A good 'ol fashioned Menendez/Sciammarella/Baran/Sullivan Christmas...

For all you mathmaticians out there- see if you can figure this holiday equation out:

5 people + 1 bathroom + 48 hours of total uninterrupted togetherness - no pubs or restaurants or sights open on the 25 or 26 of December =

a. Everyone in Santa hats, singing along to Nat King Cole's Christmas album

b. JP with a robe and pipe sitting by the fire reciting "The Night Before Christmas"

c. Gracie cooking a big family Christmas dinner for everyone

d. Our flat a wreck of dirty clothes, dust bunnies, and no more food

(Correct answer is D- JP doesn't do pipes and Gracie doesn't cook. And who sings carols anymore?)

We made it out alive folks, and we had a really nice time. We spent Christmas day in our PJ's opening gifts, cooking (JP and I did the cooking), and watching Christmas movies. My personal favorite is Christmas Vacation. This year I actually got JP to watch It's a Wonderful Life- which is a huge feat. He managed through the movie with only limited bagging on George Bailey. Christmas Day we celebrated a British tradition of popping Christmas Crackers before our meal- here is a picture of us before we did it in a circle:

We decided on a small Christmas, which meant the four of us kids got each other a couple small gifts. Gracie rolled in town with her idea of a small Christmas- Tiffany and Coach for me, Hugo Boss and cologne for JP. For those of you who know John's mom Gracie, you know she can't do small when it comes to her JP.


Earlier the week we celebrated Dan's 23rd birthday with chocolate chip pancakes, and then saw the sights. We took him to a piano bar that we frequent only to realize that we were in the midst of some sort of drag queen holiday celebration. It was tons of fun to watch everyone around us while singing along to the piano. We have taken everyone to our favorite restaurants and enjoyed some good pub time as well. Even Gracie, who in the 3 1/2 years I've known her, has never had a drink, enjoyed some beers at the pub. This is the same woman who wouldn't drink a glass of champagne at our wedding!


Yesterday, the ladies went to the Lanesborough Hotel in Hyde Park to enjoy our first ever high tea. It was extremely nice and very fun. Nikki enjoyed her pot of tea and mine (I am not a tea drinker) and Gracie entertained us with funny stories of what else- Argentina. Then we met the boys out at our favorite neighbourhood pub that also has a Thai restaurant in it and enjoyed some curry and pad thai.


Today everyone went their separate ways - JP took Gracie to see Windsor Castle, Nikki and Dan are off to see other sights. Me, I'm basking in some peace and quiet. I'll take to cleaning up the flat and get it back in working order to get us through the weekend. Our friend from OC, Andrea, comes into town today as well, so hopefully I'll get to spend some time with her. Tonight we have a big turkish dinner planned.



Here are some pictures from the week:

All the stockings were hung by the chimney with care.....

JP and Grace after opening up presents

Our Christmas Tree... before Gracie got here and added a zillion gifts under it.

For those of you interested, I posted a lot of our random pics on Shutterfly - everything from our White Elephant Gift Exchange that we did with the GEP group, to the EY Holiday party is on here- take a look if you are interested: share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AaOWLNy4bN2OH

Until next week friends- have a fun weekend! I'll share pics from our James Bond New Year's Eve party next week.

Merry Christmas!

Dear Friends and Family,

In lieu of a holiday card, please accept this blog message with our wishes for a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year. Thanks to all of you who have read this and supported us through the last year especially- trips, weddings, parties, dinners, and most of all our move to London. We miss everyone a ton and hope to host you in 2008!

Love, Angie & JP

*this message officially approved by JP on Angie's page*

Baby, it's cold outside

It's been a busy couple weeks! For once I have more fun stuff to share other than what is happening at the local Starbucks.

I'll start with last week first:

Last week started with a girls night out to a special shopping event at Harvey Nichols (www.harveynichols.com). The night started with some dinner and then we headed over to the department store to drink and shop. The store was shut down to the public, and they opened their doors to holders of some magic ticket. Harvey Nichols is akin to Neiman Marcus in the US, so we were there more to peruse and giggle at the 400 pound dresses. The highlights of the night were that every floor had a drink theme (and there are multiple floors to this store)- champagne, wine, cocktails, mulled wine. We all left a little tipsy- I mean, it would have been rude to not try all the different drinks we were being offered! The store also had carolers and a harpist and it set a very festive mood. The night ended in the food hall where we discovered honest to goodness pancake mix and yummy chai tea. All the department stores here have extravagent food halls where you can shop and also eat there. Harrods is another example of the foodhall- sometimes I just go there to wander when I visit Harrods - it is amazing.

Wednesday night the GEP group headed out to visit the Hyde Park Winter Wonderland. http://www.hydeparkwinterwonderland.com/ The night was fun but it did coincide with the freezing front that rolled in. We enjoyed some yummy brauts, desserts, and then when we all could no longer feel our toes or noses, we hightailed it out to the nearest pub for warmth. It showed me there is more than one reason to put a pub on every corner.

Friday night brought JP's holiday party at EY. We were a little hesitant to go. Our past holiday parties have been wrought with alcohol and friends and fun EY drama- so we were looking at a calm night among people we didn't know all dressed in tuxes. It was held at the BAFTA (British Academy for Film and Television Arts) corporate suites http://www.bafta.org/195-piccadilly/. It was fun to get dressed up and go into Piccadilly for the night. I can only compare Piccadilly to Times Square in NYC- just a mad crush of people all hours of the day. Anyways, the party ended up being a lot more fun than we planned for- Jamie and I danced all night with JP's co-workers while JP made fun of people, Matt talked to the Partners, and I argued with the DJ over the appropriate time to take off "It's Raining Men" to play some Justin Timberlake. The end of the night had JP acting as security guard to open the door to revelers on Piccadilly, and then verbally assaulting a coat check clerk for what he thought was the guy calling his scarf "gay." Actually, the man was asking JP if he had a "gray" scarf. You gotta watch the accents.

