We’re back and welcome to the new blog!
japra | Apr 14, 2009 | Comments 43
Early last week, we took an evening walk around the beautiful medieval walled town of York. The daffodils were in full bloom. When we got back home last Wednesday, all of our dafs down here in the south of England were past their prime.
Well, hello, you’ve found our new blog! I hope you don’t mind, but we did a bit of construction over the long weekend here at Just a Plane Ride Away. I hope you like this new layout.
If you prefer, you can read the blog in chronological order. Soon, I’ll install a “Blog” tab on the menu bar that will take you straight there.
In normal bloggy news… Roxi is in her second and final week of Spring Break. This week, we’re going to see “The Woman in Black” and “Billy Elliot” as well as go shopping for her 8th grade graduation dress. If we feel brave, we might even venture to the newish Westfield Mall in London. We’ll see.
In the meantime, I’ve got to run. There’s a guy in my little English rental house doing an “Energy Survey”. He’s walking around with a meter of some sort and making notes on graph paper. It’s all very mysterious.
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Filed Under: Blog
About the Author: JaPRA is an expat Texan living in England with her husband (Mr. DJ), their 15-year old daughter (Roxi), and their dog Trudy.
Wow, so much say! First off, I love the site!! It’s very chic. I’m glad you had a good time and I hope you enjoy Billy Elliot. The movie was fantastic and inspiring some I’m sure it will be good!
Be careful with the energy survey. I don’t know how things work up there but here in Spain, the energy companies have been going crazy trying to rob people lately! You might want to learn to read your meter and take your own readings periodically so that you know instantly when yours don’t match the company’s.
Xoan-Wahn, what lovely compliments, thank you! We are looking forward to seeing Billy Elliot. I’ve heard it is excellent. As for the Energy Survey, I have never heard about this! But thanks for the warning… The leasing company sent him out, so I guess he was invited in by the landlords. He had this small box that shot a thin laser at the walls. Very mysterious!
wow, fancy!! Enjoy the rest of your spring break and you’ll definitely have to update us if you are brave enough to try Westfield. I still don’t have the nerve, Oxford St alone drives me mad!
Jessica, Roxi is keen to give Westfield a go. I’m a bit curious to see it myself. Not sure how much shopping we can actually get in, but it’ll make for a good outing, I think. I will definitely post about our experience. We were in Covent Garden today and I saw a number of nice stores, but we were in a rush to get to the theatre and then back home. I completely agree with your Oxford Street statement!
I love, love, love your new blog and layout!! How do we sign up for email replies?
Emm, you’re so sweet. I am not sure about email replies! I will ask my tech support (Mr. DJ, LOL).
Stop! You’ll ruin my reputation of being bitter and jaded!
When are you leaving UK? Could you squeeze in a Race for Life in the first week of July? (A 5km fun leisurely-walk).
Ok, I won’t tell everyone what a sweetheart you really are ;-)
The NL move isn’t confirmed yet (UGH!)… BUT we will be moving *somewhere* during the last part of June, so I prob won’t be able to do the Race for Life–so sad because from your pics last year, it looked like so much! Thanks for asking me, though. Maybe you could email me the details just in case?
The new blog is lovely. Very posh :) I am sure the graduation dress will be beautiful. If you fancy venturing out of London. Bicester Village just off the M40 is supposed to be good for that sort of thing too :)
Tawny, thanks for the shopping advice and the kind words about the new blog format! I think we’re actually going to make a day of shopping tomorrow (oh my). We’ll see how early my girl wants to wake up. That will dictate how far we’ll end up going! This long break has really turned us into night-owls.
The new blog looks amazing!!!!
Thanks, Laurie! Mr. DJ worked really hard on it.
wow, love the new blog! welcome back.
Christine, thank you! I missed all of you. I still have a few more days of Spring Break before I can sit down and catch up with everyone.
Spiffy new blog format and I do like that header (meaning I may do a header lift).
I used to go to York every Saturday for shopping at the market and a stroll around with my two boys. It is one of my favorite cities in the UK.
Maureen, lucky you! York is such a charming city. I really loved The Shambles. Is that too cliche? There was a market there during our stay. Roxi got legwarmers ;-)
Wow, fancy!
