we went to London.

This past weekend we went to London. 

London is a pretty cool city. I don't want to marry it or anything like that. But I would like hang out with it as friends now and then.The city of London was romanticized via countless Disney movies and Austin Powers movies that I watched countless times so I had pretty high expectations that were not met per se, but it was still fun, and there is a lot of history there. We both enjoy history, and we like to find the oldest buildings possible. If we see a building that was built in like, 1901, we're like "LAME!"  But yeah so it was cool and stuff, but I am glad we live in the quiet beautiful countryside.


Anyway, before I let the pictures do all the work of telling you about our trip. I just wanted to talk about body odor. On Saturday, literally every time were were around a crowd of people, there was a B.O. smell. There wasn't any particular person that was always around us. But it was always THERE. I got so frustrated with it that at one point during our visit to Madame Tussauds wax museum I very obviously sniffed my own armpit (no pretending to stretch while turning your head into your armpit) just to make sure that it wasn't me and loudly declared "IT IS NOT ME!" and then proceeded to sniff Taylor's armpits because he was just as much a suspect as I. But we were both in the clear as we had deodorized ourselves before leaving the hotel in the morning. It then became clear to me that it was just a LOT of people had HORRIBLE B.O., and everyone was always lifting their arms for whatever reason, and releasing their personal stench. I started to wonder so many things, WHY? Is there no deodorant available? Was there a surge of smelly french or german tourists? Was I being punished for something? What there some kind of strike going on between the deodorant companies and the people of London? I went into a local "Boots" pharmacy and beauty store to see, and there was deodorant available at a reasonable price. Why there were so many smelly people? I may never know. But it got worse. The worst, most traumatic event during our trip was when we were on the tube (subway train for those of you who are not as culturally advanced) and it was really crowded so I was holding onto Taylor when a man stepped next to us and grabbed the bar and his OPEN SMELLY ARMPIT WAS RIGHT IN MY FACE!!  and I had to bury my face in Taylor's chest and try to suffocate myself to get away from the perpetual B.O.. After we got off I told him about it and he of course, was not in the line of stench since he is tall and he thought I was just trying to be cute. Yeah right.


Anyway, we took a 2 hour open top bus tour around the city. But our camera died so they are from our phones, but they still turned out okay. So here are some pictures from that.

                                                                 Didcot Railway Station - departure

 

Paddington Station - arrival

                                                     HEY KIDS! Look there's Big Ben!

BIG BEN, PARLIAMENT.

Looks real.

fat me and phat John Wayne.

ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

An excessive amount of pictures of our new flat.

believe it or not, these are pictures that i carefully selected from a large collection that taylor took earlier. i mean he went CRAZY [as usual] with pictures. he loves our apartment. he wants to marry it. i like it too but the decor is not really my style, but meh. it's still bigger and better than our apartment in South Carolina. and it feels more like a home than a room above a pub. so i'm happy. we're happy. feast your eyes upon our new living situation!

[ and come visit.]

bedroom 

CHECK DAT fur THRow. also the light is an upside down lamp. i am amused by this.

the view from our bedroom, it's like semi-serene.

bafroom

kitchen. there's a dishwasher and a washer/dryer in this picture.

there's a fridge in this picture.

me doin my thang in the sitting room

table 

leather couches make me feel like a rich bachelor in the 1990s though.

those statues are a little creepay. aND OUR TV IS OFF THE CHAIN!

random wall art. at first i thought these were carved stones.

i love that little window seat. love love love it.

window seat.

the day taylor nearly ruined my life.

actually, i'm being dramatic.

On Wednesday we are going to get our apartment, and we decided that we were going to walk down to see and get a feel of where it's at when Tayl got off work.

So we carefully studied google map the night before to get a good feel of where we could take shortcuts since we were walking.

We followed the river, since the apartments are right by the marina, and our journey was successful.  And the walk was nice.

I like walking. And since we don't have a car, I usually just walk around the streets during the day [guess you could say, i'm a street walker]. This particular day I had I spent the afternoon running errands around town and doing some exploring to uncharted streets, and I had been walking, a lot. So when we arrived to our destination on this walk, I was started to get a little bit tired. But nothing extreme. 

Taylor had plans to play soccer (or "football") at 9 00 pm, and his ride was coming at 8 45 pm. It was about 8 00 pm when we started to head back. We got to the wharf and sat by the river and watched the boats and ducks until about 8 20 pm when we figured we should head back. 

This is the moment that I said, "Let's just go the way we came since we don't have a lot of time to get lost.' Taylor said, "Let's just go up this road. It should take us right back to the pub." Me: "I don't think it's a good idea." Taylor: "Nah it's fine come on." Me: "I'm disgruntled. But fine." So, we went that way, it wasn't long before I said, "I am pretty sure we are going WAY out of the way." Taylor: "I think you're right."  The good thing about Taylor is that he has no problem admitting that he's wrong immediately after he realizes it. The bad thing is that it doesn't change the fact we took about 4 times as long in time and distance to get back home.