Saturday we greeted Anneliese and spent the day relaxing and getting her ready for the pub crawl. We also got our TV fixed. We are now official at our flat- a working phone line, TV, and internet- life doesn't really get any better than this!!

On Sunday, Anneliese and I wandered around Oxford and Regent streets- which are the main shopping streets in the city. The streets are all decorated for Christmas and there were more people than there is sidewalk space. It was still fun to walk around. We ended our window shopping with a cider in a nearby pub, where we were accosted by an extremely drunk man who proceeded to talk to us for an hour while we sat there silently hoping we could find an out.

On Monday we went to see JP at his office for an official office tour. It was fun for us recruiters to be on the other side! We also got to eat in the famed EY cafeteria before we headed out to the Tate Modern musuem and then on to Harrods.

Yesterday was a day of markets- we went to Portobello Road in Notting Hill and hung out at the market looking at all the goodies. After that we headed to Covent Garden to see the Christmas market. Last night we took in a play- starring Christian Slater. It was called Swimming with Sharks. http://www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk/shows/display?contentId=95180

We really enjoyed the play. Christian Slater still looks good after all these years!

The rest of the week we'll overlap on guests and have a full house until after the New Year. We are so excited and are planning out fun activities for our next round of guests. Next week we'll see another play, JP will go to his first football match, and we'll be seeing a lot of the traditional sights with Dan who has never visited London.

This will be our first Christmas in colder climates (but no snow, yet) and let me tell you, it does make a difference! Not that I wouldn't kill to be at home in my flip flops and such right now- but getting all bundled up really does make it feel a lot like Christmas!

Until next time- happy shopping!

In loving memory- Starbucks: October 19, 2007- December 11, 2007

It is bittersweet writing this. I'm in my PJ's, on the comfy chair in our house sipping coffee. In front of me is our Christmas tree just decorated and a nice view of our street. What makes this scene surreal is that I'm on the internet as I do this. I'm on the internet in my PJ's. I didn't have to pack up my backpack, put on my scarf, gloves, jacket, remember to bring my mobile phone and chapstick, and walk 10 minutes to the Starbucks to boot up. Isn't life grand?



There are a few things I will miss though, that is for sure. I've talked often of the red cups and I do love the festive feeling it brings when those first appear on the streets. More than that, I will miss my skinny lattes. I will miss the hard wooden chairs I would spend often up to 4 hours in. I will miss those stores without a restroom, so that once I finished my coffee I would have to chose between high tailing it home to pee or risk bladder infection by staying in my seat and finishing my internet surfing. Most of all I will miss the Starbucks soundtracks. I love the music there, but I was spending so much time there that I was starting to pick up on what the next song would be before it started.



So, good-bye and thank you Starbucks- I won't miss you but I'll be back. Next time, for a quick skinny latte on the go.

I see London, I see France

OK, so JP stole my thunder and gave a pretty accurate blow by blow of France. It was fun, and boy was the food yummy! The French really know how to live- they are friendlier than the Brits we've encountered here and they walk the streets with baguettes and drink great wine. So what if they have terrible unemployment and race/class issues- France is a vacationers dream with beaches, good food, great sights, and history all the like. I won't bore you with more details, but I will share some more pictures:


This is an ariel view of Paris from the top of the Eiffel Tower- pretty neat?

The Notre Dame- inside is even more gorgeous.

An alleyway in Nice- everyone had flowers outside their windows. The buildings were very colorful- reminded us of Miami how there were buildings painted pinks, corals, blues, greens.

On our last day in Paris, JP finally got the big baguette for .85 Euro that he had been talking about for four days straight. Even though we pledged to share our lives together, there was no sharing the bread...

Anybody recognize this? It is kind of famous. It is also a huge tourist trap as expected- they que you (line you up), charge you $$, and then shuttle you to the top!

Us in front of the Arc de Triompe.

Ariel view of Cannes from the top of the hill we climbed to see a museum. Cannes reminded us a lot of Newport Beach, without the blondes and BMW's. Cannes (home of the world famous film festival) is about a 30 minute train ride from Nice.

This picture was taken on entry to a museum set very high on a hilltop in Cannes, I thought JP did a really nice job with the picture.

Additionally I'd like to share that I accepted a job today. At the end of last week I had received offers from both Ernst & Young and Towers Perrin. After careful consideration that consisted of pestering JP endlessly with the pros/cons/what ifs of both I decided to go with Towers Perrin. On January 7 I will start a 12 month contract role in their graduate recruiting department to cover for someone going on maternity leave. It is such a cool company, I enjoyed the interview process and the people I met with. Additionally, the HR manager told me that Actuaries make Accountants look cool- just to give me an idea of what I was getting myself into. It made me think back to almost four years ago when I tentatively decided to interview with EY even though I was a little worried about having to hire Accountants. I think it is safe to say my expectations were exceeded there- and hopefully I'll meet some fun people at Towers Perrin as well.

Let's face it though- the real reason I want to work- to Travel! Now that I have a job, we can start our planning - Europe (and Africa, JP willing), here we come!

What does settled mean?

Well friends, I'm back. From where? The US. You read it right. I made a quick (well, 8 day) trip back to the desert to attend to some family things. Everything is fine now, but unfortunately the situation necessitated an emergency trip back to Phoenix- much different than a quick trip from OC, let me tell you.


I had always thought my first trip back to the US would be spent eating all the foods I missed, shopping, and of course seeing friends. Unfortunately this trip was spent more or less in bed- I got sick on the plane and it followed me the whole time home! Double the misery was the fact that I went to spend time with my Dad who was in the hospital- a little tough when all I wanted was to be admitted myself! Oh well- I can happily report that all 5 of the Menendez's are in good health thankfully.



