Last Post!

This is a bittersweet post to be writing. And to be honest, I have started writing it a few times.  How do I conclude this great hobby I had over the last two years?  I have thoroughly enjoyed writing about our adventures, near and far.  I guess you'll have to keep up with our lives by visiting with us in real life! ha!

Overall, we have been getting acclimated pretty well.  We are super busy, with something going on almost every weekend from now until the end of the year.  No complaints here, as we like to be busy. But who are we kidding, hopefully we can squeeze in a couple days where we lay on the couch and watch TV all day long.  It is needed every once in a while.  And American T.V.---enough said!

We are back in our house, and boy does it feel amazing!  We got possession back on August 29th, and spent the next two weekends moving all of our things.  We are pretty much settled, but a few little projects around the house are on the agenda.  The joys of home ownership! 

I have been working on creating the blog into a book.  You never know what will happen with the internet and technology in the future.  Jeff and I have a friend that was abroad earlier in life, and made a Angel Fire website.  Many of you may know what I am talking about---others may not.  Either way, it is no longer an active website, so all of her posts about her travels are gone.  I don't want that to happen, so I have decided to make my blog into a book! I have been trying out many websites, so if anyone has a great suggestion--please let me know. 

Other updates---My job as a first grade teacher is going well.  I love teaching that age, and my students are so sweet.  It is a challenge at times, but I am definitely glad I made the switch to a younger grade.  I have quite a few funny stories to share.  Feel free to follow Mrs. Becker's Class on Twitter to see our learning in action! Jeff worked really hard and interviewed for a promotion at work within the last month.  He is now the Component Engineering Manager.  He hasn't been on the job too long, but seems to enjoy this new position a lot.  Very proud of him!

Check out our map on the right side of the screen (if you're on a computer).  Check out all of the places we visited.  It is exhausting just looking at it! We are hoping to put a map up in our house with all the places documented that we visited while abroad. 

A big THANK YOU to family, friends, and even the complete strangers around the world who read about our experiences.  My blog was viewed over 16,500 times since it was created (And no, my views were not counted in this total), most of which were read by people in the US (duh), UK (duh), France, Russia, Germany, & Poland.  Although, there were about 25+ more countries represented in the count.  I really appreciate all of your support, kind words, and encouragement to write 151 meaningful posts throughout the last two years. Many people have asked me if we plan on going back to do another secondment.  My answer is that we are ready to stay in one place for a while.  But never say never!

I want to leave you with a song by one of my favorite bands, OneRepublic, that really made me reflect on our experience abroad, especially with the lyrics:

"I, I did it all
I, I did it all
I owned every second that this world could give
I saw so many places, the things that I did
With every broken bone, I swear I lived."

 

It really made me stop and think about how blessed we were to be able to see and experience what we did, as life is short.  Take advantage of the time we have on Earth.  We tried our best to take advantage of every moment we had abroad.  And now for the last time ever....


On to adventures after Us in the UK....

Preparations for the Big Move

Many people have been asking "What does your next two weeks of living in the UK look like? It has actually been a whirlwind this entire month [of May].  A few updates, and things that I have been doing.

• Update on Jobs: I can officially say that a couple weeks ago I accepted a first grade position back in my school district (not the same elementary school).  I am so excited for this new opportunity!
• Packing: Yowza, this one is a pain!  As you know, the assessment company came a few weeks back to see how much stuff we had accumulated.  Now, we have decided to ship all of the items back when Jeff leaves at the end of July.  So, to make things easier on him as he will have enough loose ends to tie up when he leaves (closing bank, canceling cable, etc.) I have started filling our second bedroom with stuff that will be shipped back to the states.  It's going well so far.
  
  
• Friends: I have a couple more friends I'd like to see before heading back.  We  have planned a few lunches, tea/coffees breaks, and dinners with close friends before heading out next week.  Looking forward to seeing them before flying out. 
  
