Monday, August 30, 2004

Wow it's been a while since I last posted not much going on here. I so need to get involved with a charity or volunteer somewhere I'm getting so bored in the house, when Clayton's in work. Everyday is the same and it's starting to drive me crazy! I got so desperate to do something I mowed the whole lawn today, mmm and now I'm paying for it. My whole body is aching, I would love a warm bath right now, to bad we only have a shower in the cottage. At least Clayton has a day off tomorrow, so we can spend some time together.

My friend Catherine called this morning so that was nice to chat to her, she was the one who did an exchange program at Walt Disney Florida, she flew back to the UK, last week. My little sister Emily had her G.C.S.E Exam results, last Thursday. The G.C.S.E Exams are the finals for high school, her grades were really good she had...

Art and design - A
Drama - A*
English - B
English Literature - A
Math - C
Media studies - A
Welsh - C
Science - C
Science - C
ICT short-course - D
Religious Studies - B

Wonderful job Ems! Oh by the way she also has a blog now too you can check that out here

Also everyone is probably wondering why I haven't scanned the Wedding pictures that the photographer did. Reason is because our scanner/printer isn't working, it's been down for a while now. You basically have to beat it to death to get it to work. So Clayton finally called the Lexmarks Helpline, and he did a few things that didn't work. End result they are shipping us a new scanner/printer yay so it should be here in the next week. Hopefully that'll be working and I can scan the pictures. Will keep you all updated.

I took the time to get Clayton's Real Estate website up and running you can view that here comments would be appreciated on that. As I'm hoping it looks professional enough, for a Real Estate business.

Liza our cat has been feeling a little under the weather too, well a little irritated is the word. She has a flea allergy called Miliary Dermatitis she's been scratching, biting and grooming herself so much. But funnily enough I haven't found any fleas, she has made cuts on her skin, that have been bleeding, with her scratching so much. I phoned the vet for advice and they told me to de flea her, with advantage. I also washed her bedding and washed everything that she'd been sleeping on. Hopefully the problem will go away soon, it can cause hair loss.

Clayton and I are on a healthy kick at the moment, we are trying to lose weight. We've been on a diet, and last week we both lost 4lbs yay. I'm so pleased, we weigh tomorrow, so hopefully I've lost something.

Well I guess I had more to say than I realised. I'm off to watch some T.V.

Tuesday, August 24, 2004

Well my weekend was really good, Saturday we went to meet Stefanie & Collin. The plan was to meet up at Deception Pass and have a Picnic, Stef had called at 9am to say if we could push it back to 2pm, which was fine. Clayton wanted to check out this big Garage sale that was going on for a local charity called 'Lydia Place' they help Women & Children who have been abused by men. Clayton's mother was involved with the charity so we said we'd make an appearance, we got some good bargains actually, Clayton's parent's bought us this pine table & chairs... it actually fits nice in the cottage, and the sides fold down which is cool. It's so nice to have dinner at the table rather than having it on the sofa.


Table & Chairs that Clayton's parents bought us.
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We also bought this cool Sanyo TV for the bedroom for like $10 which was so neat, it has a remote too and it works perfect.


TV for $10
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After that we headed down to
Deception Pass I had already made us the picnic with Turkey rolls and Fruit Salad. We were about half way there, and it started to pour down with rain, I was like oh no so the picnic was all ruined. Clayton and I got there a little early but we sat in the car and watched the rain pour down. 2pm came, and Stef & Collin were there, it was so great to meet them both, we all decided to go and hang out at Collins place, so we followed them both in the car. We hang out for a while and I showed my Wedding Pictures, we then went to watch 'Love Actually' we had our picnic inside hehe. It was lovely to meet them both, and have like a double date, we don't hang out with couples much so it was great. Here are some of the pictures we took..


Stefanie & Natalie
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Collin, Stefanie & Natalie
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Collin, Stefanie, Natalie & Clayton.
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Thursday, August 19, 2004

Well today has been really good, Clayton and I went to the Northwest Washington County Fair the weather was really warm, but we still had a good time none the less. We walked round all the stalls, and had our Cartoon Portrait done which was really cool. The guy noticed my accent straight away, and then the story came out on how we met online, me emigrating and such. Hehe this is the portrait he did for us...


Cartoon Clayton & Natalie who met online and fell in love.
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How cool is that? I framed it and put it by our computer desk :) After that we walked around and had a go at some games, we played Bingo for a while but we didn't win anything. Oh but Clayton did win me a Care Bear..


