It feels like home

On the way home from work I stopped off at WalMart to pick up a few things....there are some companies that have such strong brands that it doesn't matter what country or city you are in, it's just as though you are in your local store.

Look familiar?

Contemporary accessories

One thing I like about having my own apartment is that I can decorate it and accessorize it according to my tastes, I don't have to check with anyone.   That said,  I still feel a little insecure about choosing all this stuff without even checking with Alyson my style guru!

Hopefully my contemporary stick display will meet with her approval :)

Another city, another sunset

I don't know what it is about the Texas sunsets, but I am loving them - practically every night they are just beautiful.  I will spend every Monday in Houston, and my Houston office has a lovely view of the sunset...here it is from my Houston digs...

Lots of singing

One common thing for me when I move to a new area is joining the ward and Stake choirs, and I must admit to being surprised with both.  The ward choir is small, but absolutely incredible.  The choir director is a bloke that is clearly very talented and he can make this small choir sound awesome.   We hardly worked on notes, it was mostly dynamics...and he has an incredible talent for making simple music sound good.  Apparently he has perfect pitch.

Consequently, I expected the same quality at the Stake Choir.  We practiced this evening in preparation for a Christmas concert next Saturday - and it felt like a first rehearsal; we were learning notes, hardly any time for dynamics, the mini orchestra seemed to struggle with some of the pieces.  I hope no-one ever actually looks at this blog, I sure don't want to offend anyone!  But you know what was impressive....Mr perfect pitch was in the choir and a few other very talented musicians, and none of them interfered with what the choir director was doing.  That takes a fair bit of humility.

Is it OK to have favourites?

I actually got quite a bit accomplished today - I love days like that.  I went to the temple this morning, and that is always a good way to start the day.  It's so nice to have the temple so close...I can hardly wait until the Calgary one is finished!  But I must say, if it's OK to have favourite temples, Dallas doesn't make the top ten - it's oddly plain on the outside, the inside is beautiful though...and I'm sure the outside would look a lot nicer if it was sunny!  That said, the grey brick is actually grey marble - quite beautiful close up.

This afternoon, wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles - I actually went to the gym at the apartment building. It's a really nice gym, I need to make that a habit!

More like home

So much to blog about today! I was up until about 3am last night, and then got back at it at 8am this morning.  Most of last nights stuff was small kitchen appliances, KitchenAid, Food Processor, Rice Cooker etc etc....This morning I focused on getting accessories to make the apartment look more homely....and now I LOVE my little apartment, it is so cute.  The only thing left to do is to decide on some photo's to get printed on canvas and put on the wall.

Before nick nacks:-

After nick nacks

Also - today I discovered "Whole Foods" which is a REALLY nice supermarket, the stuff is super fresh, super nice.  It looks way more expensive than other places, but I think it will be so worth it - my new favourite grocery store :)

Then I had another walk around the Galleria shopping mall; still heaving with people, but they had an ice skating display with a couple of really famous ice skaters that I've never heard of....but they drew cheering crowds 5 deep on 4 floors!

And finally - having done my grocery shopping, I cooked my first meal tonight...I invited Margaret and the Sisters over for dinner, it was jolly nice!

I found WalMart!

...it took me 3 weeks, but at last I found it.  I did all the grocery shopping and now the apartment is more livable!  Notice the amount of diet rootbeer, I had to be sure I stocked up just in case we go into a world shortage!

I stayed up tonight until gone midnight to shop at Macy's for Black Friday...this is the crowd that was gathering outside just before they opened....the place was heaving with people all night apparently (although I gave up by 2.30 am!

Almost American

It was the last day before the LONG Thanksgiving Day Weekend,  people started heading out of the office at lunch time...unfortunately one of my clients (Kevin) booked meetings with me on video conference right up until 6.30pm, and darn it if he wasn't late and then tried to push it out until tomorrow, but I insisted on meeting, that said, I still have to go into the office tomorrow for my annual review with Quinn...so I guess I'm not really American yet, otherwise I would probably push back on this stuff

The sunrise was amazing this morning - this is the view from my desk, you can see the fog and the lovely sunrise, but unfortunately there was too much condensation on the window to make for a good photo.

