my blog has fallen onto the back-burner of my life....

i'm engaged. he's pretty great. he has a double-barreled first name. i think that makes him cooler. and shut your mouth if you don't agree. and it looks like we're going to be getting married in england.......CRAZY!!! i was really wanting to get married in ohio but we were really limited with dates which would've either meant that his two best men couldn't come or his sister couldn't--so england is probably a good idea.

i'm also living in a real english cottage now. i moved in on saturday and while still quite bare it's starting to look more homey. i'm hoping to add to it next week by going on some shopping excursions with the mommy.

this year will be my first english christmas. while i'm not a fan of mince pies, i am liking the experience of learning some new traditions--like singing carols around the village christmas tree on christmas eve. but it does seem that wherever i turn, a mince pie is being shoved into my hands. yuck. i would have a very merry christmas without any mince, thank you very much.

and lastly--can someone help a sister out with this new blogger format? they've gone and changed everything and under the new system my blog seems to have disappeared. what's that all about blogger?

i just visited liverpool for thanksgiving. it was a really short visit--a mere 48 hours.

it was so good to see friends who know me really well and to spend time in a city that i've grown to love. liverpool is definitely unique, i was reminded of that by some of my encounters.

encounter #1 taking place on a bus into city centre at 4:30pm.

man approaches me at front of the bus: can i ask you a question?

me: uh, yeeeeeah.

man: do you think i look drunk?

::me looking him over::

man: tell the truth.

me: yeeeeeah, a little. it's mostly in your eyes.

man: my eyes always give me away! that's not good.

me: why?

man: i'm heading to work.

me: where do you work?

man: poundland.

me: well, maybe they'll just think you're tired.

encounter#2 as i'm walking through city centre with naomi saturday afternoon.

a man walking by stops, looks at me, and then looks at the winter hat i have on.

man screaming across a sea of people: WITH THAT HAT, YOU MUST BE IRISH!

what does that even mean?

only in Liverpool.

i went bowling with the youth last night--the first time in a long time. and i'll tell you that i got 2 strikes and let you assume that means my final score was pretty good.

before bowling we ate at mcdonald's. there was a decent sized line and johnny and i were waiting our turn. in front of us was a woman with a daughter who must not have been any older than 3 or 4. this girl has the most AWESOME hair i have ever seen. i tell her mom, who was very friendly and who said that it was actually a mess, and that usually it's much more tidy.

imagine a girl with big cheeks and a cheeky grin, who stands at only about a height of 2 1/2 feet and has an afro that is about a foot high. again, i say awesome.

so when the mom wasn't looking....i touched it.

you can say i'm weird, but if you would've seen her afro, you would've gone in for a pat too.

hey, for those randoms who still faithfully check the britster's blog....i'm now in the UK and beginning to settle in. today was my first paid day of work. it's hard to believe that i'm actually going to have a big person's income soon and that i have to keep up-to-date with databases and filing cabinets and most importantly, YOUNG PEOPLE! instead of boring you with details, i'll interest you with photos.this is my new church home, zion baptist church. it's located in a village called creech st. michael . architectually, it reminds me of an american church which is nice little slice of home.

this is me in my office--not knowing where ot start. i have a lovely view out of my window that can't be done justice by a photo--atleast not with my camera.this is me holding up my business card and not really being sure what to do with IT. i've decided that i'll give one to whoever asks. do YOU want a business card? (note the shiny-ness of my hair--how fab does it look outside of my crazy bangs/fringe?)and last but not least, the piece de la resistance. my future cottage if everything pans out as hoped in the next 2 months, Lord-willing. i could spit on the church from the back window and will have plenty of room to store guests. i'm so excited about having my very own house, although a bit scared. i don't feel like this photo does it's cuteness justice and i'll probably choose to take the christmas lights off. i think it'll be a fixer upper, but a really fun project for me.

so that's a bit of the photo tour so far...will keep you updated. i'm leading my first bible study on wednesday. prayers would be appreciated!

so i just noticed that my last post was my 200th. i think i deserve something from blogger for this. maybe a pen with an engraving of my blogsite on the clip.

so i'm happy to say because i've been getting out of the house a little more in recent days that i have something funny to post about.

i was visiting sarah this past week in columbus and coincidentally my mom had a work conference there at the same time so i rode back with her and some co-workers friday afternoon. before we got on the road, we stopped for a bite at T.G.I. Fridays.

i took a pee break before we departed and i noticed a sign above the sinks.

Employees must "wash hands"

That's how it read.

Do those quotation marks worry anyone else? I feel like they imply an inside joke between employers and employees. And I started to think more than actually suggesting employees wash they're hands, it's more likely to mean:

Employees must make it look like they are hygenic.

Employees must rinse they're hands a little after using the john, no soap required.

Employees must ignore washing they're hands...if you think i'm paying you for the 20 seconds you're supposed to spend on germs you're living in an alternate reality.

Employees must pretend like they're washing their hands to try and find out gossip about customers.

Employees must keep this sign up so that all customers think we wash our hands while dealing with the food they ingest.

YACK. Get rid of those quotations Fridays...the possible implications of those things are making me start to feel nauseous.

a lesson on the value of revising your powerpoint closely before sunday...

The actual verse--
1 Peter 5:8 (New International Version)

Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

What the powerpoint said this morning--

Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring LOIN looking for someone to devour.

now THAT paints an awkward mental picture in a sunday morning church service.

yikes.

last night someone who i was talking with mentioned that he came across my blog and that he read entries from about a year ago, of course, this made me interested in what i had to say a year ago AND MAN WAS I SO MUCH MORE INTERESTING THEN THAN I AM NOW!

my writing has become a big yawn fest lacking in creative observations written about the small things that i enjoy in life and those simple insights into the world that i used to make so easily. so i've been trying to think of something to write about and the most i can come up with is that i'm a surfer wannabe.

for years i said that if i had grown up by the ocean, i would've been a surfer girl. i pouted that sadly, i had been brought into this world in landlocked ohio, and there i remained for 22 years, trapped by corn due to the life decisions my parents continually made.

WHO AM I KIDDING?

the ocean terrifies me if i get more than knee deep. i think of seaweed entangling me, strange fish brushing up against my leg, sharks ripping me limb from limb, a giant octupus wrapping its tentacles around my face and dragging me to the mirey depths of the oceanfloor AND I WANT TO RUN FROM THE OCEAN.

i went to a beach called exmouth two days ago and i loved laying on the sand. i even loved climbing on some rocks that weren't too far out. but the shallow bits were covered in seaweed, and i could not, COULD NOT, even step in it.

moral of this story: i'm a wannabe surfer wannabe because the reality is that while i'd like the idea that i'm a girl who would enjoy surfing....i probably wouldn't.

one last thing to leave you with....a russian toilet.