My Good Night Care Bear that Clayton won me at the fair.
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We then went to have lunch hmm my diet has gone today, we had a Cheese Burger and curly fries, mmm curly fries. Oh well I better be good tomorrow. We spend all afternoon up at the fair, we came home around 5pm, we were just so warm after walking round the park all day.

When we got home Clayton's dad and uncle brought our wardrobe over, oooh it's so cool they did a fantastic job. I took a few pictures of it.. It's quite big which is great.

Our Closet/Wardrobe that Clayton's dad and uncle built for us. Posted by Hello


Inside the Closet/wardrobe, lots of storage space. Posted by Hello

So we had a pretty good day today, it was nice to be able to go out and spend some time together as Clayton's been working a lot. In other news, I really don't feel as homesick as I was. My wonderful mother send me some British chocolate and some local newspapers of my home town, so at least I can catch up on what's been happening over the pond.

Oh one more thing before I head off to bed, my sister Sarah has just finished her own website "Midnight Haven" could everyone just take a peek and say hi to her in the Guest Book. It's a wonderful site Sarah, you should be proud you've worked hard to put it together.

Well I think I've rambled enough now.

Tuesday, August 17, 2004

Haven't been feeling very blog chatty lately, I really should update my blog more. As I know many people come and read, as well as people from back home. Our weekend was good, Chris brought our new computer down you can view the casing of it here I tried taking a picture of it, but I never got a good shot. So I searched e bay for the one he bought us. I think it's so cool, I love the flashy colors. Sunday Clayton's dad and uncle were meant to bring down my closet/wardrobe, but they had a problem with the doors and had to re-vanish. We should have it by Thursday, can't wait I'll be able to hang all my clothes up, yay.

Oh we did some cool shopping on Sunday, we went over to GoodWill we bought this bedside table for $7 it totally matches our Bedroom set which is so cool. I also bought some CDs for $2, most of them were UK bands which was surprising really. Guess US people don't like British music.

I spend all day today cleaning the bathroom, and putting a Butterfly Boarder up, going back to my previous posts we bought a Butterfly Bathroom set not so long ago. Thursday we are planning on going to the Northwest Washington Country Fair. I can't wait to go, the last time I went was on our First meeting back in August 2002 so I bet it'll bring back some memories. Saturday we are planning on driving to Deception Pass and meeting Stefanie & Collin We are planning on having a picnic in the State Park, so that'll be nice. Can't wait to meet you guys. Wow I'm meeting so many of my online friends in person lately, it's so great.

Well that's about all the news I have hear, the Welsh Girl In Washington is off to bed.

Thursday, August 12, 2004

Today was a really nice day, Clayton and I met Sarah. We left the Cottage around 9:30am and headed for Seattle, we made pretty good time and got there around 11am although it took us like 15 mins to park. We walked to the Aquarium where we were meeting, hehe I walked straight past Sarah, by accident though. She had her 14yr old niece Hayley with her, which was lovely. We all walked over to Red Robin for lunch, we showed them our Wedding album and chatted for a while. After that we went to this Fudge shop mmmm fudge, it was so nice Clayton bought me some. We then went to have some photos done by the Pier, here are some from the digital camera....


Clayton, Natalie & Sarah Posted by Hello



Natalie & Sarah Posted by Hello

It was so great to meet Sarah, and her niece was just lovely. After saying our goodbyes, we headed home. Clayton stopped at the train tracks for a while to take some shots of his fave trains, and then we headed back. We got back just in time to hit the Post Office, I send a package off to my mother with all her copies of the Wedding Photo Album.

Tomorrow Clayton is working all day, but his friend Chris is coming down to bring us our new Computer. Chris has spend a lot of time, building us a Computer for a Wedding gift, I can't wait it has this funky casing on the tower. And the lights flash in all sorts of colors, I'll take a pic when it arrives. :)

Well I'm off to bed nite.


Wednesday, August 11, 2004

Well we now have DSL - broadband from Verizon we ordered it last week. We thought it would be good for Clayton and his Real Estate, at least Clayton's clients can call without a problem now. We're normally online about 65% of the time, Clayton's been online a lot more for work. Gosh it's so much better than dial up!!

The last few days have been pretty crappy, Clayton's been in work most of the time. Yesterday we tried to get me on Clayton's medical insurance, but they wouldn't do it. Apparently we should have called within one month of getting married, and seeming it was 4 days past that we weren't allowed to put me on. So I can't be put on his medical insurance until March next year, which means I'm gonna have to pay a lot of money to get my prescriptions. Grr I hate Insurance Companies!

