Tuesday, October 18, 2005

news

greetings. i'm back in janesville and am finally at a computer. my little mac died in london and so i'm going to be using the library until i can get it all fixed up.

my tasks now include finding a job and a way of getting there. i want to see all of my friends right away too, but it's going to be a little while. i'm house and pet sitting for my mom for two weeks and can't leave the city much (though i do plan on heading up to madison at some point).

i plan on staying here for about a year and then heading back to england. why back to england you ask? after the mutiple times they've screwed you over? well to get married of course.

no. seriously.

toby and i got engaged before i left and i don't have many answers to all of the questions you may be asking right now, but i will say that if any of you can save up some money to come celebrate with us next year, i'd be incredibly happy to see you there.

i'm email/call as soon as i can. if you hear of any job opps, (or car opps for that matter) let me know.

Monday, October 10, 2005

on the plane again

it has been a long, long while since i posted. i wonder if anyone still looks here or not. i suppose i'll find out.

as may have been expected, i'm leaving london now. on sunday, october 16th. 6 days from today. my time here was definately good. i know i could live in the city and i'm disappointed that i couldn't find a job so that i could live here. i've found toby which was unexpected and has and will completely change the direction that my life will take. i'm much more open to things than i was before and i'm excited about all of the places the two of us are going to go together. be prepared to meet the chap yourself this december. and if any of you have any ideas of new year's, let me know, so i can decide which particular city we'll be enjoying the festivities in.

before i leave england on sunday, i've got to fight with the people at BT (british telecom), close my bank account, eat some more at cafe 1001, complain about the cold, sit in hyde park, and see pride and prejudice.

any requests for yummies from sainsbury's, you better let me know now!

Sunday, July 31, 2005

yahtzee mania

Final Scores:

Abby: 2607 with an average 217

Toby: 2929 with an average 244

12 games

Toby's the winner, BUT Abby got the all time high score : 354....(toby would like me to add that he scored a 321 on that game. yahtzee were flowing like honey from a tree)

Monday, July 18, 2005

but chickens don't swim

my mom sent me a package awhile ago. she sent 2 3packs of chicken of the sea tuna. i love that stuff.

why?

it is easy to make and
it involves mayo. yum.

abby...you've got time to post about chicken/tuna, but you can't be bothered to write to us?

look at it this way...i'm posting about tuna, will my emails really be that interesting??

Friday, July 08, 2005

today is 8 july. the high for today is 64 F. what?

i'm seriously impressed with this city. the day after an attack on their transport system, trains and buses are working at a basically normal level. wow. it'll certainly take a lot more to get this city to stop.

Saturday, June 25, 2005

thank you for being a friend...

greetings. that's right, i said greetings. i'm being friendly and such.


the other night i enjoyed some late night cheesecake a la the golden girls. good times, good times.

the weather is much cooler here in london. i like talking about the weather. so does my mom. i guess it was too darn hot to walk the dog today, so she took sophie for a car ride and got a little ice cream treat. :) i can see sophie in the truck now. silly little bugger.

i don't work tomorrow which is lovely. going to do a write up for my presentation next week. also, start looking at that darn case study. oh AND i'm going to buy myself a new notebook, some toilet paper, and some soap. this is more of a list of things for me to remember, but thought it might be interesting. give you a glimpse into my exciting life. oh, and i should probably get some dental floss. somehow, somehow i dropped mine in the toilet bowl. i fished it out, but i am NOT going to use it. just doesn't sound like a good idea.

keep mellow.

Sunday, June 19, 2005

i found summer

abby woke up early today and is now enjoying chocolate chip pancakes. probably too heavy of a food for today's hot weather.

just found out that most houses in london do NOT have air conditioning. the underground and bus system do not either. they are attempting to melt the population. or send us into the stores to go shopping. now that sounds like a good idea.

