No More Dead Ends

I'm totally stoked today. I just cut my own hair and it does not suck.

I've trimmed my own hair before but never given myself a real hair cut.

I am becoming a seasoned hair cutter. Every Sunday is haircut day for Eric. Instead of using a barber he has--conveniently for him--trained me to give him a nice clean man cut. I've gotten used to using clippers and I think I even do a decent fade. However, I'm a girl so unless I want to look like a boy I've got to use different techniques when cutting my hair.

Eric helped me last time and gave me a decent cut. It was pretty standard but clean and looked better with less dead gross dyed ends. The bangs got a little over cut last time. I take full credit and I persevered with a few bobby pins until they were long enough to let down.

So today I decided I needed a new do. I'm trying to grow out the disgusting dyed blonde hairs and cut them off. I'm about halfway so I can't quite get rid of all of them and I do not look nice with a bob. I weighed all my options and got a pair of scissors, well two pairs of scissors. An hour later, voila! I'm super stoked that I cut my own hair today. There are still some dead gross dyed ends that remain but now they look a little bit nicer and I've gotten rid of a whole dustpan full of grossness.

Woot.

1 Week ago: My hair was out of control!!! Gross.


Today: Post haircut

What's for dinner? Detox Night 4

I'm just not as inspired tonight. I had a long day and was the last one to leave work tonight. So, when getting home I just wanted to eat and not do anything.

With that said, it wasn't a bad dinner by any means and I managed to get slightly creative when putting it all together. But it was more of a standard "I just need to eat" dinner.

The menu:
Detox Scallop Paella
Although I could have gone with rice, it would have taken too long to make and tonight's dinner was about quick and easy. So it's a Quinoa paella with scallops, parsnips, carrots and broccoli. Topped with red onions and served with a avocado slices.
After the blueberry passion fruit with mint last night, I am pretty excited about making desserts that are satisfying yet healthy. They'll never be similar to a bowl of ice cream but I'd like to think that my desserts are a bit more posh and would possibly cost more in a restaurant. Anyway, tonight I went with a soy banana-passion fruit smoothie with frozen blueberries and mint leaves.

Time for bed!

What's for dinner? Detox Night 3

Since I added the creative element of blogging to my detox, I'm more excited about having a meal that is free of wheat, dairy, added sugar and added sodium. I suppose the rice noodles constitute as processed but everything else is fresh or frozen from fresh.

I've gotten a little creative with tonight's dinner. It was either go shopping for something new or have steamed chicken and some sort of veg again. Blah!

Also, I just got my super awesome discount card for work and was itching to get my 10% discount. So after work I zipped over to the local Asda and got some scallops, fresh herbs and some cheap tights.

I wanted a soup tonight but realised that soup is super bland without salt. To counter that I've added some spice and used very flavourful herbs, and vegetables.

Tonight's Dinner:
Scallop and Rice Noodle Stew:
I lightly pan fried scallops, scallions and garlic with a spritz of olive oil. Once the garlic turned brown I added enough water to make a soup. Then I chopped red chillies for a spice and parsnips for flavor. I'm addicted to these tiny baby mushrooms, so I threw in a handful of those as well and then gave the soup a squirt of lemon. Finally the rice noodles went in just before the soup was finished.

Bonus: Eric's out of town and since we only have 1 set of chopsticks I got to use them (it's my fault we only have one set, I lost one under our porch).

Tonight I was craving a bit more. I'm jones-ing a bit for sweets so I made a detox dessert.

Passion fruit and chilled blueberries with mint.

What's for dinner? Detox Dinner: Night 2

I've got a lot of work I still need to do tonight so I'll make this brief.

Tonight's dinner:
Wheat free, gluten free rice noodles with steamed chicken breast bits, parsnips, carrots and green beans. Topped with pepper and a bit of cilantro (coriander for the Brits).

To drink: I've gone for water flavored with clementine and lime juice.

And-- yep I'm shamelessly promoting my employer-- all purchased at Asda. I think the parsnips were even Smart Price.

