Like my hat?

Katie took this at Christmas. I wanted to include a photo of me on my blog and appartenly I need one that is already hosted on the internet, so I had to post it here first. Strange...

Knitting and knitting!

I joined a knitting group that meets just down the road from my house. It is a great way of meeting new people and I have even interested two friends into coming. It meets after work on Tuesdays at a pub and believe me we get some weird stares and comments from the other people in the pub, but it is fun! I have gone 3 weeks in a row, and just this past week were people talkative at all. The British definately need time to warm up to newcomers. The first two weeks I was teaching my friends how to knit, so this past week I got to work on my own scarf, just in time for spring to come. Oh well, it is still fun! Check out our blog page, there is even a picture of me on there!

www.angelknitslondon.blogspot.com

The Ghost project in Canada is nearly finished!

One of my friends from last summer's design build project in Canada emailed me saying that our professor is going to be in Edinburgh next week giving a lecture and the lecture poster (at the left) has our project on it! We built the cabin on the right and he had the other 3 built by professionals. I might go up and see him lecture and visit with Felicity, my roommate from the Ghost project. Exciting!

The crossoroads...

I am finally settled on where I am going to work, at least until the end of July. I ended up getting a formal offer of employment from Foster and Partners and thought that is what I wanted. But after some major soul searching and hard thinking, I decided to stay with my current firm, DLG Architects. I decided that I am getting better experience here working on smaller projects and of the type I can see myself doing in the future. As one of my professors put it, I was at a bit of a crossroads. Having the name Foster and Partners would have looked great on my resume, but that would have been the extent of it. I had a meeting with the prinicple in charge of my project and told her about the offer and she really helped me to figure out what was right for me, and didn't push me to stay. She also said that we will work together on figuring out an extention on my Visa, YEAH!!!

Glastonbury - briefly!

After Newquey, we headed back to London by way of a one night stop in Glastonbury. We were all exhausted from our big night out and Marjorie wasn't feeling well, so we decided to treat ourselves to a nice bed and breakfast for the night. We just had dinner and went back to the b&b to watch tv for an early night. I had a great sleep! I woke up early the next morning to find that Marjorie was really sick and we need to take her to the hospital, she was in serious pain! Luckily it was just down the road and found out that she had a bad infection. So she got some meds and we headed straight back to London. It took us a while to get there, but eventually we made it back. I am glad to report that she is doing much better today!

Satruday night in Newquay!

We went out to one of the many bars on Satruday night and had a great time! We ended up at the Walkabout, a chain pub/club that they have everywhere in Britian, but it was great! They had a great DJ and then found out that they had an even better band. They played all really good covers and we danced till 3am. I woke up the next morning and seriously couldn't hear - it was that good!

Newquay (pronounced new-key)

So after a night in Brighton, we hopped in the car and drove 5.5 hours to the West coast of the country, to the bit that sticks out towards the US, to Newquey for the night. It was such a cute little surfer city with amazing beaches and great weather. Unfortunatly we picked a scary hostel, but it didn't dampen the trip.

We walked along the beach on Sunday (Easter) morning and found that the locals had set up an easter egg hunt for the kids. Burried the eggs in the sand - that is what that dark spot is in the sand in the picture. I think the parents had way more fun digging for the eggs than the kids did.

Brighton

We stayed in Brighton for the first night, Friday night. It was a really short drive, about 1.5 hours (and that is quite a distance to the Brits!) It is right on the coast, due South of London. It is a great city, big pier the reminds me of the Navy Pier in Chicago. We went out to this great place for dinner where we were entertained by a belly dancer and a fire juggler/fire breather - wacky!

This was the group - Marin, Marjorie, Me and Maria. It was a great group! I was the only one who knew how to drive a stick, so i did all the driving (and on the 'wrong' side mind you!) but it was realitively short distances, so it wasn't bad. We went to the cd store and stocked up on road trip music - the new Ben Harper, Michael Jackson's Thriller and Off the Wall, Ryan Adams, Fleetwood Mac.

Our weekend away!

We had a 4 day holiday weekend and 3 friends of mine and I decided to rent a car and take a roadtrip through the English countryside. Here is my friend Marjorie getting something out of the trunk (aka boot!). It was so fun! The car was pretty small, but we managed to fit in it just right. We decided that it must have had a ghost, every once in a while, the cd player would just stop working and kick back to the radio, it got a bit annoying. But we had a blast driving through the millions of round-abouts, saw about a billion sheep and so beautiful English countryside.

New photos

I have added the photos that I took right before I started work to my online photo album. Check them out if you have a few minutes. You can navigate there from the link on the right!

Oh and that would be the One and Only Big Ben of course!

Foster and Partners office

So this is their office (the one on the left) - strange to think that they work in such an ordinary office building when you think about how un-ordinary their work is!