The good side is that I was home for Thanksgiving. The bad side to this was watching USC ruin the hopes of all Sundevils for a near flawless football season. I hate USC. Truly, I hate them. Now that I am not a recruiter for EY anymore, I can be honest here. I love my USC friends, my USC recruits, my old USC co-workers. However, I hate USC. I especially hate their football team. The first ASU game I've been able to watch since I moved, and it just had to be that one. Maybe my kids one day will see ASU beat USC.



Enough hating- this is a time for thanks, right?!



Here is a partial list of what I'm thankful for:

- A healthy family (those of you who know my family the best know good health is fleeting, so I'm going with this as long as I can)

- An awesomely spectacular husband. He is truly the greatest thing ever.

- Grey's Anatomy- I'm addicted

- Strongbow cider- makes the long hours at the pub so much better

- A wealth of good friends we've met here who make the transition so much easier

- Having the experience and motivation to interview and be considered for such cool jobs. I may not have a job yet- but some of these companies are so cool.

- Having friends at home who still email and call us to tell us random happenings. (special thanks to you Mary for the last few gems you've sent our way)

- 50 pound round trip fares to bascially any large European city we want to visit

- Starbucks, for red cups, patient baristas, and uninterrupted broadband service

Finally, I'm thankful for that settled feeling we've been waiting for for months. Although I don't have an official routine, or broadband service (that is for another blog posting), it is nice to have our stuff unpacked, know where we are going and how to get there, and have plans for travel in place.

Until next time friends, enjoy the week! Next posting will include pictures of Nice and Paris, France!

The little things...

Happy Sunday everyone!

Here we are Saturday night at our friends house. The reason I chose to post it is that JP insists on making funny faces like this instead of smiling like a normal person. In response to this, I will insist on posting these pictures until he learns to smile and look normal again. :)So, we are official. We have a phone line everyone. Yes, you read that correctly, we have a working phone line! You may ask, why is she so excited? Until 6 weeks ago I haven't had a phone in my house in years, I always used my cell phone. In London though, your phone line is your life line. Without it, there exists no internet service, no cable TV, and most of all, no viable way to call family and friends without spending countless pounds on calling cards.

Why did it take 3 weeks? I would need another blog to devote to the circles I ran around in to get to the conclusion. However, on Saturday morning at 9:00am promptly our buzzer rang and some guy from BT (British Telecom) was at our door ready to fix our problem. This was great except for the fact that my hangover from the night before was just setting in, and I couldn't even do a little dance when we had our phone line up and running, for fear of further exacerbating my excrutiating headache. Note to self (and others, since this blog is public): I'm too small to imbibe a whole bottle of red wine by myself. I have nothing to prove other than a wasted day on the couch with a terrible headache and bouts of naseau. I digress, the news is that we have a phone, and I'm so happy.

JP is still not sure he has to go back to Amsterdam next week, so we are waiting for the call. This week brings another dose of very good news - our shipment from the US arrives on Tuesday. I can't wait to get more clothes (I've been wearing more or less the same thing for 6 weeks) and my bedding, and pictures, and our bikes. It will be great and we'll be one step closer to feeling more settled.

I promised some pictures... here you go:

So, Saturday night was our friend Andy's 29th birthday. Andy is pictured left above with his roommate and my movie partner Chris. We had fun, partook in a little flat party before spilling out 15 deep in an attempt to find a restaurant to seat us and feed us at 10pm. By the way, restaurants here are small- there are no Claim Jumper or similar monstrocities that can get big groups in. Anyways, here are some fun pictures from the night:

Note my handsome hubby and his road soda. We are at a bus stop waiting for the bus to take us to our friend's flat. You can really drink anywhere here... which makes the bus rides more tolerable.

Here is my friend Kate (who we went to Bath with) and the birthday boy. He was incredibly happy to be surrounded by so many stunning trailing spouses on this night- it was the highlight of his birthday.

This is some of bigger group of us- from left - Troy (visiting from the Richmond EY office), Chris, me, Kate, Stewart, Becca (8 month secondment in London- from Connecticut), David (former EY Australia, now lives in London, works at Credit Suisse), and Andy- EY GEP'er from Chicago.

Now that we are all more or less settled in our flats, and day to day life, I can sense the dynamic shifting a little in terms of the whole GEP/EY group and the natural dropping off and allegiances that form. It is hard to organize almost 30 people to go out all the time, and so we've found ourselves spending a lot of time with this particular group of people. There are a lot of other fun people in the group, it just takes a little more effort to congregate due to the distance between us all in the city. It is tough to explain, but it all makes sense, you see your friends most when you live closer to them. We are incredibly lucky to have made such good friends in a short amount of time. We've been told that not every class of GEP that comes over hangs out and gets close- that each class is very different. That said, these people have made the bad stuff more manageable and are a lot of fun to be around. It also makes me miss my friends back home even more!

Tomorrow I have two job interviews (it never stops, I love it!!). One is for KPMG and one is for a company called Framestore CFC- check out their site: http://www.framestore-cfc.com/. This job is for a Graduate Talent Manager- so managing the recruiting process for entry level peeps and then also their development within the company. It looks like a supercool company, nothing that I've ever really been part of before. I'll let everyone know how it goes.

Until next time, my red cup is empty and I'm getting chilly. It is 3:19pm and dusk will be here soon! Enjoy your week everybody.

