Happy Christmas!

The countdown is on and I just can't wait!! I leave in 5 short days for the US and it can't come fast enough. Chad has been there for a week now and I'm so jealous! He had training last week and decided to stay there this week instead of coming all the way back to London and then leaving a week later for Christmas! So I have been getting ready for my trip this weekend and I intended to get ahead on some work, but somehow I have not been too successful at that!

I was going to take a few photos of London at Christmas this weekend for my post but I left the house and then realised (man I spelled that the British way and didn't even think about it!) I forgot the battery to my camera and it was too far to turn back! So instead, I thought that I'd share a few of the common Christmas traditions that I know about in the UK:

1. They say "Father Christmas" instead of Santa here and he's the same guy we know and love in the US!
2. They love to eat mince pies and Christmas pudding and to be honest I haven't tried either - they are like fruit cake in my mind and not so desirable.
3. Not surprisingly at all, Christmas is another reason (not like the Brits need a reason) to drink a lot and attend Christmas parties. My department at work had our Christmas party this week and we did a lunch, a secret Santa gift exchange (with my department senior manager dressed up as Santa!) and the tables were cleared and the dance floor opened up. All I can say is that they know to have fun!
4. They put on Christmas Pantomimes (or "Pantos") in the theatres for children and they aren't necessarily linked with a Christmas theme although they make it festive. I went to one this week with some friends and it was Cinderella. It's basically a musical and comedy production and they told the story of Cinderella but had little comedy acts, a ventriloquist and other funny things in between. They also had British stars in the production - Gareth Gates from X-Factor (their equivalent to American Idol) as the Prince and Joanna Page (she is a British actress - she was in Love Actually).
5. They spend the holidays with their families and do big Christmas dinners with turkey and all the trimmings. Oh and they always open Christmas poppers at dinner - which are these little gifts that pop open when you pull them and include little gifts, riddles and paper crowns that you have to put on.
6. Christmas eve is not a national holiday but the day after Christmas, Boxing Day is. Most likely designed to give them a day to rest after a day of over indulgence!

So - things aren't so different then they are at home but they do things a little differently!

Anyway, this will be my final post before the holidays and I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas with your loved ones and a very Happy New Year! More to come from me soon - although it will be less than interesting telling you about my life as an auditor once January hits!

xoxox, Kari

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy St. Andrew's Day!

Hi all,

Hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We had an early one a week ago with a few fellow Americans at our flat. We couldn't do it the day of because they don't celebrate the Turkey Day in the UK (sensitive topic here!) and I was travelling for work up to Edinburgh, Scotland.

So we did get a little taste of the Scottish national holiday called St. Andrew's Day, (Saint Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland) that falls on November 30th each year. Basically, the extent of our involvement in the holiday included free admission into the Edinburgh Castle and we got to see some fireworks over the Castle Saturday evening!

So, without further ado, I'll let the photos speak for me....

Here is one that I'm including from London because we had a visitor a few weeks ago and as promised, all our visitors get their photos plastered on the blog, whether they like it or not. This victim was very cooperative! It's our friend Tim Russo from college and he was in London for work. We got to spend an ever so lovely grey and rainy London Sunday with him!

So here starts our weekend in Scotland. My camera battery was low so I didn't get to take as many photos as I wanted! One thing that I didn't get a picture of has such a good story - I wish I had something to back it up! On Saturday morning, we decided to walk from our hotel to the Old Town and we happened upon a little local farmers market. We were walking along the stalls and I noticed a woman buying something and she looked familiar. She was with a man and two young children and it took me a minute to decide who it was but when I did, I had Chad check her out to see if he agreed. I am pretty sure it was J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter books!! No one else around paid any attention to her but I promise it was her! Of course, I had to do some research and she has a home outside of Edinburgh and extended family that live there! I'll never know if it was really her but it's a good story!

Here is a view of the Edinburgh Castle, which is one of the main tourist attractions of the city. It's up on a hill overlooking the city and is at one end of the Royal Mile. At the other end is Holyrood Palace and is where the Queen stays when she is in town.

First we made our way up the hill to the castle and did our tourist thing. It was a pretty cold day but we powered through it and got to see the high points!! Chad and I are what you call efficient tourists - we do the sights but get them done in record time so we can enjoy the local atmosphere (aka - sitting down and resting and enjoying a good meal!) We didn't try haggis (sorry Andy!) but had some good Scottish beef!

Here I am with a lion statute at the Castle and below is Chad next to a statute of Adam Smith on the Royal Mile. For all you geeks out there, you know that Adam Smith is the "Father of Modern Economics" - Chad is an avid reader of the Economist and was excited to see this landmark. Look at the smile on his face - it makes me laugh (love you honey!)

