Give a girl a BREAK!

Seriously, guys, I need a break. I have no clean underwear, I have no cotton balls with which to remove the chipping nail polish from my manicure, my eyebrows are looking caterpillary (after my post about English beauty habits, I'm not exactly holding up my own American standards), and I'm just really pooped. Even though I enjoyed and relaxed during the long Bank Holiday weekend that just passed, now I'm trying to get five long days of work done in four. I haven't seen the Irishman in a while, and next week his MOTHER is coming for a visit "just to hang out". Can someone just put life on pause, please?

I'm also recovering from having an American friend visit for the last week-and-a-half. While on the one hand it's awesome having people over from the homeland, it's quite another when the visitor conjures up a spectre of who you used to be and you have no time to reconcile it all. Friend J. came to stay for a while, and it was lovely to catch up with him and find out all of the gossip from home. But hearing all the news and spending time with him was also disconcerting; I didn't realize just how much I had built a life here, a new life separate from the one I had in the US, until I was confronted with the evidence of that old life in the form of my friend. It was really strange - almost like I had to bridge a gap to the past to relate to him. It's not an indictment on my friend, but more of a revelation for myself of just how much I've changed and grown up.

So while I enjoyed having J. visit, now I have so much to consider - when I find the time (and energy). I'll let you know what I come up with!