Wicked good blog, innit?

Good day to all of you, I know I know, its been awhile.  All I can say is life happened and I got off track with checking back in. I am back now though!
For this post, I was inspired by Buzzfeed. Any one of you who is on Facebook knows what site I am on about. It is the perfect time waster, before you know it, you are still sitting with now cold pizza in your lap shaking your head wondering where the past half hour went. So I was on this time waster on Friday, chuckling to myself because I was reading all the various lists about " you know you are from England when.." and it occurred to me that I actually am starting to understand it here! All of those silly little things that make up day to day lives here are part of mine and I get it. I am fortunate enough to "get" two separate cultures!
I thought I would share something similar with all of you, get to you to know each culture as well! So below I  lists from each place that I feel sufficiently describes what its like to be a local to each area, as well as the language of each place. I have also put a video of one well loved comedian in each place, so keep it on in the background and laugh :D (I think that will be a regular thing on here, introducing comedy, music and traditions)
 I thoroughly invite you all to comment on this post! It is my goal to have you interact with one another, so please share anything you like!

enjoy! xmex

Out of all the British problems made into movie posters, this one had me in stitches. Just like the self checkouts in America, except they weigh everything in your bag over here. You move one thing a tiny bit to the side and the operater says ...





I dont know how to explain this picture except to say, that is Maine. You can most likely get most anything at the same location.


http://www.buzzfeed.com/lukebailey/tremendously-british-successes#.fupDLbk4g
http://www.buzzfeed.com/maggyvaneijk/never-be-british#.pwdjp5oXb


http://www.thedialectdictionary.com/view/letter/Bristol/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KRPOIQgHjQ






https://greglinscott.wordpress.com/2007/01/18/you-know-youre-from-maine-when/
http://mainememes.com/


http://webpages.charter.net/lorilady/glossary.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM4lm6QxAKE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjPbhTe3Ud8

I get by with a little help from my friends..

Good evening all my lovelies. I know I haven't written for a better part of a week, and that is not a habit I plan to get into! There have been some busy moments as well as some times of reflection. I thought I would honor the latter and come back to this.

One of the things that was on my mind as we showed up for Dan and Gemma's birthday night, was the power of friendship. 

When you move to another place, friendships are a struggle for awhile. Now, I can make friends with the wall if I really wanted to. I have always had this ability to talk to whomever I want and pretty much gauge their persona instantly, thus making sure they feel well in my company. If you are a close friend of mine, my guess is you would say the same. One of the traits about myself that I hoped would carry me through the harder times moving here is the ability to make friends easily. If I am totally honest with you, I am only just getting to a point where some people feel like friends. The best way to explain this is to talk a little bit about what each island has brought to me in this respect. 

 For all you Bristolians and beyond, here's a glimpse for ya into what makes me me.

MDI is where I have grown up. Anyone of us who has can say we easily know the majority of people on the street. We know our neighbors and probably their parents and their parents parents. You are taught very young (or at least in our household), to treat everyone like family. If someone needs a helping hand, we are there. I wouldn't think twice of doing the right thing, even if it meant that it inconvenienced me or caused me sacrifice. Once this summer, someone here who had visited Boston asked me if the kindness and politeness there was "put on" or if it was natural. I had a good giggle and told her that it was natural. It is our New England Charm! We islanders definitely aren't angels. We party hard and work harder in a community that tries its best to get most of the economy from three months out of year, four if we are lucky. Every store on our island with the exception of some of our petrol stations (petrol=gas for you Americans) and two Subways, are independently owned. A family I probably know owns it. There is a good chance I could walk into a few of those stores and if I didn't have enough cash on me, they would either set something aside for me or trust my word that I would be back to pay for it. Most of us grew up never knowing what it was like to lock a door. And did my mom leave the car running while she ran inside "real quick" to get something at the store and leave my brother and I inside? Absolutely.I have known all my friends since forever. Most people I know are real genuine. They are loud, have a thick accent and are rough around the edges with good hearts. I think its the sea salt that does it. 

I could continue to tell you a ton more about my storybook island right now, but I am now going to stop so you can soak that in for a minute.  :)

As for this fine island, let me tell you a little about it deah!