• Sorting:  We have been selling a lot of our UK-plug appliances and things we do not want to take back home.  I have been going through things the last several months, and look forward to giving lots of things away in the next week.  It is hard to believe how much you accumulate over time, especially because we don't have a lot over here to begin with.  We get a lot of the stuff from other Americans that leave...so needless to say I have a crazy amount of cleaning supplies. We live so much simpler.  But still---lots of junk.
  
  
• Cars:  A few of you have been asking about cars. No news there, as we are just going to have to do all that once we are there in person.  Pretty pumped to get a vehicle though! 
• Welcome Home Celebrations: I know many of you are asking "When can we get together?", and I thank you all for being patient with us as we are not sure what to expect when we get back.  Things may all fall into place nicely, and we may have tons of time on our hands.  We're not sure what to expect until we experience it.  We can't wait to see you all, so we promise we'll see each and every one of you as soon as we possibly can. Lots of hugs to give out!! 

That is pretty much it for updates and what my next couple of weeks will look like.  It sure will be busy, and I am still trying to soak up as much as I can.  Real world is about to come, whether I am ready for it or not.

On to the next adventure...

SURPRISE! It's Me!

I will start off by saying our original plan was to go to Liverpool (which we obviously did...keep reading), but a friend of ours sent us a website letting us know that United was having tickets to the states for $75.  So, on Wednesday Jeff checked it out and got me a first class ticket for $90 to go back home! I was over the moon excited to see family, friends, and new babies that have entered this world since we've been abroad.  By Wednesday night, United had voided all the tickets that were purchased during the glitch, which meant I was not going home on Saturday as planned (which meant no Liverpool).  I was still holding out, but we knew there was no way around it.  Jeff tried calling a couple times, and even some of the customer service people didn't know what was going on... I think the time change worked in our favor for a second. All-in-all, I was super bummed about not going back home...but was very thankful to spend the weekend with Jeff.

The weekend passed, and I was excited we were able to still go to Liverpool and just chill on Sunday.  I was still pretty bummed about not heading home and broke the news to my family and friends that I would not be coming back due to the voiding of the ticket.  Jeff got to thinking, and felt bad for me...so we decided to book a ticket anyway! So on Sunday night, we booked a ticket and drove to the airport only 8 hours later! 

We woke up at 2:30 on Monday so Jeff could drive me to the airport.  It was pretty sad leaving Jeff, given we have not spent a day apart since we moved here. Crazy, huh?  I was in the states by 2:15 in the afternoon on Monday. My dad, Jeff's dad, and a few friends were the only ones that knew at that time I was coming home.  It was all so last minute! I had my own little fan club waiting for me as I came out of the terminal.  My mom surprised me at the airport as well.  It was nice to be in the states, and hear American-English. I immediately fit in again! We then headed to my sister's house to surprise her and her family.  It was especially exciting because she just had her 3rd baby a week and a half earlier.  The look on her face was priceless, and it was so good to see my nephews, brother-in-law, and meet my new baby niece as well.  We were able to hang out for the rest of the afternoon, and then the jet lag started hitting so I headed to my parents for my "home-base" for the week.

Tuesday was filled with another day of surprising someone.  I was able to surprise my grandma, which was hysterical and scary all at the same time. My mom ran some errands with her, and then I my dad and I met her at a restaurant.  I came up behind her and said "Hi Grandma! and she just stared and then my mom said she turned white.  I got a bit nervous...as I didn't want to give my grandma a heart attack! It was so great having lunch with her and spending the afternoon popping into a few stores.  I also met up with her later in the week for brunch. I was able to meet some of her friends and have some quality 1-1 time with her, which I don't often get to do. My mom and I were also able to run some errands during my time.  We stopped by Hardee's and I just started laughing when I was given my medium drink and small fry. The sizes are just so huge compared to English versions. The English-large was smaller than our medium. And the small fries in the states are bigger than the English-large. No wonder the obesity rate is so high in the US.