Monday, June 06, 2005

no no koko

abby loves koko. remember me mentioning before? two disco balls, red theatre, he-man on the screens? well, the last time we were there (sadly, only my second visit), a horrible noise machine played the venue. i was with mr. crabby-pants and the whole experience would have been lost had it not been for the lovely interior.

anyway.

one freaking guess who is playing there tonight?

dammit. coldplay.

is abby there? no. she didn't know they had some limited tickets on sale for 20quid at 8am today.

sigh

Saturday, June 04, 2005

saturday nite is alright

abby is spending some alone time right now. eating some strawberries and reading Q magazine. megan eley's american friends are in town and some people are going to tooting for a party tonight, but i'd much rather stay in. i feel like i've been working at the bar a lot and not doing anything much else. i have a long list of things involving school, money, and future job hunts to do. maybe i'll look into that a bit tonight. first though, is an update to the blog.

our group finished our calendar. doesn't look exactly how we imagined it, but we are all pretty satisfied. maybe i'll send one to a lucky person in janesville and one to dunn bros. that way you can all have a gander at it.

my last three months are approaching. this means that i've got some serious work to do. i'm confident i'll have a proper freak out soon.

along with that final three months comes the question that i am really REALLY getting annoyed with hearing: what are you going to do when you're done. now, you see, i remember that question when i graduated from college. what i ended up doing then was hanging around minneapolis and continuing my work all of the time at numerous jobs thing. which wasn't really all that bad, but now i just can't do that. i really do need to figure something out this time.

one of my goals for coming to school in london was to stay in london. now i have to decide if that is what i really want to do. and it's just that much more difficult because, to my unexpected surprise, i have something over here i guess you could call the toby-factor. and yes, i'm thrilled to bits about it, but i just never thought i'd be put in a position where i am actually thinking about someone else while i'm making an important life decision. and to be honest with ya, i'm not sure i know how to do that.

it's almost like because i know someone wants me to stay here, it makes me feel like i shouldn't. i have no freaking idea why this is and i really dislike that i'm thinking that way, but...

hmmm. bit of a long post here. just stuff i'm mulling over i guess. any suggestions for me from y'all would be appreciated. :)

back to my strawberries and magazine reading to get the mind off of other matters.

Sunday, May 22, 2005

fun-ny with a capital F

seriously.
i know.
i've been back in london for nearly two weeks and it's like i dropped off the face of the earth. many, many apologies and lots of apologizes.

you guys must have been so bored, not having anything to read on here and such.

friday night i went to a midnight show of star wars. midnight is the best time to see such a film. i brought my darth vader m&m mix from home. i was getting sleepy until sam l jackson took a light saber and went through a window. then i was wide awake and nervous and sad because i knew what was comin'.

last night i watched me a little 'eurovision'

this dude named terry wogan was commenting over the whole thing. it was fun-ny.

school. also known as the reason for me coming to london, is okay. all of our classes (4) have the word 'strategy' in the title. ew. my next two assessments are "strategic management in global publishing contexts' and ' strategic technology management' they are actually two different assignments. right.

monday we leave for a week of summer (no, it is no where near summer here) school. summer school is in PARIS! yea!

now. go rock it like it's hot.
i know i will. i'm going to be doing laundry. :)

Friday, May 06, 2005

the sweet, sweet smell of coffee

abby's blog

seriously.

i'm in dunn bros. upstairs, at the computer. i can't believe the computer was open. just got back from grumpy's with betsy, erin, jennifer, melody, mike e, and vanessa. could i SAY how much fun that was? tater tots AND an american burger. love it, love it, love it. very happy.

the drive up here wasn't so bad. i reaquainted (sp??) myself with the smashing pumpkins and some ryan adams. they are playing the new coldplay song here on the radio.

chiang mai tang tonight for robyn's birthday. guess brit is providing the music. fun, fun fun.

right.

i'm off now, going to head to the electric fetus before i meet britni at 4!

loves ya.

