Happy Holidays!

In order to start off the Christmas season, we journeyed to York with our friends Matt and JoAnn. That’s right, we took Bruno to his homeland. However, I am not sure that he could recognize anything from his heritage because it was chucking down rain the entire weekend. At one point, I had to wrap him in my jacket because he had gotten so cold and wet that he didn’t even have the energy to shake any more. We made the best of the weather and toured as many things inside that we could. We saw the York Minster (the largest Medieval Gothic cathedral north of the Alps), walked along the city wall and down The Shambles, shopped the York Christmas markets, and ate lunch at Betty’s (the best tea and scones I’ve ever had). Bruno even visited the Yorkshire Terrier Pub!

Just in case you missed our Christmas card this year, we put a little picture of Santa Bruno to continue spreading Christmas cheer! Scott and I just returned from the States where we spent two whole weeks! It was wonderful to be home and to celebrate Christmas with our family and friends. We started our trip home with a Christmas party with all of our Charlotte friends plus a ton of chili and pizza. We were even able to catch three home UNC basketball games while we were there! Thanks for all the tickets, Coach and for all the food, Bub! There’s nothing like a Carolina Basketball game squeezed in between homemade waffles and the Angus Barn. Go Heels…and Go Commodores!

We had a pre-Christmas get together with Mike (Katie’s brother), his wife, Cara, and their little girl, Lindsay, who is 3. Lindsay was hilarious opening all of her presents and then trying to open everyone else’s! She would open something and want to play with it immediately. Then, she would open another one and totally forget about the one before! So much fun to see a kiddo so happy at Christmas time!

We had a blast in Asheville over Christmas. We toured the Biltmore House when it was all decorated, ate enough barbeque and sweet tea to sink a ship, and laughed at Scott's facial hair experiments. Scott has been growing a beard since Thanksgiving and over the Christmas holidays, he cut little bits of it off each day. The most disgusting, yet hilarious, stage was the mustache (featured to the right). Real glad that he's back to normal now.

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with Wolford, Williams, and Jones families over at Granny and Granddaddy’s house in Mills River. After all the presents were opened, we stuffed our faces with wonderful home cooked Christmas dinner and then realized just how gluttonous we all had been! But somehow still managed to stuff our faces with another piece of Aunt Sandy’s red velvet cake!

So now we’re looking towards the New Year and hoping to get started planning trips to Africa, the Canary Islands, and Germany. Although Scott and I aren’t big on New Year’s resolutions, we think it should be everyone’s resolution to come visit us here in London as soon as possible! Happy New Year!

What does London have against Thanksgiving?

Over the week of Thanksgiving, Charlie came to visit us in London. I finally convinced one of our visitors that I am, indeed, a more interesting tour guide than those on the Big Red Bus tours, and Charlie let me lead him all around the London sites and give him all the historical color that I knew. I think that he definitely got his money's worth (i.e. my tours come free as long as you buy me a Starbucks coffee when I get cold). However, I do remember Charlie asking a question and my response was "Hmmm. I really don't know the answer to that. I think I have reached the limit of my London knowledge." Sorry Charlie! And, by the way, you should have seen the reunion between Bruno and Charlie (who was Bruno's Daddy for the first 3 months that we were in London). Let's just say there was a lot of tail wagging and face licking!

On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, Charlie, Scott, and I took the Eurostar train from London to Paris (in the Chunnel). We spent the day in Paris and then took another train to Bayeux, France. After a bit of a battle to find Scott something to eat (someone should tell that boy that there is no Papa John's in France), we spent the night in an adorable little hotel in the smallest town that I have visited in Europe thus far. Bayeux even gives Mills River a run for it's money! Anyway, we got picked up the next morning by the most petite little French woman you have ever seen and she took us on a tour of the Normandy/D-Day beaches. For such a little woman, she packed a ton of information into her little head! She talked basically 8 hours nonstop about the history of all of the Normandy beaches, landings, battles, and World War II in general. It was so interesting to hear how the French people (especially those who have lived in Normandy) continue to honor the US soldiers who freed their country and the world from the Nazi regime. It was easily one of our favorite things that we have done here so far. All of us had Grandfathers who fought in World War II but Grandpa Wolford landed on Utah beach a few days after D-Day. And I am the first Wolford that has visited there since he fought! My Dad and Uncle Glenn game me lots of information on his regimental history. It blows me away that he fought on such a terrifying landscape and he survived a war that is so important to all of our lives and freedom. So this year for Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for all of the men and women who fought for our country and our freedom!

