London life....

arrived in London a couple of days ago and 

Its already rained,

 a lot...

I dont particularly have fond memories

of my previous stay in London

(nearly 2 years)

but at the time i was an unemployed destitute ballerina,

so hopefully things will be a bit different now.

I've been busy getting things sorted,

apartment - i'm living with my sisters so not too scary

moving and unpacking - getting everything out of storage,

after having limited space on the boat i feel like i have so many possessions now!

Getting a phone - i have been phoneless for the past year,

to be honest its been kind of liberating, having the smart phone in my pocket now i'm 

always wondering what messages i've been sent and checking and rechecking,

rather than just walking down a street or sitting at a table and enjoying the scenery.

paperwork - BLah!!!!

starting my dance teachers course on monday....!!!!!!!

Goodbye Mallorca, Goodbye husband...

we're heading back to the uk today,

Husbands cousin is getting married at the weekend

and after that he's taking me to London to settle me in at my new house.

(haha settle me in....i'm living with my sisters,

its not like its going to be all that scary!)

This will be the first time i've lived in the UK for nearly 8 years.

Funny isnt it,

where does the time go?

I've really enjoyed all my travels and really am only heading back for

practicality reasons. I could just keep on going to see you new places.

Husband will still be travelling,

to even more exciting places 

(the caribean, brazil...)

I'm desperately praying and

crossing my fingers that

i will be able to go and meet him

somewhere during the year

but to be honest his schedule changes with the wind

(literally!)

i know it sounds soppy 

but without him i'm only half of who i really am.

Finding fun in every place...

Mallorca is never a place i have wanted to go to.

in my head i have pictures of British tourist packaged holidays

and fresh out of school teenagers at Magaluf.

and yes that part of Mallorca exists, but only if you want it to.

Palma is lovely.

It has loads of fantastic restaurants,

in fact i dont think we've eaten anywhere that wasnt less than great!

We've had a few visitors come to see us and

its so easy to take them around and show them the beautiful city,

its also so easy to take them around and show them the

beautiful country side.

Here are some highlights of my two months here in pictures.

These are near Alaro,

we were recommended by a friend to a place 

infamously called 'The Lamb Restaurant' 

Its right in the middle of a large mountain, 

we hiked up and by the time we got there we were starving!

And let me tell you that

this lamb is exquisite! 

And what a view!

These are from when my grandparents came to visit.

It was great to have them around,

they have such different personalities!

We took them on the touristy train to Soller.

It was an expensive trip

but a nice experience.

and then there is the Cathedral in Palma,

which i guess is the main attraction here

After the grandparents came the in-Laws

we took them to the Caves of Drach.

Husband was complaining about going to the caves,

(he hates going places that are too touristy)

but even he was quite impressed,

even though we have been to see a lot of caves recently!!!

Although Mallorca is a place that would never have been 

put on my travel wish list,

i'm glad that i got to spend some time here

and would definitely recommend a mini holiday here to anyone!

In many ways it reminds me of Slovenia

(which i will admit will always be my home away from home!

Alone time....

It looks like husband and i are destined not to get any peace and quite

alone time.

We spent a busy weekend taking his mum and her husband around the island.

Let me tell you this, hanging out with older people

is good preparation for having kids methinks.

It takes you double the amount of time to go anywhere,

they are so slow,

you have to explain things to them more than once

in different ways so they can understand,

when you take them out you can blink for a second and

you've lost them.

They have no qualms about being PC...blurting

out whatever is on their minds to any passer by!

Its entertaining and hard work!!!

We just got the apartment back to ourselves when 

husband announces he has hired 2 staff to 

take over the crew that just left.

Which means sharing our alone time all over again.

(After one night she has already rearranged the cupboards

 so they are all neat and tidy,

having other people around just

brings up my inadequacies as a housewife)

Not that husband and i get up to anything too exciting in our alone time,

mostly sitting next to each other doing different things...

but knowing that its just the two of us

is just way better.

Wedding...behind the scenes

 I love this picture of husband.

It's an awesome 'behind the scens shot'

In the background is my wedding photographer and Maid of Honour

prepping me for a fancy photo,

I think it captures the first few minutes of our marriage pretty well!

Juat a little longer....

We finally got rid of the crew and its just the two of us!

Just the two of us!!!!

it has never ever been just the two of us,

in the 9months we have been married 

we've always had other people around.

So its nice just to be...

but only for a few weeks more.

More big changes ahead.

being on the boat has been awesome,

even though i have zero sailor skills

i have been brushing up on my wife skills...

but now i'm going to brush up on some other skills.

since having left the full time ballet profession

i've felt a little bit helpless,

like i've got nothing to offer,

doing the cooking and failing at the cleaning

and being a rotten sailor

just isnt enough.

It was always in our plans that at some point i would

get my ballet teachers qualification

and also my pilates teachers qualification.

so starting from the beginning of June i'm going to spend the next year 

in London doing this,

whilst husband stays on the boat.

Its a big decision,

and i'm so grateful for a husband who has always been

supportive of my needs as a person.

When i went to Egypt and left him whilst we were dating it

was hard for him. but he listened and understood

that it was important for my career that i made the move.

not just as a career but to develop myself as a person,

to have no regrets.

And yet again he is supporting my decision to 

go off and work on my own life skills.

I'm grateful that he can look into the bigger picture and

see that sometimes what is best for us as a couple

in the long run might just mean

 sacrificing 'us time' for a year.

He has a good job which it would be crazy for him to leave at the moment,

and i  cant do these things whilst travelling around the world.

Husband also has some goals, 

he's always wanted to sail the Pacific Ocean,

if he left the boat now he wouldnt get a chance.

So we will put 'our couple' needs on hold once again

and work on our long distance relationship skills.

Being with Husband for the last year has been amazing.

Life has been good,

and i look forward to so much more.

I worry about the rotten days i'm going to have

and know that he wont be there to tell me

that its all okay and not to worry.

I worry about all the fun moments that i might

have never been quite being good enough

as he isnt there to share them with me.

but for now

i'll just soak it all in whilst i can.