, it's a bit more predictable.  Jeans and shirts are tighter and more colorful and hair taller and shinier (I'm talking gel).  As for the more formal work attire, suits are mostly required and sometimes come in pieces of three with an accompanying skinny tie. All in all, clothes for both men and women are more affordable and practical, though not necessarily more comfortable. When in doubt, look to the always chic, always stylish, always British Beckhams.

Seen here coordinating at Wimbledon 2014

As for ways to spend our free time, we stumbled upon two fun scenes in our neighborhood.  The first we've been eying since we moved in - The Jam House.  We'd heard good things and seeing the velvet rope outside only made us even more curious.  On a random Tuesday night we had dinner upstairs and made our way downstairs to hear some very talented singers…. that's right, I said Tuesday night, and just down the street from our flat - Adam's dream scenario.  That Thursday evening we stumbled upon a street festival with MY favorite pastime - food trucks! The delicious food just happened to be accompanied by music from none other than the same artist we heard earlier in the week. I've also visited the dry cleaners, nail and hair salons AND got asked for directions… twice! We're such locals.

June was a warmer month and I felt a taste of home - humidity, my old friend.  July hasn't been quite as hot, this week in particular has been cloudy and cool, so we may delay our beach trip.  It would crush me if I have to wear a sweatshirt in sand, so best not to risk my tender heart just yet.  As for other upcoming adventures, Mom recommended I take the obvious path and go to Buckingham to find Kate, so a fellow expat and I are planning an escapade thru the castle soon now that it's open for it's annual tours. Until next time chums!

Kilt It

Despite popular American assumptions, Scotland isn't all plaid, kilts, whisky and beer.  In all fairness, though, those things are plenty, particularly in the tourist frequented city of Edinburgh, which is where Adam and I spent Saturday and Sunday getting lost.  While we haven't been many places (YET), this trip definitely ranks highly on our list of coolest cities around, which we realized sometime on Sunday afternoon as we were wandering around fantasizing about which victorian home we'd purchase and where we'd shop and eat on a regular basis.  

The trip started with a bright and early train ride up from Brum.  It was just under 4 hours, but the train is affordable (£30 p/person round trip), scenic and enjoyably lazy.  I napped and read (The Girl on the Train, naturally) and Adam just read. I can sleep anywhere, possibly even standing up, but poor Adam doesn't share my narcoleptic tendencies, so he worked his way through The Girl with all the Gifts. Fun fact, they were shooting the film version of this book, starring Glen Close, in Brum last month.

Upon arrival, we walked the 40 or so minutes to our flat for the night which was an Airbnb rental.  This was our first experience with Airbnb.  For a mere £31 we had a conveniently located little flat to sleep in and our host just happened to be American, so we had some good conversation and got great tips for our sightseeing.  I highly recommend this lodging option for any friends looking to make stops in several cities and save some quid.

View of Calton Hill from the walk to our Airbnb

It was windy and somewhat cool, but the sun finally came out as we made our way up the Royal Mile to Edinburgh Castle, stopping in at St. Giles Cathedral along the way.  We'd been told you could spend hours at the castle, and you can.  We spent around 3 hours touring and taking in this massive center of the city.  In addition to the history and cool architecture, it provides exquisite views of Edinburgh.  It probably pained Adam a bit that he could almost see St. Andrews across the river while the Open was going on, but thankfully his visit to that exact tournament and course 5 years prior lessened the sting.

View from Edinburgh Castle

Where they keep the crown jewels

Castle War Museum

War story reenactments inside Royal Dining Hall

Daily 1300hr cannon fire

After the castle, we stopped for refreshments at The Elephant House, famously known as the site where J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter.  I couldn't help myself, and the tea and brownie were quite nice.

We then made our way back across town to the Scott Monument, which is incredible.  It's a beautiful monument, but I laugh a little thinking back on it's location.  It's just across Princes Street, which is a shopping strip, and on the other side is a large ferris wheel and park - I highly doubt the juxtaposition was intentional, nonetheless, it's a beautiful monument, and cool that a writer has such a large one in his honor.  Kudos Scotland for recognizing that not only politicians and royals deserve statues.

