Amber Williams

It's embarrassing to look at this and realize that it's been over a year since I last looked at this. I think realistically, I need to set a goal and actually stick to it. It's like anything in life, diets, meditation, health regimes...What good is it if you aren't sticking to it? It's very easy to get side tracked in life or in my case, distracted. I easily let things distract me. Why is that? The things about writing is that it is such a good way (along with music) to soothe the soul. It's getting all that junk that floats around your brain onto paper (albeit in my case I think the term is "verbal vomit"). Either way, I really should partake more in this soul therapy. I think I would have a few less sick days and flu rashes if I would just let it all out. So what has this last year looked like for me? Work. Too much work honestly and very little life experience. I need to do more with life experience. I get caught up in this sort of "rat ra...

So I am the queen at updating this blog once a year! I don't mean to neglect, but it's just been so busy for me! Life certainly keeps me on my toes these days! Big events that are worth noting for the past year: -Bought a house! It's a lovely three bedroom detached house that I can call my own, hide in to get away from the world. Decorate any way I want and fill with love! I couldn't be happier here and have really settled in well! -Got a dog! He's a year old now and named Mack. Mack is a gorgeous black lab puppy with the most loving personality and the energy of 20 kids hyped up on sugar! He is the sweetest and most exhausting little guy, but he is my baby! Here is my warning for when you visit: Beware of dog, he does not hold licker well! Haha! I love that he makes me a more active person. I walk him daily and play with him when I would probably otherwise just sit on my backside and watch TV. So he's awesome all around. -I am officially a UK CITIZEN!!! Wh...

Last I wrote, I had just moved into my current rental and was getting ready to start an temp job that turned out to be a complete and utter nightmare and end as quick as it began! Thankfully, not a month later I was able to find what is my current job and I can proudly say I have been working out for over a year now with potentials of a promotion and raise! (More details to follow, I don't want to jinx myself just yet, so if you are reading this, please send out all the positive vibes, say a prayer, lots of love and care as this girl could use the boost! Not only would this job be a great step in the right direction for me and my career, it would also put me back on a schedule that I painfully crave to have as my current schedule is a nightmare! Don't get me wrong, my job is good and pay AMAZING...Buuuuttt...The hours are ever changing from day-to-day and week-to-week that its hard to have anything of a life much less see my hubby who is working a lot of hours as well. This ...

So, I have officially packed, unpacked, arranged sorted, decorated, re-decorated (and so forth!) the new home!! YAY!! I absolutely LOVE the new house! It's a great size, not too big, not too small and very cozy! I honestly can see us living here for a long time! (As long as the neighbors aren't crazy! Haha!). It's a semi-dettached home with 3 bedrooms 1 full bathroom and one half bathroom. A nice little living room, dining room and kitchen as well as a back yard with a nice little porch! We have neighbors to our right and left, but none behind us, so we shouldn't bug too many people! I think the best thing about this home is that we have really been able to feel like we could settle into it and really make it our "home". Not just a "house" but a "home". I'm just so pleased beyond words! 2nd good news (and perhaps a start to better things to come!) is that I was asked to work a temp job that starts tomorrow morning! I will work with the...

Another year down. Another 365 days of life experiences, ups, downs, tears, laughter and whatever else can be compacted into this little brain of mine! In all honesty, 2012 probably wasn't one of my most favorite years to look back on. There were a lot of trails and frustrations and it has pretty much left me back to starting over again. Not that starting over is a bad thing! BUT I feel like I'm back to square one. Still need to find another job and I've applied for so many already! I've been a bit frustrated about that. Funds are really tight and poor hubby is having to put in a lot of extra time at work, but moving will help a lot! The first couple months of 2013 will be a bit tight, but I can tell you I'm very hopeful for better things! They seem to be looking up anyways! So I am hopeful! I've never been a big massive fan of doing the whole "New Years Resolutions" thing. I've always figured that becoming a better person doesn't just h...

Right! So last post I told you the top 5 things I loved/missed in the U.S. today, I feel that it is a great time to tell you about all the things I love about my new home! (It will be more than 5 things...and not in any particular order as today I just don't have the energy!) Here we go! 1. The history! It literally can be seen everywhere! From the old building structures to displayed artefacts, there are signs of England's history and culture everywhere! I can't wait to see more! 2. Believe it or not, the food! I have tried so many amazing different foods from different cultures that I have become quite fond of! 3. On the few days that there is sun shining brilliantly in the sky (especially in the spring), the colours here are the most brilliant and vivid I think I have ever seen! It is absolutely fantastic and t takes your breath away! 4. Let's talk affordable amazing wine!....Enough said! 5. Let's talk affordable amazing beer...Enough said! 6. Travel ...

