We visited our friends the Bair’s in Manteca the other weekend too which was fab, it’s nice to know we have such lovely friends here.

As for house hunting that has been an interesting experience so far!

We have signed up with a couple of realtors who are absolutely lovely. Roberta and Jan have been so helpful and couldn’t have been nicer!

We must have viewed at least 15 houses so far either with Roberta and Jan or by visiting open houses. We have also driven past at least another 15 and completely ruled them out based on area.

It is very interesting buying in not only a new area but in a new country. There is a lot of new terminology to learn and a lot of interesting tastes which we don’t particularly love!

Having explored pretty much every option on area we have found a great area, easy commute distance and very close to shops and restaurants. It’s also a safe family friendly neighbourhood, great for us, the cats and future Potts and resale value.

We put a offer in on a house a couple of weeks ago, a bank owned property that was only 800 sqf (thats half the size of our house in Bath!). After working out plans on how we could extend and improve the space we decided because of the area and it’s current condition it would be a great buy. We were unsure how much to offer as the asking price was $439,000 but we had been told that there were 5 other offers in on the property already! We went for an offer of $460,000. We completed all the paperwork to put the offer in, this took us over 2 hours!! This was just one of the very different aspects to house buying in the USA - paperwork, paperwork, paperwork! We waited and waited and finally 5 days later got the response from the bank - unfortunately it was not a positive. Someone else had offered more than us and therefore we were unsuccessful.

This of course was gutting, we had been so excited about finding a house in a good neighbourhood for an affordable price that we would be able to move in to before our lease on our apartment was up.

However, as we all know if it wasn’t meant to be, it wasn’t meant to be.

We carried on looking at properties and revisited a house we had viewed the same day as the one we had offered on. It was a much bigger house 1300 sqf and on a bigger lot, so a nicer back garden which is something I desperately want.

After looking at other recent sales in the area and taking in to account the amount of work that needed doing on the house, we put in an offer $40k under the asking price. A price that we feel was fair for the property. However the owner was not so sure and countered with a price just $9k under the asking price. There was no chance we could go that high based on the house needing a new roof, kitchen, bathroom and other electrical and heating issues fixing.

So we have now put offers in on two properties and we didn’t get either of them. We both feel quite disheartened about the whole house hunting process but we are strong believers that something will turn up.

I think we will go to some more open houses this weekend to see if there are any other areas that might be options. Other than that just keep our fingers crossed that something amazing will come on the market soon.

On a happy note I found loads of cool stuff in TJ Maxx last night so as soon as we buy a house and I put my shed up in the garden expect to see some amazing photos of my new home office/workshop!

Peace out!

Fi

xxx

So much has happened and I don’t know where to start really.

I ended up deferring my exam for ED209 from October last year and my ECA for SD226 because it was too difficult to focus on my studies at that time.

My father-in-law sadly lost his battle with cancer in December and it has been a tough old time for all the Potts’.

Jasper and I decided after lots of discussion and deliberation that we would really rather be back in California, so I quit my job at Off the Record in February, quit my job at University of Bath in March and put the house on the market!!

We got a really good offer on the house 2 weeks after putting it on the market and exchanged contracts last week. Only 4 weeks left to pack up our stuff and leave our amazing home in Bath.

We’ll be camping out at my folks in Bournemouth for a month so that we are in the country for both Lianne and Rachel’s weddings in June! Can’t believe they are both getting married, super exciting!!

Really excited about being back in California at the end of June and can’t wait to start house hunting again. It’s just not the same looking online, especially when we know we have 2 months until we get out there.

As for the deferred ED209 exam, I am sitting it on Friday!!!! I feel really unprepared but fingers crossed I will pass.

I am currently studying my first level 3 course, DD307, and am actually finding it quite interesting.

Anyway that is my brief update. I promise to write a more comprehensive post once the exam is over with!!!

Fi

xxx

Revising like a trooper!

I have recently started pottery lessons with my friend Brenda, who has been teaching pottery for many years. I am being trained up to become a pottery teacher myself. The aim is to teach a group of women from the one25 project every 6th Thursday in Bristol as a form of therapy.

Jasper has been really busy with work, he was away in the US for 3 weeks doing JavaOne, which seems like it was another big success in terms of promoting the stuff he is working on.

The boys have grown hugely, although Toby is still smaller. We had a bit of a nightmare recently, Toby went missing for nearly two weeks. It was heartbreaking, but thankfully a coulpe found him a few streets away and we got him home safe and sound. Very nervous about letting him back out again though.