Back to square one

The weekend is right around the corner! That means JP comes home, and I am extremely excited. It has been a slower week than the last few and the weather has definitely changed. It is now winter! The streets are being decorated for Christmas which is just awesome. It looks very festive right now. Also, because we are so far north, it gets dark at around 4:00pm. That is a little different, it messes with your appetite for sure. For instance, it is 6:32pm and it has been dark for quite some time. Although I had a perfectly normal lunch today at around 1:00pm (or 13:00), my body is already starving and wondering why I am not eating dinner already. I will soon feed it with Indian food. There is Indian food on every corner here. Good thing I like it! Other yummy food we've tried and eaten over and over again includes Thai food, Turkish/Greek cuisine (they love the kebab here) and Lebanese food. There are many more ethnic food places to try! I think the brits would really like Mexican food if they had the chance to try proper Mexican. Here you get some "tex-mex" sprinkled in with other types (and everything comes "Con Carne" what is up with that?). JP and I wish we had the resources to transplant some people here to start up a taco stand. It would be a huge hit!

So, as the title of the blog notes, I am back to square one in my job search. I turned down the role for Credit Suisse and did not get the job at AMS. Oh well, I was starting to miss interviewing. I have a few prospects and just spent a couple hours on Monster.co.uk to find viable roles to apply to. Hopefully the mobile phone will be ringing again with interested recruiters. (Remember, they can't ring me at home b/c I don't have a home phone line yet!!)

JP is looking at another week in Amsterdam, which is not what we want but it is what it is. Next week will be packed full of Starbucks visits and interviews- and looking forward to it! The red cups are now at Starbucks, and it just puts you in a cheery, holiday mood- right?

This weekend we will be hanging out at the flat and on Saturday night going out with the GEP group to celebrate our first birthday. Our friend Andy turns 29 and we'll be heading out in Notting Hill for some ridiculousness. Should be fun.

On another note- for those of you who care at all about the fashion choices of the average Londoner- for females they include boots. Lots of boots. High boots, low boots, ugg boots (that was for you Susie), slouchy boots, combat boots, riding boots. You name it, a woman in London is rocking it. I took a step towards being more official today and purchased my own pair of boots. How I will rock them, I still haven't decided. Most of you know I am not the fashion forward one of the Angie/JP union. With my husbands support and advice though, I assume I'll be wearing these suckers over my jeans, with my skirts, with some fun tights, and all the other ways these creatures of fashion wear them here. It is all part of being in the city, right?

Do you know what is hard to find here? Candles. I searched low and high and finally found some today. It is the little triumphs that get me through the day. I sure miss Target.

I've picked up some more words and translated them for you, enjoy:

UK Version US Version
Ring you Call you
Chase up Follow up
Hens party Bachelorette party
Courgette Zucchini
Salad Lettuce and tomato on your sandwhich (there aren't a lot of salads here)
Brilliant Great! Awesome! Nice!
Mate Dude (for us So Cal peeps)
Chips French fries
Crisps Potato chips
Love Honey
"Your phone will be on in two days" Your phone will never be turned on. Stop calling us.

I'll post pictures from this weekend next time so you can get to know all of our friends who keep us busy over here. Until next time, enjoy the weekend!

Weekend in Bath

Well friends, our first weekend trip went off without a hitch! We travelled by train to Bath and had a great time. Here are some pictures and details interesting enough to share... (or so I think). We took the trip with Kate & Stuart- another GEP couple.

Accomodations: We stayed at a bed and breakfast called the Hunters Spinney. Check out their website: http://www.huntersspinney.co.uk/. I've stayed at a couple B&B's in the US, and each time they were very cottage-ey like places where I had private access and my own key. This place was a little different- we stayed in the home of this nice couple! The room we had was very nice with a cozy bed and our own bathroom. Every morning we'd hop downstairs for a proper English breakfast to fuel our day of walking and exploring. (English breakfast = eggs, toast, baked beans, hash browns, fruit, tomatoes, mushrooms, tea, coffee, and OJ)

Here is a picture of the house:

On Saturday we awoke and walked down to town- about a 15 minute trek through some back roads. We visited the Roman Baths: http://www.romanbaths.co.uk/. It was super cool to go through these- helped transport you to another time a long time ago. We learned a lot about the Romans and their impact on the UK's history. Here is what the Roman Baths look like from the lower level... Cool huh!

After that we enjoyed a pub lunch and some rest. Then we hopped a big red bus (this country loves the big red bus!) and did some sightseeing. It was a chilly autumn day- but we were lucky because it was sunny and pretty. The best part of the trip was that we hit it at the perfect time to see the changing colors and the gorgeous brass and yellow trees and leaves.

The town is very picturesque. It also had a ton of hills and views at every turn, which I realized I miss a lot about home. London itself is pretty flat, and there aren't really views anywhere unless you hike up to the London Eye. This little town afforded some incredible vistas.

After all that sightseeing we headed back to the house to rest before dinner. On Sunday we did more walking around and sightseeing. Here we are in front of Queen Victoria's Park:

All in all, it was a relaxing trip. Many of you know that JP loves to take some neat pictures- I shared two below I thought he did a good job on:

For those of you interested in seeing all our pictures from Bath- here is the link to our album in Shutterfly. Just a note- you do not need to sign in to see the pictures: share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AaOWLNy4bN2N4

Finally, it is Monday. JP is back in Amsterdam for hopefully the last week. I'm back to my normal, a few hours at Starbucks, work out, then find something to do outside to interact with people other than the baristas and other computer peeps at Starbucks. I'll post later this week when I have something else worthwhile to chat about! Until then, enjoy your week!

Happy Halloween!

Being a lady of leisure, I easily mix up my days and dates- and didn't even realize today was Halloween! Oops! Upon realizing this morning about what day it is, I promptly changed into my selected costume- the Starbucks dwelling lady of leisure outfit- jeans, trainers (athletic shoes), long sleeved shirt, and a jacket for the autumn weather. For a touch of splash I even put a brush to my hair to look decent for my barista friends.