After Normandy, we headed back to Paris and spent another day touring around. After being only 2 hours away from it for almost 9 months now, I finally saw the Eiffel Tower!!! It was awesome! We rode all the way to the top - it felt like an amusement park ride. It was probably -50 degrees at the top and the wind was about 100 mph, but it was totally worth it. The view was amazing. We also got to see The Louvre, The Arc d'Triomphe, The Champs Elysees, and Notre Dame. Paris was absolutely beautiful and I'll definitely be going back to visit again soon. We also got to visit with Coach Holladay's daughter, Heather, and her husband David. They have the best flat in Paris and a full view of the Eiffel Tower right out their window! They are our new best friends!!!

Once we got back to London, we had to say goodbye to Charlie. Then we went in search of a turkey. Apparently, London has something against Americans celebrating Thanksgiving because the only turkey that we could find in this city was a 19 lb bird that cost almost $200! So, for Thanksgiving dinner this year, we had "Baby Turkeys". Although most butchers would classify these "Baby Turkeys" as, in fact, chickens, we convinced ourselves that there really isn't much difference in the taste of the two birds when roasted Thanksgiving style! I don't know if we convinced our guests or not! We had a few other Americans and our best English friend, Matt, over to the house and had a the best make-shift Thanksgiving dinner that this flat has ever seen!

Two weeks ago, we also experienced our first Premiership football game (AKA soccer). We saw Fulham play at home vs Blackburn. It was a fun to hear all the fans chanting Fulham on to a win. Then last week, we were finally able to see our first Vanderbilt and Carolina games on television (or slingbox more specifically). So great to see our teams doing so well this year! We'll be sure to cheer loud enough for you to hear over the pond(don't think it will be a problem for me).

We are now starting to experience Christmas shopping season in London. We started our Christmas shopping last weekend on Oxford Street which is a huge outdoor shopping district that is chocked full of tacky Christmas decorations. So of course I love it! There were about a million other Londoners out with us to enjoy the decorations, fake snow, window displays, fireworks, and the street being shut down to cars. It was a little stimulus overload but really fun all the same. Who knew London could be so pretty in the winter time?!

November update

Since we last blogged, we have been pretty busy people! In mid-October, we traveled to Monte Carlo, Monaco. Scott had a business conference there (poor thing) and it just so happened that his lovely wife rode his coattails out there too! From London, we took an airplane to Nice and then traveled via helicopter into Monte Carlo...you know, how the movie stars do it. And even though it was slightly scary...okay, super scary (I think my knuckles are still white), it was absolutely fantastic and the scenery was stunning. Dad, you would be so proud, we walked along the path of the Formula 1 Grand Prix - very cool. We also oohed and aahed as rich people drove their cars out of the hulls of their amazing yachts, laid out at the rooftop pool, gambled in the posh casinos, and even came home with an extra 9 Euro. When Scott and I got married, I never saw myself sitting next to him and a bunch of French people in an American-style sports bar in Monaco cheering for England's Rugby team to win the world cup finals! Crazy!

After a wonderful trip to Monte Carlo, Scott returned to London to bring home the bacon (i.e. dredge through the drowning finance world thanks to the US sub-prime crisis) and I flew to North Carolina for Jess' wedding (Katie's best friend). It was such a fun and beautiful wedding! The leaves in Asheville were ideal for her fall wedding outside on the top of Crest Mountain. Jess looked beautiful, Jimmy cried, the cake was awesome, and the dancing was even better! It was great to see Jess and so many good friends from college like Danielle and her adorable little Madison. And it was great to see Jess and Jimmy have such a great start to their life together. Definitely in the running for wedding of the year! Congrats Mr. and Mrs. Luke!!!

Scott's Mom, Bub, came to London with her good friend, Judi Seagroves, for a little visit. We took the Big Bus tour around London, saw "Wicked" The Musical (appropriate for "Wicked Wanda"), visited Windsor Castle and saw the largest dollhouse in the world, and ate a lot of ethnic foods - not so sure that Bub loved the Indian food! Although they don't really celebrate Halloween in the UK, there were a few kids around the neighborhood and Bruno, of course, was in full Henry VIII costume. Bub even sang him a rendition of his song! It was so great to have them here and we hope that they come back very soon!

