Piccadilly Circus

Had a meeting today that put me near the Piccadilly Circus tube stop and I snapped this on my way home. Those screens really are huge and bright. I kind of forget about this part of town (don't go there often), but it is kind of cool to stumble upon the flashing, sky high lights when it's dark outside.

Snow!

Yep, you read that right. It snowed in London last night, and it was coming down pretty hard... I'm not sure what that means for our winter seeing as last year it only snowed once and that wasn't until April. We are definitely off to a cold and blustery start!

There was even snow left on the ground this morning!

Birthday weekend

This weekend Ric and I had a little escape to the countryside to celebrate my birthday. It was great to get away from London for a couple days and we loved being out in the Cotswolds. We went to Broadway, a pretty little town where Ric's uncle got married four years ago, and stayed in the same wonderfully cozy hotel.

Our days were filled with reading by the fire at our hotel, the Lygon Arms (parts of which were built in 1532), running down the winding country roads (and up the hills unfortunately) to admire the changing leaves and furry sheep, trying to teach ourselves the rules of rugby in a local pub, and eating in a number of great restaurants that all prepared fresh, local cuisine. My favorite was Juliana's... the well-known spot in neighboring Chipping Campden with a highly regarded chef, but lunch today at a gastro pub called The Swan was pretty tasty as well.

As you can tell, it was a pretty relaxed weekend, which is just what the doctor ordered. Back to work tomorrow, but hoping to keep a little of the laid-back country weekend with me as I head into the week.

Ric at our hotel



Beautiful produce at the local Broadway deli where we had breakfast



Carrots anyone?



Enjoying a beer over lunch at the local pub



The Cotswold House Hotel - where we ate at Juliana's Restaurant



My first course - a yummy crab ravioli with cucumber sorbet!

Randall & Aubin

Ric and I went to a great restaurant last night in the Soho neighborhood that's small and funky, has good simple seafood and a great wine list. The music in the background was a little loud, but for the young crowd gathering in the doorway to wait for a table, it was probably perfect. A nice touch was the framed menus hanging on the wall. No reservations accepted, but they will serve you drinks while you wait. Overall, a very fun place that we will definitely go back to.

http://www.randallandaubin.com/soho/default.asp

Anniversary dinner

Almost forgot to mention that Ric and I had a wonderful anniversary dinner last night at Locanda Locatelli. It's an Italian restaurant (think Quince), with a great wine list, yummy pasta, and of course, the perfect Tiramisu. We both really enjoyed our meals and reminisced about the wedding two years ago. So much has happened since then that it's almost hard to believe it's ONLY been two years. But at the same time, I feel like I was just in Nellysford wondering whether it would rain (it didn't) and if everyone would have fun (they did). Already looking forward to some kind of vow renewal ceremony just as an excuse to have a big fun party again!

Back in the saddle

Most of you know how serious my last case of jet lag was after 10 days in San Francisco. The length of the trip and the fact that we went all the way to the west coast really took its toll. I also made the mistake of falling asleep on the couch when we got back to London and slept most of the day. Didn't help adjustment times. So on this trip I did things a little differently... when we arrived home I took a quick shower and headed straight into the office. Was able to check email and do relatively easy tasks, and it kept me from falling asleep. Slept well Monday night, hit the snooze a couple extra times on Tuesday, and am fully back on schedule today. I think it was easier since we were only gone four days and just to the east coast, but nice to know that we can bounce back quickly under some circumstances. Ric is doing pretty well too.

We returned from a great wedding in hot, humid and rainy Charleston to a rainy and gray London. Winter seems to be here, but it's not really that cold outside yet.

My brother arrives on Friday night and we're spending Saturday with him before he heads on to his tour of duty in Europe and Asia. Not sure where he's going yet, but I'm positive that it's somewhere fabulous with fancy hotels along the way.

It's official!

I know you've all been waiting patiently but the the official 29 Under 29 List has been published for all to see. Congratulations again Rachel!

Photos!

Ok, now that I'm back in the swing of things, here are a few sets of photos to get everyone caught up. They include our trip to Norfolk, the week I spent in Charlottesville before a bachelorette party in New Orleans, and our friend's wedding in Santa Rosa.

Enjoy!

Norfolk (the whole set is on Flickr HERE)






Charlottesville - dinner with my grandparents at my mom's house. Gorgeous view!





Morgan and Michael's wedding (full set HERE)









And the day after enjoying a sunny lunch at Sam's in Tiburon

Wow, it's official

I didn't post a single blog for all of September. I guess that's as good of an indication as any just how busy the month was! Got back from Cape Town and had a couple really packed weeks at work, then went straight into a big week-long event for one of my clients, then headed straight to San Francisco for over a week, and have spent the past week trying to figure out what country I'm in and what time it is. Lots of time to think about that between the hours of 1-4am when I'm laying awake every night.

Don't have much time now either, but wanted to let everyone know that I haven't given up on the blog and am re-pledging my commitment to at least weekly updates, if not more. Will put up pictures soon from Morgan and Michael's wedding which was gorgeous.

Then it's off to Charleston to see Brantley get married! So much fun stuff!