love is a battlefield.

Our initial plan for Saturday morning was to get up at 8AM and make the 2 hour drive down to Hastings for the Battle of Hastings event.

If you know us at all, you can probably guess that it didn't happen that way.

Not only do I loathe the morning, but since I am still battling with my sickness, the mornings are when I feel the worst. So it was hard for me to drag myself out of the warm bed. But eventually I did.

So anyway, by about 11:30 AM we made it out of the house. We got stuck in some traffic but we finally made it to Battle at around 2:30PM. I kind of felt guilty because I knew that Taylor was really looking forward to the battle reenactment that only takes place once a year, and I figured we'd already missed it. The event for the day was supposed to go from 10AM - 4PM. So when we got our tickets and program we realized that the reenactment was the LAST event of the day and started at 3PM, so we got real lucky. And I was actually glad we didn't get there at 10AM cause I don't think I could have hung out there for 5 hours.

To me, it wasn't actually that exciting, but it was pretty cool, and as always, it makes me happy when my husband is happy and I think he enjoyed it. 

Here are some pictures to help you feel like you were there with us.

If you're a girl, you probably think is boring. Sorry.

So then we went into Hastings because we just wanted to see the coast one last time. So we drove into town only to discover that we were there the same night as their huge bonfire night.

They have this big bonfire society and they do this to celebrate the Battle of Hastings as well as the downfall of Guy Fawkes, who tried to blow up parliament. (Remember, Remember the 5th of November) So they were having a big old carnival on the seaside, and then they had a parade with torches, not unlike an angry mob, and then they lit this huge thing on fire.

i guess they don't know about burning crosses and how it's not kosher.

 and of course once Taylor learned about this, he NEEDED to see it. Which I was fine with, at the time. SO we walked around and stopped for dinner then walked around some more then waited on the street for the parade. It was getting colder and colder and I was getting more and more impatient, and sicker and sicker and

BOOM!

There was a huge boom that rang in our ears and everybody screamed. I looked around to see if there was any indication where it came from. I had initially figured it was part of the parade. 

Then we quickly learned that some idiot teenager kid threw a firework, not unlike an M80 behind the crowd, and it landed right behind us and right next to a lady and her two small children. Luckily no one got hurt, except the guy standing next to us got hit in the leg and it was swollen up pretty bad. He had a pretty good attitude about it but everyone was really mad. The police came but the kid had already taken off. If I had children there, that kid would have gotten his face smashed into a car windshield long before anyone was able to report it to the police. But I digress. Apparently this kid and his friends had been walking up and down the street dropping these fireworks near the onlookers waiting for the parade. I don't know what kind stupid person does things like that, but apparently they exist.

The nice thing about the incident was it made me forget how cold I was for a minute. 

So FINALLY the parade made it's way down to us and it was cool for a second, but then it got really repetitive and a little too loud. They were pushing these tin barrels and kept throwing exploding fireworks in them. So after I begged Taylor finally agreed that we could go, luckily he was also cold. So we had to figure how to get across the parade of fire people to get to the car park. This was really tricky because A) I am pretty sure it's not allowed to walk across them and B) There is A LOT of fire and a lot of explosives going on (which is so stupid and unsafe.)  

So I am standing on the side of the road waiting for a break when another firework goes off right in front of me, but the genius missed the barrel so it just exploded all up in our faces and I got hit in the leg with some piece of something and it hurt SO BAD. At that point I was mad at the entire British population and my adrenaline was going a little bit so I weaved through the crowd (Taylor following) to find a break in the parade to run across. At one point I heard Taylor yell "LOOK OUT!" from behind me and another explosive went off. We saw a break without fire or explosives and ran across as some people yelled at us about how we couldn't do that. But I didn't care. They were all idiots to me at that point, and they can't tell me what to do.

Smokey the bear needs to get his rear in gear and get over here and teach these people about fire safety.

We have a video of most of the parade but I am too lazy to wait for it to upload. SORRY. but here's a video from the parade two years ago that I found on youtube. it's the exact same

5 Days until we come HOME!

7 days to homelessness.

I can't believe it. I can't believe we only have 7 days left in Jolly Ol' England.

I remember two days before we left America, spending 5 hours in the southern heat, just the two of us and our restless dog, unloading the U-Haul into the storage unit. I remember hating everything Taylor owned and swearing to get rid of all of it. And I remember when we finally finished, taking one last look at all of it before we pulled the door down thinking, "I don't have to deal with any of this for 3 months, hallelujah." 

Now, I am just days away from having to deal with it.

I'm less worried about dealing with all of that and more worried about FINDING A PLACE TO LIVE!
I realize that I don't have to decide RIGHT now, and I also realize that we will find a place to rent but it is tricky, let me tell you why:

1) Savannah is not necessarily a safe place and even though  I ain't never scared, I still would like to live somewhere relatively safe, since my dog is useless as far as protection goes, and really, who wants to live somewhere they might get shot up? Anyway, it's really hard to determine where is safe and where isn't safe when all you have to go off of is this crime rate map.


2) I've said it once, and I will say it again, my husband is a diva. I found this super cute (old, but still really fun) house that has a fire place, a garage, 3 bedrooms, a washer and dryer, a separate dining room, and a big screen porch. And on top of all that it was cheaper than any one bedroom apartment we've found (that ISN'T in the Ghetto) Here are some pics:

Okay, so yeah it's a little ghetto right? But still, it's cute. I like it. But Taylor was trying to act like it's not good enough for him. It might have been cause I was PMSing but I thought I was going to go all Wayne Brady and choke him out. Doesn't he know that I am a woman and I can make anything awesome? Anyway, moving on.