My grandma and I

Mom modeling the medium and large drinks.

I spent the next couple of days snuggling on my nephews & niece and catching up with my sister. My nephews, who are 4 years old, definitely made me feel like a VIP! "That's Aunt Sarah's seat." "Play with us." "We missed you!" They are really starting to get that I don't live close anymore.  They understand I live in London and have to take a plane to get to their house.  They also asked a lot about Uncle Jeff and Mackey.  It was pretty neat to see their transition from the months I have been gone. Such smart and adorable boys! And that new baby niece of mine, so sweet and go with the flow.  I assume you'd have to be with 4 year old brothers!  I got my snuggle time, and loved every minute of it.  My sister and I were able to spend some quality time together and pick up like we hadn't missed a beat...which didn't surprise me at all.

 Always difficult to make them sit still...

My sweet baby niece

On Friday I borrowed my mom's car to head to Indy to meet some other new additions into the world.  Which sidenote, driving and belting out my favorite tunes felt amazing! I was nervous to drive at first, but it all came back to me!  (Back to the babies) Of my closest 5 friends, 4 of them are having (or already had) a baby while I moved over here.  Great timing, ladies! Just kidding! I was able to meet one of my best friends from work's little girl who was born in December.  It was also great to hang out with her momma as well.  Catching up on all of the things we had not been able to chat about since our last Skype date. It was so great to just feel normal, and be around close friends again.  Next on my stop, was a lunch date with another close friend who had a baby back in October.  I picked up Panera, which I was craving, and hung out with her for a bit.  We caught up and had a great time, while I got to see some sweet baby giggles and smiles from her little one as well. And of course, gossiped about The Bachelor.

I got to meet our close friends' sweet baby girl and catch up with her wonderful momma!

Next on my Friday agenda was one of the craziest surprises. I walked into the elementary school where I taught before resigning.  It was hilarious as everyone gave me a double take, assuming I would be one of the last people to walk the halls or into the building.  One of my close friends knew I was coming, but kept it a secret from the staff and students (who are my former 3rd grade students).  I was able to catch up with many people, give a lot of hugs, and make me miss that place even more! I stayed for about 3 and a half hours, and barely made it down one hallway.  I wished I could have spent more time with everyone.

The last part of my Friday was dinner with Jeff's family.  We had a great time catching up, swapping stories, and enjoying quality time together before I headed back to my parent's house. It was great to swap traveling stories, especially to see pictures of places his grandparents went that we are going to be able to visit in the next couple of months.  Jeff's mom and I also started to discuss her visit in the upcoming months as well.  It was a great time, and I am glad I was able to see them during my short visit home.

 Quality time with Jeff's grandparents

Jeff's sister and mom

Saturday, I was lucky enough to spend the entire day hanging out with my parents.  They humored me by allowing me to hijack their TV during my time there. HGTV was my main channel of choice, because over here home improvement shows are nothing like what we have in the states. I was pretty much glued to that all morning. We headed out for some errands, an early dinner, and some shopping afterwards. I loved having a shopping buddy and seeing the deals, especially at Macy's.  I felt like I was getting quality products (aka all I bought was shoes...) for a great deal.  It is just amazing how much cheaper it is in the states to get these quality items.  We went to the grocery store next where I pretty much stopped and stared. My mom went off on a mission to get what she needed and my dad stuck around laughing at me go on and on about how many options of tomatoes and beans they had.  You laugh, but it is so true! 

Wow, this post is becoming so long...sorry.  I guess you can tell I really needed a trip home!

Sunday was filled with more family time.  As I mentioned earlier, I had brunch with my grandma.  The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent with my parents, sister, brother-in-law, nephews, and niece. All we needed was Jeff there, and I know he wanted to be!  We were able to play, catch up, and spend quality time over dinner and dessert.  I think we were all exhausted after the day was over, especially my nephews you were asleep by the time they got home (20 minute drive).