Other exciting news is that my best mate Rachel has got engaged to the lovely Colin. So happy for them, they have been lucky enough to find their soulmate, which is a rare and wonderful thing.

Peace and love

Fi

xxx

Speaking of working…

Up until last week I was working at University of Bath as a temporary receptionist, a fab job where I met loads of great people and really got my confidence back in terms of working. I was there for just over 2 months and managed to earn enough money to easily pay for the new carpet, which is great.

This week I started a new job, this time a 2 year contract, which is perfect. I am working for Off the Record in the Shout Out team an advocacy team helping young people in BANES. My job is basicaly to do general admin for the rest of the team and to keep the office ticking over, buying stationery, loo roll, milk etc. I am only in the office 3 days a week, which gives me 2 spare days to fit in my studying. Quite frankly I couldn’t have landed myself a better position, I am really pleased.

Studying wise, I have just handed in my first assignment for ED209, Child Development. I have an assignment due in, in 2 weeks time for my other course SD226 Biological Psychology. I am awaiting the results of my first assignment, I hope it gets marked soon!

Jasper was back in the states for a fortnight this month, he’s been working so hard recently, I can’t wait until just after JavaOne. I think a holiday is in order!!

That is probably all the news from me for now, but don’t panic there will of course be another update soon.

Peace and love!

xxx

Anyway…

I thought it had been a while since I last blogged and I should probably fill you all in on the recent events of my life.

I’m not sure I have mentioned it so far in my blogs, but Jasper and I finally bought our first house in September, which is fantastic we are living in Oldfield Park in Bath and it’s fantastic to finally have somewhere to settle. Quite frankly I don’t think we could have picked a better place to be either. We got a lot of house for the money and it’s walking distance to everything, fab!

I believe in my last blog I mentioned the fact I had started full time Uni in September, unfortunately that whole thing didn’t work out. I really hoped that I would get so much more from attending a ‘real’ University and attending seminars and lectures, discussing papers with fellow students etc, but you know what that was never going to work with such young students and such a school like discipline. Financially it didn’t make any sense either, there was no chance of getting a part-time job around my timetable, particualrly with my hours changing every 6 months, and the cost of completing my degree with the Open University costs less than a third of full-time Uni. So really it was a no brainer to decide to leave.

I start my next two OU courses in a few weeks time, they both look pretty challenging but then again, whoever thought getting a degree in Psychology was easy!

I am currently looking for a part-time job too, so if you know of anyone that needs some admin support 20-25 hours a week in Bath, do let me know!! (Well you never know! ).

So the majority of the last few months has been spent decorating the new house, including completely changing the kitchen ourselves and painting 5 rooms. It’s all coming together nicely, just a couple of weekends worth of work left and we should be looking pretty together, I’ll add some good before and after pics when we’re done.

Jasper has been working ridiculously hard recently, since we moved back to the UK he has been back to the US three times, he has also talked at conferences in Antwerp and Paris and is in fact off to Dublin for another tomorrow. We had one of his colleagues Richard stay with us before and after the European round of talks which was really nice, I think it helped Jasper a lot to actually get some work done with one of his colleagues in the same room. It is really hard working remotely and he struggles with the time difference sometimes but hopefully he will settle in to more of a routine with a proper office set up in our new house!

The other exciting thing that’s happened is we have two new additions to our family, Toby and George! They are gorgeous ginger kittens, currently almost 16 weeks old and they are adorable. I have added some photos to the photo page already, but will be updating them soon, as they are growing fast.

Christmas was nice this year, great to spend the day in our new house too. My folks came over on Christmas eve and stayed until the Sunday morning, which was really nice, we ate lots of lovely food, watched some classic Christmas films and TV and played a cracking game of Monopoly, all in all a fab time was had by all. We also went down to Bournemouth to see Jasper’s parents and sister and spent Boxing day with them and Tom and Fiona which was nice.

So other than that, nothing else huge has happened recently, we’ve just been plodding along as usual.

Fingers crossed I will find a good part time job soon to work around my studies and hopefully these next OU courses won’t be too tough.

Happy new year to you all!

Peace and love

Fi

xxx

Secondly, oh my God!!!! 18 year olds are soooooooooo young. I don’t think I have ever felt so old!

