Visits with Friends & Family

What beautiful and loving friends I have. I am truly blessed.

I was able to visit with one of my oldest friends this morning and she is so thoughtful and wonderful. She shared with me a precious plaque of an angel with the words:

Good friends are like angels; you don't have to see them to know they are there...

What is even more touching is that the artist created this piece thinking of his friends in England while he was away from them in the US. The picture was actually taken in a place called Highgate. It is said to be the most magical place in London. I think this will be one of the first places I visit when I am there.


Here is my terrible attempt at taking a picture of this plaque with my computer camera in Starbucks. I think I attracted a lot of attention. In any case, it will give you an idea of what it looks like.



I am looking forward to visiting as many friends as possible in the coming weeks before I fly over the pond. I will miss you all so much!

Christmastime is here

We are finally able to enjoy the holidays. We finished up moving all of our stuff out of the house on Sunday night and headed out to Ft. Worth to visit my sister and her beautiful family and brand new baby George. He is georgeous, by the way! So sweet.

Richard, the girls and I all are having a wonderful time. We even got in some Christmas shopping.

My UK work authorization came through and I am now in the process of applying for my visa. If everything goes alright, I will have my biometrics and interview in the next week and be on my way to London in January!

Tonight we are on our way to Wimberly for Christmas with Richard's family. Then we will celebrate with my family on Saturday and settle into Richard's mom's house for the next several months.

We wish you all the Merriest Christmas!

Beautiful bit of Christmas

I found this on another blog and it is just georgeous. It gave me a brief and beautiful break from packing and reminded me that it is actually Christmastime.

http://www.deseretnews.com/photo/slideshow/1,5587,500000000005211,00.html

What a Whirlwind!

Wow - this is all going so fast. The movers are here and will be loading the truck today. This is the first time we have had movers and this is awesome! The hardest part is telling them what NOT to take.

Now we have to get the rest of the furniture out of the house. I know some of you got an e-mail from me with a list. Here are some pictures in case you neeed them.















Let me know if you want anything!

House is leased already!!!

Can you beleive it? We already have a family wanting to lease the house. Wow - that was fast. So now we have to pack it all up and get out of there by the 21st so they can move in on the 22nd.

I know that seems fast, but they really want to be in by the end of the year and we want to get it over with so we can enjoy the holidays. Plus, this means I can still see my new nephew in Fort Worth if he gets here before then.

So now, you can all have a look at the house online again and let us know if you want to buy any of the contents before we pack it all up. We are taking the bed and our black sofa, but are thinking about the rest. If there is something you want - let us know...

It is all falling into place

What a week!

We listed our house for sale/lease on Tuesday and had a our first showing today. If you know anyone looking for a house in The Woodlands, have them check it out:
http://search.har.com/engine/dispSearch.cfm?mlnum=9595797&backButton=Y

We sold our HHR on Monday and are working out all of the little details before handoff, I finilized a deal to lease our Yukon in March and I have gotten an apartment in the UK (see post below).

Wow - seems like it is all coming together.

I have a flat!

An Apartment - that is. Take a look...


It is the third floor apartment on the back of the house.




Notice how the washing machine is next to the oven? I think the oven doubles as a dryer...

I am getting excited and nervous all in one.

Weekend progress

So - my weekend did not go exactly as planned, but I still was able to get quite a bit done.

I did get Sara Lee to the vet this weekend - and then they told me she has to go somewhere else for the Pet Passport process. Nice of them to tell me when I got there, instead of before so I could make other plans! So now I have a call in to another place to see if I can get the process started again.

I did get my house re-arranged and a Christmas tree up and decorated and still have it clean for house pictures on Monday. I also packed up some clothes for Goodwill and cleared out some junk from the house.

I will admit that I procrastinated on Saturday somewhat, but it was a beautiful day and the girls wanted to have some fun. We went out to The Ice Rink near The Woodlands Market Street Saturday night. It was me, Amber, Alexa and one of Amber's friends. Alexa has never been ice skating before, so I knew it would be an experience to remember before we even got there - I just did not know if it would be good or bad.

So we entered the big tent and went straight to pay - wow what an expense - but we could stay as long as we wanted, so I guess it was o-k. We got our skates and pulled and tied, tightened and retied. Then we decided to get a locker for our shoes and my purse - so I had to stand in line again for change - no change machines in the tent. I got my four quarters and put them in the locker and took out the key. I guess it would have been smart to read the instructions. I had just locked the locker with nothing in it. So Amber got in line again to get four more quarters. Finally, we added everything and re-locked the locker and were ready to get on the ice.

Amber and her friend took off - not necessarily quickly, but much faster than Alexa and me. I took Alexa's hand and we made it once around the rink, shakily and with Alexa grabbing me with both hands at times for fear of falling. Just as we rounded the last curve, she lost balance and grabbed on to me and did a complete 360. It scared her even though she did not fall. SHe began to cry and insisted we needed to stop and she did not like it. I was not pleased as I had just shelled out her admission. So I decided to shell out more cash and get a "walker". This is very much what it sounds like and the little kids use them to get around the ice without losing their balance.
So we went out on the ice again and I pushed Alexa a little ways as she held onto her walker. The I suggested that she try to go on her own. She moved her skates foward and backwards but went nowhere. She tried again and still went nowhere and was quickly ready to give up. My patience was wearing thin as she refused to listem to my sage advice on how to skate. Amber and her friend arrived and asked what was wrong. By this time, Alexa was crying and stating that I was yelling at her - which I really felt like doing, but wa not. Thank goodness for older sisters. Amber and her friend took Alexa around the rink once and suddenly she was a little speed demon with a huge grin on her face.