So we hiked down the mile and ended up at the Palace and took a few shots...

The main entrance.

A Royal light fixture!




Pretty old Palace!

We then took a walk back towards town up Calton Road to see another view of the city at Sunset.....

It was about 4:30!

Oh - I thought this road sign was cute! It was on the ground and wasn't of much use but I just liked it!

We finished the day by doing a little shopping and heading back to the hotel for a low key evening. We spotted the fireworks from our room because we had a view of the castle - the photo is not so great but I've included in anyway!

So that sums up our winter Scottish experience!

Now we're heading to bed and getting ready for another fun filled work week! It's amazing because Christmas is going to be here before we know it. Chad actually leaves a week from today to head back for the Holidays - he has a training in Orlando the week after this week and then is going to work from the US the following week and then it's Christmas! Time is flying!

Ta ta for now!! xoxox, Kari

November Wedding Weekends!

To all you blog readers out there (I know for certain there are a handful of you!) I am sure you are dying with anticipation to see what we've been getting on with lately (Don't I sound British?)! Well it has been quite exciting and there are so many pictures to share!!

Chad's brother Luke and his fiancee Erin were married on November 1, 2008 in Wooster, Ohio. Chad and I were both in the wedding and it was so much fun - here's the proof!




My new sister-in-law Erin and I getting ready for the rehearsal!



Rehearsal dinner festivities - Chad and his parents with Miss Makenzie at the end!




The rehearsal was on Halloween and the wait staff was all dressed up. Here's the happy couple with characters from the Wizard of Oz!




Luke points out that the exact spot of where they first met. It was at the restaurant where we had the rehearsal dinner.




Congrats Erin and Luke - but wait - that isn't Luke! It's his friend Trent. He was nice enough to be a stand in because I had to have a picture of the sign!





The mother of the groom (aka Linda) and Mackenzie, cousin of the groom and the most mature 11 year old I've ever met, and she had the best dance moves of the night!




I had to get a close up of my bouquet!





Luke and Erin at the reception.




Chad and Luke's friend Corby. I told him that he'd be making an appearance on the blog!




Cutting the cake!




Linda and Keith.




Chad and his grandparents.



Ahh - cute brothers!


The following weekend, my cousin Amber and her husband Ryan had a reception to celebrate their wedding, which was a smaller wedding that was a few weeks earlier. Chad didn't come along but I was so happy that I was able to make the trip!




My cousin Tiffany's little girl Audrey - she's 2 and she loves music! She wants a violin for Christmas so she's improvising with a baby guitar for now!




I helped set up things for the reception - the favors were fall apples!




Pretty fall colors with my aunt's creative touch.




Pumpkins galore - and an "S" for Stewart - Ambo's new last name!




The girls working hard!




Marya sweeping up!




Aunt C - always arranging something!




The happy couple!




The first group to hit the dance floor - Carolyn, Joe and Audrey!




Amber and Ryan doing a Polish tradition that involved bread butter, vodka and a sweet message that I can't quite remember - but it had to do with a lifetime of happiness!




Cute girls!


We had such a great time seeing our family and friends celebrate these weddings! What an exciting time!!


This weekend has been nice and relaxing one with not much going on. I found a restaurant (self proclaimed American brasserie) in Mayfair that makes hamburgers with American beef - so that's what we did for a late lunch/early dinner and it was goo-ood! We're doing Thanksgiving next weekend and then we'll be in Edinburgh, Scotland the following weekend to celebrate my milestone of a birthday! I really can't believe it's the end of November. We'll be heading back to the US for Christmas before we know it!



Hope everyone is doing well!


xoxox, Kari and Chad

Hiya!

Hi Everyone!

Hope that you had a great weekend!  We have been doing well lately.  We celebrated Chad's 30th last weekend in Geneva - he's so old!  He was there for work the week before, s0 I went and met up with him for the weekend!  It was a very fun weekend - I still need to upload the photos!

This weekend Chad was in Ohio for his brothers bachelor party.  I 've been jealous because I was all by my lonesome in London!  But it was a beautiful weekend with sun and no rain so I was able to get outdoors and enjoy it!  Plus I got a little shopping in, so that's always a plus!  And I got my hair cut and watched the Sex in the City movie and Baby Mama - so I did all the girlie things I could think of while he's not around!

So that's what's been going on with us!  It's hard to believe that's it already mid-October!  We've just have a few more weekends and then we'll be back in Ohio for Luke and Erin's wedding - we can't wait!