So, last week I started uni, freshers week was pretty lost on me to be honest, I’m pretty much past all the dressing up and getting drunk every night stage. However, that’s not to say I don’t expect to get battered at some pint with my fellow students, just waiting for an invite. I tell you what meeting new people is interesting, it’s just a shame it’s not easy. Most people I have spoken to have been lovely, some a little mad, but then I am reading Psychology! I think it is difficult to find people who want to socialise with you when you are a mature student, partly because they think you aren’t interested in the dressing up, getting battered aspect (in which case you are no fun at all) or because they look at you in the way they look at their parents or tutors. It is strange to feel so old, I mean I am only 25, I genuinely thought that wasn’t old at all, but now I am rethinking that entirely.

I’m not quite sure how this whole experience will pan out, but I’ll give it a go and see what happens.

Fi

xxx

I have finally completed my last OU course, took my exam on Monday and think it went ok, should get the results in August, so I’ll find out then if I passed or not. Fingers crossed!!

Also this week our shipment from the states arrived and we now have even more crap to sort through and unpack! However on the plus side we now have our bed, yay!!! You wouldn’t believe how amazing it was to sleep on that on Monday night, in fact this week I have slept better than I have in months! It’s amazing the difference your own bed can make. Our Ikea stuff arrived last week too, and we now have the biggest sofa in the world in our office/spare room, it folds out in to a huge bed, which is actually really comfy. We also got our shelving units, so we have some more storage for all our bits and bobs. The only thing we are waiting on now is some bedroom furniture as we have no where to put our mountains of clothes at the moment, so they are just stacked up on the floor, which is annoying.

The third piece of news, I am sure you’ll agree, is the most exciiting, Jasper and I went to the Floren gallery opening tonight on Parkstone Green (Jasper’s photos) and I finally got to wear my Donna Ricco dress. I have to admit I did feel a tad self conscious, but then I always do, but the fact I even left the flat with my legs on display must have meant the dress was doing something right. It’s definitely the most flattering and funky dress I have ever owned. Myshape.com certainly did their job in providing me with an amazing item of clothing that fitted me perfectly and Donna Ricco did an amazing job of designing a really funky and unique dress.

As promised I have some photographs of me in the dress…brace yourself! (coming soon!)

Peace out peeps

Fi

xxx

Jasper has been in the states for the past 2 weeks and it has been horrendous being without him, I’ve told him already he’s not leaving me for that long again!

I have just about managed to catch up with most people and have spent a lot of time with my closest friends.

I am begining to realise though that living in California wasn’t all that bad, it just sucked that I had no social life.

But that shouldn’t be an issue back here, I have been really busy since coming back and have so many friends down this way it’s fab. Not only that but as I plan on going to Uni full time in October I am hoping I will meet a fair few new people then too.

I am going to go to Bath Spa University, which I am really excited about, ever since I went to the open day last year I knew it was the right choice for me. Jasper and I are looking at buying a place there, hopefully before Uni starts.

I have almost completed my last OU course now, one assignment left, due in next week. Then the exam next month and I am done.

Can’t believe I have actually stuck at it and managed to keep myself motivated, I must admit there were some touch and go moments, but I pulled through in the end.

I went down to the beach last night at about midnight with James and we laid under the stars chatting and it made me realise that not only do I have some fabulous friends, but I have missed being here so much.

I am very glad we are back, and hope that Jasper will be feeling the same when he returns.

He flies in to Heathrow on Thursday morning, I can’t wait to see him, I’ve missed him hugely. Thank God for skype  hey, don’t know what I would have done if I hadn’t been able to talk to him.

The flat we are renting in Westbourne is cool, 2 big bedrooms a nice big lounge/diner with a balcony, bathroom and shower room and a fab kitchen that was recently done. It’s pretty big, which is handy as we have absolutely shit loads of stuff!!! I couldn’t quite believe how much crap we have managed to accumulate between us. And we still have more of it coming from the states next week!!

We’ve got all of our furniture from Tom and Fiona’s and it all looks fab, I kind of forgotten how nice it all was. We’ve ordered a new sofa bed from IKEA as well and a couple of shelving units. Which also arrive next week. It will be good to have a spare room so people can stay, as I plan on doing a lot of socialising! It’s been so hard spending 18 months shut in a flat on my own! So now I am going to go wild!

I’ve decided not to go to any festivals this year, partly because the Glastonbury line-up looks shite this year and partly because Jasper and I just really want some time to spend together and seeing family and relaxing, after what has been a relatively difficult and stressful time.

