Cotswolds

We took a lovely day trip into the Cotswolds. It's exactly as you would imagine. Picture perfect English countryside towns and villages just about an hour outside of Oxford. If you ever come visit, this little trip is a must do.

Lately

I can't believe that summer is already over here. Mornings and evenings are chilly and it's been raining almost every day. Here are a few pictures from the last few weekends. We caught the tail end of a pick your own produce farm and scored some berries and made cobbler. We've been riding our bikes out to some fun gastropubs. The picture of Neil sitting under a willow tree is at The Perch, a classic English pub with huge grounds on the Thames.

On another note, the spiders here are no joke! We were shocked to find this guy in our sink. I'm not sure if the picture does him justice, but he was very large. Every morning I have to fight my way through our front walk because of all the webs from the night before. They are persistent and like clockwork, are always there in the morning. I quickly learned to swat my way through after the first few days of blindly walking through and getting massive webs to the face. They, on the other hand, do not learn and keep on spinning across the walk. I was talking to my colleagues about all the spiders and they say England wouldn't be England without all of the spiders.

Ireland

Hello all. We're back from Dublin. The trip started off on a stressful note because we hit two extra hours of traffic on the way to London and were very close to missing our flight and potentially the whole trip. But it must have been the luck of the Irish because we made it and so did our bag. We spent most of our time in Dublin, but also spent a day on the west coast to see the beautiful Cliffs of Moher, and also a half day in a small seaside town called Dalkey Village. The weather changed about every ten minutes but for the most part it was clear and nice. We had such a great trip. Now we're off to do laundry and unpack and Neil starts work tomorrow!

Biking the Countryside

Everyone in Oxford has a bike. So to fit in and feel more "local" Neil and I took the plunge and bought matching bikes. (Yes, they are the his and her version of the same bike.) We were about to take an evening bike ride the other night and we ran into some neighbors of ours. They told us we definitely need to get "hats" and to be careful on the small streets.
We took a much longer bike ride this weekend up into Cumnor Village. I say "up into" because it's on the top of a hill, a 3 mile long steadily climbing hill. But we made it and the view from the top was pretty nice.

Finally Back Online

We finally have internet at home. I don't even know where to begin to catch you all up. So much has happened the last three weeks.

{Long day of travelling}

{Neil at the wheel. So tired, he's taking a little nap}

{Yay, home}

{River Thames, by our house}

{Jericho. Cool car}

{More Jericho. Cute grocery}

{Punting, River Thames}

{Oxford University}

{Merton College fields}

The Final Countdown

Nine days to go before we're finally off. We found a little townhouse to rent (to let) and we're getting excited to finally start this adventure. We've had a busy few weeks visiting with family and friends in Baton Rouge, Greenville, and Charlotte- and making sure to eat our fair share of crawfish and bbq.  The next stops are to see my parents in Virginia and then head up to New York to fly out. Here's a picture of our house. We hope to have a lot more to share soon.

New Prime Minister

I stumbled upon these pictures of polling stations around Britain, mostly at pubs. Charming, eh? I could (and just might) get used to this way of life.

Adios New York

As my time in New York is coming to an end, I'm trying to keep positive about all the change that is afoot. I'm excited for a change of pace, a less crowded city life, and some wide open green spaces!

I'll miss the NYC skyline and sunsets though.

I've also had my eyes on a Vespa for as long as I can remember and Oxford seems like the perfect place to have one. Have I been looking through the classifieds EVERY day to find the perfect used green Vespa for sale?

Of course not, because that would be ca-crazy. But I do have my eyes peeled.

But I'd be equally as happy to own something like this.

Update

Howdy folks. It's been a while. You see, there is a lot going on here with us before we can move on to our new post. Moving out of our current apartment and Neil writing his thesis are the two big things. But I wanted to update you on our housing situation in Oxford. ** Update: We are still homeless ** But rest assured we still have plenty of time (according to Neil). See finding a place in Oxford while I'm in New York and Neil is in Spain has been interesting. Our conversations have been going something like this...

Me: "We neeeeeed to find a place to live soon. I'm a woman and our breed needs a place to call home, a place to put our things. I need to get address labels printed!"

Neil: "Don't worry, we'll find something soon. What do you think about this?

Pause. Silence.

Me: " Whaaaaat? A houseboat? No way."

Neil: "But it's available and they allow cats. It would be awesome to be the only couple in Oxford living in the only houseboat in Oxford."

Me: "Okay well maybe. Morning coffee on the River Thames might be nice. But if we're going all the way to England can we go for something a little less shrimp boat/ Jenny 2?"

Then we died laughing thinking about the cats running around on a wobbly boat. Trying to keep the humor in life! Needless to say we're still working on finding something, and will keep you posted.
{side note. LOVE that the boat is named Willow. Anyone ever see that movie? Hysterical}