One of the top things I think I am asked over here in England (aside from "why the heck would you choose to come here!?"...It's a smaller town I'm in...) is: "What do you miss the most from back home?" It's a good and fair question I think! I've put quite a bit of thought into this question as well and have come up with the top 5 things I miss about home. Truth is, I've learned to adapt and become content in pretty much any situation. But just because I'm content doesn't mean there isn't a thing or two to be missed about my homeland! So, without further ado, here it is: 5. It's silly, but I'm going to throw it out there. Certain foods and restaurants. You can not get snow crab legs here at all and I ADORE snow crab! You can by King Crab for a ghastly amount and it's not the easiest to come by...But it's no comparison. Same goes for restaurants like Texas Road House. BUT I have a real new found love for Indian food a...

I was trying really hard to get myself to fall a sleep at a decent hour. The problem with not working is that it screws with my daily structured routine. Instead of sleeping at an earlier time at night so that I can get up at an earlier time in the morning, I end up burning the midnight oil, then wondering why it's so difficult to pull my ragged body out of the bed in the morning. But tonight, like so many night recently, I lay here tossing and turning and all alone with my relentless thoughts. Restless. I've gotten really good at being able to deal with my inner voice and basically tell it to shut up, but these days it works in overdrive to try to remind me of every embarrassing and regretful thing I have done. Tonight is of no exception. It jumps back and forth from: "why couldn't I have gotten this job? What did I do wrong? What did I do right?!" to "How are we going to afford to move? How are we going to pay our bills??"... It used to be that one...

Oh what a season of life! I am def. over it and ready for my new chapter to hit! I try really hard to stay positive on this site, but I guess in hindsite, it's really here for you to see what's really going on in my rosie world huh? I've been trying to darndest to keep everything together, stay positive, stay sane, not worry about tomorrow and ultimately trust that God will provide what's needed when it's needed. So far, I have to admit he's been faithful to me. We've had little unexpected breaks come up which help so much! Hubby has been working so hard and has been so stressed as well, I need to remember to really reward his hard work when better times come! He really deserves it! I'm just so grateful for his amazing heart! He continually steps up to the plate and shows what a man should be for his family! I'm so lucky to have him! I know I've been a bit moody and tempermental, dealing with the stress of a job loss, financial hardships, we are ...

Patience is something that I practice all the time, but in all honestly, I've never gotten good at. I find that after years of working on becoming more patient, I've just become a bit more frustrated and grumpy. Things sometimes don't move quick enough for me and sometimes that's ok, a lot of times, it makes me winge a little bit before I move forward. This is a bit of how I am feeling today. I've applied for countless numbers of jobs and it never ceases to amaze me that I've only been called to interview for ONE job! Not that I'm underminding that one job I have had interviews for. I think among all the the jobs I have applied for, this one is the most interesting and diverse I have ever had the privilage of being considered for. I also think it would be a great job and person to work for! It would be for a wealthy business man and his PA. He used to own a massive business (and market really for his trade), has sold it and now spends a lot of time doing ch...

It's been too long since I have had a chance to jump on here and update the world on the never ending saga's of this "One Woman Circus"! Apologies if anyone missed me! So what is going on!? Let me tell you! November 5th I lost my job due to just hardships on the company. There were ups and downs anyways, but it was sad. This company had been my family for over the past year. We all keep in touch on Facebook and phone, which I really appreciate! Unfortionately, I haven't been able to find a new replacement family yet. Honestly, I've put out loads of applications with no contact back except one (which is a first for me! I never thought I would ever be in that sort of position!) The one that has shown interest though is a VERY interesting job as a sort of "assistant to the assistant" sort of thing! The lady that I would work for (if I get the job) is really lovely! She is very open and easy to talk to and honestly, someone I would love to learn and gr...

Tomorrow is dooms day...No not really, but it is a test day! Whoo hoo! As a part of my journey to become a UK citizen, I'm required to take a "Life in the UK" National test. This test is required for all immigrants in order to continue on with being able to stay here in the UK. No, you don't get deported right away if you fail, this is a test that just needs to be passed before you go for your Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR). If you don't have it passed by the time you go to your ILR appointment, then you worry! Fortunately for me, my ILR appointment isn't untill April of 2013. BUT I wanted to get this done and out of the way so that it's one less stressful thing to worry about! I can't imagine having to retake this test again and again, but I wanted the option there if needed. The other reason you don't want to take this test more than once: it's £50 a pop! (around $77.00!!!) Yikes!! I don't have that kind of money to waste! I'v...

Tonight was a night of studying, then relaxation and getting myself into some sort of "zen-like" mode. Thought about relaxing in the bath with a nice glass of wine, but got caught up in the movie "A Little Bit of Heaven" and decided that the bath was out. Was finishing up studying and then it hit me: I LEFT MY PINOT IN THE FREEZER!!! ((Followed by BIG MASSIVE POUT!!!)) Ha! Go Figure! The story of my life! There has been a lot going on with work, life and pending up coming events I've been trying to prepare for. This coming Friday I have to take a "Life in UK" test, which is all good and dandy. It's a pretty easy and straight forward test BUT there's just so much pressure to pass it as it's important in order to move forward with my immigration process! (Plus, it cost's £50 every time you take the stupid thing!) So, I'm hoping that first time is a charm and the test (That I have been studying for weeks now for!) will be a breez...

