Back from a long break

Well hello there!

It’s been awhile! Sorry for the long absence. I finally feel human again after this bloody cold, gloomy winter. But now the sun is out and the days are longer and life is good. 

So much has happened in the last 4 months. I’ll just give a brief recap here and then maybe make some additional detailed posts later on.

First news is that Eryn has landed himself a 6 month contract at Framestore! He is a Technical Director working in the Motion Capture department. We are both working on the same movie and even sit on the same floor. One really great thing about work these days are the friends we’ve made! There are about 4 guys we work with that are super cool. Two Brits, one Canadian and one Chinese. We hang out with them outside of work and always have a laugh. Thanks to Gary, we have also learned tons of fun English words. The current favorite being knobhead.

Eryn, Gary, Aron and I at Framestore's Christmas Party

Me, Gary, Ben G, Eric out for a beer at lunch

Ben G, Gary, Aron, Eryn, Jenny from the block, Eric at Board Game night at work

Speaking of friends, we also hang out with Bernard and Nicole. (Nicole is Eryn’s cousin Eric’s fiance’s sister and her fiance. Umm....right.) We mostly drink wine and eat cheese with them. They are great and we are trying to convince them to move to San Diego when Nicole’s contract is up in a year and a half. We also see Mari every now and again. She is Eryn’s friend Iwan’s cousin. She is a pretty amazing person and I feel like I have to mention that she cycles everywhere. She cycled from Canada to Mexico and just recently from London to Paris!

Nicole and Bernard playing a boardgame at our flat after tennis and a picnic in the park

Mari on the left at Bonfire night

It has helped immensely to have these special people in our lives here since we miss our friends back home so much! 

In December, Eryn’s cousin Jen came for a visit over Christmas. She was our very first house guest and we were beyond thrilled to have her there. Jen is always around for our “big” moments. She was there in New York when we got engaged, she was at our wedding in Maui, and she spent our first Christmas in London with us. She really made our Christmas special.

Jen and Eryn at the Savoy

And finally after a very tough winter, we had our first official weekend getaway to Paris at the end of February! It was awesome. The Eurostar was so easy and it only took 2 hours 15 minutes. We basically ate our way through the city. Never have I had so much cheese, bread and pastries! My favorite part was the view from the top of the Eiffel Tower. It really was amazing. 

 

My Dad and Lisa came for 10 days in March. This was my Dad’s first visit to Europe! They decided to stay in London the entire time and had an absolute blast!

Dad and Lisa at the Tower of London

Dad, Lisa and Eryn at Hampstead Heath park

Dad and I at Tower of London

My Mom was here in April for 12 days. This was also a first Europe trip for her! We had quite an adventure going to Brussels, Amsterdam and Paris! She was an excellent world traveller. (Fun Fact:  The most amazing thing about Brussels was neither the Mannekin Pis, nor the Grand Place.  It was the fact that we never saw a single Starbucks!)

Mom and I on a double decker bus

Amazing architecture in Brussels

Eryn and I in Amersterdam

Being goofy in Brussels

Mom loves Paris!

Mom, Eryn and I having a lovely outdoor lunch in Paris

Eryn’s Dad and Ko had a layover in London after a France and Italy holiday at the end of April. We met them at Heathrow Airport for a great dinner. Way too short of a visit though!

E and his pops after dinner

Eryn’s Mom has just arrived and will be here for 2 ½ weeks! She arrived on Eryn’s birthday, aww. We will be taking a last minute trip to Rome this weekend! Then we will be going to Paris (3rd time, wow) for the French Open. We will be meeting up with Nicole and Bernard and also Eric (Eryn’s cousin) and Kristen (Nicole’s sister). Should be good times with great people!

Eryn's Mom at our tube station

Eryn and his mom on a London bus tour

Eryn and I have also planned a 3 day weekend trip to Edinburgh, Scotland for the end of May.

June and July we’re going to be hanging around England. Plans are in the works to go to the beach town of Brighton with our work friends. Will need our party hats on for that one.

We will be going to San Diego at the end of August for about 10 days! It will be a little over a year since we moved away from that sweet place. I can’t wait to eat as much Mexican food as I possibly can.

Then in October we have already bought our tickets to attend the largest board game festival in the world! Yep, that’s right, a board game festival. We will be heading to Essen, Germany for 5 days.

It’s still up in the air as to when exactly we are moving back. My work contract ends at the end of October and I am perfectly happy to go home then. Eryn would love to stay another year after that. If we can get our contracts extended, I think we will compromise and stay another 6 months. So that would bring us home in April! We’ll see what happens!