Of Insignificant Importance

I recently made one of the best purchases of my life that has doomed me for good. “How so?” you ask. Well, here’s how:

Two Sundays ago, the Best Buy circular in the S.A. Express News was advertising a product I love at a price too good to be true. The O.C. Seasons 1 and 2 were on sale for $37.99 each, when they are regularly priced at $58.99 each. It was a steal, and I would have been crazy to not drive directly to Best Buy and purchase this little piece of Heaven I’ve had my eye on for a while.

So, even though I was sick and sniffly, I trudged my way to my local Best Buy on that dreary day and made the $82 buy, regretting the large purchase but at the same time, justifying it as “something to do on the weekends when I’m poor”. I put in Disc 1 of Season 1 when I got home, and have never looked back.

Last night, I finished Season 1. Seriously, in a smidge over 2 weeks, I flew through 27 episodes, sometimes watching 4-6 hours continuously. Some might say I’m obsessed. I would have provided some sort of rebuttal to those accusations, but then I found myself constantly dreaming of love trysts with Seth Cohen (played by Adam Brody) and shopping with Marissa Cooper (played by Misha Barton). Ryan Atwood (Ben Mackenzie) was supposed to be my boyfriend, but my overpowering romantic realization for Seth Cohen forced me to succumb to sneaky acts and guilt-ridden ploys. Eventually, though, I got Seth Cohen. And then I woke up.


I’m not going to lie and say I didn’t wake up sad and depressed because it was just a dream. But, my melancholy soon subsided when I realized that I have, in my own little way, found my very own Seth Cohen. Although he’s British. And not Jewish. And has lighter hair and is a bit older (than the character, but probably not the actor). But he’s got the quick wit, the romantic ways, and the hilarity of the television character I have grown to love (as much as you can love a t.v. character, I suppose). So, I lay to rest my vow that Adam Brody will be my future husband, and become even more thankful that I’ve found someone real that gives me all the charming qualities of the Seth Cohen character*.

However, if I blow through Season 2 like I did Season 1, I will be going through O.C. withdrawals and will need another fix of some other show. So, my next Box Set purchase will be The Office (BBC version), which is another set I have wanted for a very long time. But considering any spare change I accumulate from now until May 26th will go to the “London in May” fund, looks like I’ll have to stretch out The O.C. Season 2 for as long as humanly possible. Will. Be. So. Hard.

Good grief, I watch WAY too much t.v. And even after that statement, I will shamefully ask you, dear readers, for suggestions of any more box sets to add to my list that you think could be of interest to a television junkie like me.


*Although he strongly dislikes being “compared” to other guys, even fictional ones.

Guess who’s going to London in May? Guess. I’ll give you a hint.

I am.

That’s right, friends, I finally broke down and broke in my new credit card. The card that was supposed to be used “for emergencies only” now has a pretty large balance on it. Scary as that may be, it’s so incredibly worth it.

I will be going from May 26th to June 10th to visit my Brit Boyfriend and spend the better part of 2 whole weeks cuddling up to him and making up for lost time. In addition to that, we are looking to tour London, Wales, and Ireland. Let the planning begin.

In order to make the time fly by as much as possible, we have decided to initiate our Countdown to London on February 1st. This way, we can gauge not only by months, but by days as well, pretty easily. On February first, it will be 114 days. Although, I’m sure we’ll adopt some exceptions to that countdown, like we did when he was coming here in December. We didn’t count Christmas or Christmas Eve because we knew those days would be too busy to wallow in our anxiousness of seeing one another. So, the only thing I can think of that will allow such an exception to Countdown to London is my birthday. I wanted to be IN London for my actual birthday, but spreading my trip out from the end of May to the beginning of June allowed me one extra personal day (we get them quarterly) and one extra vacation day (we get one monthly) to spend with my darling. So, I opted for a belated birthday in London for 2 more days Huw.

I actually don’t think it’s hit me yet, the fact that in (almost) 114 days, I will be stepping off an airplane and into a new country (moreover, into the arms of someone I have missed more than anything). I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m excited as all get out. But I casually tell people, “Yeah, I’m going to visit my boyfriend in London in May” instead of shouting out incoherent half-sentences about London and the Irish and the Eye. I think, when April starts, I will be getting more nervous and more excited.

Huw and I talk every night about some aspect of our trip. Whether it’s conversation about how nervous I am to meet his parents or how romantic it will be to stand on Waterloo bridge at night and share a loving kiss (ew, I know, but I love him)…simply envisioning being there with him – well, I think it will be enough to get me through these next 4 months. Being away from him is the hardest thing.

So, although I’m freaking out about how I’m going to pay off my credit card (a hundred dollars at a time, and the interest won’t kill me, right?) and the fact that my mom is scared to death about me traveling, OH, and let’s not forget the fact that, the more I fly, the more scared of it I become…well, despite all those things, I think this is the wisest and best purchase I’ve ever made.

