holiday time in London!

It's been almost 6 weeks - sorry dad!! Here are the phone pics from the last month or so during the lead up to Christmas!

Right when I got back from my trip to the US, we submitted the massive proposal a team of us had been working on since June. This is just a few of us the night we went out to celebrate!

When I was in the US, Allee had her baby - precious baby Gwyneth. Spent all morning my first Saturday back holding her - oh I'm in love.

My first time playing tennis in Holland Park. It was a GORGEOUS fall day... and just had to take a picture of the trees!

One night Kelly and I went to a Downton Abbey panel with the show's writer, producer and Branson! He is quite good looking in real life! It was SO cool to hear about all of the behind the scenes goings on and what it takes to produce the show.

Christmas time in Sloane Square.

Thanksgiving at work - we spent all day in rehearsals for presentation orals, so I transferred this sticky note from Suz onto every presentation structure doc we worked off. Made me smile all day.

At night I came home and face-timed with family - Allison and my parents were at a Thanksgiving party so they squeezed into the bathroom to talk to me for an hour!

Then caught Katie in LA (everyone's eyes are closed!)

That Saturday, I celebrated Thanksgiving properly with the American crew. I was responsible for the sweet potato side dish, so my sweet potato and apple casserole it was! This is a before (or "mid," rather) shot....

And after!

Eric carving the turkey!

The girls - Anna, CarrieBeth and me.

Everyone (minus Eric taking the picture)!

Yummmmm

Ended the night playing apples to apples - such a fun game!

One random day, a few of us went to lunch at Madison's - which has this view. A.Mazing.

This is so us. Just doing what we do - at the pub after work.

Brunch with Hannah! Love her. (Don't mind my eye wrinkles which make me look 45 years old here!!!)

Have had some electricity issues this month - getting ready for bed by candlelight - not as easy as it looks.

Our Christmas jumper party at work! Hahahaha Rich's snowman's nose is 3-D, and Theo's santa suit -LOL.

Suz and I can't compete.

On the top of a double decker bus heading home from Christmas shopping...

I can't believe I only have one shot from our Christmas party! It was the best one I've been to - so fun to get dressed up and dance the night away!! (Yes, I've learned to love dancing over here! And no, that doesn't mean I'm good at it (Kates)!)

Off to Florida in 2 days - Merry Christmas everyone!

Home sweet home

When I moved to London over 2 years ago, I told everyone back home I wasn't going to spend my vacations coming back to America, as I wanted to make the most of my short stint in Europe and see the world over here. But after I decided to extend in London for a 3rd year, I immediately booked a trip home for a proper (and long overdue) visit!

Started in Lexington to see Allison... this was taken right before I landed. Wide open spaces are so good for the soul!!!

Didn't waste ANY time in locating my fave place to eat on the way home from the airport!

We took sunrise walks around the arboretum of the University of Kentucky every morning as I fought jet lag. Faces blurry on purpose... the trees in the background are far easier on the eyes than our 6am faces haha!

The view during our walks. This is SO the midwest. Water tower and all. LOOOOOOOVE.

We drove up to Cincinatti one day to go shopping

And did some MAJOR damage at the mall

Eating spuds at McAllister's - another fave!

Also spent a lot of time hanging out at home with the doggies...

In-home pedicure. Strangely, Allison actually loves giving them!

I had so much fun seeing Allison's world, meeting her friends, and going to her church, her school and all of her regular haunts. I wish I could come over every weekend.

Next, I flew to LA to hang out with Katie and all of my friends in the OC. My first day, Kates and I went to the Cabazon outlets...

And I did some (more) majorly major damage.

Katie and Chris just bought their first home, and I got to be there to see them sign all of the closing papers!

YAYAYAYAY their forever long house hunt is over!!!!! Their new home is beautiful.

Enjoying the OC weather walking around Balboa island. Katie photo-bombing below.

I got to spend the entire day on Wednesday with Mike and Jaime. Literally, what I wouldn't give to live in the same city as these 2 again! Dinner at Buddha's Sushi did not disappoint.

And of course, ice cream pit stop on the way home.

I'm a bit schocked at the portion size here (as I was the whole visit home!)

The next day I got to spend the whole day with Kimberly and Kelly. Didn't get very many pictures, but we did lunch at TrueFoods in Fashion Island (AMAZING), then went to CDM and chatted on the benches overlooking the ocean all afternoon, then went home to hang out with Caleb and Stephen, then out to dinner. Friends like these girls are hard to find. Miss. Them. :(

Next, I was off to San Francisco to visit Rochelle! It had already been 6 weeks since she moved back to the US - the longest we'd been apart in 2 years haha. It goes without saying that it was so great to be back together, and exploring her and Kyle's new city!

We hit the ground running... Full House anyone?!

Dirty Mexican food for dinner... yummmmm. (Kyle is clearly doing Stache-tober, followed by Movember.... nice right?)

And obviously ice cream for dessert! It was no Italian gelato, but was a very close second!

That night we made banana bread in honor of Megan!

The next morning on the way to breakfast, Starbucks in hand, the views of the city were gorgeous, but the girl who snapped this didn't quite capture this beautiful backdrop!

Mama's is SO famous and popular. We had to wait for 1.5 hours to get in.

Waiting...

and more waiting...

And it was so worth the wait for our feast! DELISH!

From breakfast we decided to check out Coit tower.

Somewhat cool views of the city, but pretty lame overall.

Kyle being our sherpa as we trounced around town walking the hills... haha flashbacks to Greenwich!!!

Lombard street

We were exhausted (for no real reason at all) so this was how we spent the rest of the day!

The next day was our big day! On the way to the Alcatraz port, we were on a bus going to China town. This lady clearly thought I was going to give her a disease or something?!

Taken from the ferry - approaching Alcatraz!

Roaming around the cells

Haha!

No, we did not plan our matching stripes.

This was the recreational yard the inmates used - not a bad view!

Heading out to the recreational area...

Looking backward toward the jail

This was the view from where the administration buildings were located - GORGEOUS views of the city!

 Such a beautifully clear day!

After Alcatraz, we headed along fisherman's wharf to the original Boudin. Super cute nautical areas all around.

Such a happy camper upon arrival at Boudin! Hugging the bust seemed like the thing to do.

Clam chowder bread bowl. Yummmmmm!

We then headed to the bridge. Have I mentioned what a beautiful day it was?!!! 

Just me.

 ... the 2 of us....

...then the 3 of us!

Want a laugh? I can't believe I'm actually posting this picture - I was making fun of all of the tourists posing like they were taking glamour shots... and quickly Chels snapped one. Hahaha.

Next up - Omaha with my parents! It was a full 4 days of utter relaxation. We did puzzles (3 to be exact)...

Walked the dog every morning...

Ate my favorite childhood home-cooked meals (thanks Mom for re-igniting the kitchen after 2 years of hibernation)...

and hung out with some of my favorite longtime family friends!

Boarding the plane after it was all over.... devastation.

SUCH an amazing my trip! I mean, obviously, as I got to see AND spend large chunks of time with (almost) every single person that is important to me in the short span of 2 and a half weeks. Thank you to everyone who made the above possible!!