Catching Up Apologises, Sept and Oct Overview

So... its the end of October and I just logged in to notice that I haven't written since the end of August. Dreadful! Many apologises.

Here's the overview of the last two months and then I'll start writing details.

The end of August I returned to the US for a week long holiday in the Outer Banks. Had a delightful time at Matt's house with Matt, Anne, Jennifer, Brian, Julia, and later in the trip, the Chius. Much relaxation, good food and drink, and the best darn whether you could EVER imagine. I'd planned to go back late Tues or Wed, but ended up staying with the Chius and the Coelhos (and the pups!) until Thursday. Then it was a few more days of catching up with friends, doing things around the house, and repacking for what I thought would be my last trip to London.

Mid-way through my month long stay in the UK, I took at break to go to Spain and meet up with Jennifer and my parents. Jennifer and I spent two days in Madrid and then caught up with my parents in Cordoba to see Cordoba and Sevilla. It was wonderful. We saw sooo much. Lots of pics. And lots of recovery needed after.

I returned to the UK and packed up my flat. I had a lot of mixed emotions. For many weeks, work had been going back and forth on whether I would be done in Sept or would be continuing. And that's after three weeks of crazy stress renewing my work visa, whether I'd be there or not. Augh. As of two days before I was to leave, still no word. I packed up (most of the US contingent had already gone home).

Of course though, things change like the wind around here. The day before I left I was asked to return in a week and the morning I left (though not until I was at the airport) I found out I'd even be in the same flat. Well.. it was still good to purge all the stuff I had in the UK. I truly had moved in!

I returned Oct 14th for a quick week of work, but planned to fly back home Friday as Kate (my sis) and her fam were coming to town. It took me 23 hours to get there (tell you that story later!) but I made it and had a truly delightful trip home. We went to the zoo on Saturday and the Shennandoah Balloon and Wine Festival with the Chius and some others on Sunday. Perfect weekend.

Now I'm back in the UK. Worked hard this week, but had a fun night out with some coworkers Thursday night. Saturday went to Windsor. Today... just relaxed and then church. I'm again the only American here, but that's fine. It was very nice to catch up on the last two months.... which were filled w/good fun, but very little rest.