Joking aside- we are into week five and I have news: I got a job offer yesterday. It is to be a graduate recruiter at Credit Suisse. http://www.credit-suisse.com/uk/en/ It is a strong bank, and I would be working in the investment banking group hiring analysts. I am still not sure if I am going to take it. I know, I've been complaining for weeks that I need a job, and I get an offer and I'm not sure... Without going into the long saga that is my brain working in overtime.... There are a ton of pros to the job, along with some cons- so I'm weighing it out and hoping to buy time while waiting to hear on another job I'm interested in- one with Alexander Mann Solutions. http://www.alexandermannsolutions.com/ I hope that in the next week I'll know and no longer have to go on interviews... All in all I have interviewed 13 times in the last 5 weeks. That is a lot! I feel like one of my candidates from my old days at EY. It is no fun being on the other side!

Many of you who read JP's blog know he is in Amsterdam for a few weeks. So, I fly solo now- fun! (note sarcasm). This is a new lesson in self sufficiency. I have kept myself busy - I joined a gym (very nice gym- the Virgin Active...) and am keeping busy with all these interviews. This weekend JP comes home and we are going to Bath for the weekend with another couple from GEP- that will be super fun.

The London Film Festival concludes tomorrow and we got to enjoy a couple films. We saw Grace is Gone on Saturday afternoon. If you are a John Cusack fan like I am, you will like it. Warning though- it is a tearjerker. It even moved JP, which we all know is not an easy feat. Then last night I took another GEPer - Chris- with me to the east side to see a movie called City of Men. You can check out the other films and trailers for these films on the site: http://www.bfi.org.uk/whatson/lff/. The film I saw last night was on the east side of London- let's just say it was not a nice neighborhood. I walked by myself on some interesting streets at a quick pace- and made it safely. I had an escort back to the tube station. There is definitely a difference between the east and west side of the city. Seeing movies here are fun- they are usually in old theaters and you can drink alcohol in them (well, you can really drink everywhere here) and you also select your seats when you purchase your tickets. You don't have to show up to the theater 30 minutes in advance as a result. It is nice.

The weather is turning and it is definitely autumn (they don't call it fall here). It has been clear this week, just a little chilly. Soon enough it will be Thanksgiving! I need to figure out how to cook a turkey - never done that before. Any suggestions send my way.

Thanks to all of you who keep e-mailing me and keeping in touch. I get so excited to get your emails. Hopefully one of these days I can get a phone set up in our flat so I can actually call people and not feel so disconnected.

Until next time, enjoy the week!

Pictures of the new flat!

Ok everyone, I promised pictures, and today I remembered to bring my camera out with me as I make my daily trip to Starbucks for internet access. Here goes:

View of our living room from the entry hallway. There is tons of storage space and built in bookcases that we hope to fill with stuff once our shipment arrives next month. We also have big windows all along the front of the living room and kitchen- making the space very bright!

Here is our bedroom. It is pretty big and has more tall windows. We have two closets and this weekend we bought bedside tables and assembled them together. It was a great moment in JP & Angie togetherness- assembling furniture is great for any relationship. (note sarcasm).

Here is another view of the living room from the kitchen- Again, note the big space and tons of bookshelves/storage! Here is the kitchen- it is red- super cool color. :)

Here is a goofy picture I took of JP as he poured his John Smith beer the other night. We toasted to the one and only Jon Smith that we know and miss.

We've hosted our GEP friends over for dinner a couple times already. All of us are without TV and internet, so passing the down time together makes it more bearable. I'm the only one who really likes to cook. Last night it was vegetable lasagna... this lady of leisure thing is making me so domestic! (Pictured from L-R- Matt, Stuart, JP, and Jamie- sitting)

Those are really all the pictures that I have for now. More to come in the following few days, we'll get ourselves out and about and take some more pictures of London.

Confusing on so many levels

Greetings Friends.

We are in our flat. It wasn't pretty- but we are settled, and our clothes are hanging up finally! In the last four weeks this new flat marks the 6th place we've slept in since we moved out of our condo on September 17. (Special thanks to the Komors and Glenner for putting us up in the OC)I will have pictures up soon, I forgot my camera and am sitting in a coffee shop right now (explanation below).

We heard from everyone how hard this would be, and in many ways I think we couldn't truly internalize the difficulty of setting up here until we experienced it for ourselves. Everything takes time- the phone line, cable, internet, etc. To date I've spent 8 hours on the phone with British Telecom- or BT- the phone company in this country. 8 hours. Think about all you can do with 8 hours. It takes 2-4 days to set up a phone line even where one exists (meaning, all the company has to do is flip a switch....) We are right now totally disconnected from the world at home, but hopefully that will change soon. Right now I frequent Starbucks in all neighborhoods for an internet connection to stay up on e-mail and to keep occupied. That is super fun- doing your banking and blogging with the Starbucks soundtrack in the background. Oh well, it is life for now.

Our new flat is great. We moved in on Friday and went the weekend without heat. The thermostat was broken, and most people don't work on weekends here. So, we layered on clothes (it was in the 30's outside) and kept moving around to stay warm. Our heat was thankfully fixed yesterday after the nice maitenance man joked with me saying "we can't have our Americans cold here love." I couldn't tell if he was making fun of me, but either way we have warmth and I can feel my toes again.

In search of sushi restaurants to (hopefully) celebrate a job offer tomorrow- I've run across a sushi/latin restaurant. Since when did people decide to combine the two? I just want to go to my favorite place- Wasa- what I wouldn't do for a spicy scallops roll or my favorite yellowtail hand roll about now. Peggy and Pam- please make a special trip for me and say hi to Ben.