I stopped at Costco on the way home from work and at last I now have some groceries in my apartment...however, I still don't have any condiments or vegetables - so I still don't have enough to make a meal, and still nothing for breakfast in the morning!  Tomorrow, I will find the WalMart and the Tom Thumb!  Can't wait to use the slow cooker (which cost me $30!!)

In training for Black Friday

Black Friday is an institution in the US....I've heard about it before, but this year I get to experience it!!  I can hardly wait!  For those that are uninitiated, Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving where ALL the shops have HUGE sales - similar to Boxing Day, but BETTER!!

I can get a Kitchen Aid for $150!  I am SO getting one, and a waffle maker and some home furnishings.....the excitement is almost too hard to handle

I drove by the mall on the way home and took a photo of the pretty trees, I need to plan my attack at the stores - I'll start at midnight on Thursday;  AWESOME!

I guess one thing I need to buy is a new USB thing for the photo card...for some reason it's not working!  Photo to be added later!

Another day another plane

It was a crazy morning, I tried to squeeze a million meetings into the morning before I got a car to the airport...it's actually quite nice to see the gate pull away from the plane, because it means I get a few hours of peace and quiet!

It was stormy in Dallas, so we diverted to Austin - I love Austin, I wish we could have got off the plane!!  But alas, we just refuelled and sat on the tarmac for an hour!

A foggy day in London

It was foggy at Heathrow, so we sat on the Tarmac for an hour before taking off;  At least it was comfortable in business class :)

A perfect day!

It doesn't get any better than this!  I went shopping to Marks and Sparks this morning, spent way too much (again!) while I was there I stopped in the cafe for a hot chocolate - I asked for a medium "luxury" hot chocolate - and this is what I got.  DELIGHTFUL.

This afternoon I went to Southampton with Emma, Paul and Lauren to watch Georgia play basketball; she is very good; I'm not sure how she gets the time and energy to do all that she does, but she seems to do a very good job of everything!

And finally, I went to Staines Stake Conference tonight, I sang in the Guildford Ward Choir - which went very well.  I bumped into a few people that I haven't seen for many many years - and then at the end Catherine Whittle came over to chat - it was SO good to see her again,  she asked what I was doing this evening....I guess she is actually seriously younger than me, but it was nearly 9pm, I was about ready to go to sleep and Catherine was up for going out - bless her cotton socks!

It's the little things

I'm loving being at home, I'm not doing a heck of a lot, instead of working.  It's dark by the time I get home, but it's just nice to be home...and I didn't even go to Marks and Spencers today!

Mum had bought lots of nice knick knacks over the years, and she was often subjected to ridicule from Tony....these two statues on the hearth were often moved about by Lauren, sometimes facing each other, sometimes facing different directions - and Emma reminded me that Tony used to call them "soap on a rope".  Anyway, I like them!!

On time for the first time

Oddly enough, I'm generally an "on time" kind of person, I'm early for work, always early for Church....but I am TERRIBLE at sending birthday cards to family and friends...it's not that I don't send them - it's just that they are never on time.

It's my brothers birthday on Sunday, and typically he can expect a birthday card mixed in with his Christmas card, but staying with Dad is apparently good for me...not only did he provide a pretty decent selection of cards to choose from, but he provided a stamp and an address label....and even then he reminded me about 3 times before I went to bed.   So today's little miracle is Jeni sending a birthday card that will actually arrive before the birthday...AMAZING

There are some things I don't miss about London

Obviously the traffic is one of them.  Came home tonight in the rush hour, and the best thing about it was listening to Radio 2; but 5 lanes of solid traffic for a few miles is not so much fun!  Bad photo, but you get the picture!

I need some sleep - I went to bed at a reasonable time last night, and had my blackberry on the bedside cabinet in case I needed to see the time when I woke up...so, sure enough, I woke up and looked at the clock, I was so disappointed that it was already 6.45 - and I needed to get up.  So I turned the lights on, turned the news on and it took me a full 10 minutes to realize that I hadn't changed the clock on my blackberry, and it was, in fact 1.45am.  I was elated and frustrated all in one....at least I didn't get as far as the shower!

ENGLAND!

