Running Playlist

My last day as an unemployed bum....


We're going to look at cars today, seeing as how it's the last day we can legally drive Harriet. Prayers would be lovely. 


In preparation for this 10K next Sunday, I want to gather a little playlist for the race next weekend. Here's my current favorite. 





The best line is "Don't give up/You will make it". Just what I need to reminded of...

I'm off to run hills with Ashley. 

Do you have any inspirational songs to run to? I'd love to hear them... in every sense of the phrase. Leave a comment with your suggestions!

Nothin' To See Here

This is our new place completely empty. Just a lot of white walls and blue carpet. I'm tuckered out after day two of moving. Tonight we are having our North Barn neighbors over for dinner, and I have a bit to do before they come, so this post will be a little lacking in commentary. Sorry.

The Parkers' bathroom

Parkers' bedroom

Parkers' lounge

Nathan's office (so tiny)

3rd floor to 2nd floor staircase

McKenneys' lounge

McKenney's floor (lounge in the background, bedroom/bathroom in the foreground where Nathan is standing)

Kitchen

Pantry/laundry room

Dining room (foreground)/Living room (background)/Pamela's shoulder

View from second floor

Tired but happy to be eating dinner together in the new place

Our New Neighbors are Pirates

Sorry for radio silence yesterday. Nathan and I and the McKenneys spent a very long day moving to our new place. I will fill y'all in later on all of the details, but for now, the most exciting detail is that I think our new neighbors are feminist pirates.


Proof?

Counting Down

Tomorrow will be two weeks away from my first race ever, a 10K. My friend, Ashley, and I are doing a long run tomorrow - 5 miles. 


Gulp.


It's the farthest I will have ever gone. Every week I go the farthest I've ever gone. It's so scary. But when it's over, it's like... "That's the farthest I've ever gone!" I don't know what else to say!


Does anyone have any "long run" advice? Any race day advice? Any shin splint advice? Any running advice in general? Abby and Allison, that means you.

Wish me luck.

Y'all Are Quick

I heard back from the headmaster at my new school this morning. I will start next Thursday, September 1st, and he is sending me a job description in the mail for my comments and modifications. Praise God!

Back to school!

Exercising Trust Muscles

The past month has been lovely. The weather has been (mostly) nice, and I've had lots of free time. It's been a month of discipline: working out almost every day with Kristine or Ashley, training for the 10K on September 11th, eating more healthily. It's also been a month of waiting. It's the calm before the storm.


Now within view of this impending storm - a season of change - I wanted to record for myself and share with you a line from the devotional, Jesus Calling, from a few days ago. "Trust Me, and don't be afraid. I want you to view trials as exercises designed to develop your trust-muscles." 


This really hit home for me, as I've been exercising my physical muscles a lot lately. Having friends to run with has been the key to my consistency in the discipline of physical exercise lately and it's now time to exercise the spiritual ones as well. Who wants to be my spiritual exercise partner?

You do? Great! A few things for your prayers:


1) I was supposed to start my new job on August 1st to prepare for the international students, but it just didn't happen. Without yakking all of the details that have taken place this summer, I am still in the dark about what my new role will look like and when I will start, despite my numerous attempts to find out via e-mail, phone calls, and a stakeout in front of the headmaster's office. My contract says that I will start September 1st, so I will show up and find out then, I guess.


A few weeks ago I learned that the school retained the teacher I was to replace, which makes me a bit nervous. There are opportunities for me to develop the international program at the school which I am very excited about (marketing, recruitment, administration, etc.), but I'm not sure if I should be preparing a classroom or an office at this point. Will you please pray that I can get some clarity soon in my new role at the school? 

2) You might have read this on my Facebook status, but our car, Harriet, failed her MOT. An MOT is a full vehicle inspection. In the States you just  need a yearly smog/emissions check, but here you have to get a certificate that says the whole car, from bumper to bumper, is functioning perfectly. If not, you have to go to a government approved garage and get it fixed. Anyway, all of the repairs we need to legally drive the car (which is still driveable) will cost more than the car is worth, so after September 1st, the date last year's MOT expires, Harriet is officially totaled.