abs

Thursday, May 05, 2005

thursday's margaritas

so, i was looking through carisa's list of reasons why she wants back in the states. she mentioned mexican food twice. maybe she should get herself an internship in janesville. there is a shit load (excuse the language, but seriously) of mexican in j-town.

janesville is small and people talk and talk and talk. i'm polite, which means i sit around a lot and nod and smile. i try to avoid running into people i haven't seen in ages, but it is near impossible.

tomorrow, bright and early, i'm driving to the land of 10,000 lakes. renting a car. wonder what it'll look like. i'm only allowed 450 miles for the weekend, but you see, it takes around 300miles just to GET to minneapolis, so i'll obviously be going over. 20cents a mile after that 450 allotment. you betcha booty, i'll be mooching rides from the lovely miss setterholm. what i'm hoping is that the weather is gorgeous on saturday and britni feels the need to beg her parents to take the boat out. britni, i hope you are reading this, because abby would be a very happy person if this happened :)

what else, what else.....oh shit...see there you go again...even complete strangers will talk with you in janesville. this damn german shirt. blessing and a curse.

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

dear folks

hey all....

so, i just discovered that i can steal a little free wireless from my neighbors in janesville. that's great, but hotmail is being annoying right now and i can't check my email. bugger boo.

trip to the states was annoying. everything is annoying apparently. short version of the flight is that i left london over 4 hours later than i thought i would be leaving. i missed the rehearsal dinner, but my mom was there at the airport to pick me up.

the wedding was a lot of fun. michelle was beautiful. i've got a few lovely pictures.

right now, i'm mom's busy a-making me some chocolate chip cookies. the grandparents came over for dinner tonight. we played a little cards. all lots of fun. tomorrow i'm heading to a wine tasting in the fort wtih the great cheri lee paul.

i'm thinking of dying my hair a darker brown.

i will be watching conan o'brien tonight, i'm going to stay up as late as possible.

i ate a chicken baja gordita today. i drank some mountain dew.

i saw two episodes of queer eye for the straight guy (the fab 5 were in texas).

spoke with the britster on the telephone.

looked through dozens of old pictures.

i can't find my cigarette holder.

damn my sister for that.

loves, abs

Thursday, April 28, 2005

one day to go

those lists? yeah, well, i haven't had time to write them so leave me alone. i have written a few on actual paper and have started my anxious sick feeling about the trip. that's right, i no longer am worrying about my paper (though i should, it's finished yes, but in a "i'm-not-going-to-worry-about-it-there-are-enough-words" sort of way.

now i am worrying about my trip and getting everything done and packing everything, etc....

today, i'm heading to school to turn in my paper, return some books, then go to the bank, buy up some candy, etc.

london better be nice to me today

love, abs

Sunday, April 24, 2005

read into it

good afternoon young folks -

today abby is doing just a little more slacking. just a little. it will involve the ring 2 and some nachos.

jennifer and nicole, nicole and jennifer left for paris today. when they get back, it means that i will be leaving. i'm really looking forward to seeing all sorts of familiar faces again. hope y'all want to see mine too. i'll try really, really hard to keep my mouth shut about london. you know how i can go on and on and on. i want to hear about what has been going on with YOU guys, not me. if you have looked at this blog then you have a fairly accurate (i say fairly) idea of what has been going on here. plus, i'll bring some pictures and if you want to see 'em, you can see 'em.

somethinginterestingsomethinginteresting.....ummmm......mmmm...ummmmm.....don't know. okay, well then there's no point in continuing this little post, is there? get ready for some more lists of things i need to remember to do in the next couple of days. really, that's more for me than you, but so is this whole selfish blog thing anyway!

loves ya

Saturday, April 23, 2005

list 1 of many this week

things abby needs to do in the next few moments:

a - find out where that sound is coming from
b - take a wee
c - rid self of leftover hangover headache
d - continue the tedious process of blowing up air mattress for soon to be arriving guests, nicole and jennifer

e - prepare self for the lists that will be made later

she leaves in .....6 days

Sunday, April 17, 2005

suitcase of memories

what's going on folks? another post is sure to come, but in the mean time, i'm going to leave you with a couple of pictures.