I had my first burrito in London with a girlfriend today and it wasn't bad. The two of us (the last of the trailing spouses to secure employment- until my girlfriend got her job offer while we were out!) were craving Mexican food- and so we went and found the one place that most expats have recommended- Mexicali in Nottinghill. Surprisingly, it was good. It wasn't Javier's or anything, but it did the job. Now, my last lady of leisure friend will go to work soon. My job is coming, I know it. In the words of the Secret- I am willing that s**t to happen as if my life depended on it! (Peggy- put out the positive vibes for me please! And, Mary, stop making fun of me!)

On another note - I've had time and a lot of silence to reflect on the life we had back home and what we've given up to come here. I am surprised at our resiliency to live without what had come to be everyday modern conveniences. We are actually living the next 18 months without a clothes dryer. Isn't that crazy? It is part of life here, and while some places do have a dryer, ours doesn't. The clothes dry fast, especially with a little drying trick one of our friends showed us. I won't bore you- but it isn't as bad as we thought. Also, we have a dorm like refrigerator. It has a tiny little freezer- so no more keeping frozen foods or even ice. We used to buy frozen things all the time (um, hello- frozen pizzas?!) but now we buy fresh every day for dinner. It is interesting. Finally- no bathrooms here have electrical outlets in them. So, I blow dry my hair in my bedroom. The cord is too short for me to be near a mirror, so I just go off of memory and pray it looks ok.

This is all a good test in patience, resiliency, and most of all humor. It is comical that such a forward thinking country has such poor infrastructure. However, it is all part of the experience. One of the gals who is here already couldn't put it into words when we spoke before I came out here- she just kept saying "things here are different. not better, not worse. Just different." I am finally able to understand what she means.

Best of all though- for JP and I- it has meant a different type of growth as a couple. Indulge me for a minute as I get deep- but when you only have each other and are experiencing the same joys and frustrations it definitely bonds you in different ways. At home we had fairly separate lives and our "together" time came on the weekends. It is nice now, our together time is now in larger doses and we've suprised each other in how much we actually like each other's day to day company. Good thing that worked out! Additionally- this is the first time in my life where I've had actual alone time. My old life had me in a job where I was always in front of people, after hours I was working out with my groups or going out with friends. The only time I had to myself was in the car (where I was usually on the phone to someone) or when I went grocery shopping. I've learned how to keep myself busy and enjoy these quiet days. It is good for my personal maturity and growth (I guess I have to say that!)

I'm finding myself rambling so I'll end things here. Without a phone line I can't call my friends, it is killing me to be disconnected. I feel like this is an open ear, so I can just chat away.... however many of you have jobs and life, and I'll let you get back to it.

Next posting promises pictures and hopefully a job update. (They keep putting off the decision by a day, ugh!!)

To my SoCal friends- stay indoors and breath easy- hopefully the fires will cease soon.

Moving West

Week three has officially come and more of the same ensues. I read my husband's rant (I thought he was going to redo some of that as it was purely a low moment) but in reflection of the highs and lows of the last month or so, I'd like to report that things are looking up. Why? Two things:

• We're moving to West London this Friday! No more construction at all hours of the day (not sure if we've shared that- but directly across the street from us there are HUGE construction crews who start EVERY morning at 8am - saturdays, sundays, no difference and jack hammer until 6pm every night). No more hour long tube rides to meet our other friends out! We can unpack our stuff and settle in!


• I am pretty close to getting a job! I have a couple prospects on the table, but the one I'm most interested in is looking very good. I'm hopeful to be reporting in a few days that I am gainfully employed in the UK- imagine that!

Here is a picture of our new pad from the outside. How cute does it look?

We are the second floor (well, here we are considered 1st floor) of the last doorway on the right. Those two windows on the second floor are ours. The place is nice, it has two bedrooms, a big great room with an old fireplace, high ceilings, hard wood floors, and a kitchen with so much cupboard space we will have no problem packing away our Costco supplies when it arrives next month.

The best part of the place is it is in a more central part of town, closer to our friends, and much bigger than our efficient corporate housing.

Also, we have a lot to look forward to. We've planned two weekend trips in the coming 6 weeks- one weekend away in Bath with another GEP couple. Then at the end of November we'll hop a flight to Nice, France and experience a couple days of the French Rivera. Yeah, life is terrible. :)

Our first visitor has claimed her bed in the new casa- Anneliese will be visiting the Menendez/Sciammarella B&B in mid-December. She comes a week before the first London Family Christmas will take place with Gracie, my sister Nikki, and her boyfriend Dan.

(Pictured left- Chris, Michele, and Dave- Chris & Dave are GEP, Michele is a trailing spouse like me)

On the friend front- we are meeting lots of expats. The GEP community is a lot of fun - there are couples and singles who are always up to go out for a pint. We've also been introduced to other expats through friends in the US and have been setting up different times to meet them. To those of you who have sent me a random email here or there telling me to email so and so for a drink- you bet I've done it! The more friends we meet, the better! However, we've been warned that it will be a long process to make friends with a native here. The cultural consultant here issued a challenge to us to determine success here in the UK- get yourself invited to the home of a native for dinner. If you can do that, you've made it. Imagine that. This whole experience has made me sensitive to the plight of expats in the US- those RSP's who used to come into EY during busy season who we would just pass in the halls. I think in the future I'll make more of an effort to be friendly.

Today is a nice day- sunny but a little chilly. With the sun comes my favorite thing- running outside! We are close to the Thames river here with a nice running path. I might as well take advantage of this lady of leisure thing and get myself back in shape. I'm off to run- tootles until next time.

Trailing Spouses Day Out!

On Thursday, one of the trailing spouses, Michele, planned a little ladies day out. For those of you unfamiliar with this terrible term- Trailing Spouses is the name that EY gives to the spouse of the GEP participant. (Couldn't they think of a more positive, affirming term??) This year, the spouses were all wives from the US, and all of us are in very much the same boat- job seeking, home making, and incredibly fantastic wives. (from left to right: Kate, Jamie, Michele, Nicole, and me)

Michele- pictured in the middle- planned for us a day at the Tate Modern Museum http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/ and lunch to follow. We got incredibly lucky- we had a CLEAR day and saw the sun- nice!

