London Calling... (UPDATED)

Just had to do a quick update (and it's a little late, sorry) to tell y'all that I got my tickets to England!! Hooray!!! :D I am headed over to see my honey in less than three weeks and can't even convey how beyond excited I am! I leave on the 20th of October, arriving there the morning of the 21st. Then I get to enjoy ten whole days with the love of my life before coming home on the 31st. I'm flying out of SLC so I have to drive there, which is a shame but the cheapest and easiest option. We ended up getting tickets for about $740, which is pretty damn good. :) Chris' mom was amazing enough to let us put the flight on her card and pay her back over the next couple of months.

I'm really so super excited! We are going to spend the first weekend together around Eastleigh, and I'll get to meet all of his friends. Then on Monday we are off to Cornwall with his family for the week. On Friday we will head back to Eastleigh and Saturday morning we will go explore London for the day and stay there that night, with my flight departing the next morning. I'm pretty sure leaving is going to be one of the hardest things I've ever done, but the fact that we will be reunited in January (instead of April) should at least serve as a small comfort.

Oh, and to those of you who requested a picture of Chris...I keep forgetting to ask his permission to post one. :P So I will check with him tomorrow and as long as it's fine, I'll add a couple pictures to this post then.

Speaking of pictures, I also promise plenty of pictures of England when I return! For those of you a bit anxious about the prospect of me traveling overseas alone (*cough* Monica *cough* ;)) I will of course be keeping in touch with family while there. Chris has offered me full use of his computer, as well as his cell phone, and international calling cards are quite easy to purchase there. My mother will also have all of his contact info. I only say this to put minds at ease...as for me, I don't have any single, solitary doubt that this trip will be one of the best of my life and I have absolutely no worries about it. :) I really do love this guy and can't wait to be able to see his house, friends, and family in person...and of course him, but no, I don't phrase it as I can't wait to meet him. We know each other so well at this point that it's just ridiculous to say we haven't met. We haven't touched, but we've met. (Wow, that's either my second or third rant about that on my blog...can you tell it's a touchy subject? ;)) Anywho, can't wait to give some updates. Keep an eye on Facebook as well since I'm sure I'll add some pictures there as I travel about. :D

And now for your viewing pleasure...a Chris slideshow! :)

Holla!

I'd like to take a moment to do a "public" shout out to Ms. Bethany Lyn Davis for being the only friend to leave a kind comment about my Chris post. I'm sure there are a lot of skeptics out there, and I can understand why. The fact that we haven't met yet seems to be a huge road block to everyone but us. ;) But in further news, it looks like it's a for sure thing that I'll be heading to England at the end of October. For awhile it was looking like it might not happen, but Chris is determined to get me there and says there is no "if" about it. So in the next couple of weeks, we will get tickets purchased. I am really soooo excited when I think about the reality of us finally being together in a few short weeks!! Plus I've got some awesome family visits planned for the next two weekends, which will make time pass quickly, then just two weekends to kill and I'm off to see the love of my life! :) The one thing I don't want to ponder too much is the leaving part. I'm not sure how I'm gonna drag myself away from Chris once we are finally together. The only consolation (and only reason I'll be able to leave) is that we've formed a new plan for the future! Instead of waiting until April to come out here, he is moving to Boise in January. We are both very excited about this!

I think one of the biggest reasons I'm looking forward to the England trip in October is that it will finally put people's minds at ease. They won't keep using the whole "not meeting" thing against us. ;) If I already covered this in my previous post, sorry, but it does feel very untrue to say I haven't met Chris. We basically talk all day, and we video chat usually each night, some mornings, and every weekend. I know him. He knows me. We just haven't been able to hug or hold hands yet.

For any of you who don't follow my movements on Facebook (ha, wow that sounds self-aggrandizing) I got a package from Chris a couple weeks ago. :) He included a bunch of my favorite snacks that I've been missing since my study abroad trip, plus a few new favorites (mmm...Jaffa Cakes.)

And here's a picture of the package contents:


Anywho, in other news, my sister, niece and grandparents are coming into town this weekend. I'm very excited! I haven't seen my grandparents in a long time and I always love seeing Taylor and Rikki. Taylor just gets cuter and cuter each time, and I can't get enough of hearing her call me Sassy. :) Should be a fun weekend. And next weekend my dad is coming. :) It'll be some nice family time for the next couple of weeks.

Chris

So I've been trying to figure out how to write this entry for the past couple of days. Do I just lay it all on the line, explain everything, knowing my family sometimes reads this blog? Or should I censor a few of the crazier details, saving them for a later date when they don't sound quite so mental? I still haven't come to a conclusion, to be honest, so I'm just going to start writing and see where it goes.