Have a great week!

xoxox, Kari

Bonjour, mes amis!

It has been quite awhile and I have a lot to blog about! Chad's parents left yesterday afternoon to head back to Mt. Vernon after a whirlwind European vacation! We has so much fun with them in London and in our travels in France and Italy!

Their first week here, they spent a few days in Scotland and were able to take a day trip to St. Andrews, which they really enjoyed! I'll try to make a long story short - we had a crazy beginning to our 9 day trip with them at the end of that week. Chad was in Germany for work and Linda, Keith and I planned to take the Eurostar through the chunnel to meet Chad in Paris Friday evening after I got off of work. Well, unlucky for us, there was a fire in the Chunnel on Thursday and we found out on Friday morning that all trains were cancelled! So needless to say, we had to think quickly and we got Linda and Keith on a Friday afternoon flight to Paris (via Dublin because there were NO flights available) to meet up with Chad. I got on an early morning flight on Saturday and we were all together by Saturday evening!


So we continued to have a busy trip but there weren't any other major travel delays along the way - other than the fact that Linda and Keith were delayed out of London and missed their connection in Chicago and had to stay there the overight. We did get our fare share of flights, train rides, driving and taxi's so cover a lot of ground but it was worth it!! So here it is....

View from our hotel on the corner of Rue Cler and Ave Motte-Piquet. We decided to take Rick Steve's advice and really enjoyed staying in this area of Paris. Our hotel was very close to the Eiffel Tower and Rue Cler was a cute little shopping street!

Chad and his parents on Rue Cler! I wasn't there on Saturday when the toured the city and went to the Norte Dame, the Lourve, Champs Elysees and Arc de Triomphe so I don't have any photos of all that excitement!


And of course - I had to take tons of pictures of the Eiffel Tower. We went at night and got to see it light up with blinking lights. Right now it's in blue lights and has the European Union Flag stars because France is currently the head of the Council of the European Union.

After leaving Paris, we flew to Florence and stayed an hour away in the Chianti region. It was so beautiful but a little colder than we had hoped!

We stayed in a cute place, Il Borgo Pietrafitta. We had our own little unit with a living room and kitchen (and horrible TV - oh well!) Anyhow, we had a nice and relaxing time touring around the region and relaxing!

Grape vines!

The infinity pool - it was pretty cold but still beautiful!

Chad and Linda convinced me to get in the freezing pool and here's the proof!

Tuscan Sunset!

We also did a day trip to Florence and hit the major sites, David, the Duomo, shopping in the market and just enjoying the warm sunny day!

A huge row of motorcycles!

The Duomo

We also took a hike up the hill to see the city from Piazza Michelangelo and it was so worth it!

I don't think I've ever had so much Gelato in my life!! I made everyone walk all over each city just to find that perfect place. Here's a pic of the goods in one of the many! And us enjoying our selections of course!!

So after Paris, Florence and Tuscany, we headed to Rome for a few days......

Our first night in Rome, we did a night walk. Here's Linda and Keith in front of the Trevi Fountain...

and making our wishes!

Here are the Palmers outside the Pantheon! Our day started out ok but by the time we went to the Vatican and saw the Sistine Chapel, it started raining and did not let up ALL day long! It was quite a day but we kept walking and saw St. Peters (after waiting in line in the rain) and headed back to our hotel exhausted and soaked!!

View of St. Peters from the Vatican

The morning we left Rome, we did some walking around the ruins and went inside the Colosseum. Thankfully, the rain had stopped and we could enjoy the sun!

So we left Rome and headed back to Paris for a night before we got on the Eurostar and through the chunnel and back to London! Linda and Keith were with us for the rest of the week and we were so lucky to have them for company, make us dinners and do our laundry - we were getting sp used to it - this weekend has been a struggle!

Finally, here are some pics in front of the major sites in London, Paris and Rome. Linda got us all t-shirts that say "London, Paris, Rome and Mt.Vernon" so the girls decided to get our pictures in front of each site on our shirts! Mt.Vernon is yet to come and I can't wait to be back in Ohio to complete the shots, but here we are in the others...

London - Big Ben!

Paris - The Eiffel Tower!

And Rome - the Colosseum!

We had such a fun and memorable time with Linda and Keith and can't believe that our visitors are gone! That also means the end of summer and a busy fall and winter ahead, which is not so fun! This weekend has been really relaxing but we've got a busy travel schedule ahead - with work and a few weddings - the next few months will go by pretty quickly!

Until next time, Au revoir! xoxox