I now live in Bristol. It is full of architecture art and diversity. I am lucky  if  I happen to see the same person twice, but the people watching here is fantastic! There are street performers of every race and style. There are interesting food stalls with colorful feisty food. Pubs are the great and full of ales and beers and cider. There are festivals of many kinds and they seem to be tradition, much like some of our traditions on MDI. The music scene here is unbeatable, although that is a post entirely of its own. This city is full of life! As far as the culture is concerned, its hard to pinpoint anything specific because it depends on where you are from. There is going to also be an entirely different accent the next post code over, so if any of you are under the impression that everyone here sounds like Hugh Grant or the Queen, you are far from wrong! I am forbidden from attempting any sort of accent because just as I think I have got it, there is someone (mainly my husband), to remind me I sound in fact like Eliza Doolittle. In my work space alone I have one person pronouncing their t's with great emphasis, while another will avoid the t in a word all together. This is just the accent! As far as the mannerisms go, that is an art to master. You may think you know English humor in America, but I guarantee you do not. They are sly masterminds with masterpieces of wit rolling off their tongues effortlessly. You have to be quick. Quick with a come back. Making fun of one another, or banter as they say, is the sure way to make a friend here. But its not like we do it in Maine. There is a thread of vocabulary that seems to fall out of their mouths that I am only just getting myself into. Sarcasm rules evvvverything here, it is ingrained in their DNA. It has taken the past solid year to grow accustomed to telling the difference in intentions over here. I have never met such complex people as the English. You do your best never to let on how you truly feel about anything, that is not something that happens here. You are quite surprised to know anything personal about anyone. Most bonding here happens over general talk and knowledge as a result,so for someone such as myself, this has proven a challenge. I am such a perceptive person, that I usually will end up talking about something personal anyway. I also think that is because as Americans we do this, as well as being an Islander. Like I said, knowing everyone all their life has done this to me! 

I have a small but perfect group of people here whom I can say are becoming those kinds of friends to me. The kind of people I hope to remain friends with long into our adult life. Friends with children, friends to watch gigs with and friends to bake cupcakes with. Some of these friends supported me through the process of returning to Maine to obtain my visa. They would skype with me or send me messages and make sure I was doing ok while I waited. The few that did that only knew me about 3 months beforehand. Once you make a true connection here, you make it for life. That is the English way. A lot like the Mainer way. Hmm.

 

Eggs rain and sweets

Good Evening all you fellow blog readers! After some chat at work today, it would seem I have a few followers in support of my words and photos. Can I just take a moment and say how happy that makes my heart? :)
Like I said in my original post, I have wanted a way to bring together both parts of my life. Any of you who have moved from one culture to another know what I am on about. Although there are significant changes when you have moved anywhere, even down the road, it is another level of change to move cultures. Soo, my day to day is very much a quest and I discover something new all the time. So thanks for reading about it ;)
So, I had my last day off yesterday and spent it making food and baking all day. Thanks to the lovely weather, I gave up attempting to soak myself in the vitamin D rays of the sun.
You see, that is how the weather works here. It is one of four kinds of weather. Rainy, Sunny, Mild or Windy. The rain can be broken down into subcategories however. I will begin to sound like Bubba or Forest when I say this, but there is side ways rain, drippy rain, foggy warm rain, steady rain and my absolute favorite, misty-back-up-in-your-face-and-ruin-your-makeup kind of rain.  This rain also may not last more than 5 minutes and then it becomes sunshine and you think you have a chance. But sometimes, (like me yesterday), if you put on your shoes and grab your hoodie to head out the door, it starts raining again. Thus, I gave up and went back to cooking and baking.
There is however, so much of this I can even handle at a time. I love love to bake. There is nothing more cozy in the world to me than the smell of something that contains cinnamon rising in the oven. You see, I am trying to learn to bake by converting cups and ounces into grams and milliliters. If you know me well, that goes something like this in my mathematical noggin:

http://cdn.someecards.com/someecards/usercards/1340050882014_3068657.png

I have many a math tutor in my day, but I am afraid it wont ever make sense to me. I won't give up though. Part of moving somewhere different is adapting to what they have to offer. Otherwise, why are you interested?

Today I was back to work after four days off, and it took me all day to get back into my groove. As another change in my life has been starting work in an office setting. As most of you know, I used to have children clinging onto me or my jeans were covered in glue from art projects. I treasure that time in my life, but working in this office suits me for awhile. I love the people I work with and we have fun despite being inside most of the time. We are pulling pranks on one another or talking about our favourite things,(in between doing work of course) so really it is very similar to a day with children. Only we are mischievous adults. We even eagerly planned an Easter egg hunt for next week. You know, so all of us adults can run around and find surprise eggs. We may have to settle for finding regular eggs though, because it is surprisingly not that common to purchase plastic eggs here. They don't really do the jelly belly jelly beans and peeps thing here. No, they do something like this. And let me tell you, it tastes even better than it looks. Because nothing tastes better than chocolate from the UK. (Unless it is from Bulgaria. 'Cause that stuff also plays happy tunes on your taste buds.)

http://www.cadburygiftsdirect.co.uk/images/thumbs/0002168_470-Creme-Egg-Giant-Easter-Egg-.png

