All Entries in the "Expat Life" Category
A few milestones
Well, hello there! Happy New Year, one month in ;) It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I hope all of you have been well. I took a few pictures when I went to Guildford this week. I haven’t been taking a lot of photos lately, mostly because I’ve been working on my Berklee music biz [...]
Hello, hello, hello, hello
Stand well away from Platform 3. The approaching train is not scheduled to stop. Thanks for stopping by! I’m sure you’ve already noticed, but I’m taking a little break from my blog while I work on another BIG project. I’m still hanging around the web, though. You can find me here: JaPRA Facebook * JaPRA [...]
We sprang forward and a jumble of other things
Finally back in British Summertime, and boy is it nice to have that extra hour of daylight at the end of the day. We’ve been having such BRILLIANT weather too! And obviously our plants are loving the sunshine. Aren’t they blooming nicely? The top photo is a flowering tree of sorts, kind of magnolia-like, but [...]
Ask an Expat: It’s here…
Welcome Autumn! On Saturday, we turned on the heat for the first time. We would have had a fire too, but the fireplace is in the music studio, and there isn’t a lot of lounging space in there. Still, it was a cozy weekend :-) Saturday, I enjoyed a lovely late lunch with my husband [...]
Ask an Expat: Settling in, finding balance
The chaos that is my studio. We are approaching the three month mark of our move back to England. And while we didn’t have a lot of acclimating to do for this move culture-wise, our lives have definitely taken a turn in a different direction. Almost as soon as we moved back, we plunged into [...]
Rockin’ the House
Well, Roxi was the only one who scored an over all “D” (for distinction) in her summer music course, putting her at the top of her class. The vocalists had a three part exam: Theory and Ear Training, Instrument (Voice), and Performance and Improvisation. She was the youngest of the 27 students–only three others were younger [...]
Ask an Expat: Our version of the first day of school
School books and supplies for five classes. In recent weeks, I’ve had a number of people ask me about Roxi school, so I thought that was probably a sign that I should do an update… Roxi’s books arrived on Friday. The larger packet on the right contained her science kit–we haven’t had a minute to [...]
Ask an Expat: My new “carpool” commute
For the six years Roxi was in school in Houston, I drove morning and afternoon carpool most every school day. In the morning, I drove in rush hour traffic for 20-30 minutes (each way) and prayed a traffic jam wouldn’t cause Roxi to be tardy (the dreaded “T” word). For an hour each afternoon, I [...]
V&A museum and unpacking update
This amazing chandelier is a glass sculpture by Dale Chihuly. Last week, I spent a day at the Victoria and Albert Museum. I specifically went to look at the fashion and costume exhibits because Roxi and I are really into sewing right now. Well, gathering ideas for sewing anyway ;-) While I was there, I had [...]
Butterflies
If you look carefully, you can see Roxi’s school bus (really a coach bus) through the trees. And just look at these trees! So different from February or even May. Gosh, it’s so exciting here lately! I told Mr. DJ that I have butterflies in my stomach when I think about next week. Good butterflies! We [...]
