Catchup post - the big move

So I haven't posted in a while because I've been busy with an international move! Lots of pieces have to come together for this one -

• Departure stuff: Closing accounts in the UK, moving out of my flat & cleaning it, handing over my old job to my successor,...

• Travel stuff: Sorting out what goes into what shipment (air, ocean, airplane luggage, give away/UK electrical stuff/can't transport - i.e. spices, liquor), travelling (which normally would be easy, but the ash cloud hit the week I left! Thankfully, my flight wasn't affected)

• Arrival stuff: Getting a car (I got a 2009 VW Tiguan, Joe got his BMW - that's me with his car in the picture left), finding a place to live (we found an awesome house in the historic Redmont neighborhood, with views of the whole city), working through the closing process & moving in (still in process - we're set to close May 21 and our stuff should arrive the next week)

• Fun stuff: Celebrating my 30th birthday, the really cool casino themed leaving party thrown for me by my office (and the LV bag they gave me), planning our upcoming wedding, starting ballet classes again (at the Alabama Ballet)

The good news is that I took 5 weeks off from work, so I do have plenty of time to get settled before I start my new job. Its been 2 weeks since I moved at the end of April, and I'm really enjoying settling into life in Birmingham but it really was sad to leave the UK - in particular I was really sad to leave my office. I loved the role in professional development that I held there in the "Business Technology Office" and the people that I worked with. Unfortunately, though, due to the ash cloud restricting travel, I wasn't able to say goodbye to my roommate & closest London friend Frances either as she got stuck out of town after heading to a wedding the week before.



My first day back in the States we even found a place to live, which was really exciting as we'd been looking for 6 months before this all came together and were really nervous about that. Our new house is awesome - right in the neighborhood we wanted (Redmont/Forest Park) and with a view of the whole city and airport. Its even got a 2 car garage, a rarity in Birmingham! Further, we can walk to restaurants (Mexican restaurant Rojo is just a 10 minute walk) and the public Highland Park golf & tennis courts.


I've been working on wedding plans too & have come up with 2 options that I'm excited about, but would love your help deciding between them. We're thinking this Fall or next Spring:

• Birmingham city wedding - Rehearsal dinner on our patio overlooking the city (how cool!), wedding & reception at the Sloss Furnaces (an old steel mill converted into a museum - vivid rust metal colors with a large covered place for a band and dancing). BBQ catered by Jim & Nicks, funky Motown band.

• New Hampshire lake wedding - I used to go to camp with my family when I was little (maybe 5?) at this awesome place called Sandy Island. Its a 66 acre island in Lake Winnepasaukee in New Hampshire. There are 55 waterfront cabins ranging in size from accommodating 1 person to 6. We can rent the whole place for a wedding weekend and have access to all of their facilities (tennis, swimming, sail boats, hiking, crafts house for custom tie dyed favors!, etc). They even have a waterside chapel on the island that would be perfect for the service and we can bring a band over to the lodge for evening dancing. I really love this idea, but want to hear from friends and family if this is too far for them to travel and what they think about the whole camping idea. The camp is a 2 hour drive from Boston, so we'd need to rent cars, but the camp will shuttle people over via boat from the shore and once you're on the island everything else is taken care of and in easy walking distance. The accommodation cost is cheap too (i.e. $135 or so per person for the weekend), but most cabins share central showers/restrooms that are a short walk from their cabin. I think this option could present a really cool opportunity to really spend quality time with friends & family at our wedding.

What do you think?

Christine and Michael's wedding in Houston

A big group of college friends gathered together last weekend in Houston for Christine & Michael's wedding. It was a fabulous affair at the Junior League with a great band and lots of dancing. I stayed with Susan, Bijal, & Carrie at the St Regis and on Saturday we all went to a Crawfish place for really good seafood :)

Decision time - houses!

After Christine's wedding in Houston, I went to Birmingham with my mom and later Joe to look for a house! We've narrowed our choices to 3 in Forest Park, an in-town neighborhood that feels like Inman Park that we really like:

• -3600 Cliff Road - Lovely view of the whole city & golf course, great street, but 100 years old (so future repairs likely) and only 1.5 bathrooms
• -731 Linwood Street - Great neighborhood, fully renovated house with really nice touches, but yard and driveway not done and no view
• -1200 42nd Street - Stunning country styled home, but too expensive

Not sure what to do next! Hmmmmmm.....

Our real estate agents, Lee Marks & Mildred Knight with Realty South were fantastic. They knew everyone around town and were so gracious with their time and support. We ate at V Richards - a gourmet grocery store like Whole Foods each day too and walking distance to all of the houses. The weather was awesome too - sunny and bright each day except one.

Today, we spent Easter at my mom and stepdad's house and lots of family came over to celebrate too. It was a beautiful day and a great trip home. Now I'm back to London and its just 3 more weeks until I move permanently!

Joe's last weekend in London - Theater extravaganza!

