Hello Everyone!

I just wanted to send a quick note regarding the latest from the UK.  My news is fairly centralized around the new arrival to my household.  Alexander is growing fast.  I can’t believe how quickly he is developing.  He has been smiling for the past two weeks and it makes my heart melt every time he does it.  In fact, he does it more and more as a response to attention I and/or his Daddy give him.

He came into this world at 52cm in length and he is now about 64cm long.  He was last weighed a week ago and was 11 lbs. 6 oz.  Tomorrow, he gets his first set of immunizations and has a development check.   I am not looking forward to this, but I figure we will both live through it. 

 Last Saturday, he went to his first car show.  We did not take our big old car, but we intend to at the end of the month.  Our friends, who will be new parents in August, could not believe that he didn’t even budge when a car had its engine revved right next to him as he was sleeping.  I confess I was a bit surprised myself and am hoping this is not a sign of deafness. 

Anyway, I must get back to my little man.  Hope to see some of you this summer.

 Love,

Amanda

 

On Friday, February 17, at 11:23 PM, my son, Alexander George Brown was born. He weighed in at 8lbs. 12oz. I think he is perfect.

Love,
Amanda

UPDATE: Click here to see more pictures of little Alex.

 

Hey!

Let me start by saying, I'm fine. Simon is fine. His brothers and parents are fine too. I still haven't heard anything from one friend and I'm still upset about this. He works in the Gherkin, which isn't that far from Aldgate and Mooregate stations. I just talked to Simon, but he was so tired I didn't want to keep him on the phone too long and didn't ask him if he'd heard from Robert yet.

Yesterday, was eerie and hard for me. It just brought back all those feelings from 9/11. Like feeling absolutely terrified till I read amy and geoff's email and new they were okay...and so many other people in DC and NY too.

And Micah, you are right...what a week of ups and downs. It has been like, wild living in/near London right now. So, cool to have Live 8 going on and people getting to see Philly and understand more about where I come from. Then the protests and we won the Olympic bid...(which I am so freaking excited about because I LOVE the Olympics.)

And then the bombings...I was handed a newspaper today on the plane and I couldn't look at it because I don't do those pictures too well. Every time they showed the Towers burning and collapsing I wanted to vomit...and the same feeling comes over me every time I see the image of that bus. But the headline was something like 52 dead...at the airport they were saying 37. I think I am still a bit in shock over this situation...and other situations.

I flew into Philly today and arrived 3 hours ago. I'm at my Mom's for now. I sort of got accosted on the plane...a first for me. The man next to me sat there masterbating while rubbing my upper thigh. At first, I thought I was imagining him touching me. Then I knew I wasn't, so I asked the flight attendant to move me and she did...trying to get my head around this one. Need to start travelling with my husband more often!

I think I am very all over the place in this post. There are reasons for this though...those stated above and I'm jetlagged and I have other news. I was going to wait and say something to you people on 23 July because I'll be about 12 weeks in then and everyone says I should wait till then to tell anyone. However, I feel that after yesterdays horrifying...deja vu like events...I think maybe people need to hear something good. I'm going to be a mom in February.

Anyway, love to you all. Hope to see some familiar faces on 23 July. Thanks soooo much Amy, Geoff, Micah, Dennis and Laura for asking about me and Simon. We are fine.

Love,
Amanda 

Hey!

I hope all are well. Happy Birthday Ryan! Hope you enjoyed your birthday celebrations at Chuck E. Cheese's.

I have some Wizard of Oz news for you. Although, being the big Oz fan that you are you probably already know this information.

Dorothy's dress is going up for auction on April 27 here in London. Today it is on display somewhere in the city. I wonder what something like that will go for?  read more (212 words)

Hello Everyone!

We did in fact move from our flat into a house on 18 February 2005. It was a very long day. The movers underestimated the amount of stuff we have and didn't come prepared.

(We were wondering why their quote for moving us was so low. ;) Note to myself: Try to hide the bossom and smile less when someone comes to quote me a price for moving my stuff. It was nice on our pocket, but what a long, tiring and chaotic process!)