I have never been to a football match at Wembley before, and I have never seen England play live before - so today was super special.  We had tickets to go see England play Sweden in an international friendly.  Surprisingly England haven't beaten Sweden for 48 years....so today was EXTRA special because we won.  An awesome evening!

In this day and age?

So we are booked into the Sheraton Skyline close to Heathrow airport for meetings for the next 2 days - the hotel is fine, but it doesn't have wifi in the rooms - I just don't understand how a hotel doesn't have wifi in the rooms!! I just travel with my MacBook air, which doesn't have the capability for wired access (although I'm sure I can get a USB thing to do that). Nonetheless - here I am, needing to work and no Internet connection, so I complained - and they let me into the lounge after hours - still not ideal, but at least I get the whole lounge to myself ( I should go raid the fridge for sparkling water!!)

.....and after all that complaining - what am I doing? blogging :)

(photo taken with my new ipad!!)

I should get to bed and get some sleep - I have been in a different bed four days in a row..>Dallas then Calgary then Guildford then London.

Good night!

Just in time for Choir Practice

I landed at Heathrow this morning, picked up my car and practically headed straight to Church in Guildford ward for choir practice.  The choir is singing at Stake Conference next Saturday, and they have kindly said that I can gatecrash the choir!

This is actually quite a big choir for such a small ward!

Moroni next month!

The stonework is moving quickly on the temple, and the stone looks a LOT lighter where the scaffolding has been removed - this is going to be lovely!

I have heard from more than one very reliable source, that the Moroni will be put on top NEXT MONTH - December 2011; I will definitely come back to Canada to see that happen; that is so exciting!!

Had lunch with Helen today, then went for a walk with Cheryl and then I almost missed my plane to London, apparently the time changed by 30 mins and I didn't notice - fortunately the car was able to come early and avert the disaster!

All for points

I'm on a plane from Dallas to Calgary (I love it when they have Wifi!) - it's a 3.5 hour flight, and I'm getting on a plane tomorrow from London (8.5hr flight) - I could have gone direct from Dallas, but NO, not me....I had to go back to Calgary so that I could fly with Air Canada and make sure I got my points...what a waste of time!!  But it will be nice to catch up with a few people while I'm home in Calgary!!

It's 10.30, and I haven't taken a photo yet....the lights are out on the plane, so I may not take one here, so this could be another of those last minute photo's!!  Maybe the car on the way home from the airport!!

...it's nice to see my own bed for a change!

Merry Christmas

I have a blog rule...I can't re-use titles, so I am a little concerned that I'm using the "Merry Christmas" title on November 10!  I went to the mall next to my apartment after work and started to buy stuff for the apartment - I shelled out for 3 candles and; a ton of Bath and Body Works stuff and three cushions for the living room.  I will like this place a lot better when I make it a little more homely.

The mall is incredible, and it had a little tree in the middle:

It's not obvious at first glance just how big this tree is, but check out the man to the right of the tree, that gives it a little more perspective....how to they even do this? Remarkable

I also bought a hairdryer - so hopefully my hair won't be such a mess tomorrow.  Also, the shower water this morning stunk like rotten eggs, it was horrible, but I had no choice, I had to shower, and I was pretty sure I smelled nasty all day - even after I covered myself in Coco Chanel!!

Home again

I moved into my new apartment today - my new home from home;  It's exactly the same plan as the one I came to see last week, but I don't like it as much - just because of the lack of colour I suppose, which is quite surprising for me....but here's the photo of my living room, which we can compare to the photo from last Wednesday - so I think I need to go shopping for rugs; vases; A HAIRDRYER; and maybe some other decorative things...then it will be lovely.  I suppose it's not worth spending too much money on it - I'll only be here for 6 months or so:

The bedrooms are nice, and there are THREE closets in the master suite - I need more clothes to fill the closets:)  The crazy thing is,  I have all those closets, and they only left about 6 hangers; there is not really enough drawer space, and there are no drawers in the bathroom, which is odd.  Anyway, it may not be perfect, but it will do me just fine!!

What will I eat tomorrow?

