So we’re a little belated on the Valentine’s Day thing but what are ya gonna do?
Since our last post (which has been over a month – so sorry Bill and Jen – you are way better bloggers than we could ever dream of being), we’ve been doing a lot of traveling. I flew back to the States for a week to visit with my BU friends in celebration of Jen and Eric’s wedding. It was a beautiful winter wonderland wedding – just what Jen wanted! It was so great to see Jen and Eric and all the other BU kids. Everyone is leading such successful lives now– and just think, our only source of income used to be picking up change off the street on our walk to school! Anyway, the wedding was so much fun – like we never left grad school!
While I was gone, Scott and Bruno went on a long hike with our friends, JoAnn and Matt. Out of the middle of no where, they came across a fox hunt with about 50 hunting dogs, 7 riders on horseback, and one guy with a bugle to direct it all. Needless to say, Bruno went nutso - barking like a crazy man. But when Scott put him on the ground, he was able to fully appreciate the size of all the other aminals and immediately became scared to death and burrowed into the ground to hide. Very cool experience…you just don’t see that kind of thing in Charlotte, North Carolina!
When I got back to London, we spent one rockin’ Friday night at the British Museum. I know, sometimes we can get pretty wild and crazy. We had 10:30pm tickets to see the Terracotta Army exhibit which has been so popular that the museum has extended their hours until midnight to accommodate all the interest. And even at that time on a Friday night, it was absolutely packed! The Terracotta Army was built by The First Emperor of China in preparation for his death because he wanted to rule the world in the afterlife. So he built thousands of life size terracotta (clay) soldiers, horses, chariots, etc to protect him after death. Each one is unique and so intricate. About 30 pieces of the army were brought to London for the exhibit. It was such a cool thing to see and we learned that The First Emperor was a genius…but also slightly crazy…and definitely a little power hungry. So if you’re ever in Xi’an, China, we highly recommend that you see the real thing!
Scott has been traveling a lot with business – Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Copenhagen – and was actually in New York over Valentine’s Day. So Bruno and I celebrated in style with a first rate meal consisting of doggie kibble and veggie burgers. Scott truly was jealous that he was not in London to partake in the festivities! However, over the weekend, we got to really celebrate Valentine’s Day and went skiing in the Alps. We flew into Munich, Germany and then rented a car to drive on the Autobahn into Bad Hofgastein. Right now you’re thinking, Bad what? It is about half way between Innsbruck and Salzburg, Austria, close to the German border. It was absolutely beautiful – straight out of “The Sound of Music.” We went to a ski area called Ski Amade which is actually made up of about 8 different ski resorts so there a million different runs from which to choose. It was an awesome trip and the skiing was amazing.
Well, to clarify, it would have been amazing if we were actually good skiers. But alas, we are not. I am the slowest skier on the face of the earth and was definitely the worst skier on the whole of the Alps. That’s right, at one point, the “kinder ski school” came racing past me and almost knocked me over. Lucky for Scott, he is exponentially better than I am. He was super sweet and stayed behind me on all the slopes. At first I thought that I had married a loving man who really cared about me enough to follow me down the mountain to make sure I didn’t get hurt. Then, he told me the truth – that he actually liked staying behind me because he was having more fun laughing at me when I fell than he was actually skiing. Why am I not surprised? At one point, I fell and my right ski hit me in the back of the head, then I slid half way down the mountain face first, then I couldn’t get up and had to just wiggle my way around for about 5 minutes until I got situated. Hilarious! I am also pretty sure that I busted a bursa on my left hip from falling so much. It didn’t matter though. We stayed on the “Easy Piste” runs the whole weekend and had a ton of fun. And after we were exhausted from skiing each day, we would head back to the hotel and enjoy all the “apres ski” spa services – they had a ton different hot tubs, saunas, steam rooms, pools, and aromatherapy rock grottos that we could use for free. It was easily the best part of the trip!
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Happy New Year!!!
Scott and I hope that 2008 has been treating you all well thus far! We started off 2008 with a wonderful dinner at Matt and JoAnn’s flat and then walked up to see the fireworks over Big Ben. It was absolutely perfect because we got to see all the festivities and still managed to stay away from the crowds. There were about eight of us celebrating with champagne while they shot fireworks off the London eye and lit up Parliament and the Thames. A great start to the New Year!