We were generously given the car for free, but now we are spoiled and have difficulty imagining going back to not having one, especially now that we are moving further out of town. It would take me about two hours each day to get to and from work on foot. To be honest, we do not have the finances to purchase one right now, so you can pray that God would give me grace and strength (and good weather) to walk to work and the patience to wait a few more months to purchase one (when I start earning) OR that we would get another one for free. :) Will you please pray that we can sort out another car soon? 

3) The back-to-school nightmares are back in full effect - which any teacher will tell you is completely normal - but I find myself waking up in the middle of the night with a pounding heart, struggling for breath. In the morning my jaw hurts from clenching it and the insides of my cheeks are indented. I don't feel major anxiety about this season of stress (moving, new job, lack of a car, living in debt until I start working) when I think about it, but my body is telling me that I am stressed. I claim a verse my dad gave my sister when she had trouble sleeping as a little girl: "I will like down and sleep in peace, for you alone O LORD make me dwell in safety." Psalm 4:8 Will you please pray that I will sleep in peace?

I bet I would sleep better if I had this sandwich. :)

4) We are able to move things into our new place on August 29th, which is next Monday. This is a huge praise because we didn't think we were going to be able to until September 1st - the day I start my new job and the day it will be illegal to drive our car. Will will move as much as we can over there (we've accumulated a lot of stuff!), and Cullen and Pamela will get things set up. Our lease at the North Barn ends on September 16th, so we will stay here until then. It's only about a 20 minute walk to work from here. Thank you Jesus! You can praise God for this early move-in date. 


Geez... I didn't realize this was going to be such a long post. Sorry. I hope I made up for blabbing on with interesting Pinterest pictures. :) And I would love to be your spiritual exercise partner too. How can I pray for you?

Because Halloween is coming, and it's never too early to think about your dog's costume.

The Book Sale

Even over a text message, I could tell Nathan was excited. I could just hear his words behind his frantic thumbs: "Nicole, there is the mother of all book sales going on at Hilde Bede. How much am I allowed to spend?"

Basically, one of the colleges here is eliminating one of its libraries and moving the remaining contents to another library. People could just come in, browse the shelves like they would at any ol' library, and buy books. The librarian wasn't selling everything, though. If the book was really new or had been checked out often, it was to be moved to the other library. In a sense, the library was getting people to sort the books for them, and the people were getting books at ridiculous prices. The more we bought, the cheaper the books became.

It kind of became a joke over the weekend with Nathan wanting to tell all of his friends about it. "Have I told you about the book sale?!" he would ask with wide and intense eyes. Yes, it turned out, he had mentioned it a few times to everyone. 

I went with Nathan for round two of the book sale yesterday (Friday was round one for him). I got a few education books and some English poetry. Nathan walked away with probably 50 books for 20 pounds. Amazing deal!

At the sale, Nathan and his buddies were in absolute heaven. The energy zipping around all of their brains was almost visible. They were freaking out about books that I have never heard of and would never read. NERD ALERT! :)

Here are a few titles I found amusing...

This title would never fly today.

I bought this one. :)

Clever!

This reminds me of Indiana Jones, when the girl closes her eyes and has written "love you" on her eyelids.

I showed this to Nathan. He's a lefty.

Funny title

The sale with piles of books everywhere

Every time he gets another book in the mail from Amazon, Nathan turns to me and says, "Nicole, I love you, but we need to talk about your book addiction." That sneaky blame shifter! We already have more than 70 boxes of books back in Atlanta, and his collection here in England is growing by the second. I think we'll need a personal librarian to help sort through them all. 


I really hope Nathan finds a job in academia that can accommodate all of his books. Don't get me wrong. I love books. I love reading them. I love having them around in the house. But this is ridiculous. 


Does anyone have any helpful book organization tips? We have such limited space. My personal motto is that of my closet: one in, one out, but Nathan is not a big fan of that motto. :)

Stung

I don't know if you know this, but bee stings hurt for a long time. And then they itch for a really long time.

Our second trial run of our new touring business, Free Durham Tours, went really well this Saturday. I was hoping to take more pictures and even got gussied up for them. I wore a cute outfit and did my hair and makeup, but it was not to be. Or not to bee, if you enjoy a good (bad) pun. I got stung by a bee on our very first stop! After that, it was all I could do to just concentrate on not having a grimace on my face for the next two hours. 

