I watch too many romantic movies!

Hope you and Tim had good birthdays, Becca. I couldn't live without the webcam. It's the only thing that gives some semblance of reality when you're so far away (chat gets tiring to me). MSN has a really good voice chat function. Better than skype (for me) and if you think really hard, it's almost like you're in the same room with each other!!

YAY Becca! I swear by the webcam - its so much nicer to be able to see the BF - ya know facial expressions and ya kinda think your just hanging out having a cup of coffee!

What a sweet gesture ;-)

en: congrats!!! That's so exciting!! 

Becca:    Happy Birthday!! 

Zoya: Getting closer!!

mirra: How's things? I'll give you a bell this week.

Me: Things are going really great here! If you're my Facebook friend, I'm sure you've seen the photos from our vacation in Bamburgh. It was so much fun, and soooooo relaxing after a week of packing/moving and a week with my mother. We move into our flat on Tuesday, and I'm getting pretty excited! Did some shopping with my MILish and we had a really nice time!

Next week it's back to Texas for me. I got a ticket home for the Sept 8-14 to spend time with my mom and most likely attend a funeral. It is what it is, and I'm actually glad to go to Texas this time knowing I can come back HOME to Newcastle soon enough.

That's all my news!

Elly - you need to email your new number so if we get up to newcastle maybe we can meet for a drink!

Hope you and Tim had good birthdays, Becca. I couldn't live without the webcam. It's the only thing that gives some semblance of reality when you're so far away (chat gets tiring to me). MSN has a really good voice chat function. Better than skype (for me) and if you think really hard, it's almost like you're in the same room with each other!!

I think Tim's enjoying his day. He and his brother were on their way to one of the Imperial War Museum's for the day.  We had always said we didn't need webcams because we knew what each other looked like.....but I think now we're going to probably start using them. 

I have really bad luck with the MSN program and only sign into MSN via Pidgin, which AFAIK doesn't support calls or videos....but Tim and I are pretty happy with Skype, anyway.

Becca:    Happy Birthday!! 

Me: Things are going really great here! If you're my Facebook friend, I'm sure you've seen the photos from our vacation in Bamburgh. It was so much fun, and soooooo relaxing after a week of packing/moving and a week with my mother. We move into our flat on Tuesday, and I'm getting pretty excited! Did some shopping with my MILish and we had a really nice time!

Thanks! Good god, I'm 30 now.  aaahhh! 

Am I on your facebook? I thought I was, but I don't recall seeing photos....hmmmm.  no, wait, I found them.  very nice. I LOVE Alnwick. Did you know they filmed Harry Potter there?  

Elly - you need to email your new number so if we get up to newcastle maybe we can meet for a drink!

Elly, I didn't know you were in Newcastle. Tim and I love the Newcastle area.   We're taking my mom to Beamish on September 19th

So I was feeling a bit "unofficial" thanks to the casualness of my citizenship ceremony.  At 9am this morning, though, my new passport arrived!  (I guess their backlog really is gone if they can turn them out in a day.)  It definitely lists me as a british citizen , though I look like a felon thanks to their no smile/no glasses biometrics rules. 

So yeah, just need to get cranking on the horse selling, house renting (which is put on hold for a few weeks until I figure out whether my office is moving so that I can move with it), and job hunting.

Hope everyone else is having a good week!

Great news! I am now leaving Wednesday and staying til Monday 28th! I love magic and karma!

Great news! I am now leaving Wednesday and staying til Monday 28th! I love magic and karma!

YAY! Congrats!

Hi All,
Just wanted to let you know that I am married now...I am now Mrs Jason Byrne woohoo...all went well and we had a blast...we are now doing our marriage visa and hopefully I will be approved and coming back to the UK next week....

Happy B day Becca....when was your bday? mine was Sept 6th

Congratulations to all you ladies who are moving and gotten your visas
I hope all you other lovely ladies are doing well and enjoying the last remains of summer

Just wanted to let you know that I am married now...I am now Mrs Jason Byrne woohoo...

Congrats are in order! Happy life long marriage!

Congrats, JEP!!  I hope your visa process is speedy and you can get back to the UK soon!  And happy belated birthday to both you and Becca!

Congratulations Josy! And happy belated birthday.   I hope the visa goes through quickly/smoothly.

Yay Josy!  

My birthday was August 28th, Tim's was August 31

Trip soon, so not a whole lot to update, really.  Getting excited to see Tim, even if this trip is really just for my mom's benefit.

And....we're having our parents meet.  I'm freaking out about this. The last boyfriend my mom met the parents of was the guy I dated from age 16-20, who also was the only boy I've ever lived with.

Congrats on the wedding Josy, and good luck with the visa And it's exciting to read about everyone's upcoming trips and all that other business that keeps us all busy. I've been a bit AWOL lately, but I have been lurking even if I didn't say anything.

I got into town on the 4th, but now my allergies are playing up on top of my still-awkward sleep schedule so I'm feeling a little worse for the wear but it could be worse. The flights were fine, which is always the most stressful part of the journey for me--along with immigration. I did get asked quite a few questions at immigration as well when they saw my visa, about when we got married and what job Steve does, etc, and it was a little unnerving because I was so close to being able to see him. But, I obviously got through, and now have a little black 5 September 09 stamp on my visa

I'm just laying low until I get my sleep schedule back on track and my allergies clear up. Steve's back at work anyway so I have some down time during the day to try and adjust. He is going out of town for work on Thursday-Friday and Monday-Tuesday which is quite a bummer, since I'll be stuck in this house by myself, but I'll sort it out. I'm just in my needy stage at the moment which is a bit annoying But, overall, it's going alright, I don't have too many complaints except for a bit of homesickness and such.

Happy Nuptials, Josy!!

And congrats on the move, Tams!

I'm on my way back to the US for a week to see my mom. My stepdad is in his last hours, and I'm glad I can be there for the tough part.

We finally got moved into the flat on Sunday, and it's great! Our little piece of heaven! It still needs a bit of furniture, but DBF is working on that this week while I'm away. I honestly feel like I'm leaving home, which is strange after only two weeks here and only a day and a half in the flat, but I really do feel like Newcastle's my home now.

We had our first official Northeast Meetup and it was really great! A bunch of people showed up including some people from Yorkshire! About 13 or 14 people in total! NOT BAD! So I've made some friends and have some movie/shopping dates coming up soon. WEW HEW!