What's for dinner? Detox Dinner: Night 1

Eric went out of town and I decided it was time for a detox. Not that I'm a drug addict or anything but I have been known to hit the bottle over the past few (cold) months.

Anyway I'm going substance free for a week and maybe more. No Alcohol, no caffine, no wheat, no dairy, no added sugars, no added salt or sodium and no processed foods. Let's see if I can keep up the nightly posts of "what's for dinner?". However, knowing me, I will probably stick with the same meal every night this week until I run out and have to buy more un-processed food.

Tonight's Special:

Steamed chicken breast and vegetables seasoned with tyme, pepper and lemon and lightly dusted with olive oil. Served over a bed of watercress and avocado with a side of Quinoa. Finished off with a topping of salad cress for colour and crunch!

ps. It's actually really yummy!

Business Parties, Gym Buddies and Car Camping

Muah-ha-ha. March you did not escape me. I bet you thought you could get away un-blogged. No such luck.

I'm aiming to be better at this. However, I know that my lack of camera is directly tied to my lack of blog posts. As a creative I'm led by thought provoking ideas and usually that come to me by way of photography. Anyway, no more excuses or I'll have to answer to Bunmi (I'll explain who that is soon, patience my dears).

I've started my AMAZING job at Asda. It has been a whirl-wind. I'm not sure that my feet have totally landed but it's been going really well and for the first time in my career I am 100% happy with my role and responsibilities. I love it. I'm not sure I've really truly felt that about a job before. I've loved my colleagues and what I was doing but not like this. No offense to other jobs I've had. If you worked at Asda you'd get it. The culture is like no other.

For example: we had a Marketing day. Well more or less an afternoon and a night. The agenda went a little like this: First we had a Coaching Contract and a Academy Presentation in the afternoon and then we moved on to an all-over-Leeds team-building scavenger hunt. The hunt included team shots of 1) How many people fit in a phone booth (we fit 8) 2) How many can you get in a conga line (15 or so for Asda Brand Team) 3)A group photo with only 5 team members touching the ground (we had none touching the ground) 4) Team Busking (one girl did the splits) 5) A shop window with team members in it (Jim got in with the Diesel "sexy" display). And there were more.

After the scavenger hunt--that we did not win even though we were really successful--we had a evening awards ceremony and dinner sponsored by the top man in charge. I won't name names but it was a great night. We ate (Simon A. had two cheesecakes) we danced (Becky got all groovy to 70s music) and we stayed the night in Leeds.

(quick cell phone pic of Leeds on my way home from work)

It was a fabulous time. Thank you big boss for being so generous.

And on a personal note I think I've made my first friend at work!!! Well I'll wait until she reads this and then she can decide if she wants to keep hanging out with me. I met Bunmi at the Best Welcome. Best Welcome is the induction where you learn all about the business. Anyway B and I were in the same group that went in-store and I really liked her from the moment I met her and we got to talking. She's the kind of woman to speak her mind openly and honestly. I like that. And I totally get all of the online marketing stuff that she deals with. So anyway I thought... this chick is cool.

After that, I kept seeing her around the office and we'd say hi but in a rush. One day she stopped me and said something like "okay we need to get tea or lunch and catch up." And we did. Woot!

THEN One morning I was half-awake dodging speeding cars and nyc-style jaywalking to the gym when I heard someone call my name. No kidding, B had joined the same gym and I and we were both making our way there at 6am or something ridiculous like that.

So we are gym buddies and work buddies. And although we mostly email saying "sorry I have to move our afternoon 15 min tea party, a meeting just appeared out of nowhere," I dig B and can't wait to have a girl's night in Leeds with her and her flat-mate.

You'd think with all that going on I'd have no time for Eric.... well you'd be wrong. I do still have weekends to catch up with Eric and our friends. E and I have been on a few different adventures in the past month and had a great DIY experiment last weekend.

Three weekends ago we went to York on Saturday. It was raining and thought a day of museums would be a good way to spend our day. After waiting in line for the Jorvik Viking Centre, we were prompted by an impending crowd of school children to shift our plans over to the York Abby for the afternoon. Great decision.

