Leggings are NOT pants. Unless...

 

You know what's great about living in the shire and 4-5 days of the week only leaving the house for walks around the country side?

 

Hobbits.

 

Just kidding. Leggings!

 

I have, in the past, been an avid believer in the "leggings are not pants!!!" rule, but you know what? If Yoda (the neighbors cat), the chickens, and the occasional horse/sheep/cow are the only living creatures to see me, YES I am going to be rocking these way too worn out- should never be worn in public leggings. And I'm not sorry!

 

Add leg warmers, baggy sweaters, and slippers and I am in crumpet eating, tea (ok, still coffee....) drinking English heaven.

 

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Never Ever Ever...

Never Ever Ever...

Never ever ever have I taken this many baths in a row. (Ok, I realize that probably needs an explanation....) 

We have this interesting shower situation. There are separate faucets for both hot and cold water on one side of the tub, with a shower head on the Other side of the tub. I realize that it is this way because the shower head was added on waaaay later....BUT the shower head has a power BUTTON. How weird is that? Also, outside of the bathroom there is a switch that says "SHOWER" that needs to be on for the shower to work. So I'm telling you all of this to say that the shower currently hasn't been working. Since last Thursday. Turn the switch on (that means hot water routed to the shower head), press the button, FREEZING WATER. Not a fun little progression there. So, in order to avoid freezing cold showers in 50 (excuse me, 10) degree weather, we have been resorting to baths. I do NOT like baths....its just dirty and ew and I'll end that rant right there. (also, washing your hair in the sink is hard work!!!!) 

All that to let you know that my hair hasn't felt properly clean in almost a week. FUN TIMES AT THE OLD DAIRY.

Never ever ever have I been such an adventurous food try-er! (Yes, I know auto correct, try-er is not really a word....) 

Since I have been in England I have tried jellied eel, smoked eel, sushi of all kinds, seaweed, salmon (I know I know, whats wrong with me...), wet walnuts with salt (um, YUM), various veggie chips ("swanky veg" is my favorite...because of the name) and I feel there there must be more than that, but I can't think of anything at the moment.

Never ever ever will I turn into a tea drinker.

Sorry England, its not you, its me. Coffee coffee coffee coffee....

Never ever ever have I been without Mexican food for a whole month.... WAAAH. 

Someone box up some Chuys/Los Cucos/Ninfas/etc and ship it to me ok??

Never ever ever have I played this much flute in one month. 

Ok, thats a lie. I know that the combination of practicing, rehearsals, and concerts racked up quite a few hours while I was in school. But this is different....no rehearsals, no concerts, no chamber music, no homework (kind of...) just practicing the flute. I might just get good while I'm here!!!

Never ever ever have I received a letter while I've been here. 

SAD DAY, Y'ALL!!! I'm not silly enough to post my address on the internet, but the Army has forced me to fall in love with letters, and if you love writing as well, I'd love to hear from you!! (So many commas in that sentence, sorry...) Leave me a comment saying if you'd like to write and I'll write you back with my address!!

*I have yet to download and try the blogging app that I was advised to use (I promise I will!!) But today I'm linking up with this awesome chick that dressed up as Robin Sparkles for Halloween. I mean, come on. Her name is Stephanie and she blogs at Vintage Modern Wife- go check her out!!!

So for now, no links and no high quality photos the size that I would like them to be....oh well! 

Happy Month-iversary, England! Its been interesting ;)

Flute update and OOTD, rainy England style!

I haven't been taking nearly as much time for blogging as I thought I would. The past year, blogging was my outlet and the way that I chose to use my little bit of downtime, to relax and let my emotions and experiences out in a creative way.

In England, my creative juices are absolutely churning, but mostly I'm taking time to write emails and journal for myself and to keep a log of my flute progress.

To bring you up to speed if you are wondering why in the world this Texas girl is in England...

I'm extremely fortunate and blessed to be studying the flute with Trevor Wye as a member of his private studio. Trevor is a world renowned flutist and teacher- most of the flute world has studied from his publications at some point or another. SO, I am here to soak up as much as I can as far as the flute and his stories/teaching goes. 

Let me tell you, in less than a month I know that I have already learned so much!! It isn't extremely pleasant to have someone point out your biggest flaws as a musician bi-weekly (some that you didn't even realize you had!), but that is why I'm here!! We are constantly in a state of being picked apart....but the growth that comes from that process is tremendous. Its emotionally draining and exciting!!

