Thanksgiving is now over with, the Inlaws liked my Gift Baskets, Clayton's mom was all pleased that I had gotten her chocolates that she could eat, as she's allergic to Nuts. I bought Queen Anne Truffles. They did however make me feel very guilty for leaving over Christmas, Clayton's dad constantly made a comment for us being here for Christmas next year. Oh well I can't please everyone.

Today Clayton and I registered for College, so I'll be taking 2 English classes in the winter quarter. The quarter starts the day before we get back from the UK, so we'll miss one day of Classes. I doubt they'll do much the first day, but I'll e mail the tutor just in case. Also went Christmas shopping today, and got quite a few things for the family.

It's bloody cold here it's 4-c tonight, think I'm going to leave my heating on over night on low. We are expecting snow tomorrow and then on Thursday. It's also snowing back in Wales, my sisters called on the weekend and told me it was Snowing heavy on Friday. My mum has said that they are expecting a really bad winter, so you never know I might get a White Christmas in Wales for the first in my life.

3wks today, we'll be flying to London, yey.

Made Gift Baskets over the weekend, for my parent's in law, and Clayton's uncle. I thought we could give them over thanksgiving, as we wouldn't be here for Christmas. There's a Calendar for 2006, some wine in a cute little Fabric Christmas wine carrier. Some Coffee, Chocolates, a Christmas scented Candle, a classical relaxation CD, and a Christmas ornament.



Went down to the Parent's in laws on Sunday for dinner, everything seemed to be okay. They carried on, as though nothing had happened, I was a little apprehensive as this was the first time I had really spoken to them, after what was said. Oh well Thanksgiving is next!

It's funny how people perceive accents, especially Welsh accents. Like today I was at work and was booking a Birthday party and the lady asked "Which part of Sweden are you from" I said "Oh I'm not from Sweden I'm actually Welsh" she replies "Ah so your English, which part of England are you from" "I'm from Wales, it's a separate country next to England." Don't people know the countries in the United Kingdom.

Since I've emigrated I've had people say I'm German, Scottish, Irish and even French. But saying that my sister went into a shop the other day, and the lady asked her "What part of America are you from" my sister said "I'm Welsh lived here all my life" She must be getting some of my American twang through the phone. And yes I do have an American twang, I've had to change the way I speak. It's really strange cause I can turn the American twang on, and just turn it off just like that. I noticed the way American's speak and say my name they say it Nah-a-lie hardly pronouncing the T. I think the Welsh and generally the English to, over pronounce the T.

I don't think I'll ever loose my Welsh Accent it is very strong, although adjusting to the way American's speak is really interesting. It's like learning a whole new language.

Well Clayton's home in an hour and I need to finish cooking dinner, Lemon Chicken with broccoli and Roast potatoes.

New Christmas layout, yes I know I'm a little early. But I'm such a big kid at Christmas time, there's something about Christmas that I just love. Being with family, eating loads of junk food, opening gifts Christmas morning in your nightgown. Having a great Christmas dinner, with crackers and party poppers, and even going down your Grandparents for tea Christmas afternoon, with all your cousin's, aunts & uncles. I love it all! Yeah and you so can't tell that I only have 30 days left till we fly to the UK.

Not a great deal happening here at the moment, I've had a lot of College appointments this page week. Just been planning how long it'll take me to do my degree. It'll take a good 3yrs, maybe more, it's really strange thinking I'll be here in the USA for that long. I know I moved here with the intention of staying here the rest of my life, but we have been thinking of moving back to the UK once we are ready to start a family and settle down. I guess I didn't think I'd miss my family as much as I do, we'll have to see what happens. I was hoping we could start a family sooner than 3-4yrs but once we are both out of school we'll have better jobs, so the timing should be about right.

Okay, so what's the deal with American TV? They keep you in suspense for 3wks, and then when you finally watch the episode they drag it out right to the end where it ends in such a way where they keep you in suspense for yet another week. For the ones who don't know what show I'm talking about I'll tell you, I'm a very hooked fan on the ABC's show "LOST"

Funny how you can get hooked on something in less than 2mths, I wasn't really a fan of the show. Until my sister calls me up and asks me to run to Target and get her the DVD Boxset of LOST Season 1. In her eyes having a sister in the USA is very handy!! So off I go and buy the boxset for her, and I thought what the heck may as well watch the first episode. 4hrs later and the 2nd disc in I was glued to the tv quite literally. I watched the whole boxset in one week, didn't have to wait very long to watch the start of the second season ether.

Okay so let me get back to that all important point I was trying to make in the first paragraph.. American TV is mean, stop keeping us on that long swinging rope!!

This week has been pretty much College oriented I had an assessment test on Monday, to determine what level of classes you should be placed into. I must say I'm rather rusty having not been in school for a good 4yrs, my test results were a little iffy. I mainly got bad grades on the Math, which means that I'm not college level in Maths. I thought I might have to take all 6 Math classes, as my degree has a Math 111 class but turns out I don't have to afterall. My English Essay test was interesting, you had 3 topics to choose from 2 of the topics were very much American oriented. One had to do with American politics and the other had to do with Baseball. The third one was about tv, guess which one I wrote about. They really didn't make it easy for someone who doesn't know much about American politics and Baseball.

Tomorrow I have an appointment with the Graphic Design Coordinator to find out more about the course and such, then on Thursday I have an appointment with the counselor to discuss long term future plans. I'm starting to feel a little apprehensive about going back to school, just mainly the "I don't know if I can do it" thought pops into my mind now and again. But as Clayton said the other night "Look at how many times you said I don't know if I can do this Long Distance thing" And we survived that so I can survive and strive through this.

I found this interesting site the other day US/UK it's about the differences between American and British Culture. I was pretty amused at some of the funny stories that were listed here I don't know how many times I've run into the US/UK language barrier. I know it sounds stupid but I still mix up the American money, today I said Pounds when I was counting out the change. You think after a year and 6mths of being here in the USA you'd know the currency by now. Oh and I finally tasted "Candy Corn" hmm for some unknown reason I thought it would taste more of corn. Clayton bought me a bag to try, I had heard about it so many times during Halloween and didn't know what it was like.

Hope everyone had a great Halloween, I was working. We are normally closed on Monday, but a local church had hired the whole place for the day. And we had over 200 kids come in and play. I really enjoyed watching all the kids come in all dressed up, Americans really make a big deal of Halloween, they go all out. Talk about cheating my diet this week, I've had so much candy. Funny I sound all American with the new words I've picked up like, Candy, Geesh, and I'm always saying oh that sucks. I'm sure my family will notice how much I've changed my vocabulary when I'm back home.

My mother was wanting a couple of pictures of the place where I worked, unfortulatly the place doesn't have a website. Which is kind of a good thing, as I could use the practice if I'm going into website design for a proffesion, so maybe I'll set up one. Anyway's I did a search online and actually found some pictures of the place so below are a few shots from Tube Time, thanks to Heather for the pictures. I'll probably try and take some shots of the place this week if I get a chance.

I also found a really great article about Tube Time, you can read about it here. I like the first sentence of that article, "In a climate like ours, where the rain drizzles relentlessly out of the sky for more days out of the year than any of us care to count" Many people have asked me why I have moved to Washington State, when the climate is so simular to the United Kingdom. They laugh when I say it rains more in Wales!