this is one of some lovely easter egss that were dyed on easter. yet another 1st for the tobster. he more or less is american now.
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this is one from my birthday...well three....this one is at cubana...meg, tom, toby, and me laughing at something or other. probably a joke i made and only i understood.
IMAG0067 the next one is of meg, me, and toby. toasting away our asti tasti in lovely animal glasses. i think i've got the penguin.
IMAG0066my favorite. and the last one is of carisa, me, and megan. see that dress? that was a break down point for abby. she was having a bad day, couldn't take it anymore and brought out her american dollar credit card and purchased dress, shoes, and a random shirt she has still to wear. it felt good dammit.


IMAG0060
more later...i've gotta tell you about prague. i went to prague!!

loves ya.

by the way...all photos are thanks to the lovely carisa

Monday, April 04, 2005

sir mackintosh dingle foot

g'day.

that's the name on a plaque (how the heck do you spell that word) at westminister abbey. it's funny. so laugh.

go to the following site. go ahead. use your cut and paste skills right now:
www.overtherhine.com/music/mp3rarity/index.htm
you have to use your skills because i have no blog skills to highlight this link.

sorry.

what has been going on lately you might ask. you have guests abby....what are they doing? well, we have been spraying sunshine all over my room.

did you know that it is about 250 years since samuel johnson wrote one of the first (i think it is one of the first anyway) english dictionaries? here are a couple of definitions for you:

fart: wind from behind
kiss: salute given by joining lips
mouse: the smallest of all beasts; a little animal haunting houses and corn fields, destroyed by cats
strut: to walk with affected dignity; to swell with stateliness

the girls and i have drank two bottles of red this evening. a lovely one from kari (thank goodness toblerone doesn't like wine) and one called gato negro. they are a bit tired and silly now. which is good. it is late and we have to wake early.

oh and kris' birthday night was GRAND. music, he-man, drinks, friends, laughter. all such goodness.

hurrah, hurrah, hurrah!!

"the abster"

Friday, April 01, 2005

dbc back in the blood

hurrah! yippee! the dunn girls are now all completely here. 4 girls in my tiny flat. i've got the bed, nicole is in the cubby under my desk (which is quite nice) and melody and jennifer are sharing an air mattress. they are so adorable all curled up over there. i'm also sipping a little kenya roasted by the groovy lee! way to go, it tastes lovely!!

today the girls are heading to the tower of london. i'm heading to work. ick. but it isn't really all that bad. just until 4pm and then i'm bussing it back here and hopefully (fingers crossed y'all) they will come with me to nambucca for my friend kris' birthday. i'll get those girls pissed....on cider or some such.

more to come later.

happy april fool's day!!

*nothing of the above message was a joke. they are here. coffee is here. and they are indeed going to tower of london; however, i don't think they will get pissed tonight. if so, i'm TOTALLY taking photos!

Friday, March 25, 2005

march the 25th

it's the birthday today. i have officially hit th 25 year old mark. jessica sent me a birthday email (thank you :) and mentioned how we've been finished with high school for nearly 7 years. crap, that's quite awhile....relatively speaking of course.

i'm treating myself to a nice glass (or more...i'm not sharing the bottle with anyone) of bordeaux. (if you are interested beth, malesan 2002 , it was on my desk)

tonight i'm heading to Cubana (http://www.cubana.co.uk) i hear they have live salsa music on friday nights. some friends are going out for dinner and a few drinks. i've already checked the menu and there are number of cocktails i'm interested in trying.

i've included a picture (thanks to amy) if you come to london, here is where you liking find yourself. Mr.Fook's in Chinatown, accompanied by an interesting evening til early at Oneill's.

London-March2005007


that's carisa, me, megan, and beth

well then, wish me lots of latin love tonight