3) We don't want to rent an apartment, I understand that beggars can't be choosers and we are definitely beggars right now. However, usually with houses you have privacy, and they are the same price if not cheaper than smaller apartments. I also understand that we don't necessarily need a bunch of bedrooms. Sue me if I want to have a craft room and a place to put Taylor's computer without it being in our bedroom.  Also, if we have enough space we won't need a storage unit.  On top of all the that, I always want to have a guest bedroom, because I want people to come visit me all the time, and I feel like since I will be super close to the beach, that will lure them all in. Anyway, so the problem is not that we can't find a house to rent, but that we would ideally like a lease that is not a year long (just because Taylor hasn't passed is "trial period" at work yet) and most house rentals require at least a year (that we've found so far.)

So what is a young married couple to do? I don't want to temporarily move into a tiny apartment because I JUST WANT TO STAY PUT SOMEWHERE FOR CRYIN' OUT LOUD. I hate moving. But you wanna know what I hate more than moving? I hate living somewhere knowing it's only temporary for a couple months. Even though my best friend's beast of a sister-in-law once referred to me as "UNSTABLE", I am not, and I don't like feeling like our lifestyle is unstable either.

Normally, I would like to put this all aside and enjoy the time we have left, but I've been sick and stuck inside for 3 days, so I've only just had time to think and worry.

Don't feel bad for me though, I'm like the luckiest girl ever. I got a man who love me and 3 months of English vacation under my belt.

There's about two things left on our English agenda, Tomorrow, the Battle of Hastings reenactment and then my most favorite thing...

CITY AND COLOUR CONCERT IN LONDON ON WEDNESDAY.
I can't really describe to you how stoked I am to go to this concert, not just because I love LOOOOOVE City and Colour, but because I get to go to a show in LONDON,

EAT YOUR HEART OUT HIPSTERS!

and now, I shall leave you with a video of City and Colour so if you aren't jealous yet, you can be.

booya.

"i'm in a glass case of emotion!"

um, so this week was super crazy.

Wednesday morning, April left. I woke up to an empty apartment. Something felt weird about that morning. A text came in on the borrowed phone that I have that was across the room, but I figured it was probably some junk message from the service provider, so I ignored it. About an hour later I got a call on the house phone from Taylor at work.

This is how the conversation went:

Tay: "Hi, did you get my text message?"

Kyns: "Uhhh no."

Tay: "Okay well, you probably won't like this but today I talked to my boss, and it looks like they will be sending me to China for a month."

Kyns: ........................

Tay: "And unfortunately they said I can't bring my wife."

Kyns: ......................

Tay: "You're crying aren't you?"

I was crying. That might sound like a stupid reason to cry, but who in the world wants to be away from their husband for a month? Let alone any time period at all. AND THAT'S NOT THE ONLY THING, we haven't even established ourselves in Savannah and now that was going to be delayed even longer.

So I spent all of Wednesday feeling sorry for myself.
Thursday accepting everything, but secretly wishing that he couldn't get his visa to go.
And then Friday rolled around and I had just written a "woe is me" blog about the further delay of my normal life when I got another phone call from the Mr. himself.
and this is how that conversation went:

Tay: "So, what would your emotional reaction be if I didn't go to China?"

Kyns: "Well, obviously I would like that."

Tay: "You would be happy?"

Kyns: "Yes! Very."

Tay: "Okay then I won't go."

It turns out that they decided it wouldn't be fair to send Taylor to China when we hadn't been given a chance to get settled in Savannah. Once again, I am extremely grateful that he has a manager who cares at least a little about his family life.

I kind of feel like I had to experience that moment of drama to be sure that I appreciate the mediocre life that is ahead of me. Because that's really, all I want is to call somewhere home and have some sense of stability.

Taylor was a little bit bummed, cause he was a kind of excited to go, (there is still a chance he could go, but not until after we get back.)

So naturally went to get Chinese food to celebrate. We found a pretty good place in Oxford that was pretty legitimate for real Chinese food. They had "Hot Pot" which is not a drug, but basically Chinese fondue. [Are you ready for another Wikipedia link? Okay aaannnd NOW.]

IT WAS DISGUSTING. But Taylor enjoyed every second of it. It made me happy to see him happy, and in general I was just happy that things might actually go my way. So nothing could get me down, not even plastic flavored meat or shrimps with their heads still on.

It's pretty crazy to think that we have LESS than 2 weeks left here, 12 days to be exact. But as you can tell by my previously mentioned dramatics, I am more than ready to get back to America and be a normal boring human being with my little puppy and my husband.

P.S.
Today is our half-anniversary! We celebrated by eating delicious salads and portobello mushroom sandwiches.
And we watched Mean Girls 2 which is the worst movie on the entire planet.
Anyway, yay for marriage!

our weekend ended in shambles.

and by shambles, I mean, The Shambles, a little shopping street in the town of York.

We spend Monday after noon exploring and visiting York Minister, which was pretty amazing.

I don't really feel like writing today so here's the pics.

Clifford's Tower

For Jamie.

For Niki & Warren