Tate Modern is much like any other contemporary museum. They have some interesting collections of art that makes one muse on their own ability to replicate and sell "art" made up of pieces of old furniture and such and be revered and famous.... but nothing that made us ohhh and ahhhh. The biggest thing on display was a huge crack in the floor. Yes, a crack. I even took a picture for you. Michele even put her finger in the crack... yes, girls can have teenage senses of humor like boys.

Following the Tate Modern, we enjoyed a lunch of mini portioned Greek food at a fun cafe along the Thames river walk. We had a splendid view of St. Paul's in the background as we dined.

From there, we continued on back to Borough Market- can't get enough of that place. We then went on to a pub to wait for the spouses to get out of their trainings. Many Strongbows (a fun cider I've taken a liking to) and glasses of wine later, we met the boys for dinner at our new favorite budget locale- Nando's!

All in all, we had a fun day, worthy of writing about and sharing pictures. This weekend we'll be heading to Notting Hill to spend some time with some friends who have been here for a year on GEP, and then also we'll be shopping for things for our flat, which we move into next week.

Enjoy the sun and the great weather, think of us as you bask in the sun!

UK TV and a few translations

As a lady of leisure, I'd like to take a moment to comment on the television options here and then will end that short rant with new translations on words and phrases we have started to use.

The TV here is in a word- Terrible. I may have a different opinion once we get set up in our own flat with another cable/sattelilte option- but our temporary housing options are just not happening. Many of you reading this I know are thinking- why is she complaining? She doesn't have a job, why is she not out sightseeing? Shopping? Well, I ask you all to think for one moment on how you'd fill 8-10 hours a day in a foreign land day after day while your significant other works. You can only shop and sightsee so much... I digress... Some observations:

1. The commercials here are so odd. I think they are supposed to be funny, ironic, etc. but they make no sense at all. There are gorillas playing drums to a Phil Collins song that is supposed to make you want to buy and eat cadbury. There is a man dressed up as a squid who is selling a mobile phone. There is a couple having a row (fight) in a kitchen that is selling appliances. The list goes on. JP and I just look at each other and giggle while trying to figure out what it is the advertiser is selling.

2. There is no set TV schedule here- shows start at 5:10pm and go until 5:35pm and then another show starts. They have one channel that plays a series of shows, mostly old reruns, and the next channel plays the same thing, just an hour later. I'm not sure on the purpose.

3. I understand why the English hate us so much. The shows they watch here from the US do not do us justice. I hate to think of people judging me based off of the most recent episode of Laguna Beach that aired today. They don't have The Hills here- they are a few years behind on all that.

4. They have UK versions of our shows (or, it could be that we have US versions of UK shows, and I just didn't know it). Supernanny (yes, I know that was a UK show) is over here as well, only she counsels bratty brit kids instead of American kids. The Today show here is called GMToday (Good Morning Today) and it makes me miss Ann Curry and Matt Lauer SO BAD. The soap operas here are funny because in the US the soaps have all beautiful people who can't act. Here, the people can't act, but they also aren't at all attractive. I believe they took a random sampling from the tube stop by our flat to cast these shows.

A couple thoughts on words and spellings. I still can't figure out if I should be replacing the Z in all our words (organization, realization) and putting an S to reflect the UK spelling- it causes serious anxiety everytime I email a recruiter here.

Also, they say the word "Zed" for the letter Z. So, when I spell my last name, I should be ending it by saying "Zed" instead of "Z". Yesterday on an interview, I spelled my name the way I would in the US, and I ended up with a nametag that read Angie Menendeg- nice huh!

Finally, here are some translations for your enjoyment....

UK word US Equivalent
Row Fight
Solicitor Lawyer
Assessor Interviewer
Mum Mom (there are only "Happy Birthday Mum cards here!)
Flat Apartment
Straight away Right away
CV Resume
Mind the gap Watch your step
Car Park Parking garage
Details Business Card
Answer Phone Answering machine/voicemail
Cheers Thanks
Mobile phone Cell phone
Toilet or Loo Restroom (they have no restrooms in the UK)
Diary Schedule

A couple things that you DON'T say here- the word fanny (has negative connotations equivalent to our "C" word) and to "cruise" such and such street or area (cruising means looking for gay people)... not that we say fanny too much, but coming from SoCal, I'm used to cruising to see my friends... :)

There are many more, I'll include in future postings.

And contrary to our cultural training- they do ask how are you and how you doing here upon greeting- thank goodness!

Now off to do more of the same, until next time...

Sightseeing and Job Seeking

Greetings friends.... second weekend down and everyday we feel more and more official.

(Picture here of the horseguards at the PM house... no smiles from him.)

On Saturday we did what every self respecting Londoner stays far far away from.... we boarded a bright red double decker sightseeing bus and went for a 2 hour spin around this fine city. It was fun, a fine old English chap pointed out the sights, referenced various meanings behind design and placement, and told us all about the great fire of 1666.

Most of you know JP and I to be brilliant planners, but in this instance, we failed to charge the camera battery. That meant that the first 15 minutes of our day was photographed, and the rest committed to memories that we can share with the literal word. I will say, it was super fun and something that you must do when you are here. You really do see all the sights and do it much faster than it takes to walk this city. (Picture here is of the Tower Bridge from our rooftop seat)

We also visited the famous Borough Market (http://www.boroughmarket.org.uk/) and walked around the maze of yummy goodness- you name it, this place had it. We plan on going back with an empty stomach next time.