Recently, we have seen more fireworks than we do in the US on the 4th of July! There have been celebrations for Guy Fawkes' Day all around London. Guy Fawkes tried to blow up Parliament in 1605 and failed and now they celebrate with bonfires and fireworks every year. Although I doubt Americans would celebrate some random guy trying to blow up the White House, we have really enjoyed the festivities!
We went to the Lord Mayor's Show this past weekend for even more fireworks. There was a huge parade with all the Beef Eaters and Horse Guards. (The Lord Mayor is the Mayor of the City of London, i.e. the square mile which is now home to the financial district where Scott works, who is appointed by a council versus the Mayor of metro London who is elected democratically.) At any rate, he puts on a good show. :)

It is really starting to get cold here (like 40's all day today!) and it now gets dark at 4:30 but, we're still having an amazing time traveling all around Europe. Our next stops are Paris and Normandy with Charlie over Thanksgiving...so stay tuned.

Happy Halloween!

The past few weeks have incorporated a lot more basketball than we thought we would get over here. Of course, we’ve become regulars at the London Capitals games where Wes Miller continues to lead the league in scoring! We also got to see the Celtics win over the Timberwolves (92-81) in London. There was so much energy in the arena and Londoners were thrilled to see Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and all the other players. It was really cool to see so much excitement for an American sport. We also spotted some famous faces for this side of the pond – Lewis Hamilton (Formula-1 race car driver), Didier Drogba (Chelsea football player), Rupert Grint and Oliver and James Phelps (Ron and the Weasley twins from the “Harry Potter” movies), and Kris Marshall (Colin from “Love Actually”). It was a great time – thanks for the tickets Coach!

Our friend Katryna, Katie’s freshman year roommate at UNC, recently came to visit. She was so excited to use her passport for the first time and was wide-eyed at all the sights, not to mention the Thai food that we made her try! I have now been on the London Big Bus tour three times and I think they’d hire me part-time if I work on my British accent. We convinced Katryna to climb about 500 stairs to get to the top of St. Paul’s Cathedral - well worth the shortness of breath! We went to the London Comedy Theatre and saw “Boeing-Boeing” which was hilarious. We also took a day trip to Hampton Court and made Wes Miller tag along as well. Overall, I think we thoroughly tired her out and sent her back to the States with a little more culture than when she arrived! Thanks for making the trip Katryna!

We recently had the opportunity to hear Michelle Obama (i.e. Mrs. Barack Obama) speak about her husband’s run for the presidency. She didn’t speak too much about his political platform as much about his vision for the US and his life experiences in general. She was an awesome speaker and her comments will definitely stick with us when thinking of the 2008 election. Funny that we had to move to London to get into US politics!!!

Bruno just celebrated his 2nd birthday! The little guy is growing up so fast! (Even though, we're pretty sure that he is still the smallest dog on the planet). To celebrate, he got some new toys as well as a doggie cupcake and doughnut from his new favorite shop “Pugs and Kisses.” In celebration of his birthday, he got dressed up in his Halloween costume a little early to bring you all good wishes for Halloween!

Fall already?

Sorry that we haven't updated the ole blog in a while. We have been scolded by the King and Queen of the Blog (A.K.A. Bill and Jen Newton with their Blog starring the adorable Isley). We'll try to do better in the future. For now, we'll catch you all up on the past month (I have to warn you though - our lives are not all THAT exciting).

I can't believe the leaves have started falling and the days are getting shorter already! Autumn has definitely hit London and I've already pulled out the scarves and winter jackets. The river and the parks are very pretty this time of year when it is a sunny day. The only problem is that it is sunny like one day per week and cloudy/rainy the rest of the time. Although Scott and I can handle two years of crappy weather, what the heck are English people thinking? Seriously, have they never heard of California or Florida? If I were English, I would have long abandoned the grim darkness here to get the heck out of Dodge. But I guess that's the American girl in me coming out :)

We spent the first few weeks of September back in the States. For those of you who missed it on ESPN, Coach Williams was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. We flew to Springfield, Massachusetts (the birthplace of b-ball) for the celebration. Coach definitely had the most people supporting him there and it was great to see how many players (former and current, NC and Kansas), coaches, friends, and family made the trip to share such a special moment with him. Although his speech made a few of us a little teary, we were all so proud to see him on stage looking sharp in his tuxedo and getting a much deserved recognition for all of his hard work and dedication to basketball. We also enjoyed seeing a ton of basketball Hall of Famers who came back to visit such as Karem Abdul-Jabar (who I recognized from The Airplane movies) and Meadowlark Lemon (who Scott's sister Kim and I knew from the Scooby-Doo cartoons).

