july catch up

Since starting at my new job, my life has seriously changed for the better.

Rather than finding out the week before what shifts I had to work and changing between late and early with no pattern, I now have a routine!! Which I love. 

Monday - Friday I get picked up at 7:45 and back home at 6:30 and weekends off... like a normal person with normal hours!

In my first week I built a vacuum- look how nice it is. I get a family and friend discount. If anyone wants a fan or vacuum let me know. Although shipping might add up so you have to come here to collect it.

The Olympics are in full swing here and everyone is feeling very patriotic. 

I went down to the harbor in Bristol to watch the opening ceremonies with some friends and 500 others. It was a great atmosphere and got me very excited for the games. 

The last couple weeks were really warm- finally! Pete and I took advantage of it and left the house whenever we could.

Summer BBQ

Nadine (Swiss student living with us) is getting better at English so we played a game of scrabble with her. She could use a dictionary as well as do words in Spanish (just another one of the 5 languages she speaks!!!). We made it more into school for her where she had to tell us the meaning of every word that was played. Haha poor Nadine!

Last weekend Pete and I went to his cousins wedding in the country. It was a beautiful wedding with a great view.

The venue was amazing- it had the same rooms as the mansion in the game Clue.

Library, conservatory, study... 

Overall it has been a great month with weekend adventures and a new work routine that I am enjoying.

  The rain has come back so it looks like we have had a short two week summer :(

Pete left on Monday for two weeks in Norway. He did great on all of his exams (yay!) and then had a month  shadowing an orthopaedic surgeon and now he has a month off.  Pete and his friend Merrick are hiking through the mountains and fishing for all their food. Not my idea of a relaxing break but I know he will love it.

At the end of August Pete and I are going to Belgium for a week to see his family and then in September my mom and dad are coming! It is going to be a good couple of months.. :)

Reunited!!

Alright, so now that everyone is caught up from January until my trip to Canada, it is now time to catch you up on the rest. I returned home to our new room mate... Nadine. She is Swiss German and will be living with us until the end of August. She is attending an English language school here in Bristol, who contacted us about this program of having a lodger stay with us... This includes us providing a  homemade dinner (time to learn how to cook) and breakfast each day. Pete and I had our spare room empty (hint hint) and thought it would be a great way to earn some extra money.  So far it has gone great. Plenty of short conversations about how our days were and then Pete and I thinking of millions of questions to ask to keep the (slightly one sided) conversation going. She is getting better though already as well as becoming less shy.

Also when I returned Pete began his long week of final exams, which he has now finished and awaiting the results which come soon. The study was only to be interupted by the Euro Cup (soccer/football) around 730.

The most exciting thing that has happened since I have returned is: MY NEW JOB!

I flew back on the Tuesday and got an email from Dyson (dyson.co.uk) saying that they had recieved my resume from someone and would like to have me in for an interview asap. The job was for maternity leave cover for the PA to the Marketing Manager, Internal Communications Manager and E commerce Manger.  So on Friday moring I went to the interview and, well, it was interesting..... Besides the obvious interview questions, others that were thrown in there were:
1. What is 30% of 80?
2.  If dyson created a fridge what would it be like?
3. How many bottles of wine are drank each weekend in Bristol?... not just a guess,  but using logical thought and,
4. Why is a man hole round?
Thankfully I got a ride into the interview from a friend who has worked with this guy before and was able to warn and prepare me for his strange interview technique.

So I heard from them on the following Tuesday and handed in my two week notice at House of Fraser the next day. Which means that tomorrow is my last day of work there!! and I start on Friday.  This job was initially just a maternity leave cover, but after my interview they said they were hopeful to keep me on next year in the graduate program and so they have started me on the graduate wage and will try to help me stay with them. YAY!
This is the job description of what I will be doing as a PA:

•Proactively organise and manage diaries liaising with internal and external contacts, Manage and co-ordinate preparation for JD creative review meetings, Distribute notes from JD Creative review meetings, Main contact for Group Marketing enquires, International and department conference management at least 2 a year, Information Management custodian for Group Marketing and the Different and better drive, Organise Group Marketing department meetings including external speakers, Ensure all necessary paperwork is ready for meetings,Take Minutes of meetings where appropriate,Monitor follow up of action points from meetings, Complete expenses each month, Proactively manage emails,

Manage in-tray and daily post including travel authorisations,Welcome visitors to the office, alert gatehouse etc,Send business letters when necessary, Arrange all travel, flights and taxis and hotel bookings, Executive team meetings board report collation, Other office housekeeping, Co-ordinate new starter induction programmes for Direct Reports when necessary and International heads of market visits, Relay of messages and communications, Other administration duties as appropriate.

Well, I am quite proud of myself for this double blog in one week and will leave it at that for now! This weekend Pete and I are going to our friend Anna's cottage in Bath and then on Sunday we will celebrate our one year anniversary! Crazy how fast it went!

Paul also came and stayed with us before he proposed to his GF and we left Pete to his studying and fed the queen's pet swans.

The good thing about the rain is how green everything is now. This is the park right by our house :)

OKAY! I'm back in England after my time in Canada. The question I heard more than any other was, "why did you stop blogging"? And to be honest I don't have an excuse besides being lazy. But I am determined to try and start again, providing that I actually have something to share.

Bristol in the spring time.

SOOOOO, the past six month have been fairly busy. Pete was on placement from the middle of February til the begining of June. Which means that he was away from Monday till Friday at different hospitals in the South West. This meant for me some lonely nights at home, but it also forced me to be more active in getting together with new friends. Which also meant going around to theirs and having food made for me after work!

On my walk to work. 

In March we went to Belgium to see Pete's family.  It was great to get away from Bristol for a bit and see all of his family. As well I met Pete's brothers girlfriend for the first time ( they are now engaged and I am very excited to have another sister-in-law soon). We also went to Holland for the day to see Hannah's ( older of the two sisters) school which she has been attending for the past two years (And since then has graduated and got accepted into med school in Cardiff-just across the bridge from us).

Other than that, I just worked at House of Fraser full time and tried to stay dry while counting down the days till I left for Canada. My time at home was soooo busy but equally amazing. All I did was spend time with family (especially baby Kyran) and friends, but that is all I wanted to do. It was exactly what I needed for a holiday. Here are a few pictures from my time:

Kyran is a bit unsure of his dad.



Sher, Tim and Jasper

Summer  BBQ.

Aliesha's beautiful new house.

Kyran working out.

The new Grandmas.

I love my parents! Can't wait for September

Dinner with these two lovely people.

Yummy.

Our little family.

Manda!

Making Aliesha's Birthday cake.

Little Mermaid.

Kendra and Grandma playing trains.. where I spent 50% of my time.

 Intense game.

FAMILY.. just missing Pete :(

Babies and Grandma.

<3

And just some underwater pictures from our swimming session at midnight.

Haha Aliesha

 Im sorry.

My eyes were very sore after this.

Okay that is all for this blog.. A long entry for a long over due post. Hope you enjoyed and next time I will update you on what has happpend since I have returned to Bristol.