Skiing in Val Thorens, France

Joe, Frances & I decided to take a trip over new years and found a cool week-long package ski deal to Val Thorens, France - the highest ski resort in Europe. We picked Val Thorens because its a "snow sure" resort - where we could be sure that the slopes would be in good condition for the early season. Also -the package includes dinner and breakfast, which is really nice when you're tired at the end of a long day on the slopes.

We've been here 4 days now and have been having a blast. I switched to skiing this time around and am enjoying it a lot more than snow boarding - I feel more in control and I'm not falling on my butt as much, which is nice :) We're staying in a chalet with 10 or so other people and are getting to know them over dinner each night.

Today, we're taking a rest day because the snow is coming down really strong and its hard to see, but we'll be back out there tomorrow.

Happy early New Years and happy birthday to my favorite/the best brother ever, Sean :)

Antiquing in the English countryside

Last weekend, Joe and I went to Maidwell's antiques - about an hour outside Cambridge. These people have the life that I always envisioned for myself! They live in this really cool old house on some land with sheep and peacocks and have rooms and rooms of antiques they've picked out to sell to visitors. Customers stop by like old friends, chatting with them, feeding the sheep, sipping on the tea and eating snacks they offer up in the kitchen. Their stuff is amazing too. Joe and I bought a beautiful 1920s walnut cabinet for our future living room. Its amazing that is was just £300, and in perfect condition. We also got an old wind up record player (you turn it on and are transported back in time) as well as a cool painting in a pretty frame. Fun! Annette and Robert - I want your life!

Wedding planning 101

I'm caught in a dilemma. It would be logistically (not to mention cost-wise) simpler for us to be married before we move to Birmingham in May of next year and in Joe's words - "preferably the sooner the better" (as it takes the military some time to process paperwork). It makes sense for moving (the military will pay to move my stuff from my London apartment along with Joe's) and for health insurance (I may not have any as so far my hunt for an internal position with my company where I can work from home/in Birmingham has come up dry - my company doesn't have an office there).

However, I've got a really clear vision of a country-wedding back home with all of our family and friends around us in my head that I don't want to let go of! The challenge is that living over here, it feels next to impossible to pull something like I'd envisioned together in less than 6 months time - not to mention that the weather won't be ideal for this sort of event until later in the year anyway.

What should we do?

House huntin' in Birmingham

When we were home for Thanksgiving the other week, Joe and I took half the trip (4 days) to visit our future home of Birmingham, AL (we're moving there in May of 2010). All in all - it looks like a really nice place to call home - relatively low cost of living, all the amenities of a large city (the metro area population is about 1 million people, after all), really nice historic neighborhoods set amid the hilly terrain with fantastic views (Highland Park, Forrest Park), and just all around friendly people. Joe was more nervous than I was about the location from the get go, but I think he's come around and is excited about it.

In the end, we decided to throw out the idea of living at Lake Logan Martin (too far away, not enough amenities locally) and instead focus on in-town Birmingham locations (i.e. Forest Park). One of our front runner houses is pictured above - its got a view of the whole city from its porch!

We're not going to make any offers just yet, though - we have time, so we'll wait and see what happens with a few of the properties we liked and see if anything new pops up!

The one?

OK - we might have found the elusive "one" and no- I'm not even talking about my FH (future husband) Joe here. I'm talking about the ring!

Years ago Carrie and I went to the State Fair somewheres north of Atlanta for fun. We took some visiting colleagues from abroad with us (mostly for laughs to see how they'd react to the "largest cow in the world" and arm-sized turkey legs). They loved it and so did we. Anyway, there I bought a ring which the dealer told me was a replica of a 1920s Tiffany setting. That might have been just sales talk, but I believed him and bought it for a whopping $35 bucks. Over the years, I've worn that ring nearly every day - had a stone replaced, gotten it cleaned, re-plated, the whole nine yards, probably spending 5 times the price on maintenance alone.

Well Joe has a family diamond that his Grandma, the lovely & very cute Frona, gave to him some years ago. He showed it to me a couple of weeks ago and we realized the the stone is nearly identical in cut and size to the center diamond in the ring from the State Fair! It got us thinking...what if we had that old ring made - but for REAL this time :)

So that brings us to the present - we've got emails into a few jewelers and are collecting estimates on what it would take, but I think we're both excited about this, so this one might be it!

Also - thanks for all of the input on the earlier ring pics - seems everyone's got a different taste in rings. Some (my uncle, mom, Sana) were horrified that I wanted a cocktail-esque ring for my engagement. Others (Lea, Bijal, Court) loved the idea and sent detailed choice order preferences. The best was from Bijal who printed the picture out in color and provided notes, editor-style, and sent me a PDF attachment with all the details. Hilarious!