To celebrate Joe's last weekend in London, we did a bit of a theater extravaganza, going to 2 great shows in 2 days. The first was Jersey Boys on Friday night. I have to say it might just be my favorite show that I've seen in London. I was amazed at just how many of the songs I knew from the Four Season's repertoire. Wow - they must have had over 30 hits in their day (I think they said they even sold 100 million records?!). Wow. The lead playing Frankie Valli was amazing too - the perfect voice. And its an interesting story of the group - through the ups and downs of showbiz (not like the silly contrived story of the Queen musical - "We will rock you", which was just plain stupid).

On Saturday, we saw the sold out new show "Love Never Dies" (though I should note that most shows in the West End of London are sold out nightly!). It picks up 10 years after the Phantom's mysterious departure from the Paris Opera House and is set in Coney Island, NY (where my mom's favorite ricotta cheese cake restaurant is :). The music and stars were amazing, but I didn't really get drawn in by the story. I loved this one really powerful moment in the 2nd act where Christine sings on her own in the most glittery dress you've ever seen. The actress just exudes star power and has a voice to match.

Now its Sunday and Joe is working on his Master's coursework (he's studying for a degree in Aeronautical Science from Embry Riddle). Its a lot of work, and mostly self driven, so I'm really proud of his efforts.

He just walked in my room and came up with a plan for today: lunch at Harrods, gelato (or macaroons from Laduree), and then walking around Knightsbridge and the London Eye at sunset. Sounds like fun!

Lots of news!

Just 1 day after my 7 year anniversary with my company, I will again be taking on a new role (my 5th within the Firm!). Today I confirmed that I will join the Health Systems Institute as a Manager of Operations from May/June of this year. The organization is an entrepreneurial venture within the Firm with the vision of creating the preeminent global forum for health systems leaders across the globe to improve healthcare, including outcomes, performance, access, ... Its signature product is the "Health Tracker" a subscription service which includes at its core a revolutionary tool which allows leading health systems to understand how they stack up against other regions around the world, and more importantly, why and how they can improve. Further, the organization facilitates conversations between health systems leaders and creates a forum for them to share information & best practices. I'm thrilled to be a part of this venture that has the potential to drastically improve the quality of healthcare across the world.

Initially, I'll be travelling regularly to Washington, DC as I get up to speed and build my network in my new team, but later I'll just be working from home out of Birmingham with some meeting travel.

In addition, Joe has been accepted to a 6 week leadership skills course (SOS) in Montgomery, AL starting Apr-10, so he'll be moving a bit earlier than we originally planned. The good news is that he'll be close to Birmingham so he'll be able to start getting us settled, which will be helpful.

I move later - sometime around the weekend of Apr-24 (when I will move out of my flat!). I start my handover to my successor in my current role already next week! It's all coming together now....

P.S. My thoughts are with the Al-Khudhairi family, especially Ibby and Muhammed as they recover from illness.

P.P.S. Happy birthday, Grandmama

The ring is here!

I was diagnosed with Swine Flu on Tuesday of this week, so needless to say its been a not fun week of sickness. The bright spot by far, was Joe's arrival on Friday night. He came straight from a flight (he was in the Canary Islands this week for work) and was carrying a special package - my engagement ring! I haven't taken it off all weekend :)

Valentine's day in London

Joe and I planned a Valentine's weekend extravaganza - dinner at an old-timey cabaret on Saturday night (Proud Cabaret) and Avatar in 3D IMAX complete with couch seats on Sunday.

We saw a burlesque show at Proud. Joe has been wanting to see one for some time (he loves Dita von Tesse). It was cool, but got repetitive after a while and I think its safe to say that we're not really keen to see more. The venue, although it had a really cool atmosphere about it, had a bunch of technical problems because the sound guy was new and kept missing his queues. I think the audience didn't really mind though - in fact they started rooting for him - Dan was his name. But the main host, "red dress girl", was getting really rude and bitter with him in front of everyone. She kept taking digs at him in every interlude and it just got embarrassing after a while. I think we were sympathizing more with Dan than her at this point. Anyway - the show was still fun, but not sure we'd go back.

Today, we just got back from the 3D IMAX. Joe purchased these tickets more than a month ago! Avatar was as good as everyone has been saying - I loved it! The imagery, the story, the special effects - it was awesome and even better to see it on the "biggest screen in the UK". We loved it!

Joe also surprised me with a Valentine's day gift of a beautiful bronze Coach bag and tulips. It was so sweet of him. I got him a sweater (and the evening out at the burlesque show), but wanted to get him one of those multi-colored swimsuits he's holding up in the picture too. Joe wasn't so keen, though :)

P.S. Here's a copy of the Valentine's day card Joe got for me too.

I need a pair of these...