9 day in the hotel and I move out to my apartment tomorrow - I'm really looking forward to it, but what am I supposed to do about eating?  I know I won't have time for shopping between now and when I go to the UK at the weekend.  I'll try dialing "0" and ordering room service!!

I've alternated between grilled chicken and steamed veggies and grilled chicken and steamed veggies - tonight they surprised me with fries (which I resisted!).  I also had a cup of fruit every night, and ate everything but the blueberries, you would think they would get the hang of that after 9 days...

...and here are the leftovers!

Another bucket list item

...I didn't even know this was on my bucket list, but let me just tell you...there is NO better way to travel than by private jet.  I rolled onto the airfield 10 minutes before take-off, and had a few moments to chat before boarding; we boarded and took off within moments...no-one checked my ID; there was no security and I could take as much water on board as I cared to....the door to the cockpit stayed open (or maybe there wasn't a door) - it saved TONS of time.

We got a whole day of meetings in, and then got the plane right back; and as an added bonus, there was a beautiful stormy sunset on the way home.  This was an amazing experience - I never want to travel commercial again!  I am such a snob :)

Home from home

I went to my new ward today, Dallas 4th ward - it's very nice, but still doesn't feel like home, but I guess it's just week one - too soon to feel very at home.  After Church I went to ward choir, which was brilliant, and with all that I forgot to take a photo at Church - so I took one at the hotel, which has been my home for the past week...

Separation anxiety

Nexen kindly provides me with a daily separation payment, to compensate me for the hardship of being away from home.  Today was the first time I've really had time to even think about being away, and I managed to find a good way to spend my afternoon.  Note to self - don't go into Nordstrom and tell them you need retail therapy ...within moments they assigned me a personal shopper, Britney - who helped me deal with my separation anxiety; she over-achieved, I intended to buy 2 pairs of trousers and two tops, and I came away with so much more!!  Britney looks a little guilty in this photo - that's understated - she was VERY guilty!!  I hope she's on commission - she was actually very helpful.

After the stress of shopping at Nordstrom, I met up with Margaret Anderson (my neighbour from Calgary who is living in Richardson) - and we went for a lovely walk around a park close to her home...this is one of the waterfall things along the brook - quite delightful!

...and finally, I crossed one more thing off the bucket list tonight.  I was sitting in my hotel room, just minding my own business, when I actually felt an earthquake!  The bed moved, the curtains swayed, it was really quite exciting.  The earthquake was in Oklahoma and was a 5.5 magnitude....and I felt it!  Awesome!!

I'm going to enjoy this.

This is the view of the sunrise from my desk....it's worth getting into work early for this...

I had my apartment confirmed today (see the photo from a couple of days ago) - now the process is that Prudential will furnish it for me...that's kinda scary, I have no idea what kind of furniture they will choose, I sure hope they have someone that has the same taste is furnishings that I do...I'll move in on Wednesday - more photo's to follow!

...and my new office

Which is actually bigger than my new apartment.  I haven't had the apartment confirmed yet, but it's looking good - that said, if it doesn't come off, I could always live in my office :)  I've had some pretty nice offices in my time, but I must admit, this one is the best, way too big and way too excluded for my role, but I'll enjoy it nonetheless!  I have an HD video - which is awesome.

Anyway, it was a 13 hour day at the office, so I'm glad it's comfortable!!

New home?

I went to look for apartments after work this evening; the first two were VERY disappointing, the last one was VERY nice - this is one of the photo's of the interior.

It is just 2.5 miles from the temple and right next to a super shopping mall...question is...would it be better to be closer to the office?  it's only about 15 miles to work, which is less than I travel at home....the other thing is, they only have big apartments, way bigger than I need.

Decisions decisions!

Unlimited San Pellegrino

I'll be living in the Marriott Hotel for my first week or so in Plano, and the best thing about living in a hotel is that I can drink as much San Pellegrino as I want....so I ordered 3 bottles with my dinner.  I guess I can do that at home, but I don't, and for some strange reason it is one of my guilty pleasures when I stay in a hotel!

I also bit my tongue for the 2nd time in two days....and I did take a photo of the lacerated victim, but decided it wasn't a very nice thing to have on my blog...but this could end up being the best diet of all, I really don't feel like eating too much for fear of another accident!