My brother, Ian, is all settled in Hiroshima, Japan now and is enjoying the culture. Can’t wait to go out and see him, but to be honest have kind of had my fill of flying for a while. I have flown 10 times in the past 6 months, 6 of those were trans Atlantic, so I think I am owed some time on the ground.

Well, that’s about all the news I have for now I think.

I promise I’ll post a pic of my dress soon, I have just been so busy I’ve not had a chance to wear it yet.

Love y’all

Peace out

Fi

xxx

I never thought I would feel sad about leaving here at all, after all as Andy put it the other day ‘we have been living in a car park for over a year’. But today I am feeling pretty sad about leaving the beautiful weather, wonderful scenery and cheap shopping behind. Not only have we been lucky enough to live somewhere where it doesn’t rain 80% of the time, but we have also had the opportunity to see a lot of amazing things. We’ve been over the Golden Gate Bridge (more times than I can remember), we visited Alcatraz, we’ve driven Highway 1, we have been to LA and seen the Hollywood sign, we have spent Christmas in Las Vegas, we have visited Monterey Aquarium and San Francisco Zoo (and didn’t even get attacked by a Tiger!). But not only that, Jasper has had the chance to work with so many people whom he has respected and admired for many years. Sun is to Jasper as Man Utd is to a Bournemouth player! All in all our time in California has been well worth while and is something I certainly don’t regret in the slightest. Had the immigration policies of the US been a tad more Fi friendly then I doubt I would be writing this blog! However the fact that I can not work here despite being allowed to stay for as long as Jasper is here, is absolutely ridiculous. I can’t think of a more frustrating situation to be in, you’d think having the opportunity to live in sunny California would be something anyone would jump at, but when it is coupled with no social life, no way of meeting new people and no income, it suddenly loses it’s appeal.

So, today is a day of mixed emotions. I am looking forward to being back home, seeing my friends and family more often, to having a social life, to being able to walk to something other than a Starbucks or a Subway. To working again, going to uni and everything that comes with it. But I am also sad to be leaving such a beautiful part of the world. I certainly wonder how different things would have been if we had lived in the city, or if I was able to work, or in fact both. It is incredibly frustrating that in order for us both to be happy we have to make such huge sacrifices. I know that’s what marriage is all about, making sacrifices to make each other happy and to enjoy life together, but I wish our situation was more like the norm, like agreeing to watch the football instead of Eastenders or going to the Apple store even though it’s full of geeks!!!

Anyway, I know we all feel hard done by at times, but I guess I just feel like whichever option we choose it won’t be ideal.

I wouldn’t be surprised if we come back at some point and live the American dream again, but for now it’s back to good ol’ blighty for us.

I certainly feel grateful for having had the opportunity to experience living abroad, but it will be nice to talk to people and a) have them understand my accent and b) not ask me if I am Australian or attempt to mimic me!

Peace out

From a mixed emotioned Fi

xxx

The moment of truth arrived, all of 20 minutes ago, Mr FedEx knocked on my door and there it was a dress sized box! I opened the box and folded back the tissue paper, thinking ‘gosh, this feels quite special’, and then I got to the gold mesh bag, fantastic. A wonderful idea, it certainly made the experience far more special, than the usual plastic wrap. I pulled out the dress and was immediately surprised by how beautiful the fabric felt and how well constructed it was. Certainly felt like I had got a bargain at the price I paid. I ran through to the bedroom, took off my trousers and t-shirt in record time and slipped in to the dress. I stood there for a moment almost in a state of shock, the zip was still undone and yet I was thinking ‘this might actually fit, this might actually be exactly what myshape.com claimed it would be’ I did up the zip, with a little difficulty, as most women can appreciate I am sure, it is never easy to do up the zip on the back of a dress! I stood there looking in the mirror almost in awe of how flattering the fit of the dress was, it did all the right things, cinched in my waist, flowed out from there and then hung straight down, so as to accentuate my waist and draw attention away from my huge hips, as for my boobs, they looked fab! I couldn’t quite believe it, there was a wave of shock followed by a wave of joy, I actually own a piece of clothing that makes me look pretty hot! In fact, dare I say it, this dress even fits me better than my wedding dress did, which was supposedly made to my measurements!

Absolutely fantastic, a beautifully designed and constructed piece of clothing that actually fits and flatters me, and makes me feel a million dollars!

I will definitely be shopping at www.myshape.com again!

I’ll post some photo’s shortly!

Peace out dudes

Fi

xxx

Please feel free to leave me comments or ask questions!