WEEK FIFTEEN

I finally pulled myself out of bed about Wednesday afternoon for girls night that evening. I'm so glad that I did because we were able to share all of our holiday war stories and the therapy was free.

Overall, since I've been back in London, I've been riding the line of borderline depressed. I was told by several people, one including my aunt, that it is hard to go home to your comfort zone, feel the love and then pack up and leave again. She told me to be prepared.

Having to do the whole saying goodbye process again was hard. It may have been even harder than before because this time I knew that we didn't have the comfort of a free ticket home anymore. Now, we might have to wait nine months to see Winston, family or friends again.

I almost wish we hadn't come home at all. The thought of wasting that feeling on just three measly months kinda makes me sick, but it was the best opportunity for us to take a longer trip home. So we took it.

Eh. You live; you learn.

James jumped back into work with a fury. Friday night was basicallyyy the first time I saw James all week. He's been working very hard.

I was left to try to acclimate myself and get our flat back into some type of working order... that is still a big TBD.

As I have mentioned before, I've been really struggling to get back into a sleep cycle. It's been miserable, but I think I am finally starting to get back on track.

Wednesday, I saw some girlfriends for the first time since being back. It was wonderful to catch up and start planning lunches and dinners. Meeting some amazing people over here has made such a HUGE difference in my stay.

This is how classy ladies do 'Girls Night'.

Thursday, I had dinner plans with some other ladies near Bond Street and I was urged to check out the Wallace Collection nearby. I quickly freshened up and headed over that way to explore the museum before dinner.

Check back for more pictures from the Wallace Collection later in the week!

We at at Comptior, a cheap Lebanese restaurant, drank wine and caught up. It is so important to find reasonable, everyday restaurants while living in London. It is so easy to spend a ton of money living here and especially since most all of the ladies I have met here are American expats, we have to try not to spend (and eat) like we are on holiday, every day!

 Friday, I met my friend Allison for lunch at the Borough Market, which is an easy, one tube stop past 'Bank' on the Northern line. We enjoyed meandering around and checking-out all the amazing food options, fresh breads, cheeses and meats, etc...

My Lunch: Salt Beef Sandwich with gherkins and spicy mustard

I spent the rest of the afternoon walking along the Thames River doing "touristy" things. I am determined to see this city in its entirety before October 2014.

James and I had dinner at an Italian restaurant called Strada on Upper Street and then had drinks at our go-to pub The Angelic.

Saturday morning, James went into work (as he always does), and I caught up on some blogging. It was gorgeous outside, so I moved my operation to a nearby pub for some change of scenery and some Vitamin D.

Lawd, it's taken me a long time to get back into the swing of things, but I have a bunch of posts that will be coming next week, so check back for updates!

**For certain blog posts, I am going back and adding a link to extra pictures. If you're interested in seeing more pictures from the British Museum, feel free to go back and see all the pictures that didn't make it on the blog. I am also working on a link to extra pictures for the Isabella Blow Fashion Galore! Exhibit post.

FRESH START

There's nothing like a new agenda (or diary, for you Londoners!) to get you in the mindset to start the year off right! There's something about the blank pages that make you feel that the possibilities are endless.

I'm the type of person that is completely lost without an agenda, so I'm surprised that it took me this long to grab one this year... 

Hopefully, with the addition of these two London reads, it will help me stay organized and on task when tackling sightseeing in this amazing city!

#FBF

I woke up to a ton of pictures from my father-in-law this morning. 

Most of them were of a weekender bag that I purchased before Christmas, but a few of them were of my love from Christmas and since... It always makes my day to get a little snippet into their everyday lives.

It puts my heart at rest.

How sweet are these sneaky shots of Sir Winston trying to help Mommy pick out a Christmas drink? Just melts my heart. Such a sweetie!

Happy Friday y'all! xo

OH INSOMNIA

It's 2:00AM in London and I am wide awake. 

We are going on Day 3 of me pushing off going to the V&A Museum like I intended to. Talk about a commitment-- to failure!

