It's been awhile!

Hi Everyone!  I started this post a few weeks back - but now it's the end of February and I'm finishing it up!

Happy new year!  It's very late, I know, but I still mean it!  Hope that you are having a great 2009 so far.  It's hard to believe that we're almost through the first 2 months already!

So, things have been pretty busy in the wild world of accounting and hence, I haven't had time to be updating our blog!  But I have found some time this weekend and I thought I'd fill everyone in on what's been going on...

My last update, I was about to head back to the US for Christmas.  We had a wonderful time with our family and friends.  It went by pretty quickly but we were so lucky to be able to spend time with so many people we love!

Chad was in Ohio for the week before I got there and after a night being stuck in Chicago on my way from London and a quick night in Mt. Vernon, we headed to Asheville to see my brother and his family and celebrate Christmas.  We were greeted at the airport by the Clevenger kids!

 

After a short fight with the airlines because I bags didn't make it (but at least we did!) we headed to one of our favorite local restaurants, Papas and Beer.  They have great Mexican food that just hit the spot because we're so deprived in London!  As you can see, it's one of Owen's favorite places too!

We had a few days before Christmas to relax and enjoy Asheville.  We finally went and toured the Biltmore, something we hadn't done in our many visits!  It was very impressive and it was fun to be able to see it all decorated for the holidays.

Christmas was so fun with the kids and here are a few pics to share.  We also spent it with my Dad, Dana's sisters Jane and Sarah, her mom, Pam and Jane's boyfriend, Brady.   Here's Christmas eve, posing in front of the tree...

And here they are waiting on the stairs to run downstairs to see what Santa left...

And he left a lot!  Here's Em in the midst of lots and lots of presents!

And here is Reese in one of his favorite gifts, an Ohio State t-shirt from Papa John!  Ok- maybe it wasn't his favorite, but Chad and I loved getting him in it just to make Andy's orange Tennessee blood boil!

So here is the Clevenger boys rocking out to Guitar Hero World Tour!  My favorite is Owen with the vocals - he loves to sing.!  All supported by their number one fan, pops enjoying the show from the couch! 

And here's Owen and my dad playing a little game on Christmas day.  Watch out O - he cheats!

After all the Christmas fun, we had a few more days to hang out in Asheville.  We had a fun dinner out with Andy, Dana and the kids!

So after Asheville, we had a few days with Chad's family in Mt. Vernon.  Chad got a Wii, so we were entertained for a few days!  The funniest was the boxing - here is Chad's parents duking it out!  Linda was undefeated - she beat Keith, Chad and I!  Looks like we need to get on her workout routine!

We also got to hang out with Luke and Erin and got see Luke play intermural hockey!  He had lots of fans and they won!

After leaving Mt. Vernon, we headed to Columbus for a few days to celebrate New Years with Maya and Chad.  They had a surprise birthday party for me for my 30th with a bunch of our friends, which was so fun!  I don't have any photos but it was so great to see people and be able to catch up!  We also had a fun New Years Eve - here they are at a party we went to bring in the new year!

And we got to hang out with Mazen too!  He's so cute and getting so big!  Here are a few shots!

Playing with his toys!

The little Buckeye!

Too cute!

We were so sad to leave the States because we had such a good time with everyone!  Not to mention that we were coming back to busy season!  It's been pretty busy but I'm hoping things slow down soon.  We did have a nice break the Monday after the Superbowl though!  It snowed in London and we got the most snow the city has seen in 17 years!  So needless to say, they don't know what to do when it snows, so the city pretty much came to a stand still!  We ended up working from home and I got out to take a few pics!  It was so pretty and a nice change - I know that makes everyone in Ohio probably cringe!  But it was gone in 2 days so it wasn't so hard to handle!

Trees in our park!

Snow capped scooter!

And more pics of the park!

So other than that, we have been keeping a low profile!  We did have a fun night last night though.  Miami University, where we both went to "Uni" as they say here, is celebrating its bicentennial this year.  There were several celebrations across the US and the world this weekend and  somehow Chad became part of the London distribution list as an "organizer".  There wasn't a big showing, 6 of us in total, but it was fun to meet some fellow alums in London!  I actually made a sign at the last minute because the main organizer had to cancel yesterday afternoon and he wanted to have a sign so people knew where to meet up!   So here we are - some London Redskins/Redhawks!

So that's about all from our end.  We are approaching our final 6 months here and it's so hard to believe!  Time has flown!  We are planning to get a lot of traveling in and start in two weeks with our first trip in about 3 months.  We're heading to Prague for the weekend and are really looking forward to it.  Chad has been wanting to go there since we got here and we've finally lined it up!

Hope you all are well and you'll be hearing from me more from here on out!!

xoxox, 

Kari

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