I had a letter from the Seattle District office of Immigration, they received my application. So now I just have to wait, recent timelines show it can take up to 5mths to process. They returned my Fingerprint Biometric fee of $70 without explanation, I had to check on VisaJourney apparently the government have changed the rules. K-1 visa Holders don't need fingerprints anymore. But what seems to be strange is other K-1 holders in different States are having their fingerprints done, so I wonder if that's just in this State.

Our Anniversary dinner was very nice, we had a lovely evening. Tomorrow we are going to Seattle to meet Sarah we're meeting by the Seattle Aquarium for lunch at 11:30. So I can't wait for that, it should be really fun. I called my friend Laura today for a chat, it was nice to catch up on some things. She's planning a trip to see me next year can't wait.

That's about it here, hope everyone is having a good week.

Friday, August 06, 2004

Today is our 2 year Anniversary of when we First Met August 9th is our 2 year Anniversary of Our Engagement And today we've also been Married a whole month. Clayton is taking me out for dinner tonight in a nice posh Italian Restaurant called "The Olive Garden" I'm really looking forward to it. I'm gonna get all dressed up :)

Not a lot has been happening here, been making loads of posters for Clayton and his Real Estate. My Welsh Cawl turned out really well, in my new Crock Pot, I was very pleased. Last night we went to have dinner with Clayton's parents, a friend of the family was coming round from Chicago. So his mom invited us, it was nice. Clayton's dad made lovely Smoked Salmon on the BBQ. I spend the whole evening picking Plums off their Plum tree, they are really nice we took some home.

Called my friend Catherine the other day, she's in Florida at the moment. She's working at the Walt Disney world Resort, it was an exchange program she went on. She goes back to the UK in like 2wks, and she doesn't want to go back home. Hehe I can see her moving to the US also.

I spend yesterday re arranging the funiture in our bedroom, not sure if I mentioned this in my previous posts but.. Clayton's dad and Uncle have been making me a Wardrobe/Closet as our cottage doesn't seem to have a built in Closet. It's nearly finished and I can't wait to see it. So I was making room in the Bedroom for it, it's meant to be quite big so I hope it can fit in the Bedroom.

That's about it here, hope everyone has a good weekend. Oh before I forget, to answer your Question Joy we don't have BBC America. We're hoping to get it soon, when we can afford the rest of the cable. But seeming we are so close the Canadian border, we get CBC which has many of my UK soaps and shows like... Emmerdale Farm, Coronation Street, Thin Blue Line, Keeping Up Apperances & As Time Goes By. So I have a wide variety of good UK shows.

Tuesday, August 03, 2004

Clayton's been working a lot the last few days, he worked all over the weekend. Plus he's put a lot of time in with the Real Estate, he got his first client signing. Which means he should have a house sold before Christmas if things go well, so fingers crossed. I've spend the last few day's on my own in the house 9-5 it's been quiet, and I must admit I have felt a bit lonely. Coming from a family home of 3 sisters and my mum & dad, there has always been someone in the house. Being in a different country and an isolated area has been quite a challenge to get used too. I talked to my big sister & mother the other day, and they both said for me to get into something in the area, just to get out of the house. I think I might start going to Weight Watchers again. I liked going to a diet class back in the UK, I made a lot of friends. And it helped me lose a lot of weight. I lost about 160lbs overall, I would like to get down to the size I was when I first met Clayton in August 2002. I have clothes from that summer that don't fit me anymore, and I hate that. So I'm thinking I might join next week.

Today has been an okay day, we spend the whole day sorting the car out yet again. We had a huge crack in the windshield, from a rock that hit us the other day, so we had to replace that. It took 3hrs to repair, so we walked a mile to a restaurant and had breakfast, then walked back to collect it. That cost another $200, then Clayton noticed the car shimming a lot so we took it to a tire place. And yep you guessed it, we had to replace the back tires as they were run down so much, costing $150. I'm so fed up of cars right now, it's not even funny.

Our Wedding photos are so lovely, I love every shot. I like the Black & White ones of Clayton and I. They all look so romantic, I didn't get a photo CD, so I'm gonna spend most of the day tomorrow scanning them and adding them to my MSN Group. I can't believe we've nearly been married a whole month gosh it's gone by so quick, it only feels like yesterday.

Tomorrow I'm going to be trying out our new
Crock Pot We had it as a Wedding gift, and I haven't used it yet. I'm going to make my Welsh Cawl I hope it turns out alright, Clayton's all looking forward to having it after work.

Anyway's that's it from me, I'm gonna have a nice relaxing evening in front of the TV.