We recently experienced basketball in the UK. Wes Miller, who played for Carolina last year, just moved to London to play for the top league in British basketball. We went to watch him on the London Capitals home opener. Although, the high school gym were they played was a little different from the Dean Dome in Chapel Hill, Wes was on fire! He scored 49!!! It was awesome! His team still lost by about 20 but even the other team's fans were cheering for Wes by the end of the game. And, we're always happy to have another Carolina grad on this side of the pond!

While we were home, I (Katie) also got to spend a lot of much needed time with the Wolford family. It was so great to spend time with my niece, Lindsay, who is the smartest and most adorable little Wolford! She also has some pretty amazing parents teaching her fun things like soccer (3-year olds playing soccer is too much!). I got to go to her Princess Dance class. It was awesome! They sprinkled her with fairy dust, sprayed her with cotton candy perfume, and dressed her up like a princess. I even got to be "the Prince" and dance with her! Truly, it was a magical little experience.

Last weekend, we showed our green side and participated in the London FreeWheel. It was an all day bike festival where they closed the roads in central London around all of the sights (Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, etc) and let the bikes loose on the streets to encourage more people to bike for transport in London. It was a really nice day and so fun to have the roads all to ourselves. It was also cool to see all the sights right in a row from the streets. I don't know if we're convinced to start biking as our only means of transportation. On the few times that we have ridden around with traffic, let's just say "safety" was not a proper description for what we experienced. (Don't worry Mom! I always wear my helmet!) But between the double decker buses and everyone driving on the wrong side of the road, it is an adjustment and probably not the best option for us to commute to work. So, we're sticking with the tube for a little while longer.

And because I know that you're all concerned...Bruno is doing just fine! He says to bring him treats when you come to visit!

Finally Summer

Although it has been a long time coming, the rain has finally stopped and we have gotten to actually enjoy our first English summer. The weather for the past few weeks has been beautiful and still mild enough to enjoy life outside. Bruno has (as always) been taking advantage of being outside in the parks and loving every minute of chasing pigeons, stealing little kids' ice cream cones, barking at anything that moves, and trying to fulfill his lifelong dream of peeing on every blade of grass in existence. We enjoyed our first musical concert in the park too. It was called Ben and Jerry's "Sundae in the Park" and there were 17 different flavors of ice cream that you could eat for free once inside! Who could ask for more?!

I (Katie) have been enjoying working (yea! finally!) at a neurological rehab hospital. It is a "bank" position which means that I work when I want and when they need me. It is great for us because when we have people visiting or when we fly home, I don't have to work! The hospital has given me the option of basically working full time until Christmas of this year so I am getting plenty of work when I want it. Life in London is going much more smoothly now that I feel that I am actually giving something back to society and putting all my years of education to use.

Despite the fact that the bond market has absolutely been in the toilet recently, Scott is still loving his decision to move to London. Hopefully things will start picking up for him at work soon! In the mean time, he is focusing on his true loves...no not me and Bruno...but grilling, exercising, and napping. So things are going well for him. And speaking of true love, we are celebrating our 2 year anniversary August 13th!

Our trip for the month of July was to Lucerne, Switzerland. It was a great trip and such a beautiful place. We ate lots of Swiss cheese fondue and a ton of Swiss chocolate. We also took a cogwheel train up to the top of Mount Pilatus which was amazingly high and somewhat frightening. The angle of the train was about 45 degrees up the side of this mountain but it felt more like 90 degrees. We also rode the longest summer toboggan run in all of Switzerland. In traditional Scott-style, he almost hit me four different times because he was going so fast!

Brad (Scott's best friend) and his wife, Jocelyn, have been here visiting for the past week. And I think it is safe to say that we sufficiently wore them out touring around the streets of London. At one point, I made them sit in the front seat of the bus so I could show them some sights on the way home and they both fell asleep. Literally, Brad almost hit his head on the windshield! The four of us took a long weekend and went to Venice and Rome. We were exhausted by the end of it all but it was wonderful to tour Italy with some of our best friends. We ate our weight in pizza, pasta, and gelato! Venice was so unique and unlike any place that I have ever been. The waterways are really pretty and romantic (although Jocelyn says that they are so polluted that if you jumped in, it might eat away your flesh). Still nice to look at though! We also toured all the historical sites of Rome (Coliseum, the forum, Spanish steps, Trevi fountain, etc) and even got to see Vatican city, the Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica. The Pope sends his love to you all! We had such a great time with Brad and Jocelyn here - we were sad to see them go! Bruno was especially sad to see his new friends leave! But that just means that the spare bedroom is open once again for the next guests to visit...so hop the pond whenever you can! Love and miss you all!