My feet are still sore since I did my 10 miles of walking today in my crappy flip flops. But it's not like I  couldn't use the exercise. So I guess it's good, and we made it home alive. And, we have the ability to walk (even if it is walking in the wrong direction) which is definitely something to be grateful for.

Meanwhile, across the pond.

We have survived until Sunday. This week wasn't the easiest, or the most eventful, but you know what? We are just fine, and we've had a lot of fun.

Tuesday was Taylor's first day of training, which left me to wake up and realize that I was not in Kansas anymore (without my ToTo, too). I forced myself to go exploring out and about but being alone gave me a lot of time to think of things to complain about. 

I found out that I couldn't watch my favorite TV shows because of copyright reasons, I found out that they like to put slices of lemon in glasses of Coke, I found out that some movies haven't been released here that I saw weeks ago, and I found out that the Chinese food here is sub par. Unfortunately I am always resistant to change at first. But fortunately, I get over it pretty quick.

I woke up the next day feeling a lot better. I went into town to grab some lunch and run some errands. There was a sandwich bar that I was dying to try (because I LOVE ME A GOOD SAMMICH!) So I slipped inside and ordered what I thought would be good and to my dismay, it was not a normal tukey cheese mayo kinda sandwich. It was like a chicken currry salad. I was mad. But I ate a few bites for nourishment. Then Taylor got home and we deicded to for a 32 mile walk, so we did. Then we ate McDonalds to celebrate. the true fat american way. But I won't lie, McDonald's fries were a tender mercy.

Friday & Saturday were a blur. We had to find another place to stay just for Saturday because the room we were staying in was booked awhile ago. We finally found somewhere called the premier inn, which was pathetic. There was no cable, no free wifi, no A/C, a 9 inch TV, no electronic keys, no pool, no free breakfast, and a crappy double bed (we've got white people problems). we were mad, because we paid 95 pounds for this plus an extra 12 for breakfast. I was exhausted, so after complaining for a minute I crawled in the bed to accept my fate of being warped back into 1976. (Seriously, the crappiest 30 dollar hotel in south Carolina, was not this crappy). I was almost asleep when Taylor burst through the door informing me that he had made arrangements at the hotel he stayed at before and the cab was on it's way. Also he brought me a sandwich. I fell a little more in love with him.

We went to Oxford a couple of times (Fri & Sat night), we didn't get much time there, no more than a couple of hours. But I look forward to spending more time there (and getting some pictures) We found this cute little Ice Cream Shop called G&D's Ice Cream Cafe and the Bananarama ice cream is DELICIOUS. 

While we were walking around Oxford last night some dudes were playing soccer in the street ( in hackey sack manner) So Taylor got in on the action while I stood there awkwardly in a dress and heels. [I make big sacrifices for him, I know.] After that we met up with some of his work mates at some bar called Copa for a party for some of the other trainees who are leaving. I hate bars, and I hate drunk people. I don't hate people who drink, but trying to meet a new person, while they're drunk and have a conversation with them yelling over the loud music, is probably my least favorite thing to do. 

Then a couple (a cute Italian girl and her british-asian boyfriend--both work with Tay) offered to give us a lift back to our hotel. On the way there I was in the back with the Italian girl and another girl who was from India. I love people who are fascinated with America, and I love being the person that gets to answer questions about it.  They were asking me all kind of questions and told me how clear my accent was and how they loved that they could understand what I was saying. It was a pretty big ego trip for me.

Today (Sunday) we had to pay 40 dollars to take a cab to make it to the last 45 minutes of church. I hadn't been so desperate to get to church in all my life. After the homesickness I had been feeling I knew that church would make me feel a lot better, and I was right. The second we sat down in the chapel I almost started crying because I was so happy to be there, and I was so happy to know that no matter where I go, the church is always the same. Everyone in the ward was so friendly, so hopefully we'll make some friends. 

Also, if you are reading this, and you are single, you should probably come visit me ASAP, because there are a lot of attractive young singles (male and female) in the ward.

After church we had Sunday roast at the pub. And went for a walk around Abingdon and took pictures. So I'll shut up now and let you look at some pictures, and I will try to post more often so I don't have such long winded posts. But it makes me feel good to think that our lives are exciting enough to write long blogs about. (I even left some stuff out.)

St. Helens Church

I think cemeteries are cool.

Thames River

River Walk

me and my pal, kickin it.

SUP

Oh we opened a Nail Salon (Wateva u lyke we do 4 u)

"I love a good pair of knockers." - Taylor Giddens

strangers in love.

LONG LIVE THE QUEEN

After an 8 hour, red eyed, restless, drug induced, diarrhea stricken flight, we have arrived in United Kingdom.