 Aunt and niece photo

My sister and I with the sweet little addition

Monday, my mom and I went to look for future housing for Jeff and I when we moved back.  It was a good start to figuring it all out.  For those of you who may not know, we rented our townhouse out downtown for two years. The lease is not up until February 2016, so we need some temporary housing until then.  More to come on this part of our move the closer we get to our "deportation". I ended my lovely time home with a big authentic Mexican dinner nearby with my family.  It was a great way to end my holiday back home.

My flight was on Tuesday around 5:00, but unfortunately my flight kept getting delayed to D.C.  I think I received 4 emails of continuous delays. I went to change my flight, so I ended up switching from United to Delta (the irony, right?).  Instead of D.C., I flew into Detroit and then into Heathrow (London).  Like my flight to the states, not many people so I received my own row.  I normally do not sleep much on a flight, but two seats to myself meant I could spread out and lay down.  It is pretty unheard of that I only get through 1 movie on the 6-8 hour flight home. Unfortunately, switching flights meant I missed my train I had set up to get me back to Nottingham.  I had to book another one, as I missed the first one by 30 minutes.

 Last photos at the airport

Farewell for now

I had a wonderful surprise waiting for me when I arrived back to our flat. Jeff had decorated our living room/kitchen area with decor that said "Welcome Back". Pretty sweet man I married.  Jeff's dad was also in town, so we went out to dinner that night. This morning I tried to get myself back on the correct time zone...but failed and ended up sleeping in past 11! It is much harder coming here than going back...wish me luck I get back to normal soon!

 Welcome Back!

On to the next adventure...

R.O.C.K in the U.S.A

Wow! Wow! Wow! Jeff and I were so blessed to be able to travel back to Indianapolis to visit with lots of family and friends.  Originally we had not planned to make a home trip as we wanted to take advantage of all of our limited time in the UK.  Although, we missed everyone so much, we decided to come home before heading to a wedding in Cincinnati. Now, I try my best in all my posts to give a general "play by play" but it might be hard to summarize every single part of our experience home.

We planned a lot of different dinners, lunches, and coffees with friends and family, but our first stop after getting off the plane was...Taco Bell. Ah, I am pretty sure I demolished not 1, but 3 tacos in less than 5 minutes and they were ahhhh-mazing! We headed to the dry cleaner and randomly stopped by Jeff's grandparents for our first of many family visits. It was such a great feeling to be around people we love so much and miss daily.

My choice: double decker & 3 crunchy tacos. Jeff's choice: 1 spicy chicken burrito and some tortilla chips. Who was craving Taco Bell more? I will never be embarrassed about my ability to demolish Mexican food. 

We took advantage of all the time we had. I was able to get some shopping in with my mom and sister.  It was so nice to be able to shop with my crew again!  The next few days we were able to have a few special dinners with both of our families. We had wonderful home cooked meals.  Our family spoiled us with our favorite foods throughout our time there. We are so lucky to have such special families!

Jeff's mom & sister

My brother-in-law, sister, & nephews

My parents

Jeff's grandparents.  

Sorry Greg, looks like we dropped the ball after the soccer game and lunch....and forgot to take a photo or two! 

It was so much fun to see my nephews in person. We Skype a lot, but it just isn't the same.  My nephews also enjoyed their little London buses and taxis I brought them back, but of course my sister and I got more out of the cute little outfits I bought them.

 Little squirmy things would not sit still. Their shirts say "Keep Calm and Play Footie". 

The shirts came with matching shorts. Too cute. 

But being outside playing water guns, cooking out, and just spending quality time with loved ones was such a special feeling for the both of us.  Jeff was even able to get a round of golf in, and later in the day we were able to see my grandparents.

We were shooting at the "alligators" at this point in our water gun fight. 

Mexican dinner at our favorite hometown place with my grandparents and parents! Yum!

