March 17, 2009

We have had the most beautiful weather here this week- wonderful warm sun, warm breezes, beautiful daffodils everywhere...it's just been amazing. It feels almost like summer! I hear the weather back there in MI has been lovely too.

So it's official- I am now an actual bona fide member of BNI (Business Networking International). I was "sworn in" today, and I already have 2 BNI related jobs as a result of BNI. Even before I got involved with BNI I saw a 1 to 1 correlation between the business that I got and the networking events that I attended. I look forward especially to the first week of every month when I have 2 additional networking events. But I expect that BNI will be the main source of business for me. I now have a very businessy looking business card holder for my BNI friends' cards, and a fancy looking BNI pin. I can hardly believe that I'm an official business person now! :)

Also officially we've booked some movers to come along and relocate all our stuff. I had thought we'd be able to get them for Friday, so I have been packing like mad and have everything but our clothes packed already! There is a lot of "did you pack that?" going around our house right now. :) But we'll get the keys Friday, and then it will be official indeed. We have already generated a lot of excitement with the internationals at StAG because we'll be so much closer to them all, and I expect to keep random extra food around so that we can feed the random people who will likely drop in on their way to or from Aldi which isn't far off.

We have a friend who we know through Focus coming to visit this week- he'll be in London and then Paris, and on Tuesday back to the UK. We're looking forward to hanging out and doing a bit of sight seeing as well. I think we'll try to get things as settled as possible Sunday and Monday, and maybe go into London Tuesday. So the next 2 weeks will be a bit busier than usual.

In true English style, let me say thank you all for your very kind enquiries after Nelly in the midst of our packing up. That's very English. :) Anyway Nelly is doing ok so far- she's starting to wonder what's going on, and she is definitely wanting more attention including lap sitting and being carried around while we do other stuff than usual. And she is wanting to eat more and have more treats. She is also noisier than usual all day and sometimes wants us to pet her at like 3am. Knowing her as well as we do we're used to her usual signs of stress so we know that she's not just being a bad cat. For the most part the separation is what really causes her stress. I think we'll take her over to the new house Sunday before the movers start to move things. Maybe Saturday since we need to have our bed taken apart before they come. We have our sleeping bags all set and we might stay Saturday night in the new place. Anyway Nelly will feel better and adjust faster if we're with her as much as possible the first few days after the move, and with our friend coming in Tuesday and possibly us going into London Tuesday we need to maximize our time.