Family

Family...what does it mean?

The subject of family has come up a few times this week and it makes me wonder. What do we really consider family? The term appears to be different for everyone. Some consider family to be those people that are related to you by blood and others believe that it's those people closest to you.

I will tell you what I believe. I believe that family is the circle of people that surround you and will do anything for you. Some you choose, others you don't. Some are blood relations, some are not. Regardless, they are your family for the long haul. What's important is how those people make you feel. Family should make you feel loved and protected because that is what family does.

Most importantly, family does not stab each other in the back or deliberately cause problems for each other. Family respects each other.

This is what family means.

Almost Famous

Not to sound like I'm tooting my own horn but I do have to say that I am a little proud of being featured in the company newsletter this week (picture and all!) speaking to the CEO of our Department (that's globally). Yep, working at IBM feels pretty good. :-)

Here is the link to the article.

Well endowed...

There is nothing like moving to another country to make you feel well endowed. Apparently here in the UK, I am a cup size larger than in the US.
No wonder my husband thinks I have big boobs!

Thankful

I just wanted to point out that I have no reason to complain. About anything, really.

I suppose if I wanted to I could complain about my mother-in-law and her crappy treatment of her son. But I've done that in abundance and quite frankly I'm sick of thinking about it.


I could complain that our kitchen is tiny and barely fits two people at a time but then I know that when we can we will re-do the kitchen to our liking  and all will be well.

In all honesty, I don't want to complain anymore. Too much time is wasted on complaining. So instead, I am going to concentrate on the things that I can be thankful for.

I am thankful that I have a husband that loves me unconditionally and would do anything in the world to make me happy.

I am thankful that I have a mother that loves me and loves my husband and is supportive of me through all the good and the bad.

I am thankful that I finally found a job that I can love in an area that is beautiful with people that are really nice.

I am thankful that I have friends that still love me even if I did move thousands of miles away to another country.

And I am thankful that I finally get to live in England which is a dream come true.

Mother or Monster-In-Law?

I will start by saying that I am generally a very easy going person. I am tolerant of most idiotic people and will overlook rudeness in most cases. However, there are times when my easy-going nature is severly tested and I have to say, this is one of those times.

When I met my husband and moved to the UK, I knew that I would be temporarily living with my parents-in-law. I had visions of sitting with my mother-in-law and having great chats and becoming good friends. Instead what I got was miserable and evil woman who had the nerve to threaten me ON my wedding day! Told me over the phone that if I did anything to hurt her son (as if I would!) that I would have nowhere to hide. Who says that to someone??

Since then our relationship has been strained at best. I try to be nice but quite frankly, I'm getting tired of pretending to be a nice person. Thankfully, her and the cranky husband are moving out and soon it will be just my husband and me.

What I can't understand is how a person can be so miserable ALL the time. How is it that when a person says they would kill for their kids (yes, she said that AND meant it), they still do nothing to support them in life or show them that they are proud of them for what they've accomplished? I know that there are plenty of people out there who have hellish in-laws but I wonder sometimes if mine are the masters of being awful. I have never hated anyone as much as I hate my MIL and I don't hate easily. She is the kind of person that will drain your soul and spirit and feed off of it.

Isn't there some mythical creature that fits that description??

Overdue update

Ok it's been a while since I've posted anything but to be honest, my life has been a bit hectic.

I finally obtained my visa to live in the UK for the next two years without having to worry that the Border Agency is going to knock on our door and haul me back to the US. Yay! Aside from that, life has gone back to normal here in Pompey. I am currently looking for a job now that I am allowed to do so but to date no luck. The job market is a bit more competitive here than in the States.

We are currently in a deep freeze here in the UK but I've noticed that it's still warmer here than in Denver. The only difference is that Coloradoans know how to handle the snow where here they haven't seen snow like this in the last 30 years. Talk about not being prepared! The roads weren't plowed and they're running out of sand. Walking down the street became an extreme sport in itself.

Christmas here was lovely. I missed having my Mom here though. That would have really made the holiday perfect. Aside from that, it was the first Christmas that I spent with my husband and that made all the difference in the world.

I am really looking forward to my BFF coming to see me and I just found out that my baby cousin is going to come and visit as well! There are some major perks to living in a foreign country. :-)

Luckily life in the UK isn't too much of a change from life in the US. I even discovered that my new favorite store has a shop here in town. Yay for Lush coming to Portsmouth!!! And I have Starbucks to feed my chai latte addiction (it's no Seattle's Best but it will do...). I've even gotten Jason hooked on them now! Now I just need a job to be able to pay for said addiction...

So as one can see, life is good in the UK. :-)

Back in CO

So I'm back in Colorado to take care of the last step of being married to an Englishman, my visa. It's really nice to be back with my friends that I made here in the last couple of years. Went out the other night and had a great time with some of the girls I used to work with. Went to our favorite bar and saw our favorite bartender! Yay!! A great night was had by all when Sarah managed to make a drunk guy do the Oompa Loompa song and dance and made him buy us drinks when he spilled beer on Ellie! I think we may have even gotten Leah a potential date...we shall see...

I also managed to procure a job while I'm here. I'll be working at Macy's again. At least I'll be able to save some money while I'm here so that I'm not flat broke when I finally do get to go home to my husband.

My being away is really hard on him. Not to say that it's not hard on me but I think for him it's worse because he has no control over the situation. It's almost like it was when we first started talking. Only now, we're married. :-)

I am however looking forward to the time I'm getting to spend with my BFFF and our other friends while I'm here. I think I will have a chance to do some things I never had a chance to do when I lived here. That's the beauty of being a visitor! :-)It's fall here now and the trees are turning colors. I have my camera loaded with film and the next chance we get, we're going out to take some shots of trees and such. Fall in CO can be very pretty, you just have to know where to look. Once I get pictures, I will post them.