When we got off of the flight I had to stop and use the toilets. So I was washing my hands when a woman asked if anyone had a free hand to hold her baby so she could go potty, and I was like, yeah, so she handed me her adorable little girl who softly punched me in the face which normally would make me mad, but it made me glad that she wasn't so quick to trust strangers.

We got out to the ground transportation area where our driver was waiting for us. We loaded our 50 suitcases into the car and we were on our way to Abingdon.

It was a about an hour drive to the pub were staying at from Heathrow Airport so I tried to sleep a little more in the car because I started to get car sick. Our driver was a nice older gentleman who seemed to have a case of road rage. I would be lying if I said I didn't fear for my life a couple of times. 

It wasn't all that weird driving on the other side of the road though.

When we arrived alive at the pub around noon, I was ready to climb into the bed and sleep for 78 hours straight. But we decided to grab some lunch first. I ordered some weird but good chicken ciabatta sandwich and Tay got some cottage pie, which had beef in it, which concerned us both. We're very adamant about not getting mad cow disease while we're here.

Then we retired to our room and slept for about 3  or 4 hours.

When we woke up we decided to go for a walk and find a super market.... After I watched an episode of Fresh Prince. We went to an ATM which took awhile to figure out which way the card went in. Then, we headed over to this Fish and Chips place for dinner. It was here that we began to realize that although the people here can be charming, this is not the South where everyone is friendly. Taylor asked the man and the woman how they were doing about 3 times and they just stared at him and then he finally gave up. I didn't really want to stay in there so we took it go ("take away")  and walked around the corner to the little convenience store.

My reasoning for going in was to get some snacks to have in our room. But when we walked in I was immediately overwhelmed by the selection of candy and we wanted it all. We were wandering over by the cooler where we saw the energy drinks, (Red Bull, to my relief) and there was one we'd never seen before called "Pussy" we were giggling about it and about to take a picture of it when another man came up (who Taylor knew because he works at the Thai restaurant the company and it's employees frequent) and he acted like he thought it was funny too, I got distracted by the selection of coke when I turned around the gentleman had grabbed about 8 cans of Pussy and was scurrying off.

I made a mental note to try some Pussy while I am I here.

We came back and lounged around for awhile and I decided to blog and realized  We hadn't taken any pictures. So I sent Taylor down with his camera and this is what he brought back:

This is the outside of the pub we're staying at for the next week until our apartment is ready. The window with the light on at the very top on the right is our room, which I will take pictures of the inside, tomorrow.

Successful first day in the U.K.

our life.

not a businessman.. i'm a business, man.

Pretend this is Taylor:

Mostly everyone knows that Taylor got a job! a real life job career! We are super excited about it. And I am so proud of him. 

To save myself some time and typing..

Here is a link about the company he now works for.

And here is a link about his position

We will be heading to England for 3 months for his training and then living in Savannah (so I can live my dreams of being a classy Southern lady with a porch swing while drinking fresh squeezed lemonade everyday).

Taylor left on Saturday to head to Oxford, England for the company's Staff Day tomorrow. He'll be back Wednesday, in time for Jamie & Jeff's WEDDING this Saturday. It's been really weird because his phone doesn't work out of the country so I can't just call him whenever I want, but we can call each other with our Skype apps for free as long as he has WiFi, so if you have a loved one with a smartphone who travels outside of the country, you should check out that app, it's pretty amazing. I LOVE TECHNOLOGY. After all, technology is what brought us together, cause we're super creep like that.

He's also been able to send me emails, one in particular made me L.O.L. [literally], because he was telling me about going to dinner with the other guys in the company who love to "drink a good bit" and said, "After a three or for hour nap we took a taxi over to a pub where some other guys are staying, had a few beers while we waited on folks to meet up to have dinner together at an indian restaurant. And then back to the pub for a few more beers before turning in." Just the thought of Taylor having "a few beers" made me laugh because he is so GEEKY AND MORMON, HAHA! Later he said that he fits in well even without drinking, just to reassure you that he was kidding. But I guess you had to be there to think it was funny... 

And just so this post isn't super boring, here are a couple of pictures he sent me of his hotel room.

i think they went a little overboard on the headboard.

oh wait. it's still boring.. sorry! 

love ya!

well, this is embarrassing.

So, I made some pretty serious claims about abandoning this blog for tumblr. But when I realized no one could comment on there and that no one really blogged on tumblr. [FOR REAL blogged]. I decided, we will keep blogging on here, especially with our up and coming adventure in England.

I'll write more about that later.

Really I just wanted to write something about how hard marriage is.
Well, it isn't. People are always saying marriage is SO hard and bla bla bla. And I guess to a degree, it takes work, but it's not hard, *IF* you marry someone you not only love, but LIKE. Even when they are being annoying, you like them.
I don't have to be married to me, so I can only speak for myself in saying, being married to Taylor Giddens is a whole lotta fun, and comes pretty naturally to me. But I'm only 3 months in. I'll check back with you in 3 more months :)

THATS ALL FOR NOW. Good night.