Anyway, we started out with a medium sized van and 4 dudes, who were complaining from minute one. After a couple of hours a woman showed up with an average sized van to help. About 3 hours later, they took off with all the stuff they could carry and left our garage about a quarter full. Another van was then assigned to come pick that stuff up later. So, they arrived at 9AM and they left the house...all 7 of them and their three vans...at 7:15PM. read more (721 words)

Hey!

Just a short note to say that we finally exchanged contracts with our buyer and seller today. We are all go for moving on 18 February 2005. I'll let you know if it really happens.

Hope all are well. Take care.

Love,
Amanda

 

Hello All!

I enjoyed a lovely afternoon up in London with my Mother-in-Law, Christine, today. She took me to see Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake and it was wonderful. So, NOT what I expected, but I didn't really know what to expect. I was told that it was an all male cast, which kind of confused me. I'd only ever seen a snippet of Swan Lake performed once before and thought it was so beautiful and graceful the way the ballerinas just sort of glided across the stage. I couldn't even imagine men dancing in the same manner.

Well, they didn't. It was a very modern ballet. It was emotional, passionate and humorous. It was not an all male cast, although all the swans were male. Thankfully, they were not wearing tutus. Instead they were bare chester in knee length trousers made of feathers. They danced with bare feet too.

The swans dancing weren't as serene and elegant as women dancers, but they were more expressive and passionate. The dance between the Swan and the Prince was almost breathtakingly sexy.

In the last seen, the manerisms and dance steps of the swans were so birdlike. Like, I could see my own birds behaving in quite a similar fashion...which was so WOW to see on a stage danced by men. Anyway, I highly recommend it. If it is ever being performed in your local theater...go see it!

And in other news, sitting two rows behind me at the theater was the family I lived with in Muswell Hill when I first came to London to study. The kids were sooo grown up. Matthew is at Uni and 18 and 6'5" tall; baby sarah is 12, and Naomi is a young woman now. As lovely as it was to see them all, it really did make me feel old.

Well, my mind and eyes are tired from all the stimulation they received this afternoon. So, I bid you all farewell.

Love,
Amanda


CAR REPAIRS! The OTHER thing we need men for!...Month of January; Men! Retro Spoofs calendar.
 

Hello My Ducks!

I've had a fairly busy few weeks. I sort of don't know where to begin with this one. However, if Micah's going to take the time to try fixing the server then I might as well take the time to write something. After all, I quite enjoyed seeing a message from Germ in my mailbox this morning. Who knows, maybe someone else will enjoy receiving a message from me...one can only hope.

I've been trying to remember birthdays (my memory has been really bad in the past year...don't know whether it is an after effect of prozac or an effect of stress overload); preparing and taking part in a funfilled car show in Birmingham; making jewelry; and trying to sell my flat again. I remembered most of the birthdays...I think; sold my first two pieces of jewelry; did the car show...relaxing, brainless fun; and I sold my flat, again. In that time I also lost a special person in my life.

I need to pay tribute to my Aunt Ida now. She's the one who taught me to make meatballs, red gravy, gnocchis, raviolis, pork scallapini, cook a good italian roast pork/chicken and to use one of those pasta making machines...not the electric ones. She did all this between the ages of 96 and 97. Well, she's moved onto greener pastures in her 98th year...a few weeks ago. I miss her. She wanted to live to be 100 so she could get her letter from the president. Although, she didn't really want it from Bush. She died before the election...that might have been a sign.

Anyway, here is an Aunt Ida story. For her 96th birthday, my Mom, Debbie McFadden and I took her to John Harvards for a meal. We pulled up outside and she said, "Hey...this is a bar!" I said, "yeah but it has okay food and you can get ribs here." Her eyes lit up and she said okay. She goes in, we're seated, we order. She gets her ribs. Now she is all dressed up to the nines and she still orders her ribs...did she make a mess, yes. Did we care, no! Then she is sitting there and the waiter isn't clearing the table properly. So, he comes by takes a glass and walks off, she yells out "get back here you little bastard!" My Mom is mortified. I loved it...laughed. I mean here I was visiting from England where people are afraid to say anything in a restaurant for fear that someone will spit in their food.

