Part IA, Part UP

UP: I got a job interview! My first one in the UK, very exciting and nerve wracking! I really want this job, not only because I need a job badly but because it's a brand I am really passionate about and it seems like a fun job. After six years working jobs I hate, I am really hoping it works out for me!

IA: It's not for another month! Which means if I am offered another job in the meantime, I have to make a big decision, to take the job I am offered or wait for the interview, which I may not get the job in the end   Ugh!

Good luck with it all - hope a tough situation results with something good.

IA: the bureaucracy of new passports - popping round to Trafalgar Square is not happening

UP: a call from passport services saying how I may apply by an easier route, despite bureaucratic transitions on their end

Now I just have to have everything ready to send special delivery at the end of June and not forget to do this or back to a complicated way of getting a new passport...  

This is a few days after the fact but...

IA: Our lease is up at the end of the month and my roommate and I were REALLY struggling to find an affordable place to live in a decent area. We enlisted the help of a real estate agent who couldn't find much, we walked the entire Downtown area and called every 'For Rent' sign we saw which meant we ended up calling 14 different real estate companies, and things were getting dire. At one point, an agent even sent me a listing for the place I am trying to move out of.  

UP: But, we decided to ask some friends if they knew of anyone moving, or if their landlord had anything available and it turns out the apartment right above them was open! We took a look at it and it's perfect, in a perfect location, and was only $50 above our budget. So, we have a place to live and we didn't have to pay a realtor fee!  

IA: Now I have to actually move. Some of you know how I feel about the physical process of moving...    

UP: I am going to be a great aunt. 

IA: This, along with the fact one of my friends just joyfully announced she is expecting (we are both 42), and a few of my friends becoming grandmas, has me in a tizzy. I've known nearly 20 years I couldn't have kids. I'm currently really suffering over the fact I will never be a mom or a grandma.

TamaMoo...

IA: I just moved into a new flat. I am under contract with Sky until the end of September for a TV/phone/broadband bundle so I call them up and get things moved. Then I find out that I have to "buy access" to the communal dish! A one off fee of £198 for the engineer to drop the line to the flat and then an annual fee of £118 for "maintenance".  That's BEFORE I pay for the Sky itself!

UP: I called Sky and asked if it would be cheaper to break my contract and the guy was soooo luvley. He has credited my account for the TV portion till the end of the contract and told me the earliest I can give notice for the broadband and phone.

Thanks, Courtney!

UP: FH's riding lesson yesterday went awesome (as did mine, though I'm sore now!).

IA: We came home to find my bike stolen. So now I get to shop for a new bike, plus we have to figure out how to put the gutter pipe back where it belongs, rather than sprawled on the ground. Perhaps this is a rite of passage for living in London?

UP: The sun came out!
IA: It's raining again...hmph!

UP: The sun came out!
IA: It's raining again...hmph!

And it's looking pretty grim today so far   

And it's looking pretty grim today so far   

Tomorrow is looking much better!

UP: 19 degrees and sunny!!!!  Whohoo!

IA: Stuck in work all day and couldn't enjoy it!!!   

IA: I cannot find the keys to the lock on my storage unit. 

UP: I found something else I thought I had lost forever whilst looking for the keys. 

UP: I've been super productive today - cleaned out the baby's older clothes, put new stuff away, did some laundry, moved stuff down to the basement, hoovered, made yogurt, I'll get dinner ready shortly, and I'll head to a new exercise class tonight.

IA: My MIL must stop sending this child clothes! We don't have the space for all of it. Some of the stuff I moved to the basement were clothes I forgot he had, so they were never worn, which of course makes me feel guilty. Not to mention she spends an extortionate amount sending stuff from Ireland. If she would pick out a few special things to send over, that would be one thing, but it's like she goes into the shop and picks one of everything off a display of cheap shirts and sweatpants.

IA: Hubs has been bored & despondent with his work situation for awhile - secure employment, but nothing new & interesting & challenging coming down the pike for him. (New projects budget has dried up.)

UP: Now there is the prospect of a very exciting new project/opportunity that potentially (if it comes to pass) will see him...

IA: Working 4 weeks in something slightly a world 'hotspot', so to speak, where I'll be edgy for him to be, followed by...

UP: Working 2 weeks in the US...I've said that clearly I should go along for this part as his personal driver & interpreter... 

IA: He hasn't ever really had to work or be posted far away from home like this before, for any length of time like that. 

That sounds exciting Mrs R!

That sounds exciting Mrs R!

Kinda...the weird thing is it seems that he won't need a visa to go to this slightly scary place to be (IMO) whereas we think he will need a business visa for the US as he will actually be doing work there (not just attending meetings/conferences/training). He works for what is very much a global company now, so just hoping they'll all have it under control for him. 

Aaaannnd I wanna go on the US tour leg of that!