Seeing friends, even if it was just for a short while was wonderful.  I was able to get coffee with a few wonderful friends, dinners, and even spent a whole day just hanging out and catching up.  It is so nice to know that things just go back the way they were before we left. What amazing friends Jeff and I have!

Jeff and I's friends from his hometown

Great friends from work. Glad we squeezed in some sun-time!

So, because I was trying to soak up as much time during all of our friend-dates we had...I was awful at remembering to take pictures. Sorry, my dear friends, for your lack of debuts because of my spacey brain!

We have been following the World Cup to some extent over here.  We were in Indianapolis at the right time, because we were able to watch Team U.S.A. Our favorite street, not far from our house, was shut down and massive TVs were placed there to watch the game. We met up with a friend and watched the game in the middle of the street. It was fantastic to be surrounded by Americans cheering on our home-team! We obviously stick out over here while we watch US sports. Although, Team U.S.A lost, we still felt the huge amount of patriotism when the crowd would chant: I believe that we will win!

I was loving the ability to call it soccer, and not worrying about someone correcting me with "football". 

So packed! I love it!

The last few days before heading to Cincinnati were difficult knowing we would not see many of these people for another year.  Time definitely flies by over here, so we know we will be home before we know it.  We were able to spend time with more friends when we went to Cincinnati for our friends' wedding. Lots of eating, drinking, and sharing stories between the group.  It was also great to be in the United States for the Fourth of July. For our friends' rehearsal dinner, we went out on a riverboat on the Ohio River to watch the fireworks. Saturday was another great day and we enjoyed the wedding festivities so much.

  On the riverboat.

 Great group of friends. 

 Hooray for being in the US for the 4th of July

 Beautiful venue for the wedding and reception in Cincinnati 

 Groomsmen at the wedding. 

Sunday came too quickly.  Jeff and I were dreading the long plane ride and traveling, but surprisingly we had one of the best flights of our life.  We sat by ourselves in a row of 3, had personal TVs, and decent food.  Although we were tired, we loved getting back to see Mackey (who kept waking us up on our first night home because he was purring so loudly) and get back into our routine.  Let's hope this jet lag doesn't last too long.

I think he is glad to have us home. 

A special thanks to all the people who gave up their normal schedule to hang out with us.  We truly enjoyed every minute of our time back in the states.  We wish we were able to come home more often. I'm sure it'll be a blink of an eye and we'll be back bugging you all soon enough! We love each and every one of you!

Centre Court Bound: Wimbledon 2014

It would be pretty funny to be a fly on the wall in our house the Sunday before heading to Wimbledon on Tuesday (June 24th). We really wanted Centre Court tickets so we would be able to see the "big names" play.  Jeff definitely did his research on the topic of getting tickets. Our original plan was to stand in "The Queue" which is basically like camping in a large line for tickets.  I was not really feeling this idea considering right after Wimbledon we're heading for the United States for 2-weeks. There was just a lot going on. Because of Jeff's researching skills, he thought we may have a chance to get tickets from Ticketmaster.com but we'd have to be prepared and ready to buy them when the chance came.  Come 9:00 on Sunday morning, it was our practice round to get tickets from Ticketmaster.  I say practice round because these tickets would be for Monday, and we were planning on going on Tuesday.  We both had our computers out with the website up (2 tabs each), and when 9:00 came and the tickets were available Jeff and I kept typing information in and clicking refresh.  About 10 minutes into doing this, it wasn't looking too promising until I got 2 tickets! We obviously didn't buy them, but we now knew what to expect for when our Tuesday tickets became available jn a few hours from that point.  When noon came around, we had the same process.  We were really hoping we could get lucky as we didn't want to camp out the night before Wimbledon. Same thing on this one...around 16 minutes later Jeff got us 2 tickets! We were so excited and bought them right away.  We felt so lucky, and didn't have to leave for Wimbledon until 5:00 in the morning. What a relief!

