Well, I’ve been fairly rubbish at updating my blog.  Not quite as bad as Megan - but almost.

I do have some big news - I am getting married!

I’m marrying Barnaby Peter Lanman.  He is a wonderful, hilarious, kind, darling person.  He cooks dinner, and I do the dishes; we sit quietly together while he plays video games and I read; and I scrub his back, and he scrubs mine.  We make a perfect pair.

We have been dating about seven months, but knew within a month that we were going to marry.  I’m not sure exactly how, but we just knew.  When I arrived home, I told my parents, and a few weeks later, I even told my uncle Dan, aunt Michele, and friends Dan and Beth who I visited in Ohio.  ”I have found the guy I’m going to marry,”  I told them in late August.  Nearly a month after meeting Barny for the first time.

We’re already applied for his Fiance Visa, and we’re hoping it will be approved by May.  We’re planning on having a British wedding celebration on 6/6/10, and a proper wedding ceremony in America on 8/8/10.  He proposed on 1/1/10, by drawing me a little comic book.

The book described things we had done during the Christmas and New Years holiday, and ended with this page.  When I got to it, Barny got down on one knee in real life, and produced my ring.  My speech bubble was left blank, and I had to fill in my answer.

Barny and I are both ecstatic, and can’t wait until we can finally live in the same country!

Friday morning, we woke up in Danvers, and the four of us went out to breakfast in Salem, MA.  We all had delicious, copious amounts of food and drink.  It was a beautiful fall day, with the leaves changing and a brisk breeze.  I had never been to Salem before, so we walked a bit of the tourist walk (we had a map, thanks to the diner we ate at).

Barny was able to get some gifts for his friends back home, and I even picked up a Christmas present for my mom!

We went to an amazing book store, that was organized, but in a very haphazard way.  I felt as if the books would crush me if they fell.

We went and saw the statue of Samantha from Bewitched - Salem is the place where the Witch trials took place.

Maria, Kevin, and I trying to figure out what to do next!

Kevin went to work, and Maria, Barny and I went to get ice cream and to the batting cages!

Barny was amazed at how large his “kiddie” sized ice cream was.  (it’s the smallest they had!)

We got to visit the cows that made the milk for the ice cream!  (this one is just a baby, though).

We all took a shot at the batting cages.  Barny had never swung a bat in his life!  But he did pretty great.  He was good at line drives, which is the kind of shot that’s good!  Mine were mostly pop ups.

We left Friday night around 6pm, because we had to get to the Fitchburg High Football Game!  Barny had never seen an American football game, so we wanted to go to one!  Plus, he was able to see the cheerleaders!

After the game, we went over to have some beer and wine at Trevor’s.  My mom and dad brought over raspberry pie, and Trevor tried to fix Barny’s old camera.

Saturday, Barny and I drove down to West Boylston and saw the Time Traveler’s Wife.  Saturday was the one crappy rainy British day we had.  It really made Barny feel like home!  Luckily, it wasn’t too chilly.

We went to Il Ricordi on the way back and picked up delicious Italian food.  For Fitchburg peeps - if you’ve never been there, it’s the most delicious Italian food in the area.  We had loads of fun driving around together.

On Monday, Barny’s last day, he packed his bags, and I took him down to City Hall to say goodbye to my dad and Trevor.  We had hot dogs for lunch down at City Hall (Barny had to have one American hot dog!).  Then to the airport!  Where Barny left, but we were pretty good about not having a tearful goodbye.

But I think our GPS is broken, because it kept taking me through Sommerville to get to Logan Airport.   And that just ain’t right.

We had a great time.  I think I’m going over to England to visit Barny and Megan at Christmas time.  I think Barny is taking me to Devon to see his mom, and to Wales to see his dad.

Barny had never been to American before, so to introduce him to it - we did loads of fun stuff!

People keep asking me what sorts of things we did - so I’m just going to give a day by day list.

Friday Sept 18 - picked him up at the airport, and we stopped at Trader Joe’s where we bought nine bottles of wine.  Eek!

Then, we drove back to Leominster and picked up a burrito from Tory’s.  Went home, ate, and went to bed around 9ish.  It was 2am his time - and I’d been going to bed early since I’ve been waking up early for work.