I put some ice on it straight away, which really helped, but after the ice melted I could still feel sharp pain in my arm from my neck down to my fingertips. When we got home I put some AfterBite on my arm (which is just ammonia, basically) and Nathan made a baking soda paste to put on the affected area. I didn't sleep well because every time my pajamas rubbed against my arm, I felt like I was getting stung again, but thankfully the pain eventually turned to itching. It still itches. 

I didn't used to be scared of bees, but now I am. There are no screens on windows or doors here, so when the weather is nice, bugs of all kinds (mostly flies, but occasional bees) just fly on in. It didn't used to bother me, but now I freak out. 

I was stung on my heel at age 6 after accidentally stepping on a bee, and I was stung on the leg by a yellow jacket wasp at the beach around age 10, but I don't remember feeling the painful effects of the sting after a few hours. Maybe because it's the inside of my arm. Now, please don't be frightened by the paleness of my skin. Remember my location.

This was taken 28 hours after the incident. I'm flexing my pathetic bicep, in case you were wondering.

Nathan wanted to put in an everyday object for scale, and he wanted his fingers shaped just right. I think he took a few pictures before he was satisfied. I'm not flexing my bicep in this picture, which you may have noted in stark contrast to my chiseled, muscular arm in the previous shot.

I was feeling quite proud of the way I was enduring such continued discomfort after the unpleasant encounter with the bee until I heard about Pamela's horror story. She was attacked by a swarm of bees as a child ("My Girl style," she said) and was dunked in the bath to remove more than 150 stingers. 


I'll shut up now. 


Does anyone else have a bee/wasp/piranha story to share? It'll help me stop complaining. 

How a Cup Made Me Cry

Yesterday was a good day. The weather was nice. I felt peaceful. And we got TWO packages in the mail ("Feast or famine" strikes again!), one from my sister-in-law Hannah and one from my mom and my pseudo-mom Kathy. I wanted to wait until Nathan got home so we could open them together and document the process with the camera.

In the evening, Nathan stayed late at the library and I had book club at 7:30, so I figured we could open the packages afterwards. I got home around 9:45 and the first thing Nathan said was, "I remembered that you had book club. Are you proud of me?"

"Yeah, actually I am!" I said. Since morning, he asked me "What do have we going on tonight?" about five times, when I told him about me being out for book club. I voluntarily told him about it the day before too, just to get things started, but sometimes his memory still fails him.

"I remembered after I walked in the door and then whistled for you and then called your name and then looked for your lifeless body and then called you twice in a panic when I couldn't find you."

I chuckled... And then I saw that he had already opened his package from Hannah. So much for my plan! 

Look at these goodies! I can't wait to catch up on some American movies! The Social Network is first on my list. I'm actually kind of hoping it will rain today so I won't feel guilty for watching it while the sun is shining. Thanks Hannah!

Nathan left the house early this morning, so he said it was okay for me to open the box myself today. I love my mom's handwriting. It's just unmistakable.

I accidentally opened it from the bottom, and I first opened these beautiful, sturdy grocery shopping bags. I'm sure they'll come in handy when we move in a couple of weeks.

I literally let out a gasp when I took this out of the tissue paper. What a gem! I love it!

And a red cardigan made out of sweatshirt material. I die!

I love the ruffles.

I started feeling really nostalgic for my college town, Upland, Indiana, when I opened these: 

1) a local newspaper with two articles that made me smile (My former boss in the admissions office is now the Director of Admissions [GO AMY!] and the house where a bunch of guy friends lived - once called "The Church" because it used to be one - is now a home for girls coming out of foster care.)

2) a menu from Ivanhoe's, a famous restaurant that serves amazing food in addition to 100 different sundaes and 100 different milkshakes

3) a t-shirt from Ivanhoe's. I can always use more work-out clothes!

4) a big plastic cup from Ivanhoe's with a built in straw and lid. I got all choked up when I unwrapped it. God is so good!

Tears sprang to my eyes! I've been struggling to drink enough water lately. My mom gave me a similar cup last summer, but like the iPod and the Nalgene bottle, Nathan has taken it over. I didn't want to demand it back, so I figured I'd just get another one at Christmas when we visit America. However, I didn't have to wait! This one is ALL MINE! I know it sounds totally stupid, but I loved the reminder that the Lord cares about the littlest things.