That photo is beautiful. It reminds me of seeing Texas bluebonnets along the highway. Spring around here just means that it gets hotter. It’s a slow build until September and then we go in the other direction. So boring.
Julia, I was just missing bluebonnets and azaleas a few weeks ago. However, I absolutely DO NOT miss the heat and the humidity
at all.
Daffodil on a hill poetry ain picture and verse! Love the new format here and blogroll has been updated as well. Take Care – I bet that energy survey chap is trying to sell you so=mething!!
Martin, I am going to work on my blogroll here and for sure put you on it as well! Thank you for updating my link, I really appreciate it. BTW, we’re just renting our house here. So it is possible the leasing company is trying to get the owners to do something, or perhaps the owners themselves have something in mind. Either way, I’ve never heard of an “Energy Survey”!
Yes, elegant and moderne indeed.
Lucky you.
I’ve never been to York!
Elizabeth, York was such a lovely, lovely city. I confess I wouldn’t have thought to go there except I mentioned it in passing to one of my daughter’s friend’s mother who said it was worth a visit. It really was! I’ll be posting photos later this week or early next week.
I love the new site layout. Very spiffy indeed!
lucylucia, thank you, dear! It actually took some doing to port my monster blog over to another platform, so I’m glad you like the new layout :-)
Bit confused, this is your old site but tarted up? You ARE going to Holland?
OK! Got it.
This really is very smart, I might try and change mine, though I’m a bit of a stick in the mud.
Moannie, HA! I wish I had thought of “tarted up”. Yes, indeed, same content, new look. Still not sure about the NL move, but we’re going through the motions. That makes it at least 60% real to me ;-)
Lovely new home!
Thank you, Akelamalu! I am so behind on blog reading… I miss your stories. I think soon I will need to reward myself and settle in with a nice cuppa and visit all my friends in blogyland.
Stunningly beautiful photo of dafs! And the new site is SO posh!
Have fun if you go to Westfield–it looked a bit intimidating to me.
Kathy, I am still trying out WordPress’ comment tools, so I apologize if you get this message twice. I thought of you when we were up in York. We were SO close to Scotland… but it wasn’t meant to be this time. I actually went back to your posts and took notes. Hope we make it up there one day soon.
Love it! The new website is great; I’m envious (because I’m afraid I might misspell jealous). Well done!
MikeH, I wish I could take credit for the nuts and bolts, but I have to hand it to my resident programmer, Mr. DJ. He rocks! I am thinking I need to reward him with, say… maybe a new book? Are you still taking orders for signed copies of yours, by the way?
I hate change. But I love you, JaPRA. So I will visit you here. I mean, it is pretty and all, but it’s different. I love the daffodils of York. One of these springs, we’ll see them in person!
Thanks for being such a trooper, HalfIrishRover! That’s the spirit ;-)
Seriously, thanks for putting up with the new change. Soon it’ll all feel familiar again. XO
Really nice new blog!
Thanks, Susan! :-)
Welcome to your new digs! It does look cool. It’s going to take a while for me to get used to this. It was a little confusing finding your most recent post. Can you change it so the latest post shows on your homepage without having to click?
Sarah, thanks for your comments! I wanted something like that too. I’ll try to see if I can do that on a separate “blog only” page for people who prefer to read the posts straight through.
Wow – lovely new site. But then I liked the old one too! (not as much of course) x
Maternal Tales, thank you! I found Blogger a lot easier to use, but WordPress has so many nifty features for future expansion. I’m still trying to work through some kinks, but I figured I’d go ahead and unveil this version, warts and all ;-)
Welcome back! Glad that you had a good break – York is a great place to visit.
I can’t believe that Westfield has started opening shopping centres in the UK – they are an Australian company. We have a Westfield mall near us and it’s great (but I have to stop myself from going too often so that I don’t spend, spend, spend!)
Best wishes,
Roz
Roz, Westfield opened late last year, just in time for the holiday shopping season. I didn’t realize it is an Australian company! Roxi and I haven’t made it there yet, but I am still interested in going. Just to look, mind you ;-)
hmm… attractive :)