Is it still called "Vacation Head..."

...if you aren't coming back?

Now that everyone knows our plans and I think I have the support of my family and friends in our decision to live in the UK, I feel like I'm ready for it to happen now. Now. Yesterday. Soon.

I have never been very good with being patient.

I found myself being very slack with work last week. This week I almost considered letting one of our clinicians interpret for her own client (something I'm vehemently against for ethical and boundary reasons) just so that I could take some time off and go to Atlanta to see Liz and Andrew before they head back to the UK this weekend...why? Of course because I love them dearly, but also because they are a link to Simon and a link to my new life...and because if Andrew talks to me long enough I can almost hear the Yorkshire in his voice.

Liz will get me for that one, I'm sure...love you, ebeth. Mmmmmwa.

Simon and I started going through my collection of Very Important Things that Must Move With Me Everytime I Move while he was here...boxes of old receipts, tons of old photographs, clothes that haven't been out of boxes in more than five years...stuff. It's all just stuff and I still have a good metric TON to go through before I move.

Before I move...in February of 2009. I say it like that and it sounds like it's a million miles away. But if I let myself think on it too long it's right around the corner and I start feeling like I'm never going to get everything done on time.

Serious Vacation Head. Can you call in sick for that?

Never Trust a Yorkshireman with a Camera-Phone

Also known as Embarrass Yourself Before Someone Else Does, Boys and Girls...

Time to play "Catch Up"

thee and me
Originally uploaded by Nancy Allen

It's been awhile since I've posted, I know, but there has been a lot going on here at the Lettuce that hasn't been able to be posted publicly...until now.

No, I'm not pregnant, I haven't sprouted an extra head, nor am I adopting any more greyhounds for the time being. I am not quitting my job to blog full time, nor am I ready to publish another book or sell anything online (but if you haven't gotten a chance, please do check out my books at Lulu.com.../end shameless plug here).

Big thing number one is that I'm getting married...again. I hate saying getting married AGAIN because the circumstances and the men are just so different that comparing anything about the two experiences is akin to apples and oranges, save the fact that I will again be someone's wife and have a husband. Simon and I are looking at a date around the very first of January of 2009, which gives me just enough time to pull my hair out and scratch out my eyeballs in stress...i.e. 9 months. While there isn't as much to do for this affair as there was the first time around (because a big second wedding is just tacky), there are still flowers to arrange and a dress to fit into for me. I'm leaning toward no bridesmaids, just a maid/matron of honor for me.

Simon and I were toying with the idea of having Jeany and Daisy come down the aisle with flower petals on their backs or some such which led me to the hilarious image of Daisy shooting down the aisle at full speed, flower petals zooming out from her wake like tiny projectiles that would break skin and put out eyes, then hitting me in the chest with her front paws so hard that she knocks everyone down like a row of dominoes. We then decided that perhaps that would NOT be such a good idea.

That's about as much wedding planning we've done, other than ask to have the wedding at my sister's church in Atlanta and ask my father to officiate. Speaking of my sister, for a moment, she's famous! Sooz was featured in the Atlanta Journal and Constitution's religion section last week with pictures and everything!! Clicking on the above link will take you to the photos from that article, "Finding a deeper meaning in Easter." There is a picture in the gallery in the first link of the sanctuary, which has just gorgeous stained glass.

The next bit of news that is going to turn my entire head of hair white in the planning is that after the wedding I will be moving to England to live there with Simon. We're thinking that the move will be sometime in the first week of February. Between now and then I have to research USA fiance visa procedures for him, UK spouse visa procedures for me, PETS procedures for the animals, cost of shipping four animals to the UK as well as the how to's of such a venture...and sometimes it all seems insurmountable.

It seems insurmountable until I have to stand on the other side of the glass, watching Simon go up the escalator to the A concourse at Greenville Spartanburg International Airport. Nothing is too hard, nothing is too overwhelming, nothing is impossible if it will allow me to never have to feel that kind of pain and loneliness again. All the stress of moving, living in another country, learning to drive on the other side of the road, being away from my family...it will be done and dusted and Simon and I will have a new and happy life to look forward to in the UK, and that is what matters.

Hello from Athens, GA!!

Gooooooo Dawgs!!
Originally uploaded by Nancy Allen

Simon and I took the dogs down and cruised around campus a bit...I didn't want them to be intimidated by the mascot so we didn't stay too long.

Man alive do I love that town!! GO DAWGS!