And off to Wimbledon...

We were able to watch quite a few matches during our day of tennis.  When they opened the courts, we went to a smaller court because there were open seats. You can get general admission to watch courts 3-18 and watch the big matches on The Hill. We went to Court 16 to watch an Australian Vs. French guy. I don't remember their names, but we rooted for the French guy because he seemed to be older and more confident.  As we were sitting there we enjoyed the surroundings, especially all of the wealthy people dressed all fancy.  They were up on a balcony level, drinking & carrying on. We watched a few sets, and then headed to eat our sack lunches on The Hill to watch Federer.  It was packed with people cheering, drinking, and enjoying the beautiful day.

 Court 16 fun! You can also see the balcony area that the fancy people get to hang out on above Jeff's head. 

 

I was laughing pretty hard at this picture because I thought it looked like the Umpire was floating. So. Much. Green. 

We were the only ones rooting against this guy. We wanted the French guy to win, and apparently no one in England wanted that to happen. The Australian won. 

The Hill 

Another part that was fun to watch was the organization and repetition of the line judges and ball-people.  They had a system they followed throughout each point, game, and set.  They would rotate around the courts and do the same moves to let the professional player know they had a ball.  I enjoyed that part a little too much, I think. Had I been thinking about it...I would have video taped them. 

We ended our day watching Nadal, Serena, and one other match on Centre Court.  Our seats were on the top row, but since the facility was smaller, the top seats were still good seats! I had a nice view of the Royal section, but no one that I recognized was in that section.  Although, they did receive the "Royal Treatment" when the sun rotated and was in their face.  A guard came out with hats to give each one of them. I'm still waiting on my hat...

 

If you look closely, the Royal Section is to the right in the picture with the wooden barrier around them. 

Representin' Row ZF

We enjoyed the matches, and even took a break to get a Pimm's (Liquor with fruit in it) and strawberries & cream (strawberries with a liquefied cream drizzled on top). They were both great and a Wimbledon specialty.  While looking for a description to link on strawberries & cream, I found this list of how much Wimbledon has to provide in terms of food. The numbers are pretty crazy!

Jeff holding his Pimm's while sitting on The Hill watching Federer! 

Strawberries & Cream. I think we got one of the last batches before they made new ones...ours didn't look quite as creamy as others. 

We enjoyed one last match on Centre Court before we headed back to the hotel around 8:00 PM to get ready for our big trip home to the U.S.A. Woot Woot!

We moved down a little closer for the "no name" match. You can see the crowds dispersed once Serena was done playing. 

U.S.A, U.S.A, U.S.A

Time flew by on our 5-day journey back to the United States for our close friends' wedding in Boston. Jeff and I had a great trip over here, although taking a train, metro, and a plane was a bit much to/from (Nottingham---London).  We got into Boston about lunch time and immediately met up with friends to start soaking up as much time with them as possible. As the weekend went on, more and more of our friends showed up to celebrate the wedding weekend festivities.

Jeff and I were enjoying all of our social time so much that we only took a few pictures. Sadly, none of the bride & groom...Sorry Andrew & Julie! It was a beautiful outdoor wedding, with wonderful little details & surprises throughout the night. Gorgeous. Jeff was in the wedding, so I didn't see much of him. Although I enjoyed some quality time with other friends.

And now for a few friends debut on the blog...

We had great company during the reception!

The time change had a small effect on us, although coming home (back to England) has been a rough transition. Jeff and I aren't feeling the best and the jet lag isn't helping matters. Don't worry, Mom. We're fine. 

All-in-all, it was a great weekend and we were so happy to share their special day with them. This was 1 out of 8 weddings we have been invited to this year. We were so blessed that we are able to make a couple, but sad that we are missing out on the others.

Short post this time. Sorry! I'll leave you with a picture of Mackey and his helpfulness in the packing world.