Moving to Birmingham, AL!

Hey guys! Quick update for everyone on my life :) This pic is of my neighbor next door Ryan, Heather, my neighbor behind me Drew, and me...

Moving in with Heather went really well and dad gave me the best early birthday present EVER in the form of a GPS unit and without it I would have spent $1000 in gas money from getting lost! My place is super cute. It is across from the zoo and botanical gardens and tucked back in a little wooded community of townhouses. It is older and the AC is ridiculously loud and we have cockroaches but it def feels like home! Our neighbors are pretty cool-the ones behind us are a couple from Auburn/Samford who are getting married on Saturday and the guy right next to us went to Samford and we hang out with a little bit.

Heather and I had a cookout the first Wednesday we were here and she put a few pics up. My friend Aaron from IU came over (he is over here a lot) and Heather had some people over from the Buckle. Ryan next door came over, as did Drew (the neighbor getting marrried) and we grilled out and hung out. I had finished making our patio with bricks earlier and put together our new table and chairs for outside in the rain to get ready for the party. Aaron and I put up the IU tailgating tent, haha I am sure our neighbors were excited, in case it rained. It was super fun and everyone had a good time hanging out.

I have met a lot of people so far from going to eat by myself and networking. One girl I met, Jennifer, got me hooked up with a job at the new On Tap Sports Cafe location at the Galleria. We have 85 beers on tap there. I have been kicking serious butt and even though we just opened on Monday I made a killing in tips last night and my managers told me that I am doing the best so far! There is a chance I will get promoted to bartender for some of football season! BIG thanks to Sarah for the serving tips and help with all these beers!! I have already gotten to show off your knowledge!

I have also been interviewing for teaching jobs and I had an offer yesterday from a residential school for students with autism. It would be a cool job, but very hands on and involving a lot of bathing and toileting and many of the kids are very very aggressive. I had an interview Tuesday with them that lasted a few hours and got an offer yesterday. I told them I would think about it. I had an interview at a school in Jefferson County at a school called Center Point Elementary School working with K-2 in their early childhood program. I LOVE the school and loved the principal and it is different, but my whole life is different so I am ok with that! I had my second round interviews today and I was offered the job! I accepted it and I start next Thursday!

This email has a lot of exclamation points in it...

Tonight I am going to dinner with my friend Wes from IU (a Fiji) because he is going back home soon and a bunch of his friends down here for his birthday (more networking!!) and then I work Friday night and Saturday night at On Tap and then Mom is coming down here on Sun-Tuesday!

As for Wesley...he has actually worked almost everyday I have been here to make more money because he is trying to buy a house and is also taking classes to get certified to teach firefighters at Fire School. He wants to travel to Mexico to teach classes down there. We are going to hang out once our schedules fit but life has been a little crazy.

As for my semi-fiance Jackson :) he is doing well at IU and starts classes when school starts up in the fall! He and I have talked a lot since I have been here and have talked on skype a lot too. He has been an amazing friend throughout this moving process and helping me not get homesick but really wants me to come home! That is all for now, more soon!

Love, Emma

So many changes

As most of you know, I came back early from England just a month ago. I snuck out of the country on a Sunday and then emailed the family to let them know I would not be returning. There were many reasons for coming back and if you have read the book or seen the movie "The Nanny Diaries" I believe that a lot of that book relates to my life. But I am home and living back with the rents and I got a job as the permanent substitute teacher at FJH! Junior high kids are in 7th and 8th grade and most are taller than me but it is fun and challenging, but I like it.
Last week was Fall Break and I went down to IU Monday evening to watch the Colts game with Grant. It ended late so I stayed there and came back Tuesday and hung out with my dogs and Dad. Friday morning I decided to drive down to Alabama and see Sarah down in Auburn so I made the loooong drive and got there at night and stayed up talking to my mom and Sarah and Kylie tried to eat me. Saturday we redecorated Sarah's house and then went to the Auburn/Miss St game and Auburn won! My mom and Danny and the Moorheads left after the game but I stayed and Sarah and I went to a Halloween party as scuba diver/dolphin trainers. It was so much fun! The next day I had to drive home which was a bit boring but worth it to see Sarah. But I started feeling quite sick in Indiana and felt awful again today so I took a sick day to feel better.
Thats pretty much it. The only other thing is that Grant and I have broken up. But if anyone knows of places my mom and I should go with her ticket she bought to come visit me, please let me know! Have a great day.

XX

UPDATE...I'M AN IDIOT

My mother just informed me that the picture I took of the mice are actually baby moles. And my great idea of flashing it to blind it was a bit silly as moles are blind already...uuugh any ideas on how to get rid of them? Thanks!

My fish, the mice and soccer...