Sir Walter Scott Monument

And when in Scotland, do as the Scots do and drink some Scotch.  We finished off our sightseeing at the Scotch Whisky Experience which boasts the world's largest collection of scottish distilled whisky.  It was fancy, and tasty.  I've always liked whiskey, but I now have a new appreciation for the gold liquor, a more refined palate and swirl technique when tasting.  We finished off the night with some tasty italian and called it a night.

Small portion of world's largest Scotch collection - all unopened

We crossed off much of our to do lis t on Saturday, so we slept a little later than usual on Sunday and took our time walking across the city, finding a cosy brunch spot where I got the first real bacon (not ham) since crossing the pond. We then headed to the Royal Botanical Garden.  It was a nicer day weather wise than anticipated so we just meandered around new town.  It was about that point when I heard the words "we could live here" come out of both of our mouths.  We imagined Sunday morning strolls down those streets and even signed a petition to prevent an old building from being torn down.  We felt at ease, at home.  It was just charming, truly.  We could have spent more time there, but were quite satisfied with the 30 or so hours we had.  I have a feeling we'll be back.

We plan to take it easy this coming weekend.  We still have some flat nesting to do and Brum (and I imagine all of Britain) really comes alive during the summer months.  It seems there's a street festival or market every weekend.  People tell us, and we see it, that Brits live and die by the weather.  When it's nice out, everyone's out.  One of my new favorite pop ups in the city of late are these owls.  Those who know me well know the owl isn't my favorite creature... well really I don't like birds in general, but I digress. As I was saying, there are 89 of these across Birmingham and I'm making it a personal mission to see as many as possible this month.  Thankfully I have a handy dandy map to help.

My favorite so far - she lives in our neighborhood

For those of you wondering, I'm still unemployed, so why not go owl hunting in my spare time?  Maybe Kate will come up to see the owls, though I'm not sure the town is a favorite of the royals.  We once heard someone say about Brum that the Queen closed her blinds on the train when passing through the city, so there's that (I can't find any trace of evidence confirming this story on the internet, but the media tends not to speculate on the royals much, they leave that to their press corp).  

I've been aching a bit inside seeing all of the beach photos back home, so next weekend we're going to the British beaches! Brighton to be precise.  I think there are lots of pebbles versus sand, but I don't care.  I also don't care if it's only 70 degrees.  If I don't get some sun soon, I'll turn clear.   Till next time mates!

Queue it up

Today folks, I'm taking you into the magical world of Wimbledon.  What makes it magical you say? Here are 5 of the few reasons I personally, and the other few million or so viewers of the finals today, are so enamored:

1. It's the world's oldest tennis tournament - even if you don't love tennis, there's something cool about the history behind the tournament that you have to respect, especially considering how hard they work to preserve and recreate it each year.

2. All players have to wear white.  As a southern girl who appreciates the significance of white attire, particularly in the appropriate months of the year, it's nice to see the players in crisp and clean gear.

3.  Wimbledon is not only known for it's tennis, but also strawberries - who doesn't love strawberries?

4.  Flowers EVERYWHERE.  Wimbledon's flowers are meticulously pruned and cared for daily and they make the entire complex a beautiful place to visit.

5.  Royals attend.  The royal family doesn't choose to attend many public outings, particularly sporting events, but they attend Wimbledon.  And not only do they attend, they cheer on their country's darlings when able.

(Here's where I made an edition to this post and edited out the long segment on how perfect Kate's hair and dress are.)

Now I know those aren't reasons that would sell your average bloke on standing in line for 10 hours (I'll explain shortly).  But it's not about the possible royal sighting for me, entirely.  #5 goes back to #1 - the history behind the tournament is just that important, and when you do finally get into the grounds, you FEEL the significance.  Now, all that said, I do love tennis.  I've been watching Wimbledon and the other major tournaments with my grandparents (whom I snagged a sweatband for) since I was old enough to remember and finally picked up playing the sport a few years ago.  So, when Adam and I realized that you could stand in line for general admission tickets, we said "When in England."  Thankfully, we also had some fellow expats who were up for the fun.

