Merry Christmas 2008!!

Gosh, how long has it been since I updated? Shockingly long, is the answer you're looking for!

Not that much to report really. Been settling into the new place, working, taken a couple of trips to the States, including one for Thanksgiving. All good but apparently not worth writing much about!

This was just a quick one to say Merry Christmas to you all. I hope you had a good one. In the Poon household we enjoyed the time off work - with a lot of Guitar Hero, a fair amount of karaoke and shedloads of food, and that about sums it up! Christmas day was a nice quiet one here at the flat with my dad. There might be more details and some retrospective posts later, but I wouldn't want to a) jinx it, or b) get anyone's hopes up (neither yours nor mine!) by making big promises!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Another surreal office moment

Someday I might have enough of these bizarre office moments to publish a book of them! Today my boss said to me, "Could you remind me tomorrow I need to get some fake blood?"

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Feeling connected

Finally! After weeks of struggles with BT we finally have a phone at the new flat. I had to fight the urge to randomly call everyone in my phone book, such was the need to celebrate. Soon we might even have internet service and fully rejoin the 21st century!

I'll send out an email with the new number shortly, and also post pictures of the flat as promised.

Happy Turnerversary

Today is my one year anniversary of working at Turner. I wonder if my boss will take me out to lunch? Hmmmm...

The opposite of nesting

My life seems to be all about change right now, and it's all go. My dad and I are putting the family home up for sale and it's all very surreal. I am spending my weekends at the house packing up my stuff and purging these days. It is amazing how much crap you can accumulate when you have space to spread out in and never really move out of a place for years and years. Some of it is nice, a real trip down memory lane. Some of it is just mind-boggling. All of it is very tiring! There is a lot of work to be done.

Tomorrow the agent comes to take photos and measure for the floorplans and after that it is officially on the market. He is optimistic and thinks it will sell fast, so let's hope he's right. It is really crazy and trippy to think about, and the sentimental part of me is having real trouble with the thought of leaving the house, but it's the right thing to do.

Wish us luck.

Goodbye to an old friend

How many of you have met my little car Oyf? How many of you have enjoyed a ride in the little fella? He is such a dear old friend to me - and yes, he is a he, I know all cars are supposed to be girls but he always was a boy to me! I have had to part ways with him and I must confess my heart is a little broken.

I sold him to a friend though, one who really wanted him, so I know he has gone to a good home and once in a while she'll send me updates and maybe even put him on the phone to me. Truth is he'll probably like being with her much better, she'll actually drive him regularly and not neglect him like I did, leaving him for so many lonely days on the driveway untouched. I barely drove him and now that we've moved somewhere with much better public transport connections and expensive and restricted parking, it had to be done. Pouring money down the drain is one of my better talents but even I could see how crazy this was!

So, goodbye dear little blue car, I miss you.

Something to look forward to

Our next Stateside trip is confirmed, we're over again in mid-May. I'm looking forward to getting away again. This trip was dictated by a business trip Jon has to make and I'm tagging along. He has to be in Milwaukee for a week and we figured it would make sense to take some extra days for a California jaunt so it'll be 10 days in SoCal and then a week in Milwaukee.

I'm looking forward to Cali and seeing everyone as always. It wouldn't kill us to get some decent warmth and sunshine either, after the miserable weather we've been enduring here lately. As for Milwaukee, I deliberated for a while as to whether or not I would go and decided after a little research it might not be so bad. I was surprised to discover that there is stuff to do there and I figured it might be nice to have some down time for myself there. As much as I love our Cali and other trips they are always really hectic, rushing around trying to see everyone and everything. The week in Milwaukee Jon will be working so I will get a chance to hang out and have a relaxing time. I plan to check out some museums, do some shopping, a spa day or two, walk and bike some of the trails around the lake shores etc. I think I can keep myself entertained. Plus, I bet the burgers are great!!

More surreal Turner moments

This morning my boss sent me an email asking me to find him the rabbit suit.
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Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

New toy! Shiny new toy!! Some of you may have read in my previous post about moving that Jon impulsively bought us a shiny new larger-than-sensible TV for the new flat. Well, yesterday I behaved like a classic enabler and bought us a new Nintendo Wii, which we have both been hankering after for some time. I just got so excited because some stores have finally started re-stocking them and I had a crappy day at work yesterday so I caved to no pressure at all except my own consumer greed and love of shiny objects. Jon was SO excited.

It does also have the slight added bonus of encouraging us to unpack the rest of our stuff and get rid of the boxes and piles, to give us ample space to play the Wii games. If it facilitates that, then it's worth it. It is also SO MUCH FUN!!

