November Happenings!

4 more days till the big move! I have included some pics of the place pre-move-in...it's definitely tiny but so cute! Should be interesting to see the result of the rooms with furniture included!

In addition to our big move there has been lots of activity in the last few weeks. I am still adjusting to being home but it is very nice to have such easy access to family. I haven't been able to see most of my friends as of yet because of my work schedule and the lack of a vehicle. I think in a few months I might want to have a car just in case I want to go to NJ to visit friends and family. I have time to consider this further and at this point need to focus on saving money! With Christmas around the corner this should be interesting. haha!

Also, I did an 8K race the morning of Thanksgiving which was so fun. I hope to do this every year! I also signed up for my first half-marathon which I am super excited about. It's nice to have something to work towards with regards to running. I finally was able to meet my aunts little baby bear - super cute! Picture of him almost-smiling & delicious pies courtesy of my mom and sister, Leia, below!

So far I really like my new job. I am not as busy as I figured I would be but I know that will change soon enough. In the meantime I can focus on other important matters! The commute and the days are super long - it will be nice to have a quick trip via the subway starting next week! woot. Living with my sister, Jody, has been a dream for so long. At the end of the day I do feel fortunate to have lived the life I really wanted.

I definitely still miss London at times but I still feel completely confident in my decision to move back. I feel like I will have more money and access to the important elements of my life. I am hoping that I get visitors from the other side of the Atlantic!

In other news - the Steelers lost this past weekend with Ben out - but we have tickets to go see them for xmas so I am hopeful they win on the 23rd! It will be depressing if they don't. It will also be freezing. Also, the PowerBall is at 425 million; I bought two tickets and feel confident that I have a shot. A girl can dream, right?

One important item for the remainder of the month - I am only giving myself a little more time to get my act together. I am extremely tough on myself and I know it's been a crazy month between a Hurricane, a transatlantic move, new job, temp livings places, moving to NYC, seeing people a year later, blah blah. I know I need to get back to doing what will make me great - I need time and energy poured into entreprenuerial efforts like in London. I promise myself I will be very active on these ventures in December and even stronger in January and beyond. My resolution will be a combination of half-marathon completion success & the launch of bysophia.com. Pinky swear.

An expat no longer...

This blog post took me a while to write, not because I was strapped for time but rather because I was just purely exhausted. I didn't feel the extreme fatigue of jet lag this time around; it only took me about a day to be OK again.

I had rescheduled my flight to ensure that I didn't get caught up in "Superstorm Sandy" per the title provided by the media. I knew it was going to be a pretty big storm and I didn't want to have any massive delays in travelling back home. I had packed up my suitcases and was in a very fragile emotional state by the time I left. Bittersweet is the word you would use, yet, that doesn't even begin to truly express how I felt.

I managed to load up just two suitcases, a carry-on and my purse to make my way back home again. I was fortunate to be able to celebrate with friends and coworkers in the last week of my time in London and spent most of the last days crying. I miss the London crew tremendously.

Since being back my goal was to start work & find/move-into an apt. I have also just tried to get up to speed and meet up with friends and family in the interim. It's been extremely challenging and stressful. Thankfully my aunt and her fiance (and puppies) have welcomed me into their home and I have been commuting into the city. Hurricane Sandy has made transport utterly insane but since Jody and I signed a lease on the lower east side yesterday for December 1st my commute it going to get much better very soon!!