Do you see what that is Mainer's? That is a giant Cadbury's creme egg with five creme eggs inside. This is the kind of amazing that happens on shelves all over England. The only reason these people aren't diabetic is because they walk or bike everywhere and they know what the word moderation means. There have got to be at least two looooong isles worth of sweets in any given shop here. If my tastebuds weren't headed to the savoury side of life I would be screwed. I will have to get a picture in the next couple days of the beautiful display of brightly colored wrapped chocolate eggs at the front of a shop down the road. It looks like Willy Wonka's factory inside.
There can be a dedicated  blog to the sweets of England at some point soon. What I will say for now, is this country owns us on the celebration of Easter. They do it up!!
I know I went terribly off course there, but my mind is a little scattered today tee hee. I wonder if it might do some good to send Kid's Corner some sweets in the mail? Would you lovely ladies and any of you parents with KC kiddos like that idea? If you are still an active member of Kid's Corner, let me know what kinds of sweets your little ones like and I will do my best to send something from here! It won't make it in time for Easter, but everyday is a day for candy! And the best part is you can deal with the sugar high and the sugar crash, and I can be doting Jen Jen, bwa ah ahhh! So comment below and give me your fav flavors.
If anyone is also interested in some sort of treat box from here containing the best that the UK has to offer, let's work something out. I cannot pay for everything, but I am sure we can figure out how to go about it!
For now though, my own sugar crash has ended, and I must go to bed and do that thing called work in the morning. Talk to you tomorrow peeps xx

Wine beer and cookies

I am really enjoying my time off. I can say that now and mean it, since it took nearly a year to obtain my visa and allow me to have a job in the UK and up until that point I was bored shi*less. I have had my job since November and its fantabulous. Having a schedule suits me. If we were to ever win the lottery, I would have to work. The past year has taught me that. Otherwise I would lose sanity.
Apparently, at this job in the UK anyway, I acquire two days off a month. Gasp! You Americans gasp. I know, cray cray right?
So I have had 4 days off, and that is plenty of time to sit and sip coffee and listen to the really loud chorus of birdies outside the window. I mean it. Bristol sounds like what I might imagine a rain forest to sound like. It is the happiest sound, listening to them converse in the trees, although the one bird I would stick in the mix is a Chickadee. (Dee Dee Dee.) For all you UKer's, here is the little darling I am referring to. The Maine State Bird :).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfMsUuU9KtQ
After a little investigation, it seems it has a cousin here in England called the Coaltit.
http://bugsbeetlesandbarefootdays.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/ohc-chickadeecoal-tit.html
The cousin sounds like he is jacked up on  my coffee and calling out to aliens simultaneously. The sounds of birds may or may not tickle your fancy, but I find them to be the background noise in my life. One of the first things I recognized about moving here was the difference in birds chirping. Even the best loved sea gull sounds different! (Although sea gulls are gutsy pests over here, Tim once saw one swoop down and engulf someone's pizza at an outdoor eatery.)
Anyway, coffee and birds. That has made my lazy days off. I could care less what I do with  the rest of the day, but waking up without rushing around and getting to listen to them chirp is good enough for me. Ahhh, simple pleasures.
This morning however, I started off the morning on that infamous red colored website that provokes binge watching. I was clicking through the documentaries and saw one about sommeliers. Tim and I chatted about it some while he was getting ready for work (poor dude) and I was wrapped up in a nest of our duvet. It instantly made me recall my days at Butterfield's.
For those of you who don't know, Butterfield's Wine and Grocery is where I spent my twenties working during the summer,baking stuff. The best sellers though were the cookies. While I waited for the cookies to bake, I would shove the timer onto my white apron strap and head out to the front of the store, where my lovely red headed coworker was most likely chatting up a tourist about the fine selection of wines we had to offer. Everyone who worked there had some sort of knowledge on the subject, but she was such a convincing sell. I would eavesdrop on her conversations, listening for which wine to pair with cheeses or dessert. We had a wine bible that would often make an appearance when customers were shopping for a suggestion, but she always knew what to say. I however was in love with most of the flavored beers and ales we had to offer, so I had no problem recommending some raspberry wheat ale or an http://www.atlanticbrewing.com/home  specialty. Nom nom!
I miss the days of working there, I will never have another experience like it. I  had a mix of colorful coworkers and an even more colorful boss, but most of my dearest friends are as a result of me working there. Maybe they just wanted the cookies.

me in an early nest. you know, for some cuteness factor

3rd generation owner, boss and my beloved "other grandfather" Jack Walls

Our very own elegant red headed sommelier and I

A small litte article on Butterfield's. My friend and co worker is  in the background http://countyseatsupplies.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/early-stores-jh-butterfield-co-bar.html