After that, Alexa was ready to stay all night. She became very good at navigating around all of the slower kids and the stumbling and falling adults. She got good at starting and stopping and even asked me to speed up a few times. Now she is ready to go everyday. I don't think that will happen - but it's o-k for her to dream.

So - it was definitely an adventure to remember for both the bad and the good. Thankfully the evening ended on a high note. We all especially enjoyed the hot cocoa by the fire when we got home. It was a very fun Texas winter holiday evening.

Moment of panic

O-k - so I had a moment of panic this morning. I think I have come to terms with the size of the cute little apartment. I think I can fit a very small trestle table and two stackable chairs for dining and maybe one small armchair for the corner and make this cozy and livable.

I do have an alternate one bedroom flat I am looking at too - as a back-up.

Hopefully the first one will work out. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

That is really small!!!!

I just got the floor plan for that cute studio apartment - spacious is a bit of an overstatement...

One step closer

We took the plunge today and spoke with a realtor. I have the weekend to finish the few things we need to do to get the house ready and then Monday it will be officially on the market. The best news I heard from the realtor is that we do not need to change anything! What a relief. We will list it to buy or lease. Feels like such a big step - but everything seems to be working out so well so far.

My colleague from Aberdeen is moving to our Houston office in February and he really wants to live a "big American lifestyle." Cool for us because he really wants a big American car - so I am working with him on a deal for our GMC Yukon. It is almost as big as you can get - so he is all for it.

I am working on another deal for the HHR and it looks somewhat promising. It would be great to have a plan for both cars.

My plan for the weekend is to work out a few details on the cars, start the Pet Passport process for Sara Lee, box up extra stuff from around the house for storage, take some clothes to a consignment shop, put some furniture on Craig's List and watch a few Christmas movies. I think it is do-able - I will let you know how it goes.

On a sad note, Richard's Aunt MaryLou (Wally's sister) passed away yesterday. She has had Alzheimers for awhile and has been in a nursing home for the past year or so.
Richard told me that she did not know Wally had passed away, but that she does now. I take comfort in knowing that he is there welcoming her, along with her husband and two of her sons. Please say a prayer for Richard and his family this weekend.

Hoping to snag an apartment (flat)

I have found a place in London and am hoping my company can snag it for me before it is too late. It's just a little place for me until Richard and the girls can join me.

Take a look...




It is really just the one little room with a tiny kitchen and bathroom - but I think it is really cute.

My last Thanksgiving in the US for a while

I was so blessed to spend Thanksgiving with my family and see almost all of my brothers and sisters this weekend. It was loud and crazy and so much fun! I loved playing with my nieces and nephews and visiting with all of my family and I really appreciated the time as I realized it may be the last for awhile. I even teared up a bit as we all gathered around the dining table and said grace together. It was so beautiful to see all of my family, the little ones to the adults, gathered together with voices joined in prayer. This is something I will miss dearly in the future.

Moving a pet to the UK

Wow! I just looked into the process for moving Sara Lee to the UK and it is crazy!

So we have 2 options:
1 - We take Sara Lee to the UK and put her in quarantine for 6 months as they watch her for rabies. We can visit periodically, but she cannot leave until the 6 months is up - and we have to pay for the quarantine.
2 - We can go through a long drawn out procedure here in the US which involves micro-chipping, rabies shots and tests, a 6 month waiting period, veterinary validation, and issuance of a UK pet passport, more shots, special transport and then she can come live with us.

Apparently the UK does not have and never has had rabies. Weird. It does not matter that Sara Lee is already micro-chipped or clear of rabies and up to date on all of her shots. She has to do it all over again. In the end - we will go with option 2 because we know Sara Lee will not last in a 6 month quarantine. And she is totally worth it. It is just frustrating because she is so healthy and obviously free of rabies.

Oh well - the things we do for our dogs. Maybe we will give her a treat for going through all this and take her to Harrods' Pet Kingdom when she gets to London. She can try on new doggie coats in their fitting rooms, find a new designer collar and sample treats from the pet bakery. It's a dog's life!

And the fun begins

I just finished submitting all of my paperwork for UK work authorization and the wheels are in motion. With luck, I will have UK work authorization in 3 weeks, and then will start the USA approval process. That requires more than you would think including bank statements and biometrics and personal interviews. But again, it should only take a few weeks. It currently looks like everything will be in place for me to be in London the first week of January, 2009. What a way to start the new year.

So between now and then, I get to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with my family, put our house on the market for sale/lease (still working on that), and figure out what I will need in London to survive on my own for awhile, while also ensuring that Richard and girls are all set up as well. And there is oh-so-much more!

If we look at it as a whole, Richard and I just get overwhelmed, so we are trying to break it down into little pieces. I am thinking I may even need to put a project plan together. I will let you know how it goes...

It is official!

I just accepted the opportunity in London! Wow - what a life-changing event! I guess you might want some background on how this all happened.

Back aound the time of Hurricane Ike, I talked with the COO of our company abou the possible opportunity to work in the London office. I did a great deal of research and decided it would be worth further consideration.

I flew to London the last week of October to visit the office and see Europe for the first time. It was exciting and cold and interesting. I visited different areas of London to consider places to live. I met with friends and co-workers to get their opinions on the city. I shopped in grocery stores and travelled via train, tube, cab and on foot. I visited street markets and looked at art on Piccadilly while talking to the actual artists.

Then, Richard and the girls came out to London the first week in November and I showed them around. We looked at neighborhoods and even saw a few houses for rent (very small & cozy). We went shopping and walked though parks and saw the sights. We went out to dinner with a British family in the shadow of Windsor Castle and rode alot of trains.

At the end of the trip, we all decided we wanted to give London a try.

London Bound

Today marks the second anniversary of my time with Maxwell Drummond International. Starting today, it will also mark the next chapter in our lives as I accept a position with Maxwell Drummond International in their London office.