The last couple of weeks haven't exactly been easy. To say things were "shaken up" would be an understatement.
Last Monday, my boss resigned without any warning to anyone in the company. I work for a small company, with only 6 people in the U.S. office (well, 5 now). When a director leaves in a major company, I'm sure there's a slight tremor, but the floor isn't cracking beneath you and buildings aren't rocking back and forth. For a small company like ours, this is 7.3 on the richter scale.
A week and a half on and we're still in the "search and rescue" phase, and we're finding things are a lot more fragile than we initially thought.
For now we're having to stick together and all do jobs we weren't meant to do. Hopefully this transition won't have too many growing pains.
The next month or so should be interesting.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Homesick
This week I've been homesick. Homesick can be missing the location you're from, the smell of your mum's cooking, your favourite tv program growing up, anything that triggers that wonderful nostalgic feeling can make you feel homesick. My homesickness snuck up on me over the last few days, highlighted by a few triggers. But oddly enough, this is the first time I've been homesick without wanting to rush and buy a plane ticket (they're too expensive these days anyway).
Monday was a particularly difficult day at work. On my way home, rather than crave a gin and tonic or a glass of wine to unwind, all I wanted was a big cup of tea and rich tea biscuits (trigger #1). While enjoying my 4th rich tea biscuit I decided I didn't want the healthy salad I was planning on making for dinner, I wanted something rich and comforting like shepherd's pie or sausage and mash...things I hadn't made or eaten in either months or years. So I went with my gut instinct (literally) and made the food of my childhood, a bubbling dish of cheese-covered heaven: shepherd's pie. This was trigger #2.
Since then I've been craving (mainly food) that reminds me of home and of my childhood. My parents may have moved us to Texas but they raised us to be English. I grew up with Salad Cream (trigger #3) or Branston Pickle on my sandwiches and not Miracle Whip. I ate pies filled with meat and potatoes and not syrup-covered fruit. I watched "Only Fools and Horses" or "Blackadder" with my dad as a kid, and not "Roseanne" or "The Cosby Show."
The good thing about being homesick for English things in Texas in 2012 versus 1996, is that key food items you can get here now, and what you can't get you can order online or smuggle back in your carry-on whenever you get back to the UK. Sure a jar of Marmite from a speciality shop here will have a 600% mark-up here, but it tastes nearly 600% better because you can't afford to eat it every day. So I'm going to let myself indulge in being a little more British this week than I normally can. And I will enjoy every second, sip, and bite of it.
Monday was a particularly difficult day at work. On my way home, rather than crave a gin and tonic or a glass of wine to unwind, all I wanted was a big cup of tea and rich tea biscuits (trigger #1). While enjoying my 4th rich tea biscuit I decided I didn't want the healthy salad I was planning on making for dinner, I wanted something rich and comforting like shepherd's pie or sausage and mash...things I hadn't made or eaten in either months or years. So I went with my gut instinct (literally) and made the food of my childhood, a bubbling dish of cheese-covered heaven: shepherd's pie. This was trigger #2.
Since then I've been craving (mainly food) that reminds me of home and of my childhood. My parents may have moved us to Texas but they raised us to be English. I grew up with Salad Cream (trigger #3) or Branston Pickle on my sandwiches and not Miracle Whip. I ate pies filled with meat and potatoes and not syrup-covered fruit. I watched "Only Fools and Horses" or "Blackadder" with my dad as a kid, and not "Roseanne" or "The Cosby Show."
The good thing about being homesick for English things in Texas in 2012 versus 1996, is that key food items you can get here now, and what you can't get you can order online or smuggle back in your carry-on whenever you get back to the UK. Sure a jar of Marmite from a speciality shop here will have a 600% mark-up here, but it tastes nearly 600% better because you can't afford to eat it every day. So I'm going to let myself indulge in being a little more British this week than I normally can. And I will enjoy every second, sip, and bite of it.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
San Antonio
San Antonio is a city that's come into my life many times. I have memories as a small girl of seven on holiday with my family, to tasting my first martini on my 22nd birthday with Zak. Granted those are two very different memories, but they sum up the times there rather well. Zak actually grew up only an hour away from San Antonio, so his connection to the place is quite similar.
It was a couple of months ago when we started talking about how much we missed San Antone. We realised the last time we'd been there was in 2009 after graduating uni. San Antonio has two of the main tourist attractions in Texas: the Alamo and the Riverwalk. The Alamo is a symbol of Texas, a beautiful old Spanish missionary that became a fortress in the Texans fight against the Mexicans. The Riverwalk is a bustling ringed waterway that's lined with shops, restaurants, and bars and sits in the heart of San Antonio below street level.
After a couple hours of reminiscing, I decided we should just go back to San Antonio. So last Friday and Saturday, we were there celebrating Zak's birthday (I had to have a reason to part with the cash, so why not make it a celebration?). For the 26 hours we were there, the weather was perfect. It was a warm with an early-spring breeze, and not a cloud in the sky. We spent our time wandering around, visiting little art galleries, stopping for margaritas whenever we were thirsty, and of course we stopped to "remember the Alamo." Even though it was just a quick trip, it felt like a full holiday just to get away. Its amazing how quickly you can disconnect yourself from the daily stresses when you're in a great place with someone you love.
It was a couple of months ago when we started talking about how much we missed San Antone. We realised the last time we'd been there was in 2009 after graduating uni. San Antonio has two of the main tourist attractions in Texas: the Alamo and the Riverwalk. The Alamo is a symbol of Texas, a beautiful old Spanish missionary that became a fortress in the Texans fight against the Mexicans. The Riverwalk is a bustling ringed waterway that's lined with shops, restaurants, and bars and sits in the heart of San Antonio below street level.
After a couple hours of reminiscing, I decided we should just go back to San Antonio. So last Friday and Saturday, we were there celebrating Zak's birthday (I had to have a reason to part with the cash, so why not make it a celebration?). For the 26 hours we were there, the weather was perfect. It was a warm with an early-spring breeze, and not a cloud in the sky. We spent our time wandering around, visiting little art galleries, stopping for margaritas whenever we were thirsty, and of course we stopped to "remember the Alamo." Even though it was just a quick trip, it felt like a full holiday just to get away. Its amazing how quickly you can disconnect yourself from the daily stresses when you're in a great place with someone you love.
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| the Alamo at night with the famous Crockett Hotel - my favourite shot from the trip |
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| A small art shop in La Villata |
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| Love cactus above the door |
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| The Riverwalk |
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