There are a few ways to get into Wimbledon:
1. The Ballot: This is sort of like the Masters Lottery - only so many people get this option each year, and they're pricy.
2. Ticketmaster - only a few hundred tickets are released online each day of the tournament.  I never even figured out how people found those.
3. The Queue (British word for line)
4. Be Royal

As hard as I try, I can't achieve #4.  I'm sure we'll start signing up for the Ballot as soon as possible for next year, but I won't get my hopes up.  I'm also not counting on Ticketmaster, so the Queue it is!  This, according to every source out there, is also a part of the tradition, and we didn't want to miss out, so we found out as much as we could, prepared a little and gave it a shot.

Our friends live in Richmond (40 min south-ish of London) which happens to be a quick 20 min drive to Wimbledon Park.  We took an Uber to the tournament at 6:30am.  That's right, 6:30am.  Many people camp out the night before in hopes of getting tickets to the prime 4 courts, but the rest of us are just happy to get in at all.  When we got there, we were #9,989-9,992nd in line.  I'm not kidding.  We weren't even the end of the line as there were a few 3,000 people behind us by 7am.  Fun fact - at any given time, 39,000 spectators are on the grounds - however, crowd control is implemented and only 4,000ish were let in upon opening that morning.  Some of the stewards were somewhat discouraging people from sticking around by saying we were in for a long wait, and that we may not get in, but we stuck it out.

We hung out in the sun for a bit, thankfully with the shade of an umbrella and a blanket under us.  We also had some snacks and the boys retrieved refreshments from a nearby shop and somehow, 10 hours passed.  I know that sounds crazy, but it really did go by quickly.  Maybe it was that we moved up in line every so often so we weren't sitting still, or that we had good company, or both, but it wasn't so bad.  Did I mention General Admission is only 25 pounds a ticket? It's not like you stand in line that long and then have to pay an arm and a leg.  25 pounds gets you in!  So around 4:30, we walked across the bridge and through those majestic security lines.

Once in, we were all like kids on Christmas morning. We were a bit famished, and thankfully the food was quite good.  With our commemorative glasses in hand, we wondered around for a bit.  It's amazing how close you can get to some of the courts and players.  Granted, most of them were Doubles or Juniors matches, but still very cool! One of the reasons we think it was so crowded is because Andy Murray was playing that evening.  Ever since he won two years ago, the Brits faith in tennis has been renewed.  So we joined the other few hundred people on the hill and watched Andy dominate.  For those of you who didn't keep up, things didn't fare well for him in the end.

I strongly encourage any friends out there looking for a fun summer trip in 2016 to visit us during Wimbledon.  We're sincerely considering finding a tent and camping, but we'll see how I feel 360 days from now.

I had a few more fun London escapades last week, which I'll share next time on the blog.  I'm planning on visiting Buckingham pretty much as soon as tours open at the end of the month, which may be the closest I ever get to seeing Kate since she chose a different day to spectate than me.

Until then, deuces!

Love Story*

The * represents each time I successfully and/or cleverly reference TSwift songs - I imagine you hearing a high pitched "ping" in your head like VH1's pop culture bubbles

We are never, ever, ever*… coming back to America! Just kidding! Maybe…

As most of you know, because I've been ranting about how excited I've been for the last 100 days, we went to London last weekend.  It was my first visit so of course there was site seeing to be done, but we also happened to have tickets to British Summer Time Festival in Hyde Park with headliner Taylor Swift.  All I can say, people, is that it was the best day.* Just kidding again, I have plenty more to say than that.  It was really the perfect weekend getaway and I feel this is the beginning of a beautiful love story* between London and myself.  The city is incredibly enchanting* and like no other city in the world.  Don't get me wrong, I don't regret our choice to live in Brum.  London is insanely expensive and quite touristy, and I think part of it's charm for me is its accessibility from where I am now.  I can opt in and out when I want - the perfect relationship, right?