Alright, enough about flute for now :) Today I'm excited to link up with one of my favorite fashion blogs, Walking in Memphis in High Heels. Her challenge was to style fur for the fall (mine is faux, of course). So thanks to my awesome roomie, Katie, I'm showing of my fur vest....that I wear a LOT here in England! And wellies, of course, because its raining. Always. 

***bare with me...I'm not very good at blogging on my ipad so I can't figure out how to post html or link back to people....urg. Any great apps out there?!

I'm maybe a little excited to finally make use of this vest....I actually wonder why I bought it living in Texas....oh well ;)

In the next few days I'll try to post a few more photos (including puppies, a bird taller than me, a house older than the US, etc...) along with some stories from the past week or so! 

Can you believe I've been in England almost a month already?! 

Currently...

Currently... I am listening to the beautiful sound of steady rain in an otherwise completely silent area of the world. The rain is not working wonders for my need to practice at least 5 hours a day while I am here- all I want to do is wear sweatpants and read a book in my bed!

Currently... I am reading The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Its an absolutely gorgeous story. I loved Gatsby, and this book was laying around our dairy when we got here so I decided to give it a go! Currently life is "beautiful", but since I'm about half way through I'm guessing the "damned" part will be coming soon. (**this is NOT a spoiler, I'm just loosely interpreting the title)

Currently... I am BEYOND THRILLED and so so so INCREDIBLY PROUD of my handsome talented man!! Not only has he started his job with Pershing's brilliantly (in my slightly biased opinion), but he just won a second job as the 3rd trumpet in the Annapolis symphony! Two jobs fresh out of school?! If I weren't so pleased I might be jealous!! Love you sweetie- SO HAPPY for you!!

Currently... I am missing easy internet access for the sake of easily keeping in touch with family and friends. Hopefully this will be remedied soon, but we are trying not to get our hopes up.

Currently... I am missing the following things: a dishwasher, a functional dryer, central heat, a shower that has a full curtain, and my pillow.

Currently... I am enjoying the following things: crumpets, black currant jam, evening walks with Trevor, and the company of my new roommates.

Currently... I am enjoying REAL fall weather for a change! My sweaters and vests (excuse me- "waist coats") are getting good use in England so far. 

First week in England!

Hi friends!
England is beautiful and green and every bit as picturesque as I had imagined.

I got a bit scared because the first day we had to use the heater already...but ever since its been very nice, maybe a high of 60? Sometimes our walks are quite cool (temperature wise), but we always end up having to strip jackets off because the hills are pretty extreme!!!

Its been absolutely flute all day everyday, the way that it will stay for  most of my time here.

I have a few pictures to share (if I can get them to work!!) that I took during our walks to and from Trevor's house.

My roommates and I live in "The Old Dairy" which actually used to be the dairy. Yes, cows used to live in our rooms!! I'm sure it wasn't carpeted at the time though ;)

Life has been a little interesting since we are having to get used to a slightly different way of life. For example, each electric outlet has a switch on it. So not only does the appliance have to be turned on, but the outlet has to be turned on as well! And there is a meter that you have to feed...we already made the mistake of letting it run out so our power went out in the middle of a clear day! Then we realized that we had let to meter run out...
________________

Alrighty- WELL, Because of the terrible internet situation we have going on, this is now almost a week later!

I was worried that it would be cold, but it has been absolutely lovely! It gets chilly at night and its very moist here, so the hills are beautifully foggy in the morning but the sun comes around and burns it off. Right now I'm sitting outside wearing a light sweater and jacket looking across the street at a church built in the 12th century. GORGEOUS.

So far we have been practicing and adjusting to Trevor's classes. We have class on Monday's and Thursdays. The other days we practice (all day), take walks, and cook!  We literally live next door to chickens, across the street from horses (we just bought mints to feed them so they will like us...), and down the street from sheep! The story book kind. Absolutely adorable. Also, when we walk to Trevor's there cows at the top of the hill that we say "Good Morning!" to (in a British accent, of course) and occasionally the "moooooo" back. Its the little things, right?

Greetings from England!

Hi guys!!

Quick update to let you know that I'm in England- alive and well!

What is NOT alive and well is my internet situation....so I'm a bit worried that my blogging will suffer for quite awhile.

My hope is that once a week or so I will be able to update with some beautiful photos of life in this tiny village out in the country. It really is a magical place. And rainy. With lots of spiders....in the cottage.

Anywho, lots of fluting (playing the flute) has been going one, and lots more will continue!
That is why I'm here after all....

So don't give up on me! I'll be here as much as possible :)