We got to go to our first Chelsea football game last week. It was so much fun! Chelsea football (soccer) fans are absolutely crazy! It was a really exciting game against Everton (another very good team) and Chelsea ended up winning with a goal in the last few minutes. However, we would have been thoroughly entertained by the crowd even if the actual athletics had been terrible! The fans have all of these clever little songs they sing and as they get more drunk, they add in more and more curse words. There are songs to berate the other team (such as a simple little diddy called “You are sh*t”) or the referee (“The referee is a wanker”) or to brag about how good Chelsea is (“Chelsea’s the best so f*ck all the rest”). Hilarious!
For our January trip, we decided we’d head to Brussels. Why Brussels you ask? Actually, no reason other than it is close and we could get there by train. So off we went! We saw all the sights that Brussels is famous for including The Grand Place (the square in the center of the city with a beautiful town hall and buildings tipped in gold leaf), The Sablon (another smaller square with amazing pastry shops and a chocolate shop that looked more like Tiffany’s than somewhere to eat), the Atomium (a huge iron and steel structure that was built for the 1958 International Exhibition to represent an atom magnified 165 billion times), and the Manneken Pis (a statue of a little boy peeing that the city dresses up in little outfits…random, I know). We (read Katie) sampled cheery flavored beer and lots of yummy Belgian chocolate.
Just in case anyone is thinking of making a trip to Brussles, here are a few tips for you.
#1: Although they did invent them, Belgium really doesn’t pride themselves on Belgium waffles so don’t get too excited about finding them there. Quite disappointing.
#2: French fries (“frites”) were actually invented in Belgium, not France, and the people there really do pride themselves on that. So get ready because they come with everything!
#3: The northwest side of town really isn’t the most morally sound part of Brussels. Not knowing this little tid bit, we stayed at an adorable little Bed and Breakfast there. It was really a great place even though we had to fight our way past the transvestite prostitutes to get into the door. Nice choice, Scott.
We got to go to our first Chelsea football game last week. It was so much fun! Chelsea football (soccer) fans are absolutely crazy! It was a really exciting game against Everton (another very good team) and Chelsea ended up winning with a goal in the last few minutes. However, we would have been thoroughly entertained by the crowd even if the actual athletics had been terrible! The fans have all of these clever little songs they sing and as they get more drunk, they add in more and more curse words. There are songs to berate the other team (such as a simple little diddy called “You are sh*t”) or the referee (“The referee is a wanker”) or to brag about how good Chelsea is (“Chelsea’s the best so f*ck all the rest”). Hilarious!
For our January trip, we decided we’d head to Brussels. Why Brussels you ask? Actually, no reason other than it is close and we could get there by train. So off we went! We saw all the sights that Brussels is famous for including The Grand Place (the square in the center of the city with a beautiful town hall and buildings tipped in gold leaf), The Sablon (another smaller square with amazing pastry shops and a chocolate shop that looked more like Tiffany’s than somewhere to eat), the Atomium (a huge iron and steel structure that was built for the 1958 International Exhibition to represent an atom magnified 165 billion times), and the Manneken Pis (a statue of a little boy peeing that the city dresses up in little outfits…random, I know). We (read Katie) sampled cheery flavored beer and lots of yummy Belgian chocolate.
Just in case anyone is thinking of making a trip to Brussles, here are a few tips for you.
#1: Although they did invent them, Belgium really doesn’t pride themselves on Belgium waffles so don’t get too excited about finding them there. Quite disappointing.
#2: French fries (“frites”) were actually invented in Belgium, not France, and the people there really do pride themselves on that. So get ready because they come with everything!
#3: The northwest side of town really isn’t the most morally sound part of Brussels. Not knowing this little tid bit, we stayed at an adorable little Bed and Breakfast there. It was really a great place even though we had to fight our way past the transvestite prostitutes to get into the door. Nice choice, Scott.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
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!
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!
Monday, December 3, 2007
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?!
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?!
Monday, November 12, 2007
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.
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.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
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!
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!
Sunday, September 30, 2007
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!
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!
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