I’ll be sure to keep y’all posted as the plans unfold. Curly, although I know that you’ll probably meet Huw this Wednesday, get your drinking glass ready for me in May; I can’t wait for all of us to hang out!


*A "Friends" reference, for those of you who didn't know. And shame on you for that.

Apologies for my absence, I know you all were dying of boredom whilst I was away. I had to travel to the wonderful city of Bloomington, IL for a training that my work sent me to. I caught a cold.

There was one up-side to the whole crappy experience, however. I "networked" (oh, I'm bigtime) with a woman who recently came back from Germany after working some government/federal job up there that was similar to my area of work/education. I spoke with her about my current situation with my wonderful boyfriend, and she told me she knew the guy who worked in the London branch pretty well! So, I left with her email address and a lot more hope than I really should have. We'll see what happens there. Maybe, if this is what's meant to be, I'll be able to find a job over in London without having to go through the rigors of a work visa, blah blah blah.

So, I came back to work to find out that one of the "key" people at my work is leaving, which really is putting a crunch on our deadlines--meaning, the deadlines are now being moved up and we are having to take up a LOT more responsibilities in order to get our project off the ground in time. In short, I'm freaking stressed out beyond belief. This was not a good re-entry for me, especially having this nasty cold at the same time. So, if my posts are sporadic and hate-filled, you at least know why.

I haven't been to many of your sites lately, and I can't promise that I will visit them this week either. However, I do look forward to the time I can do some major catch-up blogging, and see what I've been missing since my Hell Week.

You'll simply have to find other ways to entertain yourself until I have pulled out all the hairs on my head and my stress level is back down to "yellow".

Enlisting your help again!

Because my Brit and I got on so well, we are starting to hatch several different plans to try and answer the “what comes next” question. We are finding that there are loads more complications than we expected (or wanted to recognize), as well as several tedious but important rules and regulations to follow.

I know that quite a few of the readers that frequent Of Insignificant Importance are experienced world travelers or have moved from one country to another to reside. If this is the case, and you feel you have some information about visas, working, or generally living in another country that would be helpful to our cause (big, fat, mushy LOVE), please feel free to comment about your adventures/advice/experience or you can email me on the nifty email link I have provided!*

We are only beginning to scratch the surface. Any help would be appreciated as we delve into the never-ending realm of international living rigmarole.


*Of course, even if you know bubkiss about this, comment anyway.

Dear Readers:

My best friend, the love of my life, the most wonderful person I know*, is having a birthday today. I have to say, even though it's his birthday, I feel like I received the most special present in the world.

If you feel so inclined, please stop by and tell him Happy Birthday. I only wish I could be there to tell him in person.

Happy Birthday, Baby!


* I hope I didn't embarrass him too much.

I am sad, and for that reason, I won't post too much. He left today and ever since I saw him go through security at the airport, I've had this sinking, nauseous, empty feeling in me. Just one big void. I never thought it would be this hard to be without him.

What sucks about sharing an apartment with someone that you are a thousand percent in love with is that when they leave, everything--every single little tiny thing--reminds you of them. The dirty dishes in the sink from the dinner he made us last night. The Krispy Kreme doughnuts box on my bar. The Stella in the fridge. Chocolate milk. That stupid IBC Root Beer bottle sitting on my coffee table that I refuse to throw away.

When people would ask me how I liked living by myself, I would tell them that I absolutely loved it. Now, after having him here for 2 weeks, sharing my humble little apartment with me, I would gladly give up living single for him to be here with me.

There's so much more I could say. I could tell you about how this was by far the BEST 2 weeks of my whole life, how I long for just one more hug from him, and how my eyes are still swollen from crying so much last night and today. But honestly, I have neither the strength to write nor the desire to cry anymore, so I'm going to say goodnight to you all. I have a heaping pile of blog entries to read from all of you, and I suspect that is what I will be doing tomorrow--my first day back to work in two weeks. The only thing I'm looking forward to? I get to talk to him.

Sorry for such a Debbie Downer post. My future ones might be as melancholy, but you have to understand that MOH is extremely sad right now, and probably will be for at least a week. From time to time, I might have to have a few of you perk me up by *shouting* "LONDON IN MAY!! LONDON IN MAY!! YOU'RE GOING TO LONDON IN MAY!!"

To counteract the depression, I'm posting a few more of our happy pictures. Don't go all "I threw up in my mouth a little from the cutesyness" on me. These make ME happy, and whose blog is this? That's right. MOH's. So, enjoy some pictures from me and my darling, sweet, wonderful, caring, tea-and-dinner making, hilarious, cuddly, dinosaur, kitty boyfriend.

