I finally remembered about this blog.. Mostly due to an email I recieved from someone who stumbled upon it. So I figured an update was due. As I haven't in ages. This is me now, its been two years. And here's a run down of the events.

They always say things happen for a reason. And I am absolutely one of those people that believes that. I came back to the States for Christmas in 2010 and to process my work visa. What ended up happening was not what I expected. Applications were postponed until after the Holidays. Similar to British Television, they take an EXTENDED holiday break. (Seriously, Doctor Who needs to come back already) When they finally reconvened, the result was less than promising. United Kingdom Border Agency basically put a MASSIVE restriction on non-European Union immigrants. Prior to this newly set restriction, they allowed around 150,000 non-EU's. The new restriction, 20,000. This means, they don't want to let in hairstylists when engineers, doctors, nurses, and other white collar professionals are applying. (Side note tangent, one of my housemates who is Canadian with a Master's in Education also couldn't get a working visa) I left my hope in that restriction being set for only one year.

During that time I took up teaching at the Aveda Institute in Orlando. It was an amazing experience, that taught me a lot about people. It was also one of the hardest jobs I have ever done. I respect cosmetology educators so much. But it led me to a find a passion for teaching.

November 2011, I missed the salon and my clients, I felt little hope on getting back into England. London quickly became the boy who's call I desperately waited for, or rather an email from my solicitor or anyone. So being pro-active, and a slight over achiever, I opened my own studio salon. I love being busy and growing a business offered me that, and a new type of challenge.

2012 a New Year... By this point, I had stopped checking the website for the UKBA I had come to terms with the unlikelihood of my return. Than the announcement came, the restriction was extended for two more years. My heart sank. But the reality was that my salon business was growing and shortly after that disappointing new I received unrelated great news.

Currently, I am proud to say I now teach for Davines as a local educator, with a focus in cutting. I travel all over the state sharing the knowledge I learned in London. Those teachers inspired me so much that I strive to be like them. I try to encourage strong technique, precision, and passion for hair. My salon continues to grow, and as a result of teaching, I now also teaching for a fantastic extension company. I'm even up for an audition to become a part of the Davines Local Artist Team. (Wish me luck!)

My heart will ALWAYS miss London. It will ALWAYS be the one that got away. But sometimes what we want isn't what is suppose to happen. I was offered a job in a great salon in London. I had a cute flat. But I never would have learned that I love educating other stylist if had not come back. I wouldn't have opened my own business. I wouldn't have had the opportunities to become an educator and met so many new people, salons, educators and to continue my own education. What I've accomplished in two years is so much more than I would have ever imagined or planned on. I'm so happy with how things turned out. I never say never, I love contradictory phrases. But as for now, I have more than I could ask for, and London would have to offer me more than what I have now to come back....

Sometimes the universe has bigger plans for you than you had for yourself.

December 18th

I met with the solicitor. Here's the run down. I have to apply for my visa from the States. My flight is booked. And I've been packing up and sorting what I need.

The good news is I get holidays with my family and I will be working at Matthew Michael's a few days a week. So if you would like to get a cut or colour you can book an appointment starting tomorrow.

I don't think my visa process willtakemore than a month or a month and a half to process. Just send happy thoughts. As nice as it is to come back to FL. London has really become home. The nice thing is that its been snowing here. I'm going to miss the cold and so much more.

But I know I'll be back soon and this time with out any issues.

The coin toss

I've been in London now for a little over 5 months. To be completely honest it's probably been the best five months of my life. I love this city, I love everyone I've met, and I can't imagine being with out it.

I'm trying to get my work visa. But this process takes some time. At this point I'm waiting for my sponsorship certificate that allows me to apply for the work visa. The visa I'm currently on runs out in December. So here's my dilema.

On Thursday morning I will be meeting with the solicitor to see if I can either speed up the process or file for an extension. The worse case scenario is that I come back to Florida for a couple of months while I wait for my visa, which takes longer to process when outside the country. Although I was promised that my job offer would stand regardless if I'm sent back.

I know there are much worse situations to be in. It's just hard to imagine a bit of a set back in living/ working in London. The good news is that I can work for a bit to save up more money for London. If I find out I'm coming back I'll start to take appointments for haircuts and colour. Downside is that I would be leaving again for anyone who had finally accepted that I wasn't coming back.

The hope is that I can get things sorted without having to pack up the stuff I need, leave what I can and not to spend the money on two flights particularly during holiday season. If I can apply from with in the country it's only a 4 week wait. If I apply from outside it's probably up to about a 3 month wait.

I'll keep everyone posted on the situation.

