25 random things about me

1. My husband helps me be a better person. Truly. He’s a catch!

2. I didn’t have many girl friends until college. I had girl friends growing up but around middle school I learned most girls were catty and cruel. My college girl friends Mary Catherine, Brooke, Kelley and Kasey showed me what it means to be a true friend.

3. I’m always thinking. Sometimes I wish I could turn my brain off.

4. I have a love hate relationship with TV. I love absolutely love it. However I think it is a total waste of time.

5. I can’t stand it when women are catty.

6. I am tomboy at heart. I love to dig in the dirt and climb trees. I have a decent collection of power tool and I know how to use them!

7. I think snorkeling is so peaceful. I find that when I’m swimming with the fish all I can hear is my own breath and the water. It is so peaceful. I could explore the coral; follow fish and collect sea treasures all day. I’d LOVE to learn to scuba. We have talked about taking lessons and making a special trip to New Zealand. Maybe one day!

8. I hate the “F word”. That’s right I hate the word fart. What did you think I meant?! Oh, I hate the other “F word” too.

9. Church language grosses me out. As I Christian, I think we should be able to carry on a conversation with anyone.

10. I have always been horribly insecure about my skin. It started in the 7th grade when a boy teased me by calling me albino. I also remember, in the 9th grade, where one person in each class asked me when I was going to get a tan. To a teenage girl that was a day that changed the way I viewed myself. That was the day I felt like I would always be gross because I was so fair. I hated wearing shorts, a bathing suits and skirts for years! In my early twenties I still wouldn’t were skirts because I didn’t want anyone to see my white legs. One day I got sick of it. I decided I was going to get over it…No easy task…to just “get over” something like that. I decided that the way God made me was just fine! Just when I thought I would never have to deal with that again an old boyfriends best friend went on and on about how I needed to get a tan one day at the pool. 10 years of trying to accept myself the way I am was undone in about 3 minutes. Skip ahead to present day—I still struggle to be ok with my fair skin. Last spring I found a shirt that says “Pale is the new tan.” That’s my new self-motto. I have decided once again that the way God made me is just right. I’m just gonna be me! White legs and all! ☺

11. I have awesome friends! My relationships have changed my life.

12. I’m a white girl who loves her some hip-hop music. Don’t judge.

13. Sometimes I wish I could live on a farm and grow my own food.

14. I cry at sad movies…HARD. It’s almost like I think what is happening in the movie is real life.

15. I am always embarrassed when cry at movies. If I cry in the theatre, we have to wait ‘til everyone else leaves so no one sees my tear stained face.

16. I am obsessed with magazines. No, not Cosmo or Glamour—home magazines. My favorites are Better Homes and Gardens (and all of their specialty magazines) and ReadyMade. I read them and analyze the pictures so many times that I almost have them memorized.

17. I have the same type of dream all the time. I am usually yelling and crying at the top of my lungs at my family and they are ignoring me. Yes. I have a clue what it means. No. I’m not in counseling for it. ☺

18. I love riding my bike. Now it’s my primary transportation and I love zipping all over town, hopping curbs, dodging puddles and watching the world around me. We talked about getting a scooter but right now my bike works best.

19. I heart music videos. I could watch them all day, over and over again.

20. I was horribly afraid of having children for a few years. I’ve heard all sorts of painful stories that freaked me out. I was also afraid I’d mess them up. Spending time with my 4 nieces has helped me not to worry about it so much.

21. A dog changed my life. My sweet dog, Madison, has made me realize that if I could love her as much as I do I will love my own “real” children that much more.

22. I adore my nieces. I would put them in my pocket and carry them everywhere…if they would fit.

23. I don’t like it when people are judgmental. Don’t judge. That’s up to God.

24. I love my family…crazies and all!

25. I want to live like God intended. Jesus is the only example of that. So, I want to live like Him.

Australia for my birthday...

Yesterday I was the big three-oh. Jeremy took me out on a little birthday date. When enjoyed dinner at an Italian restaurant. After dinner we went to Australia...the movie that is! What were you thinking? That Jeremy gave me a trip to Australia?! Hmmm. That not such a bad idea! Anyway, we enjoyed the movie. It's nothing to "write home about" (even though I am) :) but it was a nice date movie.

On a side note--the theatre here is really nice. Some of the screens have upstairs and downstairs entrances. The building has movies on all 3 stories. The seats are clean and comfy. There is decent leg room. And the pictures are really sharp!

So back to our night. We left the theatre and discover it was raining. If we had driven this wouldn't be a big deal. But, we aren't planning to buy are car for a few months. Part of our decision to move here was to live like the locals. We ride our bikes almost everywhere. Our town, Crawley, has really good public transportation but we have found it to be faster to bike where we need to go. Yep. That's right we biked home in the rain. It wasn't as romantic as it sounds :). It was 42ish and we didn't bring our rain gear. However, it wasn't to bad either. It's only about one and a half miles and there is something about not be dependant on a car that feels really good. Truly, it does.