Saturday started with an early morning train to London.  It's an easy 1hr 20min ride costing us about £20 for each round trip ticket thanks to booking in advance.  We arrived around 9:30, caught the tube to our hotel, checked our bags and went to check out the scene at the concert entrance.  I'd go into detail here about how well laid out and easy the tube is to manage, but I think it has a fairly well-known reputation that doesn't need further touting.  We found the entrance to the concert and were surprised at how few people were lined up, so we decided to do some walking around, stopping to snack on our packed lunch and enjoy the park.  Around 1 we walked back by the entrance and the crowd had thickened so we jumped in the queue.  With a sold out show of 65,000 concert goers, we were ok waiting 2 hours in the sun (enjoying the most glorious UK weather) to be able to enter calmly and collectedly.  Kudos to the event organizers - that was one tightly run ship.

Chilling in the queue

Taking up a large portion of Hyde Park, the festival had 3 stages, numerous food and beverage stations and entertainment for kids and adults.  We rarely had to wait in line for refreshments or the bathrooms.  Call me crazy, but I could totally be a festival goer if they're all like this. I'm sure 22*  year old Jordan is rolling her eyes at me now while 19 year old Adam (in the Bonnaroo shirt I met him in) is grinning over how his plan to convert me is working out so brilliantly.

There were 9 other artists leading up to Taylor starting at 3:30.  We chose to stick to the main stage where 4 of them played to warm us up and got to hear some very talented rising British artists, all of whom you may recognize via one or two of their songs.  Ellie Goulding, a worthy opener, is someone I'd have paid to see on her own, so I was pretty excited when she came bouncing across the stage... literally.  See videos below courtesy of Youtube; you can find our home videos later in the blog.

Rae Morris

Vance Joy

John Newman

Ellie Goulding

We found a nice spot to park our blanket for a while, but when John Newman started, we had to get up.  That guy is a performer, so we quickly made our way towards the front, or as close as we could get.  Ellie was all that I'd hoped for - I have a serious girl crush here. However, not to be shadowed by anything or anyone, Taylor came out swinging and put on one heck of a show.  I haven't been to a concert like this since NSYNC in 1998, and even Lance Bass agrees that they had nothing on Taylor.

Photo courtesy of Jen Cornett

Dressed to the nines in leather and sequins (proving neither of these fashion trends will ever go out of style*), she was fearless* and flawless.  It was tough to see her at times as the crowd was insanely thick, but she performed for 2 straight hours and even Adam was impressed.  After the surprising guest appearances of celebs like Karlie Kloss, Kendall Jenner, Serena Williams, Cara Delevingne and Gigi Hadid, she wrapped up the show and we crashed.

Photo courtesy of Leslie Petro

We spent almost 10 hours in the sun and were exhausted so we took it easy Saturday night saving our sight seeing of London for Sunday.  Depending on the lineup next year, we'd definitely consider going back.  I'd also see any of those artist in concert again.  Taylor Swift is an incredible performer.  Just ask Emma Watson or Gwyneth Paltrow who were also amongst the Swifties.

As if Saturday hadn't been glorious enough, I still had all of London to see. We grabbed a quick bite and tube passes and made our way across the city successfully cramming in several sites - The London Eye (disclaimer: we didn't wait to go up, maybe next time), 10 Downing Street (where I'm pretty sure we saw PM David Cameron leaving, though I can't be sure as the windows are tinted and you aren't allowed down the street), Big Ben & Parliament, Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abbey (where we had the chance to sit in on an Evensong service), The Tower of London, St. Paul's Cathedral and Buckingham Palace.  After all that site seeing, I took advantage of the need for rest and a caffeine deficiency to finally have high tea, legitimizing my blog title!  Big day people, big day.

High Tea at Caffe Concerto

I'm fairly certain the crowd wouldn't have cleared Kate's security detail, so I didn't see her.  I'd say there's a shot next weekend when we venture to Wimbledon, but she has Charlotte's christening, which is quite the reasonable excuse, so no bad blood* here.  You heard me right, though - we're going back to London next weekend, because why not?  It could go without saying, but this is a blog so I'll say it anyway - London, I love you, forever and always.* See you soon.

Below are some videos and pictures from our collection.  Enjoy.