We stumbled into a tour led by an elderly man with a wealth of history. I think our tour lasted a couple of hours, but we were in no hurry and I really enjoy hearing the stories from an elderly man. They are something you cannot get from the internet, tv or even books. there is something special about hearing it with their own spin on it. When the tour was over we finished off that afternoon by sticking around for evening song. Eric spotted some benches atop radiators at the back of the nave and we sat in York Abby listening to the solemn sound of the human voice in religious chant.


I forgot to preface this weekend with: Eric sent me a text on Friday afternoon saying that we should do 3 peaks on Saturday. Three peaks is a marathon of hiking. Literally 26 miles of rocky uphill, through muddy sheep pasture, over rock wall, up crag and waterfall climbing/hiking. I said okay but knew that we'd be lucky to get 1 peak in.

So you already know we didn't so 3 peaks Saturday but we did do 1 peak Sunday. it was the most wonderful sunny day and we drove out to the Yorkshire Dales to hike Ingleborough. No big deal.
And although we had already hiked up to 15 feet from Ingleborough in December it was unbeknown to us and so we were excited to see the top.

(Someone told me to do it)

I whined a little bit (which Eric doesn't like) but it was mostly because a rushed big lunch hadn't sat well in my nether regions. But when we got to the top I sort of forgot all of that and was very happy to have finally (for the second time*) climbed one of the three peaks.

Two weekends ago we had a car camping trip with some friends of ours. Eric has been very excited about turning his car into a RWOOV (pronounced R woo V). He has a Dawoo Lanos and with a little bit of cardboard, some black thrift store curtains, and a sun shade, he's turned it into an E certified home for sleeping in.

(car camping in style)

To anyone who's curious I explain my okay-ness with car camping as so:
When I was little my dad wasn't sure that he would have a son... and I was the third daughter. So, I got to go hunting, fishing, trapping and riding around in the army green Jeep. And I loved it.

So when it comes to roughing it, I'm cool. I don't mind peeing into a milk jug off the side of a boat or brushing my teeth in the middle of the forest. In fact, I may actually like it. So car camping isn't a big deal but many people think I'm nuts. Anyway that's what we did two weekends ago. We drove out to the lake district, car camped, then hiked around the lake in Glennridding all day. It was Fantastic! Towards the end of the hike I think getting off the beaten path was a challenge to everyone and we were a bit worried. But it was a good adventure and we all felt that we had achieved something by the end of the day.

(the gang that car camped and rambled down Eric trail)

(From Left: Franklin, Me, Sarah K. enjoying the lake view)

Sunday we did nothing. Car camping will take it out of you.

(Benefit of car camping=you are already there when you wake up)

------------------------------------------------------------

*Right before Christmas We tried the Gaping Gill/Ingleborough hike from a different direction. It was a rough day and my hiking boots were new therefore 3 miles and 2 giant blisters into it we gave up 15 feet from seeing the top. That day it was foggy and we thought that over the next hill was another... but we were wrong.

Zebra's, Toucans, Pelicans, Puffins and Equestians Crossing?!

I am learning to drive. I am a licensed driver in the US and I have been licensed for 12 years. However, I now need to learn it all over again. You are wondering if I've had some horrific accident, fallen in a freak accident perhaps and lost all of my memories associated with driving. Well, I haven't and that actually would make learning a new way of driving easier. My problem is that I moved to a foreign country and with a new country comes... you guessed it, new everything!

The back story from where I wrote last to where I am now would be helpful. So last time I blogged I was worried about a job. Well I got it! Yay! And I'm very excited to start working at my new job in Leeds this Thursday! I found out a few weeks ago however there was tons of paper work that needed filling in. References that needed calling, and now I am about to start my first full-time job in a foreign country. Woot.

With the position came a car allowance or a company car. So, after thinking it over I decided I would get a car and then use the car allowance towards it's upkeep, petrol, insurance, MOT, Tax, etc. I found a 2001 Skoda Fabia 1.6 with and 8v engine. So it's no sports car and as Eric put it, "it doesn't really have much pickup." But it seemed like a good deal, the car only had 60K miles on it and is in good condition. No major rework/accidents, etc.