For a few days now, I've been trying to wake up at 8:00AM so that I can get in a full day of activities and wear myself out so that when night-time comes, I can fall asleep at a reasonable hour... BUT FOR THE LIFE OF ME, I can not make myself get out of bed!

I think subconsciously I know that I really don't have anything thatttt important to get up for and therefore I allow myself to sleep until my heart's desire.

You are an adult. You are not in college anymore!

I am seriously starting to hate it. 

WHY CAN'T I SLEEP LIKE A NORMAL PERSON? 

I've struggled with this since high school. 

I've taken medicine to help me sleep for years, but recently my dosage has been bumped down and therefore isn't as effective. £%&@! please save all the medical mumbo-jumbo, I know it's not good for me, but so is not sleeping!

And now the Brits want to wean me off and help me get "clean." cue the eye roll. I literally started to cry in front of the doctor. That, sir, is what my nightmares are made of. Needless to say, he made me fill out a psych eval after that. perfffffect!

I think I need a job or a part-time job or some type of temporary work or somethingggg, because I am just really feeling disappointed in my game. 

I always slept better with a job...

I can do better than this. 

I will not sleep London away!

Alright, night y'all! :)

Insomnia, you suck!

WEEK FOURTEEN

I am officially jet lagged. It's miserable. All I want to do is sleep. Our flight home was extremely delayed-- I'm talking nine hours delayed-- because of a fender-bender on the tarmac (seriously, our plane was backed into by a Lufthansa plane that was reversing out of its gate). Our 6:15 PM departure became 7:00, then 7:30, 8:00, 9:00, etc., until we finally got our wheels off the ground around 3:00 AM. 

Once we got on the plane it was a good experience since James and I were able to fly envoy class which included sleeper seats. I'm telling you, this is the way to fly. I could've spent months in that cubby. So comfortable!

this is what 12 hours at the airport looks like

We were anticipating the jet lag, but with the delay in our flight it was just so much worse. We typically would have arrived in London at approximately 7AM so we would've had the whole day to start getting acclimated, but yesterday we arrived at 3PM(dusk) and got home close to 5PM, which in London is completely pitch black. I just hope James can sleep better tonight so that he isn't exhausted on his first day back at work.

On the bright side, we are finally home after our whirlwind tour. Following 12 days of living out of our suitcases, we were very antsy to get back to London-- back to our home, back to our normal. All I can say is that I am ready to start fresh in 2014 and get back into our routine again.

Alright, so back to the Week 14 recap!

Last Sunday we flew up to NYC and stayed in Brooklyn for three days. Unfortunately, my sister's family came down with the flu so James and I decided to keep our distance and not risk it. Instead, we had a date night in Brooklyn at La Vara, a Spanish tapas restaurant and then had drinks at Henry Public.

Since this was James' first time to NYC we wanted to fit in as much sightseeing as possible into one day, so Monday we woke up early and headed into town. 

Tuesday morning I met an old friend at a coffee shop in Brooklyn and in the flash of an eye, three hours had past. James and I found some delicious pizza near Prospect Park and then headed back to the hotel to relax and get ready for dinner and the Billy Joel concert.

As always, Billy was a gem. I will be posting videos and pictures of the concert and NYC later this week. My phone is just completely packed with pictures from this trip home; it is going to take me some time to filter through all of them. 

We flew back to NC on Wednesday morning, which sucked. I could have slept the entire day away and still not felt close to 50%. We got back to Raleigh and immediately drove back to Kernersville to eat a traditional New Year's meal (pork chops, greens, black eyed peas, cornbread... yum) and relax with James' parents and Winston. 

The only thing that could make me feel better was a sleepover with the dogs so that's exactly what we did.

Thursday, we packed and relaxed.

Friday, we said goodbye to Kernersville and drove to Charlotte to catch our flight back to London.

Saturday, was a travel day.  Our plans to be productive were compromised by the flight delay, so we only managed to find our way back to our flat, feed ourselves, and attempt to (finally) catch the season finale of Homeland (James and I slept through most of it).

And Sunday, well, James is sick and I'm still in my pajamas. So there.

How was your week?