Festivaler

Festivaler

Taylor on the big screen

Parliament and Big Ben

London Eye

Trafalgar Square

A Lovely Day in the Neighbourhood

Cheers friends! It's sunny and 20 degrees here in Brum today making spirits bright! Before you start feeling sorry for me, remember that the Brits monitor temps in Celsius, meaning it's a warm and pleasant 68 F today.  June is expected to be the hottest in Birmingham's history with highs reaching a whopping 82 F later in the month... I say bring it on.  Speaking of things the Brits do differently, here's a link I shared on FB recently with some "common" British phrases.  To be honest, I haven't heard most of these, but I sure hope to soon, and hope even more to be able to use them to weird my friends out when visiting home.

In other news, we've been settling in nicely, making important purchases like a vacuum and a crock pot and are feeling especially domestic after we got some plants to brighten up the flat.  The weekend before last we made another trip to Wales for a hike (I mentioned the Black Country in a previous blog and was incorrect).  In case you missed the pictures on social media, below are a few.  These do not even begin to do the views justice.  I huffed and puffed the entire 8 miles up (feeling very out of shape after two months away from Pure Barre) as Adam basically sang his happy song the whole way, but it was worth it. If you ever come over this way, a trip to Wales is worth it... maybe even a hike in Brecon Beacons up Pen Y Fan.

Last weekend we did some much needed lazy lounging around the flat, but we also got to know our neighbourhood a little better! Per request, I'll take the time now to share a little more about the friendly community we live in known as the Jewellery Quarter. 

We're an easy 15 minute walk from City Centre and the Business District.  Much like Birmingham, AL, Birmingham, England has neighborhoods (some sort of suburb-ish) that make up the area.  One significant difference is that things here are much closer proximity wise than back home.  Brum has a little over 1 million residents, but unlike a comparably sized city in the US like Dallas, you can walk from one end of the city to the other in 40 min.  That seems far to natives, but feels easy and convenient to us.  

The Jewellery Quarter is known for exactly what it's named - Jewellery (British sp.).  40% of jewellery made in the UK comes from our neighborhood.  There are dozens of stores and shops across the quarter.  You can't walk 5 feet without passing one.  We're also blessed with dozens of restaurants, pubs, and culture all at our fingertips, some of which we made point to experience last weekend.

Saturday morning we lounged as we watched the annual Trooping the Colour. This tradition accompanies the Queen's birthday celebration, and even more exciting, it marked baby George's first public appearance! We then made a trip outside of the neighborhood to Edgbaston Golf Club for a tour.  Those of you who know us know that Adam loves golf.  This is a course smack in the middle of the city, which seems weird, but it's beautiful.  It looks like we're going to ship Adam's clubs and join.  I'll be taking some lessons and reaping the benefits of a "social membership" which I hope is just as classy as it sounds.  No worries, I packed my pearls.

Saturday night we tried a restaurant we've been eying that was recommended by a trusted source.  The Church has a classic English pub vibe while serving "traditional soul food" and oh do they serve amazing soul food.  I had the fried chicken and Adam had ribs - both some of the best we've ever had.  Just across the street was the Blue Orange Theatre.  It's a small theatre, boasting 90 or so seats.  We saw a musical manned by 8-10 actors and no props or set called The Coalition Kings.  The actors seemed about college age, and were enthusiastic.  I'll leave my review there as I'm no critic, but we'll be giving it another shot when Sweeney Todd premiers in the Fall.  Regardless of the caliber, it's a fun way to spend a Saturday night.

Sunday we visited St. Paul's evening Eucharist service, which we loved.  It's not our denomination, but it was a lovely service and the timing is nice because we can still make it after a weekend trip out of town.  Afterwards we went to the local chinese buffet and called it a night.

No big plans as of yet for this weekend, but next weekend is Taylor Swift at Hyde Park!!!! To say I'm excited is an understatement.  I'm almost certain this is where I'll spot Kate - I mean, it doesn't seem like an event she'd miss, especially now that she's out and about post the birth of Princess Charlotte.  I'll have my camera ready.  