Britian or Bust!

We left out of Nashville with a truck FULL of our stuff on the morning of December 24th. And then again on the 28th. I know, I know. We had sooo much stuff that we had to make a second trip back to Nashville. What was supposed to take a day--took three. There was much "weeping and gnashing of teeth".

The morning of December 30th we headed to Atlanta in the “silver bullet” also known as my sister’s silver minivan. Mom, Jeremy and I sat in the very back. Melanie drove and dad told her how from the passenger’s seat ☺. We took out the middle seats to make room for our luggage. We got all our bags checked. I know people thought were we were nuts. Picture this…Jeremy, my and I roll up to the counter with a cart stacked high of suitcases. My dad starts duck taping the old hard sided suitcase we used when I was a kid, to help it make one last trip. There was definitely some whispering going on. I few times I had to remind myself that standing on the ticket counter and announcing “We aren’t going on vacation! We are moving for 2 years,” would only draw attention to us.

The flight was uneventful. As it should be! Jeremy and I had an empty seat between us so we were able to spread out and sleep pretty well. We held our breath as we counted our bags coming off the luggage carousel. They all made it!

On the 2nd we moved into our flat. I hope to post a video tour of it soon!

Becoming a Brit

Coming soon...

What a year!

What a year!
Last year was filled with lots of changes both good and well--not so good. We started off 2008 with high hopes that Jeremy would be offered a position in Scotland as a physician assistant. In February we found out that they’d chosen someone else. Needless to say we were disappointed. I had sense that we would end up in the UK at some point soon so it felt to me like we were just “hanging out” until then. After a few weeks Jeremy asked me if I would me interested in pursuing PA positions in England. His friend Peter and his family had been living in Birmingham, England for several years. (Peter was a PA in the pilot program that launched a few years ago.) With a second thought I replied, “heck yea!”

Moving on to March. It was full of very sweet moments and very sad moments. My dear Grandmother, "Granny Purvis” went to be with Jesus. We were extremely close when I was growing up. I’ll share more about our special bond in a later post. I was with my whole family, by her bedside as she literally breathed her last breath. My dad sat holding her hand while we all gathered around, praying and rubbing his shoulders to comfort him. I couldn’t have asked for more. I loved her so much I truly wanted to be there until the end to let her know that I loved her from the bottom of my heart.

April at last. After my grandmother's funeral my sister and her husband decided they wanted their girls to have the same great grandparent memories that we had with Granny. They decided to sell their house, buy a house across the street from my parents and move their 4 girls “home” to Watkinsville, Georgia. Easter weekend we began “Operation flip a house while 6 people are living there--4 of which are 6 and under!” The goal was to make a few upgrades to their house in Nashville to get it ready for the slowing market.

Made it to May. Jeremy attended his Annual PA conference. In the exhibition hall, he stumbled across a table set up looking for PA’s to move to England. He spent a while talking with one of the practices' partners, Dr. Thomas. He took Jeremy’s info and jotted down some other notes while they chatted.

Joyous June. I had just wrapped up my second semester in school for graphic design. I thought all my dreams were coming true when a friend I met through work at YES, offered me a job. I would be the their first in-house graphic designer!

Jumping to July. Jeremy followed up with Dr. Thomas about the position in England. Dr Thomas said he was just getting ready to contact Jeremy for his CV. We were thrilled to find out that he hadn’t forgotten Jeremy either! We submitted Jeremy’s CV and application.

August arrived. Well, to make a really long story short, around August I realized my dream job was not that. It wasn’t at all what my friend promised. I was REALLY disappointed.
The medical practice in England, Saxonbrook Medical Centre, spent sometime reviewing all the applicants and contacted Jeremy about doing a web cam interview.

Fall was finally here. At this point everything becomes a blur!
Jeremy had a few web cam interviews that went well.
Melanie’s house sold and the whole family moved to Georgia.
And Dr. Thomas invited us to England to have a face-to-face interview.
After talking with my family about what the next few weeks would hold if we got the England job, they convinced us to put our house on the market before we left…in a week Then it would be available for showing while we were gone. We absolutely busted our butts to get the house staged, and all the home projects we’d not finished yet wrapped up. That week was one of the most stressful weeks of my life! Every spare moment I had was spent getting our house ready and packing for our trip. I literally made myself sick the day before we left.

So. We felt like if were going to pack up and move across the Atlantic…now was the time. My grandmother had passed so I didn’t have to worry about not being here for her. My sister and her gang had left Nashville so I wouldn’t miss out on my regular visits to see my wonderful nieces. I was becoming more and more frustrated by the total misrepresentation of my new job. Jeremy’s was barely hangin’ in there at his job.

Saxonbrook invited us over Mid October. We booked our tickets right away. We left the States frazzled from everything on the 31st and touched down in London November 1st absolutely relieved.

Ahhh...(sigh of relief)

We've arrived in England and now have internet! In the coming days I'll be writing about all of our adventures since we arrived.
Jessica