They called me back this week! They wanted to let me know that they thought I was a very promising candidate and needed proof that I am legal to work over here, so i sent them copies of my visa and passport. And the waiting game continues...

Say hi when you stop by!

It is fun to check on my blog and see that people have visited, so if you get a chance post a comment so that I know you have stopped by. You don't have to register, you can post as an anonymous poster, just leave your name in the post. I would love to hear from you!

Adjusting to the working world...

Sorry, no picture today. I just realized I haven't taken any pictures in a few weeks. I have made it through my first two weeks of work and that has been tough enough. So I haven't gotten out much or taken any photos. Since I haven't worked in so long, it has been a rough adjustment getting up everyday, but it is getting easier. But work is going well. I am working on a redevelopment of a supermarket with housing and retail spaces. I even got my own building the first week! Very exciting!

We have a four day weekend coming up for Easter, so my friends Maria, Marjie and I are planning on getting away for a few days. Not sure where yet, but we are definately getting out of the city for a break. I can't wait to travel and see more of the country!

My new job!

I finally started my new job at DLG Architects today. It was so tiring! Taking in all the information about the firm, the project, meeting all of the people in the office, learning Microstation - it is always such process to start at a new place. The people so far are very nice and I don't have my own desk yet, but will get one this week I think. I am sitting at the desk of someone who is on holiday for the week. It is in a great area, right by Liverpool Street station, and an easy commute from my house. It is not too much longer than I commuted in Seattle, so that is great. I have added their website to the right side links if you want to take a look.

This image has nothing to do with my job, but I did take it on one of my last days before I had my job. That is the London Eye, the giant ferris wheel thing that is right on the water's edge - it is SSOOO cool! And the House of Parliment on the north side of the Thames River.

I finally accepted a job...

Finally, got it all sorted out. I am going to be working with DLG Architects starting 9am Monday. I am sooooo excited, and not just for the paycheck. That is quite exicting too, don't get me wrong, but I am excited to finally stop searching and just get into it. Yeah, it will get in the way of my tourist activities, but I have throughly exhausted all of the free activities, so I feel good about stopping that now. I would like to have to be somewhere each day, have a purpose everyday. I am feeling a bit lost here without something to have to do, somewhere to be. Plus, I am going to meet people and that will be great too!

And who knows, this might just be a temorary thing, but it might not. So I am excitied about the possibility of what is to come. Oh and about the Foster interview, it was nuts!!! Their office is over 600 people, and it is totally an architecture sweatshop of sorts - one big room with huge long tables that sit 15+ people on each side of the aisle! They even have their own coffee shop in the office! They are in the process of interviewing hundreds of people, so they said they would get back to me in 2 weeks. So I will let you know what I hear. Unless it is bad, and then I just won't mention it again!

Oh yeah, and how cool is this model???!!! It is at a place called the New London Architecture Center and it is a model of the central part of London, every single building in the city and all of the planned new buildings, including the new proposed Olympic Village for 2012. It is amazing!

How cute are they?

Here are my niece and nephew, Kelsey (just 2 days old) and Bradley is two. This was just after the new year, and I am sure Kelsey is much bigger and more exciting these days. Less sleeping and more crying I am sure!

Me and my Sistas!

You get bonus points for knowing where this picture was taken, Carol and Katie! I finally got these pictures off my camera and thought it would be nice to see them on my blog. I miss you crazies!

I got an interview with FOSTER AND PARTNERS!!!

And this building is designed by them, hence the reason for the picture. So I got an email last week saying with the subject "Invitation to Interview" and I about fell over...I seriously never expected anything to come from me sending my stuff to them, hoped, but definately didn't count on it. So tomorrow (Monday at 10am) I am going to interview there. I am totally excited, but freaked out too! This could be great, or it could be as bad as the interview I had at Make, that was horrible.

Anyway, keep me in your thoughts, and I will let you all know what happens!

Here are my flat mates!

We went on a house outing today to a the Kentwood Manor House in the North of the city. We had lunch out in the sun, although from this picture you would never know that it was sunnier just a bit earlier!

So from the left:

Emma - footware designer from Stratford Upon Avon (where Shakespere is from!) She just got back from a work trip to China with 35 new DVD's - SWEET!

Brett - Has sight problems but does really well as an IT specialist for the mostly government projects, and very quick witted! Not sure where Brett is from but somewhere close by London.

John - from Ireland, south of Dublin somewhere on the coast. Currently unemployed, so of course my buddy! We share horror stories of our stupid recruitment agenices and kill time watching tv together during the day while everyone is actually earning money!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I am planning on celebrating the occasion tonight along with many others I am sure! A friend that I have met here, Maria, her sister is coming into town from the States today, so we are all going to find an Irish Pub in town and have a Guiness to celebrate.

I hope everyone at home is wearing Green for the occasion! I know I am!

Grandpa, got any big plans for the day? Painting any roads green or Grand Marshalling any parades?