The eating is over, we are waiting for the bill, she notices the stained glass windows in the back of the restaurant. "Oh" she says..."I didn't know this was a religious place." Debbie and I snicker...Debbie says, "well, what sort of a place do you think we would take you too." For those who don't know, they have the likes of Jerry Garcia and Paul Revere dressed as saints in stained glass/plastic on the back wall.

She was a joy to visit on trips home and I will miss her a lot. Some of the stories she told me, whether they be true or not, were still worth hearing.


On to the village people....I saw the strangest thing while waiting with Simon and James for Rachel to arrive. We were standing outside the train station in Kentish Town. Suddenly we were surrounded by a group of people...mostly women, with a few men....I think there were a dozen or so of them. They all had on Bob the Builder hats, bright yellow construction vests, builders boots and flannel plaid shirts. I confess I am assuming the men had jeans on, but I can't be certain. The women were all wearing shorts of various colours...to quote James, "I think I can see their colons."...kind of shorts. It was distracting and bizarre. Anyway, Simon and James said they looked like one of the Village People...I couldn't remember what the village people looked like. I vaguely remember a plains indian dude and maybe a policeman/sailor. Was there a builder too? Not that such information will answer what the hell those people were doing.

Other events in my life:

The estate agent tried to come into my apartment Friday, while I wasn't completely dressed. The little prick arrived 15 minutes early with a viewer and knew I was home. He rang the bell once, waited less then 30 seconds and began to come into the flat. Luckily, I had the main lock on so I had time to get my top on, but this didn't curb my anger. I called up his boss when he left and made the complaint about him. The guy was sort of shocked and said, "Did he knock or ring the bell." I told him yes, but I wasn't prepared to answer the bell without my top on...he only rang it once and didn't really wait before trying to enter. The guy got very apologetic at that point.

Luckily, he called Simon the next morning and told us of the offer on our flat. What a lovely morning! The weather was dismally grey and damp (without rain), but we were enroute to the French Market on the green when we got the news. So, hopefully, Simon won't have to pop that young, overzealous little estate agent in the nose. And we got some very delicious French Brie.

Misty is now saying:
What's Wrong?
You be careful.
I'm careful.
What are you doing?
You're beautiful.
Calm down.

In fact, the other day, I caught her getting in to something she shouldn't. I said MISTY! She said WHAT! I think I am living with a teenager. My Mom finds this amusing...I do too.

Take care and hope to see many of you at the end of the month.

Love,
Amanda 

Hey...

Well, our buyer has officially pulled out of buying our flat. I'm not going to get too detailed about my thoughts concerning that situation at the moment because I'd have to explain way too much. None of you really know anything about the whole sordid affair. Going into my current feelings would only unleash a side of me I'm not ready to reveal at present. When I even attempt to form words concerning this current situation, I get sharp spasms of pain shooting through my head. So I'll just say, fuck it for now.

I was thinking the other day that someone in the form of Chuck was picking on me when I last saw him because I couldn't name any tv shows I watch over here. I don't think he believed me when I said their really wasn't much that is British that I watch anymore. Most of the well known comedies are quite old and are all reruns now.

I'd been watching Are You Being Served?, Absolutely Fabulous, Keeping Up Appearances, The Vicar of Dibley, Waiting for God, One Foot in the Grave and Only Fools and Horses for years before moving here. I highly recommend One Foot in the Grave and Only Fools and Horses. I don't know if they have ever been shown over there. They hadn't when I last lived there, but now you've got the BBC America channel at your disposal, so you might get to see them.

The only new comedy I've taken the time to watch is My Family. It is good. I don't know if any of you would recognize any of the actors, and to be honest I can't think of any of their names. The one son in the program was in the film Love Actually. He played the young guy who went off to someplace like Michigan to get laid by American women...kind of reminds me of Dennis...not sure why.