The only problem with the car, or my problem rather, is that my Skoda is a manual and I've been driving a manual for the grand total of 1 week (which incidentally is how long I have owned my Skoda).

So here is the deal. I've actually given my car 1 month to bond with me. I'm just not feeling it. You pay a good amount of money for something and you'd expect there would be an instantaneous bond between you and that thing, right? Wrong. That is not the case with my Skoda. I feel that my car is out to scare the crap out of me or just make me miserable. I swear that each time I do something--start out, shift, make an uphill start--I'm trying to do it the same as I did last time when it worked just fine. However, if I think too much about it... I stall out.

(My new car and arch-nemesis Skoda)

Therefore, I'm hating on my car and I'm hating on driving right now. I have been so distraught over learning a whole new way to drive and I'm now worried about the driving tests I will eventually need to take if I want to keep driving in the UK past Oct 4th.

I'm trying not to be so negative and find the silver linings so maybe if I share them with all of you, (whoever you are) I can convince myself to push on with the driving thing.

Reasons I hate driving now:

1. Everything I knew about driving just got thrown out the window
2. I don't get the road markings. If I grew up here it would be easier to understand what road marks mean but I have no clue what the difference is between a Pelican or Toucan crossing.
   
3. I keep wanting to drive on the right or worse turn onto the right-hand side when turning onto an adjoining road
4. Roundabouts are a good idea but more difficult than they look (plus they make me sick when I'm the passenger)
   
5. The roads here are VERY narrow and oncoming traffic is scary as s*&#
6. Roads are so winding it takes an hour to go 18 miles
   
7. Although I've been practicing, I still suck at driving a manual
8. It feels like I'm learning to drive for the first time but I have done this years ago!
   
9. I get very nervous every time I need to drive
10. Driving with Eric has been banned because I get too defensive around him

Reasons to keep trying:

1. I am stubborn
2. It will be a good life-skill to have
3. Practically all vehicles outside of the US are manual
4. The freedom to drive
5. Not being reliant on public transportation
6. Independence
7. Bragging rights to say I can drive a manual
8. So that I can drive to pick my friends and parents up from the airport and drive around England when/if they visit
   
9. So that Eric will ride with me again and when we go on our trip/s around Europe I can drive as well
10. To be proud of myself for learning something hard and new

Okay so.. I'm not totally convinced that the reasons to keep trying are completely outweighing the reasons I want to quit. But it's a beginning and I am going to keep trying. I told my car today that she'd better start bonding with me or she's going up for sale and then I practiced driving in our back parking area that has a slight uphill slant. The goal was to conquer the dreaded uphill start. The rules were as follows:

1. Kate must make 10 uphill starts in a row.
2. If the car stalls out, Kate must start over at 0.
3. Once Kate reaches 10 successful uphill starts she can reverse down the drive and then stop practicing.
4. Kate is not allowed to stop practicing until she reaches 10 successful uphill starts.

It took over an hour and I was really glad that our upstairs neighbors were at work when I tried it. The good news is that I did indeed make 10 successful uphill starts in a row. Now I just need to try it on a steeper slant and make it work while driving in traffic. ugh...

I guess for now I'm forging on. I'm never one to quit but this is one thing that is a lot harder than it looks. Wish me luck!

But When You Worry You Make It Double

That's right... I'm worried. I'd have to say I'm usually a worrier. I like it when life is easy and calm so when there is something to worry about (no matter how small or ridiculous), I worry. But according to Bobby McFerrin, "when you worry you make it double." So... I'm trying not to worry.

What am I worried about you ask? Well here it is plain and simple. I really really really want this job. I am pretty sure the interview went well but then there is the waiting period after the interview before they notify me. Now I'm worried. I guess I might not be as worried if I hadn't been excited before about a job right before Christmas and then the whole thing just fizzled out like a One-Hit-Wonder's career.

I should know today or tomorrow but the suspense is killing me. I just want my phone to ring and know either way.

So I'm sitting here trying to enjoy a lovely sunny day but I'm worried. I guess there is technically no trouble or reason to worry because at this point I have no control over the situation. So I'm going to try not to make this double and be happy.