A night out with Nic(orina) at Chili's. Ain't we just the sweetest thing?

Dinner with Mom, Sissy, me and Darling. Many of our pictures revolved around food...

Our Christmas! Originally planned for the night of Dec. 28th (our 4 month anniversary as well), but was postponed until the 29th due to some massive Phase 10 card playing with Nic(orina) on the night of the 28th.

Me and my baby at Outback for New Year's Eve. I can't tell you how much funnier his Aussie accent got as he found more things "ferocious".

We ventured out to an "authentic English pub" to watch a football game. It shaped up to be a classic (0/0) game. I loved every minute of it because he cuddled me.

I took my darling boy to the Flying Saucer for some beer he might have been missing whilst over here. However, he chose to experience at Texas Flight, which is 5 oz. samples of five Texan beers. One tasted "nutty".

Yes, here's another Kissy Kissy one. It was taken at the Flying Saucer and I really love it because it's sweet and shows you the thing that I miss the most about his visit here--the ability to kiss him whenever we felt like it.

Sure, we look damn cute here, but this, readers, this picture is for YOU. Behold: a stereotypical drunk Texas Cowboy pulling a face as soon as he sees his call to fame. "Heee-yuck. I think Ima gonna git myself in that 'der photo. Deys got un of 'em tings, uh...PICTURE BOX, yeah. Ima gon' be in a picture box, heee-yuck." Seriously, though, we're adorable.

Now, I'm sacrificing my embarrassment here to show you a picture that I really treasure. This picture was taken by me as my darling and I were lying in the bed in the lodge I had rented for us for his upcoming (Jan. 11) birthday. I took him up to Canyon of the Eagles for a night of star gazing and such. He's so sweet to me.

Look at my treasure. Look at God's gift to me. I am the most blessed girl in the world. And to think, we were THIS close to never, ever meeting. What would I do without this guy?

...there are even MORE of us kissing, so just prepare yourselves. This was overlooking a lake at Canyon of the Eagles. To me, it looks like something out of a movie. This one WILL be blown up and framed and hung in my apartment. Sigh. I sure do love him.

First of all, let me say Happy New Year to y'all. What a year it has already started to be.

My Darling has safely arrived in the great state of Texas and we have already spent 6 wonderful days together. I really couldn't describe what it's been like having him here. The first morning I woke up in his arms, I thought I was still dreaming. This morning, I still felt the same. Having him here is a dream come true, as cheesy as that sounds.

We shared our first ever Christmas together. We had nice drinks and listened to Frank Sinatra as we tore open our gifts to each other. He got me some lovely smelling bath accessories (one has already been used...), a great book called "Instructions for American Servicemen in Briatin 1942", and some "other" presents that I will keep to myself. He also presented me with a very beautiful necklace which I will never take off. Christmas was, in a word, amazing.

I've taken him several places to eat like Chili's, Taco Cabana, and Schlotzkys (I think Taco Cabana was his favorite). Last night, because I'm such a bad hostess, we had no other plans than to go out with my parents and brother-in-law and sister for a New Year's Eve feast. They invited us to Outback with them. As soon as I pulled up the menu on the computer for my darling to get a head start decided what he wanted, he noticed that it was an Austrailian themed restaurant. From that point until the end of dinner, I got to be witness to his astoudingly precise Aussie accent. Steve Erwin even came out when facing a "ferocious Chicken Chimichanga". Strewth.

We've seen Harry Potter, spent time with Nic(orina), played riveting games of Phase 10, visited my puppy, attended a Randy Rogers concert at Saengerhalle (fill the "cowboy hat" quota), and driven downtown to see the lights of the Riverwalk. But other than that, our mornings and afternoons are spent in bed, simply loving each other's company.

I was worried before he came that we would have these really awkward silences in each other's presence. You know...just kind of sit there and be like, "Yep, so this is Texas" and then turn and stare out the window for the rest of the drive to or from our destination. But it's just not like that. Sure, we sit in silence sometimes...but they're comfortable, and my thoughts are often focused on how in love with this amazingly funny and sweet and loving Brit from way over there I am.

I watch him more than he knows. I watch him when he sleeps, when he reads, when we're in the car or when we're talking to people. I watch the way he purses his lips when we play Phase 10 and the way his cheeks puff when he starts to snore. I love watching his every move, hearing every breath, because I know I won't get this priviledge much longer. Soon it will be back to robotic-like webcams and facking-computer microphones. Soon I won't get to reach out and hug him or kiss his soft cheek. But I'm trying not to think about that now. Now, I'm focusing on the amazing foot rub he's giving me!

So, kiddies, I apologize for the wide gap between last post and this one. I've been otherwise engaged. Happily.

More to come later. I'll let you know how his Texan accent progresses: he's got a ways to go until his "y'all" is perfected.