Check out the Ivanhoe's sundaes and shakes menu! You can click on the picture to magnify it.

Moving on! Look at these beautiful school supplies! I can't wait to use them: (from left to right) nice pencils with a pencil sharpener, file holders, a journal, and note cards with lined envelopes.

Thank you so much Mom and Kathy! You made my August!

Beating Silly

For a few months now, Nathan has taken to playing chess on the computer when he's not reading something. There are several levels (hard, medium, easy, and silly), but he is not very good, so he usually sticks with "silly." According to him, he says his problem is that he "moves before he thinks," which is quite the problem when one is playing chess. His playing most often results in frustrated noises that make me jump with fright when the house is quiet.

Imagine the peaceful silence of the house...

"GAHH!"

"I'm so STUPID!"

"Are you KIDDING me?"

"This SUCKS!"

"I'm never playing chess AGAIN!"

And so on and so forth.

However, his luck changed this other night!

Nathan wanted me to publicly announce that he beat the computer at chess in 10 moves with all of the pieces on the board. He smugly got out the camera and snapped a picture, gloating and strutting around saying, "I just beat 'silly' chess!"

Congrats, babe! Now you can try "easy"! Good thing this PhD we're here for isn't in chess...

Breakfasting Out of Doors

 This morning the weather was P-E-R-F-E-C-T! I decided that Nathan and I should be breakfasting out of doors, so I moved some living furniture outside on the grass.

Oh, shadows... I look like a football player because I have a kitchen towel on my shoulder. I haven't been working out that crazily. That's my laundry hanging on the line on the right.

Look, it's no big deal. We're just enjoying our morning meal in England... next to the hedges... behind the rose bushes... in front of our 700-year-old stone barn house... in the sunshine... with a gentle breeze. Yes, that's the smallest size container of table salt you can buy.

Hard boiled eggs, buttered toast, Greek yogurt with berries and cashews, and water in a beer pitcher served in jam jars. Eclectic.

What did you have for breakfast this morning, and where did you eat it? A Nutri-Grain bar in the car? Cereal at the counter? A full spread in bed? Do tell...

Introducing Free Durham Tours

Nathan and I have had an idea brewing for a while, since we visited Prague, Bratislava, and Budapest with Dave and Allison. 

All over Europe there are free walking tours, and we took advantage of them in Prague and Budapest. They were awesome! The informative and entertaining guides covered history, culture, architecture, food and drink, customs, and much more. The guides worked for tips only. It really put the pressure on the guides to make it good, but it allowed travelers to tip what they thought the tour was worth according to their budgets. We wondered if there was such a tour in Durham. 

Allison said that Nathan should start a business giving tours, and she wanted a 10% cut of the profits for her suggestion. She later "sold" her birthright cut to make a phone call to Dave on Nathan's phone, which didn't even work because she had Dave's phone in her purse. :)

To make a long story short, we got back home and discovered there wasn't such a tour in Durham, although there was a strictly historical tour available for four pounds through the tourist office. We showed up for the tour one Saturday, but there were no guides available, so I guess it's hit and miss. 

Nathan started reading and researching, and I got on board as well with the administrative side of things (licensing, marketing, etc.). I did give some awesome tours in my day at my alma mater, Taylor University (walking backwards the entire way I hasten to add), but Nathan still made me "apply" to be a tour guide for our  new business. I had to give him a few practice informational snippets and role-play how to deal with a tourist gone crazy (aptly played by him, of course). He's an intense interviewer! 

We did our first practice tour with friends on Saturday, and they said it was pretty good! :) We really valued their feedback and enjoyed our time together. Cullen, Pamela, Darius, and Kristine gave up two hours on their Saturday to help us out. Kristine took all of these pictures, and Darius even wrote a review on his blog. Thanks, guys!

Keep looking out for more updates on Free Durham Tours, mostly likely through Facebook. Our new website and Facebook fan page are still under construction, but we hope to have it all done this week. If you'd like more information about Free Durham Tours or would like to book a private tour, just let me know through one of the avenues on the 'Contact' page up top or e-mail freedurhamtours@gmail.com.