2013 MIA...

Holy crap. Has it really been since March 2012 that I last posted something? Did 2013 not happen? 

It is sad that the post was just before we had to return to the States. Hopefully some day soon we will get back to London. 

The year did go by fast. I luckily found work at the end of February. The people were awesome. 

May, my brother Seth and his girlfriend Bridget got married. It was a beautiful ceremony outdoors and I was able to be one of his groomsmen.

It was great to see Scott and the kids as well. 

Most of the year, Mark was working either in New York/Connecticut or in Vancouver (Canada). I was very happy when he came home mid-September. It was decided then that we would not spend anymore time apart. We are tired of living in different cities. No more.

Sadly, we lost Kemp in October. It definitely been hard, especially for Mom. She is a strong woman but Kemp was her foundation. Now she is having to adjust to not having him around physically and at the same time deal with the bullshit of her work. Hopefully things will fall into place soon and she will be able to retire soon.

Come November, Mark was offered a job in Seattle, WA with Bungie and we decided to both move there. We really missed the Pacific Northwest and wanted to move back (since it does not look like we will be returning to London soon). 

Now that it is 2014, we are living in West Seattle. Mark loves working for Bungie and I have the fun of looking for work AGAIN. But at least I was able to get some unemployment while I am looking. 

Here's hoping that 2014 will be good. I do know there are a couple of things I am looking forward to seeing happen this year. :o)

Happy New Year!

So it has been awhile since I last posted. Too long! But the past 4 (is it almost 5 months already?) months has been packed with adventures (and annoyances).


So far, of London, we have done the British Museum, the Natural History Museum, the Tate Modern and the Hayward Gallery. All very cool.  Though we still have a lot of exploring to do in London, as well as outside of London. Matter of fact, we have been thinking about renting a car and heading out towards Stonehenge and the countryside. :o)

The Rosetta Stone

Sculpture at The Tate Modern

As for our travels, our first stop was Paris. We spent Christmas there since it was very expensive to fly home for the holidays. The price of 1 plane ticket covered a hotel for 5 days and 2 round-trip tickets on the Eurostar train. Paris was awesome. We loved it and plan on going again sometime this summer. We want to see Paris when it is green. The highlights were the food (YUM!), Notre Dame and Chateau Versailles (we want to see the ground when it is green and not so foggy).

Eiffel Tower

Notre Dame

Chateau Versailles

I was also lucky (though some days I am not sure) to find work my 4th week here in London. I am working customer service for a chip and pin terminal provider. It is really testing my patience and sanity. Though the job has confirmed that I REALLY need to get out of the customer service field. I definitely will do that when I get back to the states. Mean time, I am going to look into some possible classes here for career changes. I have not decided if I want to go into project management or web design. I will have to decide soon. 


Next weekend, we are off to Rome. I cannot wait. It will be the start of several trips. This month Rome. Next month will be Amsterdam. And in May we are going to Lisbon, Portugal. Our places of interest are Barcelona, Venice, Vienna, Brussells, Berlin, Zurich, Naples, Prague, Ireland, and Scotland. Just to name a few. ;o)


And the best part of our stay so far is the new friends we have made. We have been very lucky with the group we have found. We especially have become good friends with Mike and Chopin, Mark and Gordan, Peter and John, Dominic and Justin (though not a couple, they might as well be - ha ha).

Off to Market...

Today we visited the Borough Market that is by London Bridge. It is definitely the place to go for good cheese and meats. I also plan to go back for some spices. Saw some fresh herb plants for a pound each. Will keep those in the kitchen.

After walking around the Market and having lunch with some friends, we headed back to our hotel. Before that, we took a walk through Hyde Park. It is a large park that is about a 5-10 minute walk from our room.

Later tonight, we are meeting up with our friends Justin and Dominic and check out the gay night life here. Should be interesting...

We found a home!

YEAH! We secured a flat to live while we are here. I am so happy that we got this place. We saw a total of about 6 flats. This was the only nice one. The rest were rubbish (look, I am talking like a Brit! ha ha). We will start living there on November 1st. And for the first time since the Victorian in Portland, Mark and I have more than one toilet to use. No racing each other to the bathroom when we get home! :o)

Now that we have found a place, we can start doing more site seeing stuff. Yesterday, while we were looking at places, we ran across Abbey Road!! (Mom, you can start being jealous of me now - he he!)