After all, I am pretty happy for several reasons:
1) It's sunny out.
2) Running club is tonight and there will be drinks afterward.
3) I'm learning new things every day.
4) My natural hair color is coming in and I kind of like the little gray hairs that showed up in the bunch.
5) I am living in a totally new country.
6) I got to sleep in as long as I wanted today (unfortunately I couldn't sleep past 8:40am because I had a good dream that I got the job and missed the call).
7) My dreams are much better and more vivid since I've moved.
8) Leftovers for lunch was homemade pizza.
9) I don't pay rent.
10) I'm wearing the coziest sheepskin slippers right now.
11) It's sunny out!!!!!
12) Eventually, I will learn to drive stick on the wrong side of the car/road. Maybe we can practice this weekend.
13) The sun is shining through the window and our palm tree's shadow is dancing across the darkened television screen.
14) I love our new furniture we got from the auction a few weeks ago. It's so cozy.
15) I'm healthy.

(My sheepskin slippers: They are soooooooo comfy and warm)

Okay so that cheered me up a bit but I'm still a little worried. I'll just keep reminding myself "whatever it is it will pass..." and "don't worry, be happy."

I'm Ooh-ing and Aah-ing

(Ooh-aah Point on South Kaibab Trail, Grand Canyon - Panoramic)
On our hike of the South Kaibab Trail and I stitched it together. That was a great day.

Click on the photo for a better view.

An American POV on NHS from inside the UK

In my recent trip home all I heard about was National Healthcare, what "President Obama wants to do..." and how my parents feel about it all. Boy, was that a fun vacation.

During my two week holiday in the US to see family and friends I was asked several questions about this strange and mysterious land I am now living in. "What is the food like?" "How is the weather?" "What is NHS like? I hear it's terrible..."

Normally my friends and family would just stick to the basics of food, weather and culture. However, with the current topic of healthcare being yelled about on the nightly Fox News channel, my friends wanted to know what NHS is like. This makes sense to me. Coming from a country that doesn't like change but loves to brag that they are innovative, I have come to fear "different" and know what their concerns are.

I'm coming to my point, just wait, it's good for the UK too...

Anyway, there is all this talk about how terrible a National Healthcare will be in the US from conservative parties (my parents). And I'm not an expert on it at all but after my first NHS experience, I am happy to say I am all for National Healthcare and NHS did not suck, infact, I loved my first experience with the system.

I called a few days ago just to schedule a meeting with a Nurse to check up on my meds. The receptionist was very nice and got me in for an appointment two days later. No problem. That was simple but I was expecting a catch, like the horrendous wait once I got there or a huge hassle.

Yesterday, I went to the Mowbray Square Medical Center for said appointment. I know I have a bit of a slanted view since the location is brand new and all of the facilities were sparkling and smelled like they had never been used. I checked in for my appointment and waited about 10 minutes, maybe less. There was a LCD monitor that made a tone and flashed my name and who I was to see on it when they were ready for me. I found the nurse's office and had a nice long and comfortable talk about what I needed.

I am one to dread going to the doctor. I will do anything in my power to stay healthy just so I do not have to sit on that paper table with a paper gown trying to cover my running muscles. But this experience was different. The nurse looked me in the eye, gave me full attention, asked several questions but did not make me feel uncomfortable and explained everything to me very clearly. In the end, although I did not have an issue with my medications that I knew of, she found a very valid concern. Apparently the medicine I was on could be fatal with a person who experiences migraine headaches...I experience migraine headaches! But we got that issue sorted and now I can go on with living in the UK.

Here is the bonus: I am from the US where healthcare costs can bankrupt you and I have been conditioned to that type of treatment. This NHS visit did not cost me anything. Not even for the prescription that I picked up afterwards. Ofcourse I am pessimistically ready for a hefty bill in the post but I'm pretty sure that visit was FREE!!!!

So, as far as the National Healthcare for the US goes, I say "fellow Americans, go for it!!!" My experience with NHS was great. I have been fortunate in my experiences but I know I have fellow Americans who have never experienced anything close to it.