Winding Up

Hey everyone!

Well... This is it!!! I can't believe that the time has finally come for me to get on a plane and fly to London! It is just so crazy because i feel like i've been talking about it for so long that it didn't really feel like ti was actually going to happen. but, now it's here, and it's happening!

I have been tyring to take advantage of opportunities to see people and visit with everyone before i head out. since i stopped work two weeks ago i have been pretty busy doing just that. I went to the wedding of my friend Courtney up in northern virginia last saturday which was so much fun. She was gorgeous and it was really great to see my young life friends one more time. there was a really great group that was my age who are just so fun and love life so much, so you can't be with them and not have a great time. then on sunday i packed up the rest of my room and got ready for mamma to come on monday to pick me up. we had a good time going to lunch and walking around downtown before packing up the car and heading back to lynchburg.

after mamma and i decided that we weren't going to the beach that opened up a whole second week for me to get things done around lynchburg, so i decided to go down to yorktown on wednesday night to hang out with amy since i hadn't been able to see her in a while. on thursday we went to busch gardens to ride the roller coasters and everything. It was really fun because mel came with her(our) friend margaret, too. I then headed to harrisonburg on friday to get some time with sarah. I hung out with the downtown 56 people that night after they got off work which was a lot of fun, and then got lunch with sarah on saturday before heading back to lynchburg.

We have a great family dinner on saturday with mamma, daddy, and greg before greg headed to vegas for the week. After dinner i went with bro to a lawn party that his friends were having out in madison heights. there was a great blue grass band playing and it was a lot of fun, and good to spend that time with greg before i leave. the rest of the week since then has been filled with running errands and spending countless hours online applying for jobs and looking for somewhere to live in london.

amanda, who is going to london too, and i have been in touch a whole lot this week just planning and figuring out exactly what we're going to do and all of that fun stuff. she is flying out from dallas on saturday and will have a layover in atlanta around the same time that i do, so we might actually be able to hang out for a little while THIS side of the pond! how funny is that!

mamma and i have also been spending a little bit of time each day pretending that we are at the beach by packing a lunch and heading to hanshill to float on the pond. we have been having a great time making friends with the overpopulation of fish, snapping turtle, and otter. we've also been doing a little bit of reading, which has been great. I am reading a book called The Memory Keepers Daughter by Kim Edwards which is about a doctor who sends his daughter away just after she is born with downs' syndrome without his wife knowing. It takes place in the 1960s and they did not know she was going to have twins, the son was delivered first and then the daughter, whom the doctor/father told the wife had died. it is a sad story, and i'm only about half was through, but it really shows how different public thought was in that time about disabilities and things of that nature.

in other exciting news, i have a lead on a job! i decided that it couldn't hurt to send emails to all the riding clubs in/around london to see if they had any job openings. i heard back from a few saying there was nothing at this time, but they would contact me if anything opened up. then i got an email from a stable in hyde park saying that they may have something for me and to contact them as soon as i arrive. the next day i recieved another email from the same person saying that they just had a vacancy open up for a position grooming, mucking, leading rides, and teaching kids and to call the barn manager as soon as possible. so i will be in touch with them on monday. mamma and i have been having a pretty good time laughing about the possibility of me going all the way to london to scoop poop! hahaha but it would be so fun! so we'll see what happens with that.

alright well i suppose this is a long enough update. i'm off to do some laundry and fun stuff like that!