And not that we have secured a place, I now have the fun of trying to find work. Yippee skippy! I can't wait. But that I will start on Monday.

Big Ben!

It is hard to believe we have been here for 4 days already. Though we have not done much touristy stuff yet (until today), we have seen a lot of different neighborhoods. I do have to say we are more impressed with North London. We were not impressed with South London. Nothing really appealed to us. So fare we have seen 3 flats. We did place an offer on one we saw today that is a 1 bedroom/loft that is in a converted school house. It was really cool. We will know by tomorrow if our offer was accepted.

But we did get to see some tourist sites today. We walked on the London Bridge and saw the Tower Bridge across the way.

Also, we stopped and walked part way on the Westminster Bridge and saw Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and the London Eye.

We will definitely be checking out these sites again later and more once we have found a place and have settled in. But it is fun to actually see landmarks that you have seen in only movies.

We're in London, Baby!

It has been awhile since I last posted here. It has been a roller coaster since Mark's return. But things seem to be going well now. Especially since we have moved to London!! Here is a picture of our "home" for the next 2 weeks while we look for an apartment, I mean, a flat (as the locals say) to live. We will be here in London for at least 1 year, most likely 2.

Once we find a place to live, then I will start to look for work. We will also start taking in the sites and travel. I think our first planned trip will be to Paris. It is only a 2 hour train ride from here.

Check back for pictures and updates. At least one of us can keep a blog. :o)

ONE MORE WEEK!!!

Only one more week to go until Mark is home. I pick him up at the airport next Sunday at about 7:45 am (his plane arrives at 6:40 am and he has to go thru customs first). I cannot wait to see him. I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas morning. (Let the crude puns begin!)

It will be nice to have him home. This apartment is too big for one person. It would be different if Zoey was still around. She helped. But all by myself and no one to talk to you, gets very lonely and weird here.

And the cool thing is that Animal Logic would like to have Mark back. It might not happen for a year, but if Mark gets his wish, it will happen. But this time, I AM going with him. We will NOT be apart this long ever again. The nice thing about Australia is that I can also work under his work visa since we are registered domestic partners. And I really don't care what type of work I get while I am there. All that matters is that I am with Mark and we are living in frakking Sydney! :o)

I SO CAN'T WAIT FOR MARK TO GET HOME!!!

Spencer Tunick

The image has finally been released! It looks great. And I still cannot believe I was naked with Mark and 5200 of our "closest" friends. The funny thing is that some of his friends I met for the first time at this event. Talk about getting past the awkwardness quickly. ha ha

Mark and I were near the top on the right side (looking at the photo), nearly in front of the dome on the right. We are in the picture, but you would need a strong magnifying glass to pic us out. I will see better once we get our free prints. We each get one since we both participated.

I figured since I turned 40, I should do something I would never do normally. Because of this event, I have definitely gotten over some body image issues. Plus the underwear party (standing around in only my boxer briefs and boots) and pool party with 80 strangers, helped too.

And the count down begins...

YEAH! Mark will return home on September 12th!! FINALLY!! Guess the Kolas had enough of him. ;o)

Unfortunately, he comes home on the same flight I took back from Australia on Delta. It comes in at 6:40 am. But who am I kidding. I probably won't get much sleep the night before. I will be too excited. Just like a kid before Christmas. ha ha

Mean time, I have been working a temp job. It is not too bad. Only take a few calls during the day and enter orders in the system for headsets (the kind used in call centers). It pays the bills (barely) and it is close to home. And the nice thing about it is that when I am done, I will be qualified for unemployment. Unless they decide to bring me on permanently or my contact at Apple One lines something else up.

Now to start cleaning this place to Mark's standards. Where did I put that jack hammer??...

Still Looking...

Well, it has been a month now that I have been unemployed. Nothing yet. I have had a few nibbles. But no one has bit yet. I am already signed up with Apple One and Act One temp agencies. But so is everyone else. :o( I think tomorrow I am going to email Vanessa and Carl at Ross and see if there is any opening there. I would even be happy with reception. At least I would know I would have Thanksgiving and the week between Christmas and New Year off. Something has to work out soon, right?

It looks like Mark will be home the Sunday of Labor weekend, the 5th of September. Just in time for our 9th anniversary. I cannot believe it has been 9 years. I am looking forward to many more years with him.

Trying to keep positive thoughts...