So this week has been pretty fun with the boys back to school it gives me time to myself and I don't feel like a full time single mom so much anymore. Tuesday was a big day because Theo started Year 1 and Henry started Year 2 and it was Pernille's birthday! I had a lot of housework to do but it was nice to have the house to myself. After collecting the boys from school, Andrew and I took them into Farnham to buy diamond necklaces for her. The boys picked out two lovely simple necklaces, one heart and one cross which she loved! We also gave her the cat baskets and I gave her the mug the boys and I made! We went to a ceramic shop in Farnham and painted it for her the week before and she LOVED it! We had a really lovely supper as well :)
The other big news from Tuesday is that I joined a football team! Obviously I am talking about soccer but I am so excited! The team is a local women's team called the Guildford Saints and we play in the premiere league in Surrey which is supposed to be pretty good. We normally practice Wednesday nights from 9-10pm which is perfect with the boys and then games are on Sundays. This week the practice is on Thursday and I cannot attend because I am babysitting but I will start next week! I am very excited and will keep you posted on how we do!
Today I went to the library and checked out loads of books! The ladies there know me now so I love going in and getting new books! I also forgot to write about my new fish! I have a really fantastic fish bowl with three little guys! One of them I call Edward is a bit bigger than the other two. He watches me and we are buddies. The other two are a bit smaller and they are silver and a bit dodgy! They like to chase each other and one really likes the plant I put in and the other one likes to swim near the top (but not float because she would be dead). I don't have names for them as they are so similar but I just call them 'the Twins' and I think they are girls. As for the mice, I hate those dreadful animals. I have at least three that have taken to my bedroom at night time and will run down my curtains and then run around my room. They are disgusting and creep me out and I hate them I hate them I hate them. They kept me up for hours last night and every time I would fall asleep they would come back in my room and wake me. It was terrible. But I got poison and I hope they will be gone soon. I captured one of them in my rubbish bin and put it in the shower until the horrible beast got out and ran around my shower and then I took pictures trying to blind it. I hate it.
Anyways! We are actually picking up the kitten on Saturday! I don't know if I am going to go into London this weekend or not, but we are planning a trip to Ireland for the weekend of October 5-7! This is Chiomunga weekend which is obviously where I want to be and I am so sad I am missing it but I have told everyone to please bring some camoflauge so we can have our own mini Chiomunga...haha I miss my girls way too much!
Ok a bit of reading for me then hopefully catching up on sleep from last night!
Have a wonderful day :)

XX

Meeting up with Dominic!

Last weekend was so much fun! Friday night was not much fun because Lauren and all the girls went out for Kiera's birthday and I had to babysit :( But it was ok to relax after a long week, so I wasn't that upset! Saturday the boys woke me up early as they decided to run through the house screaming and making as much noise as possible which was annoying because its my day to sleep in! But I helped out with the lodge for a bit and did a bit of cleaning before packing my bags for London!
I took the train into the city to meet up with Dominic! I was so excited because I haven't hung out with Dominic in like 7 years and I was so excited that he is living here this semester because I miss seeing familiar faces and I knew that it was going to be a fun time! He lives in South Kensington in a flat with the other people in his program, all from the University of Wisconsin.
It was so fun to see him and we stopped by his flat to drop off my overnight bag and then went on a walk through Hyde Park and went over to Portabello Market for some crepes and catching up! We decided that everyone here is still obsessed with Princess Diana and maybe we would be too if we were British, but its getting a bit excessive with all of the memorials and dedications and on and on and on. But it was fun to talk about people from home and what they are up to and what we have been up to since we last saw each other. After walking back to his flat, we watched the USA/England Rugby game with his 5 flatmates, all really cool guys from Wisconsin. They are all sophomores/juniors and it was strange to be one of the oldest people! When it was time for dinner, one of the girls from the second floor called Nora came with us to a pub down the street. Nora and I clicked really quick and I had a lot of fun talking to her/hanging out with her while I was there.
We headed back to the flat after eating and hung out and got ready to go out that night for Dominic's 22nd birthday! Nora let me borrow some jewelry and I gave her advice on her outfit haha she said that maybe having a sorority friend was useful. It made me miss my girls and wish I was home for soph/senior night with my favorite roommates :)
We went to a pub down the street and just chilled and everyone kinda ended up breaking up and doing their own thing in little groups. Nora, Kate, Dominic, Bill, Dan and I didn't stay out late and ended up going back to the flat and just hanging out there. It was funny to see all of the people that came down to the basement flat throughout the night. It was so random but there was one guy who met one of Dominic's flatmates the night before and he and a girl came and they were from Pepperdine so naturally I asked if he knew Jon C and he did! Jon was his RA at school and Jon was my prom date sophomore year of high school! haha what are the odds :) But we all had fun staying up and talking until around 5am and then I slept on the couch by Nora's room. The next morning we went and woke Dominic up and then he and I went on a walk to find this tree in Green Park where the branches are cool and touch the ground. I forgot to take a pic of it! We also saw elephants made of sticks and went to Buckingham Palace as well as Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery. We must have walked at least 10 miles but it was fun and mostly through parks. On the way back we sat in Kensington Park for a while. I don't think we stopped talking for more than 5 min the entire time I was there :)
It was nearly 7pm by this time so we walked back to the flat where all the guys were getting ready to go out to dinner so I grabbed my overnight bag and we went to a Thai place down the street. It was fun and I really liked my food! I got green vegetable curry with steamed rice and it burned my mouth but it was really good! I really like the guys Dominic lives with and we are going to plan a weekend trip to Ireland for all of us and some of the girls! After dinner Dominic walked me to the tube station and I went back to Waterloo to catch my train. I ran up as the doors were closing and just made my train! I was so glad because I would have had to wait 30 min for the next one (um no thanks!).
I got home and read all my emails (I love checking my IU mail and getting all the chi omega emails so I kinda feel in the loop still) and then I was so tired I had to go to sleep!
It was a fun time and I am glad Dominic is going to be here this semester!! We go pretty far back from T-ball and soccer with my dad coaching and middle school/junior high and the beginning of high school before he moved away. I'm excited to have a friend/familiar face here and I can't wait to go back and see them again!!
Tomorrow is going to be almost as good as Christmas because it is Pernille' birthday AND THE BOYS START SCHOOL TOMORROW!!!! No more 13 hours days and I am excited to get on a schedule of working out instead of just when I can fit it in, as well as read ahead for the classes I will have when I get back to home/school :)
So excited for IU being 2-0, good job Bill! and good job to Grant for his hard work with the IU Mini! And go Danny against Harrison this week and on your 1/2 day and the big Midterm this week! Miss everyone and its so weird that I have only 3 months left here!!
Have a wonderful day!
XX