The past few weeks have been pretty eventful for us on this side of the pond. Katie's BU friend and roommate, Kelley, and her boyfriend, Eddy, came to visit from San Francisco - what a long flight!!! They were here for Katie's 28th birthday and we spent the day watching tennis at Wimbledon. After a few rain delays (Kelley and Eddy were welcomed by true British weather), we watched Robby Ginepri (USA) play Fernando Gonzalez from the 3rd row! It was great fun! While they were here, we also went to see "The Lion King" which was amazing. The costumes were fantastic and the giraffes and elephants were the best. We also went on a big bus tour around London, had a Yeoman Warder tour at the Tower of London, had traditional afternoon tea, and had an great time all around.

Although there wasn't much of a celebration in town for the 4th of July, we decided that we would at least be around other Americans and went to the Justin Timberlake concert here in London. He was touring with Timbaland and Fergie and honestly, isn't that about as close to fireworks as you can get?! It was a good time and even though there were quite a few 13 years olds there, we still had a lot of fun. Unfortunately, Justin did not pick Katie out of the crowd to join his team of dancers (this time) but we are certain it was only because he was afraid of what Scott might do to him.

Last weekend, we got to see the Tour de France come through London. It was amazing to see how fast they went! A ton of people came out to cheer them on around Hyde Park and the streets of London. We must have heard people say "They are so fast" in about 10 different languages!

Bruno is certainly enjoying his time in London and is sufficiently spoiled rotten. We're even sensing a bit of a British accent in his bark these days. His life consists of sleeping late, eating lots of treats, having at least one hour long walk in the park everyday, taking lots of naps on Katie's lap, and endless petting. He has met millions of dogs and is actually learning to socialize quite well. He hasn't gotten in a fight since the first week he was here...so we consider that a success! Unfortunately for Bruno, his life of luxury is going to change soon as Katie finally found a job working as a physiotherapist...at an American hospital corporation - go figure!

By the way, don't worry about the bombings that happened recently in London - we're fine! The bombs didn't even go off - the police were on top of it before anything happened. So don't let that stop you from visiting!!! Love and miss you all!

This past month has been full of relaxing vacation time. It is summertime after all! We started out the month taking a visit to Hampton Court - where King Henry VIII lived before the royal family moved into the city of London. It is about a 45 minute train ride outside of London. It is a huge palace filled with extravagant paintings,tons of weaponry, and amazing gardens which really takes you back in time.

We spent the first two weeks of June back in the USA! We went to Charlotte for a week and got to see all of our friends and all of the Wolford family (including the cutest 3-year old alive, our niece Lindsay). Then, it was onto Hawaii for a vacation with the Williams' family. It was absolute paradise! We spent most of the week in Honolulu on Waikiki Beach. We spent the majority of everyday at the beach or poolside, napping, swimming, and then eating great seafood for dinner. Scott, Kim, and I even went surfing with Hawaii's best surfing instructor, Fritz. Not really sure of the validity of that last statement, but at least he was the cheapest! We also had the honor of taking a private tour around Pearl Harbor. The memorial is beautiful and it was a really moving experience for us all.

During the middle of the week, we flew over to Lanai and spent two days there. The island of Lanai is mostly undeveloped. There is a small airport, a small downtown (i.e. two streets), two hotels/resorts, and a rental car place where you can just about only rent burnt orange Jeep Wranglers! After we crammed ourselves and our luggage into the jeep, we arrived at what we all agreed was the most luxurious and beautiful place that we had been. We each got a lei around our neck and had chocolate dipped pineapple waiting for us in our rooms. We got to go snorkeling with a ton of dolphins which lived in a Marine Preserve right off the ocean from our hotel. Scott and I had about 30 dolphins swim right underneath us! The little baby dolphins were the cutest! They gave us golf carts to tour around each of the two courses on the Island so Coach Roy could see what his bum wrist was making him miss. He did hit one ball though - probably the most impressive shot that the golf pro had ever seen too!

All in all, it was an amazing vacation. The only thing that was better was getting to bring Bruno back across the pond with us when we flew back. Although, he had a little bit of traumatic trip (he missed his connecting flight and had to spend the night in Newark airport - poor thing!), he is adjusting well to life in London and is currently asleep in my lap. He barks a ton (shocking) but I keep telling Scott that he is just perfecting his British accent! We love and miss you all!

Hello all!