The first thing I wrote to inspire my blog

Happy Sunday All!
Yesterday, I had a whole lot rolling around in my brain. It was one of those days when I was feeling the struggle of  living in a whole different place trying to be the person I have been and wondering how to be the person I am now. I wanted to share that piece of writing with you because not every day is so simple, sometimes things can get complicated up in my thoughts! We shall get to it in a sec.
 There was a heck of a lot of encouragement from the peeps in my life to start doing this. So after some time thinking it over while sipping my coffee (a very common occurrence I might add), I decided it is time to give it a go.
My original thought when I first relocated to the UK was to shower everyone back home with all the great things this place has to offer. I wanted to have pictures up daily and links to places and just go gung ho. Problem was, I kinda had to get used to it here first. There are a few things I am great at multitasking with, but significant changes is not one of them. I have had a lot of that. So, for the past year, I decided eventually I would come back to this idea. But there was some observation to be done first. I now feel like this is the time to start doing that, but with a twist. My friends and co workers here ask about where I  am from, and even though I gab on and on about it, there comes a point where eyes go glazed and I know I have lost 'em. So, I figured I would reach out and grab all the articles, funny videos jokes and general interesting knowledge that MDI and Maine has to offer. This way, I can also share who I am and get my UK peeps genuinely interested!
So, without further ado, here are my thoughts from yesterday. Although they are a bit on the serious side, sometimes I am gonna have days like that. Please feel free to leave suggestions below regarding anything interesting you think I should share about MDI. Ta!



I woke up after a series of dreams this morning with the longing to sit on my mom's lawn furniture and drink a cup of coffee. However, let me set the scene for this. 
I am nostalgic for a foggy cool summer Maine morning. Because they are my favourite kind of days on MDI. When I can curl up in sweater but also wear my flip flops. I want to sit there, with the dog at my feet and listen to the sound of neighbours starting a lawn mower or hammering nails into whatever project they are working on next. The sound of buzzing insects and the wind gently rustling the green leaves above me. I just want that moment, that kinda day sometimes. There are times when I suddenly cannot breathe because it is not possible to simply take a drive to her house. Let me assure you, I am completely content living in England in love smile emoticon I loooooove it here with a passion and it is the perfect way to spend the next part of my life! But I think it is completely normal to have moments where I will feel like this, and this is the first time I have ever shared it on here. 
I was recently reading an article about the buildings on West Street and there was a curiosity of what the locals thought. I read what others had wrote and I responded to it too. I have also thought a lot about it over the past few days, but who would I discuss this with here? 
After moving away from Maine, especially MDI, you realise where you have been raised. My brother realises this too after moving to Vegas and all the sand it has to offer. Us islanders, despite bitching about 'lack of opportunities' and longing for the economy to be stable year round, realise how special MDI is. I think the West Street debate is hot because we have been raised in a simple perfection. I have been raised on one of the most stunning places on the planet. When people here show interest in where I am from, I immediately say "you have to go there. It should be mandatory for everyone's bucket list." I have had a lot of moments I never thought I'd say that. But, deep down I always knew I had it good being raised there.
I know that my only true struggle here is being able to get anyone to understand where I am from is what makes me who I am. I guess I wish I could. There's no way to explain foggy days like that. Or the smell of the ocean air mixed with suntan lotion. Or the mountains towering above your head. Or the reason I am never in a hurry is because I have spent my life socialising. I have waited as a child for my mom to stop talking to the fifteenth person at Don's whilst we grocery shop then I have walked down the street to cash my paycheck as an adult and taken twenty minutes to do so because I ran into fifteen people on the way there. How do you explain that?
It's not trying to explain that I am an American, it's trying to explain why someone would get so excited about blueberry season or fiddle heads. Why despite trying to have girly moments and dress up, I am most comfortable in a cozy sweater and my flip flops wink emoticon 
I guess what I am trying to say is I am trying to figure out how this gal from a small fishing community can show she has lot to offer England. That there is a wealth of knowledge in her noggin and a spirit that won't quit. 
Anyway, those are the thoughts in my head this Saturday. Perhaps I should start a blog.

Starting the journey between the islands..

Hiya!
I decided on a bit of a back story, this way you can follow my blog and understand who I am and what I am about. I am from Mount Desert Island, a small island off the coast of Maine. I was born and raised there and it is so dear to me! I am now in my thirties, fell madly in love with my man, acquired a visa and moved on over to a much bigger island.
Bristol, England part of the United Kingdom, is now where I call home. As I adjust to being an American in England, my wish is to bring the two together. I am so thankful for where I was born and raised and now I am thankful to spend my adulthood in a new place.
This is a space for my mind and my soul to make sense of all the new beginnings as well as incorporate my roots. I plan to share life with you, everything I can get my hands on about MDI or England that deems itself interesting. I more than welcome you to do the same, so we can all learn a little bit or a lot o' bit about these fantastic places!
Obviously, for now, this is a really basic blog. I am new to this stuff, and beautiful fancy one is in the works for me as soon as is financially possible for me to do so. Until then, give a gal a chance, and I promise once I have the means, I have an even brighter vision for what this will become! So read on friends, read on..