The weather is miserable today. It's raining, cold and frigid. I think we completely walked from Spring to Autumn this year with little teases of sun to keep us from going insane. The rain has been drizzling, it's been dark all day and here I am, snuggled up on my comfy reading chair with not one but 3 blankets draped over me! (It's cold!) and the heater working it's magic to add some comfort. I look over to my right and there stretched out on the couch is my husband with his laptop looking up car parts for our ever needing BMW. Despite the cold, the rain and three blankets, today I have felt the most content I think I have felt in a long time. Life is what is needs to be right now. Nothing is perfect but I have everything I need. Despite the weather, I've been looking forward to the changing colors of Autumn and the life changes that can come with it. It's like a new season can breath in a little new life sometimes you know? I love fall and I've been excit...

It's been a good week! Got moved out of the apartment, cleaned it out and got our deposit back. Moved into the new house, unpacked all the boxes and put everything in its place...Wel ALMOST everything! The only thing left to do are minor little projects that will have to wait because they cost money! (i.e. we need a shelf for all our movies which are sitting on the side board, can't afford to get a bookshelf now (we want one from IKEA which matches the rest of our living room furniture) Therefore, it will have to wait till we build up the old bank account again! It feels homey! I like that it's a mixture of old and modern. It creaks like an old house when you go up the stairs and walking around the upstairs area (Which will really make it difficult to for anyone to sneak around as it is so loud! LOL!)It makes other weird creaking and squeaking noises, but I just chalk it up to a house that is settling? It's too new to have any history! I like that there is space t...

I'm sitting here alone in this shell of an apartment that I have called "home" since the start of my England journey. It didn't hit me until tonight that I am going to be a little bit sad to leave! I loved my comfy leather chair and ottoman by the window where I could read, take naps, day dream and watch the world move at a recreational park space with laughing children, occasional barking dogs...Always laughter, which is something that is so up lifting to hear! It's small and cozy in here and in some ways, very secure. Not to mention how quick and easy it is to clean! I LOVE the new house though! I'm excited to have SPACE! I love the fact that I will be able to use my surround sound system! I can play Dance games on my Wii without worrying if the dancing is to loud for the neighbors below! I'm sure I will fall in love with a new place to read, a back yard, new scenery, etc. (So excited about the conservatory!! I think that will be my new favorite place!...

I read a quote today that did make me smile a little. It said "Just when you think you can make ends meet, somebody moves the ends"...LOL! How appropriate is this in my life!? EVERY TIME I get life, finances, job, etc. just something on a good successful route, life comes at me with full force blowing wind to push me back to square 1! Eventually I think I will just learn to stop fighting the force and go with the flow, but somewhere, somehow, stubborness hangs on by a tiny thread! I can't complain about everything in my life, there are many positives to be noted! One positive includes moving into a beautiful new home! (To be entirely too honest, it's much to big for us, and it's going to be expensive, but because of not being able to get the other homes we applied for, this was the only other choice that wouldn't land us into gang or drug/alcoholic living territory or a home that looked like it could have been a meth lab!! We have 6 months to decided whether...

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! For once, I would just love something to go smooth and easy! I'm really struggling this year and it would just be so amazing for life to just throw us a little bone once in a while you know? This week has really hit hard for me. For the last 3 weeks I have been a bit ill with stomach issues and such, to top it, started having massive anxiety issues to boot due to everything going on around me. (You wouldn't think that I would feel this way directly AFTER a vacation, but truth be told, I wasn't feeling well over the vacation either!) I've had other developing situations occur creating more stress and tension and the ONE thing I was hoping to just fall in place was find a new place to live! Dave and I had dilligently been looking every day for a new home as we have to be out of ours the last day of July. We had 3 amazing houses picked out to make offers on (obviously the we had an ord...

It's been too long since I've updated the world on my England adventure, so I thought now was a good time! The last couple weeks have been a bit hectic as I was super busy trying to get everything in line to go on vacation! It was an amazing vacation as well! My parents came to visit for 2 weeks and we showed them our local area and traveled out towards the country to show them beautiful old villages as well as some castles! From there, we ventured up and around Scotland which I must say, was equally as amazing and beautiful! From the Highlands to Loch Ness, It was just like out of the movies! We had pictures taken with a bagpiper who has played in New Yorks Macy's Day Parade (Compliments of Shaun Connery apparently!), we awed and dreamt what life would be like in Donan Castle and we were even kings, queens, prince and princesses in our own over night castle stay at Tullock Castle! It was an amazing experience and I'm just constantly reminded how lucky...No blessed! T...

Well, after a few days of playing around on Tumblr, I've decided that it will serve one purpose, just not the one that I have for this site! ((I know all 1 of you are sighing with relief! Lol!)) I do have the Tumblr site, but I've decided that the reason for keeping that is to post videos (which I will try to make more!) and just generally show you around England and expat life as well as share my adventures, etc. it's a very light and fun and hopefully interesting travel blog basically! :) This site I will reserve for my personal experiences to share with my closest friends, family, etc. so you know what's up with me personally! I will however, post the link to my new Tumblr site soon for your enjoyment! Alright, back to relaxing! Love you guys!