Now I'm off home to check on my (hopefully) immaculately organised new flat and my game addict boyfriend who probably already has tennis elbow. (Luckily our ceiling lights are spotlights so there aren't any we can break!)

Moving day and other traumas

As most of you know, Jon and I moved into our new flat this weekend. Those of you for whom this is news, it's been talked about for a little while but nobody (including us) really thought we would make it to moving day!

It wasn't a huge heap of fun but we are very excited about the new place. We saw it a few weeks ago and took it immediately and then wondered if perhaps it wouldn't be quite as we'd remembered it, but I'm happy to report we walked in there on Friday and remembered why we didn't hesitate, we absolutely love it. It's small but the flat is great and the house it's in is beautiful too. It's in South Hampstead which is a great location for both of us and is also my old stomping ground from my Central days.

In fact, right now I'm feeling like I never want to move house ever again, I'd forgotten what a trauma moving is. I put up with a lot of jokes about there not being enough boxes or bags in London to hold all my clothes and crap, but I will point out that I have downsized quite effectively. Jon had a fair bit of crap too and we have been quite good at unpacking but are not quite there yet. This is the "before" picture of the place from Saturday.
The weekend was not without drama, there was one minor little falling down the stairs with a heavy box incident. It was the end of the day (and the second day of moving) so I was already tired but was a little ambitious attempting a box that was just a little too heavy for me and probably also a little too wide for my short litle arms. Luckily I was near the bottom and it was only a couple of steps but I did injure myself and as it was a box of Jon's stuff I was carrying at the time, I will be utilising the guilt for as long as possible. Here is the picture of my very bruised and swollen knee (swollen, not fat!!). Jon was very worried when I got the camera out, he thinks I'm going to:
a) Sue him
b) Tell people he beat me up

Being a chronic commitment-phobe this is the first time I've lived with someone full time and I have just had my first experience of what it's like to live with a boy. There I was focusing on unpacking the kitchen and he was sizing the place up for a large TV. And indeed, when we made a trip to Argos on Sunday to buy kitchen stuff what did we leave with? A shiny big flat screen TV! Check out the picture of Jon's main project for the day thereafter.Oh yes, chaos all around and he is putting the TV together! The boxes are still not unpacked, merely moved aside so they don't block the TV!! And of course the important thing is, all the games consoles are plugged in!

And, get this, it looks like we won't have internet for at least a couple of weeks. I know!!! Me and Jon, the two people voted most likely to wither and die without internet!! It's shocking. Oh well, at least we've got a bigger than necessary TV to keep us occupied. Oh yeah, and boxes to unpack!

Anyway, must get on and get those boxes taken care of. I'll be back soon with some "after" pictures once we get the place looking and feeling like home.

Happy 2008!

I hope everyone's new year has got off to a great start. I think I'm only just coming out of the holiday season now!

Christmas was nice. It was a quiet one again, just my dad, Jon and myself at home. I cooked up a storm, traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings.

Trying to work magic with parsnips and carrots

Apparently my cooking requires the supervision of 2 people!

Merry Christmas everyone!

After dinner - food coma

Jon and I both went back to work after boxing day. This is the first year I've had a full time job that requires me to work the days between Christmas and New Year and I thought it would hurt but it was actually quite cool. There were so few of us in and no bosses to be seen anywhere so it was a little eerie but nice and relaxed and never a full day. I am really loving working at Turner as you know, but the holidays really were fun, there were all sorts of shenanigans involving inflatables, mustaches, silly hats and a 5kg (!!) bar of chocolate.


New Year was a quiet one. Jon was sick so we didn't venture out, and just stayed in watching movies. I had to drink almost a whole bottle of Champagne by myself too, poor me! I must say, and this will sound weird to a lot of people, that I was looking forward to going back to work. I am not good at having time off without a holiday or a specific reason, I'm not much of a lounger or a pootler at home, and I need a regular routine and focus. Plus, my boss was away another week so I managed to ease myself in.

So, a brief reflection on 2007:

• Began 2007 in sunny Nice
• Left LBS
• Started working for Turner
  
• Went back to California in March and officially became a legal US alien
• Jon's folks visited in June and we took a trip to Istanbul with them
  
• Tuscany in July
• Embraced Turner's "summer Fridays" where we finished work at 3pm every Friday for the summer months
• Back to the States for November and Thanksgiving
• What is likely to be our last Christmas in the family home

That's extremely brief but I really can't remember anything else! It's been a good year but I'm looking forward to what 2008 will bring. Watch this space to find out what that is.

Happy New Year!