As I believe I've said on here before, I used to belong to a couple of dating websites. Well, I was growing tired of seeing the same guy's faces every time I logged in so one night I decided to change my "looking" location from 'near me' to 'anywhere.' Soon after this, I had a profile pop up as a match of a guy from England. I read his profile and it just seemed like we had similar personalities, so after viewing his pictures and deciding he was indeed very handsome, I decided to send him a random question and see if he'd respond. Low and behold, a couple of days later I got a message back. From that point we started emailing each other on a regular basis, with each email getting longer and longer. After a few days I suggested we try to chat online, which turned into video chatting. Basically, before I knew it, Chris and I were talking every possible minute of every day.

So there's kind of the bare bones facts of how we met and how it's progressed. I guess now is the time for deciding how much to say. Well, what the hell....I am insanely, absolutely, irrevocably in love with Christopher Richard Grapes. (And yes, Grapes is his real last name. ;)) I know that sounds crazy because we haven't technically met in person and because it's been just over a month that we've been talking, but I have absolutely no doubts that we are meant to be together. I've never felt like this about anyone before. He completes me (cheesy, I know, but still true). It's amazing how well you can get to know someone when you spend so much time just talking to them. ;) I say that for those of you thinking I don't even know the guy. To assuage a few more fears, I am planning a trip to England at the end of October so we can officially meet. After that, Chris is planning to travel to Idaho next April. We haven't quite worked things out yet with that trip, but it's looking more and more like it will be an indefinite stay.

That's my big news...plain and simple. If I was in your shoes, I would probably be thinking that I am crazy so I won't be upset if that's what is going through your mind right at this moment. :) But Chris and I are both sure that things with us will work out. We haven't decided details yet, but we are both willing to do the relocation thing to make it work.

I suppose that fills my crazy quotient for the night. If ya'll want to know anything else, feel free to leave me a comment with questions and I'll try to write a follow-up blog soon. I'm sure more random stuff will pop up along the way, and obviously I'll be blogging about my upcoming trip to England...so I just wanted to make everyone aware that Chris is going to be a standard fixture on stories of my life from here on out. :)

Big News to Come

Anyone who is Facebook friends with me may have noticed a few recent changes. :) I will try to write a blog to update ASAP...it's just going to be a long one so I've been procrastinating! I'll write soon. :) Hope all of you are well.

Running Away

I remember once, when I was about six or seven, gathering a little backpack of supplies and taking off down the street. I was going to run away. I'm sure I had my reasons, and I'm sure they were completely valid in my young mind. I believe I made it about four houses down before I sat on the curb and wondered how life would be if I abandoned my family. Would I join the circus, as you tend to believe all runaways do at that age? I couldn't see myself as the circus type. After swallowing my pride, I shuffled back home. I don't think anyone even noticed my attempt to change my life forever, which possibly made it worse.

Now I'm starting to wonder if the urge to run away ever leaves us. Today I've found myself wanting to be that seven year old again. Gather up a little suitcase with the necessary supplies, drive myself to the airport, and just disappear somewhere into the wild blue yonder. Would anyone notice this time? Would someone come and see my apartment, left just as if I had been fully intending to come home that night, to do the dishes and make my bed? I kind of love the image of my apartment being frozen in time that way. Of imagining people wondering where I'd gone to...if I'd finally gone to join the circus. The unfortunate thing is that at seven years old I fully believed I could run away and join this imaginary circus, the thing that really stopped me was a lack of desire to do so. Now at twenty-six, I know there isn't a circus with a vacancy just waiting for me. I know I have bills to pay...a job people expect me to show up for...cats that need taken care of. I can't just fly off on a foreign adventure. I need money. I need a passport. I need a place to stay. I wish I was seven again and didn't even consider those things...I'd just shoulder my backpack and start walking. Maybe this time I'd make it further than four houses down the road...

Privacy

I've decided to make my blog private. I'll wait about a week before I do it to give you guys time to let me know if you want to be added to the list of people still able to view it. :) Just leave me a comment on here with your email address and I'll put it on the list. Thanks guys!

Promise Ring

So I found out last night that Ryan has given his current girlfriend a promise ring, and the real thing "will be coming shortly." Not feeling too pleased over this. Trust me, it has nothing to do with jealousy. It has more to do with the fact that I'm still dealing with divorce aftermath (mostly feelings of anger) and he's easily moved forward. He's like the worst person in the world and he's still found someone willing to give her life to him. It makes me sick. And it makes me feel bad because I'm drowning in the dating world. I have yet to find someone that I really click with in that way. Besides, he told me several times that he wouldn't want to get married again for a long time. Of course he's a born liar so that shouldn't surprise me. :) Anyway, just wanted to complain here for a minute.