Yesterday some of the GEP (Global Exchange Program) wives (or, as they affectionately call us- the "trailing spouses") took a field trip to Harrods and browsed around. It was fabulously busy and fun and beautiful. I can't wait to see it at Christmas!

For me, this week will include much of the same- job hunting! I have some interviews lined up, and there are plenty of opportunities out there. Things here just take more time than I am used to.

Until next time my friends... Have a GREAT week!

First week posting...

Hi all, this is your favourite Londoner writing. This is being spell checked on UK Word so you may see some funny misspellings. Well, I’m officially done with training and reported to my business unit today. There are about 35 of us here in the Capital Markets group mainly from the United States and Canada (also known as USA Jr.). The office here is fabulous. There are EY employees originating from over 70 countries and they speak more than 130 languages. Talk about diversity!

For those of you who haven’t heard the word, Angie and I found a flat in the West Kensington / Sheppard’s Bush (tee hee) area of West London. It’s a fabulous 2 bedroom 1 bath and should have ample space for “guitar hero flat parties” (by the way it just took me two minutes to find the “ on my keyboard so I hope you appreciate it).

At every pub I’ve been to I keep in mind whether or not it can accommodate a BarLympics. Unfortunately, I have not found an establishment yet that can cater to the hard core sporting events that we’ve come to know and love. Not to fear though, Angie and I will keep looking in our new neighbourhood for a suitable location.

I’m seated in a window seat here in the office and its absolutely brilliant outside. I can see the London Bridge and the London Eye from my cube. I can see a bunch of other stuff too but I don’t know what it is (it looks really old and important though). Literally nobody in the office gets a proper office. We’re all in cubes which have very low partitions. It makes things difficult for the Americans because we have no idea who is a partner and who is an admin and furthermore you can’t even fart without someone knowing.

Last night I also came to the realisation that beer hits you harder here. First and foremost you get a larger beer than you would in the states. Second and secondmost there is more alcohol in their brew. This may not be true, but it’s the rationalization I came up with to help myself not feel like such a girl for feeling tiny from so few beers.

Well, that’s it for now. I'll try and get some pictures up soon after this weekend. Hit me up and say hi when you get a chance.

One week in

We've arrived! Last week went well and we are slowly getting adjusted (the jet lag is killer!). Everything has gone great so far- the only hiccups we've encountered have mainly to do with the process of signing up for the gym to work out, and our washing machine is broken. Who needs clean clothes anyway?

We've already lined up a flat in an area called West Kensington- near some friends who live here already and very near shops, pubs, and a few different high streets. We move on October 19. It has two bedrooms, the second room nicely sized for visitors!

John started work yesterday and I am on the job hunt. There are some prospects out there, so I'm hopeful I can line up something soon. The sooner I start working, the sooner we can start travelling! John's office is really cool- in the London Bridge area of the city- see here you can see part of the bridge in the background. It is super modern and huge- 6,000 employees sit in that one office. They all seem to dress smarter than we are used to- so John is happily looking for more suits to wear.

We are currently staying in a neighborhood called Canary Wharf. It is the financial center (or centre) of the city, with high rises and loads of people during the week. It is pretty quiet at night and on the weekends. It is like a newer version of downtown LA- with no homeless people. We'll be ready to move out of here to someplace with a little more character and people around.

Some overall observations after week 1:

1. People walk everywhere here. Such the opposite end of the spectrum from California where we drive to the store 1/4 mile away.

2. People are in a hurry here! I naturally walk slower, but you nearly get mowed over here if you aren't careful.

3. The food isn't as bad as we thought. Due to the prices and Angie's current unemployment we cook in a lot- but on the occasions we've eaten out is hasn't been awful- it's been quite good. I even made salsa last week. The jarred salsa they sell here is not very good.

4. The people are nice! Customer service wise, it isn't the same (but CA keeps getting worse and worse at restaurants and stores anyway) and people are so helpful and nice. I haven't run into anybody yet who has been the dreadful brit we were warned against- altho I know that day will come.

So friends, the sooner you get out here, the sooner you can see for yourself all the fun things we are talking about. Book your tickets soon for Chalet Sciammarella/Menendez on the West End to explore!

FAQ's on the move

It has been 3 full months since we got the official blessing on our move to London. Here are some answers to some frequently asked questions we both get on the upcoming move...

1. Are you excited?

Yes, we are excited. This has been something we've both been planning on and looking forward to for years (yes, years). While we are sad to leave behind family and friends, we are very excited about the move.

2. Where you are going to live? Do they help you find housing?

We'll be in temporary/corporate housing for 30 days. We have that time to secure a furnished flat. We have resources to help us find a place. No, we don't know what part of the city we'll be in yet.

3. When do you leave?

September 24. John starts his new job on October 1.

4. Did you know it is expensive to live in London?

Yes, thanks for the updates all- we are very aware of the cost of living in London.

5. Is Angie going with you? (Question most often asked of John).

Yes, we figured a good way to stay married is to live together and be together.

6. Is Angie going to work?

Yes, she is hopeful she will find a job.

7. How long are you going?

18 months.

8. Are you all packed? Are you bringing everything with you? What are you doing with your cars?

No, the company packs and moves us and also stores what we don't bring with us- it is all planned and super helpful. We will not need any boxes, but thanks for offering!
We are only bringing our clothes and some personal effects. Everything else will be furnished for us in a flat we find in the city. John is selling his car (anybody in the market for a used Infiniti?) and Angie will keep her car at her parents while she is away.

9. What are you doing with your place?

Renting it out. Have you seen the OC real estate market lately? Any potential renters send our way- RSM is cheaper than the beach!

10. When is your going away party? Are you going to blow it out?

September 14 is our last day at work. We'll be gathering with whomever is interested at Muldoon's in Newport Beach after work- hopefully you can join us then!