A night in East London

The area I moved to in London is pretty well known for being young and pretty trendy. Needless to say I had to venture out to see what the night life is like. I did this with my trusty partner in crime Cara.

We started at a bar called Light bar. Not my scene, the people we're pushy, as in they would push you out of the way when there was definitely another way of going. I wasn't in the way to begin with. We finished our drinks and moved onto another bar. The second bar was called 333. The music sounded like menu music from a poor quality DVD. The kind you wake up at 4am wanting to throw the remote at the tv all the while wishing you hadn't fallen asleep with a movie on. But it had a second bar upstairs.

Don't know what its called but the music was good, the boy to girl ratio was in my favor. And best of all Cara found me a new tasty shot. Tequila Rose. It's a strawberry liqueur. It's like a happy mini smoothie of fun. We danced and danced. Than bad new struck. Cara's phone was stolen. We figured this was a sign to end our night and it was about 2am. So we began to head home.

Than a cute boy began chatting up Cara. She was upset so it helped. He asked if we were going to "____" clearly I was paying attention. Apparently its a strip club by day 1950's themed late night bar open past hours by night. He offered to buy us drinks and it was on our walk home. So we figured we'd stop in. It was awesome. Lots of cute boys, we got free drinks, and it was fun to dance to the music. Randomly a guy starts staring at my arm. I'm used to it but since I had had a few drinks I was willing to explain it, not always the case. He couldn't seem to gather what I was saying. I moved on. About 5 minutes later I look over and he's snorting cocaine. Welcome to London I guess. He was kind enough to offer me some. I politely declined but it explained why he couldn't comprehend what I said and why he thought I was Irish. No clue.

That was our cue to leave. We said thank you to the boy who bought us drinks and headed back to my flat with a small detour. In Florida late night drinking usually led to dodgy hot dogs. In London my drinking snack is chips or rather french fries. Something about those freshly cooked bundles of joy just manages to always bring perfect closure to a good night.

I had so much fun, I found some new place to go to, and new people to avoid. Hopefully Cara and I can have another night like this soon.

Also I found my car. It's an automatic so I can actually drive it here, but I still don't have a license. So cute.....

Defeated

I quit the coffee shop. Shortest time I've ever held a job. I'm going to find another way of doing things. Working there didn't feel right. Its hard to work a job when your dream job is waiting just around the corner.

I've been defeated by a cold, or something. I've been out of commission. Runny nose, cough, a fever. This has been my day. Up side, the being sick thing totally justifies eating cookies and cream ice cream all day long. I do love spending all day in my flat. I'm not sure why. I really probably should have left or done something productive. But couldn't bare the energy to get up and go. Stupid cold. Get me another pint.

That's a picture of my staircase in my flat. The upstrairs is a little living room/ kitchen than there's a spiral staircase to my bedroom and bathroom. Loves it.

Big Brother

If you've ever watched Big Brother UK than you know what this is. It's the chair from the confessional room.
I went to my audition for Dating in the Dark. They made me answer questions, do tests, solve puzzles, and than asked me questions on camera. It was actually more intense than any job interview I've ever been on. The open casting will continue for another month. So I won't hear anything back for at least that long. Though at this point I don't think I will hear anything back and I have this overwhelming desire to work on my math skills. Yeah that kind of testing.

I started at the coffee shop yesterday. It's definitely a physical job. It seems like it's meant for a youthful strong guy and I'm not that. I have blisters from the first day, no joke. I'm not sure if I will keep the job. I already called in, I've been fighting off a cold and it hit me pretty hard today. They wanted me to work until 1am and come in at 7am. I'm going to give it one more day. But I don't think I'm cut out for this. Plus I drank 3 coffees in a really short time and it gave me the shakes real bad.

Today isn't over yet. But I doubt anything exciting is meant to happen. I'm beat to hell and not ready for an early day tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Since

I'm trying to stay here. I figured I should be a little more diligent about this blog. Not to mention that while my visa paper work processes, I have some time to kill.

I managed to talk the local coffee shop/ shisha (hookah) bar into letting me work there for cash. Tomorrow I start at 7 am bright and early. Its going to be interesting. I've never worked in a coffee shop, let alone one that also has a hookah bar. I've never even smoked it.

I did this amazing fashion show with the salon I'm going to work for. The models looked amazing, I did hair and make up together. I couldn't have asked for a better night. If this is a foreshadowing of things to come, I'm an insanely lucky girl.

I also decided that I'm going to try and take a picture a day of something I see in London. Whether it makes sense or not, these are some of the things I'm seeing. I really can't explain this one, but I was in Bricklane and someone had take the time to make a sticker of this and than they even put it on a light post.. No clue, welcome to London.