Saturday was going to be a rest day, but Barny was anxious to get out and about.  We went to Concord, MA for a picnic lunch, and then went to the deCordova sculpture park in Lexington.

Then we went to Jenny’s house in New Hampshire for a cookout and camp fire!  It was a lot of fun - and we sat outside staying warm by the fire.  Barny and I kept switching places so our sides would take turns being warm.

Sunday we left for Lake Winnipesaukee where our friend Bennie has a home in Wolfeboro.

We got there about 4pm, because Barny and I have a history of getting late starts.   We immediately went for a walk with Bennie downtown and to see the lake.  And we got ice cream!

Bennie and I were dressed in a matching nautical theme.

Back at the house, Bennie made us dinner while Barny and I watched How I Met Your Mother (Robin and Barney!!)

Monday morning, Barny woke up super early and wanted to walk downtown to get coffee.  I was exhausted (lazy), and decided to stay in bed and sleep more. This would mark the first and only time Barny was out of bed before me.  Later, after having delicious bagels for breakfast, we packed up lunch and headed down to the beach.  It was gorgeous out, and even warm enough to go in the water.

Monday night we went out for a very nice Mexican dinner, and then went home and watched Lars and the Real Girl.

Tuesday morning we lounged around, did laundry, and headed back home after lunch. Tuesday was the Fitchburg primary election, so I had to go home and vote.  Then, at 7:30, I had seminar at the college.  My dad took Barny out to the Boulder for a beer.  There, they watched the election results live, where I got 7th place out of 11.  At 10, I met them at Destare where Barny met Niles!

Wednesday morning Barny and I went to the Moran Square Diner for breakfast.  It was delicious.  Then we headed into Boston for a day of exploring.  Trevor emailed me a list of things to do while there.  While in Downtown Crossing, we ran into Nora Brown and she brought us to an amazing restaurant.  I got a piece of pizza the size of bigger than my head for only $2.86.

Barny’s was a bit smaller than mine, but he finished what I couldn’t eat of mine.

We did a bit of shopping, wandering around, and tried (and failed) to do the Freedom Trail (Barny and I are awful organized tourists.  But we have fun.).

The State House.  The tiny bit of the Freedom Trail we managed.

In Boston Garden.

We went to the MIT museum where we saw some WILD stuff!  Barny took some amazing photographs.

For dinner, Barny and I went to Elephant & Castle, a British pub chain.  It was absolutely amazing.  The food was fabulous (especially the sweet potato fries and dipping sauce), and the service was great.  Plus, I had bought a gift certificate for $25 on Restaurant.com for $1!!!!  I recommend buying a certificate of your own (they’re always on sale - right now they’re 80% off!), and going if you’re in the area.  It’s right in Downtown Crossing.

At Downtown Crossing, I tried on a pair of four inch heels at Marshalls.  I made Barny take a picture of us standing together.  I’m amazed at how much taller he is than me even with these heels on (he’s 6′2″, I’m 5′5″).  They were so tall, I couldn’t properly walk in them.

Wednesday night was Sean Daley’s Open Mic Night at Hooligans.  Barny went on at midnight, and it was awesome.  Niles was there with his friend Diane, and Bria came, too.

Thursday we slept in late (having gone to bed at 2am).  Then we went to the Salvation Army where Barny stocked up on awesome thrift store finds.  I also got a cute denim Gap skirt to wear in the winter with boots and leggings.  Then I cut Barny’s hair (cause that’s one of my hobbies).

Thursday night, we went to another open mic night, this time at the Rabbit Hole.  My friend Bria organizes one there, and Barny played again.  This time, I got the whole set recorded on video, and Bria recorded the sound on her laptop.  When I get those up and running, I’ll post them. Mom and dad even showed up since they missed Barny at Hooligans (bottom left of photo).

Immediately after the open mic, we drove to Danvers, MA to visit Maria.  We stayed up until 2am (again) and played Wii tennis, where everyone avoided me, and made fun of the way I swung the remote (as if I was an insane person swatting away a bee).  I picked Barny up to show off my super-human strength.  He thought it was crazy, but I showed him by doing squats with him on my back.

We also cooked s’mores, which Barny had never had. They were delicious, and cooked properly over an open flame.

We drank wine, too.

And played with Maria’s cat, Betty.

Barny and I stayed over Maria and Kevin’s, and continued to have adventures.

To be continued. . .