Well, Scott and I have finally started to realize how England got the reputation for being a damp and dreary country. It has been raining on and off for about two weeks straight! Everytime I see the sun coming through the clouds, I race outside and stand in the sunshine for 30 seconds until it disappears again. Yet another reason for our neighbors to think we're silly Americans. Overall, we have had a beautiful and warm spring here with very little rain. But the current clouds seem to be making up for all that beautiful weather!

Despite the rain, we have been thoroughly enjoying the new addition to our flat...our grill. How can we truly represent the American spirit without hot dogs and hamburgers? We have a small private patio at our flat (which is pretty rare in London) and have been loving the luxury of grilled chicken, burgers, veggies, etc - even if I have to hold an umbrella over Scott as he flips the burgers in the rain!

Our latest adventures around England was to Cambridge. Cambridge is a beautiful and quaint little town. Cambridge University is made up of a ton of little colleges that divide students into different areas of study, each of which comes with a different degree of prestige. Our favorite part was punting down the river Cam. "Punting" looks kind of like a gondola ride in Venice - basically a long skinny boat with a person standing on the end pushing it down the river with a long stick (a punt). It was madness! Tons of tourists try their hand at punting and lose their punts, fall into the river, and basically cause crashes and chaos all down the river. (Don't worry, Mom, it was perfectly safe though.) We thought better of punting ourselves down the river and hired a professional punter, Felix, to take us down the Cam and give us a little history lesson about Cambridge. Sometimes, being lazy really does pay off!

One of other favorite pasttimes is to visit all the open-air markets througout London. They are so unique and everything is so fresh. It is the oldest running market in London and has ties back to the 1200s! You can get everything from eggs to wild boar to cheesecake to wine. One Saturday morning, Scott had a two chelsea buns and a sausage before 10am. What a man!

We also recently took a trip to the British Museum and got to see Cleopatra, the Rosetta Stone, and tons of mummies. It was very educational to learn about the process of mummification - and also a little gross - as well as see all the similarities between what the Egyptians had and what we still use today. So, we're trying to do some intellectual things as well!

We are excited about coming home to NC and enjoying a little time with our families and friends at the end of May. We (read Katie) are also counting the days until we get to introduce Bruno onto the streets of London! We have big plans to take him to his homeland...he is Yorkshire afterall.

Love and miss you all!

London so far

Hello my friends!

Greetings from London! Scott and I created this blog to keep in touch with our friends and family in the US for the two years that we are here. I can't believe that Scott has been here over 2 months and I have been here about 6 weeks! Scott is working hard at Wachovia and bringing home the bacon. I am on the job hunt and am enjoying seeing the London sites and being a housewife until something turns up.

We have been taking advantage of the ultra-convenient train system in England and have gotten to visit Windsor and Canterbury so far. In full Scott Williams' style, we took an hour nap at the foot of Windsor Castle where the Queen was inside on holiday. In Canterbury, we heard the prologue of Canterbury Tales recited to us outside of Canterbury Cathedral by Jerry Greene from memory. Good times!

Last weekend we went to Ireland with Coach Roy, Bub, Aunt Cheryl, and Granny and Granddaddy. We toured all around the country and had a blast. We all decided that Ireland was without a doubt the most rocky country in the world! There were miles and miles of rock walls everywhere. We saw amazing castles and tons of sheep, bought authentic Aran sweaters from the Aran Islands, kissed the Blarney Stone, read Yeats poetry at his grave site, bought Celtic Crystal and marble, hiked up to the Cliffs of Moher and Dan Aengus (a ring fort on Inis More), illegally toured Ashford Castle (where "The Quiet Man" with John Wayne was filmed), ate traditional Irish breakfasts, and brought in a happy birthday to Scott on his 30th! Bub did a great job planning a trip that Granddaddy had wanted to take for a long time! It was great to see everyone and was a really memorable trip!

We live in a beautiful old flat in Chelsea that is near Hyde and Battersea Parks as well as one of the most posh shopping areas in London on Kings Road. We are within walking distance to Manolo Blahnic, Tiffany's, Prada, Gucci, Armani, etc. It's a good thing Scott's working!!! London is a super expensive city and as cheap as we are, it's a little bit of a shock. Honestly, Manolo Blanic would take one look at the Crocs on my feet and turn me away! However, Scott (A.K.A. "Budget") is adjusting to all of it better than expected. We are planning on filling our flat with a TV (which they put a tax on here - how unAmerican!), DVD player, patio furniture, and a grill this weekend. That way we'll be fully furnished for all of you to come visit!