Joe's been in Finland all week for work, eating reindeer, snowboarding, and flying in F-18s. What a life! He got back on Saturday morning and came to visit me in London. We went out to a show (Waiting for Godot with Sir Ian McKellen). It was really good and we were on the 2nd row so we felt like Gandolf (who Ian McKellen plays in Lord of the Rings) was in our living room!

I read a really funny quote about the play afterwards on Wikipedia that perfectly describes it "[the play] has achieved a theoretical impossibility—a play in which nothing happens, that yet keeps audiences glued to their seats. What's more, since the second act is a subtly different reprise of the first, he has written a play in which nothing happens, twice." Funny, but true.

Today, we had a lazy start to the day and then headed over to the British Museum. Its just around the corner from my flat in Bloomsbury and Joe wanted to see the Rosetta Stone. To be honest, the place is full of stolen artifacts from Egypt, Greece, ... Its surprising when you see it for the first time - entire Greek temples chopped up and brought to the (anything but) British Museum and re-assembled for the world to see. The argument for museums says the pieces were better preserved here, but it still feels a bit weird looking through all of these Egyptian pieces so far from their home. Joe is pictured with a cool statue - I could use some of those winged shoes!

I also just made plans to come home for Christine & Michael's wedding in Houston at the end of March. I'm going to take a couple of days to do some more house hunting in Birmingham at that time and my mom has agreed to come with me - thanks, Mom! Finally, good news on the job hunt. I'm making some headway in finding internal opportunities within my Firm and its feeling more likely that I'll have a role to go to in Birmingham. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

The value of a good real estate agent

Joe's roomie Benji moves back to the States today (to Spokane, WA) so there was a big going away party on Friday. Its awesome to me just how supportive everyone in the military is of each other - everyone was there to say goodbye to Benji and wish him luck. On Saturday we confirmed our new buyer's real estate agent: Lee Marks. She's been in the biz for over 30 years and knows every neighborhood in town like the back of her hand. I mentioned the Berwick house to her and she knew it right away. Turns out the owner had committed suicide in the property - information we had suspected but hadn't been able to find anything online about. Very sad news, but glad to hear it before we went any further in investigating the property. As you can tell, she's proven her worth quite quickly.

Joe and I have been plugging away at our to do lists too. I've been working on the job hunt and Joe's been diligently looking for a place for us to live and for details on how military and overseas marriages work. We should have some more news for you on those items soon!

Frances' 30th, Mama Mia, and the "it" house of the week

On Friday, Joe came to meet me after work in London because he'd gotten tickets for us to see Mama Mia and the theater is just a block from my office at Piccadilly Circus. After grabbing a quick bite, we popped into the theater and had a grand old time singing along to all of the classic ABBA songs. Very fun.

Saturday night was another fun one. Frances, my flatmate, had organized a large birthday party for her 30th at the Adam's Street Private Members' Club. It was a great time - all of her friends from work, home, family came and enjoyed Champagne and canapes. I caught up with people I hadn't seen in a while like Agnes and her beau Alex and met new friends like Bronwyn, who Frances knows from back home in Capetown. It was a great time.

Today, Joe and I have been a bit lazy, just hanging around my flat and doing our new favorite thing - looking at houses in Birmingham. We have a new favorite too - check it out here: http://www.bhamtoursmls.com/berwick. Its in one of the best neighborhoods in Birmingham, Redmont (historic, in-town, on top of Red Mountain, so views of the city), and was built in the 80s. Downside is that it doesn't have much curb appeal (the front of the house looks boring), but the inside looks really cool and modern. Let's see what happens!

Decisions, decisions

As our move date (end April) gets closer, my to do list grows. Right now, I'm juggling:

-Looking for a new job. I'm trying to stay with my Firm and do an internal transfer, as I've already found my local replacement here in London, but its proving difficult as there is no office in Birmingham)

-Looking for a new home. Lots of options in Birmingham! We really like this house, but think its overpriced. In general, we're interested in the Forrest Park, Highland Park, Redmont area (in-town). This to-do item includes finding the right real estate agent and finalizing our budget (in flux, given that we don't know if we'll have 2 incomes!)

-Decide when & how to move out of my London apartment. My flat mate Frances is moving in with friends at the end of March and I'm not done with my job until the end of April. Commuting back and forth to Cambridge daily would cost the same as my portion of the monthly rent, I'm considering just staying here until end April when I move my stuff to Joe's (complete with an external elevator and putting things out the window) and then the military takes it from there.

-Planning 2 weddings. We're probably going to do a paper marriage here in the UK and then have a family ceremony back home. Still don't have a location, date, dress,...you name it...for either.

-Working. Self explanatory, but takes up a lot of time.

On top of this, Joe really wants to plan a vacation for 3 weeks across Europe between when we leave here and when we get to the US! Not sure when we'll find the time or energy for that one...

Looking at this list now, it actually doesn't look that daunting to me. BUT, when I start to break it down into the little tasks that must be completed, that's when I get overwhelmed. Help!