The more we do, the more we love Brum.  I'm thankful daily for Adam. I know a lot of people who've braved moves like this alone, but as Mr. Rogers says - "It always helps to have people we love beside us when we have to do difficult things in life."  

Feels Like Home

One of the most common questions Adam and I get, both from people we meet here and friends back home, is "Why? Why Birmingham? Why the UK? Why move at all?"  We're able to answer these questions fairly definitively and with confidence.  We have no doubts or regrets, but hearing these questions while wading through some of the struggles of setting in can be, well, a little unsettling.  Last night we added a few personal touches to our flat, bringing some much needed warm and fuzzy feelings to us both, so I figured now a good time to explain why we left behind our happy life in Mississippi and share some back story behind our big move, and pics from the flat of course.

Why? Why move at all? When Adam accepted his job 3 years ago, it was in large part because of the many opportunities an international firm could offer his career, and our life.  We've both never lived anywhere but the south and we saw an opportunity to see the world and expand our cultural horizons.  You're only twenty-something once (well, for 9 years), so our question back to people is "why not?" This wasn't a guaranteed thing, so we bought a house back in August (that we loved, and thankfully someone else did and bought it 9 short months later), but when the opportunity did come, we knew a house, kids and all that fun would be there when we were ready.  Right now, we're ready for this - living in a flat, in a big city, in a foreign country, experiencing all of the challenges and fun that we sort of skipped at 22.  Did I mention we're just a hop, skip and jump (or 45 min flight) from Paris?

Why Birmingham? Why the UK? These are a little easier to answer.  Because of Adam's line of work he needed to be able to speak the native language so the UK quickly became our first choice.  A lot of people ask why we aren't in London (or assume that we are), but what they don't realize is that London is one of the most expensive cities in the world.  Birmingham is the second biggest city in the country, providing us with ample professional opportunities and even more English culture.

How, literally, did we make it all happen? Adam's firm was extremely supportive through the process, both with guidance and financial support.  As I mentioned earlier, we got lucky and sold the home fairly easily.  We also decided to sell most of our furniture.  We aren't sure what our next home will look like, so storing it didn't seem practical.  As my Facebook friends know, I also emptied my closet.  The whole process was quite liberating, honestly.  We packed 6 checked bags and 2 carry on suitcases of clothes and flew over with only that.  We found a furnished flat, bought the essentials (TV and kitchen ware) and had a few trinkets from home shipped over, bringing me to how we've made the flat feel like home.  Here's a video from the nesting last night and some pictures with some back story on what we deemed worth the trip.

This was a personal wedding gift from a talented and lovely artist, Michelle Allee

Another favorite wedding gift courtesy the thoughtful Brittany Cain and Caroline Meyers soon to be Iverson - no Coastie's home is complete without a little Walter Anderson!

On the shelf - a Wolfe Bird (the only kind of birds I like); our Bibles and devotional; The Southerner's Handbook (thoughtful birthday present from Erika Berry); a few good reads borrowed from the Haywood's library; some educational books courtesy our relocation specialists; flattened champagne bottle from our wedding (the green oblong thing); art by Adam's maternal grandmother; notepads and a boxful of stationary (I have an addiction to stationary); our electronics

On the nightstand: handmade bookmark from Adam's paternal grandmother; the cutest picture of Adam and his grandfather; rock from the Grand Canyon (to remind us how big the earth is, how small we are, and all that philosophical jazz)

Art by the talented Lacey Cain (shop her Etsy page here)

Shipping isn't cheap or easy, so we did our best to choose items that would remind us of home, add some charm to the flat (whose white walls mock us daily), and weren't breakable.  I'd like to give another shout out to my mother in law for adding the peanut butter, Crest and photos to our last package.  We also got a fun care package from Grandma Haywood today with fixings for a cheese ball!  I love to entertain, and will definitely be making all things Southern and American anytime we have guests over.  

Tonight I'm attempting Shrimp and Grits (recipe via Skinny Taste cookbook).  Grocery shopping is a bit of a challenge for some of my American recipes, so I'll let you know how it goes.  If I'm successful, maybe news of my cooking talents will make their way to Kensington and Will and Kate will join us for the GoT finale next week.  Fingers crossed.