Most of tv over here is property development shows and reality tv things, like wife swap or I'm a celebrity get me out of here.

There are some good crime dramas out, although some of them aren't even running anymore. I've watched and liked Waking the Dead, Prime Suspect, A Touch of Frost, Inspector Morse, Midsommer Murders, Silent Witness, and Daziel and Pascoe.

Otherwise you can watch lots of American tv. Things available: Nip/Tuck, Sopranos, Sex in the City, West Wing, Lyon's Den, all the CSIs, Law and Order, SVU, Without a Trace, Alias, Will & Grace, Frazier, Friends, ER, Six Feet Under, The OC (something that sounds like the modern day equivalent of 90210), Charmed and The Osbournes. One channel is even dedicated to older US comedy shows.

Things US I actually watch, would be 24, CSI, Law and Order, Without a Trace, Alias and the West Wing. Sometimes I'll watch the old reruns of US and British comedy shows, but I'm not that much of a TV nut.

Otherwise I watch my one and only soap, Eastenders. And as long as Nigel Hartmen keeps taking his shirt off at least every other episode, I think I'll keep watching it. Okay Chuck!?!

Critics over here have commented on the lull in british tv. They've said that US tv has taken over, but they all seem to agree it is due to the lack of good tv coming out of the UK at the moment. I'm sure that will change soon...if it does, I'll let you know.

Meg, since I'm sort of answering Chucks criticism, maybe you can send this to him as an answer.

In other, happier news, Misty is still learning new words and phrases. She has also learned to crack walnuts. Maybe I'll dress her up in a soldiers outfit and sit her out as a decoration at Christmas. Although, whoever uses her to crack nuts will also have to fight her for the nut.

I've also gone back to class. For those of you who don't know, I'm trying to get a general certificate in horticulture from the Royal Horticultural Society. Hence, my new found knowledge of trees, such as the London Plane. The exam is in March and I really need to start studying up on Latin names and getting to know specifics about certain plants. I don't know if I've ever taken an exam that requires as much memorization as this one will. It isn't going to help me that the exam is held before I finish the last term of class. Oh well, others have taken it at that point and still passed, why can't I?

Well, this mundane submission diverted my mind from my current problem for a short while. Thanks for that.

Take care.

Love,
Amanda 

Our Flat is officially back on the market...or up for sale again. We may lose the house we wanted. Isn't life grand?

While I was home, my Mom said I should try to be more creative with my swearing while driving. I know I'm not driving at the moment, but I think I need to give it a go....

The buyers of our flat are that icky pus stuff in a pimple on the bottom of a large, extremely obese, greasy man who hasn't bathed in months.

I hope his balls turn to chocolate and melt off!

I hope she steps in dog poo and doesn't know it till she's gotten in her car and pushed all over the gas and break pedal.

I hope that foxes use the side of their house and car as their urinal...have you ever smelled fox pee?...it is pretty darn rank.

Gee Mom...that does make me feel so much better. Thanks.

In other news, I may be going for a job interview this week with an environmental/international finance charity company up in London, very near to St. James park. It is part time, which is cool for me. They are intrigued by my degree in International Studies with an emphasis on European politics. Apparently they deal with Brussels alot. Oh and they are even more pleased with my bookkeeping diploma.

So, think some positive thoughts for us, please. We need it.

Oh and I recently had a visit from Margaux and her fiance. It was quite lovely seeing Margaux again. She is just so positive and pleasant to be around. She seemed so much in love too.

Must tear myself away from all this swearing and go meet up with some ladies at the cafe. They want to see my hardanger work and possibly employ me to teach them to do it too.

Take care.

Love,
Amanda

PS. Please feel free to send any of your own thoughts and swears for our buyers.

And one more swear for good measure:
"your villainy goes against my weak stomach, and therefore I must cast it
up."
Henry VIII, 2